Chapter 51: It’s Normal for You to Have Such Doubts
“This is Wen En, my son. This is Romeo, a new member of our family. He’s here for a two-week study tour and painting trip at Poyin Lake and will be staying with us temporarily.”
On the spacecraft, Wen En had checked the emails in his inbox from the past two years. His mother, Wen Ye, had told him in an email that their family had recently participated in a public welfare study tour activity. The activity involved a group of high school graduates who were about to enter university, coming to Poyin Lake for two weeks to experience the beauty of nature.
Undeniably, the environment at his home was indeed beautiful. Wen En had no objections to this. It was just that his mother had also mentioned in the email that a week ago, the guest room in their house had been smashed to pieces by a rotten pine tree next to the house. The family had hired craftsmen to repair it for a week, but it was still not fixed. So Wen Ye had to let the study tour student temporarily stay in his room.
Wen En frowned as he read the email and drank his coffee. Seriously? This was too much of a coincidence. And wouldn’t it be a little awkward?
When he was in the army, he had to deal with a lot of people, and his teammates were constantly changing. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with sleeping in the same bed with a stranger—provided it was in the army barracks, not in a private place like home.
Looking at Romeo, and thinking that this kid he had just met had already been sleeping in his bed for several days, Wen En felt goosebumps.
But Wen En still extended his hand and greeted him friendly, “Romeo, hello?”
“Hello,” Romeo extended his hand and said, a little awkwardly, “Mr. Wen En, I hope my arrival hasn’t disturbed you.”
“Hahaha, no, no, of course not,” Wen En said with a laugh.
“Alright, don’t just stand here like a fool,” Wen Ye patted Wen En on the back and said, “You must be starving. Go and sit down in the dining room. Dinner is ready.”
“I know, Mom,” Wen En said.
Because of Wen En’s arrival, Wen Ye and her husband, Louis Yang, decided to add two more dishes, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough food.
“I’ll do it,” Wen En offered. “You guys go and eat first.”
“No need. You just sit with the kids and drink juice,” Wen Ye refused, stuffing a large bottle of mixed fruit juice into Wen En’s hands and then shooing him back to the dining table.
“I know, I know,” Wen En sat down with a grin. “Oh my, you’re making me feel embarrassed.”
He happened to be sitting next to Romeo. Wen En poured himself a glass of juice and then asked, “Want some juice?”
Romeo nodded. Wen En took the glass in front of him and poured him a glass of juice. “Thank you,” Romeo said.
“Hey, where’s Wen Yuan?” Wen En said.
“I just saw her sitting here,” Romeo said.
The moment he finished speaking, the little girl in black appeared to Wen En’s right, holding a large black rat, which startled Wen En.
The little girl was holding a plastic cup in her other hand. “I want to drink juice too, thank you.”
“…Here you go,” after pouring the juice, the little girl floated away again.
“…”
“Hahahaha. Her personality is still so strange,” Wen En said with a laugh. “Apart from her height, she really hasn’t changed at all.”
Indeed. Wen Yuan was a little girl with a strange personality. Romeo had a deep impression of this—for example, there was a transparent glass cabinet in her room, which housed a cabinet full of exotic pets, such as lizards and spiders. The rat she had just been holding was the most normal pet she had ever kept.
Why did Romeo know this? Because on the first night he had just moved in, the little girl’s large black spider, the size of an adult’s palm and hairy, had escaped and had slept with him in his bed for eight hours, giving him a big surprise when he opened his eyes the next morning.
And her family was particularly tolerant of her. Wen Ye and Louis Yang did not have high expectations for her. They only hoped that she would not break the law, not pick up bad habits, and not suffer from mental illness in the future. Everything else was fine.
“I hope her pets didn’t scare you,” Wen En said. “Her spiders and lizards are always escaping.”
Romeo smiled and said, “It’s fine.”
Soon, the two of them fell into a strange silence.
“…”
A little awkward.
As an adult Beta male, Wen En decided to take the initiative to start a conversation. “So, Romeo, what exactly do you do in this study tour program?”
“We just go to the lake to sketch, write poems, and the like,” Romeo replied. It sounded boring. Romeo was not really interested in natural landscapes. He had participated in this study tour program purely to get extra credits.
“I see,” Wen En understood. “The natural scenery around here is indeed very nice. After all, it’s right next to a forest park.”
Speaking of which, Wen En had a new idea. “How about I join your study tour team as well?”
“Huh?” Romeo looked at him with confusion.
“Anyway, I have a two-week vacation, and I have nothing to do at home,” Wen En said. “I might as well go with you guys and experience the edification of nature.”
