Chapter 322 - The Company Was More Humane Than Imagined (1)

The man rubbed his head and inhaled dramatically. "Let me think. I don't remember anymore. Aye, I've been working so much overtime lately that my memory had been getting worse."

"Can you tell me where my father work then?" asked Chen MingZhu. "I can go look for him there."

She looked straight at him and her very defined eyes moistened. Her voice began to break. That was enough to make anyone's heart ache.

"I, I haven't seen him in over a year. I really miss him a lot. He said he will come to visit me and I had been waiting this entire time."

Fang JunRong saw the wife turned her head with her eyes reddened. That was no normal reaction.

No way. If that was true, it would be too cruel for Chen MingZhu.

Fang JunRong had a speculation and she looked more solemn.

"I haven't been in contact with him lately and have no idea where he is staying. Let me go make a call. Don't cry." The man's voice turned tender and he walked inside the house. As he made the call inside, nobody could hear his conversation.

The man returned 5 minutes later and said to them. "I had just contacted Gensheng's unit. The company has high hopes for him so he was on a business trip. He won't be back for a little while. Why don't you go home first? We don't have a key to his place so we won't be able to take you there."

He sighed and fished out a cigarette. When he noticed Chen MingZhu again, he put his cigarette back inside of his pocket.

Tears rolled down Chen MingZhu's cheeks. She looked sad and her voice soft.

"You don't need to lie to me anymore, Uncle. Is my father gone?"

"Huh?" Li XinYun was stunned. Wait a second. She thought she was there to look for the irresponsible father. How did things take a dive for the worst so quickly?

She knew how close Chen MingZhu was with her father so she would not joke about such a thing.

Looking at the man, he had a pained look on him. "So you figured it out, huh?"

His words had, undoubtedly, confirmed that fact that "Chen GenSheng was dead". With the exception of Fang JunRong, who had been prepared for this, both Li XinYun and Fang Tian were stunned.

More tears rolled down Chen MingZhu's cheeks. "He sent me rabbits for my birthday gift this year."

The man rubbed his foot on the floor. "I picked that one out. I was told that all girls will like it." As a man, he didn't know anything about that so he picked the cutest-looking one.

Chen MingZhu's lips curved a little. "Thank you, Uncle."

"My father had always been buying me pandas because I have never seen pandas before. My dad told me that he will get me panda gifts every year and will take me to see the giant pandas when I make it out of the village." Her voice broke when she got to that point. "He didn't come home for the New Year either. He always returned for the New Year no matter how busy he was in the past."

The man sighed. He thought they did a good job on it but the little details gave it away. They had also underestimated the tie between Chen GenSheng and his daughter.

Chen MingZhu asked, "Did that happen in December of last year? My uncle took off for a while then and he seemed sad after his return. Both him and Aunty treated me even better than before afterward."

"He used to have people write for him, telling me to dress warm enough when it was cold and that I can tell him if there are any books or toys that I have wanted. He will bring them back for me..."

She couldn't go on anymore.

"Your dad was involved in an accident when he was driving a truck a year ago."

As he could no longer hide it from her, Li DaiTong had no choice but to tell her the truth.

"He asked us to not tell you before he was gone. He said you have to apply for senior high school this year and it was an important year for you. He did not wish to affect you."

Chen MingZhu whimpered and tears poured out of her. Even though she had prepared herself before her trip but hearing the news still made her feel that her heart was being stabbed by a knife. The man who loved her the most on this world had perished.

"Our plan was to have your uncle to look for a time to tell that to you after your senior high school entrance examinations." They never expected that Chen GenSheng's daughter would come looking for him by herself. He was caught off guard and his first reaction was to muddle through it.

"His company compensated him with 970,000 yuan. Your father had us purchased a house for you and had it under your name. We will be sending you the rent each month for your living expenses. He also left 60,000 yuan behind in the bank for your college tuition."

"You can talk to the lawyer. Your uncle was there as well and he was a witness."

