So Lin Chen listened patiently to Cheng Huanzhen’s words, his expression showing timely confusion.

He said, “Of course you can. You want to find your family—that’s natural. Why would you ask me such a question?”

Cheng Huanzhen stared unblinkingly at Lin Chen, trying to keep calm as he said, “The one I want to find is you. So naturally, I ask you this question.”

Lin Chen blinked in puzzlement twice.

Suddenly, he understood the meaning behind the words and laughed, clutching his stomach: “Wait, you don’t… Sorry, this is funny. You don’t actually think I’m your uncle, do you?”

Lin Chen stopped by the roadside, even laughing until a tear appeared at the corner of his eye.

After laughing for a long time, he finally stopped and straightened up again, leaning on a street lamp, saying, “No wonder you keep coming to find me.”

“When did you start thinking this way? Could it be from the very first time we met?”

Lin Chen said, “I don’t know what happened between you and your uncle, nor what kind of person he is. But your guess is… too exaggerated.”

“How can one person suddenly become another?”

He casually asked, “If he doesn’t exist, wouldn’t your family know?”

He patted Cheng Huanzhen on the shoulder, and when Cheng Huanzhen hastily tried to explain, Lin Chen calmly interrupted: “It’s late. You should go home. Your family must be missing you after all these days.”

Just then, a taxi passed by on the roadside.

Lin Chen raised his hand and hailed the taxi down.

Cheng Huanzhen widened his eyes, stepped forward quickly, and grabbed the edge of Lin Chen’s clothes: “Wait…!”

Lin Chen sighed softly, gently peeled Cheng Huanzhen’s hand from his clothes, and said mildly but distantly, “Go home.”

He said this as he got into the car, closed the door, and nodded politely through the window without giving him any chance to hold him back. The car drove away.

Cheng Huanzhen watched numbly as the car disappeared, becoming a tiny black dot in his sight.

He stood firmly by the roadside, dust swirling about, choking his throat.

…Why?

If he wasn’t his uncle, he shouldn’t have such an attitude.

If he really was his uncle, then why… why wouldn’t he acknowledge him?

Cheng Huanzhen couldn’t understand.

The winter wind howled.
Cheng Huanzhen strode back to his car and floored the accelerator, driving back to Lin Chen’s house.

He knocked, knocked, knocked.

Lin Chen refused to open the door.

Until late at night, the male owner inside the house, probably annoyed by the knocking, finally shouted from the second-floor window, “I’m going to sleep. You should go home.”

Cheng Huanzhen stubbornly stood there.

He looked up at the young man inside the window and shouted, “I want to talk to you.”

But the youth glanced down at him, then withdrew and closed the window and pulled the curtains.

The shadow inside the room turned away and gradually shrank.

Then darkness fell inside the room as the lights went off.

Cheng Huanzhen stared intently at the dark room, then shook his head and drove away, briefly going home to sleep.

At six the next morning, he was back on time, waiting again outside Lin Chen’s door.

He waited expressionless, guarding silently.

No one left the house all morning, and no shadow moved behind the window.

He waited from dawn to noon, and only then was there some movement inside.

So he began knocking again.

From noon to afternoon, from afternoon to dusk, from dusk to nightfall.

Knocking until Lin Chen once again pulled aside the curtains, slightly leaned out of the window, and shouted, “Does your family know how clingy you are? Go home!”

Cheng Huanzhen looked up and hoarsely shouted, “Why won’t you let me in to speak with you face to face?”

Lin Chen did not answer again.

He closed the window, drew the curtains, and turned off the light to sleep.

Cheng Huanzhen refused to give up.

Early the next morning at six, he waited again at Lin Chen’s door.

Maybe he was annoyed by the knocking the past two days.

This time, Lin Chen finally came out around noon, opened the gate just a crack, and said patiently, “It’s useless for you to keep waiting here. I’m Lin Chen, not your uncle. Don’t mistake me.”

“Also, if you want to find your uncle, you should discuss it with your family, not with me.”

Lin Chen emphasized the words “family.”

But Cheng Huanzhen didn’t know what this had to do with his family.

He was looking for his uncle.

His father and grandfather were either servants in a “scam” or people who were deceived but never seriously looked for his uncle!

So what’s the point of looking for them?

