"How did the family who adopted you treat you?"

The results of Chu Dong's final exams were quite good, so good that Wu Yue couldn't believe it. He deliberately brought a gift to thank Chu Dong's adviser, and the class teacher enthusiastically welcomed him. During the conversation, he said that Chu Dong was smart and quick to learn, proficient in everything he's been taught. He also gave Wu Yue reason to relax. As long as Chu Dong performs normally, the entrance examination will be in the bag this year.

Wu Yue was in a good mood, he excitedly drove to the vegetable market to buy fresh vegetables and meat, planning to go home and make a good meal for Chu Dong. The car drove downstairs and he got off with a cold breeze.

This was only from half a semester of studying, how could his Chu Dong be so good?

Wu Yue took the vegetables home, Chu Dong greeted him as usual, helping him sort things and handing him slippers. New Year was is just around the corner, the house had been cleaned inside out, the balcony was full of flowers, and when you step inside, you could smell the scent of stew from the kitchen.

This kind of peaceful atmosphere made Wu Yue very comfortable.

Chu Dong tiptoed to kiss him, Wu Yue smiled and kissed his face. This had become the ritual between the two when going out in the morning and returning home in the evening. At first, Chu Dong would pester him. Later, Wu Yue gradually got used to it, and it became as wearing shoes and taking them off.

Chu Dong tied on an apron, helping Wu Yue wash the vegetables in the kitchen. The father and son cooked together and went out to buy New Year's goods together after the meal. It was cold, Wu Yue wrapped up Chu Dong tightly and gave him a woolen hat. Chu Dong wasn't happy. He wanted to change the thick padded jacket to a woolen coat. Wu Yue grabbed him back, and said that it was too cold outside, and he wasn't allowed to change it.

"It doesn't look good." Chu Dong protested.

Wu Yue grabbed him and prevented him from running back to the bedroom to change clothes, "Dong'er looks good in everything he wears. Be good, and let's go."

"No, this padded jacket is too bloated..."

This protest was invalid. Chu Dong was picked up, carried downstairs, and stuffed into the car.

While visiting the supermarket with Chu Dong, he kept glaring at Wu Yue angrily. Wu Yue felt that he was so cute and couldn't help squeezing his face. Chu Dong pushed his hand away, and after a while, took the initiative to lean in and hold him. There were too many people in the supermarket, he couldn't get lost.

Wu Yue had just bought two sets of new clothes for Chu Dong before receiving the business call. He sent Chu Dong home and hurried out. He's been busy for a while, but the clothing store’s business was still unable to take a breather. He wanted to try and take on a clothing wholesale store. There was an entire building in the middle of a commercial street of the old city center famous for wholesale. A place Wu Yue regularly purchased from all year round. That place was something he was familiar with, his contacts were concentrated, and he wants to win a spot in that golden table.

There were too many things that needed to be done, it was already late. After Wu Yue came back from the commercial street, he went to the store to check the accounts, and gifted the employees red envelopes. It was already eight o’clock in the evening when he finally stopped being busy. After buying soup dumplings, he quickly hurried home.

When he opened the door holding the soup, the small light waiting for him was lighting up the house. The New Year's goods they've bought had been packed and sorted one by one. The house was clean, and the child was sleeping on the sofa in his pajamas, covered in a blanket. His prosthesis had been taken off and put aside, it seemed that he was exhausted from bustling around all afternoon.

Wu Yue walked over and put the soup on the coffee table, sitting down and gently picking up Chu Dong. It was rare for Chu Dong to sleep so soundly. His face was flushed in the man's arms, and he woke up dazedly after being pinched.

"Sleep for so long, you won't be able to sleep at night."

Chu Dong yawned and sat up, leaning over to kiss Wu Yue's face drowsily, his soft hair brushing over. Wu Yue let him act coquettishly, leaning over to open the soup bag, "I bought you some of Sun Ji's soup dumplings. If you don't want to eat it now, you'll be waiting until the end of New Year to eat this again."

"Feed me, Dad."

Wu Yue took the box, picking up the soup bag and feeding it to Chu Dong's mouth. The soup was still very hot, Chu Dong sipped on it like a cat, getting oily lips

Wu Yue feed him patiently while watching him eat, when he was sure that Chu Dong was full, he finished everything else

He had something to say to Chu Dong.

"Does Dong'er find studying hard?"

Chu Dong was full and content. He was lazy and laid on the arms of the man, flipping through a book and replying, "It's not that hard."

Wu Yue thought about how to phrase it better, he asked with discretion: "Have Dong'er... studied in another school before?"

Chu Dong paused, "Yeah."

Wu Yue asked: "Where?"

"I finished elementary school in a village school."

"How about junior high school?"

"I didn't go to school."

Wu Yue squeezed Chu Dong's hand.

"Dong'er." Wu Yue carefully considered his words, "The person who adopted you before... how did they treat you?"

