The two of them had stayed in contact after Mo Fang left but not as frequently as before. Seeing Mo Fang’s name pop up on the screen, Yu Xin immediately picked up. “Mo Fang, how are you?”
Mo Fang fell silent for a moment. This kind of question … how was he supposed to answer it? “It’s alright. How about you and your parents?”
“Uh …” Yu Xin cleared his throat, suddenly feeling that he had asked the wrong question. “Sure. I mean … it’s alright, yeah.”
Mo Fang gave a hum. “I … I don’t know how to say this but you know I’ve looked for Ah Ting’s birth family after I came back.”
Yu Xin immediately forgot about the awkwardness from just now. He got up from the desk and walked over to the window, his brows furrowing. “Did you find someone?”
“Mn.” Mo Fang wasn’t sure where to start explaining. The first should be Yu Ting’s mother, right? “His mother … isn’t alive anymore. She died more than a decade ago.”
“Oh.” Yu Xin lowered his head. When Mo Fang told him that he would look for them, he had thought about how he’d feel if he indeed managed to find someone. Surely, at that time, he’d have mixed feelings. After all, his brother wouldn’t get to meet that other family any longer.
Hearing that his mother had died even before Yu Ting, he felt odd. There was a sense of loss as if another part of his brother had just left. On the other hand, there was also a certain relief. At the very least, Yu Ting hadn’t found out about this. After imagining what kind of family he might have back over in China for so long, wouldn’t he have felt betrayed if this was what he found?
Yu Xin sighed. “I guess it is what it is. Ah, but you said there was someone else?” At the very least, it had sounded like that at the beginning.
“I did.” Mo Fang hesitated for a moment but finally sighed. “A few years before she died, she got married again and had a daughter.”
Yu Xin blankly looked out of the window. “So … we have another sister?”
Mo Fang chuckled when he heard him say ‘us’ so naturally. To Yu Xin, there was no line separating him and Yu Ting. They were brothers, any attribute to that word be screwed. So if Yu Ting had a sister then he, Yu Xin, had a sister as well.
Suddenly, Mo Fang felt that he had thought too much. There really was no reason to worry about how Yu Ting’s family would take the news. “Yeah, you do. Actually, I met her yesterday.”
“Ah? And then you’re only calling now?!”
Mo Fang pursed his lips. “You can’t blame that on me. Things didn’t quite go as I had planned.” He leaned back, feeling a lot more relaxed now that he was already talking to Yu Xin. “I told you the other week I hired a private investigator, right? Well, he was updating me every now and then so I knew there was another child somewhere but he was still investigating the specifics. Then yesterday, he suddenly got caught while taking some photographs as proof.”
Yu Xin facepalmed. “What kind of private investigator did you hire?” Getting caught like that …
Mo Fang could only laugh. “Don’t blame him. He was recommended by a friend and he really is good. It can only be said that his luck is bad. One of the people there happened to be a security guard and he spotted him. You don’t know how awkward it was when I drove over there to explain the whole matter.”
“Well, nobody likes to be spied on.”
“It’s even worse than that. That security guard? He’s an ex-boyfriend. When he found out it was me who hired the PI, I was accused of stalking him.”
“Oh god, I’m so sorry!”
Mo Fang shook his head. “What are you apologizing for? It’s me who has a bad enough reputation that his ex would think something like that. Well, he also apologized later for suspecting me. Not that I think he didn’t have a reason.” Thinking of the words Li Ming had said when he left, Mo Fang smiled faintly.
It seemed that at least one good thing had come out of this whole mess yesterday. Even though he could have approached Qiao Ya in a better way if not for that, being able to hear Li Ming say those few sentences might have been worth it.
While Mo Fang had told Yu Ting about his past relationships, Yu Xin didn’t know anything about that. Thinking of his own past behavior, he felt that it should be that ex-boyfriend’s fault. Clearly, Mo Fang was just being misunderstood! “Does it matter? Anyway, I’m sorry that happened to you. Must have been difficult to deal with.”
Mo Fang gave a hum. “It didn’t seem easy at first but … it worked out well in the end. Anyway, I exchanged contact details with your sister. She told her father yesterday who apparently had no idea Yu Ting existed either. Today, she’ll talk with her maternal grandparents so we’ll see how that goes.”
Yu Xin fell silent. He hated the fact that his brother had apparently been kept a secret but he also remembered how Yu Ting had always said he understood why he had been given away. Also, if not for that, could he have had that kind of awesome big brother?
He pursed his lips and then decided not to dwell on that. Anyway, Yu Ting’s mother who was responsible for all of that wasn’t alive anymore. But there was still an innocent sister who hadn’t even known about any of this. Thinking of her, his gaze roamed around. “Well … you tell me how things went then!”
“Of course. Anyway, she might be interested in getting in contact with you. Would you be alright with that?”
“Sure!” Yu Xin’s expression lit up at the suggestion. “Right … I’ll tell our parents about it, okay? I’ll call you back afterward.”
Mo Fang gave a hum. “Let’s do that then. Anyway, it’s probably a lot to take in.”
Yu Xin gave a vague answer and then said his goodbye before ending the call. As soon as he did … he opened Google and booked a flight to Shanghai. Some things, you still had to do in person.
