The abandoned daughter of the Lu family turns around and marries a celibate tycoon.

Lu Xiran and Lin Chen had lunch with the children and played with them all afternoon until it was getting late.

"Let's have dinner together, okay?" As she left the orphanage, Lu Xiran extended an invitation, her tone tinged with barely perceptible nervousness.

Lin Chen looked at her calmly, and after a few seconds, nodded: "Okay."

In the tranquil private room of Yunyuji, all the dishes have been served, and the aroma of tea wafts through the air.

Lu Xiran was still considering how to start the conversation when Lin Chen put down his teacup, looked directly at her, and got straight to the point: "What do you want to ask? Just ask." He was always perceptive and had already realized that her visit today was no accident.

Lu Xiran took a deep breath, took out her phone from her bag, pulled up the photo she had looked at countless times, and pushed it in front of Lin Chen.

"Could you...please tell me?" she whispered, her voice hesitant and tentative, "who is he?"

Lin Chen's gaze fell on the photograph, without the slightest surprise. After a moment of silence, he raised his eyes, his voice calm and even, yet each word clear and distinct:

"He's my brother."

Although she already had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on, hearing the definite answer still made Lu Xiran's heart clench, and an indescribable mix of excitement and bitterness rushed to her nose.

"Then...where is he now?"

Lin Chen's eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly. He slowly looked at Lu Xiran, his eyes filled with a deep pity and a calm acceptance of the truth.

"Three years ago, he participated in an Antarctic glacier research project." Lin Chen's voice lowered. "Shortly after setting off, he... lost contact. The search and rescue lasted for several months, and in the end, the official conclusion was... missing, most likely dead."

Lu Xiran's breathing suddenly stopped.

A fleeting image flashed through my mind: three years ago, his back was always glued to his phone reading the news, and his face was growing thinner and more lifeless... So that's how it was.

The last glimmer of hope in my heart was extinguished by this cruel reality.

In fact, reason had already given her the answer—if her father knew her situation in the Lu family, how could he possibly ignore it?

"...Then," her voice choked with emotion, "should I...call you Uncle?"

Lin Chen looked at her reddened eyes, nodded gently, and said with a hint of softness in his voice, "In terms of bloodline, yes."

"Then... why didn't you acknowledge me sooner?" Lu Xiran asked, voicing the question that had been lingering in her mind for a long time, her voice filled with grievance and confusion.

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen's lips curled into a faint, bitter smile.

"Because in my heart, I... harbor hatred for your mother." He spoke frankly, his gaze turning to the deepening night outside the window. "My brother's life hasn't been easy. A large part of the reason is because of her."

Lu Xiran was taken aback at first, but then immediately understood.

The man in the photo is so outstanding. If he didn't love her deeply, how could he be willing to remain anonymous and silently protect a woman who is not divorced for a lifetime?

"I'm sorry..." she whispered.

For the sake of her mother, and also for that heavy and hopeless feeling.

"It's all in the past." Lin Chen withdrew his gaze, his tone returning to its usual calm. "In the last phone call he made to me from Antarctica, he only asked for one thing—he hoped that I, if possible, would help take care of you and your mother. He said that he had never fulfilled his responsibilities as a father for a single day in his life, and he hoped you wouldn't blame him."

Lu Xiran's tears finally welled up and rolled down her cheeks in large drops.

She suddenly remembered Gu Yanshen saying that he was in Switzerland when Lu Hao was chasing her. Could Lin Chen also be in Switzerland? That mysterious number that had repeatedly sent anonymous warnings and helped her avoid danger…

With trembling hands, she pulled out the text message history from her phone and handed it to Lin Chen: "This number... is yours, right?"

Lin Chen glanced at it and readily admitted, "Yes."

"When I saw the news about the Lu family, I guessed... Lu Hao might already know about your background," Lin Chen explained, his tone tinged with lingering fear. "I had hoped you could finish your studies in Switzerland safely and stay away from trouble. But while I was secretly watching you, I discovered someone was following you, with unclear intentions."

"Thank you... thank you so much, Uncle." Lu Xiran sobbed uncontrollably. This belated protection from her blood relative filled her with mixed emotions. "I... I have no way to repay you."

"I was just fulfilling my brother's request." Lin Chen sighed, looking at the girl in front of him, her face streaked with tears, his hardened heart softened slightly. He changed the subject, trying to ease the atmosphere: "But... being called 'Uncle' by you makes me feel like I've suddenly aged several years?" He paused, then, as if remembering something, a rare mischievous glint flashed in his eyes, "And, thinking that Gu Yanshen will also have to call me 'Uncle' from now on, it... feels kind of nice?"

Lu Xiran burst into laughter after being amused by his words.

"Uncle," she wiped away her tears, mustered her courage, and asked with a hint of cautious expectation, "Could you... tell me about my father's story? Anything is fine."

The smile on Lin Chen's face faded, and a complex struggle and pain flashed in his eyes.

Lu Xiran immediately sensed his predicament and quickly said, "I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about it..."

"It's not that I don't want to talk about it," Lin Chen interrupted her, rubbing his temples as if trying to sort out his chaotic thoughts. "It's just that there are some things he himself is very secretive about, and what I know is incomplete. I only found out about you five years ago when I accidentally discovered your photo in his apartment."

He looked at Lu Xiran with a complicated expression: "To be honest, it startled me at the time. I thought he was single in his thirties, so why would he be staring at a photo of a middle school student? After I pressed him, he finally confessed that you are his daughter."

Lu Xiran's tears welled up again.

She could almost see that in that unknown corner, there was a man who loved her silently, collecting every little detail of her growth, but could only watch from afar, unable to utter even a single word of "Dad".

"He loves you very much," Lin Chen's voice was a little hoarse, "even though you never knew he existed. He would secretly go outside your school to watch you leave; he would collect all the reports about you, even if it was just a name in the school newspaper."

His tone suddenly turned cold, filled with suppressed hatred: "So, I hate your mother. She ruined his life, yet she won't let him go."

Lu Xiran was stunned.

"Especially after he went missing in Antarctica, I went to see your mother." Lin Chen's fist clenched unconsciously, his knuckles turning white. "I even... confronted her directly, threatened her. Because, my brother went to Antarctica because of her!"