Wu Haoyu's POV:
"Brother, I really don't want to move here. I just want to be at my old school with my old friends," my sister Wu Ling pouts, clearly unhappy that I've forced her to relocate with me from Beijing to Wuhan.
"Well, you don't have a choice now, do you?" I respond, my tone a bit sharper than intended.
She shoots me an angry glare, still resentful that I've uprooted her life like this. I'll admit, I've had a hand in contributing to Ling's spoiled behavior over the years. But when she started becoming rebellious, I knew I had to take action. With our parents gone, it falls on me to guide her and be the firm, responsible figure she needs to become a better person.
Ling storms out of the limo, defiantly slamming the door behind her as she marches toward the school gates. As I watch her go, a commotion nearby catches my eye. Some kind of quarrel is unfolding, and at the center of it is a rather...large girl, easily over 500 pounds, aggressively holding a terrified-looking boy by the throat.
I can't help but feel a twinge of curiosity over what could have provoked such a confrontation. But it's none of my business, I remind myself. I'm only here in Wuhan because of my grandfather's insistent request.
The story goes like this: my grandfather had an old army buddy, a friend so close they were willing to take bullets for each other. Even after retiring from the military, they remained virtually inseparable, going into business together and both finding great success.
His friend had only one child, a daughter. But she defied his wishes by dating and becoming pregnant by a good-for-nothing man who eventually abandoned her. Too ashamed to face her father, the daughter ran away, and no one has seen or heard from her in 17 long years.
The heartbroken father never recovered, with the weight of his daughter's disappearance destroying his marriage and ultimately contributing to his ex-wife's death. Now ill himself, the only thing keeping him going is the desperate hope of one day being reunited with his long-lost daughter and grandchild.
Unable to bear seeing his old friend die with such a heavy heart, my grandfather pleaded with me to take up the seemingly impossible task of trying to find the missing woman and her child. For three years, I've been following every potential lead, searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack with no guarantees of success.
A month ago, a new lead brought me here to Wuhan. Having no idea how long this search could take, I decided to bring my troublesome sister Ling along in hopes that some tough love might finally straighten her out. Two birds, one stone.
As I watch Ling disappear into the school grounds, I let out a weary sigh. Finding my grandfather's friend's family is akin to looking for a ghost. But I made him a promise, and I intend to keep it - no matter how long it takes or how fruitless it may seem. Giving up is not an option.
Steeling my resolve, I exit the limo and head toward the school's administration building, my expression as cold and detached as ever. There's work to be done.
As I approach the administration building, my sister Wu Ling rushes over, an annoyed snort escaping her lips. "What took you so long?"
I level her with a stern look. "You'll watch your tone when you speak to me, or I'll cancel all your credit cards. Do you understand?"
Ling falls silent, knowing I'm not making an idle threat. Overspending may not put a dent in our wealth, but it's an irresponsible habit I won't tolerate. Cutting off her finances is usually the quickest way to get her to fall back in line, if only temporarily.
We're kept waiting outside the principal's office for a good 30 minutes before the door finally opens. Out steps that same, rather large girl I witnessed getting into a confrontation earlier - the one who had some poor boy in a chokehold. As she brushes past, she looks me and Ling up and down with an insufferably smug expression.
"Sorry about that, Young Master Wu," Principal Bo greets us. "We just had to deal with a small bullying issue first."
"That's quite alright," I reply stoically. "Let's finish this quickly. I have other matters to attend to."
"Yes, yes, of course. Please come in."
Once inside his office, we go over the typical admission formalities. I can see the principal's frown deepen as he reviews Ling's less-than-stellar records.
"Well, I must say, your sister's results are...not quite eye-catching," he remarks diplomatically.
"I'm aware," I state flatly. "Place her in whichever class you see fit. It makes no difference to me."
"No, I want Class 1!" Ling immediately protests.
I shoot her an icy glare. "Class 1 is for students truly dedicated to academics - something you've never demonstrated. I don't foresee that changing anytime soon."
She opens her mouth to argue further, but remembers my earlier threat and wisely stays silent.