Cheng Huanzhen wedged his hand between the door crack.

He stared fixedly at Lin Chen, softened his tone, and said, “I’m not trying to disturb your life. But can you let me in to talk? Half an hour is enough.”

Lin Chen sighed softly and gently pried each finger from the door edge, pushing them outside the door crack.

He said, “Don’t recognize people casually. If you mistake someone, your real uncle will be very sad, right? …You should go home and think carefully.”

After saying that, he closed the door again.

Cheng Huanzhen was extremely confused.

He had clearly thought a lot, over an entire year!

He had no objections, no demands, so why?
Why?
Why wouldn’t his uncle accept him, or even listen to him for a few words?!

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t know.

So he could only wait day after day at the door.

The fourth day, fifth day…

He waited from dawn to sunset, until nightfall blanketed the earth, until silence fell and the house went completely dark.

In these two days, Lin Chen didn’t even shout from the window anymore.

Lin Chen just left him standing outside the door.

For two whole days, not once showing himself.

On the fifth night, the sky was dark and heavy, and the air was thick with dampness.

The yard’s street light was not bright, dimly covering the small patch of land beneath his feet.

Cheng Huanzhen stood despondent outside the yard, staring blankly at his own toes.

He was extremely confused and very sad.

He knew Lin Chen’s attitude was already quite mild.

In a normal family, if someone didn’t want to open the door, security would have come to kick him out, or even police might have been called.

But Lin Chen did nothing.

He just silently refused to meet with him inside the house.

He was gentle.

So… he was probably his uncle, wasn’t he?

But if he really was his uncle, then why… wouldn’t he accept him?

After learning Lin Chen’s name and identity, Cheng Huanzhen naturally investigated.

He didn’t understand why his uncle could soften and communicate with Fang Ji through spiritual means, but wouldn’t open a door or nod to him.

Uncle.

Uncle…

Had his uncle never thought that after showing him the colors of this world, his heart would also hurt?

Suddenly, fine rain began to fall from the sky.

Cheng Huanzhen stood still outside the gate, unmoving.

The drizzle grew heavier, soon turning into torrential rain.

Lightning occasionally flashed, breaking the sky and illuminating the city’s towering buildings.

This was still the nightlife period in the capital.

Even with the rain, the city would be bustling, the streets noisy with laughter and shouting, full of color.

But those pleasures didn’t concern him.

He stood alone in the pouring rain.

The house with the surname Lin was dark and forbidding, plainly showing its rejection.

Cheng Huanzhen watched the rain enter his eyes and run out of them.

His clothes were wet, his shoes wet, soaked through from head to toe.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

A stray dog barked suddenly through the rain curtain.

A gray stray dashed into a lakeside pavilion and shook off the rain.

Inside the pavilion someone sheltered from the rain.

She saw the dog shivering and, with compassion, took a towel from her bag to gently dry it.

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t see this.

He still stood in the downpour.

Rain washed his face repeatedly, and lightning occasionally struck above his head.

His car was not far behind him.

He could have turned and gotten in to avoid the rain and lightning.

But his steps did not move.

His gaze remained fixed on the second-floor window.

That was Lin Chen’s bedroom.

He was there now.

The distance was close enough—just tens of meters, a short sprint away.

But the distance was vast—too far to cross in five days.

His uncle… was rejecting him.

His uncle didn’t want to see him.

Wasn’t he supposed to know that by now?

It had all been a lie from the start.

He’d never truly had such vivid colors, never really had his uncle.

It was all just his own wishful thinking.

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t know how long he stood in the rain.

Maybe ten minutes, maybe half an hour.

He was drenched from skin to heart, soaked and frozen like an ice block.

Then, from somewhere, came a faint sigh.

Maybe a hallucination, or maybe real.

Then he saw a lamp behind the second-floor window turn on.

The villa gate opened.

Then the yard gate opened.

The young man wore a thick coat over his robe.

He held an umbrella, frowning tightly.

He grabbed Cheng Huanzhen’s wrist and pulled him under the umbrella.

The pouring rain was kept outside the umbrella.

“Rumble rumble—”

Lightning and thunder outside.

Under the umbrella, the youth looked at him sharply, scolding with frustration:

“I’ve carried you for a whole year. Why can’t you even take a step to the side to avoid getting soaked in the rain?”