Chapter 497: The Person Who Loves Me Most Is... Big Brother?!

【334:39:13】

【334:39:12】

【334:39:11】

【……】

"You've gone mad?!"

Feng Ju's voice suddenly rose to a cracking pitch, he jumped to his feet, and the plastic chair scraped harshly against the floor.

When he had just returned from the dead, Feng Ju's heart had been full of anger; he hadn't even gone home to see his filial daughter. Now that he had finally calmed down, he was even less likely to see his filial daughter.

Yes, he had done some psychological preparation to help his filial daughter find release, but he was not yet ready with an action plan.

As Feng Ju stood up, he knocked over the soy sauce bottle on the table; the brown-black liquid spread across the tabletop, looking very much like the black blood congealed on the back of his clothes.

He stared fixedly at the mobile phone in his rebellious son's hand, as if it were a bomb about to explode.

Feng Ju urgently reached out to grab it, and at the very instant he reached, the phone call connected.

A familiar and sweet voice came through the microphone:

"Hello, big brother……"

Feng Ju's hand shrank back as if struck by electricity, and his heart, which had been beating once every ten seconds, suddenly sped up.

A scene from before his death surfaced again in his mind; the female voice coming through the phone seemed to instantly activate his PTSD, and he shook his head frantically at Feng Mu, meaning absolutely not to mention him, and never to summon Yu Huai.

Meaning absolutely not to mention him, and never to summon Yu Huai.

Feng Mu seemed not to notice his father's terrified expression, and spoke gently into the microphone:

"Yu Huai, it's so late and you still haven't gone home; Daddy is very worried about you."

His voice was gentle, as if a good older brother were speaking to his most beloved and most rebellious younger sister.

Without waiting for Feng Yuhuai to speak, Feng Mu invited her again with deep affection:

"By the way, Daddy and I are eating a night snack at 【Lao Chen Ji】 snack shop; do you want to come over and eat together?"

Feng Ju felt as if struck by lightning, then suddenly twisted his body and almost fled in panic out the shop door.

Feng Mu did not stop him, merely narrowed his eyes, and through the gray glass window watched his father's flustered back disappear into the thick darkness at the alley entrance.

The light inside the shop cast warm spots on his lenses, concealing the cold glint swirling in the depths of his eyes.

The other end of the phone fell into deathly silence, leaving only faint electrical static.

Feng Mu did not urge her; his slender index finger dipped into the soy sauce spreading on the table and slowly traced on the wooden tabletop.

The dark brown liquid, following his movements, gradually formed an exaggerated smiling face—the corners of the mouth split to the ear roots, and the eyes were two bottomless black holes.

"Big brother"

A voice finally came from the other end of the phone; within the sweet tone was a trace of barely perceptible trembling,

"You said... eating night snack with whom?"

Feng Mu's fingertips still wandered on the tabletop, the soy sauce seeping along the wood grain:

"Of course with Father. What? Does Yu Huai think Father wouldn't treat me to a night snack?"

"It's not that Father wouldn't treat you..."

Feng Yuhuai's voice suddenly tightened, and she denied it outright,

"It's just that Father..."

"Because dead people don't eat night snacks, right?"

Feng Mu gently took over the conversation, his fingertip drawing a heart shape on the tabletop, then slowly filling it in black.

In the underground basement, Feng Yuhuai suddenly broke free from Ge Qingming's embrace.

The red threads danced wildly around her, whipping the surrounding puppets into disarray.

Feng Yuhuai suddenly stood up from her seat, broke free from Ge Qingming's embrace, a chill surged from the soles of her feet straight to her head, her whole body felt as if plunged into an ice cellar, and she asked with a trembling voice:

"The... the car was driven away by you?"

Feng Yuhuai had clearly misunderstood; until now she was still unwilling, or dared not believe, the words from Feng Mu's mouth.

That scene was simply too warm; she dared not imagine it.

The finger Feng Mu had been smearing on the table finished the final stroke; it was a picture of three smiling faces leaning against each other, appearing to be the smiling faces of father, son, and daughter—warm and harmonious.

Feng Mu did not answer his sister's question, merely speaking softly into the microphone.

"My most beloved little sister, big brother only hopes you understand..."

His voice was gentle enough to make Feng Yuhuai want to shed tears,

"Father may no longer love you because of your 'fault,' but big brother will not."

Soy sauce dripped along the edge of the table, splashing black flowers onto the cement floor.

"No matter what you become..."

The eyes behind Feng Mu's lenses narrowed slightly, and a smile exactly like the one on the tabletop appeared on his face as he said faintly,

"Whether pride or sin, big brother will love you just as before, forever and ever!"

Beep beep beep—

The busy tone of the hung-up phone echoed hollowly in the dim underground basement.

She stared blankly at her new father, Ge Qingming, then looked around at her brothers and sisters.

"How could..."

Feng Yuhuai unconsciously pressed her hand to her chest; the warmth just filled there by her new family now seemed to have a piece cruelly caved in.

For some reason, the joy of creating a new family had been diluted considerably.

The cold wind of the underground basement, carrying a bloody scent, brushed across her hair ends.

Feng Yuhuai suddenly shivered, the red thread wandering uneasily at her fingertips.

"Could it be that I've been wrong all along……"

She murmured softly, her voice carrying an unprecedented bewilderment,

"The one who loves me most isn't Father, but that….. brother I've always ignored and detested?"

Hum—

The mobile phone screen lit up again, a text message quietly leaping into view:

Between family members, where is there any grudge kept overnight? The misunderstanding between you and your father might vanish with just one more meeting.

"Brother……"

Feng Yuhuai muttered, as if sleep-talking.

After a long time, the sweet smile returned to her face; she turned to Ge Qingming and said earnestly:

She turned to look at Ge Qingming, a serious light flickering in her eyes, speaking in a coquettish voice:

"Father, I have a father again. He didn't die, so he……must also be a monster, right?"

Hee hee, Father is a monster father, and I am a monster daughter; this way, Father will surely love me again, right?"

She seemed to gradually understand the "surprise of regaining what was lost" her father said before dying, the corners of her mouth slightly curving as she spoke to herself:

"From now on, I'll have two fathers doting on me.

And I also have a brother who actually loves me the most, hee hee hee……"

Ge Qingming's joints made a "crack crack" sound as he slowly stood up from the iron bed.

The surrounding "brothers and sisters" also rose, surrounding her in neat unison like marionettes, enclosing the joyful Feng Yuhuai at the center.

Their mouth corners curved up simultaneously, showing identical smiles, speaking in unison: "Yes, everyone loves you the most!"

Feng Yuhuai stood on tiptoe, lightly spinning like a ballet dancer.

Her skirt hem traced a graceful arc in the air, a happy flush blooming on her face.

The puppets behind followed closely, each step landing on the footprints she left behind.

When walking out of the Black Clinic.

Feng Yuhuai suddenly raised her head, flicked her fingertip, and a red thread caught the rag doll, pulling it back into her palm.

"Everyone loves me the most"

She lowered her head and said seriously to the rag doll,

"What makes you the exception? You should love only me!"

End of Chapter