Chapter 73: Never See You Again |
Seeing Zhao Hongxia stop in her tracks to listen intently, Lu Guanchang sat back down again.
"After I found you, I realized that none of that mattered anymore.
To see you again, to talk with you, to chat, and to say I'm sorry—that's all I could ask for…" Lu Guanchang said faintly.
Sun Dacheng knew Zhao Hongxia was too proud to go back on her own, so he took the initiative to walk over and pull her back.
As expected, Zhao Hongxia didn't struggle in the slightest and returned to her original seat.
"So many years have passed.
What good is saying sorry now?"
She looked at Lu Guanchang with a complex expression.
Lu Guanchang said, "I know it's useless.
It's less about apologizing to you and more about apologizing to my own conscience, to give it some peace…"
"You only ever think about yourself. You were like that then, and you're still like that now," Zhao Hongxia couldn't help but retort angrily.
Lu Guanchang didn't get angry at her words. Looking at Zhao Hongxia before him, he seemed to see the shadow of her childhood self in a daze.
Every time she got angry, he would always have to spend a long time coaxing her…
Back then, he had loved her so much. Why, then, did he suddenly harden his heart and abandon her and her mother?
Thinking back on this question now, he couldn't figure it out himself.
In the end, he could only come to one conclusion: he was not a good person, not a good father.
Just as his daughter said, he only ever thought of himself.
But at this moment, he felt no regret. Everything was his own choice.
He had let go of it all.
So, with a placid expression, he looked at Zhao Hongxia and said, "I have to go."
Zhao Hongxia's lips trembled, wanting to say something more, but nothing came out.
An ethereal blue light flickered on Lu Guanchang's chest, and his body began to collapse inward around it…
"Dad… Daddy… Goodbye…" Zhao Hongxia said, her eyes red and her voice choked with emotion.
Lu Guanchang raised his nearly dissipated arm, smiled, and waved goodbye to Zhao Hongxia.
Vaguely, it was as if she had returned to that early morning. Her mother was carrying a bundle, holding her hand, and saying she was taking her to her Maternal Grandmother's Home to see her grandmother.
She had turned to look behind her. Her father was standing not far away, watching them with an inscrutable expression.
She had smiled and waved her little hand, saying, "Dad, goodbye~"
She never saw him again after that. From then on, she had no father.
The memory ended there. She couldn't remember what expression her father had worn that year, or whether he had responded to her.
It was a complete blank…
But at this moment, this forgotten memory resurfaced.
Her father had smiled and waved back at her, saying goodbye, just like he was now.
Having fulfilled his wish and let go of everything, Lu Guanchang no longer felt any anger or resentment in his heart. Perhaps he felt this was all the Retribution he deserved.
As for his assets, whether Zhao Hongxia wanted to fight for them was her own business. Either way was fine.
*
Shen Siyuan had not restrained Lu Guanchang's Soul, so after fulfilling his wish and letting go of all his lingering attachments to this world, his Soul should have dissipated.
But the ethereal blue light inside him sucked in the dispersing Soul fragments, then transformed into a streak of ethereal blue light that shot into the sky and vanished.
A moment later, a ball of ethereal blue light fell from the sky and into Shen Siyuan, who was on his way back to the Company after lunch. It happened so fast that no one noticed.
But Shen Siyuan felt a stream of pure Soul Power feeding back into the【Ten Thousand Souls Banner】.
This Soul Power was incredibly pure, without the slightest trace of Desires or distracting thoughts.
So, naturally, there was no need for Shen Siyuan to refine it, and thus no worry of his spirit being contaminated by Desires and thoughts. It could be used directly to repair the【Ten Thousand Souls Banner】.
'As expected, there's no Merit.'
Lu Guanchang had confirmed his suspicion.
However, obtaining such pure Soul Power was an unexpected delight.
"What are you thinking about? Let's go!"
Ding Youguang clapped a hand on Shen Siyuan's shoulder, startling him out of his daze.
"It's nothing. Let's go, it's almost time for work," Shen Siyuan replied casually.
The main reason Ding Youguang had treated them to lunch today was to ask Zhou Zhengdao about the project's specific progress and see if there were any difficulties they could solve together.
For now, there weren't any major difficulties, but they did need some equipment support.
Although all the Set-top Boxes used the Android System, each manufacturer had a different version.
Therefore, they needed to buy all the different Set-top Boxes and then run compatibility tests on the game.
This process was rather troublesome and also a considerable investment.
But as the project's promoter, Ding Youguang said he would handle this problem.
Of course, not by buying them. It wasn't that he was unwilling to spend the money, but that there were too many types of Set-top Boxes, and even if they tried, they might not be able to buy them all.
He was going to ask his friend who worked at China Mobile to help him get some Set-top Boxes.
In the afternoon, Shen Siyuan made some modifications and adjustments to the Fishing Game's Planning Proposal based on a few issues Zhou Zhengdao had raised during lunch.
Then he chatted with Jiang Wenxin for a while on Enterprise WeChat.
She was mainly asking Shen Siyuan about yesterday's Blind Date.
Shen Siyuan didn't hide anything from her and chose to tell the truth.
What he didn't know was that Jiang Wenxin had already found out through Ruan Hongzhuang's Moments.
But she had to admit, Ruan Hongzhuang was indeed a capable and beautiful woman, the kind who could make any man's heart race.
Seeing that Shen Siyuan had already made up his mind to try dating her, she could only sigh inwardly, lamenting that fate plays tricks on people and that her cousin wasn't so fortunate.
Just like that, a day passed.
Yin Xingyue and Doudou had run off somewhere; he hadn't seen them all afternoon.
When Shen Siyuan got home, he made himself a large pot of Egg Noodles. After eating his fill, he put down his bowl and chopsticks and began his plan for the night.
Shen Siyuan didn't plan to use the newly acquired thread of Merit to repair the【Ten Thousand Souls Banner】, but to cultivate the《Great Arhat Eighteen Forms》.
The Ten Thousand Souls Banner was an external object, after all.
True power came from strengthening oneself.
A thread of Merit two days ago had pushed his《Great Arhat Eighteen Forms》directly to the second layer of the Second Form.
He wondered how far today's thread of Merit could take him.
As the thread of Merit dissolved into a cooling sensation that spread throughout his body, Shen Siyuan quickly assumed the posture for the third layer of the Second Form.
An intense pain immediately spread through him, especially in the nerves around his mouth, which shot up past his head. His temples throbbed violently, and his head felt like it was about to split open.
Yet, during this process, his consciousness seemed to be magnified several times, becoming even clearer.
Following that, the Teeth in his mouth began to loosen and fall out, which he spat out one by one, mixed with blood.
During this process, his Muscles continuously tore and healed, and his Skin rapidly cracked, lost moisture, and began to peel off in large flakes. The entire process was agonizing beyond belief for Shen Siyuan…
Just then, Shen Siyuan's Mobile Phone rang, but he didn't have the spare energy to answer it…
PS: Please vote with your monthly tickets and keep reading~ Next week's recommendation depends on today's follow-up reading count.
I'm counting on you all.