Su Yuebai froze in place. She finally realized—Zhang Xiaofeng might truly never return!
She touched her pregnant belly and stood in silence for a long time before suddenly grabbing her phone and frantically dialing his number.
Beep… “Sorry, the number you dialed is currently powered off.”
Beep… “Sorry, the number you dialed is currently powered off.”
Beep… “Sorry, the number…”
!!
She called again and again, but the same automated message kept repeating. He had completely cut ties with her!
A sharp sense of abandonment surged in her chest. She was pregnant now, left behind like a lonely widow. Her husband had heartlessly deserted her. But could she really blame Zhang Xiaofeng? Those cruel words had come from her own mouth. He had left—truly left…
She rushed outside barefoot, quickly stepping onto the road, standing by the roadside, scanning every direction. But even as the sky lightened and a new day began, she never saw Zhang Xiaofeng return.
The next day, Su Yuebai waited anxiously again. Still, there was no sign of him.
Time passed quickly. A week went by. Zhang Xiaofeng still hadn’t returned. Su Yuebai couldn’t sit still any longer. Filled with worry, she went to the company to find her parents.
At the company, Su Qianghai was giving orders to the employees when he saw her arrive. He asked, “What are you doing here? You’re pregnant. Don’t be running around. You need to rest.”
“Dad, I don’t think he’s coming back. I think I’m a widow now! My child’s going to grow up without a father!”
Su Qianghai frowned but still calmly lit a cigar and said, “I’ve told you—he’ll come back. He won’t give up a chance like this. Don’t panic. The more anxious we get, the more we lose in this power struggle…”
“But it feels like he’s never coming home. I don’t want our child to grow up in a single-parent home! A child needs a father! I don’t want to get an abortion, Dad—it hurts! I’m scared!”
Su Qianghai’s brows remained furrowed. After a long silence, he said, “Wait one more day. If he doesn’t come back tomorrow, I’ll report him as a missing person and have the police look for him.”
Su Yuebai finally let out a long breath of relief, though she was still uneasy. “Okay, I’ll go home and wait.”
The next day, Su Yuebai waited until noon—and her worst fear came true. Zhang Xiaofeng still hadn’t returned. She stood by the road, but there wasn’t even a trace of him.
At 1:00 p.m., she called Su Qianghai, urging him to contact the police. Even Su Qianghai began to feel something was wrong, so he called it in.
When the police heard it was a missing persons case, they immediately took it seriously and quickly dispatched officers to review nearby surveillance footage. Starting from the Su family villa, they tracked Zhang Xiaofeng all the way to the small inn. But when officers questioned the staff, they learned that he had only stayed there one night—by the next day, he was gone.
They pulled up the surveillance footage. Sure enough, they saw that on the second day at noon, Zhang Xiaofeng had checked out and left. He looked shaky as he walked, as if he could collapse at any moment.
An officer called Su Qianghai and reported, “Hello, we’ve been investigating all afternoon. We haven’t located him yet, but we’ve discovered something strange. He appeared unwell—staggering, barely able to walk, like he could collapse at any second. Does he have any medical conditions?”
“Medical conditions? None that I know of!”
“Then why was he in that state? If he’s not ill, you’ll need to come to the station. We suspect he may have been under the influence of narcotics.”
Su Qianghai was startled and immediately rushed over. Drugs? That was illegal! And where would Zhang Xiaofeng even get the money for drugs?
When he arrived at the station and watched the surveillance footage, Su Qianghai was stunned. Zhang Xiaofeng’s staggering steps, his weak limbs—he wasn’t high. He was starving. He looked so dizzy and faint that just stepping outside the inn, he had to lean against the wall to catch his breath, pale-faced and barely moving.
“Officer, he was just starving. We often didn’t allow him to eat regular meals. He could only eat instant noodles. His room probably still has instant noodle wrappers. You can check!”
“I understand. Please take us there.”
Twenty minutes later, several police cars arrived at Su Qianghai’s villa to investigate. After a thorough search, they ruled out any suspicion of hidden narcotics, and Su Qianghai breathed a sigh of relief. The police promised to continue reviewing more surveillance footage the following day to track down Zhang Xiaofeng, as they were short-staffed that day. Su Qianghai agreed.
…
When Su Yuebai heard that the police hadn’t found Zhang Xiaofeng and that he had been so starved he could barely stand, her heart ached as if pierced by a needle.
She had laughed at him that night, mocking him for being punished without dinner. And he had actually starved so badly he was on the verge of collapse!
