Chapter 262: Let Them Be Both Literary and Martial

After sitting down on the sofa, Ling Ruonan peeled an apple for Luo Ziling.

“Ling’er, have an apple,” Ling Ruonan looked at Luo Ziling with full affection, “Did you eat enough just now? If you didn’t, Mom can make you more.”

“I ate enough,” Luo Ziling said with a smile, taking the apple, “Mom, you didn’t eat much, aren’t you hungry?”

Calling out “Mom”, Luo Ziling had gotten very used to saying it, without any awkwardness.

“I’m not hungry,” Ling Ruonan shook her head.

“Well, have some fruit at least,” Luo Ziling bit into his apple and peeled another one for Ling Ruonan, handing it to her.

Ling Ruonan didn’t refuse, quickly reached out to take it, and bit off a big chunk.

She, who hadn’t been very fond of apples before, now found the one in her hand incomparably delicious.

“Ling’er, have these years been hard for you?” Ling Ruonan asked softly, “And how is your grandpa doing? It must have been tough for him raising you.”

“I wasn’t miserable, Grandpa took great care of me. Grandpa’s been in good health, he taught me calligraphy and reading, and also martial arts. Grandpa says that now I excel in both literary and martial arts. It’s just unfortunate that Grandpa doesn’t understand English and electronic technology, so he couldn’t teach me those. But I don’t like them anyway,” Luo Ziling spoke with a tone that was slightly coquettish.

Under Ling Ruonan’s tender gaze, his tone involuntarily took on a petulant edge.

Now he felt that all his concerns and worries on the way here had been unnecessary.

Blood ties cannot be severed; even after twenty years apart, upon seeing Ling Ruonan, he immediately felt attached to her.

With no great barriers, no worries, and no doubts, she was his mother—he had felt maternal love and the indescribable emotion it brought that words could not express.

At that moment, he really wanted to announce to the whole world that he had a mother, and his mother was very beautiful, very amiable—he felt very proud.

“I’ve wronged you both so much,” Ling Ruonan, having heard this, was deeply remorseful, “I owe you and your grandpa so much for these twenty years.”

“Mom, it’s all in the past, don’t blame yourself. Grandpa said you had it tougher than anyone else.”

While saying this, Luo Ziling tightly grasped Ling Ruonan’s hand.

Hearing this, Ling Ruonan’s heart soured again, and tears involuntarily came out.

She quickly turned her face away, not wanting Luo Ziling to see her tears.

After wiping away her tears with her arm, she turned back to Luo Ziling with a forced smile and said, “Ling’er, thank you for not holding any grudges against Mom. Don’t worry, Mom will keep working hard, surely we’ll have our family of three reunited.”

“Dad… where is he?” Luo Ziling finally asked the question he had wanted to know for many years.

“Your grandfather didn’t tell you anything?” Ling Ruonan was slightly surprised.

Luo Ziling shook his head, “Grandpa didn’t say anything; he never talks about matters related to you. I know he’s heartbroken and afraid that I’d be hurt too, so we both keep silent.”

“Your dad, he is in Tibet in the west,” Ling Ruonan hesitated before revealing Luo Xusheng’s situation, “After being driven out of Yanjing, he went to Tibet, and it’s been nineteen years since. I haven’t seen him either, only sent people to check on him. He’s doing well, so don’t worry about him. He is currently in the Tibet Army Troops, already promoted to be the captain of a special forces unit. However, there is no chance for him to be transferred back to the mainland, too many people don’t want to see him return. If it weren’t for your maternal grandfather and great-grandfather’s secret support, he’d have died long ago.”

At this point, Ling Ruonan suddenly tensed up, recalling the real reason she had asked Luo Ziling to come for a meal today.

“Ling’er, are you dating Yang Qingyin?” she asked gently.

Luo Ziling, still shaken by the news about his father, was caught off guard by Ling Ruonan’s question.

“She told me about it, about how you went looking for her when we were playing in the Bashang Grassland.” Instead of directly answering Ling Ruonan’s question, Luo Ziling brought up the matter of Ling Ruonan visiting Yang Qingyin.

Ling Ruonan was startled that Yang Qingyin had told Luo Ziling about her sneaking over to make demands, and her impression of Qingyin instantly worsened a bit. “She… told you about that?”

“Mom, things are more serious than you think,” Luo Ziling said dejectedly. “I don’t know how, but the Yang Family found out about me and Yang Qingyin going out together, and also that I am your son. At noon today, we secretly met up, and she told me that her father Yang Yunlin and grandfather Yang Yuanshan are extremely furious, saying they must punish me severely.”

“Ah?!” Ling Ruonan was shocked. She could not have anticipated that events would unfold so rapidly, far exceeding her expectations. She hadn’t yet had the chance to remedy the situation when it was already beyond her control.

“Mom, I didn’t expect things to turn out this way. When I met Yang Qingyin, I had no idea who she was,” Luo Ziling said, hanging his head like a child who had done something wrong.

“Sigh,” Ling Ruonan sighed again and then smiled. “Ling’er, don’t worry, this day was inevitable; I just didn’t expect it to come so soon.”

Before Luo Ziling could reply, a fierce determination appeared on her face: “I want to see how they plan to deal with our mother-and-son duo. I’ve said before, if anyone intends to harm our family, I’d fight them to the death. If Old Sir Yang and Yang Yunlin want you dead, I’d risk my life to stop them. As long as I live, I won’t allow them to hurt you.”

Ling Ruonan’s killing intent provided Luo Ziling with an instant sense of security.

That long-missed feeling of being protected by an elder felt truly wonderful.

“Mom, you called me here today, was it actually to persuade me not to be with Yang Qingyin, right?” Luo Ziling asked softly.

“Yes,” Ling Ruonan, putting away her fierce demeanor, sighed again, “I was afraid it would come to this. If the Yang Family knew you were seeing Yang Qingyin, they would never let you off easily and would retaliate against you. So, I hoped that you could break it off while your relationship was still shallow, to avoid any tragedy. But now, talking about this is pointless.”

Seeing a look of self-blame on Luo Ziling’s face, Ling Ruonan smiled again, “It’s okay, you have mom. Now that things have come to this, there’s no need for me to hide anything anymore. Let them come at us with words or with force.”

When Ling Ruonan spoke these words with a face full of confidence, without any trace of fear, it made Luo Ziling feel even more at ease.

After contemplating for a while, he said, “Mom, actually Qingyin is a very nice girl, and we hit it off right from the start. Today she told me that she isn’t afraid of any threats from her family and that if I’m willing to stand firm, she’ll stand by me.”

These words from Luo Ziling surprised Ling Ruonan once more and filled her with a bittersweet feeling.