Chapter 47: Linlin’s Mom’s Past

“Linlin has really grown up.”

Luo Li closed the bedroom door. 

She stood in the hallway and let out a soft sigh. 

She stepped downstairs in her slippers. 

The tiled stairs clicked with every step. 

In the living room, Bai Luosen was sitting on the sofa scrolling through his phone. 

He heard the footsteps and looked up. 

“Linlin still asleep?” 

“She’s awake.” 

Luo Li (Linlin’s mom) walked over and sat down beside him. 

“But she probably won’t come down right away.” 

Bai Luosen put his phone down and looked at her. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Luo Li stayed silent for two seconds. 

Then she spoke. 

“Linlin is dating someone.” 

Bai Luosen was stunned. 

His expression shifted in a way that was hard to describe. 

It went from “I’m listening” to “What did you just say” to “Who the hell dares touch my daughter.” 

It finally settled into something between calm and “I’m about to commit murder.” 

“Who?” 

His voice was calm, but Luo Li could hear the fire he was holding back. 

“Which guy? What’s his name? Is he one of Linlin’s classmates? Or someone she met outside?” 

Luo Li looked at him and said nothing. 

Bai Luosen kept going, his expression growing more and more off. 

“Linlin is still so young. She’s already dating? That little brat had better stay far away from my daughter, or I’ll show him what real-life consequences feel like…” 

“It’s a girl.” 

Luo Li cut him off. 

Bai Luosen’s words caught in his throat. 

He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. 

“…Huh?” 

“It’s a girl.” Luo Li repeated. “Black hair, really pretty. She’s probably still lying in Linlin’s bed right now.” 

Bai Luosen fell silent. 

He stared at Luo Li for several seconds, as if checking whether she was joking. 

Then his expression turned… strange. 

It wasn’t anger. 

It wasn’t shock. 

It was something complicated and unreadable, like he had suddenly remembered something. 

“Hahaha, Linlin really is your daughter.” 

He said. 

Luo Li tilted her head and looked at him. 

“That’s your only reaction?” 

Bai Luosen leaned back into the sofa, his tone turning relaxed. 

“What’s so strange about it?” 

He paused. 

“When you were in college, didn’t you date a girl too?” 

Luo Li froze. 

The air was quiet for two seconds. 

Then Bai Luosen smiled — the kind of smile that said “I’ve got you.” 

“Linlin just inherited it from you.” 

He finished speaking and waited expectantly for Luo Li’s reaction. 

But she didn’t react. 

Luo Li simply looked at him, her gaze suddenly distant. 

The smile slowly faded from Bai Luosen’s face. 

“Luo Li?” 

Luo Li didn’t answer. 

She stared at a spot on the coffee table, but she wasn’t seeing anything. 

Her thoughts had drifted far away, back to a very long time ago. 

Back in college. 

She hadn’t met Bai Luosen yet. 

She had met a girl named Qian Ran. 

The moment she saw her, she knew this person would leave a mark on her life. 

Qian Ran didn’t talk much, but her smile was beautiful. 

It was the kind of lively, full-of-life beauty. 

They got together. 

In those days, two girls being together was considered strange. 

But they didn’t care. 

Qian Ran said that for the first time in her life, she felt like a real person. 

Luo Li hadn’t understood what that meant back then. 

She understood later. 

Qian Ran came from an extremely poor family. 

Getting into university had already used up every bit of luck she had. 

She worked to pay her tuition — classes during the day, waiting tables at night, cashier at a convenience store until the early morning. 

But she never complained. 

She just smiled and said it was fine — as long as she could study. 

They were together for two years. 

For those two years, Luo Li felt like the luckiest person in the world. 

Until the day Qian Ran came to find her. 

Qian Ran’s eyes were red, but her expression was calm. 

“Let’s break up.” 

Luo Li was stunned. 

“I’ve fallen for someone else.” 

Qian Ran said. 

Luo Li remembered standing there without saying a word. 

