Outside the door, Shen Donghai and Xia Wei looked at each other, but remained silent.
Finally, Shen Donghai said, "Xiao Wei, how about you..."
"Just call me Xia Wei." Xia Wei said coldly. Her icy demeanor made Shen Donghai somewhat intimidated, and at the same time, he sighed, realizing that Shen Moyu had indeed taken after Xia Wei.
"I hope you can persuade Mo Yu. If he continues to refuse me, then going abroad might become difficult."
Xia Wei slowly closed her eyes, a few strands of hair covering her face. She gave a muffled "hmm" and then said, "You should leave. He doesn't want to see you right now. Neither do I."
Shen Donghai hesitated, head bowed, before finally standing up: "I'm sorry. I..."
“You need to understand, if it weren’t for the fact that you can give my son a good future, I would have refused when you contacted me five years ago. So I hope you won’t say anything I don’t want to hear. Your main task is to take my son away, it has nothing to do with me.” Xia Wei got up, picked up her cane and stepped into the bedroom step by step. Her back was disheveled, but also stubborn.
That night, he talked a lot on the phone with Su Jinning, sharing his thoughts, opinions, and feelings of confusion and anxiety. Su Jinning patiently comforted him and helped him find solutions. However, near the end of the call, Su Jinning suddenly asked him, "Top student, what kind of villa and car do you like?"
Shen Moyu was a little stunned, unable to figure out why he asked such a question.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Su Jinning became a little anxious, her voice somewhat hurried, "I just wanted to ask you, if you like it, after I graduate and take over my dad's company, I can buy it for you."
Although she didn't know why he asked that, it was good that he had the intention. Shen Moyu smiled and said, "Okay, I'll wait for you to buy it for me."
"I can give you anything you want, to the best of my ability. So, as long as you don't say 'break up,' I... won't mention breaking up either."
Hearing him say this, Shen Moyu realized something was wrong. Combined with his sudden clinginess that morning, he sensed something was amiss: "Su Jinning, is something wrong?"
"No." Su Jinning replied without hesitation, her voice cheerful as if nothing had happened: "Go to sleep early, goodnight."
Su Jinning hung up the phone. This was the first time in all the time they had been dating that Su Jinning had hung up so readily. Before, she always said that she could never get enough of calling.
Shen Moyu thought about it for a long time, but still couldn't figure out why. Could it be related to his father's sudden return?
After tossing and turning for a long time, he couldn't help but feel that too many things had happened recently, as if he had suddenly returned to more than a year ago, and all sorts of troubles could befall him.
There were too many things to think about, and he didn't want to think about them anymore. He didn't know if it was because he lacked the energy or because he was afraid.
When he woke up the next day, he heard a loud noise in the living room. He opened the door and saw Shen Donghai wearing a pink apron, busy in the kitchen, seemingly serving rice. He accidentally burned his hand. In a daze, Shen Moyu seemed to see his father standing in the kitchen preparing breakfast for him ten years ago, smiling kindly and saying, "Good morning, baby."
But now his cooking skills seem rusty. Well, after being a CEO for so long, he's long since forgotten how to handle everyday tasks like cooking...
He was no longer the father she loved.
"What are you doing?" Shen Moyu snapped out of her thoughts and walked into the kitchen, looking at her like she was a burglar who had broken in.
Shen Donghai was clearly startled. He turned around and saw Shen Moyu, then suddenly laughed, "You're awake? I, I'll prepare breakfast for you. I made your favorite preserved egg congee and red bean paste dumplings. Sit down..."
"I'm not eating." Shen Moyu brushed past him, picked up the plain water on the table, and gulped it down. He felt a little uncomfortable with the cold water.
"No, please don't not eat!" Shen Donghai was afraid he would leave, so he quickly arranged everything on the table: "I've been making this for a long time, and I don't know how it tastes. Why don't you try it?"
