Chapter 115
Watching the lively scene at the roast duck stall, Huo Ye, Huo Ran, Old Madam Huo, and Mu Mingqiu were left speechless.
They stood so close to the stall—close enough to feel the heat and see the glow from the oven—yet so far away, unable to taste even a single bite of that warmth.
Because… they were standing in the shadows between the streetlights.
“The Little Match Girl must have felt like this before she died,” Mu Mingqiu murmured, his lips trembling in despair. “Such a cold street, such tantalizing roast ducks right before our eyes… yet we can’t have a single bite.”
The people at the stall looked so happy.
And that happiness didn’t seem to come from just the delicious roast duck alone.
Beneath it all, there seemed to be something else…
At the center of that happiness was Little Boss Lan—busy, sweating, but always wearing a bright, satisfied smile. He was so small that he had to stand on a stool and tiptoe to hand over the packed roast ducks, yet his presence was impossible to miss in the crowd.
Of the four of them, Huo Ye was the most devastated.
In his over twenty years of life, Huo Ye had always dined at high-end restaurants, sitting at tables others couldn’t book even with exorbitant bribes, casually indulging in and wasting expensive delicacies. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine there would come a day when he’d envy ordinary people so intensely.
Ordinary, unremarkable people who could gather with family and friends around Little Boss Lan’s stall, happily eating roast duck together.
Old Madam Huo, Huo Ran, and Mu Mingqiu had all had some inkling, even before this battle began, that they might not be the ultimate winners. After all, in “secret baby” novels, side characters like them never won.
But Huo Ye was different.
He was Lanlan’s biological father!
Even if Ye Qingquan didn’t love him anymore, surely, for Lanlan’s sake, he’d return to him, right? Huo Ye still believed that.
Watching the bright flames, the busy little boy, and the slender young man in line gazing tenderly at the child, Huo Ye felt dizzy.
He wasn’t even sure what he was feeling anymore.
As if possessed, he pushed through the crowd and staggered toward Ye Qingquan.
“Hey, watch where you’re—” Someone he bumped into started cursing but abruptly stopped upon seeing Huo Ye’s expression.
…Pitiful. The guy looked mentally unwell.
The person muttered under their breath and let him pass.
And so, Huo Ye made it unimpeded to Ye Qingquan’s side.
When Ye Qingquan saw him, he almost didn’t recognize him:
“…Huo Ye?”
Huo Ye had always been handsome—elegant, composed, the impeccable young master, the elite of high society. Six or seven years ago, when they first met, Huo Ye had been the one holding a wine glass at the head of the table, while Ye Qingquan was just a work-study college student in patched-up shirts.
But now, the tables had turned.
Ye Qingquan stood neatly dressed in line, keeping an eye on his child while waiting for roast duck, bathed in warm light;
Huo Ye, on the other hand, was disheveled, his suit wrinkled, his hair damp, looking like a lost ghost.
Huo Ye stared at Ye Qingquan with dark, hollow eyes and asked hoarsely:
“Qingquan… won’t you really give me even one chance to make things right?”
Ye Qingquan quietly met his gaze.
“Huo Ye, we’re already over,” he said calmly, every word measured but inexplicably cold. “Three years ago, it ended completely. Lanlan is my child. He has nothing to do with you.”
“How can he have nothing to do with me?!” Huo Ye’s voice rose in agitation.
He looked at that adorable little face so similar to his own and couldn’t help saying, “Lanlan is my child. He shares my blood. I’m his father. I can give you both a complete family—”
Ye Qingquan cut him off.
“Huo Ye,” he asked softly, “if you really cared about me, about Lanlan… where were you for the past three years?”
If this had been the old Ye Qingquan, seeing Huo Ye so broken and hearing those words, he might have wavered. Even if he didn’t agree outright, a part of him might have struggled, even unconsciously started paying attention to Huo Ye’s every move again.
But now, things were different.
Looking at Lanlan in the distance, Ye Qingquan’s mind was eerily clear—terrifyingly so.
He knew exactly what Huo Ye and the others were after. As Lanlan’s father, he had to protect him.
As for love? Love was the most unreliable thing in the world.
Though he couldn’t quite remember, Ye Qingquan had a vague sense that somewhere deep in his mind, a little fox with a pointer was lecturing at a blackboard. It was that childish fox’s voice that had taught him: Relying on others is futile. Love is worthless.
In any case, Ye Qingquan wasn’t the same person anymore.
He had moved past the trials of love!
