"Oh, come on. Was that really necessary?"
Zuo Xiaoduo ate his fill without a care.
He patted his belly. "That was delicious. Mom, Dad, I'm off too. I'll come back to see you during the holidays!"
Without even looking up, Wu Yuting and Zuo Changlu waved their hands as though shooing away a fly. "Go, go, go... hurry up and go!"
Zuo Xiaoduo laughed, planted a loud kiss on Wu Yuting's cheek, and bounded out the door.
"I'm off!"
The door slammed shut.
The lively home suddenly fell quiet, so utterly silent that a falling pin could have been heard.
Zuo Changlu slowly lowered the hand holding his wineglass, the smile on his face fading bit by bit.
Wu Yuting kept her head lowered as tears silently welled up, falling to the floor drop after drop.
"At last... they're both gone..."
Grief suddenly surged through Wu Yuting's heart, and she burst into loud sobs.
Zuo Changlu, too, blinked his eyes and drew in soft breaths.
That evening, Wu Yuting opened the doors to her son's and daughter's rooms. Looking at the empty bedrooms, pitch-black inside, she could not help crying all night.
Zuo Xiaoduo made his way out of the city and immediately spotted Li Chenglong already waiting at the gate.
"Did you cry?" Li Chenglong asked.
"Did you?"
"No!"
"Neither did I!"
"Heh heh heh..."
"Let's go!"
Children and parents always felt so differently about parting.
Before parting, children were reluctant to leave, but once they truly left, their hearts had already flown outside. That boundlessly vast, unfamiliar world plunged them into a dazzling, bizarre, and thrilling life before they had time to feel sad.
Yet parents' sorrow at parting always came after they had said goodbye to their children.
Every day, every hour, every moment.
Their hearts