Nie Yugang dragged his exhausted body back into the empty house.
In the shabby three-bedroom apartment, nearly every wall was covered with photos of him and his son—from infancy to school, from elementary school to high school, from high school to college, and then photos taken with him after his son entered society.
Looking at those photos spanning decades, they now felt like mountains pressing down on Nie Yugang's heart, heavy and suffocating.
After sitting on the sofa in hesitation for a while, he finally picked up the landline beside him and dialed the number of his son's workplace.
His son had inherited his temper—stubborn to the bone!
After they had argued about his son wanting to find his biological parents, his son had blocked his mobile number, and it was still sitting on the blacklist to this day!
Whenever he wanted to call, he could only contact him through the workplace number.
Even then, there was no guarantee he would get through.
"It's been half a month, and I still have to be the one to contact him first!"
Old Nie muttered under his breath, but his fingers moved over the buttons like muscle memory, slow yet familiar.
As the phone beeped, his mood rose and fell with every sound.
A moment later,
he put down the receiver in disappointment.
"That unfilial brat won't even answer his old man's calls anymore!"
When people fell ill, they became especially aggrieved.
He looked at the photos hanging on the walls, his heart filled with indescribable bitterness.
He had called his son today to tell him that he would no longer stand in the way of him searching for his biological parents. He wanted him to come back and see him once.
After all, he might leave at any moment. If his son was not by his side when that time came, he did not dare imagine it, nor could he accept such a scene.
Three years ago, his son had gone on a business trip to the Imperial Capital, saying he was about to be promoted. After happily seeing him off, Old Nie had never expected that once his son left, they would not see each other again to this day.
For the past three years, father and son could only keep in touch by phone. Worried about his son, this illiterate sixty-year-old had forced himself to learn how to type on a phone, send text messages, and even use WeChat.
Only when he looked at the occasional photos of his son's life could he feel slightly at ease.
Young people were ambitious, and work was stressful.
So although he missed his son dearly, he held himself back.
But ever since his health had steadily worsened over the past half year, Old Nie found himself missing his son even more!
He had even learned how to make video calls, but his son never seemed to have time to video chat with him. At most, he would send a few photos, and that was it.
Once, when Old Nie showed one of his son's photos to Old Wang next door, Old Wang's son had said from the side, "That's obviously fake as hell!"
That had infuriated Old Nie!
Not caring about his many years of friendship with Old Wang, he had given Young Wang a beating on the spot.
His precious son's photo, and Young Wang said it was fake?
How could he not be angry?
Because of that, whenever Young Wang saw him, he would lower his head and avoid him.
Just then, the door was pushed open, and an aged figure walked in.
"Haha, isn't this Old Nie? How did your hospital examination go today? Interested in getting slaughtered in two games by me?"
Old Wang shuffled into the living room on trembling legs and smiled at Old Nie, who was sitting on the sofa.
He was holding a box of Chinese chess pieces.
When they were young, the two had worked at the same factory. Old Wang took pride in having finished middle school, while Old Nie had not even graduated from elementary school. So Old Wang always wanted to compete with Old Nie in everything, just to feel superior.
He usually loved showing off~
He was a good man, aside from that one flaw!
Yet despite having studied a few books, he was often utterly crushed by Old Nie at Chinese chess. It frustrated him greatly, so whenever he had nothing to do, he would come looking for Old Nie to play a couple of games.
Today, he was undoubtedly here for "revenge" again. It would also help them pass the time.
"Sure! Let's play two games!"
Old Nie suppressed his complicated emotions and nodded.
He was obviously not in very good spirits.
Old Wang naturally pulled over a chair, sat across from Old Nie, and placed the chessboard on the coffee table between them.
Then he slowly began setting out the pieces.
"You still haven't answered me. How did the hospital examination go?"
Old Wang kept placing chess pieces as he spoke.
Old Nie gave a bitter smile. He did not hide it, his eyes filled with gloom.
"You were right. It turned cancerous. I won't be living much longer!"
"You..."
Old Wang's hand trembled as he held a chess piece, and he stared at him in disbelief!
He wanted to say something, but the words caught in his throat, and he could not speak.
Before, he had jokingly told Old Nie to hurry to the hospital for a checkup, saying that if it turned out to be cancer, he would be done for.
He had never expected that casual joke to become reality.
Old Wang, who was always cheerful, could no longer smile at all.
Instead, Old Nie gave a helpless smile.
"Life and death are fate. Wealth and status don't matter. Come on, come on. While I can still move, let's hurry and play a few more games!"
"What about him? Isn't he coming back?"
Old Wang's expression darkened, and his hands stopped moving.
He knew that the adopted son was Old Nie's lifelong hope!
He had heard that the adopted son recently wanted to find his biological parents. That had angered Old Nie so much that he had not contacted him for half a month.
"I haven't told him about this yet!"
Old Nie let out a long sigh, unable to conceal the disappointment in his eyes.
Right now, he only wanted to see his son once. Even if the boy came back furious, that would be fine.
He even regretted it somewhat.
Why had he been unable to swallow that anger back then?
If the child wanted to find his biological parents, then let him go find them!
For a moment, tangled emotions surged through his heart, making Old Nie feel even worse.
Seeing this, Old Wang felt both sad and angry!
He put down the chess piece in his hand and looked at Old Nie with a dark expression.
"Call that adopted son right now and tell him you're sick! If he doesn't come back, then treat it as if you never had such a son! Don't worry. If he refuses to return, I'll have my son care for you in your old age and see you off! I refuse to believe that some damn job could be more important than his father's life!?"
"If you ask me, his wings have hardened. Now that he's left you, he wants to fly away! After all these years, how can you still fail to see it?"
"I told you long ago that you needed to think about your own major life matters, but you wouldn't listen! Look at this—can an adopted son really be relied on!?"
Old Wang was genuinely angry. He felt it was not worth it for Old Nie!
What kind of job could keep someone from returning home for three straight years?
And every time, he only sent photos and would not even answer video calls. Who was he trying to fool!?
Knowing that Old Wang meant well, Old Nie said helplessly, "I called, but I couldn't get through!"
"Did you call his workplace again? Call his own number!"
Old Wang said anxiously.
But Old Nie shook his head.
"Didn't we have that argument over him wanting to see his biological parents? I don't know what happened afterward, but whenever I called him, it said the number didn't exist!"
"Hah? That kid's got some nerve. He even blocked your number? No, give it to me. I'll call him! He surely hasn't blocked me, right? Don't worry, I'll make the call!"
Old Wang laughed angrily and had Old Nie give him the adopted son's number before dialing it.
Sure enough, a voice came from the other end of the line:
"Sorry,"
PS:
Good grief!
Sincere thanks to the first Elder, Zhenxiang~Ya, for the reward!
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