Chapter 325: [The Chapter Name Was Devoured by Me] After hanging up the phone, Bai Jing relaxed against the deck chair, lazily basking in the sunshine. The sunlight struck Bai Jing’s face, making her skin seem transparent, tinted half-white, half-red under the sun. "It was a call from my mother," the Electric General said, putting down the phone and turning to greet Chen Nuo. Chen Nuo nodded nonchalantly, not saying much. They were still in the hot spring facility, but the Electric General was no longer alone. His subordinates had been summoned. Even with such a group entering the hot spring facility, Li Qingshan did not dare to raise any objections. In fact, Hall Master Li had realized that he had completely lost Chen Nuo’s trust. Chen Nuo had carefully observed the Electric General’s subordinates—five in total—but surprisingly, not one of them was an Ability User. It was a rare thing indeed that the illustrious Controller had only ordinary people as his subordinates and not a single Ability User. Even Captain, a Destroyer within the Abyss Organization, had a group of Ability Users following him. Thinking it over, Chen Nuo frowned and asked, "So all your subordinates are ordinary people?" He noticed that all of the Electric General’s subordinates had lightning tattoos exposed on their arms. The Electric General seemed to understand Chen Nuo’s curiosity. He hesitated, his expression tinged with a hint of helplessness. "Actually, it’s not like the legends say, that I select my subordinates based on that lightning totem standard. But..." "But for some reason, I guess I’m just unlucky. Over the years, any Ability User I took an interest in and recruited seemed to meet with one accident or another. They’d unfortunately deviate during a mission or combat, either dying in battle or due to the mission assignment. It’s as if... as if the God of this world doesn’t allow me to have Ability User subordinates, so the only ones who survive are ordinary people." Chen Nuo’s eyes twitched, and he sighed quietly without changing his expression. "Oh, that’s really quite unlucky." Could this have something to do with your "mother"? he thought, shaking his head inwardly. Zhang Suyu opened the door. "Come in," she said, then turned back to Fang Yuanchao. Fang Yuanchao raised his eyebrows and stepped into the room. This was a two-bedroom apartment, located in the same residential complex Fang Yuanchao had visited before—the place that, in his memory, was supposed to be flatland but had now been transformed. There was a farmer’s market on the street corner, along with vanished kindergartens and newly emerged companies, as well as the internet café he had recently visited. The furniture and decorations in the house were very old. The dining table in the living room was worn down to its natural wood, and two benches were slightly tilted, one leg shorter than the rest. In this day and age, who in the city would have long benches beside their dining table? The small living room housed a chest of drawers, atop which sat an old-fashioned 14-inch black-and-white TV. Such a thing would likely become a collector’s item in a few more years. In the corner stood a washbasin stand made of iron loops, holding an enameled basin. The rim of the basin was chipped in several places, decorated with the festive image of a chubby boy holding a large fish. "Our old house was demolished, and this apartment was the compensation we received," Zhang Suyu said softly. "We’re not living here now, but I couldn’t bear to throw away our old home’s furniture, so I stored it all here. I’m thinking of keeping this apartment for our daughter, for when she gets married in a few years." She then headed to the kitchen, seemingly out of habit, to pick up a thermos. There were two thermoses: one wrapped in sheet metal, the other in rattan. But after lifting one, Zhang Suyu withdrew her hand and said softly, "We don’t live here regularly, so the thermoses are empty. You... wait here for a moment, I’ll boil some water." "Don’t bother." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽 Fang Yuanchao’s voice trembled slightly as his eyes swept over the surroundings. The house was unfamiliar, but these worn-out pieces of furniture gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity. "There’s more in the bedroom," Zhang Suyu said in a low voice. Fang Yuanchao immediately strode toward an inner bedroom. As soon as he flung open the door, he froze. There stood a double-door wooden wardrobe, obviously handcrafted. It was painted with brown wood varnish and, for aesthetic purposes, haphazardly outlined with ink in what appeared to be mountain-and-water patterns—a style very popular many years ago. The wardrobe, sharp-cornered and bulky, exuded an air of nostalgia. Even the door handles were hand-carved from wood. "Do