Chapter 43: Smiling Through Despair

“Mom, Dad, Second Brother, you’re here?”

“I’m fine.” Lu Qingqiang gave them a smile.

No sooner had she spoken than Madam Lu rushed over and grabbed her wrist, looking her over from head to toe.

Still not satisfied, Madam Lu spun her around twice in front of her.

Then she poked gently at the bloodstained parts of Lu Qingqiang’s clothes with her finger.

“Mom, I’m really okay. This blood isn’t mine. I got it on me when I was helping someone earlier,” Lu Qingqiang explained.

“As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”

“It’s my fault. I came too late.” Only then did Madam Lu finally relax. She pulled Lu Qingqiang into a tight hug and began to cry.

Heaven knows how terrified, panicked, and heartbroken she had been when she first saw Lu Qingqiang covered in blood.

Thank goodness, thank goodness she was unharmed.

“Mom, how could this possibly be your fault?”

“There are so many people in this world who die unexpectedly every day. Some are just walking down the street and get crushed by someone jumping from a building.”

“Some are sitting quietly in a chair and get hit by a drunk driver.”

“Some are murdered in their sleep by intruders.”

“Some run into lunatics or sociopathic maniacs and get stabbed to death.”

“There are countless accidents like these. Unless you’re both lucky and constantly alert, who can guarantee they’ll never run into trouble?”

“As for me, I’ve been learning skills from Master Yan and Master Zhang at the orphanage lately.”

“I believe that as long as I stay sharp and build up enough ability to protect myself, I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t worry, Mom. If anything ever happens, I’ll call you right away.”

“Please don’t cry. Seeing your tears really makes me feel awful.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll listen to you.” Madam Lu quickly wiped her tears away.

“Qingqing, well done. You really are a child of the Lu Family,” Lu Shenlin said, his face full of pride.

“Lu Qingqiang, I didn’t expect you to stay calm in a crisis and be so willing to help others. You’ve got what it takes,” Lu Jianshen added.

His tone carried both praise and admiration for Lu Qingqiang, with none of his usual casual indifference.

“Do you two even know how to talk to people?”

“Qingqing just went through something traumatic. What she needs most right now isn’t just praise, but comfort and encouragement.”

“Yes, yes, you’re right.”

“Xiao Lu, are these your family members?” Doctor Feng walked over and asked.

“Yes, Doctor Feng, this is my mom, my dad, and my second brother.”

“Mr. Lu? Are you Lu Shenlin, the richest man in Jiang City?” At that moment, Zhang Qiang exclaimed excitedly.

“Hello, I’m Lu Shenlin, Lu Qingqiang’s father.”

“All that talk about being the richest man is just empty titles. I’m just a small-time businessman who happened to get lucky.”

Facing the staff and colleagues from Lu Qingqiang’s orphanage, Lu Shenlin came across as very approachable.

He even wore the kind of warm, friendly smile one would give to old friends.

When Zhang Qiang saw Lu Shenlin extend his hand, he immediately reached out to shake it.

Who was this man? The richest man in Jiang City!

Not only that, he was also a philanthropist who had helped countless people.

Whenever there was a natural disaster or unexpected tragedy, Mr. Lu was always the first to step up and donate.

Last year, his overseas business grew so rapidly that it drew jealousy from foreign competitors.

They first tried to buy him out at a high price, and when he refused, they resorted to threats.

But Mr. Lu stood his ground, enduring the pressure and finding ways to shift his operations back to China.

He would rather destroy his overseas business and suffer massive losses than let a golden opportunity fall into foreign hands.

Even though they offered him endless benefits and immigration perks, he remained unmoved.

Zhang Qiang admired Mr. Lu deeply for that.

So when Lu Shenlin took the initiative to shake his hand, Zhang Qiang was overwhelmed with excitement.

He almost wanted to wrap his hand up and not wash it for three months.

Wait a second…

The richest man is the boss’s father?

Then doesn’t that make the boss—the director—a rich heiress?

That would explain a lot.

No wonder the director had such grand plans for the orphanage’s future.

No wonder she was willing to pay them such generous salaries.

No wonder their meals were so high-quality.

Turns out their boss, Director Lu Qingqiang, was the wealthy daughter of the richest man in town!

But hold on, the director’s surname is Lu (鹿), while the richest man’s surname is Lu (陆). They’re different characters, aren’t they?

And in all the time he’d worked here, he’d never once heard the director mention that her father was the richest man in Jiang City.

Could there be a story behind this?

In an instant, countless plotlines from novels and TV dramas flashed through Zhang Qiang’s mind.

“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. We’ll need a few of you to come back to the station to give statements about what happened earlier,” a police officer said, walking over.

“Alright, I’ll go with you,” Lu Qingqiang replied.

“Qingqing, I’ll go with you,” Madam Lu said quickly.

“Director, I’ll come too,” Zhang Qiang said, snapping out of his thoughts.

“Wait, there was a young lady who was almost attacked by the criminal earlier. Luckily, Yan Fang showed up in time to save her. I need to check on her first,” Lu Qingqiang said, remembering the girl she had carried to the small truck. She walked over to the vehicle.

