"I... how could I be so stupid?"
Recalling this past event, Zhang Li suddenly felt a surge of anger and slapped himself across the face, the force of which even made him stagger.
He slumped into the chair, and it took him a long time to calm down before he slowly stood up, gripping the armrests.
But as soon as he stood still, a strong feeling of dizziness made him lose his footing and fall to the ground again.
'Father!'
"Jian'er?!" Zhang Li suddenly raised his head, but looking around blankly, there was not a single person in sight.
"Gone...gone..." The old man shook his head and smiled sadly. His youngest son had long since died on the North Ku Grassland. How could he possibly come back to call him "father" now?
It was just an auditory hallucination caused by drinking too much.
Those who left, those who went away, tonight in this house, not a single child remains.
He grabbed the edge of the table and staggered to his feet, then slowly walked toward the door.
Before they had taken two steps, urgent shouts came from outside the door.
"You're back, sir!"
"I'm back!"
Zhang Li stopped in his tracks, the dejection on his face vanished, and he laughed drunkenly:
"So she came back after all, this girl...heh."
Zhang Li, who staggered out of the room, raised his half-open eyes and looked around, but suddenly felt a little dazed.
The person walking towards him with the maids and servants was not his daughter, but a tall, thin man. However, he was too drunk to see clearly, and the man's face was extremely blurry.
The old man squinted and asked the newcomer, "Who is it? Which guest are you?"
The person suddenly quickened their pace, and in a few strides they were already in front of Zhang Li.
"father!"
A deep, resonant voice suddenly rang out; it was so real and powerful, but the old man thought it was a hallucination.
His eyes were still blurry as he tried to make out the visitor's face.
"Father, it's...it's me." The man's voice was no longer deep and powerful; instead, it trembled.
Only then did the old man finally see the visitor's face clearly.
It was a face with bloodshot eyes, a stubble beard, and a scar on its forehead, making it look exceptionally weathered.
This face was both strange and familiar, but in an instant, the strangeness vanished completely, replaced by a sense of familiarity that I had longed for day and night and could never forget.
The person who came was not a guest, but his second son, Zhang Ran.
The old man burst into tears and hugged his returning son tightly, sobbing uncontrollably.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew by, and under the moonlight, the exceptionally tall tree in the backyard swayed in the breeze. As its lush green leaves trembled, the juicy red fruits glistened with a crystalline light.
Suddenly, with a "thud".
A ripe plum fell to the ground.
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