“Oh, by the way…” Qin Yu had originally wanted to tell Song Tingshen that Ruan Xia had given away their son after his death, but when those words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. He wasn’t sure if this would cause a knot in Song Tingshen’s heart. This man cared too much about his family. If he knew that his wife had something like that after his death, would he forgive her? “Never mind, I won’t say it. It’s not important. I don’t want to disturb her life any further.”


  Song Tingshen forced himself to suppress his suspicion. He raised his hand to look at his watch. “You better watch out.”


  Qin Yu nodded. “I know.”


  He knew that he had already touched Song Tingshen’s sore spot. No matter how Song Tingshen chose to retaliate, he could bear it. This was the rule of the game.

  Song Tingshen didn’t want to waste any more time talking to Qin Yu. He went to the bedroom, picked up Little Wang, wrapped him up in his jacket, and headed towards the entrance.

  After Song Tingshen left, Qin Yu poured another glass of wine and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window. He thought back to his first meeting with Ruan Xia.

  He wasn’t considered a bad person before and had never done a single bad thing in his past life. When he found out that she had a child, he had thought about bringing the child back to her.

  In that moment he saw Little Wang’s pure eyes, he suddenly felt that he had become ridiculous. What he had tried to do for so many years, Song Tingshen had accomplished it. What else could he do? Even if he succeeded in getting them to separate, could he accept that she had another man in her heart?

  He could accept that she didn’t love him if she didn’t love anyone. But now that she had someone in her heart, could he accept that?

  And so, it was better to let it go. He had his bottom line and dignity.

  —


  Little Wang woke up around the time Song Tingshen brought them to the car. Still half-asleep, he rubbed his eyes. Seeing his dad, he called out in happy surprise, “Dad!”


  Song Tingshen hadn’t put him down yet. He kissed his forehead. This afternoon had been too hard to get through. He had thought of countless possibilities. Every possibility was one that he couldn’t accept. Before Little Wang was born, he was alone with no close relatives and had no weak spots.

  Song Tingshen looked at him and seriously asked, “Do you know that you did something wrong today?”


  Little Wang had a guilty conscience. “I know. But Uncle Qin said…”


  Song Tingshen interrupted him. “No matter what he said, you shouldn’t have followed him. This doesn’t seem like something you would do. Your grandma fainted.”


  Feeling wronged, Little Wang lowered his head. “Uncle Qin said he wasn’t feeling well and wanted me to take him to a nearby hospital.”


  “Why didn’t you tell Grandma before going with him?” Song Tingshen suddenly discovered that no matter how clever and sensible his son was, he was still a child. A child that was completely unaware of the potential maliciousness of the world and didn’t have the ability to distinguish dangers. Just like those kidnapped children in the news, Little Wang might be wary of strangers, but what happened if the kidnapper was an acquaintance?

  Of course, they were also wrong as parents. They had told Little Wang to not trust strangers, to not follow them, and to not eat candy from them. They had forgotten to tell Little Wang to be careful of acquaintances too.

  Little Wang thought it over and answered, “I thought I would come back soon.”