"Had you not come, I figure they would be telling you this within the next few months."

Li DaiTong was closed with Chen GenSheng and thinking about his death reddened his eyes.

Li DaiTong's wife added, "Child, you must study hard. That was what your father worried the most before he passed away. He wanted you to study hard and get into an university so you won't spend your entire life in the village."

Chen MingZhu cried as she nodded. Her vision blurred by her tears.

The scene made Fang JunRong's heart ached. Chen GenSheng was not very educated himself. Per what Chen MingZhu had told him, he didn't even graduate grade school and needed others to write letters for him. He was what most would consider an ignorant villager. But, a person like him thought nothing other than his only daughter before he died. He did his best to plan her future for her. He even thought about her living expenses and her tuition. With the house, Chen MingZhu's future would be a lot less bumpy.

Nevertheless, as far as Chen MingZhu was concerned, she would probably want her father back rather than the house and the anything else.

Chapter 323 - The Company Was More Humane Than Imagined (2)

Hearing sniffling noises, Fang JunRong turned and noticed that Li XinYun, too, was crying. She was a girl who cared a lot about her appearance. She insisted on reapplying her makeup even when they were on the train and made sure that she was presentable at all times. Her makeup that she had tried so hard to keep was all messed up from her crying.

Noticing the looking from Fang JunRong, Li XinYun wiped her tears with the back of her hand and walked over to a corner.

Fang JunRong followed her, handed her some wet napkins, and said in a gentle voice, "Here."

"Mmm." Li XinYun's voice was very nasal. She looked defeated when she saw all the colors that came off on the wet napkin.

Fang JunRong patted her on her head.

"Not every father is like Li WangJin, right?" Looking at Fang JunRong, Li XinYun's eyes were dark and clear from the tears.

"Mmm, you are right. There are very few fathers like him." She could more or less figured out what was going through her daughter's mind. Li WangJin had, to a certain degree, made her question the role of a father. That was the main reason why she was eager to accompany Chen MingZhu to look for her father. She didn't even complain at all when taking the bus.

There was something that had always bothered her. As much as she never let it show, it would give away a little from time to time.

Needless to say, after witnessing a father's selfless love for his daughter had resolved a lot of her issue.

"He wasn't rich and wasn't able to provide a lot for his daughter but he tried his best. He was a very good father." Fang JunRong lamented.

Remaining silent for a few seconds, Li XinYun scooted closer to Fang JunRong. Wrapping her arms around Fang JunRong's, she said softly, "It's alright. Even though I didn't have a good father, I have a very good mother."

"I am very lucky too."

Her personality had always been very straight forward. Whether she liked or disliked a person, she would always let it show.

Fang JunRong watched her lowered head and couldn't help but smiled as she enjoyed her daughter's dependency on her.

***

Li DaiTong called up the lawyer and Chen GenSheng's boss. They would be there the next day to meet up with Chen MingZhu. At the very minimum they would hand over the title for the house and the bank card over to her.

Fang JunRong and the others booked hotel rooms in City C to stay for the night.

Even though Li XinYun had only known Chen MingZhu for two days but they truly hit it off. She decided to share a room with Chen MingZhu. All in all, she worried about her.

Fang JunRong, too, didn't sleep well that night. She finally got sleepy at 3 ~ 4 AM.

She woke up at exactly 8 AM the next morning. Fang Tian snuck into her room after she had breakfast in her room. Her cellphone in hand, Fang Tian said to her, "Aunty, do you still remember my interview from yesterday?"

It had only been a day. Of course Fang JunRong still remembered it. "I remembered you uploading it during our car ride."

Fang Tian nodded heavily and gave her a bright smile. "I got a lot of views. I have over a million views already."

She had other videos that had over a million views in the past, but that accumulated after several months. Today, on the other hand, she had over a million views overnight. She made it onto the hot list on the homepage. Judging from the trend, she just might be able to make it into top 3! The best she ever had before barely scratched it and only for a day or two.

