No one knew how much time had passed before Su Yuebai finally came back to her senses from her guilt. Looking at her silent father in front of her, she said, “Dad, you should go home first. We’ll look again tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll wait here for him.”
“Come back with me. He’d never give up this chance to turn his life around! It’s poor out there in the Northwest. He dreams of becoming part of the wealthy class. He’ll come back and admit he was wrong!”
“Shut up! You go back first!”
Su Qianghai was stunned. His daughter had never spoken to him like that before, but today she actually scolded him and told him to shut up?
He raised his hand and slapped Su Yuebai hard across the face, yelling angrily, “How dare you talk back to me? I’ll beat you to death!”
Su Yuebai felt a burning pain on her face. Her mouth was slightly twisted, and she finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears, sobbing, “Fine! Do whatever you want!”
…
The night passed, then the day, and by 12:35 p.m. the next day, Su Yuebai still hadn’t seen Zhang Xiaofeng. It was as if he really wasn’t coming back. Su Yuebai began to panic. He had been missing for many days already. He had no money. How would he eat? How would he fill his stomach? What if he starved to death somewhere?
Su Yuebai was growing anxious. She couldn’t help but take out her phone again and call the police. When they answered, she said, “Officer, please, could you send more people to search for him? He’s been missing for well over 72 hours now. That’s enough time to file a case!”
“We’ve been looking, but after he left the bridge underpass, one of the surveillance cameras on the road was broken, and the others didn’t catch him either. We have no idea where he went, but we’ll do our best.”
“Okay! Thank you, Officer! Thank you!”
“This is our duty.”
…
After the call ended, tears welled up in Su Yuebai’s eyes again. She remembered how terribly she had treated Zhang Xiaofeng before. She had even been cruel.
From the moment he moved into her home at her request, he hadn’t had a single good day. Whenever they argued, she made him sleep outside in the yard. He wasn’t allowed to sleep in the room, not even on the bed. Often, she wouldn’t even let him touch her.
There was one time when her parents were watching TV and he accidentally pressed the remote, changing the channel. Her parents immediately became furious and scolded him harshly. She also joined in, shouting, “Are you blind?!”
He had lowered his head then, looking meek and afraid, not daring to meet anyone’s gaze. Yet she still wasn’t satisfied and snapped, “As punishment, you can’t come inside tonight! Go sleep in the yard!”
It was early winter at the time. The weather had already turned cold. That night, he sent her a message saying, “Yueyue, I caught a cold. I’ve got a runny nose. Can you open the door? I want to sleep inside.” Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
But no matter what he said, she didn’t let him in. She remained indifferent and even opened the curtain to give him a cold glance. Under the light, he was shivering, looking up at her window full of hope. But she still scolded him, “This is your punishment! You ruined my parents’ TV time!”
Thinking back now, it had all been unintentional! He only pressed the wrong button. Later, he explained that he was just trying to adjust the volume and accidentally hit the wrong key. It was just a mistake, yet she kicked him out and made him sleep on the freezing ground!
It wasn’t until the next morning, when she opened the window and saw snow falling, that she remembered he was still outside. Looking into the yard, she couldn’t find him anywhere. She went down to check and was shocked to discover him curled up with the tied-up shepherd dog, using each other for warmth!
He was trembling, hugging the dog for warmth!
Thinking of all this, Su Yuebai felt a sharp ache in her heart. She didn’t understand how she could have been so cruel. What was her heart made of back then—wasn’t it flesh?
That incident with the remote… Zhang Xiaofeng never talked back to her parents, always nodding and saying yes, never daring to say a word in defense. After all, he lived under their roof and needed to show respect. Yet she had thrown him out and left him to sleep with a dog!
What had she done?
Su Yuebai fell into deep silence—utter, suffocating silence.
…
On the other side.
Zhang Xiaofeng, who had been missing for days, appeared at a noodle shop, devouring a bowl of noodles.
He was wearing a new set of clothes, bought on credit from somewhere, but he’d already paid it off.
It was a long story. Right before his phone credit ran out, he made a call to a college friend and explained his situation. That friend immediately came to Jiang City, treated him to a meal today, lent him 10,000 yuan, and left.
He had been wandering the streets for days. Even if he froze or starved to death out there, he would never go back!
Nowadays, very few people would lend 10,000 yuan to a friend. Zhang Xiaofeng made a mental note of this kindness.
Ten minutes later, Zhang Xiaofeng finished his noodles. His stomach was full. After being hungry for days, he was nearly seeing stars. Now he felt like he might burst from overeating, almost joining the ranks of the dead from the other side.
Before leaving, his friend had told him about a job opportunity at a game company. One of the friend’s acquaintances worked there and had just posted a job opening in their Moments. The company needed a software developer, and the monthly salary was over 10,000 yuan.
His friend had sent him the contact and asked him to check it out. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Zhang Xiaofeng couldn’t help but think of the time he worked for Su Yuebai’s family company. Right after graduation, he joined their company. Her dad only gave him a 6,000 yuan monthly salary! And that amount hadn’t gone up even by a single cent!
Worse still, although they paid that low salary in the beginning, once they began discussing marriage, even that stopped. One day, Su Qianghai called him into the office and said, “We’re about to become one family. There’s no need to pay you anymore. What’s yours is ours, and ours will be yours someday.”
Zhang Xiaofeng had thought that was just empty promises, but back then he was still head over heels in love with Su Yuebai, so he didn’t say anything. But now? Screw you!
Luckily, in their company, if you missed three consecutive days of work, it was considered voluntary resignation. So job hunting wouldn’t be complicated.
And that game company offering over 10,000 yuan per month? That was far better than 6,000. With his degree, he might even get offered more.
Zhang Xiaofeng felt strongly: without them, I’ll live even better!
Without delay, he used the contact info to call the person his friend had referred. The call connected quickly.
“Hello, who’s this?”
“Hello, I’m Zhang Xiaofeng, Wang Hongtao’s college classmate. I graduated from Qingbei University. I heard your company is hiring…”
At that moment.
In a high-end office building, a middle-aged man answered the phone. Hearing that the caller graduated from Qingbei, he was stunned and immediately said, “Yes, yes! We’re hiring, especially someone like you! The boss will be back tomorrow. You can meet him directly for an interview. I’ll arrange it!”
“Okay, I’ll come by tomorrow.”
After the call ended, Zhang Xiaofeng let out a long breath. I can eat wherever I want—no need to cling to your house!
Next, he needed to find a place to stay for the night. He also had to buy a phone charger—damn it, he didn’t even bring a charger when he stormed out of her house.
Oh right, he also needed to buy a decent suit. Interviews needed to look formal.
By the time he finished shopping for the suit, the afternoon had passed and it was already dark. Zhang Xiaofeng found a place to stay for the night.
…
Meanwhile.
Su Yuebai and Su Qianghai were still standing under that bridge, waiting for Zhang Xiaofeng!
Now the sky was completely dark again, and Su Yuebai was on the verge of despair!