In a VIP hospital room in Jiangcheng.
A crowd of reporters frantically photographed the old man on his deathbed, thrusting their microphones toward his mouth.
“Mr. Li Feng, is it true that you’re donating all of your one hundred billion in assets to charity?”
“As such a successful entrepreneur, why did you never remarry?”
“Mr. Li, do you have any last words?”
The old man’s gaunt chest heaved violently. He struggled to open his mouth. “Bury me… with my wife… and children…”
The light in his eyes slowly faded. He could no longer see the people before him or hear their voices.
So this was death?
At last, he was going to see Qingxue.
I’m sorry, Qingxue.
I’m sorry, children.
…
“Big Brother, what if he wakes up and hits us?”
“Don’t be afraid, An’an. Big Brother will protect you! Mom’s taking us away from here. Once we’re gone, he won’t be able to find us, so he won’t be able to bully us anymore.”
The boy’s and girl’s soft, timid voices reached Li Feng’s ears. Tears seeped from between his eyelids.
Those were his two children’s voices!
He forced his eyes open with all his strength. The first thing he saw was a ceiling covered in dust. He sat up abruptly and looked around. The dim room was crammed with all kinds of junk. The dilapidated window had no glass; a sheet of thin white plastic had been stretched across it instead.
Wasn’t this the single room he’d rented in that village neighborhood when he was young?
He was dead. How could he be here?
As he tried to make sense of it, the boy’s trembling voice sounded beside him. “Hit me if you want, but don’t hit An’an!”
Li Feng turned toward the voice. Xiaoze was pulling his little sister An’an close in the corner, shielding her with his thin body. He was trembling with fear, yet his face was set in stubborn defiance.
In a daze, Li Feng walked up to the children and reached out toward their faces. Xiaoze fiercely raked the back of his hand with his nails.
Pain?
This wasn’t a dream!
He immediately looked down at himself: a big belly, fat hands, and a pair of worn-out slippers on his feet.
This was what he’d looked like when he was young.
Had he been reborn?
A wave of ecstasy swept through him.
In his youth, he’d been a rotten man who indulged in every vice—eating and drinking to excess, visiting prostitutes, and gambling. He’d cheated relatives and friends out of their money, borrowed from loan sharks, and even used his wife Lin Qingxue’s ID card to take out online loans.
To raise the children, Lin Qingxue had to work two jobs a day.
Having lost all hope in him, Lin Qingxue had decided to take the children away and find work elsewhere. The night before they were due to leave, men working for the loan sharks kidnapped and raped her. The next day, as Lin Qingxue was leaving with the children, a large truck struck them on the road. The mother and her two children died tragically.
Only after his wife and children died did he, consumed by agony and remorse, resolve to turn his life around. In the end, he amassed one hundred billion in assets.
But throughout those fifty-two years, he regretted it every day and lay awake every night, missing Lin Qingxue and thinking of his son Xiaoze and his daughter An’an.
This time, he would devote his entire life to caring for the three of them!
Wait!
Li Feng’s ecstatic expression froze. He anxiously searched for his phone and checked the date: February 4.
Wasn’t this the very day Lin Qingxue had been kidnapped and raped by the loan sharks?
He remembered that she’d been taken from near their home.
“Xiaoze, take good care of your sister!” Li Feng called, then took off running.
It was already midnight. Lin Qingxue’s second job had ended, and she should be getting home soon. He had to find Qingxue as quickly as possible!
Li Feng lumbered forward with difficulty. After only a few steps, he was already panting.
But he didn’t care. There was only one thing on his mind: Faster! Faster!
“Help…”
A cry rang out, and Li Feng’s heart clenched.
He clumsily raced around the bend. Under a streetlamp, two men were covering Lin Qingxue’s mouth and dragging her into a van.
Li Feng felt as though his heart might burst with horror!
His eyes bloodshot, he charged at them like a cannonball. He grabbed one man with his huge hand and flung him aside, then shoved the second away and swept Lin Qingxue into his arms.
Her familiar scent reached him. Li Feng’s nose stung with emotion, and he called out the name he’d yearned for over fifty-two years: “Qingxue…”