Chapter 276

Afterward I left the factory, only to receive terrible news from home: my parents drove out to work and died in a car crash. I received the compensation money, yet in a single night lost my family. That night, I took the money to a bar and lived recklessly, only to realize such a life was merely losing my own time.

Later, I worked diligently again, married and had a child, building a good family, but I began to drift. Every day I went out drinking. Later, while drunk, a cigarette butt ignited the room; my son was trapped inside and died. My wife, trying to drag me out, suffered severe burns and died as well.

I often wonder now: what is it that people truly seek by living in this world? Even if they obtain it, the pain of loss will constantly haunt their hearts, like finding a treasure yet always fearing it will be stolen, eventually losing it through one's own negligence.

Senior upstairs, having read your story, I have summarized one sentence: obtaining is bondage.

I think you are right.

At this moment, a bullet comment broke this melancholy.

No!

Obtaining has never been a bondage.

Then what is it?

Responsibility!

Precisely because we fear loss, we must strive even harder to pursue and guard. To fill our desires, we must ignite our longing. Loss is obtaining, and obtaining is the future!

For a long time.

No one in the live stream responded.

After a long while more.

Finally, a bullet comment appeared.

Thank you.

On Nanfu Island.

Ning Chen gazed at the brilliant starry river in the night sky and, like a madman, stretched out his hand as if to grasp it.

Suddenly.

He felt something beside him.

Ning Chen looked down.

The Husky was staring at him with a serious expression.

He did not know when this dog had appeared.

But sometimes, Ning Chen had an illusion: from the dog's expression and gaze as it kept watching him, he seemed to feel that it knew what he was thinking.

It was laughable, really, that a person would hold such an opinion about a dog.

After Prefect Ning Chen placed the pink booklet into his bosom,

he turned and walked toward the small house.

It was very warm there.

Ning Chen stepped into the house.

On the table sat a cup of steaming hot tea.

White vapor still rose from it.

Xu Zhao sat by the window, covered with a cotton coat.

"We are all waiting."

"Perhaps we may meet again, perhaps never."

Xu Zhao pointed at that starry sky and continued, "Just like this starry sky, everyone here can see it."

"Some people cannot see it, yet it never feels lonely."

"It is simply enough to silently guard this sky."

Saying this,

Xu Zhao looked at Ning Chen.

"I am never lonely either; I only need to silently guard this island."

"What about you, my traveler?"

At that moment, Xu Zhao

felt like a spiritual guide.

Ning Chen walked over slowly and sat on that wooden chair.

"I cannot do it."

Hearing Ning Chen's words, Xu Zhao smiled: "I will boldly guess: you too are silently guarding that pink booklet, perhaps it is the past, or perhaps it is the person it corresponds to?"

Ning Chen did not answer.

But Xu Zhao did not mind and continued speaking:

"Then go and pursue it; pursue it boldly. There is no need to wait for anything here."

Light shone in Xu Zhao's eyes as he gently placed both hands on his knees:

"You are different from all of us. You should run. As long as you run fast enough, you can fly. Fly high, high enough to touch that sky and see scenes none of us can see!"

"If it were you, you would surely find what you seek."

Xu Zhao spoke these words with absolute certainty, without the slightest doubt.

Zhang Xiaonian listened silently, and at the same time she looked out the window at that starry river.

She pressed her lips together, holding the warm tea in both hands.

Perhaps everyone can find it.

After hearing Xu Zhao's words,

Ning Chen fell silent for a moment, then turned his head slightly: "If you want to sleep, sleep. Do not wait for me. Tomorrow, we leave this place."

These words were directed at Zhang Xiaonian.

Xu Zhao looked at this person and was somewhat speechless. He had just spoken such an emotional speech, yet this fellow remained unmoved? Even, he did not offer a single response?

The Husky still blocked the door.

Its gaze fixed tightly on Ning Chen.

Ning Chen turned and walked out again.

One thing he could now be certain of was that his mood had not improved in the slightest due to the successful clock-in, nor had it improved even a tiny bit because of Xu Zhao's words just now.

His heart was sinking instead.

One hundred ninety. The desire for fame back then had clouded his mind.

"Who is he to you?" Xu Zhao asked Zhang Xiaonian inside the room.

"He is my big brother," Zhang Xiaonian said.

"I know he is a big brother, but what is your relationship? Are you biological siblings?"

Zhang Xiaonian shook her head.

"Then what is it?"

Zhang Xiaonian thought for a moment, not knowing how to explain it to him.

"Has this person always been like this? It feels... very strange." Xu Zhao looked toward the doorway.

"You think he is strange only because you do not know him," Zhang Xiaonian said.

Xu Zhao laughed, looking at Zhang Xiaonian. "You little Miss, your words are truly interesting; I often forget you are just a child."

"Must a child's words necessarily be foolish?" Zhang Xiaonian said.

Xu Zhao pouted. "But children generally do not speak like you," he thought for a moment, looking at Zhang Xiaonian. "I once had a child your age."

Zhang Xiaonian looked at him. "Did they all die?"

"Who?"

"Your children, and your family."

Xu Zhao nodded. "Yes—I mentioned it to you before, right? But—he was not like you; he was very mischievous back then."

"Once, because he was mischievous, I beat him—I was a drunkard then, I whipped him with a belt—back then, he should have been about your size. Guess what he said?" Xu Zhao stared at Zhang Xiaonian.

Zhang Xiaonian looked at him.

"He said, 'If you hit me now, I cannot beat you, so I can only endure this anger; but when I grow up later and you grow old, I will beat you, and then you won't be able to beat me either.'" Xu Zhao spoke, shaking his head and laughing.

But Zhang Xiaonian did not find this very funny.

Moreover, she also felt that although the person before her was smiling, he was not happy.

By the seaside.

Ning Chen sat quietly on the beach alone.

This beach was in a complete mess.