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Deverna began to fight back and stabilize the market.
Meanwhile, Xu Deming planned to go out.
There were still many things he hadn’t figured out, and he wanted to get to the bottom of them.
Xu Wanting had already returned to work, and Xu Xuehui happened to be heading home. Xu Deming saw Xu Xuehui and said, “Second child, come with me to the East City Orphanage!”
Xu Xuehui was surprised. “Dad, you want to go to the East City Orphanage? What for?”
“What else can I do? Find out exactly what happened back then! Xie Bingyan has been hiding a lot from us!” Xu Deming snorted coldly, gritting his teeth. “Her sins are probably far from over!”
Xu Xuehui fell silent, thought for a moment, and said, “Dad! I’m sorry about Xu Mo…”
“I know what you did! Yesterday, your elder sister and I watched the video again! You’ve done a lot of things!” Xu Deming impatiently looked at her. “I didn’t expect you both to go this far!”
“Sob… I’m sorry for him! It’s all my fault!” Xu Xuehui started crying.
“Come with me! I need to figure out what happened back then!” Xu Deming said impatiently.
Xu Xuehui couldn’t say anything, she could only cry silently as she followed him to the East City Orphanage.
This was the orphanage where Xu Mo once lived.
It’s quite ironic when you think about it.
It’s not very far from the Xu family, just over an hour’s drive, but life here at the orphanage is worlds apart from that at the Xu family.
Back then, it was from here that the Xu family brought Xu Mo back home.
Inside the East City Orphanage, there are still many orphans. It seems that there are teachers inside now, guiding the children, who are singing together.
They’re singing songs about missing their parents.
These children sing very loudly.
Xu Deming and Xu Xuehui quickly found the orphanage director and teachers, asking about what happened nineteen years ago.
The old director was somewhat surprised by their visit. After Xu Deming and the others revealed their identities, the old director suddenly realized and recalled the events from before.
“Speaking of Xu Mo, that child was pitiful! It was a stormy day, with wind and rain battering everything. He was left outside on the stone steps, exposed to the elements.”
“No one heard his cries that day. After the storm subsided, he had fallen into the nearby drainage ditch right outside the gate!”
“Many ants crawled all over him, densely packed. When we found him, his whole body was swollen from mosquito and ant bites!”
“At that time, he was barely breathing. We thought we couldn’t save him and might have to bury him. Fortunately, the child was resilient and managed to pull through in the end!”
The old director of the orphanage brought out many photos and shared them with Xu Deming and Xu Xuehui.
The two of them brought a lot of money and gifts, sponsoring the orphanage generously.
Therefore, the old director was willing to help them sort out their thoughts.
“This was when he was three years old, left unattended and fell into the nearby creek! Luckily, he managed to climb out!”
“This was when he was five years old, playing with fire and almost burning down the orphanage!”
“But most importantly, these…”
“At that time, many children in the orphanage missed their parents. Every night, when one started crying and saying they missed their parents, others would join in crying loudly! And the loudest crier of them all was Xu Mo!”
“Of course! He would cry one day and forget the next!”
“In our orphanage, every child longs for their parents, wanting to find them. Unfortunately, most of them are abandoned! From the age of ten, they have to learn to make a living, work hard, and study hard to support themselves!”
“One year, Xu Mo and a few other children, including Tang Lei, sneaked out to beg on the streets. We caught them and brought them back!”
“Here! These are the begging photos that Teacher Tan took back then. They did many similar things!”
Upon looking at the photos, Xu Deming noticed that Xu Mo was very young and frail at that time, dressed in messy and dirty clothes, begging near an amusement park.
He was kneeling on the ground, pleading for alms.
“This photo…” Xu Xuehui looked at the picture and seemed to recognize something familiar, pausing in surprise.
“Is that Gaole Amusement Park nearby?” Xu Deming recognized the amusement park in the distance.
Director Zhao chuckled, “That’s right! It’s over there! It’s crowded, and these kids, including Xu Mo and Tang Lei, often sneaked over there to beg. We couldn’t always keep them from going there. They went many times!”
Xu Deming took a drag of his cigarette, holding the photo with slightly trembling arms.
“I… I seem to recall something!” Xu Xuehui seemed to remember something, too. She took out her phone, opened a photo album, and started searching through it.
Soon, she found a photo that shook her to the core.
“Dad… Dad…” Her voice trembled as she handed a photo to Xu Deming.
Xu Deming glanced at the photo, his expression freezing.
“That was about eight or nine years ago when our family went to the amusement park. A few kids were kneeling on the street outside the park. Fourth and Fifth sister felt sorry for them and gave them some money,” Xu Xuehui explained.
“But Mom saw it and stopped Fourth and Fifth sister. She said if they didn’t study hard in the future, they would end up begging on the streets just like those kids.”
“Dad, look! There’s this photo too. Mom took the money back from that kid’s hand!”
Xu Deming continued to look at several photos, his expression becoming more solemn.
Xu Xuehui had captured many photos on her phone, showing them one by one. Among them, there were five or six photos taken near the Gaole Amusement Park.
These photos all captured Xu Mo and the other three. They showed their family playing together and having gatherings, with occasional encounters with the beggar kids who asked them for money.
He remembered how he and Xie Bingyan waved them off, telling them to go away.
He vividly recalled the look of envy in that child’s eyes when he saw their family enjoying themselves inside the amusement park.
However, he could only kneel outside!
Xu Deming’s hands trembled as he looked through each photo, lighting another cigarette. Memories in his mind became clearer.
“We were celebrating a birthday at the amusement park! Xu Mo and the other kids came too! They were outside watching,” Xu Xuehui sniffled.
“This photo… Dad, you had Xiao Li chase them away!”
“I remember!” Xu Deming’s voice turned hoarse. “I remember vividly! My memory hasn’t faded!”
“So, he saw us very early on!” Xu Xuehui’s eyes turned red.
Xu Deming remained silent, continuing to smoke as he conversed with the orphanage director. There were still many things they seemed not to understand.
“I remember a few times, the security guards at the amusement park found them begging and chased them away. Xu Mo was stubborn and didn’t want to leave, so he got beaten up badly. When they returned to the orphanage, they looked completely different,” the orphanage director recalled, finding the past somewhat amusing. “But it’s precisely because they were like an ‘indestructible cockroach’ that they survived to this day! Honestly, from a young age, I saw Xu Mo as resilient, intelligent, unafraid of failure, unafraid of hard work, and very diligent. I always knew he would succeed one day!”
“Now I hear he’s already succeeded!”
Xu Deming opened his mouth slightly, then suddenly turned to look at Xu Xuehui.
Xu Xuehui also looked at Xu Deming.
He also recalled the time when Xu Mo was beaten by the amusement park security guards, because he and Xie Bingyan had gone to complain about the little beggars inside.
At that time, those security guards were furious.
When they returned, they even saw the child being beaten.
They had once sat in a luxury car and laughed at the child, looking like they were gloating.
Xu Deming only felt his heart bleed, tremblingly searching for his lighter and cigarette, lighting it again and taking a deep drag.
“That child, resilient since childhood, like an indestructible cockroach…”