Chapter 22: Noodles

Lin Zhi's father had shaved.

It was the first thing Lin Zhi noticed, and it made him angrier than the shouting had.

He stood on the bottom step of the civil affairs building in a clean shirt, with his hair wet and combed.

He held out the flowers with both hands.

"Congratulations, son," he said. "I saw it on the news. I wanted to say, I'm proud."

Nobody answered him.

Lin Zhi's mother had let go of her son's arm.

She stood a little behind him, small and straight, and said nothing at all.

"Ah," said his father, to her. "Look at you. You haven't changed."

"Dad," said Lin Zhi.

"I know I made mistakes. I was in a bad place. But I'm a changed man, Zhi."

"And now that you're part of that family, I thought, a little help to get me started. Just a loan. Just until the spring."

Lin Zhi took a long breath.

He had planned a great many things to say to this man, over the years, in the dark.

They all seemed very small now.

"No," he said.

"Just a little."

"No. Not one yuan, Dad."

His father's smile slipped sideways.

"Don't be like that. You're rich now. Your man there has got the whole Xie family behind him."

"I'm right here," said Zhaoran, quietly.

He had come down two steps to stand at Lin Zhi's shoulder.

He did not touch him, and he did not raise his voice.

But he stood tall and still in his grey sweater, and the father fell back half a pace.

"Sir," said Zhaoran, "I'll make you an offer. You may choose."

"I'm listening," said the father.

"There is a clinic in Ningbo that treats gambling. It's a good one."

"I've paid the first year, with a room and meals," he said.

"No cash will be handed to you, ever, by me or by anyone who answers to me."

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Chongxi Husband Is Faking His Coma from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.