Chapter 96: with translation of chapter title

The young man's pitch-black pupils shrank, and his distinctively jointed palm stiffened in midair.

The daughter's evasive movement, as seen by Pei Du, was genuine fear.

His gaze carefully swept over his daughter.

He inexplicably felt that the little face should be rosy, with good complexion, but now it was clearly thinner, and those small peach-blossom eyes, which should be bright and cheerful, now were like a cluster of tiny candles dimly extinguished.

Thus, Pei Du dared not move forward, even stood up and retreated a few steps.

He left space for his daughter to feel safe, trying to convey that he would not harm her.

Soon after, Pei Du walked to the window, his Adam's apple rolling, and said, 'Take her, let's go.'

Until the sound of the door opening came again from behind.

Pei Du almost impatiently turned his head again, his gaze fixed tightly on his daughter's small figure, and did not withdraw it even after the door gap disappeared.

What he did not know was.

At that time.

In the hallway outside, Xiao Mu Yin, clutching her plush bear, also turned her head and looked at the door that had already been shut.

In different spaces, father and daughter once again made eye contact.

The innocent, hopeful girl asked Mrs. Song, 'Grandma, how long will it take for Dad to fully recover? If I don't bother him, will he really get better faster and remember me?'

During this time, without her father's company, she ate poorly, slept poorly, and was very worried about him.

Mrs. Song casually replied, 'That's natural; actually, children are just the most annoying—no parent likes them, everyone prefers quiet, and quiet makes it easier to nurture the body.'

「……」 Xiao Mu Yin hesitated, then couldn't help whispering a rebuttal to Grandma's words: 'Dad, won't.'

Dad never found her bothersome.

Since she could remember, all her memories, every frame, every scene, were of her father.

Xiao Mu Yin felt that her father was the best father in the world!

Hearing the girl say that, Mrs. Song turned her head and gave her an inscrutable look, then snorted lightly: 'He won't, which is why he got into such a serious car accident, nearly dying on the operating table—Pei Muyin, you know that, right? Your father had that accident while picking you up from school.'

'If it weren't for picking you up, he wouldn't have been hurt.'

'You say, is it you who caused your father to become like this?'

These casually spoken words were like sharp knives, cruelly piercing the heart of the four-year-old Xiao Mu Yin.

The girl stood dazed in place, unconsciously clutching her stuffed bear tighter, her whole self at a loss, suddenly overwhelmed by a huge sense of guilt, unable to keep her lips from pouting, tears spilling from her glossy eye sockets.

Her mind was filled with that sentence—'It's her, she made Dad like this.'

Like a curse and shadow, it entwined her future life.

The daughter feared seeing him, so Pei Du dared not appear before her abruptly.

He could only retreat to the shadows, silently guarding.

That year, the five-year-old daughter attended an aristocratic kindergarten in the city center.

Pei Du would specifically wait at that kindergarten's gate in the early morning and afternoon, sitting in his car, watching as teachers carried his daughter in, and then watching her hop out as teachers escorted her out.

Today she wore a pink little dress; tomorrow she would wear a small-sized overall; her soft hair had grown a bit longer, the teacher tied it into two little braids that swayed with her steps.

She seemed smaller than the backpack on her back, yet looked like a tiny ball, extremely cute.

If only he could hold her, that would be nice.

He swore that this time he would truly treat her very, very well.

Pei Du's habitually cold gaze would soften at such moments; he couldn't help pulling out his phone to snap pictures, pressing the shutter until afterimages flashed, wishing to preserve every frame of any scene with his daughter.

That day, as usual, Pei Du dropped his work to come see his daughter off school.

However, after waiting a long time, he saw his daughter with red-rimmed eyes, slowly walking out, the little figure looking utterly dejected and wronged, like a wilted small flower.

Pei Du's brows furrowed instantly, and he coldly ordered someone to find out what had happened.

Less than ten minutes later, he got a reply.

Muyin had a conflict with a little friend at kindergarten today.

The cause was that the other child bragged about having a mom and dad, and since they had never seen Pei Muyin's parents, they started saying she was an unwanted, unsupervised child, asking what difference there was between such a child and an orphan.

The young man's fingers gripping the phone tensed into a dangerous string, dark hostility gathering in his black pupils.

That child's family was easy to investigate.

Surname Qi.

Both parents were executives at a certain company.

Pei Du barely lifted a finger to make them lose their jobs, withdraw from school, face huge mortgages, and a future of being permanently blacklisted and expelled from the industry, reducing the couple to tearfully begging while clutching the car door.

They even went so far as to kneel.

Their disheveled appearance bore no trace of the kindergarten teacher's earlier disdainful, high-and-mighty attitude when she had hoped their child would apologize to Pei Muyin after stating the facts.

From initially saying 'My child is precious, a little princess at home, absolutely cannot apologize,' it turned into 'My child is still young, speaks without restraint; I hope Director Pei will show mercy.'

Pei Du watched the whole time with a cold eye.

The hostility in his chest lingered, refusing to dissipate.

The next evening, Pei Du received a call informing him that his daughter had suddenly come down with a high fever.

…

Pei Family main residence.

Before the servants could even approach, the Rolls-Royce's door was opened from inside.

'Pa'—a sound.

The young man's overcoat seemed to bring a gust of cool wind as he hurriedly strode into the hall, went upstairs, and headed straight for his daughter's room.

On the spacious princess bed, the girl's cheeks were flushed, her eyes shut, her wet eyelashes nestled in the blankets.

The family doctor applied a fever-reducing patch to her forehead, saying the Eldest Young Lady had taken medicine and still needed observation.

Pei Du stepped forward, seeing his daughter with faint breath, and felt his heart about to break.

This was the first time, after being discharged from the hospital following the car accident, that he appeared face-to-face before his daughter.

Pei Du stayed by his daughter's bedside, eyes unblinking as he guarded her.

In the middle of the night, she woke up.

The girl opened her eyes, staring blankly at him, and Pei Du asked softly, "Mu Yin, are you hungry? Want something to eat?"

Then, in the next second, his daughter began to sob.

All that could be heard were choked sobs, softly crying: "... Dad, don't worry about me anymore, Mu Yin will be obedient, don't worry about Mu Yin, okay?"

Pei Du was stunned.

His daughter had fallen asleep crying, her nose tip red from tears.

Madam Song probably heard her crying, and in a reproachful tone said to Pei Du, "You were too harsh on the Qi family; Mu Yin and that child were originally good friends, it was just a joke between kids, but you made the entire Qi family disappear from Jing Shi—what kind of shadow have you cast on Mu Yin?"

Pei Du listened in silence.

Still echoing in his ears was his daughter's pitiful plea just moments ago, urging him not to interfere with her anymore.

So, is this because of this matter?

The young man couldn't help but reflect, wondering if he had made another mistake, causing his daughter to be upset and blame him again.