The main residence of the Tang family, the tea room on the third floor.
After Qiu Yi dragged Duan Qingyan away, there was no one in the room except Mrs. Hang and Lan Jingqian, and the air condensed as if solid.
Old Mrs. Hang's hand holding the teacup was taut, and the blue blood vessels protruded from under the wrinkled skin, as if she was about to burst into a terrifying emotion at any time.
At a certain moment in the atmosphere, the strings are stretched to the tightest—
But old lady Hang suddenly laughed without warning. She raised her head to look at Lan Jingqian, her voice was hoarse and her eyes darkened: "Who did you find out from."
Lan Jingqian did not answer.
When he saw Duan Qingyan's reaction, he already had the answer he wanted, and even more.
He knew that it was because of this that Mrs. Hang didn't cover up or refute his question at all.
Before Lan Jingqian could answer, Mrs. Hang couldn't possibly be annoyed. She just narrowed her eyes and said unwillingly, "I guessed that such a day would come after you returned to China after your success. I just didn't expect this. quick."
Lan Jingqian turned a deaf ear to her words, and only raised his head after a long silence, with a faint bloodshot in his eyes.
He asked in a low voice, "Where is she?"
Old lady Hang's eyes floated: "the child of the Tang family is naturally in the Tang family."
"Have you really taken care of her as a child of the Tang family?" Lan Jingqian hissed a little.
The old lady hang said, "even if I don't want to, she still has half of the Tang family's blood flowing in her body."
"Then why is she never mentioned?!"
"What to mention her, and how to mention her? The illegitimate daughter of the Tang family? Or is it the stain of Shiyu's unmarried pregnancy at a young age?"
Old lady Hang's eyes are cold.
"I won't allow such a smudge to smear the Tang family. She is a child of the Tang family. At least in terms of food and clothing, I have never treated her badly."
Lan Jingqian clenched his fists slowly, his anger, resentment, questioning and venting were suppressed by him, leaving only the most urgent thought.
Lan Jingqian asked in a hoarse voice, "Where is she now. I want to see her."
"See you," old lady Hang frowned, "but you can't take her away."
Lan Jingqian's temple jumped. At this moment, he couldn't hold back his negative emotions any longer, and looked at the opposite side with gloomy eyes: "She is my daughter, why can't I take her away?"
The old lady also said in a deep voice, "Just in the past 16 years, you haven't fulfilled your duty of support at all."
"That's because of your concealment!"
"You can go and say this to the judge and let him judge that you went abroad seventeen years ago without any news. Should you blame you for giving up custody, or should we blame us for hiding it?"
"!"
Lan Jingqian couldn't bear it any longer and stood up abruptly.
At that moment, the man took off his usual cool, self-controlled and mature appearance, and his eyes were as red as an enraged lion.
A lion who can't wait to tear the person in front of him to pieces.
It's just that he is no longer the fledgling boy seventeen years ago who could only be impulsive and let others handle it.
Those ferocious emotions were pressed back into his body little by little, and even the fists that were clenched by the blue veins were slowly loosened.
Lan Jingqian supported the edge of the tea sea, and looked at the old lady Hang opposite with bloodshot eyes: "you obviously don't accept her existence, why don't you let her go?"
Mrs. Hang's expression was slightly stagnant.
The next second she turned her eyes away and said coldly, "I have my reasons, and I don't need you to take care of me."
"I don't want to care. I can guess, it must be for your Tang family again." Lan Jingqian's voice was cold, "But you may have forgotten one thing - the Tang family is still the unshakable Tang family, but I am no longer. I was the mediocre me back then.”
"..." The old lady's eyes trembled, she turned her head, her face darkened, "What do you want to do?"
Lan Jingqian: "I don't know what you want, but I will look for the reason. Guess what I will do when I find it?"
The old lady's face changed suddenly: "You dare!"
"—"
Lan Jingqian's last rational string snapped.
He slammed his fists on the table with both hands, as if he was about to pounce on—
"My biological daughter has been hidden in a dark corner by you for sixteen years! I can't even think about how she got here in these sixteen years - what else can I dare!?"
The old lady hang froze in place.
After a long silence, she lowered her voice: "Okay, okay, you can take her away—but not now."
Lan Jingqian gritted his teeth: "What if I have to do it now?"
"Then the fish will die and the net will be broken." The old lady Hang's voice also became hoarse, and she raised her eyes grimly, "If you want to destroy the Tang family, then I can make you never see your daughter for the rest of your life - if you dare to bet, you can try try."
Lan Jingqian clenched his fists, his knuckles squeezed to the point where there was no blood.
He squeezed out the words between his teeth: "How long, how long?"
The old lady hang's eyes are relieved: "one year, at most two years."
Lan Jingqian's eyes were gloomy.
Mrs. Hang paused for two seconds and added in a slow voice: "in the past two years, as long as you don't take her away, you promise never to let outsiders know about your relationship - then you can come to see her whenever you want."
