In the grand hall of the villa, Xiao Yufan felt the awkward atmosphere but showed no expression on his face. What could he possibly say in a moment like this…
“Y…You’re really Yufan…?”
The silence didn’t last long before the beautiful woman broke the ice. Upon hearing her words, Xiao Yufan was deeply shaken. The tenderness in her voice instantly touched his heart and brought tears to his eyes.
“If I’m not mistaken, I am the Yufan you’re referring to. But I no longer bear the surname Situ!”
Instinctively, Xiao Yufan still felt resistance. He no longer needed anyone’s care—he had already received everything he had ever wanted from his adoptive parents. Now, standing before people who should be his closest blood relatives, could he really accept them so easily?
“Yufan, how can you speak to your mother in such a tone?”
Grandfather Situ hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from Xiao Yufan. His brows furrowed slightly, and his voice carried a tone of reprimand.
“Should I speak with gentler emotions instead? I’m a person with flesh and blood. If I can’t even express joy or sorrow, wouldn’t I just be a toy—one that can be discarded at will?”
Even Xiao Yufan himself didn’t know why maintaining calm composure was so difficult. He had thought himself cold enough, yet he still couldn’t withstand the undeniable truth.
“Dad, Yufan is right. We’re the ones who owe this child. Now that he wants to release his pent-up emotions, we shouldn’t oppose him.”
The beautiful woman’s lips curved into a bitter smile. Xiao Yufan’s emotional fluctuations stirred her heart deeply. For twenty-five years, she had never truly given him a mother’s love—that had been her lifelong regret.
Even if Xiao Yufan showed emotion, she could understand it. After all, who could remain completely calm in such a situation?
Looking up at the marble-inlaid ceiling, Xiao Yufan struggled to hold back his tears. Despite twenty-five years of cultivating a composed demeanor, facing his birth parents now had completely thrown him off balance.
“This isn’t your mother’s fault. It was my stubbornness back then that caused you to be sent away. The root of all this pain has always been me—a completely unworthy father!”
A quiet sigh escaped the middle-aged man who had remained silent until now. His voice carried guilt, yet his authoritative presence remained unchanged—the unmistakable aura of a family patriarch.
“I don’t want to hear some stories. What’s done is done, and there’s no turning back. I’ll always be the child who was cast aside…”
His eyes slightly red, Xiao Yufan’s gaze turned hazy. Meeting the middle-aged man’s eyes directly, his heart was pierced with a sharp pain, and bitterness surged within him.
“I never expected you to forgive me. But since your blood flows through your veins, there are things you simply cannot run from. If you truly try to escape, then you’re not worthy of bearing the Situ name.”
“I never said I wanted to escape. Don’t force your thoughts onto me. The very fact that I chose to come here means I want to prove to you in the near future that this ‘discarded child’ isn’t as worthless as you think!”
The moment the middle-aged man and Xiao Yufan spoke, the tension between them became palpable. No wonder people say that a father and son must have been enemies in a past life—this pair was living proof.
“Alright, alright, why are you both acting like children? Yufan coming here is a good thing. Blood is thicker than water—there’s no bond that can’t be mended…”
Grandfather Situ had initially worried that Xiao Yufan might keep his true feelings bottled up, making it hard for him to gauge his grandson’s heart. But now that everything had been laid bare, he actually thought it was a positive development.
A faint, solitary smirk tugged at Xiao Yufan’s lips. Deep down, he had already accepted their existence, but he simply couldn’t adapt to the situation yet. His earlier words had clearly been impulsive.
With Grandfather Situ easing the tension, the middle-aged man’s eyes flickered with an imperceptible gleam. He secretly admired Xiao Yufan’s temperament—proud yet steady, bearing traces of his own younger self.
“Yufan, I know you still have many grievances. After going through so much, no one could expect you to accept everything immediately. But we can wait for you to acknowledge us.”
Seeing the fiery tension between the two at their first meeting, the beautiful woman felt worried. She feared that Xiao Yufan’s emotional distance would deepen, making it impossible for them to ever truly reach his heart again.
This time, Xiao Yufan said nothing more. He simply nodded, his gentle gesture warming his entire heart. He no longer wished to hurt his mother’s feelings.
There was no dramatic sorrow, no tearful breakdown. What Xiao Yufan had imagined was merely a simple reunion. Yet within that simplicity lay a deep, heart-wrenching ache.
“Let’s have a meal together. I’m sure you both have much to talk about, right Yufan?”
“Mm, I’ll leave it to Grandfather’s decision. In a world-class estate like this, sharing a meal is something many would dream of. At least for someone like me, who came from the countryside, it’s a luxury.”
Xiao Yufan didn’t refuse, nor did he have any reason to. Yet as he spoke his last sentence, his tone clearly carried a heavier weight. To outsiders, it might have sounded humble, but to his parents, it carried an entirely different, bittersweet meaning.
They arrived at the second-floor dining hall, where Xiao Yufan saw two servants already preparing the meal. The long table was filled with dishes, and Xiao Yufan doubted whether even more people could finish all the food…
His gaze lingered briefly on the two servants before returning to himself. One of them was a young woman, around twenty-three, with an exquisite beauty that stirred his natural flirtatious side.
Caught under Xiao Yufan’s gaze, the girl blushed slightly, her natural, delicate beauty making her the most captivating woman Xiao Yufan had ever seen.
“Cough, cough. Let’s eat first. Are you so captivated by girls that you can’t even move your eyes? Our Lan Yue hasn’t even graduated college yet, so don’t get any ideas!”
Grandfather Situ could see exactly what Xiao Yufan was thinking. Though he said this, he shot Xiao Yufan a knowing glance, and the two exchanged knowing smiles—understanding passing silently between them…
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