Shen Moyu couldn't help but look at the things on the table. His memories were pulled back to his childhood, but as he turned to leave, they were suddenly pulled away again. Once again, he felt that the father in front of him was not real.
"Can't you eat something? You can't go hungry."
"Where's my mom?" Shen Moyu asked coldly.
Shen Donghai paused for a moment, then said, "Oh, she's downstairs at her friend's house. Are you going to see her? Let's go after we finish eating!"
See? Xia Wei doesn't want to stay here anymore, and neither does he. Saying this, he picked up his coat from the sofa and prepared to leave. He didn't want to stay here a second longer; he felt stifled and irritated.
"Son!" Shen Donghai suddenly grabbed Shen Moyu.
Shen Moyu abruptly shook off his hand, as if she had touched something sharp, and glared at him angrily, "Don't touch me!"
Standing helplessly behind Shen Moyu, Shen Donghai finally couldn't help but say, "You don't have to forgive your father, but I said these things because I owe you. I just wanted to give you what I could, like making you breakfast, even just a bite would be fine."
"What's the point of all this pointless work?" Shen Moyu looked at him with questioning eyes: "I'm no longer the child who could be amused by you with fish balls and pies."
His childhood wasn't expensive at all; he just needed a complete family and the company of his parents. But if you only think about making up for it years later, then what he gave you is priceless.
Shen Moyu turned around and went to the entrance to put on his shoes. The next second, he heard a loud bang behind him. He saw Shen Donghai fall to the ground, clutching his stomach and sweating profusely.
Shen Moyu was startled. He hesitated for five seconds, not knowing what he was thinking, but in the end he ran over, squatted down and tried to help Shen Donghai up.
"Son, there's medicine in the bag..."
Shen Moyu got up to rummage through her bag, but the movement was so sudden that everything spilled out. A dazzling array of medicine bottles fell to the ground, the clattering sound startling Shen Moyu…
What happened? Why are there so many medicine bottles?
"The biggest bottle... the blue one..." Shen Donghai said weakly.
Seeing that it wasn't on the ground, Shen Moyu rummaged through her bag again and found a white medical report had fallen out.
[Mid-stage gastric cancer]
Shen Moyu was stunned.
Shen Donghai took the medicine, but he was still in a lot of pain. Shen Moyu looked at the diagnosis report on the ground over and over again. He had doubted whether it was fake, but the hospital's stamp and the medicine all over the ground were too glaring. He was a little overwhelmed.
"Dad's alright, don't worry." Shen Donghai was in so much pain he couldn't straighten up, but his eyes were filled with relief.
"When did this happen?" Shen Moyu felt his voice tremble slightly.
Shen Donghai paused for a moment before saying, "I was diagnosed last month, but I'm only close to the middle stage. As long as I take medicine and have surgery, I'll recover quickly. It's not a big deal..." As he said this, he squeezed his stomach hard again.
Shen Moyu was going crazy... He slumped down, no longer able to distinguish his own feelings—shock, distress... a mix of emotions, a chill running through him.
"So, do you know why Dad suddenly came back to see you?" Shen Donghai's stomach pain had subsided a bit, so he leaned forward and touched his back. The familiar yet unfamiliar touch made him want to cry.
"People don't truly appreciate how precious life is until they experience a serious illness. They don't realize that if they don't do certain things now, they'll never have the chance again. Although the chances of recovering from this illness are high, and Dad's recovery is going well, I'm still afraid. It's not that I'm afraid of dying, but that I won't have the courage to see you one last time before I die, my child. You still hate me. You hate me so much that you might not even feel anything if you knew I was dead."
Shen Moyu buried her face in her hands, tears wetting her eyelashes once again.
He was never a cold-blooded person. Just like his father said, there is no parent in this world who doesn't love their child, and there is no child who doesn't love their parents.
Even now, he is still saddened by his father's illness.
He had fantasized many times about his father's return, but repeated disappointments had long since turned his expectations into fear and hatred. He dared not face this man.