But when she opened the door, the girl was already gone. Only a faint, pleasant fragrance lingered in the air.

That scent… why did it seem so familiar?

It smelled really nice.

She stood there, stunned. “???”

When did that girl leave?

She hadn’t even noticed.

She wondered if the girl had any other injuries.

Would she need psychological counseling?

Forget it. If she was able to leave on her own, she probably wasn’t in serious trouble.

When it came time to give statements, all three members of the Lu Family insisted on accompanying Lu Qingqiang.

She couldn’t stop them, so she let them come along.

Driver Xiao Zhang also went with them.

As for Doctor Feng, Zhang Qiang, and the others, Lu Qingqiang asked them to return to the orphanage first.

The statements were taken quickly, and Lu Qingqiang also learned from the police about the general background of the madman.

His name was Xu Feng, a 39-year-old businessman.

He used to have a happy family and a successful business.

But one day, by chance, he discovered that neither of his two children were biologically his.

Furious at being cheated on, he lashed out and beat his wife badly.

She ended up in the hospital.

When her family heard what happened, they gathered a bunch of relatives to confront Xu Feng.

They claimed that the affair wasn’t intentional, and that even though she had made a mistake, she had taken good care of Xu Feng all these years. How could he justify beating her so severely?

They demanded 30 million yuan in compensation and insisted that Xu Feng transfer all his properties and vehicles to her name.

Xu Feng refused, and the two sides began a bitter dispute.

He wanted to kick her out with nothing, along with the kids.

What he didn’t know was that the man she claimed to have cut ties with—the children’s real father—was actually Xu Feng’s biggest business rival.

That was the final blow. She teamed up with her former lover and destroyed Xu Feng’s company.

What crushed him the most was that the documents used to ruin his business had been stolen from his study by the very children he had doted on for years.

When his parents found out, they fainted on the spot.

Xu Feng had to grit his teeth and take care of them.

In the end, his father passed away. His mother survived, but her health had greatly deteriorated.

One disaster after another rained down on him, leaving him dazed and mentally shattered.

And then, as if to add insult to injury, his wife showed up dressed to the nines, holding the hands of the two children, and publicly berated him.

She said he only looked like a decent person on the outside, but was rotten inside.

She claimed she never wanted to marry him in the first place. It was Xu Feng who forced her into it.

After marrying her, he ignored her completely, treating her like a decorative object at home.

When he drank too much during business meetings, he would lock the door and abuse her. She had long had enough.

So what if the kids weren’t his? He deserved it.

She also told Xu Feng that her family had known about this for a long time, and even the secretary who worked closely with Xu Feng was in on it.

The secretary disliked Xu Feng as well, so she would secretly tip her off.

That’s why, after all these years, Xu Feng never realized the child wasn’t his.

After kicking him while he was down, the woman pulled some strings and had Xu Feng committed to a psychiatric hospital.

She even bribed a few people to make sure he received some “special treatment” inside.

At one point, Xu Feng secretly called some old friends for help.

But as soon as they heard it was him, those friends he used to eat and drink with hung up immediately.

Some were even worse. After cursing him out, they went straight to the woman and told her everything.

That made things even worse for Xu Feng. The torment only intensified.

He had already been on the verge of a mental breakdown.

After being locked up in the psychiatric hospital and subjected to all kinds of abuse, he truly lost his mind.

Sometimes he was lucid, sometimes completely deranged.

During one of his lucid moments, he snuck into the trunk of a car belonging to a family visiting a patient.

That’s how he managed to escape.

By some strange twist of fate, he ended up in the western part of the city, where his illness suddenly flared up again.

He spotted a child who looked just like that ungrateful brat he had raised.

In a fit of rage, he grabbed a kitchen knife from a nearby stall and charged at the child.

It was all that little bastard’s fault. If he hadn’t stolen the company’s data, the company wouldn’t have gone under, and Xu Feng wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Cut. He had to cut.

But after just a couple of swings, a damn old man jumped in to stop him.

Xu Feng’s head buzzed, and in a blink, he mistook the old man for his wife’s father.

And he hated that man even more.

That old bastard had slapped him plenty of times back in the day.

Cut him. Cut him to death.

Wait, who was that screaming and calling him a lunatic? She looked so familiar.

She looked just like his immoral wife.

Why were there two of her?

Was he seeing things?

Didn’t matter. Cut, cut, cut!

It wasn’t until Lu Qingqiang slapped him across the face that he suddenly snapped back to reality.

He looked at the bloody scene around him, then down at the blood on his own body.

Xu Feng’s heart sank. Then, in a flash, he made up his mind and went back to playing the fool.

Yes, he was crazy. A lunatic. A fool.

And a fool who kills doesn’t have to pay with his life.

Hahaha, he was a fool. Hahahahaha…

Laughing like a madman, Xu Feng sat in the police station under heavy guard, and then he started to cry…

He laughed, but the tears were full of despair.

— Translator’s Notes —

– Lu (鹿) and Lu (陆): Though both are romanized as ‘Lu’ in English, 鹿 means ‘deer’ and 陆 means ‘land’. They are different Chinese characters with different meanings and family lineages.