Chapter 439: Respecting the Old and Loving the Young Depends on the Person

Qin Tian drove back home with Xia Nuannuan.

In the room, Tang Xiuxia and Qin Hongwen, hearing the movement outside, showed surprise and hurriedly stood up to walk out of the room to the doorway.

Xia Nuannuan got out of the passenger seat first and took the initiative to greet Tang Xiuxia.

"Auntie, good evening!"

"Oh, Nuannuan, you're here!"

Tang Xiuxia nodded with a bright smile.

Xia Nuannuan looked at the middle-aged man standing beside her, only nodding slightly with a smile as a greeting.

It wasn't that she was impolite, but that she had to stand completely on Qin Tian's side at this moment.

Qin Hongwen understood this and nodded in response with a smile.

He had already heard the general situation about this girl from Tang Xiuxia just now and didn't form a bad first impression because of Xia Nuannuan's perfunctory greeting.

On the contrary, he felt this was even better, as it was enough to show how much this girl protected his son.

At this moment, Qin Tian also got out of the car.

He didn't even look at the strange father once, only turning his head to say to Xia Nuannuan: "Let's go inside first!"

Xia Nuannuan hummed obediently and walked over to take his hand.

Qin Tian held her hand back and led her to his mother.

"Xiaotian..."

"Don't misunderstand. I just want to figure out what exactly happened between you two back then."

Tang Xiuxia was about to say something, but was interrupted bluntly by Qin Tian.

He stared into his mother's eyes and said seriously: "You didn't tell me before, and I could understand and respect you, knowing you were doing it for my own good. But since he has suddenly appeared now, I have the right to know everything."

"Okay, I will tell you everything."

Tang Xiuxia nodded vigorously, her eyes red.

Afterward, the four of them entered the room.

Qin Tian and Xia Nuannuan sat close together on the sofa, Tang Xiuxia sat next to Xia Nuannuan, and Qin Hongwen sat alone on the other side of the sofa.

Tang Xiuxia first poured two cups of tea and handed them to the two children respectively.

"Thank you, Auntie!"

Xia Nuannuan took them with both hands, placed one in front of Qin Tian first, and then went to take her own.

"Speak. I want to know everything."

Qin Tian had no heart to drink tea and signaled for them to get straight to the point.

Xia Nuannuan became nervous, reaching out to place her small hand on the back of his hand.

Tang Xiuxia looked at Qin Hongwen.

"Then I'll start. Given that your mother hid everything about me, I need to introduce myself first. My name is Qin Hongwen, and I currently work at a national-level research institute in the Imperial Capital."

Qin Hongwen introduced himself simply.

Xia Nuannuan looked surprised.

She didn't know much, but she knew that a national-level research institute wasn't a place just anyone could enter.

Qin Tian, sitting to the side, remained calm on the surface, but was also slightly surprised inside.

Qin Hongwen spoke at a steady pace, beginning to recount the story.

"Since you want to know everything, we have to start from when I met your mother..."

From their first meeting, to gradually developing feelings, to him using the courage from alcohol and the encouragement of several brothers to take the initiative to confess and leave his phone number.

When he didn't receive a call from Tang Xiuxia for a long time, the disappointment and sadness he felt, and finally, how he regained his courage and went to confess with flowers.

Then, the two began their sweet relationship.

While recounting this process, Qin Hongwen looked at Tang Xiuxia from time to time, and the tenderness and affection revealed in his eyes were very real and without any falsehood.

The story up to this point should have been a romantic and happy plot of a talented man and a beautiful woman.

Qin Tian frowned and signaled for him to continue.

The more it was like this, the less he could understand why his mother would return to her hometown alone while pregnant with him.

Qin Hongwen nodded, a hint of darkness flashing in the depths of his eyes, and began to talk about his mother.

During this time, Tang Xiuxia also added a few words from time to time.

Even though Tang Xiuxia still harbored kindness and deleted some of the overly mean and cutting things the woman had said.

But Qin Tian and Xia Nuannuan weren't stupid; they could clearly feel how much harassment his mother had suffered at the time.

Until he heard that the woman had brought a so-called "daughter-in-law" who was already engaged to find his mother, who was pregnant, and treated her like a mistress, using one million to make her leave the Imperial Capital, the anger Qin Tian had been suppressing in his heart completely collapsed.

He pointed his right index finger at Qin Hongwen and gritted his teeth: "What were you doing? You just let them humiliate my mother like this? You actually have the face to come here now?"

"It was all my fault."

Qin Hongwen nodded full of guilt, without any intention of pushing the blame or explaining for himself.

"Xiaotian!"

Tang Xiuxia scolded him with a frown.

Qin Tian withdrew his hand indignantly, staring at Qin Hongwen with cold eyes.

Xia Nuannuan reached behind him and gently stroked his back to soothe his anger and restlessness.

"The things my mother did were all done behind my back, but it was indeed my failure to communicate well with her. I cannot shirk the responsibility."

Qin Hongwen continued with a serious face.

"Heh... that sounds really nice. 'Didn't communicate well'? You know your mother's personality best—what she would do for your bright future, shouldn't you know that better than anyone?"

Qin Tian asked with a cold laugh.

Qin Hongwen lowered his eyes and remained silent.

"I think you should just go back. Don't wait until your mother finds out and comes looking for us again. If that happens, I can't guarantee what I might do. The virtue of respecting the old and loving the young also depends on the person."

Qin Tian threatened.

"Xiaotian, enough, stop talking nonsense!"

Tang Xiuxia frowned.

"My mother... passed away a few years ago from liver cancer."

Qin Hongwen said in a deep voice.

Qin Tian and Xia Nuannuan were both stunned upon hearing this.

When a person dies, hatred fades!

Although that was the saying, Qin Tian just couldn't feel right about it.

"So your mother passed away, and you thought you could come find us, and then we'd have a family reunion, and everything would be fine?"

Qin Tian asked with a mocking smile.

Qin Hongwen shook his head and said seriously: "Ever since your mother left the Imperial Capital, I have been looking for you, but I only heard your mother say her hometown was in Yucheng. I've been to Yucheng many times over the years, but I never found you."

"Are you kidding me? How big is Yucheng? If you really wanted to find someone, would you not be able to? Then how did you find us this time?"

Qin Tian expressed his skepticism.

"It was the news about you being the top scholar with a perfect score on the college entrance exam."

Tang Xiuxia helped answer.

Qin Tian was stunned and frowned: "That news was more than half a year ago."

"My work at the research institute is very busy, and being alone, I basically stay at the institute all year round. When I went home for the New Year, my sister showed me that news, and I immediately recognized it was you and rushed over as fast as I could."

Qin Hongwen continued.