"Dad, I'm here."
In the hospital room, an elderly man who had just undergone surgery a few days ago lay in bed, covered in tubes, a sight that was quite shocking at first glance.
Upon hearing someone call him, the old man slowly lifted his eyelids and turned his head slightly in response.
"How are you feeling today?" A young, handsome man pulled a chair over and sat down by the bedside. Then, he picked up the medical chart from the bedside table and began to flip through it.
"Cough, I'm feeling better, just a little sore at the incision." The old man had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery a few days ago. He had collapsed suddenly during a meeting, which had terrified his subordinates. Fortunately, he was promptly brought to the hospital and underwent surgery in time; otherwise, the consequences could have been unimaginable.
"By the way, about the company." The old man began to speak again.
"Don't worry about the company's affairs. Since I've returned from studying abroad, I'll obediently follow your instructions and go to work. You just focus on recovering." The man's words were reassuring, and the old man felt fortunate to have such an obedient son.
"Yes, he's Li Zhongmao's son, Li Yicheng, and he's certainly a standout among people."
He started from scratch, worked his way up from a small employee, and built this vast empire, establishing the solid foundation of the Huamao Group. Almost half of the automotive parts in Southeast Asia were manufactured by this industrial giant, and its name resonated throughout Asia.
However, everyone has their twilight years, and he is indeed getting old. As he aged, he naturally became less capable; it was either this ailment or that disease, and now he had finally fallen ill.
Fortunately, heaven had blessed him with a son. This vast empire would have someone to carry on his legacy.
Many years ago, the old man sent him to study in the capital, and later he was sent abroad. Now, his son had grown up and finally become a talent, returning after completing his studies.
Looking at the young boy who had now become a tall and upright 1.88-meter man, the old man felt an indescribable sense of emotion and pride in his heart. How could words capture these feelings?
"It's truly my good son, Li Zhongmao's." The old man sighed contentedly. Suddenly, the pain from his wounds seemed to dissipate, and he felt refreshed.
"I must find that child this time. You can't obstruct me any longer." Li Yicheng said firmly, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.
"Ah, Yicheng, you're so kind-hearted. Dad is just afraid you'll get taken advantage of. Since you've grown up, I can't influence your decisions anymore. You can do as you please. Dad won't interfere anymore." Li Zhongmao sighed. He was indeed tired and old, not wanting to do certain things or get involved in them anymore. He just wanted to enjoy his retirement and even thought that once he recovered from his illness and Yicheng gradually took over the company's affairs, he could retire and enjoy a life of leisure, traveling everywhere.
"You take good care of your health, Dad." Li Yicheng patted the old man's hand. "I'm leaving now. I just got back to the country, and an old friend from Beijing came to visit me."
"Alright, go ahead, drive slowly." Li Zhongmao reminded him.
When Li Yicheng came out driving, it was already late, and the view outside the window was filled with colorful lights. Unlike the desolation of the industrial zone, the nightlife in the city was just beginning.
He turned on the car's radio, and beautiful music filled the car. He rested his elbow on the window frame, supporting his head, as if lost in thought.
"Hey, Tiantian, where are you taking me today?" A seven-year-old boy in overalls, with a lollipop in his mouth, tugged at the eleven-year-old boy next to him, eagerly asking.
"Today, how about I take you on a treasure hunt?" The older boy's eyes darted around and then fixed on the lollipop in the little boy's mouth. He swallowed his saliva and said, "I also want some candy."
"Okay, I'll bring you some tomorrow. These are chocolate lollipops my dad brought back from Hong Kong. They're delicious." The little boy generously agreed.
"Great, great." The older boy nodded with a big smile. His dad was relatively poor, so he couldn't afford to buy him snacks, but kids loved eating these things the most.
"Hey, Tiantian, we better go quickly, or my dad will find out, and he won't let me play with you anymore." The little boy looked around for a moment and urged.
