"How long has it been?"
Those three simple words extinguished Shen Zhifei's last glimmer of hope.
He immediately knelt down.
"What do you mean, how long has it been? What's going on?"
Song Lang was still oblivious to what was happening. When he saw Shen Zhifei kneeling down, he quickly went to help her up, but was gently brushed aside.
"One year and 11 days".
Shen Zhifei's simple and precise answer surprised Song Lang. He belatedly looked at his mother, who was silently shedding tears again, and suddenly understood.
The thing he had worried about countless times happened without warning.
Instead of the panic and anxiety he had imagined, Song Lang felt a sense of relief, as if the huge weight on his chest was finally about to be lifted. He felt a sense of peace that seemed out of place in the current situation.
He stood up, knelt down next to Shen Zhifei, and said with a thud, "Mom, we're serious, please—"
With a "slap," the second half of the request came to an abrupt end.
"What are you asking me to do? Accept you?! Song Lang, you've wasted 18 years of your life. Have all the education I gave you over the years been for nothing?! Is this how you act as a brother? Is this how you make your dad and me feel at ease?"
Shen Lingyu felt a burning pain in her palms, but that was nothing compared to her heartache.
Song Lang was stunned by the slap.
He had been beaten a lot since he was a child, but Shen Lingyu never hit him hard; the force was about the same as tickling.
But this time, it's different.
He didn't think he had done anything wrong, but he received the harshest slap in the face.
"Mom, if this method makes you feel better, then come on. I promise I won't dodge or avoid it, until you've vented your anger."
With half a slap mark on his head, Song Lang stared straight at Shen Lingyu.
"But you can't change the fact that I'm with Feifei. Even if you beat me to death, it's no use!"
Shen Zhifei shook his head at him, signaling him not to add fuel to the fire, and then turned to Shen Lingyu and said, "Mom, it was me who provoked Song Lang. Please don't blame him. I'm the one who's sorry."
“It’s been a year. You’ve kept this from me for a whole year.” Shen Lingyu muttered to herself, tears streaming down her face. “How old are you? Do you even know what feelings are? You’re in your adolescence. Did you lose your minds for a moment and do this? Feifei, tell me, is this what I’m guessing? Tell me the truth, and I’ll understand you. I won’t blame you.”
Song Lang was about to retort when Shen Zhifei held his hand down.
“Mom, I’ve known my sexual orientation since I was 14. I like boys, and I like Song Lang. I tried my best to suppress my feelings, so I applied for a dormitory and stayed at school instead of going home. When I went home, I would hide in my room and try not to see him, but it was too painful, Mom.”
Shen Zhifei knelt on the ground, his back straight, but his shoulders trembled slightly, revealing his inner turmoil.
He choked up and said, "It's too painful to stop liking him. I can no longer see him as just a brother. I can't suppress my feelings for him at all. I like him so much that I'd rather be the bad guy. I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. Song Lang is a victim just like you. If you want to blame someone, blame me. I've let you down. I'm so sorry."
"Feifei," Shen Lingyu looked at him with eyes full of pain, "For so many years, your father and I have raised you as our own son. You and Song Lang are brothers, you are two pieces of my flesh, the apple of my eye, the apple of my eye..."
My two precious sons, whom I cherish most. And now you suddenly tell me you're not brothers, but lovers? How am I supposed to accept that?
Shen Lingyu buried her face in her hands again, her sobs becoming even more suppressed: "People will call you incestuous, they will talk behind your backs, do you know that?"
Shen Zhifei pursed her lips, tears welling in her eyes.
He knew that, but he was willing to risk his life to get Song Lang, so why would he care about those criticisms?
But even now, seeing the woman who has loved him so devotedly for the past nine years in tears and extreme pain, he felt guilty and uneasy, filled with remorse. For a fleeting second, he even regretted his decision.
Should he have continued to endure it back then? If he had just endured it, gritted his teeth and endured it, perhaps this heartbreaking standoff wouldn't have happened today.
Seeing his mother crying her eyes out, Song Lang felt terrible. He crawled two steps on his knees, grasped Shen Lingyu's wrist, and said in a low voice, "Mom, don't cry. Let them say what they want. We just need to have a clear conscience, right?"
"You still say you're an adult? Listen to how naive you are!" Shen Lingyu slapped his hand away, her eyes already swollen from crying. "Homosexuality is already difficult enough in society, let alone your kind of relationship..."
She couldn't continue.
After returning from the hospital, she sat at home for a whole morning, trying to process the shocking truth, but she couldn't convince herself.
"I'm sorry, I really can't accept this. You are all my sons, I can't take it..."
Shen Lingyu supported her forehead with both hands, repeatedly uttering the last sentence, tears dripping down and wetting the hem of her skirt.
Shen Zhifei stared at the small water stain on her knee, his confusion growing. He clenched his fist and said in a hoarse voice, "I... can leave."
Shen Lingyu was startled, as if she had heard something outrageous, and looked over with disbelief: "What did you say? Say it again."
"I..." Shen Zhifei regretted it. Those hurtful words were stuck in his throat, like a sharp knife, stabbing him until he bled and had difficulty breathing.
"Don't you have any conscience?! You'd abandon your parents for a piece of trash like him?!"
Shen Lingyu pounded Shen Zhifei's shoulder hard, crying even more agitatedly, constantly cursing the precious child she had cherished since childhood.
"Don't hit Mom! His shoulder is still injured. If you want to hit someone, hit me instead. Don't cry, Mom, don't cry."
With red eyes, Song Lang hugged his mother and patted her back gently like he was comforting a child. Then he went to scold Shen Zhifei: "What nonsense are you talking about? Where are you going! This will always be your home."
With tears in her eyes, Shen Zhifei knelt down to one side and grasped Shen Lingyu's tightly clenched fist. "I'm sorry, Mom. Please don't cry. Please don't abandon me. It's all my fault."
Shen Lingyu tried to shake off his hand but failed, and cried even more aggrievedly in Song Lang's arms.
Hearing her cry, Song Lang also felt heartbroken. In the end, the three of them almost hugged each other and cried together until Song Lifeng returned from the company and stood in the entrance hall with a worried and puzzled look on his face, asking, "What are you three doing?"
Shen Lingyu pushed her two sons away and immediately rushed into her husband's arms. She was coaxed into the bedroom, while Shen Zhifei and Song Lang remained kneeling in the living room, listening intently to the faint sounds of conversation and crying coming from the crack in the door. They remained silent, but their hands were clenched tightly. It wasn't until the sky outside gradually darkened that the bedroom door was reopened.