Chapter 139: A Single Wish for My Daughter

Chapter 139: Chapter 139: A Single Wish for My Daughter

The night he called his son, Fu Chao, Fu Yunfeng had just arrived in a remote town in the mountainous region of Zhejiang Province.

He had come here because he’d heard that someone had seen Xu Dong and Lin Xiang nearby many years ago.

Fu Yunfeng rested for a night and headed to his destination the next day.

It was an ordinary home in the town.

Yet it held his greatest hope.

Fu Yunfeng’s timing was perfect. The person he was looking for was sitting on a chair by her front door, chatting with someone.

He walked up and got straight to the point, explaining his reason for being there.

The woman was a retiree with the surname Zhou.

After listening to him, she said without even thinking:

"How could I possibly remember something from so many years ago!"

Fu Yunfeng remained calm, but his words were exceptionally sincere:

"The child they were with is my daughter. She’s been missing for many years, and I want to find her."

He had a calm, reserved demeanor, completely unthreatening.

Paired with the silent grief in his eyes, it was impossible not to feel sympathy for him.

Even if this Aunt Zhou wasn’t a particularly warm-hearted person, she couldn’t help but be moved.

As a parent herself, she could empathize with his pain.

Even the neighbors who had gathered to watch urged Aunt Zhou to hurry up and remember, one after another.

"Don’t rush me! Let me think... let me think..."

Aunt Zhou wracked her brains, her brows furrowed so tightly they were practically in a knot.

Finally, after a few minutes, she managed to recall a few fragments:

"Right, right, there was something like that... It must have been winter that year. I was running a small noodle shop in town, and a man driving a minivan came in to eat with his wife and daughter. I had just had my own little girl back then, so I was curious about other people’s children. I took a closer look and saw the child was sleeping soundly, but she was just so beautiful. Her features were like a little immortal child from a TV drama! I even wondered how that couple, who weren’t much to look at, could have such a pretty daughter. I was so jealous at the time, I complained to my Old Yang about it for a long time when I got home! We even got into a fight!"

If it hadn’t been for that fight, Aunt Zhou probably wouldn’t have remembered something from over twenty years ago.

Fu Yunfeng suppressed a tremor of excitement and handed her the photos:

"Then please take a look, are these the two people? This one is a picture of my daughter."

Aunt Zhou’s memory had been a bit fuzzy.

But the moment she saw the child’s photo, the distant memory came flooding back!

"Yes, yes, yes! That’s her! I’ve never seen a more beautiful child!"

After blurting it out, Aunt Zhou glanced at Fu Yunfeng with regret.

’It’s rather cruel to say that in front of her parent.’

In truth, Fu Yunfeng wasn’t too affected.

Years of hardship had forged his endurance to an unimaginable level.

He only cared about one question:

"Do you know where they went? Or anything they said, any place they mentioned would be helpful."

This time, Aunt Zhou thought for a long while but couldn’t recall anything else, shaking her head in regret.

Fu Yunfeng was slightly disappointed.

Fortunately, he had already prepared himself for this possibility.

Just as Fu Yunfeng was about to turn and leave, one of the neighbors in the crowd suddenly leaned in close:

"This woman in the photo... she looks a little familiar."

’What an unexpected stroke of luck!’

Fu Yunfeng asked impatiently:

"You’ve seen her too?"

The person said with certainty:

"I’ve seen this woman, but not the man. But at the time, she did get out of a minivan. She was wearing a red down jacket, a really beautiful and stylish kind you definitely couldn’t buy in our little town!"

Clearly, this neighbor’s memory was better than Aunt Zhou’s. She could even accurately describe the clothes and hairstyle Lin Xiang had at the time.

When compared with Aunt Zhou’s memory, it was undoubtedly Lin Xiang!

However, when the neighbor began to explain the full story, she hesitated for a long time.

Fu Yunfeng’s heart tightened, but his expression remained gentle:

"Please, just tell me."

The neighbor sighed before slowly recounting what had happened—

She had been on a bus heading back to her hometown.

The roads were slippery because of the snow, so the bus was moving very slowly.

Out of boredom, she was looking around randomly through the bus window.

That’s when she happened to see a woman in a red down jacket get out of a dusty gray minivan, holding a burlap sack.

There seemed to be something alive in the sack. It thrashed around a few times as the woman moved, only quieting down after she kicked it.

Then, the woman tossed the sack into a snowdrift, dusted off her hands, got back in the van, and drove off.

Having witnessed all this, she didn’t think much of it at the time, assuming it was a cat or dog in the sack.

But a small part of her had felt uneasy ever since.

And so, it had lingered in her mind for years.

Until Fu Yunfeng showed up.

"Looking back now, what was in that sack must have been..."

All the neighbors who had gathered to watch fell silent.

They remembered that winter. The snow had been exceptionally heavy, the mountain roads were difficult to travel, and many people chose to stay cooped up at home.

In that kind of icy, snowy weather, even adults found the cold unbearable.

How could a little girl, only a few years old, survive?

Almost everyone concluded that the man’s daughter was dead.

But out of sympathy, they tried to console him:

"Maybe heaven was watching over her, and she ran into a kind person?"

"Yes, I think so too."

Fu Yunfeng’s tone was more certain than ever.

He firmly believed that his Zizhi was blessed with great fortune and would surely overcome this calamity and find a way to survive.

Therefore, he chose to see what he heard today as good news.

He was in high spirits as he left, even specifically instructing his assistant to prepare thick red envelopes for the two women.

He would have them delivered discreetly later, when no one was around.

Fu Yunfeng did things meticulously now, thoughtful and watertight.

’I wonder if those two will be surprised to suddenly receive a windfall like they’ve won the lottery.’

Next, Fu Yunfeng planned to stay in the town for a few days to gather more information.

He had heard that Lingfei Temple in the nearby mountains was particularly efficacious.

Without a second thought, he instructed his driver to take him there.

Upon arriving, Fu Yunfeng first donated a large sum of incense money.

Then, with practiced ease, he knelt before the Buddha and prayed devoutly:

"I only wish for my little girl to be safe and happy, free from illness and disaster."

Lingfei Temple was not far from where the incident had happened all those years ago.

Fu Yunfeng hoped the gods and Buddhas, high on this mountain peak, would look down with compassion. He prayed they would see his daughter struggling in the snow and grant her a sliver of luck, allowing her to escape the vast white expanse and survive.

Even if they never found her in this lifetime, he wished for her to be living well somewhere in the world.

After spending most of the day at Lingfei Temple, Fu Yunfeng descended the mountain and returned to town, only to unexpectedly run into someone who shouldn’t have been there.

"Shixu?"

Lu Shixu turned at the sound of his name, equally surprised:

"Uncle Fu?"

The Qing Family and the Lu Family were old family friends. The heads of the families, Qing Shan and Lu Wenzong, had been friends for many years.

Fu Yunfeng had more or less watched Lu Shixu grow up, so it wasn’t out of place for Shixu to call him "Uncle."

They just never expected to meet here.