"If you will promise."
Seeing that Lan Jingqian was silent, Mrs. Hang released her trump card—
"I'll let you see her right away."
"… "
two hours later.
As soon as Tang Shixin got home, he hurried upstairs and went straight to the tea room. After pushing open the door, he hurried around the screen and said in a hurried voice, "Mom, I heard from the people below that Lan Jingqian is coming to the house?"
In front of the tea sea, old lady Hang looked down at something gloomily. Hearing the movement, she stopped for a long time before she stiffened and slowly raised her head, clenching the things in her hands.
"Um."
"Then he, he already knew that Tang Ran was his daughter?"
"Um."
"..." Tang Shixin frowned.
The tea room fell silent. After a long time, Mrs. Hang suddenly said without warning:
"Lan Jingqian is the matter of Tang Ran's biological father, absolutely, absolutely cannot let the Luo family know."
"Why—" Tang Shixin stopped talking, and seemed to think of something, "But will Lan Jingqian cooperate?"
"For his daughter, he will. And he doesn't know what happened back then."
"But if the Luo family hears the wind..."
"So I said, don't let the Luo family know!" Mrs. Hang turned around and interrupted in a cold voice, "As long as Luo Jingyuan doesn't know that Tang Ran's biological father is Lan Jingqian, then the covenant between our two families can be maintained."
Tang Shixin's face changed slightly: "But as long as Lan Jingqian takes Tang Ran to leave, Mr. Luo will know sooner or later."
"It just needs to be maintained until then-because before that," the old lady Hang's voice became gloomy, "you must get your daughter and Luo Zhan engaged as soon as possible!"
"… "
Tang Shixin lowered his head.
Because there was still a "part-time job" for a robot to do at night, under the time conflict, Luo Zhan could not personally send Tang Ran back after class.
Therefore, the task of the driver finally fell to Lin Qianhua.
Driving Luo Zhan's open-top supercar to send Tang Ran back to the house, Lin Qianhua said half-jokingly when he helped the little girl back: "I think this continues, I won't go into the AI industry after graduation, be a professional A taxi driver is just right for me."
Tang Ran laughed along, and was a little apologetic: "The robot thing always bothers you like this, it seems a little too hard. Otherwise..."
Hearing this "No", Lin Qianhua was taken aback: if he came to send the little girl back and messed up their "part-time" robot, then he would definitely die when he returned.
"It's okay, it's okay!" Thinking of the tragic consequences, Lin Qianhua shook his head, "It's not troublesome, it's not troublesome—sister Tang Ran, please don't say that, it won't be troublesome at all, really!"
Seeing Lin Qianhua's intense reaction, Tang Ran hesitated.
After a few seconds, she bent her eyes slightly: "Well. Just don't bother you guys."
"… "
The frightened Lin Qianhua sent Tang Ran back to the house, and after finding a reason, he slipped away as soon as possible.
After Tang Ran came out after changing his home clothes alone, he heard a light tap on the small bell on the square table.
"The bell at half o'clock," the little girl said to herself as she walked over, "According to the time, it should be half past five."
According to the past, Duan Qingyan would come to bring her dinner in half an hour to an hour later. And the robot Luo Luo, who often "goes to work" early recently, will also be in place before 7 o'clock.
Thinking of this, the little girl just felt a little lonely because she was alone, and jumped up again with anticipation.
She was fumbling through the Braille bookshelf in the living room, and when she was trying to find a Braille book to pass the time, she heard the doorbell of the house rang.
The little girl who had just raised her head with her hand was stunned, and turned around in the direction of the entrance.
It's half past five...
It can't be dinner, and it can't be a robot.
Except for the time when Mr. Luo came to the door and the old lady called her to say hello, no one other than delivering meals and robots had ever come to Tang Ran's house.
"Who do you want to ask again..."
The little girl walked over in a low voice.
When she passed the entrance, she hesitated for a while, but took out the blind stick.
Then Tang Ran stepped forward and groped for the door.
A few seconds later, the door of the side house opened.
The soft light in the room cast the girl's slender figure at the man's feet.
Looking at the face that was 70-80% similar to the woman in his memory, Lan Jingqian's eyes suddenly became wet.
"Is anyone there?" Facing the quiet darkness, the girl turned her face blankly.
Those eyes were silently closed, never opened.
"… "
Lan Jingqian's lips trembled slightly, he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could speak, the tears he could not hold down had already flowed down.
Lan Jingqian raised his hand and bit his fist, forcing himself to swallow his choked throat, and then tried his best to adjust his breathing silently.
Repeat this several times.
There seemed to be someone in front of the door, but it seemed to be just the wind. When Tang Ran was about to think it was a prank, she heard an unfamiliar, hoarse voice:
"You are... Tang Ran, right?"
Tang Ran was stunned.
After a few seconds, turning towards the direction of the voice, the little girl tilted her head slightly.
"You are… ?"