Suddenly, she remembered a moment at the company when she had been so busy she didn’t eat all day. That night, Zhang Xiaofeng ran 20 kilometers to get her her favorite shredded chicken rice noodles and three large hairy crabs.
His words from that day were crystal clear in her mind: “I got this for you. Eat while it’s hot. It’s really nutritious. Don’t starve yourself—I’d feel terrible.”
She hadn’t even looked at him. Busy working, she only replied to the computer screen, “Thanks.”
“What are you thanking me for? You’re my fiancée. Of course I should treat you well. I want to take care of you. One day we’ll have a warm home together. You won’t need to work so hard anymore. You’ll just be beautiful and happy. I’ll earn the money and take care of everything. Come here, give me a hug.”
Thinking of that, Su Yuebai felt suffocated, like something stuck in her throat that couldn’t go up or down. He had treated her with such warmth and care, and she had punished him by denying him food. She’d wanted him to starve. God!
Seeing his daughter dazed, Su Qianghai gently patted her on the shoulder. “Sweetheart, don’t worry. Tomorrow I’ll send more people to search.”
But Wang Dajuan said coldly, “Doesn’t matter if he’s not found. Just go get an abortion.”
Doesn’t matter? An abortion? Rage filled Su Yuebai’s chest. She looked at her own mother and suddenly felt like she didn’t even recognize her.
Without saying a word, she turned and left.
…
Back in her bedroom, Su Yuebai sat silently for a long time, holding her head in her hands. She started to wonder—where had Zhang Xiaofeng gone? Had he really become a missing person? He had no money. Where could he possibly go? Could he be… dead from starvation?
That thought tore at her heart like a knife.
The next day, by 11:30 a.m., just before noon, the police finally called. They had traced the final point of surveillance. Zhang Xiaofeng had left the small inn, walked a long way down the road, begged for a bowl of food at a roadside stall, and then took shelter under an abandoned bridge. But he wasn’t there now. They asked the family to go wait there.
Su Qianghai immediately brought Su Yuebai to the location. When they entered the bridge tunnel, both were stunned.
It was dark, dirty, and smelled foul. On the ground lay a worn-out mat. Nearby were empty instant noodle bags—he had survived on just that for days.
Su Yuebai’s lips began to tremble. Her eyes welled with tears. This was worse than being a beggar. She had pushed Zhang Xiaofeng to this. She had sinned. She was a sinner.
“Ah! I think I stepped in poop!” Su Qianghai suddenly shouted. A foul stench hit his nose. He turned on his phone flashlight and confirmed—it really was feces. Holding his nose, he looked around and saw that the entire tunnel was filled with excrement, clearly used frequently as a public toilet.
Su Yuebai covered her mouth. So this is where Zhang Xiaofeng had been staying? She suddenly felt like choking. She had taken all his money. He couldn’t even afford the cheapest motel. So he ended up here. Even dogs wouldn’t sleep in a place like this!
Dark, damp, reeking of waste—this was how far he had been pushed.
If he had to live here, he might truly never come back again.
“Dad… Dad… did I… did I do something wrong?”
Su Qianghai remained silent.
Su Yuebai wiped her eyes and fell into silence too.
A long, long time passed before Su Qianghai finally spoke. “Sweetheart, don’t be like this. He’s the one who lost his temper. He brought this on himself! If he hadn’t yelled at us, would he have ended up like this?”
“But Dad… why didn’t we let him eat at the table? That wasn’t fair.”
“That’s the family rule! That’s our custom!”
“That’s a toxic tradition! Dad, it’s a backward rule! Can’t people treat each other with sincerity? Isn’t he a human being?”
“What do you know? Anyway, let’s just wait here. He must’ve gone out. We’ll wait for him to come back.”
Su Yuebai understood. Her father would never admit he was wrong. He was a multimillionaire who had been through countless ups and downs—rising from nothing, falling into ruin, and rebuilding again. He had experienced it all. His pride wouldn’t let him bend—not unless he lost everything again.
She said nothing more. That’s just who her father was. Her mother too. Unless they were crushed in the business world, they would never change. Rumor had it their competitors had grown fierce lately, threatening the company. Most of the company’s capital was from bank loans. Their debt ratio was extremely high. They didn’t have much net worth. Without Zhang Xiaofeng’s full support, her parents might not be able to handle the pressure.
She and her father waited at the bridge.
Time passed quickly. Afternoon turned to evening. By 8:00 p.m., darkness had completely fallen.
Zhang Xiaofeng still hadn’t returned.
Su Yuebai’s heart grew heavier and heavier.
“Dad… maybe he realized we’re looking for him. Maybe… he’s never coming back here either.”