Chapter 7: Where do I come from?

Solo Night Walker: A boy?

Solo Night Walker: Normally, doesn’t the nurse come out of the operating room after delivery and tell the family, “Congratulations, it’s a girl”?

How could they get the gender wrong?

Solo Night Walker: Besides, your mother should have stayed in a major hospital when she gave birth, right?

I think the probability of a large hospital making such a rookie mistake is practically zero.

Solo Night Walker: Honestly, I still feel like there might be an error in the paternity test comparing your blood type with your parents’.

Why not try doing it one more time?

Yi: We’ve already done four paternity tests.

I am definitely not their daughter.

I can be 100% certain of that.

Gu Yebai sat on the Number 5 bus, sending messages while observing the snow-covered small town outside the window through the corner of his eye.

The situation happening to Yi was truly bizarre.

‘It’s so strange.’

She was someone who lived in a completely different world from him, and they might never cross paths in their entire lives.

Yet, Gu Yebai felt a pang of worry for her situation.

She must be feeling very lost.

Solo Night Walker: What did the private investigator say exactly?

Yi: On that day, there were thirty-seven children delivered at the maternity hospital.

Yi: Out of those thirty-six children, more than half have already been tracked down through various contacts.

Most of them are in Donghai City, and a few are in other provinces.

My father is using his connections to find their whereabouts.

Solo Night Walker: Your father is pretty intense.

Yi: It’s understandable.

Thinking from his perspective, he definitely wants to find his own flesh and blood as soon as possible.

Solo Night Walker: This kind of executive power—hiring investigators and using all that social influence—is really unusual.

Yi: Anyway, there are only five children born at that maternity hospital left to find, and they are all boys.

Yi: Four of them are in other provinces, and one is abroad.

Yi: They’re really scattered all over the place: Qiongkou City on Qiongnan Island, Wancheng City in Qilu Province, Chuandu City in Shuchuan Province, and Toronto in Canada.

Solo Night Walker: What about the last one?

Yi: It’s a small place.

Uncle Bai probably hasn’t heard of it.

Yi: Linchuan County in Dongling Province.

Solo Night Walker: Yeah, I’ve definitely never heard of it.

He lied.

Gu Yebai was familiar with this place.

He was more than familiar with it.

He was currently in Linchuan County, Dongling Province.

‘Could it be…?’

Forget it.

Such a coincidence couldn’t possibly exist in this world.

Solo Night Walker: You must be nervous, right?

Solo Night Walker: One of those five places holds your parents’ biological son.

Yi: Last time I told you that I feel like a thief, stealing someone else’s life of wealth and privilege.

But now I’m really nervous; I’m afraid of meeting their biological son.

Yi: Their son will probably hate me, won’t he?

Yi: I feel so ashamed.

Solo Night Walker: On the contrary, I feel somewhat relieved.

Yi: Why do you say that?

Solo Night Walker: Because only kind people suffer from moral dilemmas.

Look, hasn’t this kind of plot happened in plenty of webnovels?

If most people were in your position, they’d act like a villainous female supporting character.

They’d be trying hard to figure out how to suppress the biological son, or better yet, nip the threat in the bud.

Yi: Should you consider putting a villainous female character based on me in your next book?

Solo Night Walker: If I write one, I’ll use you as a model for a cool, brave, kind, and sensitive red-haired heroine.

Solo Night Walker: Little Yi is kind, and I like kind people.

The world wasn’t gentle enough.

However, Gu Yebai had always believed that in this ungentle world, kind people could huddle together for warmth.

Yi: Suppose we really find the biological son and my parents don’t want me anymore.

What should I do?

Solo Night Walker: Didn’t you tell me last time that your parents will always see you as their own daughter?

Yi: I’m just saying “suppose,” a hypothetical.

Yi: Suppose my parents don’t want me—would it be okay if I came to stay with you, Uncle Bai?

When that time comes, we could rent a house together in Xinghai City and write novels.

I’m actually a pretty good cook; you’d definitely be won over by my culinary skills.

Gu Yebai was stunned for a moment.

He didn’t know how to reply.

Yi: Just kidding.

Yi: Uncle Bai, oh Uncle Bai, is your old face turning red right now?

Yi: You’re not even replying to the messages.

Solo Night Walker: I was thinking about the plot of my novel.

Yi: Hmph, the same old excuse.

If you’re shy, just say you’re shy.

Don’t drag “thinking about the plot” into this.

Yi: [Flash Photo]

Gu Yebai instinctively clicked it.

Beneath translucent lace-trimmed sleepwear, red as if soaked in wine, was a perfect, graceful body.

Her skin was smooth as cream, and the silhouette of the petal-like gauze was exceptionally alluring under the dim lights.

5 seconds passed.

The image self-destructed.

It was a bit of a pity.

Even though Yi didn’t send another message, Gu Yebai felt as if he were hallucinating.

He felt as if she were leaning against his ear like an elegant, slow-moving viper, seducing him and asking with a provocative, smiling voice: “Is your face red, Uncle Bai?”

Exactly.

She won.

Gu Yebai’s face was indeed flushed right now, and the tips of his ears felt hot.

He had zero romantic experience.

Since childhood, he had been like a machine that never stopped—either at school, writing novels, or running to the hospital.

“You monster, don’t even think about disturbing my Zen…”

Cough, cough.

What was her goal in sending a photo like that?

What were her intentions?

Shouldn’t the concern buried deepest in her heart be the fact that she wasn’t biologically related to her parents?

Yet, she used this playful method to steer the conversation away from such a heavy topic.

He understood.

She was using frivolity to mask the weight of the situation.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t help her much.

Even his comfort felt pale and weak.

Gu Yebai had nothing; he had no right to interfere in anyone else’s life.

The only thing he could do was play the role of a good listener to make the other person feel a bit better.

“I don’t know where you’re from.”

But Gu Yebai knew where he came from.

After hearing about Yi‘s situation, Gu Yebai got off the bus and walked toward the Linchuan River on a whim.

At the end of the path was a poorly equipped community clinic.

It was two stories high, with peeling walls and a crooked neon sign.

Yellowed slips of paper were stuck to the door, proving it had been abandoned for a long time.

There were even clumps of snow-covered weeds in the cracks of the steps.

When his parents were alive, they had told him:

“You were born right here.”

Gu Yebai stood in the wind.

The coldness of the snow made him feel profoundly lonely at this moment.

“I was born here. So, this place has already been abandoned.”

Things truly change while people remain the same.

The coal yard next door was no longer what it used to be.

After the resources were exhausted, the street had grown cold.

Those who could leave had already left; only the elderly remained.

The air was heavy, and the boilers occasionally spat out the smell of coal slag and industrial exhaust, feeling like cotton batting pressed against his chest.

Sometimes he thought that living here made it no wonder his parents had developed cancer.

But where else could they go if they didn’t live here?

After working hard for a lifetime, the housing prices in most areas were simply unaffordable.

This was the reality faced by the masses.

“Time to go back.”

Gu Yebai turned and walked toward home.

As he walked, he suddenly felt as if he were being watched.

It was as if someone’s gaze was firmly glued to his back—not too close, but not too far—making him feel very uncomfortable.

Gu Yebai turned around abruptly.

There was no one behind him.

There were only footprints not yet smoothed over by the snow and shadows cast by the lights.

‘Is it an illusion?’

It had been happening a lot lately.

Like someone was staring at him.

However, he didn’t need to worry too much about the security of the place where he lived.

This area was so dilapidated that it was rare to see even a ghost, let alone a person.