Volume 1, Chapter 119: Just a Little Bit Short

Sang Wan, you shouldn’t blame your dad for ignoring you and your mom…

The pickup truck raced swiftly along the jammed main artery road. Sang Dawei slouched in the passenger seat, lighting a cigarette, taking a drag, then rolling down the window to exhale a cloud of stale air into the bright morning breeze. “If I hadn’t let go decisively, you could have such a stroke of fortune?”

Sang Wan pretended not to hear, both hands gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles whitened.

For one fleeting moment, she wanted to wrench the wheel and floor the accelerator, smashing straight into the green belt.

Like she had as a child, crashing into the wall.

But what if she didn’t die? What if she injured some pedestrian on the street? Who would they offend then? And her mother…

Sang Dawei kept prattling on, boasting. “Having a kid means you need to let go. Look at you—you were so timid and useless as a child because your mom never let you do anything. Look at you now…”

His gaze swept over Sang Wan’s refined, tailored office suit and the diamond earrings and necklace at her ears and throat.

Sang Dawei praised, “Dad is way tougher than your brainwashed mom who spent all day reading those broken books, right? If I hadn’t stepped back, look how successful you are now? Your mom, flipping those old books all day, ended up flipping herself into prison… Where the hell are you driving?”

He reached out to snatch the steering wheel.

But it was already too late.

The pickup truck screeched to a halt at the steps of the Public Security Administration Building. Looking up, the national emblem and police badge gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight. Policemen had emerged from the steps, and armed security had rushed out from the entrance booth. Sang Dawei’s heart skipped a beat.

Only then did he glance up again to see that Sang Wan had already opened the car door and stepped out.

“Police comrade, he’s a fugitive suspect!”

Sang Dawei got out just as Sang Wan’s furious shout rang out.

“He’s talking nonsense, police comrade, she’s making it up…”

She lunged forward and grabbed Sang Wan’s arm. Slap! A sharp backhand. Sang Dawei seized a fistful of Sang Wan’s hair, smiling apologetically as he turned toward the police descending the steps. “Police comrade, I’m really her father, truly… If you don’t believe me, look at my ID card. You can check if you want. This is just a family internal matter, really!”

He dragged Sang Wan along by the arm, exerting all his strength.

Sang Wan felt her scalp being torn away in chunks. She shouted fiercely, “He’s a murderer, and he fled—he has a criminal record!”

“You, let go!”

“…If you’re lying, just check and you’ll know. If you hadn’t done anything wrong, why would you be afraid of us checking?”

The police quickly separated them.

When the door closed, Sang Dawei’s furious shouting could still be heard from outside. Sang Wan accepted the water cup handed to her by the officer, savoring the faint warmth seeping from it. Only then did she snap back to reality. “That was… more than sixteen years ago. I was twelve that year…”

It had been over a year since she had been dragged back from the train station and nearly sold as gambling money.

Perhaps it was the ferocious side Sun Yueqing had exposed that had finally frightened Sang Dawei off. Or maybe some other reason.

Sang Dawei had vanished for a long time. When he reappeared, he only cursed and no longer dared to lay a hand on anyone. But he could never hear the word “divorce.” Every time Mom mentioned it, he threatened her with a face full of fury. As long as Mom stayed silent, he would at most grumble a few words.

“At that time, my mom worked as a nanny at a family service company and didn’t come home often. I stayed at school and only went back on weekends to eat with her…”

Avoiding more details about herself and Sun Yueqing, Sang Wan gave a concise summary. “That day at noon when I got home, there were four people inside including him. I don’t remember what they were talking about, but they mentioned a man named Feng Tiger and said he deserved it.”

“…Later, somehow they started arguing. I was frightened and about to leave when I saw him kick the person beside him. That man fell backward, bleeding profusely…”

“After that, the police came.”

“At midnight, he climbed in through the back window, made my mom hand over every cent in her purse, and when she said there was nothing, he beat her. Then he climbed out the back window and disappeared. After that, there was no news.”

Sang Wan never learned the final verdict of that year’s case. But the fact that the man lay in a pool of blood and never got up again was true.

She had been dragged away by Sun Yueqing, her eyes covered. She spent the whole afternoon in the police station before leaving. Her mother believed she had been terrified.

She had not.

She had simply felt a trace of regret.

Regret that the dead man was not Sang Dawei.

If it had been him, it would have been so much better.

That was why the moment Sang Dawei appeared that night and struck her mother, the thought of murder had taken root in her heart.

After all, she was not yet fourteen; the law would not punish her. As long as he was dead, she and her mother would be free at last.

But just as she raised the hammer, Sang Dawei suddenly burst through the door, jumped out the back window, and fled.

So close, yet not quite.

“Time?”

“2008, April… 14th.”

“Location?”

“Xicheng District, No. 174, Sanjiu Street.”

One side was recording. The other was searching.

Soon, Sang Wan’s face fell with disappointment. The case from sixteen years ago. The place Sang Wan had mentioned had been torn down twice. The crime scene no longer existed.

“We found the original patrol records from the archives…”

The handling officer spoke gravely. “Sang Dawei was one of the complainants. He did indeed kick the victim, but the cause of death was massive bleeding from a nail driven into the back of the head after the victim fell. Moreover, the three on-scene statements matched, and the forensic report confirmed accidental death.”

Sang Wan suddenly lifted her eyes.

She had thought this was Sang Dawei’s weakness—if he dared to appear, she could use that incident to send him to prison.

Yet everything turned out to be nothing but her imagination?

Once she realized that stepping out of the police station would only plunge her into Sang Dawei’s nightmare, even affecting the mother imprisoned behind bars, Sang Wan felt ice spread through her entire body.

“Sang lady, if there is nothing else, you may leave!”

After learning that Sang Dawei had already left cursing, Sang Wan remained seated in the reception room for over half an hour before finally rising.

She had just stepped out the door when she saw a Maybach pull up and stop at the steps.

“Sang Wan…”

The car had barely stopped before Lou Ye pushed open the rear door and stepped out.

“President Lou…”

Sang Wan retreated a step. “I’m fine. You… should go back!”

President Lou?

He had already learned what had happened moments ago.

Through the surveillance footage, the disheveled man had called her “Xiao Wan.”

Through the computer screen, yet at that instant Lou Ye seemed to see Sang Wan’s terrified soul flying out.

Now, gazing at the coldly aloof Sang Wan who repelled him from afar, Lou Ye seemed to have guessed her intention.

Sure enough, he heard Sang Wan say, “Lou Ye, no matter what happened, it’s over! In the future, our bridge to our bridge, our road to our road. That’s all.”