Holding back her tears, Lai Jiayi scanned her father cautiously.
This man, this celebrity-like, handsome old man, was her father. He's only 45 years old by now, but he already looked like he's 50. It must be because he worked too hard.
Noticing the wrinkles on her father's face and his skin that had turned slightly brown, Lai Jiayi felt a pain in her heart.
'This must be because dad worked so hard as a construction laborer in hot and cold weather…'
"Dad...I'm here…" Seeing there's no response from the hologram figure, Lai Jiayi raised her voice so her father could hear her.
There's a device next to Mr. Lai's body functioning as a speaker so that he could listen to someone speaking to him.
'Well, so far, no one comes for him except for this girl.' Shen Jun silently thought.
"...Jia...Jia?" A deep, melancholy voice of Lai Yuwen, rang throughout the room. His voice was a bit hoarse and somehow sounded weak, but Lai Jiayi could still hear it.
"Dad!" Lai Jiayi subconsciously raised her voice and ran toward the hologram, about to hug the man, but her hand just went past through her father's projection. She touched nothing but air.
"A-ah…" Lai Jiayi trembled as she looked down at her hand to see that she couldn't touch her father at all.
'Even though he's right there in front of me, I can't do anything.'
Her eyes started to become teary, but the girl gritted her teeth hard, trying to hold back her tears.
'Dad will notice right away if I cry. My voice would give it away.'
'I can't cry!'
"D-dad, I'm here...how are you? Are you doing well?"
Lai Jiayi flashed a smile to change her tone of voice to a happy one when, in fact, her lips already bleed when the girl tried every kind of method not to cry.
Her voice sounded innocent and without worry at all, making Lai Yuwen subconsciously smile.
His figure projected by the hologram was smiling until his eyes became a straight line, but his body nevertheless, didn't move at all. There's not even a smile on his real body.
"Jiajia, my daughter, I'm fine, truly. What about you?" Lai Yuwen spoke again, he moved his virtual body, but because he couldn't see, he only wandered aimlessly around the hologram range.
His voice was so warm and sweet to the point of melting, even Shen Jun's heart. He couldn't bear to see these two conversations. Thus, he silently left.
"I'm good, truly good...don't worry, dad, I'm doing fine!" Lai Jiayi grinned, but she dropped her eyes low.
Tears already began to trickle down her cheek, yet the girl managed to maintain her tone of voice to a happy one.
Lai Yuwen didn't know that her daughter was silently crying as she talked with him.
"Good, good. I was worried that you would get into trouble, but you're fine, right? What about the money for your daily necessity?" Lai Yuwen asked her daughter with a voice full of affection.
Hearing what her father said, Lai Jiayi's heart broke into pieces.
'Dad...you are already wounded so badly, yet you still only think about me? How can I don't love such a wonderful father??'
"No, I'm doing fine with the money I earned from selling stuff online...don't worry, I'm really doing fine…" Lai Jiayi smiled sweetly once again, lying to her father.
She didn't say that they're homeless now, and a debt collector just came a few days ago.
She also didn't say that her daily necessity was provided by Uncle Shan, that super-duper kind uncle. Without the Shan family's help, she won't survive up to this point.
Hearing that his dear daughter started to sell stuff online, Lai Yuwen instantly furrowed his eyebrows.
"Oh, you start selling stuff? Isn't that tiring? You should just focus on your study. Use papa's money in the bank. You know the password, right?"
He continued, "Papa will work hard to pay for the hospital fee later when papa gets discharged, so don't worry!" Lai Yuwen said again with a smile on his face.
'I don't want to see you working for the family...I should be the one working. My daughter is a princess, but I can't spoil her…' Lai Yuwen sighed.
'I couldn't spoil you...couldn't fulfill your needs when you were a teenager, and now you started to make money for the family...'
Lai Yuwen cast his eyes low.
'What a bad father I am. I'm a failure!' The old man's jaw tightened.
"Just use my savings, okay? It should be fine for three months.." he urged again.
"B-but.."
"I might be discharged in 3 months, and I'll make money again, okay?" Lai Yuwen faintly smiled.
'Once I'm out, I should quickly sell my kidney or something to pay for the hospital bill and pay the debt.' Lai Yuwen secretly thought, not letting Lai Jiayi know about it.
Lai Jiayi only fell silent and nodded. "Alright…"
'But dad...you need to get surgery to be discharged, but the money…' she bit her lips.
'If I don't get the money in 3 months, you will never leave the hospital...you...will die…' Tears streamed down Lai Jiayi's eyes.
Three months..is the limit.
WANT MORE CHAPTERS?! Unlock using power stones! Every Sunday, I'll count the power stone accumulation from this novel & give bonus chapters depending on the votes.
X votes (The amount will be announced through author notes)= one bonus chapter. The bonus chapter will be posted every Sunday at 9 pm, and the vote will be counted at 8 pm (GMT+7)