Chu Dong sat in his arms. Wu Yue hugged him and watched the child's face. Chu Dong's expression was unreadable, his long eyelashes remained motionless, his eyes faint, he couldn't guess his emotions.

After a while, he raised his head and smiled at Wu Yue, his voice soft, "They were good to me."

Wu Yue didn't believe it, if they were really good to him, then why send him back to the orphanage in less than a year? He was a little anxious and wanted to ask more questions, but Chu Dong silently lowered his eyes, and then got up from his arms. Wu Yue didn't dare to stop him, he stood with his back to him for a while, before slowly walking to the dining table, reaching out for a glass of water. Wu Yue saw his fingers trembling faintly, and it took a while to hold the cup.

Wu Yue strode over and rushed to Chu Dong's side, he firmly supported his wrist, "Dong'er?"

Chu Dong pushed him away, picking up the glass and drinking half the glass of cold water. In less than a moment, the trembling faded.

"It wasn't a family." Chu Dong said, "It was a woman."

Suddenly, Wu Yue didn't want to get an answer at all. He saw the sadness in Chu Dong, and wanted to hold him tightly in his arms. He didn't want him to think about anything, he didn't want him to be burdened by anything. Wu Yue approached Chu Dong, and cautiously coaxed him, "Can Dad hug you?"

Chu Dong pushed his hand away once more.

"She's dead." Chu Dong murmured.

At night, the nightmare made Chu Dong unable to peacefully sleep in Wu Yue's arms. He couldn't settle down, and kept on muttering thing, frowning. Even Wu Yue felt the cold sweat and trembling of his back. He had to tap Chu Dong's face to wake him up, "Dong'er?"

Chu Dong was awakened, panting. When he opened his eyes, something disappeared slightly, like his soul had been drawn away. Wu Yue was full of regret from his impulsiveness. There were so many other ways to investigate, why did he have to ask Dong'er himself? He clearly knew now that it wasn't a good memory.

"Don't be afraid." Wu Yue put his arms around Chu Dong, stroking his cold cheeks with his big warm hands, he couldn't help but lower his head and kiss his forehead, "Dad's with you, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Chu Dong grabbed his sleeve and took a long time to recover. He slowly calmed down, closing his eyes and accepting the man's comfort.

"I had a nightmare." Chu Dong woke up sober, but embarrassedly held Wu Yue's hand, "Did I disturb Dad's sleep?"

Wu Yue felt terribly distressed, he kept touching his face with his hands until the skin under the palms finally became warm. "Dad was watching you sleep."

Chu Dong softly rubbed his hand, "Kiss me."

Wu Yue lowered his head and kissed Chu Dong. He kissed Chu Dong's soft lips, resting his hands on the back of his neck, slowly kneading his thumbs in circular motions, neither light or heavy. Chu Dong was soothed and relaxed, groaning comfortably in the the man's arm. When his voice became smaller and smaller, Wu Yue pulled away, Chu Dong laid under him with slightly rosy lips, his small face flushed. He whispered a few words to his father, before gradually falling asleep again.

After the New Year, Wu Yue took some time to leave the city.

He drove for a long time and returned to that old orphanage. It was still the cold season, the sky was hazy, grey and blue, gloomy.

The dean came out to see him. The two went to the office and sat down. The dean made a cup of tea for him, cheap tea, steaming in a plastic cup. Everything was the same from when he came to this place a year ago. The air had a constant stale smell, in the walls the old moss continues to grow in the corner. At that time, Chu Dong was sitting on a chair not far away, wrapped in his black padded jacket, as thin and lonely as a wild cat. One foot hung down, ankles blue and white.

He bowed his head and said nothing.

Wu Yue suddenly felt a strong desire to embrace Chu Dong. He even wanted to drive back at this instant, call him out of the classtoom, and then carry the child all the way home.

The dean sat opposite him, rubbing his hands unnaturally, "Mr. Wu, you've drove so far, drink some tea, here."

Wu Yue had no intention of being polite with him, he asked straightforwardly, "What happened the year before Chu Dong was adopted?"

"I'm not particularly clear about this..."

"If someone takes the child away from you, you won't ask anything?"

Wu Yue rarely expressed his emotions, outsiders have never seen him get angry. Although he said this with a calm face, his majesty was revealed from the inside, making people skittish.

The dean hurriedly clarified, “It’s not that I don’t ask. The girl that adopted Chu Dong knew him before. When Chu Dong was still in elementary school, that girl came to the village several times. She and her friends came to volunteer, I think? She came here and meet Chu Dong."

"After a few years, the girl came over and took Chu Dong away. She's a literate person, she's read a lot of books. Many people here know her, mainly because the children are willing to go with her..."

"You said Chu Dong wanted to go with here?"

"Yes."

"She came alone?"