"Very well then, she'll be placed in Class 8," Principal Bo decides. "Her classroom teacher will handle the rest of the onboarding from here."
As we prepare to leave, I turn to Ling once more. "If you cause any trouble whatsoever, I'll have you sent away to military school until you can get your act together. Are we clear?"
She fumes silently as I exit the office, but I pay her tantrum no mind. This tough love approach is for her own good - she needs to learn discipline and responsibility somehow.
Back in the waiting limo, my right-hand man Yang Xiang informs me, "Sir, our contact is waiting for us at the restaurant as planned."
I give a curt nod, and the driver pulls away from the curb. This contact claims to have information on the woman I've been searching for - Huang Yue, the long-lost daughter of my grandfather's dearest friend.
After three long years of chasing one dead-end lead after another, I won't allow myself to get my hopes up. But I owe it to my grandfather to follow through on every potential path, no matter how faint the trail.
At the designated restaurant, Yang Xiang and I are led to a private room where a disheveled old man in tattered clothing awaits us.
"Good morning, sir," he greets warmly.
I get straight to the point. "Morning. Please tell us what you know about Huang Yue."
The man nods solemnly. "Well, you see, 17 years ago I was a delivery nurse at Wuhan Public Hospital. I remember that woman very well."
My brow furrows skeptically as Yang Xiang produces a stack of old photographs - random people's images mixed in with a sole picture of the real Huang Yue we're trying to locate. A test of this man's credibility.
He studies the photos intently for several minutes before pointing directly at Huang Yue's picture. "This is her...this is the young woman I helped deliver her baby."
Yang Xiang frowns. "I'm sure you delivered many babies a day as a nurse. What made you take particular note of her?"
The man's expression turns grave. "That's because she left the baby at the hospital."
That's...not at all what I was expecting to hear. "What do you mean?" I demand.
"You see, that baby girl was a bit sickly when she was born - the mother hadn't been eating well. So she left her there and never came back for her."
A sliver of hope surfaces amid the grim revelation. "And the baby? What became of her?"
The nurse falls somber, quiet for an uncomfortably long stretch. My patience wears thin. "And the baby?" I growl, eyes boring into him.
Finally, he sighs heavily. "I may have done something...illegal. Something I shouldn't have done more times than I can count. That's why I'm no longer a nurse."
I lean forward, lips curled into a sneer. "Speak up."
"I sold her," he blurts out, gut-punching me with another bombshell. "I sold her to someone who was looking for a baby."
Yang Xiang and I exchange an appalled look before I regain my composure. "To who? Who did you sell that innocent child to?"
"I don't know, okay?" the old man sputters defensively. "They contacted me anonymously, paid anonymously. All I had to do was leave the baby in the park for them to collect."
"You sold a baby like a piece of merchandise," Yang Xiang remarks, disgusted.
The nurse hangs his head shamefully. "I know I was wrong, and I served 15 years for my crimes. You can verify the records. I've paid my dues for what I've done."
"Good. Well-deserved," I spit out venomously. Preying on vulnerable newborns is unforgivable in my eyes, prison sentence or not.
Regaining my composure, I press on. "Now what do you recall about the person who purchased the child?"
"All I knew was that she had lied to some rich boyfriend, telling him she was pregnant so he'd marry her. When her supposed due date arrived, she needed a baby to continue the ruse. That's all I have - we never met face-to-face."
After over an hour extracting every potentially useful detail, it becomes clear this wretched man truly has no further information about the identity of the baby's purchaser. And there's no point pursuing further charges - he's already served significant time for his reprehensible actions.
However, we do have a new, promising lead to pursue. The woman was dating a wealthy man she hoped to trick into marriage by acquiring a newborn. Which means she likely came from more humble origins herself.
"It seems our best path forward is to comb through records of Wuhan's elite families," I tell Yang Xiang as we depart. "Cross-reference them against any reported pregnancies or sudden child arrivals around that time frame 17 years ago. Somewhere in those records, I'm confident we'll find the connection to Huang Yue's baby."
My grandfather's oldest friend has suffered long enough, held in limbo over his daughter's tragic disappearance. I will not rest until I've exhausted every possible avenue to unravel this mystery once and for all.