Silence.

The Bai Family said nothing, and neither did the Base Commander.

Leng Yebai seemed to realize something, a trace of loneliness flashed in his eyes, but he quickly masked it.

"May I see her photo?" Leng Yebai said, word by word.

"Yes... you can."

The Base Commander hurriedly fumbled in his arms and took out an old pocket watch, carefully handing it over to Leng Yebai.

Leng Yebai felt something warm placed in his hand, and when he looked down, he saw a pocket watch with its surface paint worn off.

The pocket watch looked very old, still carrying the body heat of the middle-aged man, and no longer emitted the sound of its ticking hands.

Leng Yebai gently pressed the button to open the pocket watch, but it did not spring open, showing no reaction.

Only then did Leng Yebai notice that the pocket watch button had been pressed numerous times, and the raised button no longer had any elasticity.

Leng Yebai could only carefully pry open the pocket watch with his fingers.

Leng Yebai quietly looked at the thumb-sized watch, inside which a small photo was embedded.

Time had left its marks on this photo, and the man inside looked much like him, but not him.

Beside the man, sat a gentle woman, her pink cheongsam accentuating her intellectual beauty.

It was impossible to tell she was a mother; she seemed more like an elegant lady from a noble family.

Leng Yebai looked at her arms, where she held an infant. The photo had become somewhat blurred.

Yet, he recognized immediately that the baby was himself as a child.

The orphanage didn’t have many playful moments, but they would still take photos of the children every year.

The purpose of the photos was for couples looking to adopt, so they could better choose their future child.

Leng Yebai’s appearance was very appealing; countless couples were interested in him. However, upon seeing his behavior that was inconsistent with his age, they gave up.

Perhaps they feared encountering an autistic child.

Leng Yebai had seen the photo of himself when first abandoned at the orphanage — just a bedsheet covering him, looking unwell, yet his features identical to the infant in the photo.

The only difference was that the baby in the arms of the woman in the pink cheongsam was rosy and seemed well-cared for.

However, when he was left at the orphanage’s gate, he was nearly frozen and starved to death, his face pale, his cries very faint.

Leng Yebai rubbed the photo gently with his fingers.

A photo from twenty-six years ago filled his mind with thoughts.

They seemed to treat this baby very well, not resembling those who would deliberately abandon him at the orphanage.

If, if he had grown up in such a family, would he not have been so lonely as a child?

Leng Yebai looked at the photo for a long, long time, until his eyes began to feel sore.

"How did she die?"

Leng Yebai closed the pocket watch and placed it in the Base Commander’s hand.

"Overworked herself into illness." The Base Commander only said four words.

From the photo, it was obvious that this family led a privileged life, definitely not from an ordinary family.

The woman in the pink cheongsam had fair fingers, not the kind that were used to work.

How could ’overworked herself into illness’ describe such a woman?

It must have been from the grief of losing a child, turning sorrow into illness.

Leng Yebai said nothing more, withdrawing his gaze from the pocket watch, and simply sat beside Bai Xiqin, continuing to play with her fingers.

For once, Bai Xiqin felt Leng Yebai’s fingers trembling slightly.

Another silence ensued.

"Do you want to know anything else?"

The Base Commander held the pocket watch, his body slightly slumped, and at that moment, the once mighty Base Commander appeared helpless.

He noticed Leng Yebai’s reaction to the photo and was increasingly convinced that Leng Yebai was his son.

But would he acknowledge it?

What right did he have to force him to recognize him?

Birth but not nurture, severed fingers still owed.

It was the mother who endured the hardships of pregnancy to give birth to him, while he didn’t make any effort and even because of his so-called brother, lost the child.

The Base Commander’s mouth moved as if wanting to say something more, yet he remained silent.

"I don’t want to know anything." Leng Yebai lifted his head, glancing at the Base Commander, eyes full of indifference.

What he wanted to know, he already knew.

What he wanted to see, he had seen. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

There were regrets, yet compared to knowing nothing, it was much better.

The Base Commander’s fingers rubbed the pocket watch, memories of the past resurfaced.

His gentle wife was distressed daily due to the loss of their child, always searching, yet never finding.

What stuck with him the most was each year on the child’s birthday.

His wife used to say, their son surely didn’t know his own birthday, nor had anyone to tell him, how sad he must have been...

So each year, they celebrated the child’s birthday, even if he was the only one left, he still celebrated for him.

Because aside from them, no one else knew the child’s birthday.

"Your birthday is..."

The Base Commander began, only to be interrupted by Leng Yebai.

"I didn’t know you before, how could you possibly know my birthday? I don’t even know my birthday."

Leng Yebai’s voice carried a hint of agitation.

The Base Commander’s voice was abruptly cut off, his eyes dimming slightly.

In the end, he still didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Bai Xiqin reached out and gently patted Leng Yebai’s shoulder, soothing him a little.

Leng Yebai wasn’t one to whine. If his biological parents had lost him accidentally and searched for so many years, he might, at most, coldly say a few harsh words, but eventually, he would accept them.

Bai Xiqin glanced at the pocket watch in the Base Commander’s hand.

She understood, in Leng Yebai’s mind, if he didn’t acknowledge, it meant his real parents were someone else, perhaps his mother was still alive.

It left a shred of illusory hope.

The Base Commander looked up at the features resembling between his brows and his wife’s, letting out an almost imperceptible sigh.

After a moment, the Base Commander still spoke.

"The 25th of the eleventh lunar month. That night, coincidentally, it snowed for the first time that year, it was beautiful. Originally, we named the child Ying Xue then."

The Base Commander’s face had a faint smile, as if he was once more in the midst of that snowy night, waiting for his first and only child to be born.

"Sounds like a girl’s name, doesn’t sound good." Leng Yebai said with a frosty face.

The Base Commander chuckled softly, "My wife picked it."

His wife naively thought they’d have a beautiful daughter, little did she know she’d give birth to a handsome son.

Anyway, a beautiful child is a beautiful child, might as well call him Ying Xue!

Since a small child couldn’t speak yet, whatever name you called him, he couldn’t protest.

Little did they know, when that child first became aware and heard that name, it would be twenty-six years later.

"The name really sounds like a girl’s!" Bai Yifan looked up from his book and commented.

Just thinking of Brother Leng’s handsome face being called Ying Xue made him... want to laugh.

"Alternative is available, we could call him Tie Zhu," the Base Commander said with a serious face.

He had picked that name, thinking if they’d indeed had a son, Ying Xue might not be suitable.

"Your kid is truly unfortunate!" Leng Yebai still kept a cold face.

The Base Commander scratched his head, thinking Tie Zhu was also an acceptable name, sounded very strong indeed!