Soon after, he heard the second aunt saying goodbye to his mother. Lian leaned against the window, watching his father and the second aunt walk closely together towards the car.
Suddenly, he noticed a change in the light from the kitchen window next door. In the dim light, he saw his mother, also leaning against the kitchen window, her bright eyes coldly watching her departing husband and sister.
His father came back very late, around 2 a.m.
Lian had initially been secretly pleased, waiting for a conflict to erupt between his parents.
After all, the scene of his mother coldly watching from the kitchen window filled his mind. But to Lian's surprise, after his father returned home, his parents' bedroom was unusually quiet. He could only hear his father washing up and going to bed; nothing else.
Half-asleep, Lian drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, the house returned to its usual quietness.
His mother acted as a typical housewife, while his father went to work as usual.
The appointment to take Lian to the hospital for a checkup was postponed until the weekend.
After a few normal days, Lian felt as if what he had witnessed that day was a dream… and unreal.
However, Lian was still worried that his parents would come to school and question his best friend Yioui, so the next day at school, he dragged Yioui along to coordinate their story.
Yioui was indeed Lian's best friend, and without hesitation, he offered to take the blame.
But when Yioui asked Lian about what had happened that afternoon, Lian claimed he had visited Xiang Temple.
The weekend arrived in the blink of an eye.
His mother took Lian to the Hospital again, where the Vice President Jun personally welcomed them through the hospital gates.
His mother looked at Vice President Jun and repeatedly said she didn't deserve such an honor.
Vice President Jun feigned panic, saying, "The arrival of Secretary Lidau's wife is an honor; how could I dare to be negligent?" Seeing that no one was watching, the mother kicked him in the ankle.
The kick seemed quite hard, as Vice President Jun limped the rest of the way afterward.
The examination didn't reveal any major problems. It was simply a matter of being a little weak; besides improving nutrition, the advice was to increase outdoor exercise. This was all within Lian and his mother's expectations.
Back home at noon, his father had already left, having mentioned an emergency meeting at work that day. His mother made noodles, and that was lunch.
Lian returned to his room, ready to immerse himself in his book again, when he heard his mother answer the phone. He didn't hear what was said, but then his mother opened Lian's door.
"Lian, Mom's going to the supermarket to buy some things. I'll be back soon. Don't just sit still while reading; you heard what the doctor said. Get up and move around after a while..."
After Lian agreed, his mother left.
After hearing the door close, Lian quickly changed his shoes and cautiously followed her out.
Lian thought about how he had never truly understood his parents' relationships and lives outside the home. Was what he had seen and heard a few days ago really just a dream?
Lian was somewhat unwilling to accept this, so this time, after his mother went out alone, he had the idea of following her.
As Lian expected, his mother didn't go to the supermarket they usually shopped at after going downstairs. Instead, she walked through several alleys to a nearby park. Once there, his mother picked up her phone.
Following someone requires some professional skills.
Therefore, Lian didn't dare follow too closely, so he naturally had no way of knowing the content of his mother's phone call.
He saw his mother hang up the phone in the distance and walk towards a rocky place. At the other end of it, he could vaguely see the figure of a man in a long coat.
"Isn't that Uncle Jun?" Lian had initially thought the person his mother was meeting secretly would be Uncle Jun.
Lian was very familiar with Jun's appearance, whom he had known since childhood, but the male figure clearly contradicted his guess.
"Could it be that Mom has more than just Uncle Jun as a lover?" Lian was somewhat dumbfounded.
If it were Uncle Jun, Lian might not have felt too much dislike. After all, they were very familiar with each other, and he called him "Uncle" naturally. Deep down, Lian even had a strange sense of acceptance towards the intimacy between his mother and him.
But the strange male figure appearing before him was hard for Lian to accept; he even noticed his breathing becoming heavy.
The place they were was in a very secluded location; unless intentionally chosen, almost no one in the park would notice it.
While Lian was still lost in thought, he realized that his mother and the male figure had disappeared.
Lian approached the place in a panic, only to find a couple, disheveled, rolling together on the grass in the nearby woods.
The man, quite annoyed at Lian, cursed, "Damn it, what are you looking at? Get lost, or I'll beat you up!" The woman, however, glanced at Lian, blushed, smiled at him, and gently tried to calm the man down.
Lian's face instantly turned bright red.
As if he had done something wrong, he quickly walked away.
Just as he left the grove, he heard a strangely familiar voice coming from the low wall in the corner of the park.
Lian crouched down and pressed himself against the wall.
On the grass about ten meters away, his mother and the man were embracing.
His mother's legs were wrapped tightly around the man's waist like a snake.
Their heads were pressed close together.
They rolled around on the grass for a while, then the mother looked around, took off her coat and tossed it aside.
The man also took off his coat, but instead of throwing it away, he draped it over them both.
The man's coat was large, almost completely covering both of their bodies, except for their legs.