She even spent money to have it posted on a few popular local City C webpages.

As long as one of Lu Xiuhua's friends or family came across it, words would spread.

The reason this video had gone viral was also because many people could relate to this. Who hadn't run into a "bear parents" in their experiences?

When Fang Tian got up at 6 AM to read the comments below her video, many shared their experiences with bear children. Such as a case-full of anime figurines being destroyed by one. Such as being pushed down a flight of stairs by one and almost suffered a fracture. These experiences were enough to make anyone cry.

Fang JunRong smiled and said, "Hopefully those around her would teach her a lesson."

"I sure hope so," said Fang Tian.

That was the reason that she uploaded the video.

Chapter 324 - The Company Was More Humane Than Imagined (3)

By 9:30, the group of them went over to the address provide to them by Li DaiTong to look for Chen GenSheng's previous boss.

Boss Wang was already waiting for them when they arrived along with the lawyer that helped with the contracts.

Fang JunRong, too, learned of the address of the house the night before. It was a 2-bedroom place and the monthly rental came out to be around 1,000 yuan or so. The company rented the place for 1,200 yuan a month. It was a supplement for Chen MingZhu in some sense. Renting to a company was much better than renting to an individual. Never mind about keep the place clean the furniture in good conditions, it would be a hassle in between renters nor would there be guarantee that there would be a renter at all times. This certainly saved her a lot of troubles.

The town that Chen MingZhu lived in did not have high cost of living and 1,500 yuan a month was enough to cover her tuition and living expenses. Senior high school was not that expensive.

This company was nicer than imagined.

Chen MingZhu looked surprised. "But I receive 2,000 yuan a month."

From what she was being told, she should only be getting 1,500 yuan a month.

Boss Wang was taken aback a little, then added. "I've heard that a few of GenSheng's colleagues said they would chip in 100 yuan per month per person to make it a round 2,000 yuan."

Chen MingZhu, taken aback a little, feel her nose ached and her sight blurred by tears.

"I will study hard for sure."

Chen MingZhu's eyes were still watery when she walked out of the office but her voice was determined. She had run into a lot of bad people on her way here but she had run into more good ones.

Fang JunRong nodded and asked, "Are you heading home now?"

"Mmm." Chen MingZhu could stay and spend a few days here but she had just confirmed the death of her father and she was not in the mood to sight see. She planned to pay her father's grave a visit before returning home. She also wanted to tell her father that she had gotten into the best senior high school in town and that she would work hard to get into a university. She would not want to disappoint him in heaven.

Li XinYun suddenly said, "I'll accompany you home and spend a few days to sight see there."

She looked at Fang JunRong and Fang Tian when she spoke. She said "I" as that was her personal decision.

"That sounds good. I can make a new streaming program!" Even though she had been scarred by trains and buses, Fang Tian was still very willing to give new things a try. As though something had just occurred to her, her face stiffened and she asked tentatively, "Are there a lot of geese there?"

"No, not a lot of families keep geese in our town. Mainly we have fruit trees."

Fang Tian let out a sigh of relief and grumbled. "I'm a little bit scared of geese. I went to my classmate's place in the past and her geese would not stop chasing behind me." She even had high heels on back then and almost sprained her ankle. She had a very lasting memory of vicious geese. Just thinking about them could make her scalp tingle.

Fang JunRong couldn't help but smiled. She suspected that the brat had done something to the goose first. Fang Tian may look sweet and modern but she could also be a brat and loved teasing animals. All her bad experiences in the past had failed to teach er a lesson.

"Sure, let's all go then. We won't be causing you any troubles, will we?"

Chen MingZhu shook her head. "Of course not. You had helped me so much on our way. Thank you so much."

Even though Sister XunYin said they wanted to go sightseeing but their village was one of those that barely had cellphone receptions nor was there any nature scenery. All in all, they worried about her and wanted to accompany her back home.

When they were alone, Li XinYun said to Fang JunRong, "Mom, I want to do something for them."