After Failing to Reverse the Plot, I Made My Escape - Chapter 38

This is his child.

Yu Fuqiu struggled out of Chang Tingzhi’s arms the instant he saw Chang Chun Chun open his eyes. He stumbled toward the bedside, crying out, “Chun Chun! Chun Chun!”

Chang Chun Chun had just regained consciousness from a long coma. His thin body was tangled in various medical tubes, and his lips were a heartbreaking shade of purple. Though he was only seven years old, he had withered significantly. The oversized hospital gown hung loosely on his frame, and his exposed arms were covered in dense bruises and needle marks.

Yu Fuqiu did not dare move too much. His hands froze in mid-air, trembling with the fear of hurting the boy. The moment his eyes met the gaze of Chang Chun Chun, the psychological defense he had struggled to maintain collapsed, and tears gushed out.

“Mommy.” Chang Chun Chun’s dry lips moved. His voice was so hoarse and faint it was almost inaudible.

However, Yu Fuqiu heard it. it was the loudest sound in his life. He leaned over the bed, frantically trying to wipe the child’s tears but not daring to apply any pressure. Finally, he carefully placed his fingertips on the back of the hand of Chang Chun Chun, feeling the weak but real flow of blood.

“I am here. Mommy is here. Chun Chun, Mommy is here.” His voice was broken, but he forced a smile through the tears to encourage the boy.

The long eyelashes of Chang Chun Chun fluttered. The rhythmic rise and fall of the ventilator moved his chest. He had no strength to speak, and even the attempt to grip the fingertips of his Mommy was an immense struggle. His gaze slowly moved past the shoulder of Yu Fuqiu and landed on Chang Tingzhi behind him.

Time seemed to stretch infinitely at that moment. In the pure eyes of the child, the tall but utterly strange silhouette of his father was reflected.

Chun Chun remembered that when he returned to H City, he had tried to contact his father, but the number he knew by heart had become disconnected. Refusing to believe it, he had sneaked away to the company to find Chang Tingzhi. However, that day, his father had only glanced at him coldly from across the desk, furrowed his brows, and asked whose child he was. Then, he was escorted out by security.

The warm embraces and deep laughter in his memory had faded, becoming distant background noise like a bedtime story. In their place was a cold, unfamiliar gaze. There were no more bedtime stories and no more goodnight kisses every day.

He had asked Mommy, “Where is Daddy?” Mommy would always turn her face away in silence, explaining over and over with hollow reasons like, “Daddy is on a business trip,” or “Daddy is very busy.” But at seven years old, he was no longer at an age where he understood nothing.

Then, on the day he came home, he saw the purple bruises all over the body of Mommy and the torn clothes. He wanted to question Daddy: Where was the man who claimed to love Mommy? Where was the man who promised to protect them? Where was the Daddy who said he would always stay with them?

When Chang Chun Chun was sent to the house of his aunt, he knew the family was broken. He remembered what his father had told him long ago and decided to set out on his own to find Mommy. He was a man. Even if Daddy had changed, at least he could stay by the side of Mommy in the place of Daddy.

However, he seemed to have become a burden instead.

At the moment he ran toward the arms of Mommy, he had actually seen that black car. It was not aimed at him; it was heading toward Mommy. Therefore, he slowed his pace and intentionally ran the red light, standing in front of that steel beast.

He was only one hand’s length away from touching Mommy.

Chun Chun thought about it, but he had pulled his hand back because the impact made him look very ugly. He was in tatters, and his blood had splashed onto the face of Mommy.

That would not do. Mommy loved being clean.

His vision blurred. The pain was overwhelming. He wanted to act spoiled, but he remembered the words of Daddy: he had to protect Mommy and could no longer act like a child. He wanted to tell Mommy that it did not hurt, but as soon as he opened his mouth, blood poured out uncontrollably.

I am sorry, Daddy. I think I messed up. I did not protect Mommy. Instead, I made her even sadder. Oh, right, my hermit crab. If I give the hermit crab to Daddy, will he come back to see Mommy?

In the end, Chang Chun Chun could not help but curl up toward the embrace of Yu Fuqiu.

Mommy, Chun Chun hurts so much. Just for a little while, I will rest. Very soon, I will wake up.

A sour sensation hit his nose. The grievances, longing, and instincts of a child that had built up for so long finally erupted. Large tears fell silently from the corners of his eyes. He had no strength to wail. He just stared with wide eyes, looking intently at Chang Tingzhi and Yu Fuqiu.

It had been too long since he had seen Mommy and Daddy together.

Did this mean they had made up? Was the Daddy who used to coax him back? Would Mommy not be sad anymore? Could he be a happy child again?

Chang Tingzhi stood there frozen, clutching his heart. The pain there was more intense than ever before. He walked slowly toward the bed. From up close, the features of the child were almost identical to his own.

This is his child.

Half of his blood flowed within him.

This realization took root in the heart of Chang Tingzhi like a vine. He swallowed with difficulty and placed his large hand over the hand of Yu Fuqiu, which was touching the child. His palm enveloped both their small hands.

He whispered, “Chun Chun, I am Daddy. I am sorry. I did not come to see you recently. I am sorry to you and Mommy.”

It was strange. What was this? Were these memories his? It was a heavy, unfamiliar emotion that nearly crushed him. Was it guilt? Pain? Or was it the fatherly love he had never felt before? He did not know.

The head of Chang Tingzhi began to throb again, and a sharp noise echoed in his ears. But he did not want to think about it anymore. He only knew that seeing the tears of his child made his heart ache. He wanted to stay here, by the side of his wife and son. This pain was so real that he could not hide it with any amount of coldness or detachment.

