“At that time, society wasn’t as stable as it is now. There were quite a few gangs in my hometown, and that black gambling den was one of them.”

“So, I reported it to the police when I got back to S city. The police took it seriously, but Kuang Daqiang probably got the news in advance and went into hiding.”

“I knew he would eventually come after me. He needed money and wanted me to withdraw the report, but he didn’t know that criminal cases can’t be retracted.”

“That day, he finally appeared in front of me.”

“I used a baseball bat to beat him half to death before I called the police.”

“He finally revealed my foster mother’s whereabouts, but by the time the police arrived, it was too late…”

Mu Wan’s eyes became moist as she listened. A living person had been killed by Kuang Daqiang and those ignorant people.

Kuang Ye closed his eyes to hide the redness in them.

In the room, the two of them held each other tightly, processing their sorrow.

After a while, Mu Wan asked, “Where is she buried? Let’s go visit her tomorrow.”

Thinking of his foster mother’s tragic end, a flicker of anger and sadness flashed in Kuang Ye’s eyes.

“I brought her ashes back to my hometown from the mountains.”

“But neither the Kuang family nor her own family was willing to take responsibility for the aftermath.”

“So, I buried her ashes in a cemetery in S city.”

Mu Wan furrowed her brows. If the Kuang family was indifferent, why was her biological family the same…? It made sense now. If her biological family had supported her, how could Kuang Ye’s foster mother have been abused so terribly without anyone caring?

Knock knock— There was a knock at the door.

“Wan wan, Xiao Ye, dinner is ready.”

The two were startled. Mu Wan quickly responded, pretending to yawn loudly and act like she had just woken up.

“Alright, we’ll be down in a minute.”

When the footsteps outside faded, they hurriedly got out of bed. Kuang Ye looked at the marks on Mu Wan’s body, feeling guilty.

“Wan wan, do you want to take a shower?”

Mu Wan’s face turned red. “Of course.”

The two of them didn’t have time to be embarrassed and rushed into the bathroom to wash up.

While changing clothes, Mu Wan suddenly remembered something and threw the wrinkled clothes at Kuang Ye on the bed.

“I’ll change, but you stay as you are and wear this outfit.”

Otherwise, if they both changed at the same time, anyone would know what had happened between them. Though it was obvious what they had done, Mu Wan didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of her parents and older brother.

Kuang Ye looked at the wrinkled clothes and thought to himself that this was more revealing than changing clothes. He asked, “Is there a hairdryer in the bathroom?”

Mu Wan nodded. “Yes.”

Kuang Ye then went into the bathroom, wet his clothes and pants, and dried them with a hairdryer. After everything looked less messy, he put them on.

By the time the two of them opened the door and went out, it had already been fifteen minutes.

Wang Lan asked why they were so slow, and Mu Wan made an excuse, saying it took some time to change the bandages for Kuang Ye.

Mu Jianhua and Wang Lan didn’t think much of it.

Mu Yan Ci glanced at the water stains on the side of Kuang Ye’s pants and couldn’t help but scoff inwardly.

—

The next day, Mu Wan and Kuang Ye first went to the cemetery to pay respects to his foster mother. The woman in the photo on the tombstone, with two braids and a bright, simple smile, was named Cui Fanghua.

“This is a photo of her when she was in school. She could have gone to university, but because her family favored sons over daughters, she had to drop out and get married.” Mu Wan placed the chosen bouquet of sunflowers on the tombstone.

“May your next life be bright and beautiful.”

Having been reborn, she believed in the existence of an afterlife. She hoped that such a good person would never encounter someone like Kuang Daqiang in her next life.

—

After leaving the cemetery, Mu Wan took Kuang Ye to the best orthopedic hospital. The result was almost exactly as he had told her.

Mu Wan looked disappointed, and Kuang Ye held her hand, gently using his finger to raise a smile on her face.

“Don’t be upset. As long as I follow the treatment plan, my hand will be fine after this global competition.”

“Where do you want to go for fun? I’ll go with you!”

Mu Wan’s mood didn’t improve much, but being overly pessimistic wouldn’t help. She decided to ask her brother privately to look into whether there were any better doctors. She needed to try everything before she could be at peace.

“Let’s go watch a classical music performance. I’ve wanted to go with you before.”

“Okay!”

Mu Wan took Kuang Ye to see a performance by the Eileen Philharmonic Orchestra. Even though the concertmaster, Qin Qingquan, had been arrested, it didn’t affect the orchestra’s outstanding performance at all.

Mu Wan thought to herself as she looked at the new faces in the orchestra: The violinists are really competitive. It’s only been less than a month, and they’ve already found someone to take over the concertmaster position.

But then again, in domestic classical music orchestras, the number of well-known ones was small—ten fingers could count them all. But there were many people studying classical instruments. The job positions just couldn’t meet the demand.

After the performance, they returned to the villa. They saw Mu Jianhua sitting on the sofa, and when he saw them, he waved his hand.

“You’re back! Come sit down.”

The two of them didn’t know what was going on but obediently sat down. They thought Mu Jianhua was going to talk to them about something serious. However, Mu Jianhua handed the remote control to Kuang Ye and pointed to the LCD TV, then earnestly said to them, “Watch this before going to bed. I have an inspection tomorrow.”

The two of them were confused. “???”

After Mu Jianhua left, Kuang Ye turned on the paused TV screen, and a childish, serious voice echoed in the living room.

“Children, today we’re going to teach you how to protect yourself.”

“When your parents aren’t home and someone knocks, don’t open the door, don’t open the door.”

“When a stranger calls asking for money, hang up, hang up.”

“…”

Both Kuang Ye and Mu Wan stared blankly at the screen.

Wait, Dad/Uncle, are you serious?