"Yes, when she first registered, the girl said that she hasn't contacted her family in a long time, and that she wasn't married."

Wu Yue felt silent for a moment, he said, "How did she die?"

The dean was startled and wiped away the sweat from his forehead, "I heard that it was a car accident... Uh, everything happened years ago, I can't remember a lot of things..."

The dean dug out the woman's information for Wu Yue. The phone number was invalid, the home address in a local city, there was no second contact, no work unit, no photo, and only the legal name is Yuan Fei.

Wu Yue went to the elementary school Chu Dong attended before. After a lot of work, he managed to get someone to look up the lists of a college student association, where the school had been volunteering for the past year. He found the contact information of the person in charge of the association at that time. Fortunately, the person in charge hasn't changed their mobile phone number even after so many years. Wu Yue received the name and a number of a woman.

Wu Yue contacted her, and they made an appointment to meet in the city. Wu Yue arrived early at the coffee shop. He wanted to make an appointment at the restaurant, but the other party said that he didn't need to. The tone on other side of the phone was cold, like she was hostile to Wu Yue.

It was a professionally dressed woman, she didn't speak when she saw Wu Yue, but silently sat down opposite him, beckoning to order a cup of coffee.

Wu Yue took the initiative, "Hello, may I ask if you are Yuan Fei..."

"I was her college roommate." The woman bluntly interrupted Wu Yue. "Mr. Wu, with all due respect, since you didn't want your biological child back then, why are you looking for people now?"

The woman was full of anger, his first sentence was full of gunpowder. Wu Yue shook his head and admitted, "I made the mistake."

"I think Mr. Wu should also understand, after leaving the child out for more than ten years, and then suddenly wanting to them back, it'll be miles away from the one you raised since childhood. Mr. Wu probably has some experience, too. You came all the way to investigate this abandoned field and rotten grain. You thought that your child was abused outside, and so refused to get close to you, right? After all, if something is really found out, you can sue someone for compensation!"

Her sharp mouth made people sweat. Wu Yue couldn't refute it, so he had to say, "No, no, I just want to know..."

The woman mocked: "Everyone's dead, what else do you want to know?"

Wu Yue was stunned for a while, he finally just whispered, "Sorry."

The conversation fell silent. The atmosphere was stuffy, the woman calmed down after drinking half a cup of coffee.

"After graduating from university, Yuan Fei and I were both busy and didn't have much contact." The woman said, "What do you want to ask?"

Then Wu Yue asked, "Why did she adopt Chu Dong?"

"In our junior year, we went to the countryside with the school club as volunteers. I was the only one in the department. I was afraid of living alone, so Yuan Fei accompanied me. He was a kid in a class I taught, Yuan Fei liked him very much."

"Later, Yuan Fei told me that she wanted to adopt that child. I said, did you go crazy? Do you think raising a child is like raising a cat or dog? She didn't listen to advice at all, she had a weird temper, terrible! I thought she was just hot air. Who knew that a few years after graduation, she would call me and say that the formalities had been completed, that she had taken Chu Dong home."

"I learned later that she refused to get married to raise the child! Her boyfriend didn't want her to adopt, she insisted, and her boyfriend broke up with her. Her family also separated from her, saying that she was sick, and shouldn't take care of a child she didn't birth while unmarried, that she was crazy to spend money to raise other people’s children. She quarreled with me about this. She always liked being different from others, being independent in everything she does. Weirdo!"

"The result? She was hit by a car, and there was no one who appealed for her. What can an adopted child do? It wasn't just a back and forth for the funeral, even the inheritance wasn't distributed, it was all taken by her good brother. It was her family that betrayed her in the end!"

The woman's eyes were red, Wu Yue handed her a tissue. The woman took it and pressed it to the bridge of her nose. Her breathing fluctuated a few times, and she was finally emotionally unstable.

"Has the driver been sentenced?" Wu Yue asked.

"Judged." The woman took off the tissue and said blankly, "One year."

"...A year?"

"Drunk driving, but he didn't escape after hitting someone. The other party paid money and appealed with a mental illness certificate, no one pressed further." The woman muttered, "He was sentenced only one year."

Then, the woman changed her words: "But that doesn't matter. That man died not long after being released from prison."

Wu Yue was stunned. He suddenly felt that death was such an easy and light thing, it could happen to anyone at any time, no matter whether you were good or not.

"Drank too much wine, fell into the ditch by the side of the road, and drowned." The woman said, "This incident was in the news at the time, do you know what everyone was talking about? 'The wicked pays their debts.'"

"But I still don't think the sentence was right." There were tears in the woman's eyes, "Yuan Fei has never done anything bad, how did she deserve this? It's all because she adopted your child that she ended up like this. If there weren't irresponsible people like you, how could there be so many homeless children, how could there be people like her that assumes responsibilities they shouldn't bear. Im the end, it's nothing but a thankless task!"