"Alright, let's go, let's go on a treasure hunt!" Tiantian held the little boy's hand, and the two children joyfully sprinted away.
It was the summer vacation when he was seven years old, and Li Zhongmao came to work at the factory. He insisted on coming along to play.
At that time, the Huamao Group was in an expansion phase, just taking off. Li Zhongmao was naturally busy as he dived into work as soon as he arrived at the company. He didn't have time to take care of the children.
Thinking that the company was his territory, he instructed his son that he could only stay in the office building and couldn't go too far. Then he could focus on his work without worry.
Li Yicheng was like a puppy let out of a cage, running around and playing freely in the various workshops.
During summer vacation, some employees would secretly bring their children to work, so Li Yicheng also made friends with many kids. They played together every day, chasing each other, and living a carefree life.
Among them was a slightly older boy named Tiantian, who got along particularly well with Li Yicheng. During that time, they were inseparable and almost became like Siamese twins.
As Li Yicheng recalled these warm scenes, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curve upward.
However, when he thought about what happened later, his eyes darkened again. Because no one could have expected that during that treasure hunt, something completely unexpected would occur.
"Look, there are so many treasures here." Tiantian quietly led Li Yicheng into a deserted warehouse. There was a sign hanging on the warehouse door that said, "Storage of discarded items, no entry for idle persons," but it was already decaying.
"Cough, what kind of place is this?" Li Yicheng took a deep breath, choking on the dust and tearing up.
"This is the treasure trove I discovered. I brought you here, so it's a little secret between the two of us. You mustn't tell anyone else." Tiantian said seriously, then took him a little further inside, where the visibility became even dimmer.
"Wow, what are these shiny things?" Li Yicheng was initially a bit scared, especially when he saw the terrifying spiderwebs on the shelves. However, he suddenly noticed some shiny little beads scattered on the ground. His curiosity overcame his fear.
"These, I call them night pearls. Look, aren't they beautiful?" Tiantian proudly picked up one and placed it in Li Yicheng's palm.
In fact, these so-called night pearls were just useless discarded production parts, shaped like prototypes, capable of refracting light like a Mitsubishi mirror. This warehouse was specifically for storing useless raw materials and miscellaneous items from the factory, left in a mess with no one caring for them. It had become Tiantian's treasure trove. Children are always curious about everything, especially things they rarely see in their daily lives.
"Wow, they really glow!" Li Yicheng was excited. He saw that there were many scattered on the ground and started picking them up one by one, wanting to take them home.
"There are a lot more over there; let me help you pick them up." Seeing how much he liked them, Tiantian felt delighted and ran a few steps to disappear into one of the shelves to collect more.
Li Yicheng had picked up everything he could see nearby. He straightened up, and looked around, but couldn't find any trace of Tiantian. "Tiantian?"
In the vast warehouse, there was only a faint echo, which gave an eerie feeling.
Li Yicheng shuddered, and fear started to creep in. "Tiantian, where are you? Come out, please!"
Still, no one responded to him.
Where had Tiantian gone?
The shelves in the warehouse were numerous, not neatly organized in rows. They had been neglected for a long time, and some iron racks were already corroded and rusted. On top of them, there were all kinds of clutter, making the shelves seem precarious and ready to collapse.
"Come out, I'm really scared!" Li Yicheng shouted while frantically searching the shelves one by one, even leaving behind the newly discovered night pearls.
Suddenly, he vaguely saw a familiar figure not far away from the shelves, crouched down on the ground. Half of their body was hidden beneath one of the shelves, seemingly reaching for something inside.
Li Yicheng excitedly walked towards that particular shelf but accidentally tripped over a discarded iron pipe on the floor. He fell to the side.
Most of these shelves had rusted from the inside out, like fragile iron sheets that had lost their support. Just like dominoes, the shelf Li Yicheng bumped into swayed left and right a few times before crashing down. Following it, several adjacent shelves also fell, and the old items and miscellaneous parts on them rained down like a torrent, creating a terrifying noise.