you remember? This wardrobe... you made it by hand. "And all the furniture in our home, you made it all. You toiled for an entire month. "Back then, you had no money, and neither did I. "I said people should at least have a set of furniture when they got married. We didn’t have enough money, so you went to the manager of the factory’s carpentry workshop and arranged to use their facilities. "Then, you pooled money with your colleagues and, in the scorching summer, went to the timber mill, picking out logs one by one. Once chosen, you’d haul them back with a tricycle, load by load. "After that, you started making furniture. Throughout that summer month, that’s all you were busy with. "You always kept me away, especially when you were painting. You said the smell was too overpowering. "My sinuses were always bad, prone to congestion; I had chronic rhinitis, so you wouldn’t let me watch you make furniture. "Back then, I always wanted to run over and watch you, even if it meant standing by the compound wall, watching you from afar, shirtless, sawing wood under the sun. "Every time, watching you like that, I would always think to myself: "This... this man, he’s going to be my man. "I’m going to marry him, live with him, wash his clothes, cook for him, and bear his child..." Zhang Suyu spoke softly, tears rolling down her cheeks, one by one. Fang Yuanchao’s body trembled like a patient suffering from chills. He slowly turned his head, his eyes swiftly reddening as he gazed at Zhang Suyu. In a low voice, he said, "You would bring me lunch. A small bowl of simple noodles, with a little bit of pork liver sliced in, and a few shreds of pickled mustard. And you’d hide an egg at the bottom of the bowl." Upon hearing these words, Zhang Suyu suddenly broke down. She sank to the floor and wept bitterly. "Yuanchao! Oh, Yuanchao! Where have you been all these years?!" Shaking, Fang Yuanchao slowly walked over and crouched in front of Zhang Suyu. He reached out and gently embraced her, holding her tight. "I’m sorry. I... I’d forgotten so many, many things." "We all thought you were dead! Everyone thought you had died! "Your mother cried so much she couldn’t get out of bed for days on end. I could only hide behind the woodpile in the kitchen to cry..." "My mom... my mom, she..." Fang Yuanchao gritted his teeth. "She passed away. I saw her off. It happened many years ago." Zhang Suyu said through her tears, "Even when Mom was leaving, she still talked about you, saying she couldn’t see you one last time." "Yuanchao, where have you been all these years? Why didn’t you come back to find us?" Fang Yuanchao took a deep breath. "I had some... something happened to me. I don’t quite remember it myself. And then, I forgot many things and just lived in one place. It’s only recently that I started recalling a few things..." "And your daughter! She was only a year old when you left; she hadn’t even learned to talk. To this day, you’ve never heard her call you ’Daddy’." "...Daugh-daughter..." Fang Yuanchao’s body jolted. Myself... Ah, that’s right! I still have a daughter! "Our daughter... where is she now?" "At home," Zhang Suyu said softly. Fang Yuanchao stammered. The old man was filled with extreme guilt, staring at Zhang Suyu. It felt as if a torrent of words was stuck in his heart, pressing against his throat, yet he couldn’t pour them out. "Let’s go! Let’s... let’s go home! Go home to see our daughter! I have to tell her her dad isn’t dead!" Zhang Suyu, drawing strength from an unknown source, abruptly stood up. La Qi came in holding a laptop and placed it on the table. The Electric General glanced at it coldly, then looked at Chen Nuo. Chen Nuo didn’t speak. He opened the laptop and then glanced at La Qi. La Qi immediately took a piece of paper from his coat. It was filled with notes, and he handed it to Chen Nuo. It contained an email address and a password. "How did you get it?" "The Hall Master asked Shaojie’s mother for the email address. We figured out the password after a few tries—it’s Shaojie’s mother’s birthday." La Qi spoke softly, then looked at Chen Nuo and whispered, "Nuo, our Hall Master..." "Let’s not talk about him for now," Chen Nuo said coldly. "But, Nuo, the Hall Master has always been dedicated to working for you. This time, can you let him off?" Li Qingshan might not be a decent person, but La Qi, this reliable middle-aged man, had always been loyal to Li Qingshan. Chen Nuo had a fairly good impression of him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "It’s not about whether I let him go or not; he hasn’t wronged me. He has wronged Fang Yuanchao. Whether to let him go or not is up to Fang Yuanchao himself to decide." La Qi sighed and dared not say anything more. He could only lower his head and leave. This was originally Li Qingshan’s large