Chapter 1 — Mother Died, Father Repented

When my parents divorced, everything was so loud that it was extremely unsightly. Dad's mistress led her stepson to the door, but my mother kicked her and fell down the stairs, bleeding profusely, and both she and her child were injured. To get revenge, my father brutally broke my legs, forced my mother to sign a divorce petition, and kicked me out of the house with nothing. Meeting my father again was five years later. He became a high-ranking head of the military region, while I had disabled legs and could only work as a waiter in a restaurant. When the four eyes looked at each other, Dad's eyes were a bit unnatural. When paying, he showed a bank card:

“Buy new clothes. Leave me, at least you and your mother can live a normal life.”

I waved my hand and refused:

“There's no need, when you broke my leg and forced my mother to divorce, you weren't even human.”

Dad's face darkened:

“Huo An Ninh, do you insist on being as stubborn as your mother!”

“Go tell your mother, if she apologizes, I will take you both back to the military area to live good days.”

I looked at him coldly, without saying a word. Doesn't he know that my mother died five years ago? … During the struggle, Dad saw my haggard face and hands covered in frostbite, and sighed softly.

“In the past, I should not have agreed to let your mother take you away.”

“It really hurts you, she can't take care of you so she should let go.”

I coldly responded:

"Don't bother Chief Huo, we're just strangers now. If you talk like this, your son will misunderstand."

His face sank, he was about to say something more, but in the end he fell silent. After a while, he took his young son and left. After he left, I held the tray and stood there, my fingers a bit numb. A colleague leaned closer and asked in a low voice:

“Are you okay?”

I shook my head. Another colleague lowered his voice:

"Is that person just now the head of the Nam Thanh Military Region? I heard he was transferred here last week."

“I heard that he was especially loyal to his ex-wife. In the past, because of his ex-wife, he even turned against the whole family.”

“I saw an interview in the military region, he said the people he owed the most were his ex-wife and eldest daughter.”

I smirked:

“If you really feel indebted, why would you throw away your wife and children?”

Seeing that I didn't believe it, my colleague quickly explained:

"Because of his ex-wife, Chief Huo voluntarily left empty-handed, giving up custody of his eldest daughter."

“As a result, the ex-wife went crazy and crippled her daughter's legs.”

“Because of this, Chief Huo always felt guilty, and even built a Hope school in a poor mountain area, naming the school after his eldest daughter.”

"I think it's very good that Chief Hoac did that."

I raised my head to look at them, my tone was so calm that it was almost cold:

“When he pretended to be poor in front of his ex-wife, he dissipated all his assets, left all his debts to his ex-wife, and forced her to donate her liver and sell her blood to pay off the debt.”

“When his ex-wife got an infection after surgery and had no money for treatment, he could spend a few million yuan to buy a necklace for his lover at the military region auction, but refused to spend a single penny on her hospital fees. old."

“Even for the sake of his own child, he personally broke his eldest daughter's leg, forcing his wife to leave empty-handed.”

“Then they found the military region media and fabricated articles defaming his ex-wife as a traitor who cheated on her money and abused her daughter.”

Everyone around suddenly fell silent. My colleague stared: "I..." I still kept a calm face: "Yes, I am his eldest daughter." They immediately closed their mouths, and after a while they couldn't help but ask:

“But I said before, my mother…”

I didn't answer, just bowed my head and worked, ignoring all the gossip. After work, I stopped by the flower shop to buy a bunch of white daisies, then bought a birthday cake. Arriving at the cemetery in the suburbs, I laid down the flowers and then placed the cake in front of the grave. The mother in the photo is still smiling. I squatted in front of the tombstone, lit a candle, and gently sang happy birthday.

“Mom, happy birthday.”

I said softly: "I met that person today."

“He still doesn't seem to know, mom is no more.”

—

Chapter 2 The next day, I still went to work as usual, but the atmosphere in the restaurant was eerily quiet. I raised my head to look. Dad was sitting right in the middle of the hall, with an untouched cup of tea in front of him, his expression somber and scary. The store manager wiped his sweat and smiled apologetically:

"Chief Huo, we will definitely investigate yesterday's matter clearly, and we will definitely give you a satisfactory answer..."

Before he finished speaking, my father's eyes locked on me. The familiar feeling of oppression came. I know very well, Dad came here because of me. I walked forward, my tone stiff:

“Chief Huo, what do you want to do?”

He raised his eyes and looked at me, his voice cold:

“There was a problem with your restaurant's food yesterday, my son came home with diarrhea.”

“His mother is very angry.”

I smirked: “So what?”

“Are you going to use this as an excuse to make trouble with me, or do you want to, like five years ago, force me and my mother to confess to Tuong Vi?”

Dad's face suddenly changed, deep in his eyes flashed a trace of torment and guilt. I know, he remembers. Remember that evening five years ago. Remembering the way he deceived my mother and me into spinning around. At that time, my mother and I always thought that my father was really bankrupt. He said he had accumulated so much debt from gambling that he really couldn't survive anymore. In order not to involve me and my mother, he decided to divorce. To repay his debt, my mother did a dozen jobs a day, so tired that she could even fall asleep standing up. Debt collectors came to the house several times, and in the end, my mother had to follow them to an underground clinic and donate part of her liver. When my mother returned, her face was pale and scared. But even so, my mother still gritted her teeth and bought me a small cake and made a table of food. I was hungry but still didn't move my chopsticks. Because my mother patted my head and said:

“Wait a little longer, wait for dad to come home and then we can blow out the candles.”

My mother and I waited from dusk until dawn. Food is reheated over and over again. Dad still hasn't returned. The next morning, the whole military region was talking about the same thing. Dad wore a high-end tailored suit and held Tuong Vi's hand. With everyone's blessings, a "wedding of the century" was held by the military region. I stood under the big screen, grabbed the hem of my mother's shirt, and asked in a low voice:

“Mom, is that right? is it dad?”

The mother's whole body trembled, her palms were as cold as ice. She took me and rushed straight to the wedding scene. Mom rushed in and the whole hall immediately fell silent. Mother's eyes were red, so angry that she almost lost control:

“Huo Lam Xuyen, didn't you say you were bankrupt? Turns out you were always deceiving me!”

“I am your wife, why did you marry someone else!”

Mom was so excited that her voice was hoarse. Tuong Vi turned pale on the spot and snuggled into my father's chest. "Mr. Lam Xuyen, is what she said true?" Dad hugged Tuong Vi and coaxed him in a low voice.