No matter how shrewd a businessman is, he is afraid of the dark muzzle of a gun. When he encounters an unreasonable person, he can only compromise.
On the dark and damp first floor of the small building behind the orphanage, dozens of children were penned in, both big and small, but all with dull eyes. The older ones played by themselves, while the younger ones cried by themselves, with no one caring. The babies were naked, some were drinking milk from yellowed bottles, and some were crying loudly, trying to attract the attention of adults, but they had no way of understanding their current situation and had no idea that fate had abandoned them.
In the corner near the toilet, there was a chubby little girl with messy hair and wearing a dirty princess dress. Her entire dress was covered with milk stains and bread crumbs.
His face and hands were so dirty that you couldn't see the original color of his skin, but his eyes were shining brightly as he tightly guarded the biscuit in his hand.
A little blond boy next to her, who was a little older than her, had tried to snatch the cookies from her hand several times but failed. Finally, the boy picked up a dirty pillow next to him and hit her on the head with it.
The little girl was not paying attention and was knocked to the ground. The little boy took the opportunity to grab the things in her hand. She was not afraid at all. She raised her hand and grabbed the little boy's face, pulling it back and forth, and kicked him with her chubby little feet.
When Balut and Chanpong came in, they saw Danmin fighting in the corner. Balut wanted to go up, but Chanpong stopped him.
"Wait, come over after the fight."
"Are you fucking sick? She's just a little girl. If you get beaten up, your wife will definitely skin you alive when she gets home." Balu glared at Zhan Peng angrily.
"I'm her father. I know how to educate her. Wait."
Baru pursed his lips, but ultimately didn't go over.
After all, Danmin was less than one year old and had little strength. He grabbed the little boy twice, but the biscuits were still snatched away.
She sat on the ground and watched the little boy finish the cookies in disappointment, her little mouth pouting, but she didn't cry. She turned her head to stare at the jar where the adults gave out cookies, then stood up and staggered over.
The dozing life manager was woken up by her little hand. Danmin smiled sweetly at her and called out incoherently, "Beautiful Auntie..."
The administrator raised an eyebrow and took another cookie from the jar and gave it to her, "Here you go, sweetheart."
In this kind of place, even if it's just a cookie, only children who know how to please others can get it.
Zhan Peng's heart was broken. He never dreamed that his precious daughter would one day try to please others for a piece of biscuit.
Balu felt bad too, and poked his cheek with the tip of his tongue, "Get out of the way! My daughter can't stand this injustice."
The two walked in at the same time.
"Danmin——" Zhanpeng called out.
Danmin, who was sitting on the ground biting a biscuit, didn't react at all.
"Danmin, baby." Zhan Peng felt bitter in his throat. He took two steps forward, squatted in front of her, and called out.
Danmin then looked up.
For a moment, her eyes, as dark as ink, showed an emotion that did not belong to a child of this age. She looked up and down at the man in front of her, feeling aggrieved, without saying a word.
"Danmin." Baru also squatted beside her and called out in a deep voice, "We are here to pick you up."
Danmin only had four teeth. He looked at Zhanpeng and then at Balu, as if he couldn't believe it. He looked back and forth five or six times, and finally cried out "Wow!"
She was not very good at speaking and could not express complicated emotions. She just touched Zhanpeng's face over and over again, cried and laughed at him, and then pointed at her belly and her clothes.
Then she reached out to let Balu hug her, touched his face, pulled his ears, and called "Dad...Dad".
"I'm Uncle Long, and this is your dad." Balu emphasized.
"Dad Long." Danmin called stubbornly, then stretched out his hands for Zhan Peng to hold him, hugging his neck, "Dad Zhan."
Zhan Peng was helpless, "Hey, my daughter can be called anything."
The two men didn't dare to take Danmin back just like that. The two women at home could let them sleep on the sofa for a week, so they found the only decent hotel in the mining area, gave Danmin a bath, bought her a little skirt to change into, cleaned her up and took her to the hospital for a full-body check-up before taking her to Biaozi's ward.
"Dad..." Danmin saw Biaozi and rushed towards him with a smile.
Biaozi couldn't move yet, but when he saw Danmin, he became more energetic. "Danmin, I'm glad you're okay..."
The man who had gone through bullets and life and death on the battlefield now had tears in his eyes when he looked at a little child. After several days of relying on each other and escaping life and death, he had long regarded this child as his own.
Danmin looked at the instruments and bandaged wounds on his body, pursed her lips, and crawled over to blow on him.
"Good boy, it doesn't hurt." Biaozi's heart was about to melt, "Daddy... blow on it..."
"What's wrong with this girl that she calls everyone dad?" Baru scratched the back of his head and muttered with a smile.
But Zhan Peng felt as if he was being stabbed by a knife, and no one understood it better than him. Although Dan Min could not speak clearly, he knew everything in his heart.
Having grown up without a father, she longed for fatherly love but felt insecure. She simply thought that whoever could protect her and whoever looked strong and safe was her father.
"I'm going out to smoke a cigarette..." Zhan Peng couldn't help it any longer. He turned around and quickly walked out of the ward. He went around to the deserted corridor at the back and squatted down against the wall. He inserted his ten fingers into his short hair and whimpered in pain. Regret and heartache surrounded him and he couldn't breathe.
The man who was resolute and resolute in the front line of the most dangerous battlefield in Southeast Asia, the majestic and domineering official who had the final say in the army, was crying like a lost child at this moment.
An hour later, when Balu came out, Zhan Peng was in a depressed mood and had several cigarette butts at his feet.
"I asked the doctor and he said Biaozi can go home to recuperate. Country M is not a safe place. I chartered a special plane and took a bunch of people home first. Some are injured, some are sick, some are small, and some are weak. Even if you kill someone, you have to hide your weaknesses first."
"Well, let's go back now, leave tonight, or something might happen if we're late." Zhan Peng threw away his cigarette butt and stood up. "Even if the sky breaks, it's not as important as my wife and children."
Baru smiled and said, "Have you learned your lesson?"
Zhan Peng rarely argued with him and wiped the dirt off his face. "From now on, I will live for my wife and children."
"That's what a man should say." Baru patted his good brother on the shoulder. "Everyone says the world of pleasure is good, but go ask those people living a life of drunkenness and debauchery in the red-light district, who of them feels happy? Their wives and children are waiting for them at home, and they can see them when they go home. This is the life a normal person should live.
I didn't tell you how you played in the past, because I didn't understand life myself. But since I had Nan Xiaoxi, and now she is pregnant with my child, and looking at Danmin, I know how a man should live to make his life meaningful.
To put it bluntly, it means loving your wife and children, enjoying giving, and also enjoying being loved and thought of. You have such a lovely child, and Yana is so obedient, you should be content."
"I know, Aaron." Zhan Peng sniffed, "We all need to live well, so as not to waste those days of bloodshed and fighting."
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