…Huo Ye had always been the type to bully the weak and fear the strong. If he had detected even a hint of hesitation in Ye Qingquan’s eyes, he would have seized the opportunity, using his usual tactics to play on Ye Qingquan’s sympathy to achieve his goal.
But the Ye Qingquan before him now had no cracks to exploit.
Huo Ye’s bravado deflated bit by bit.
He opened his mouth, scrambling for an excuse. “It’s only been three years… we still have so much time ahead…”
Sure, in those three years, he hadn’t once visited Lanlan or even bothered to ask about their whereabouts. But… wasn’t it just three years? In novels, three years was just a passing phrase. He had always thought there’d be plenty of time to make up for it.
As he spoke, under Ye Qingquan’s gentle amber gaze, Huo Ye found himself unable to continue.
Just three years.
‘Just’…
But these weren’t ordinary years.
Over a thousand days and nights, Ye Qingquan had welcomed a new life alone in a foreign land. The first time he held that small, fragile being, the first time he heard that faint yet tenacious heartbeat, the first time he clasped that tiny hand, the first time he heard the childish voice call ‘Daddy,’ the first bedtime story, the first stall outing selling roast ducks together…
Father and son had stumbled forward, supporting each other through every difficult step—yet never stopping.
Such years could never be reduced to a passing line in a novel, could never be called ‘just.’
Dust floated peacefully under the streetlights.
Staring at the beams of light, Huo Ye’s throat tightened as if gripped by invisible hands, rendering him speechless.
His eyes reddened.
He couldn’t even bring himself to meet Ye Qingquan’s gaze.
That gaze held nothing but indifference.
…Though neither had raised their voice, their striking looks made them stand out in the crowd.
Bystanders could barely contain their gossipy excitement:
“Whoa, what’s happening here?”
“Does anyone else think Little Boss Lan looks just like them…?”
“Isn’t that the famous Huo family heir, the big shot of Beijing’s elite circles?”
“…”
Amidst this unbearable silence, Old Madam Huo and the others arrived.
“Qingquan,” Huo Ran said softly, almost pleading, “I know my brother is scum—born rotten to the core, probably a parenting failure.”
“…I’m different.”
Huo Ye: “?”
Old Madam Huo: “???”
The usually mild-mannered Huo Ran had revealed his cunning at the critical moment, defecting and severing ties with the Huo family in one move!
What a masterful backstab.
Huo Ye and Old Madam Huo nearly choked on their fury.
Housecleaning. We’re purging this traitor immediately!
Mu Mingqiu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Makes sense.”
“The Huo family’s parenting is terrible, which is precisely why I recommend choosing me as Lanlan’s stepfather,” he said amiably.
Ye Qingquan’s secondhand embarrassment flared: “Uh…”
“Qingquan,” Huo Ran stepped closer, taking Ye Qingquan’s hands, voice tender, “I genuinely care about you—and Lanlan. I understand hating my brother for his three-year absence, but don’t let that blind you to others.”
“Give me a chance to take care of you both, okay?”
In his twenty-plus years of playing the meek underdog, Huo Ran had mastered the art of persuasion.
Tone, expression, gaze—he knew exactly how to dismantle defenses.
Now was no exception.
His eyes met Ye Qingquan’s with such sincerity that even the most stubborn would waver. A tactic that had never failed him.
Yet Ye Qingquan didn’t budge.
His gaze swept past them all—Huo Ye, Huo Ran, Old Madam Huo, Mu Mingqiu…
Under that look, even they faltered.
“Do you know why Lanlan sets up his stall?” Ye Qingquan asked.
A beat of silence.
“Because he loves making roast duck? Wants to be a famous chef, own his own restaurant someday?” Mu Mingqiu ventured.
“Is it… kindergarten social practice?” Huo Ye whispered timidly.
“Because he has a kind heart…” Old Madam Huo’s eyes brimmed with doting admiration.
Huo Ran, sensing missteps led to disaster, simply maintained his tender stare.
Ye Qingquan: “…”
“All wrong!”
Unable to contain himself any longer, Ye Qingquan felt fury surge through him like a detonated fuse.
SNAP—
Words poured out unchecked:
“You all claim to care about Lanlan, but you only care about yourselves! You’re just gluttons craving roast duck—not a single one truly wants to raise Lanlan! Shameless, manipulative, greedy—worms!!!”
Silence.
Old Madam Huo, Huo Ye, Huo Ran, and Mu Mingqiu’s mouths fell open in perfect ‘O’s.
The surroundings… went utterly still.
So Jian Yunlan going sell the second last remaining batch of roasted ducks after Ye Qingquan says his reason of boss little Lan selling off roasted duck is the bug fix?