Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The bedroom wasn’t large, but it had been decorated with exquisite care.

A pink four-piece bedding set covered the bed. On the desk were toys, picture books, little musical instruments, as well as a child’s cup and toothbrush…

This… How was this an old man’s room?

Captain Liang rushed in and froze at the sight before him.

“Who usually sleeps in this room?!” Captain Liang demanded sharply, glaring at Wu Qishu.

“I’m the only one in this house. If I don’t sleep here, who does?”

“Uncle Wu, tell me the truth!! Wu Ruoxi is missing! If you keep this up, we’ll have to take you back to the station!”

“What?! Xixi is missing?”

“Yes! We police have been searching for two full days and nights, and only now did we trace things here.”

“She’s been missing for two days already?!” Wu Qishu seemed unable to withstand the sudden blow. His legs gave out, and he sank onto the bed.

Although he had clearly been hiding something, it was still hard for us to believe that this nearly seventy-year-old man before us had taken Ruoxi away.

“Tell us everything you know, quickly! Every minute we waste puts Ruoxi in more danger!” I stood beside him and urged him gently.

“All right. I’ll tell you everything…” Wu Qishu trembled all over, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

From him, we finally learned what everything we had just seen was about.

In 2005.

Wu Qishu, who had just celebrated his sixtieth birthday, received good news:

His son, Wu Xing, had finally started a family, putting his last worry to rest.

But barely a year later, everything took a sharp turn for the worse.

After giving birth to a daughter, his daughter-in-law secretly ran away from home. Wu Xing went out to look for her several times, but always came back empty-handed.

He remembered the night Wu Xing returned by train from Chongqing for the last time. Wu Xing set down the child in his arms and said to him:

“I’m done looking for her. I can’t raise this girl. I’ve already arranged it with someone. Tomorrow, I’m sending her away.”

Wu Qishu flew into a rage and cursed him out. “As her father, how can you even think of doing something so irresponsible? No wonder you ended up with such an irresponsible woman. Birds of a feather flock together. This is all the consequence you brought upon yourself.”

He scolded him, but in the end, he took on the responsibility of raising Ruoxi.

“Back then, everyone said to me, ‘You’re a sixty-year-old single old man. How are you supposed to raise a child?'”

“They also said, ‘When an old person raises a child,

if the child turns out well, you won’t get any credit.

If the child turns out badly, it’ll all be your fault.'”

“In the end, I still decided to keep Xixi.

I made up my mind in secret: if I was going to raise her, then I would raise Xixi as well as anyone possibly could.”

“The beginning was the hardest. In my whole life, I’d barely taken care of anyone, let alone a child.

For the first few months, I hardly closed my eyes. Xixi would wake three or four times a night. She cried when she was hungry, cried when she wet herself, cried when her belly was bloated.

Even at my most desperate, I never once gave up.

Since she was little, Xixi was never as difficult as other children. Later, I would tell anyone who would listen that my granddaughter had come to this world to repay a kindness.

When Xixi was a little over two, one day, I was in the kitchen making porridge when I heard someone call out, Grandpa.

I rushed out at once. Xixi was holding on to the sofa, and when she saw me come out, she called me ‘Grandpa’ again.”

“That was the very first word she learned.”