Meanwhile, right beneath all this, Tiantian had been buried by the falling objects before he could react.
Outside the warehouse, the ambulance parked nearby was blaring its sirens, echoing through the entire factory.
Li Yicheng had already been carried out by the staff who arrived later. He stood outside the warehouse, along with the curious employees from the workshop, anxiously waiting.
Several burly workers, under the command of a high-ranking executive, had been inside with the medical personnel for a long time but still hadn't come out.
After waiting for a while, those workers gradually cleared some of the larger debris from inside. However, there was still no sign of the medical personnel or Tiantian.
Li Yicheng was crying while tightly holding the few night pearls he had picked up.
"Where's my son? Where's my son?" Suddenly, a man in work clothes pushed through the crowd, frantically searching and trying to rush into the warehouse.
"Calm down, please, calm down." The executive who had been commanding the situation outside the warehouse intercepted him, afraid that he might make things even worse.
"Don't stop me! I need to find my son!" The man struggled to break free from the executive's grip. A few more people joined in, trying to restrain him.
"Shhh, the big boss is here," another executive hurried over and began dispersing the crowd. "Unrelated personnel, scatter! Get back to your work, don't gather here. Move!"
The group of onlookers scattered like birds and beasts, instantly reducing the crowd.
"What's happening now?" Li Zhongmao interrupted the meeting and rushed over from the office building.
"Dad," Li Yicheng saw Li Zhongmao and immediately struggled free from the executive who was holding him. He ran to Li Zhongmao and hugged his father's thigh.
"Are you okay?" Li Zhongmao's heart settled when he saw his son. He had heard about the accident earlier, and his heart had nearly stopped. Thankfully, his only son was unharmed. If not, he wouldn't know what to do.
"I'm fine," Li Yicheng shook his head. He had escaped without a scratch. However, he was worried about Tiantian's condition.
"Chairman, we are currently removing the items that are on top of the child. We should be able to rescue him soon," the commanding executive reported respectfully, then ordered the workers to speed up the process.
"Okay, let's get him out as soon as possible. After they take him to the hospital, please report the situation to me immediately," Li Zhongmao nodded.
He was worried that when the doctors and nurses carried Tiantian out on a stretcher, the sight of blood or injuries might frighten his son and have a lasting impact. So, Li Zhongmao picked up his son and turned to leave. "Be good, Yicheng, let's go back."
Li Yicheng wanted to say no, but he was a bit afraid of his father. After all, this incident had started with him sneaking out. If his father didn't scold him, that would be fortunate. He didn't want to push his luck.
"Dad, will Tiantian be okay?" Li Yicheng's tiny voice, like a mosquito, asked as he held onto Li Zhongmao's neck.
"He'll be fine, don't worry. We'll wait for news when we get home," Li Zhongmao reassured him.
Li Yicheng stopped talking. He knew his father never lied to him, so he clenched the few remaining pearls in his hand, hoping for good news.
And then, there was silence.
In the following years, Li Zhongmao had taken Li Yicheng for a detailed physical examination and had forbidden his son from coming to the factory with him during the summer break. After the summer vacation, Li Yicheng was sent to the capital to study. He hadn't returned to this city until now, after attending Harvard University.
During this time, Li Yicheng had asked Li Zhongmao about Tiantian several times, but his father had always brushed him off with a few words, either saying he was fine or that it wasn't a big deal. Li Yicheng knew his father was just placating him and wouldn't tell him the truth. But separated by thousands of kilometers, he felt helpless and could only force himself to believe his father. Although he was subtly uneasy, over the years, he stopped asking about Tiantian.
But all these years, he had kept Tiantian in his heart.
This time, when he came back, he was determined to find Tiantian. He had to see for himself that he was okay. Li Yicheng thought about this and unconsciously accelerated the car.
Support me a milktea if you like my translation:
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/mirori
Paypal: mymy26198@gmail.com