There is no Redemption for A Scum Villain

Chapter 64

The large conference hall was heated by a large fireplace. Still, Luo Binghe felt a freezing cold deep in his bones.

He hadn't even looked at him... He hadn't said anything... Just let him go... Yue Qingyuan was also strictly avoiding his gaze. Did they not want him after all? Was this peace treaty all they had needed him for?

Luo Binghe wanted to loosen himself from Su Xiyan's side and just run away into a corner to curl up right there, but the woman had such a strict and cold gaze. She claimed that she was Luo Binghe's mother, her looks also giving credit to this claim, but she wasn't like one at all. She wasn't warm like Shen Qingqiu, nor kind like Yue Qingyuan and neither as sweet as the washer woman who had adopted him. She perfectly played her part as a leader, but as a parent, she was most unsuited.

Not once during or after the meeting did she or Tianlang-jun ever ask him if he was happy or what he wanted. He even had to beg to be let go, just so he could speak to his friends one last time, before he was brought to a place he didn't even know.

In the end, he came to find that not even everyone was there. Just Shen Wannian, who was sitting under a tree, gazing at a tiny artificial waterfall as he waited for their – no, his – sect to make their leave. When Luo Binghe came closer, the youth's head perked up and the pensive expression on his face made way to relief and even happiness.

Shen Wannian knew that Luo Binghe had always wished to meet his parents one day. This should be a dream come true. But for some reason, the kid didn't look the part. Perhaps he was just uncertain that he had to leave the home he had grown so used to? But he would manage, Shen Wannian was sure of it.

"So you are coming to talk to me, before you leave," Shen Wannian teased a little, as the boy sat down next to him.

"You...thought I wouldn't?" Luo Binghe asked numbly.

"People tend to forget about old things when a better one comes around," Shen Wannian replied.

Luo Binghe knew this was about his parents, but he couldn't help but feel like he'd been punched in the gut. Was he not just like that old thing that was forgotten once that treaty had come? Once Shen Qingqiu had gotten rid of the man he didn't like, using him as living proof for the man's crimes?

"I am not like that," he said stubbornly, "I don't even want to go!"

Shen Wannian was a bit taken aback. Luo Binghe genuinely looked upset. And here he had thought that he would be happy. He couldn't understand. He had lost his parents too. He would give anything to have them back. But Luo Binghe seemed to have abandoned that wish altogether.

"H...how could I want to leave when everyone I hold dear isn't where I go?" Luo Binghe asked pitifully, "Shizun, Shibo, my friends...and the one I love..."

"I'm sure Yingying would be happy to hear that," Shen Wannian said, without thinking much on it.

But Luo Binghe's reaction was quite unexpected. "It's not about Ning Wanliang!" he exclaimed. The boy almost broke down right there, his eyes red-rimmed as he for once just shot all care to the wind. What did it use? He was never going to get the chance again if he just left without speaking. "It has never been her! How many times do I have to say it? How many times do I have to say 'I love you' until you get it?!"

He was almost screaming at that last sentence. The only thing that kept him from ruining this place of peace was his fear that someone else might overhear. He was already the center of attention now.

Shen Wannian's expression completely fell apart. He didn't understand. Luo Binghe was still talking to him, right? A guy.

Luo Binghe's lips trembled as he waited to get an answer that never came. After waiting so long that his heart began to clench in pain, he collected together the last shreds of his courage and leaned forward. It would have been an overstatement to call this a kiss. More a meeting of two pairs of lips like a fleeting touch while passing by. Still, this was Luo Binghe's first kiss.