study, but now only the Electric General and Chen Nuo remained. Chen Nuo switched on the computer and soon logged into the email account—it belonged to Lv Shaojie. The Electric General asked, "What are you doing?" Chen Nuo didn’t reply immediately. He first navigated the email account, quickly scanning through the old messages. Then, he looked up and said with a wry smile, "Looking for Fang Yuanchao, of course." "You have a way?" The Electric General was somewhat surprised. Chen Nuo sighed. "I’ve thought of a potential blind spot I may have previously overlooked. Haven’t you ever considered... that Fang Yuanchao might not know you’ve kidnapped Lv Shaojie?" He paused, then continued with a bitter smile, "Fang Yuanchao showing up in Thailand was obviously because he knew from emails that Lv Shaojie was going to Thailand for a business trip and vacation. So, Fang Yuanchao went there to meet his son. If you hadn’t been so reckless, if you hadn’t kidnapped Lv Shaojie directly but had followed him quietly instead... maybe you would have found Fang Yuanchao in Thailand already." Chen Nuo carefully read the recent emails between Lv Shaojie and Fang Yuanchao. Then, he quickly sent a forged email to Fang Yuanchao’s inbox, mimicking Lv Shaojie’s tone. After that, Chen Nuo quietly switched tabs. "Now we just wait quietly. Wait for Fang Yuanchao to reply," Chen Nuo shrugged. "What if he never replies?" The Electric General frowned. "Then we’ll just keep waiting," Chen Nuo sighed. "We should continue to keep an eye on his family in Jinling," the Electric General said, shaking his head. "I’ve already sent someone to watch them," Chen Nuo frowned. "But according to you, Fang Yuanchao is confused. He’s lost too much of his memory and might not remember his family in Jinling..." "Yes, he can’t remember." "Then how did you end up coming to Jinling to look for Fang Yuanchao’s wife and daughter?" Chen Nuo asked. "...He can’t remember, but it’s not that he hasn’t had flashes of memory," the Electric General furrowed his brow. "After he ran away, I carefully questioned the people around my mother. The nurses and doctors said that during the few times Fang Yuanchao became briefly lucid, he mentioned to them that he seemed to remember having family in Jinling—a wife and a daughter. But his emotional state was very strange at those times. It seemed like he had a strong aversion and guilt, and he would quickly forget again. Moreover, because his emotions were so unstable every time he remembered, and his condition was very poor, the doctors and nurses didn’t dare bring it up again after he calmed down." Because of guilt, did he selectively avoid it and then lose that part of his memory? Li Qingshan was a rotten bastard. Fang Yuanchao was a victim, but he wasn’t flawless either. Fang Lin’s mother, Zhang Suyu, was in Jinling, maintaining their home, taking care of the elderly, and raising their daughter. Meanwhile, Fang Yuanchao was out earning money through business, yet he also kept a woman in Yue Province and even had a son (or so Fang Yuanchao believed). This was the source of his guilt towards Zhang Suyu. Later, when he occasionally regained fragments of his memory, he must have recalled some of it, felt intensely guilty, then recoiled and suppressed it, continuing to forget that part of his life. The email, ultimately, received no reply. However, soon after, Chen Nuo’s phone rang. Picking it up, Chen Nuo saw it was Zhang Linsheng calling, and his heart stirred. After a brief conversation, Chen Nuo put down the phone. "Where to?" the Electric General asked. He hadn’t deliberately eavesdropped on Chen Nuo’s phone call—though it would have been easy for a Controller. Out of respect for another powerful individual, the Electric General had refrained. "To find Fang Yuanchao," Chen Nuo said with a wry smile. "He’s gone home. The call was from the person I sent to watch Zhang Suyu’s home. Zhang Suyu brought an old man home just now. From the description, it’s very likely Fang Yuanchao!" The Electric General shot to his feet, his eyebrows furrowed sharply. "Let’s go! We must find him!" he exclaimed. "Mr. Chen! You can’t interfere this time! This man stole something from my mother, and I must take him away! I sheltered him, gave him a chance to live, and provided him with a stable life! In return for such kindness, he stole my mother’s most precious item! I will definitely not let this scoundrel go!" Chen Nuo stared at the furious Electric General, hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Actually..." Actually... Fang Yuanchao might have saved your life... But he couldn’t say that now. There was no proof, and he couldn’t possibly destroy the relationship between mother and son with just a few words. "Let’s go. We’ll find him first, then talk." [Seeking monthly tickets!]