Chapter 5 Everything’s Different After Ten Years
Chu Feng froze.
“Yeah. Mommy told me that Daddy was a soldier, a big hero!” Even through his stupor, Chu Feng could see the pride and joy in Duo Duo’s eyes. “He’s more powerful than Superman and more handsome than Iron Man.”
“Sure, Daddy has never come to see me but Mommy told me that’s because he needs to protect so many more people, and catch all the baddies! I don’t blame him, but I really miss him…” Duo Duo teared up, then quickly wiped her eyes. “But Mommy also told me that if I were in danger, or Mommy and I were getting bullied, Daddy will appear in front of me and protect me!”
The girl’s jet-black eyes blinked repeatedly with hope and want. “Mister, you’re so powerful, so you must be someone sent by Daddy to protect me. He’s coming back soon to see me, isn’t he? Isn’t he?”
Chu Feng felt his chest grow so heavy he couldn’t breathe, so he could only nod with tears in his eyes, and answered, “Yeap. You’re so smart, Duo Duo.”
“Yay! Daddy’s coming home! I’ll finally have a daddy!” The girl immediately jumped with joy. Her smile seemed so unbelievably pure and innocent, as if it were a dream, a hallucination that could end with a single touch. Yun Muqing was also tearing up, so she discreetly turned to wipe her tears.
The pain and suffering they had gone through all these years was something that only she and Duo Duo knew; it would be hard for an outsider to understand.
“Mister Creep, I’m going to show you a secret. Only you and I know about this, not my teacher and not even Mommy.” Duo Duo dragged Chu Feng to her room and took out a drawing with a wistful expression. “Look, Mister Creep! I drew my daddy in military uniform. He’s the one holding the gun, and the two red people in the back are Mommy and me! When Daddy comes back, Mommy won’t be bullied by those bad guys anymore. I won’t have to take the long way back from school because I’m scared of the stray dogs, and Xiao Hu and the others won’t call me a fatherless wild kid anymore… I’m so happy, Mister Creep. Do you know that?”
Chu Feng’s hands shook when he held the immature yet innocent drawing in his hands. All the emotions he felt, the strong guilt and self-blaming, burst forth from him in an instant and he couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry, my child. Your father is no hero. He’s the world’s most useless, selfish man. A cowardly, animal-like bastard!” He felt the urge to slap himself twice.
“What’s wrong, Mister Creep?” Duo Duo blinked and used her tiny hand to wipe away Chu Feng’s warm tears. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m sorry, Duo Duo. I still have something to do, so I’ll come visit you another day.” Chu Feng turned and strode out in big steps. Right now, his thoughts were a mess and all he wanted was to leave this place, to leave his guilty self behind!
“Chu Feng!” Yun Muqing followed him outside and yelled, but realized that he was already gone. Furrowing her slender brow, she shook her head. “What a strange man.”
The air was getting cold outside. Chu Feng’s tall body leaned against a maple tree as he lit a cigarette, troubled by melancholic thoughts.
Previously, he’d practiced thousands of ways he would reunite with Yun Muqing and Duo Duo. He’d psychologically prepared to be cursed, scolded or even hated, but he never expected that when the moment to face the two finally came, he couldn’t go through with it!
Yun Muqing was so understanding, gentle and capable to have given birth to his daughter and remained a single mother for five years; she had even risked being disowned by the family and cutting ties with them. And Duo Duo clearly saw this father she’d never even met as a superhero, idolised him so much and thought of him as such a perfect man. What about him? How could he handle expectations that were so high? How could he treat them both right like this?
How could he, after not showing a sliver of affection for five years, have the audacity to stand before them and have a so-called ‘family reunion’? “I owe the two of them far too much. At least for now, I have no right to be a husband or a father.” Chu Feng breathed out a cloud of smoke and stared into the distance. “I think we shouldn’t reunite for now. I’ll stay by their side and do everything I can to protect them, to make it up to them until I believe I can live up to what they think of me.”
But how could he stay by their side with his identity in a legitimate way, without raising their suspicions? He could already feel a headache coming on, so he put out his cigarette and thought about it as he walked away, out of the neighbourhood.
“You’ve returned, Dragon Head?” Luo Gang, who’d been waiting by the pavement, immediately stepped out of the car and stood up straight with the utmost respect.
“Mm hmm.” Chu Feng nodded and slid into the car.
“Did someone try to fight you, Dragon Head?” Luo Gang frowned. As a soldier himself, he could sense the aura of violence on Chu Feng. “Shall I… eradicate them for you?” He began exuding a murderous intent as well. He might be respectful in front of the God of War, as if he was a primary school student, but he still called the shots in Jiangling as an important person who gets things done as needed. At least, second-rate families like the Yun’s and Li’s were still no match for his power.
“Just some small fry, forget it.” Chu Feng waved his hand lazily, sitting lazily in the car while his eyes twinkled; the Yun family was still Yun Muqing’s own family after all. If the silly woman was still soft enough to care about her family, then he wouldn’t want to overdo it and risk making her sad. If they wouldn’t realise their mistake, however, and continued to push him to his limits, then he wouldn’t mind sending the whole clan to the afterlife.
“Yes, sir,” Luo Gang said and nodded, expressing no emotion or dissent—a soldier’s duty was to follow orders. “So where are we headed next, Dragon Head?”
Where to next? Chu Feng looked out the window at the passing traffic on the wide roads, nostalgia flashing in his eyes. As his second home, Jiangling was indeed associated with many good childhood memories and things he regretted leaving behind.
For example, his adoptive parents. Mr. and Mrs. Zhou Lie did not share a drop of blood with him but treated him as one of their own. And of course, there was Zhou Ying. The girl who wouldn’t stop bothering him, loved wearing floral dresses with her hair tied in pigtails, and kept calling him ‘Brother Chu Feng’.
It must have been so long since the night he left for the army without saying goodbye. Ten years, at least. “Ten years, huh? They must have aged quite a bit. It’s time I went back.” Chu Feng’s eyes were filled with nostalgia once again. Yun Muqing and Duo Duo weren’t going anywhere anyway, so he probably should go back and visit the old couple to fulfill his duties of filial piety and suchlike. “Let’s go home, Luo Gang.”
“Home? Are you going back to the capital, Dragon Head?” Luo Gang said in surprise. But the moment those words left his mouth, his heart skipped a beat and he silently lamented his mistake—he’d just mentioned the Dragon Head’s taboo!
