Chapter 68: My Daughter Zizhi

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: My Daughter Zizhi

Qing Qing looked at the face before her—

His once rebellious arrogance had been worn down into a modest, gentle demeanor, all his claws and sharp edges tucked safely away...

But Qing Qing knew it was all fake!

Though Fu Yunfeng came from a humble background and had fallen on hard times, he was born a proud eagle. He had the blood of an adventurer in his veins—bold, ambitious, and utterly fearless.

Back in college, everyone knew her status as the eldest daughter of the Qing Family. They either kept a respectful distance or tried to suck up to her. Only he dared to treat her as a rival, opposing her at every turn...

And yet, on a restless summer night filled with the drone of cicadas, he had caught her completely off guard by telling her he liked her.

After they got together, no one was optimistic about their relationship. They felt the gap in their social standing was too vast. A golden girl falling for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks rarely ended well. Once reality wore away their love, it would all just be a mess.

Fu Yunfeng would scoff at this to their faces, but behind their backs, he took it to heart. He gritted his teeth and told her he would keep climbing until he reached a position worthy of her.

She wouldn’t have to lower herself or fall into the mud. She just had to stand on high and wait for him!

The Fu Yunfeng who said those words was just a young man in a white shirt, a blazing fire of ambition burning in his eyes.

Qing Qing never doubted his words.

She loved his recklessness, his bold ambition;

loved his courage, his disregard for rules.

But...

The depth of her love then was matched only by the depth of her hatred now.

She hated his reckless cruelty, the way he burned every bridge;

hated his impatient viciousness, which attracted a horde of enemies.

The more Qing Qing thought about it, the more the hatred in her heart roiled like thick magma!

The corners of her eyes were crimson, her gaze as sharp as a blade, piercing straight into Fu Yunfeng’s eyes.

"You just said you were late because of traffic, right?"

Fu Yunfeng hesitated, then nodded.

"Yes, I..."

"Stop lying! You went to see that person!"

Qing Qing’s hands on the tabletop clenched into fists, her knuckles turning white.

Her words made both Fu Yunfeng’s and Fu Chao’s expressions falter.

Fu Yunfeng lowered his gaze, his voice a placating whisper.

"Qing Qing, I... I didn’t mean to lie to you..."

Qing Qing cut him off directly.

"So? You went to see him. Did you get your answer?"

Fu Yunfeng’s eyes darkened, and he said nothing.

Qing Qing sneered.

"Is this why you’re keeping him alive? You think he’ll eventually spit out the truth? Let me tell you, he won’t! He hates you! He hates you for destroying his family, for single-handedly causing his parents’ suicide! That’s why he kidnapped my daughter! To get revenge on you! It’s been over twenty years! My Zizhi’s fate is still unknown, yet that man gets to eat and drink well in prison, waking up to see the sun every day... By what right?! I’m asking you, by what right!"

Every word from Qing Qing was steeped in hatred, as if she were weeping blood.

Meanwhile, the father and son, Fu Yunfeng and Fu Chao, were so pained that tears streamed down their faces.

This made Fu Chao think back to many years ago.

He remembered the joy and excitement when his little sister was born;

the jealousy and resentment when his parents doted on her more than him;

the way she could barely walk straight, yet would chase after him, calling out "Brother!" in her sweet, childish voice;

and the day he came home from school to find a grim pall hanging over the house, police everywhere, and learned with mounting dread that his sister was missing...

Fu Chao knew that the media and the public speculated his sister had been abducted and sold.

Fu Chao never commented on this.

Because he didn’t know which was worse: being sold, or being kidnapped.

Being sold at least offered a sliver of hope she might still be alive.

But a kidnapping...

A kidnapping by one of his father’s enemies...

After it happened, the kidnapper had eagerly turned himself in not long after.

He said Fu Yunfeng had ruined his family. He wasn’t after money or gain; he just wanted revenge.

So he killed Fu Yunfeng’s most beloved little daughter to tear his family apart and leave them ruined.

Fu Chao would never forget the kidnapper’s words:

’...I stuffed her into a burlap sack filled with rocks. She looked at me with those pretty eyes and begged me to let her go. I promised her I would, that I’d take her home... She was so happy she smiled, called me ’Uncle,’ and asked me why I was crying... HAHA, why was I crying? Of course, I was happy! Happy thinking about how her father would now sink into the same suffering as me!’

Fu Chao hadn’t actually been allowed at the scene; he had snuck over on his own.

Even the words he’d overheard were fragmented and incomplete.

But his parents had heard every last detail of the kidnapper’s story, word for word.

After that.

His parents’ love for each other died. Their relationship shattered, and they became like a couple bound by resentment.

This was exactly what the kidnapper had wanted to see.

...

"No, Zizhi isn’t dead."

Fu Yunfeng, who had kept his head bowed and hadn’t dared to refute Qing Qing’s accusations, suddenly raised his eyes.

Behind his glasses, one could faintly see the arrogance and stubbornness of his youth.

He said, his voice firm and decisive,

"Several of the details he gave just don’t add up! The truth can’t be as simple as he says! It’s been over twenty years, and not a day goes by that I don’t wish him dead! But even if he dies, he must first tell me where my Zizhi is!"

In the end, the family dinner broke up on a sour note.

Qing Qing took Fu Chao back to the old Qing Family residence.

Fu Yunfeng wanted to follow, but in the end, he didn’t dare.

It was still early when they arrived at the old Qing Family residence, and Fu Chao’s grandparents were still awake.

Qing Qing’s expression had been off the moment she walked through the door.

His grandmother, Xiao Qingfen, noticed.

While Qing Qing and his grandfather, Qing Shan, went to the study to discuss matters, Xiao Qingfen quietly pulled Fu Chao aside.

"Wasn’t today your family dinner? Why the long face on her?"

Fu Chao, his spirits low, recounted everything that had happened.

Xiao Qingfen listened, her lips twitching in a grimace.

"Your mother, she’s all talk! Believe it or not, if your father really tried to kill that bastard Xu Dong, she’d be the first to stop him! She’s just looking for an excuse to yell at your dad! And your father, he’s usually so sharp, how could he not see it? He just had to butt heads with her!"

Xiao Qingfen’s tone was filled with dissatisfaction and disdain for Fu Yunfeng.

Ever since his sister, Qing Zhi, had disappeared, his grandmother’s attitude toward his father had been like this.

Normally, Fu Chao would have been used to it.

But for some reason, today he suddenly asked,

"Grandma, do you hate my dad?"

Seeing the bewildered look in Fu Chao’s eyes, Xiao Qingfen knew the boy was getting stuck in his head again.

She gave Fu Chao a firm pat on the back.

"Alright now! This is grown-up business, you stay out of it! No matter how earth-shattering your parents’ fights are, those are their own problems! Haven’t you noticed? After all these years of fighting, neither of them has ever mentioned divorce. If they really hated each other that much, they’d have split long ago! It’s because it’s a mix of love and hate that they’re still so tangled up!"

Fu Chao marveled at his grandmother’s unerring insight, but at the same time, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"...Grandma, I’m a kid? I’m thirty years old!"

Xiao Qingfen waved a dismissive hand.

"So what if you’re thirty? Don’t your eighteen-year-old fans still call you ’brother’?"

The word "brother" made Fu Chao freeze.

He suddenly remembered that his sister, Qing Zhi, was three years younger than him.

By that count, she would be twenty-seven this year.

...Right.

’How old was Nan Zhi again?’