Seeing that Romeo was not speaking, Wen En said, “Do you mind?”
“Of-of course not,” Romeo suddenly stammered.
Wen En said, “Oh, right, I still need the approval of your study tour program’s leader.”
“Th-that should be the case… I’ll ask,” Romeo took out his communicator and tapped it a few times. Soon, he looked up at Wen En and said, “The leader said it’s no problem. She also asked me to ask you if you can be the tour guide for the study tour team.”
“Of course I can,” Wen En said.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell the leader,” Romeo nodded. He didn’t realize that after hearing that Wen En had agreed to be the tour guide, his tone of voice had become much lighter.
Wen En looked at the sparkling, different-colored eyes and smiled. It seemed that this unpresented kid was a forest and wildlife enthusiast. Otherwise, how could he be so happy?
It was a very pleasant dinner.
The food for dinner today was very rich. To cater to Romeo’s taste, Wen Ye and Louis Yang had created a fusion of Eastern and Western food cultures. There was plum-braised steak, typhoon shelter salmon, garlic butter roasted pork chops, vegetable salad, and a new dish added because of Wen En’s return: scallion-roasted lobster.
“Wow, this is too much. I’ve never had such a rich meal when I came home before,” Wen En said, after he was full, while drinking a digestive herbal tea.
Wen Ye stuffed a piece of cut watermelon into Wen En’s mouth. “You talk too much. Just eat your fruit!”
“Am I wrong… mmph!” Wen En spat out half a piece of watermelon. “Mom, are you trying to choke me?”
Wen Ye glanced at Wen En, snorted, and took a plate of watermelon, turning to go to the living room to watch TV.
“Tch,” Wen En finished the half piece of watermelon and grumbled.
Feeling a gaze on him, Wen En subconsciously turned his head and saw Romeo sizing him up.
“Want some fruit?” Wen En thought he wanted to eat fruit and gave him a kiwi from the fruit basket on the table. This was a fruit from the fruit tree in his backyard.
Romeo shook his head and continued to size him up with a strange look.
Wen En was speechless. “Is there a piece of vegetable on my face?”
“No,” Romeo said.
“Then what are you looking at?”
Hearing Wen En ask him this, Romeo looked hesitant again.
“?”
“Don’t scold me if I say it,” Romeo said, as if he were about to say something mysterious.
“I won’t. Tell me quickly,” Wen En quickly pricked up his ears. His intuition told him that Romeo was definitely about to say some gossip.
“It’s just…” Romeo hesitated for a long while before saying, “I just feel that Ms. Wen Ye and you don’t look alike.”
“Huh?” Wen En looked at him in surprise.
“It’s not just you and Ms. Wen Ye. In fact, Wen En, you and Ms. Wen Ye, and Mr. Louis Yang, and even Wen Yuan, you guys…” Romeo took a deep breath and said, “You four have four different faces. Alright, I know this is not uncommon, like atavism and the like.”
“Oh, you’re talking about that.”
Wen En glanced at his parents, who were snuggled together on the sofa, and then at his sister, who was crawling on all fours on the stairs with her hair disheveled, with her pet rat.
Uh, alright, Wen En didn’t understand, but he respected it.
Ahem, off-topic.
Wen En explained to Romeo, “It’s normal for you to have such doubts, because I’m not my parents’ biological child, and neither is Wen Yuan.”
“???”
Romeo’s jaw almost dropped. He quickly explained, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I swear I had no ill intentions.”
“I don’t think you had any ill intentions,” Wen En said with a calm expression. “Besides, this is not a secret. Wen Yuan and I have long known that we are not our parents’ biological children. But that’s not important. I’ve always felt that as long as there is love for family in your heart, it’s enough.”
Romeo was extremely surprised. Wen En’s words had touched a certain memory buried deep in his heart, a memory filled with blood and pain. For a moment, Romeo was speechless.
Wen En continued, “My parents are the most common Beta couple in society. According to them, they originally wanted to have a child, but they failed after trying for two years. They even went to a reproductive doctor. The doctor suggested that the pregnant party inject Omega sex hormones to increase the chances of conception. A Beta injecting this hormone into their body would definitely have a great impact on their body, so they gave up after much consideration.”
“Later, during a weekend shopping trip, my parents found me abandoned next to a gardening supply store in the community.”
“A gardening supply store?” Romeo’s eyes widened. “How could someone abandon a child in such a place?”
“How would I know,” Wen En shrugged. “By the way, Wen Yuan was found at the entrance of a Good John’s Pizza.”
