The ex-wife of a former CEO regrets resigning to raise her child and retire from public life.

Chapter 118 The Pain Hidden in My Heart

More than twenty years ago.

Chen Feng suddenly spoke. His voice was low, with a hoarse, rough quality.

The old electric fan in the shop was still whirring, but Chen Feng's words instantly lowered the temperature in the room to freezing.

Liu Cheng's hand, which was wiping away tears, suddenly stopped, and he looked up in a daze.

"My grandmother was also sick more than 20 years ago." Chen Feng released his hands from his pockets.

"It's not uremia, it's some other serious illness."

But like Aunt Zhang, they need a lot of money, they need to go to a major hospital, and they need those imported drugs that can devour a family.

Chen Feng slowly turned around.

In the dim light of the shop's fluorescent tubes, Su Chen saw for the first time a look of pain and confusion on Chen Feng's usually calm and collected face.

"Back then, the internet wasn't as developed as it is now. There was no Microsoft, no WeChat Moments, and no tweets that could be seen by the whole city."

Chen Feng strode back to the workbench, supporting himself with his hands on the flour-covered board.

"My grandfather, my parents, were exactly like you are now."

They wore aprons and stayed up from the moment they opened their eyes until it was completely dark.

At that time, our business was actually quite good, and the neighbors were all kind-hearted.

My grandfather went door to door begging, and the neighbors on the old street would contribute three hundred today and five hundred tomorrow.

Everyone did their best, but things weren't like they are now. No one had any spare money. Those few hundred dollars piled up together couldn't possibly fill the bottomless pit that was the hospital.

Chen Feng's Adam's apple bobbed violently as he stared intently at the collection notices scattered on the floor.

"I was just a child then." Chen Feng's voice began to tremble slightly as he reached out his right hand and gripped the edge of the wooden workbench.

"I can't help you."

Every day, I could only sit on the doorstep, watching my grandfather smoke in the dark night after night, and watching my parents run around day and night, begging for help, even when their shoes were worn out.

I was so anxious that I couldn't sleep at night. I hated myself for being just a kid, hated myself for not being able to earn even a dollar or two...

"And then?" Su Chen felt a tightness in his chest and couldn't help but take half a step forward, asking in a low voice.

Chen Feng lowered his head, his loose hair obscuring his eyes.

"In the end, Grandma didn't make it. She passed away on a rainy night."

Chen Feng gave a self-deprecating smile: "Over the years, whenever I close my eyes, I can still see my grandfather sitting on the doorstep, burying his head in his knees and crying."

That sense of despair tormented me for twenty years.

Chen Feng pointed to the old cloth bag in Liu Cheng's arms, his eyes becoming incredibly clear and resolute in that instant.

"Now, I've opened 'Human Fireworks' here."

I have a skill now, and I can make a lot of money.

This afternoon, I watched Uncle Liu sitting there alone, wiping away tears. Seeing these payment reminders, it felt like I was seeing my grandfather and my parents twenty years ago.

Chen Feng took a sudden step forward, his voice rising abruptly.

"Now that God has brought me back to this old street, and now that I have this signboard that can attract customers from all over the city, I will definitely not let it go!"

You think I was being tough today, that I was meddling... well, then just consider me meddling!

Chen Feng closed his eyes in pain, pressing his hands tightly against his chest.

"Just consider it... just consider it as a way for me, as the grandson, to console my deceased grandmother."

Let this also serve as an explanation for my self-blame over the past twenty years.

After Chen Feng finished speaking, the noodle shop fell into complete silence.

Su Chen stood there blankly, the wad of banknotes feeling heavy in his hand.

He finally understood why Chen Feng wouldn't even let him return the bag at noon today, and why he insisted on going to the outskirts of the city in the middle of the day to bring back half a pig.

This is not sympathy or charity at all.

This is Chen Feng fighting another battle against the heavy rain he couldn't win twenty years ago.

"dad……"

A child's voice, tinged with a sob, suddenly broke the silence in the shop.

Mengmeng had never seen her father show such pain and such a somewhat broken expression.

In her memory, her father was always a mountain that could hold up even if the sky fell, and he was always the father who would gently rub her head and make her bunny buns.

Seeing Chen Feng's slightly trembling face, Mengmeng's big eyes instantly filled with tears.

She struggled to slide off Xingruo's arms, slipped into her little sandals, and ran over crying, clinging tightly to Chen Feng's thigh with her chubby little arms.

"Daddy, don't cry...Daddy, don't be sad...Mengmeng is here. Mengmeng will give you all the little red flowers. Daddy, don't be sad...Waaah..."

Mengmeng tilted her head back, tears streaming down her fair face, sobbing uncontrollably as she buried her head in Chen Feng's trouser leg.

Chen Feng's body trembled slightly.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at his daughter, who was crying her eyes out while clinging to his leg. In an instant, the pain in his eyes was completely melted away by her clear, tearful eyes.

He knelt down, his hands trembling slightly, and hugged Mengmeng tightly, gently wiping away her tears. "Mengmeng, be good. Daddy's not sad. Daddy was just joking with Uncle Liu. Don't cry anymore, okay?"

Xingruo stood behind, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes, her eyes already moist.

She grew up in an orphanage without parents, and she couldn't really understand how profound the blood ties between "grandfather, father, and grandmother" that Chen Feng talked about were, because she had never experienced them herself.

But she couldn't bear to see her master suffer.

In her world, Chen Feng was not only her mentor, but also her benefactor who pulled her out of that quagmire where she could not see the light and gave her a home.

Seeing Chen Feng squatting on the ground, hugging Mengmeng and looking somewhat dejected, Xingruo felt a pang of sadness and pain in her heart.

Su Chen stood to the side, his lips moved, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Any words of comfort would seem too light and insincere at this moment.

He sighed, strode over, and patted Chen Feng's stiff shoulder heavily.

it is more than words.

Liu Cheng, who was sitting on the bench, was completely stunned.

He looked at Chen Feng, who was squatting on the ground coaxing the child, and at the old cloth bag stuffed full of banknotes.

The story from twenty years ago, the tragic tragedy the other party spoke of, was like a mirror, perfectly reflecting the nightmares Liu Cheng had been having every night for the past six months.

Similar experiences, similar despair, and that sense of resentment.

Liu Cheng felt as if a piece of broken glass had been stuffed into his throat. He couldn't swallow it or spit it out, and the pain was so intense that he couldn't even cry out.

He looked at Chen Feng, and his eyes, which had been filled with self-blame and anxiety, now showed a sense of empathy and heartache.

He understood the young man's intentions.

Liu Cheng couldn't refuse this money; it was a final act of redemption for this grandson's obsession with the past twenty years.

The dim fluorescent light at Lao Liu's Noodle Shop still cast a blinding white glow overhead, stretching the intertwined shadows of the two generations of restaurateurs to an extremely long length.

No one spoke anymore; only the whirring of the broken electric fan and Mengmeng's soft sobs flowed quietly through the old shop filled with the aroma of noodles and meat.