Chapter 499 Was she really wrong?

When they had almost finished eating the pizza, Xiao Nuomi held half a still-steaming durian pizza, with bits of cheese still stuck to the corners of her mouth.

Her beautiful eyes sparkled like two pools of clear spring water as she looked up at Zhou Mubin. "Uncle Zhou, shall we go to the Bund? We kids can tell you that the Bund has so many lights at night, like stars falling into the river. It's so beautiful."

Just as Zhou Mubin was about to respond, he caught a glimpse of Cui Xiao quietly getting up and walking towards the cashier, her steps a beat slower than usual, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing her wallet.

This clearly indicates tacit approval.

He quickly followed, reaching out to grab the QR code to pay, but Cui Xiao gently pressed his wrist down, saying, "It's my treat, don't try to grab it."

Zhou Mubin had no choice but to give up.

When Cui Xiao finished paying and came out, he was already waiting at the door with the bouncy little Nuomi in his hand, and he also had a small rainbow windmill in his hand, which he had bought from the vendor when he passed by earlier.

Cui Xiao looked at the father and daughter and said, "Let's go."

Little Nuomi was overjoyed, "Wow, let's go!"

A cool breeze blew along the Bund in the evening, carrying the unique moisture of the Huangpu River, mixed with the fragrance of lisianthus from the baskets of flower vendors in the distance.

The tour boats on the river lit up one after another with colorful lights. The red, yellow and blue lights were reflected in the water, creating layers of shimmering waves, like scattered diamonds across the entire river.

Zhou Mubin walked on the left and Cui Xiao walked on the right. Almost simultaneously, the two reached out and took Xiao Nuomi's little hand.

Zhou Mubin's palms were large and warm, his fingertips bearing the thin calluses from years of holding a pen, as he gently wrapped Xiao Nuomi's small hand.

Cui Xiao's hands were slightly cool, with slender fingertips that held her daughter's wrist perfectly.

The little girl was sandwiched in the middle, holding a rapidly spinning rainbow windmill in her hand, hopping around with her feet barely touching the ground.

The little leather shoes made a crisp "tap tap tap" sound on the bluestone pavement, like tapping on piano keys.

"Mom, look, that boat has little lanterns."

Suddenly, Xiao Nuomi pointed to an antique-style cruise ship in the distance and shouted, then turned to Zhou Mubin's hand and held up the windmill in front of him, "Uncle Zhou, look, the windmill is following us."

Zhou Mubin smiled and bent down, gently wiping away the fine water droplets brought by the wind from the tip of her nose with his fingertips, and tidying up her bangs that had been messed up by the wind. "Because the windmill and the moon both like our little Nuomi."

Not far away, there was a cotton candy vendor. Zhou Mubin glanced at Xiao Nuomi's furtive glance and quietly told Cui Xiao, "I'll be right back." He returned in less than two minutes with a pink cotton candy in his hand and handed it to Xiao Nuomi. After walking along the riverbank for a while, Xiao Nuomi suddenly stopped, holding the almost melted cotton candy, and looked up at Zhou Mubin with her little face fixed on him.

Her long eyelashes were still damp with the fine moisture brought by the evening breeze, like tiny dewdrops. Her voice was as soft as freshly baked cotton, "Uncle Zhou, I've never had a father since I was little. Is this what it feels like to have a father holding my hand and buying me cotton candy?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Cui Xiao tightened her grip on her daughter's hand, feeling as if a dull knife had ripped into her heart, causing her to gasp for breath.

As she looked at the unprecedented, completely satisfied smile on her daughter's face, a series of images flashed uncontrollably through her mind.

When Xiao Nuomi was three years old, at the kindergarten's parent-child sports day, all the children were running a relay race hand in hand with their fathers, but Xiao Nuomi was the only one who hugged her leg and cried, saying, "Mommy, I want a daddy too."

One night when she came home from working overtime, she saw her daughter, Xiao Nuomi, hugging an old plush bear and murmuring in her sleep, "Daddy, hug me."

At last year's parent-teacher conference, when the teacher asked her, "Why didn't your child's father come?", Xiao Nuomi lowered her head and whispered, "I don't have a father," she felt a pang of sadness.

A wave of intense guilt overwhelmed her.

Was she really wrong?

Because of my stubbornness back then, I caused my daughter to miss out on this irreplaceable warmth when she needed her father's love the most.

Cui Xiao subconsciously turned to look at Zhou Mubin, only to meet his gaze, which was filled with tenderness and affection.

He was looking down at Xiao Nuomi, his Adam's apple bobbing twice. He was clearly touched by his daughter's words, and he tried hard to hold back his emotions.

The moment their eyes met, Cui Xiao abruptly looked away as if burned, her ear tips instantly turning crimson. She hurriedly raised her hand to smooth her hair, which had been ruffled by the river breeze, to hide her embarrassment.

The river breeze carried the coolness of the river water, but it couldn't dispel the increasingly rapid heartbeat in her chest. Her palms still retained the warmth of Zhou Mubin's palm from their accidental touch earlier.

Zhou Mubin's gaze remained fixed on her, his eyes filled with not only heartache but also a barely perceptible expectation, as if he were waiting for her response.

Just then, a sharp, piercing roar of a motorcycle suddenly came from behind, growing closer and closer, accompanied by the whooshing sound of wind being cut through.

A blinding white light shot out from behind the two of them, so bright that they couldn't open their eyes.

It was a speeding motorcycle hurtling straight toward the three of them.

"careful!"

Zhou Mubin reacted incredibly quickly, making his move almost the instant the roar approached.

He shoved Cui Xiao violently toward the roadside flowerbed with his left hand, the force so great that Cui Xiao staggered and crashed into the stone railing at the edge of the flowerbed, but just in time avoided the motorcycle's trajectory.

At the same time, he quickly pulled Xiao Nuomi into his arms with his right hand, pressed her head down and buried it in his chest, turned his back to the direction the motorcycle was coming from, and subconsciously tilted his body slightly to prepare for the impact.

The motorcycle whooshed past the three of them, the wind whipped up by the wheels stinging their cheeks, and the rider's cursing faded into the distance with the sound of the wind.

Cui Xiao steadied herself by holding onto the stone railing. Before she could even rub her aching back from the impact, she heard Xiao Nuomi's tearful cry, "Mommy, Uncle Zhou is bleeding!"

She turned her head sharply and saw Zhou Mubin's left arm hanging limply at his side. The cuff of his dark shirt was soaked with blood, and bright red blood droplets dripped down the cuff, splashing onto the bluestone pavement and spreading out a small dark red stain, which was particularly glaring in the night.

Zhou Mubin ignored his own wounds and first gently patted the trembling little Nuomi in his arms, trying to keep his voice as gentle as possible, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Uncle is fine."

Then she looked up at Cui Xiao, her eyes filled with anxiety, "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself anywhere when you bumped into the stone railing?"

"I'm fine, nothing's wrong at all."

Cui Xiao rushed over and grabbed Zhou Mubin's bleeding left arm. When her fingertips touched the sticky, warm blood, her heart felt like it was being squeezed hard, and the pain made her fingertips go numb.