The atmosphere in the car finally felt less heavy.
Zuo Yang listened to Mo Qingyan’s praise, beaming with delight.
“By the way, let’s not tell Mom about this. I don’t want her to be upset.”
For Mo Qingyan, whatever his child said went: “Alright, we won’t tell her.”
“Yu Ning too.” Zuo Yang didn’t forget to add.
Yu Ning responded with utmost seriousness: “Don’t worry, Miss. I’m very tight-lipped.”
“Ah, Mo Qingyan, what happened to the warehouse owner and the scrap truck driver? Did you listen to me and not make things difficult for them? They didn’t mean any harm, and the warehouse owner even protected me back then.”
“Shall I take you to see for yourself?”
“Sure!”
Without waiting for Mo Qingyan to speak, Yu Ning turned the car around.
By the time they reached their destination, the sky had already darkened.
Mo Qingyan and Zuo Yang didn’t get out of the car; they simply looked outside through the window.
“That apartment?”
Zuo Yang stared at the intact apartment in the distance, stunned.
If she remembered correctly, that apartment should have been completely burned beyond recognition.
“The president had the apartment rebuilt exactly as it was,” Yu Ning answered on Mo Qingyan’s behalf.
“Yu Ning, don’t speak out of turn,” Mo Qingyan suddenly interjected.
Yu Ning nodded and fell silent, though his heart felt heavy.
He recalled the period when the apartment was being rebuilt—how his president had seemed like a lost soul, staying by the site day and night, personally arranging every detail to match the original exactly.
During that time, the president seemed to have cried all the tears he would ever shed in his lifetime.
He stopped speaking, closed himself off, and gradually lost his vitality.
But these were things the president surely didn’t want the young lady to know, or she would be heartbroken and worried.
Even though Mo Qingyan had cut Yu Ning off in time, Zuo Yang could roughly guess.
In her dreams, she had witnessed how devastated and hopeless Mo Qingyan was after her death—her heart had ached alongside his all along.
“Look,” Mo Qingyan said, noticing the young lady was on the verge of tears, and quickly changed the subject, pointing to a specific spot.
Zuo Yang followed his gaze.
A very familiar figure came into view.
“It’s the warehouse owner!” Zuo Yang recognized him.
“Mm. Back then, after learning what happened to you, the warehouse owner was deeply depressed for a long time. Later, he turned this place into a bun shop. He doesn’t charge the elderly or children, and provides food and drinks for free to people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.”
The warehouse owner intended to do this for the rest of his life—as a way to atone and, if possible, accumulate blessings for the departed Zuo Yang.
As for the scrap truck driver, no matter how much he earned from selling scrap each day, he would bring all the money to the warehouse owner to subsidize the bun shop, keeping nothing for himself.
For his own sustenance, he would just scavenge for whatever food he could find.
He, too, was repenting and atoning in his own way, hoping to accumulate blessings for that kind-hearted girl.
Later, the scrap truck driver started having all three meals at the bun shop and worked even harder.
Listening to Mo Qingyan’s words, watching the busy warehouse owner, and seeing the scrap truck driver take buns from the owner before immediately riding off to continue his toil, Zuo Yang smiled.
This was exactly what she had hoped to see.
If she had seen a warehouse owner and scrap car driver who was depressed, disheartened, and unable to recover today, she certainly wouldn’t have been happy. She didn’t wish for that.
May the world be beautiful!
Love and peace!
The sky grew darker as students were let out from school.
The shouts of street vendors, the greetings from restaurant owners, the cheerful laughter of students, and the lights of countless homes turning on—this vibrant human atmosphere seemed to soothe the lingering shadows of that nightmare.
“Mo Qingyan, everything is in the past now! Everything will only get better from here!”
The little girl gazed at the lively scene outside the car window, but Mo Qingyan’s eyes were fixed solely on his little one.
Watching her radiant, smiling face, the man’s eyes also filled with laughter…
…
Just one day later, Mo Qingyan received news of Abbot Liao Wu’s passing.
Mo Qingyan recalled how, after Zuo Yang’s death, he had gone to seek Liao Wu.
Faced with his collapse, Liao Wu had ultimately offered him guidance with these words.
Liao Wu told him to simply follow the final instructions left by the little girl—perhaps heaven would take pity, and eventually, he would see light at the end of the tunnel.
Although he had always intended to live on for the little girl’s sake, only he knew in his heart that Liao Wu’s words had ignited a small flicker of hope within him.
As negligible as it seemed.
Yet perhaps it was this very flicker that invisibly supported him, ultimately allowing him to wait for that breakthrough, for the little girl to return to his side.
Mo Qingyan made a hefty donation to the temple in Zuo Yang’s name and promised that the Mo Family would always be available to help whenever needed.
Since Zuo Yang’s return, she had been constantly on the move, busy without pause, and Mo Qingyan accompanied her every step of the way.
Now, they could finally catch their breath, just as Mo Qingyan’s treatment was ready.
Though Feng Lin was only a 13-year-old boy, he carried out tasks methodically and with exceptional execution.
While Mo Qingyan and Zuo Yang were occupied, the young man hadn’t been idle at all.
But as Feng Lin had initially stated, because Mo Qingyan had been poisoned for so long, the treatment process would be somewhat painful.
When Zuo Yang saw the man, pale-faced, his close-fitting shirt soaked through with cold sweat as if he’d just been pulled from water, her heart ached terribly.
Somewhat painful? This was nowhere near “somewhat”!
It was clearly super painful, alright!
“Hey, Xiao Fenglin, can’t you be gentler?Zuo Yang was so anxious she was nearly shedding silver beads.
“Miss Sister, this is something Brother must endure,” Feng Lin patiently explained. “Only this way will Brother recover.”
Before the treatment began, Mo Qingyan had specifically instructed that Zuo Yang not witness the process, knowing the little girl would cry from start to finish.
Mo Qingyan couldn’t bear to see that.
Hearing Feng Lin’s words, even though her heart still ached, Zuo Yang could only pout and mutter softly, “Just be gentle, okay?”
Feng Lin sighed lightly but replied good-naturedly, “I’ll do my best.”
Despite saying this, with each subsequent treatment, Feng Lin grew increasingly rigorous.
Of course, this was at Mo Qingyan’s request.
Mo Qingyan was desperate to recover quickly.
He wanted to stand again—not for any other reason, but to lift his little one high, to hold and kiss her.
His little one deserved the very best in this world.
He didn’t want her to face pointing fingers and whispers about the man she loved being confined to a wheelchair, seen as useless.
He was determined to stand, so that no matter when, he could rush to his little girl’s side at a moment’s notice.
He wanted to be healthy, because he wanted to stay by his child’s side for a lifetime.
That day, Zuo Yang accompanied Mo Qingyan, who had just finished treatment, as they curled up on the living room sofa.
At this moment, the man’s lips were pale, and his entire body seemed drained of strength as he leaned against the sofa.
Zuo Yang was also very well-behaved, quietly staying by the man’s side.
While occasionally feeding Qingyan pieces of fruit, she flipped through the newspaper on the coffee table.
When a certain face in the newspaper caught her eye, Zuo Yang was so startled that the grape in her mouth fell out.
Oh my god!
The man in the newspaper was none other than the father from her dream, who had committed suicide at her mother’s graveside!