The Kaiyuan Hotel, a five-star establishment, was where Luo Wenwen’s biological parents had made their arrangements.
Yang Feilong and his two companions knocked on the private room door. Yang Qingqing had wanted to come along, but Yang Feilong had not allowed it, leaving her feeling rather melancholic. However, she didn’t make a fuss. Her brother was going because Luo Yujiao and her close friend Luo Wenwen were both women, and they needed a man to host the occasion. She herself had no suitable reason to go, as this was a private family matter.
Inside the private room, Yang Feilong and his two companions met a man and a woman.
The man looked to be in his fifties, but Yang Feilong guessed his actual age to be under fifty, around forty-five or forty-six. The woman, however, made Yang Feilong’s eyebrows twitch slightly. As a doctor, he had his own way of assessing age. He could tell at a glance that although the woman looked somewhat older, she was actually around thirty-two or thirty-three years old. Luo Wenwen had long passed her eighteenth birthday and was nearing nineteen. This clearly wasn't Luo Wenwen’s biological mother; the ages didn't match. It was impossible that she had given birth to Luo Wenwen before she herself was an adult.
As for the middle-aged man, Yang Feilong observed that his age seemed consistent with being Luo Wenwen’s father. However, since he had already determined that the woman wasn't Luo Wenwen's biological mother, whether the man was her father remained to be seen.
Nevertheless, he decided not to reveal his findings for the moment, wanting to see what they would say.
“You must be my daughter, Wenwen,” the middle-aged man said to Luo Wenwen, his face etched with guilt, bitterness, and other complex emotions. “I am Luo Feng, your derelict father.”
Seeing this, Yang Feilong’s eyebrows twitched again, as he could tell the man’s emotions were genuine.
Luo Wenwen looked at Luo Feng, the man who was supposedly her father, and then at the woman beside him. She hesitated to speak.
“This is your aunt, Huo Juan,” Luo Feng introduced them.
“Aunt?” the woman, who appeared to be around thirty-two or thirty-three, said excitedly, looking at Luo Wenwen.
“Your aunt?” Yang Feilong examined Luo Wenwen and Huo Juan closely and found that they did indeed share some facial resemblances.
Although it was their first meeting, Luo Wenwen felt an inexplicable sense of closeness toward the two of them.
“You say you’re my father, so why didn’t my mother come?” Luo Wenwen asked Luo Feng, her voice laced with difficulty.
“Your mother…” Luo Feng’s eyes reddened at this point, and he couldn’t hold back his tears, sobbing uncontrollably.
A pang struck Luo Wenwen’s heart, and her face turned pale. Had her mother, whom she had never met, passed away?
Huo Juan’s eyes also welled up. Sensing Luo Wenwen’s worry, she gave a wry smile and said, “Your mother, my sister, became a vegetative state eighteen years ago.”
“Vegetative state…” Luo Wenwen swayed, her face incredibly pale, her voice trembling. She repeatedly asked, “What happened?”
“It’s all my fault, entirely my fault,” Luo Feng said, slapping himself across the face.
With a loud smack, a red handprint appeared on his cheek.
He was about to strike himself again.
“Mr. Luo, please don’t be so impulsive. Let’s talk calmly,” Yang Feilong flashed forward, stopping Luo Feng’s next move and guiding him to a chair in the private room.
He hadn’t managed to stop the first blow as it happened too suddenly, and he hadn’t expected Luo Feng to strike himself.
Luo Wenwen was also startled. She didn’t understand why this man, with whom she had little emotional connection but who might be her biological father, would suddenly act this way. However, it wasn’t difficult to infer that Luo Feng likely had something to do with her mother becoming a vegetative state, otherwise, he wouldn’t be so remorseful.
“Back then, your mother and I started a company together. At its peak, our company’s assets reached over a billion yuan,” Luo Feng said, his emotions somewhat stabilized, but his self-reproach and pain undiminished. “At that time, your mother was pregnant with you. She went home to rest during her pregnancy. This meant the entire burden of the company fell on my shoulders. You must understand, the company was in its most rapid development phase. And during her pregnancy, like many expectant mothers, she experienced anxiety and other pregnancy-related symptoms. Because the company was so busy, in its prime developmental stage, and without your mother’s assistance, I had to dedicate even more time and energy. This led to me spending more time at the company and less attention on your mother…”
“The main symptoms of pregnancy syndrome include: physical discomfort, dizziness, irritability, pregnancy-induced hypertension, low mood, a tendency to run away, throw things, poor sleep, poor appetite, and engaging in irrational behavior. I was so frustrated at the time that I didn't consider she might be suffering from pregnancy syndrome. Faced with her unreasonable demands, coupled with the pressure I was under at the company, I lost my temper and we had a huge argument. In anger, she stormed out of the house.”
Luo Feng couldn’t help but weep again at this point.
“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have lost my temper with her.”
“And I shouldn’t have let her leave when she ran away.”
“The next day, when she didn’t return all night, I worried. I searched for her everywhere, neglecting the company’s development. As long as I could find her, I wouldn’t have minded giving up my entire career.”
“But she was hiding from me so effectively. No matter what I did, I couldn’t find her.”
In this world, if someone truly wanted to hide from another, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. This was no exaggeration.
“Finally, three months later, I found her. No, to be precise, the hospital called me. At that time, she was in the hospital after a car accident…”
“I finally saw her again, but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She had become a vegetative state… And in her bag was a birth certificate, this one…”
Saying this, Luo Feng tremblingly took out the yellowed birth certificate from his briefcase.
It bore Luo Wenwen’s name, date of birth, and place of birth.
At this moment, Luo Wenwen’s eyes welled up. Did she blame her father? Yes, she blamed him for arguing with her mother during her pregnancy, causing her to storm out in anger.
She didn’t know what happened next.
But she could imagine it was related to her ending up in an orphanage. Her father, Luo Feng, likely didn't know the full story. Unless her biological mother was cured, this secret might remain hidden forever.
“While taking care of your mother, I searched for traces of you based on the situation around your birth months prior, but I couldn’t find you. I thought you might have… met with an accident,” Luo Feng said in pain. “But I never gave up looking for you all these years.”
“Until a month ago, when I saw you by chance on a business trip.”
“The moment I saw you, I recognized you as my daughter. You looked so incredibly much like your mother when she was young.”
“But I didn’t dare approach you. I didn’t know how your life was now, and I was afraid that you would resent me if you knew the truth. I was afraid of disturbing your life.”
“When I investigated and found that you were living well, I actually intended to leave quietly. But… but your mother has been a vegetative state for eighteen years, and recently, there have been some worrying signs. I was afraid, I was afraid…”
At this point, the man, whose face was etched with age, broke down in tears.
So, this was the truth behind his desire to recognize Luo Wenwen. Luo Wenwen, having learned the truth, had her vision blurred by tears.
The sensitive Luo Yujiao was also wiping away tears, and in a hoarse voice, she said to Luo Wenwen, “Wenwen, let’s go back. Stay with your biological mother. She… she needs you.”
“Mom,呜呜…”
Luo Wenwen couldn’t help but cry either, embracing Luo Yujiao and weeping uncontrollably.