The matter of He Lin being hit by a car was ultimately left unresolved. After recuperating in the hospital for a period of time, he insisted on going to work despite his injuries. However, Yu Lian never mentioned anything related to divorce again after he was injured.

"Brother!" He Lin saw his sister at the entrance of his workplace.

"Is something wrong at home?"

He Xinglan looked at her brother strangely: "Didn't you ask the neighbor to let me deliver something to you?"

After He Lin's job became stable, his family moved to a more prosperous area. There were more people, the security was better, and life was more convenient. They also had neighbors and got along quite well with them.

"You want me to ask my neighbor? Are you sure?"

He Xinglan thought her brother must be too tired, so she patiently helped him recall: "The uncle across the hall, you forgot? He works near your workplace. You met him on the street and asked him to pass on a message home, along with some money and food. You gave him a pack of cigarettes."

Speaking of these things, He Xinglan recalled the money and tickets in that yellow paper bag.

"Brother, I remember you were injured and hospitalized, why are you still running around everywhere? By the way, where did you get so much money? Mom said you should go home and take it back in a couple of days, give it to your sister-in-law, don't give so much to the family."

He Xinglan wanted to ask more questions, but He Lin avoided the key issue.

"Okay, give me the stuff, and you can go home now."

He Xinglan handed over the box and left. He Lin took the box—an unfamiliar box. When he returned to his office and no one was around, he opened it. Inside were only some marbles; nothing else.

"Oh, Teacher He still has a childlike heart? Playing with a box of marbles all by yourself?" A colleague peeked in.

He Lin remained expressionless: "It's for a relative's child."

"I see."

He Lin put the marbles in the drawer, suppressing the panic that shouldn't have arisen in his heart.

The compound.

"Yu Lian, aren't you at work?"

Yu Lian looked up and put down what she was holding: "No, I'm on vacation these two days. My mom asked me to go out and buy some groceries."

"Oh, why is your He Lin running around even though he's injured?"

"He insisted on going to work, and I couldn't persuade him otherwise."

After chatting with her neighbor for a few minutes at the door, Yu Lian got up and went inside. She felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Who were you talking to at the door?"

"Mom, I'm just going to chat with the neighbor lady for a bit. I've bought you everything you wanted. Who are you entertaining?"

"I don't know, it's a task your dad assigned. With so many vegetables, you can't be a nobody. Get to work."

Yu Lian sat obediently on a small stool, picking vegetables. Not long after, her father returned with a group of people—her old comrades-in-arms whom she was to entertain. The house was quite lively when they arrived; after greeting everyone, Yu Lian went out to buy wine.

"Do you have guests?"

"Yes, it's here."

"Why didn't He Lin go in? He was just loitering around the door and talking to someone. Is he afraid of seeing guests?"

If I remember correctly, He Lin said he had a meeting at 10:30 a.m. and wouldn't be back for lunch when he left this morning.

"He Lin came back?"

"Before I entered the house, I thought I had come out of the house."

"Maybe something's wrong. Two of his colleagues also live in our house."

That strange feeling suddenly arose, and Yu Lian prepared to ask He Lin when he returned.

In the afternoon, Yu Xin was blocked at the door when she got home from school.

"Sister, this is from Brother He Lin for you."

He stuffed it into Yu Xin's hand, and she was stunned for a moment before a smile appeared on her face: "My brother-in-law is quite thoughtful, he knew to give my sister a gift."

She grabbed the gifts and excitedly headed home, completely ignoring the large group of people at the table, and found her sister in the backyard.

"Sis, guess what this is?"

"What is it?"

"This is a gift from my brother-in-law! Shall I open it for you?"

Yu Lian was surprised—although He Lin would give her things, she considered them as basic social obligations.

"Why didn't he deliver it himself?"

Yu Xin shook her head, her attention completely focused on her hands. After unpacking, she said disappointedly, "Tch, my brother-in-law has absolutely no romantic genes. What's so interesting about a few tattered books?"

Yu Lian dried her hands and took the books from her sister. She paused for a moment when she saw the titles—these were books she liked, but never dared to bring home.

"Quickly hide it, put it in your pocket and sneak it back to my room, in the drawer, don't let Mom and Dad see it."

Upon hearing this, Yu Xin understood; it was just novels and the like. "I see. You two are really birds of a feather. I thought it was some kind of surprise gift..."

Disappointed, Yu Xin slowly went inside, called for help, and then quickly went upstairs. The only bright spot was that the two actually had a pretty good relationship behind the scenes.

Not long after Yu Xin returned, He Lin also came back, but the Yu family had just seen off a group of guests, so He Lin missed the meal. After dinner, Yu Lian whispered, "Thank you, I really enjoyed it."

"What?"

"I really like the book you gave me. But please give it to me secretly next time, I'm afraid my parents will find out."

He Lin forced a smile: "Yeah, I'll be more careful next time."

This feeling of being pushed around was something he had never experienced in his previous twenty-odd years of life. But now he was experiencing it, and trapped in it with no way to resolve it. The other person seemed to understand him better than he understood himself, and even Yu Lian, who was beside him. He hadn't had many heart-to-heart talks with Yu Lian, and he had never seen her smile like this when he gave her a gift—she was very satisfied and liked it, which meant that the gift had touched her heart.

Back in his bedroom that evening, He Lin subtly learned that the gift "he" had given him was several novels. The more anxious he became, the calmer He Lin was able to calm down and organize his thoughts.

The next day, He Lin, holding onto Yu Xin who was skipping school, secretly led her to the street near the entrance where the child who had delivered the gift the day before had been found.

"Who told you to give that thing to that lady earlier?"

The child scratched his head, thinking he'd been caught doing something wrong. He turned around and saw it was the person who'd paid him to run errands yesterday: "Brother, you don't want the money back, do you? I personally handed the things to that lady."

With just one sentence, He Lin learned a terrifying truth: "You remember clearly where we discussed the price yesterday, right?"

"Of course, it's right under that locust tree. You don't think the cashback is too high, do you?"

He Lin shook his head: "Do you remember what I wore yesterday?"

"I remember, all in black. But you didn't shave yesterday, and you looked a bit tired. You look much better today."

After asking a few more questions, He Lin let the child go.

Afterwards, he returned home with a heavy expression, made up an excuse to send his younger sister away, and sat facing his parents on either side of the coffee table in the living room.

The atmosphere was so intense that the elderly couple thought something terrible had happened.

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