A few weeks later, under careful care, the spirit of Chang Chun Chun had improved significantly. The thinness in his face began to fill out, but he still could not stand. His legs were in thick casts, and he was immobile. He relied entirely on Chang Tingzhi to get in and out of bed.

“Dada,” Chang Chun Chun sat in his wheelchair, looking up and blinking at Chang Tingzhi.

“Hmm?” Chang Tingzhi had been staying at the hospital during this period and had grown accustomed to the name. Whenever Chun Chun called him, he answered immediately.

“I want to go to the amusement park.” Chang Chun Chun looked up excitedly and winked at Chang Tingzhi. “Mommy definitely will not agree. He does not let me play on those rides, especially not like this.” Chun Chun looked down, appearing very much like Yu Fuqiu at this angle.

Chang Tingzhi felt his heart skip a beat. He knelt down and spoke softly, “Mommy is just worried about you. You are only seven. Children really should not play on those high-risk attractions.”

Chang Chun Chun shook his head. “It is not the same, Daddy.”

“You both are so busy with work. I grew up mostly with my aunt, and the time we spent together was so little, so little I can hardly remember it.” He sniffled. “I only heard Mommy say that when I was very small, you both took me to an amusement park once. I have seen the photo. Daddy, you took me on a glittering carousel and held me up high. I must have been able to see so far. Then, you bought me a giant marshmallow.”

“In class, our topic was an interesting story about going to the amusement park with our parents.” Chun Chun lowered his head, his long eyelashes drooping as his eyes grew red. “My deskmate, Fatty, wrote so fast. I asked him what I could write. He told me he went on a roller coaster with his dad, and his mommy screamed from being scared. He also told me the Ferris wheel was so high, and the sunset from the top was beautiful.”

“They wrote so happily. It sounded so lively.”

He was silent for a few seconds before speaking slowly, “But Daddy, I sat at my desk and thought for a very long time. I could not remember that tiny fragment of memory. I have forgotten the taste of the marshmallow, and what color the carousel was has become very blurry. I wrote a long, long story anyway.”

“The teacher asked me why I kept writing the same part over and over. He asked me where my mom and dad were.”

Chang Chun Chun did not dare answer, nor could he. He was the child of Yu Fuqiu and Chang Tingzhi, but no one knew that. For his safety, his parents had never revealed him to the world.

Chun Chun knew this. He clearly knew. But he was still so aggrieved.

At the entrance of the kindergarten, the only figure he ever waited for was the nanny or the driver. He would lean out at every turn, hoping to see the silhouettes of Daddy and Mommy. But it never happened. He told himself that the work of Daddy and Mommy was too busy.

So, he intentionally moved his seat next to the window. From there, he could see a giant billboard that occasionally showed the photo of Mommy. Chun Chun did not know what an advertisement was. He only knew exactly which second Mommy would appear. That was how he could see the Mommy he had not seen in a long time.

When he started elementary school, there was a parent-teacher meeting. The teacher said every parent must attend because it was the first meeting of the life of their child. Chang Chun Chun had returned to H City because he wanted to tell his parents about this.

But as soon as he returned, he was kicked out of the company by his father, and then Mommy, covered in wounds, came to hold him. He did not know what had happened. He could only swallow his words and hug Mommy back.

“Daddy, I, I miss you.”

Since he woke up, he had hidden his grievances. He could not let Mommy worry anymore. Aunt Chu Chu had told him how desperate Mommy was while he was in a coma, staying by his side and refusing to leave. So, Chang Chun Chun tried his best to swallow all his emotions, flashing smiles for Mommy and acting spoiled for a hug from his strange Daddy.

But he was still just a seven-year-old child.

The throat of Chang Chun Chun choked up as he pulled on the sleeve of Chang Tingzhi. “Daddy, I do not know what I did wrong. As soon as I came back, everything disappeared. Everything changed.”

“You did not come home. You do not know. Mommy sat silently at the door waiting for you every single time. She waited for so long. Chun Chun knew she was waiting, but Mommy would just gently coax me to sleep and then go back to the door to wait for you.”

Chun Chun sniffled. “When I came home, Mommy was covered in wounds. It was so, so cold that day, but Mommy was only wearing one layer. Her face was full of injuries. Chun Chun wanted to go inside and turn on the air conditioner to warm the body of Mommy, but”

“But Chun Chun did not have the key, and the password for the house was completely wrong. Mommy held me and waited for so long before you finally called to give her the code. The power was also cut. The butler grandpa said,” he sobbed quietly, “he said Daddy told him not to waste electricity on unnecessary people.”

Mommy thought he did not know, but he knew everything. In that silent, dark little house, only the voice of the butler grandpa echoed, along with the trembling body of Mommy after she hung up the phone.

He looked up at Mommy in the darkness. When had Mommy become so thin? Even the blood was frozen on her skin. Mommy had lost a shoe and walked back home over the frozen road with uneven steps. You could see faint bloodstains on the carpet.

“So, are you, are you really the Daddy of Chun Chun?” His voice was broken, filled with utter confusion and pain. “If you are Daddy, why did you never come to see us? Why did you treat Mommy like that?”

“Daddy was not like this before.” The tears of Chun Chun flowed harder. He seemed to be talking to himself, or perhaps to the gentle father who had already blurred in his memory. “Daddy said it was because he loved Mommy too much that he incidentally loved Chun Chun too. Daddy also said that if he was not home, Chun Chun was the little man of the house and had to protect Mommy in the place of Daddy.”

He thought of the car speeding toward Mommy. Tears fell like heavy raindrops.

“What about you, Daddy? At that time, where were you?”