She simply watched Qian Ran turn around and walk away. 

She walked with absolute finality, never looking back once. 

Later Luo Li heard that Qian Ran had gotten together with that man. 

They got married quickly. 

They had a child quickly. 

And very quickly… she became someone else’s wife. 

Luo Li was heartbroken for a long time. 

Then Bai Luosen appeared. 

He took advantage of the moment, stayed by her side, and helped her move on. 

Later they got married. 

Later they had Linlin. 

Luo Li thought she had buried that memory deep, deep down. 

But Qian Ran had never really disappeared. 

After Linlin was born, she would still take Linlin to see Qian Ran. 

Calling it “playing” might not be accurate. 

It was just… meeting up. 

Chatting a little. 

Checking if she was doing well. 

But Qian Ran wasn’t doing well. 

Luo Li could tell. 

There were always bruises on her body. 

When asked, she wouldn’t say anything. 

She just smiled and said it was nothing — she had fallen by accident. 

She smiled less and less. 

The lively, full-of-life light in her eyes dimmed little by little. 

Later she died. 

Luo Li was the last person to learn the truth. 

It turned out Qian Ran’s real name wasn’t Qian Ran. 

She was originally named Zhao Lai Di. 

“Zhaodi.” 

The name her parents had given her. 

It meant “bring us a little brother.” 

She had changed her name to Qian Ran because she wanted to break free from that name. 

She wanted to live for herself. 

She wanted to live bright, vivid, and free. 

But she failed. 

The man named Xi Ziran wasn’t someone she had “fallen for.” 

He was the one her family forced on her. 

Her heavy-son-preferring family had treated her like goods. 

They married her off to another heavy-son-preferring family so she could continue being goods. 

After marrying Xi Ziran, Qian Ran didn’t have a single good day. 

She couldn’t give birth to a son, so she was beaten. 

She gave birth to a daughter and was still beaten. 

She endured it. 

Endured and endured until she died. 

Even before she died, she had still put on an act in front of Luo Li. 

She acted like she was very happy. 

She acted like she was doing well. 

She acted like the decisive breakup had been because she really didn’t love Luo Li anymore. 

It was all just so Luo Li could let go completely. 

The day Luo Li learned the truth, she cried for a very long time. 

So long that Bai Luosen thought something had happened to her. 

Later that entire evil family died. 

All of them. 

No one knew why. 

Luo Li never asked. 

She only knew that one child from that family had survived. 

Her name was Xiran. 

She was Qian Ran’s daughter, and like her mother, she had lived a very hard life. 

Luo Li didn’t know how she was doing now. 

“Luo Li?” 

Bai Luosen’s voice pulled her back. 

Luo Li blinked. 

She realized she was staring at the coffee table. 

Her vision was a little blurry. 

She reached up and wiped the corner of her eye. 

It was dry. 

Good. 

“I’m fine.” 

She said. 

“Just remembered some old things.” 

Bai Luosen looked at her without speaking. 

He simply reached out and took her hand. 

Luo Li held it back. 

The two of them sat there like that, neither saying a word. 

Footsteps came from upstairs. 

Tap tap tap. 

Light footsteps. 

Two sets of them. 

One was clearly a small trot, the other slow and leisurely. 

Bai Luosen lifted his head and looked toward the staircase. 

Luo Li looked over as well. 

A few seconds later, a small figure appeared at the turn of the stairs. 

Her pink hair had been neatly combed and fell down her back. 

She was wearing her usual everyday clothes — still a skirt. 

Her cheeks were flushed pink, whether from just washing her face or for some other reason. 

It was Linlin. 

Behind her followed a black-haired girl. 

She was quite tall, and her expression was… hard to describe. 

The two of them came downstairs one after the other. 

Linlin reached the living room and stopped. 

She looked at the two people sitting on the sofa. 

Mom. 

Dad. 

And the subtle atmosphere between them. 

She opened her mouth. 

“Um… Dad, Mom, good morning.”