Xu Pengfei stared blankly at Wanning, who looked exhausted.
He wanted to speak several times, but felt it would be too hurtful for Wanning, unable to find the words.
"I just called the boss."
Halfway through Xu Pengfeiâs words, Li Wanning thought something had happened at the company; otherwise, why would Xu Pengfei be like this?
"The boss said..."
"What did the boss say?"
Xu Pengfei shook his head, "Wanning, my mind is really messed up right now. I donât know how to tell you. Iâm really afraid you canât take it."
"Just say it directly, youâre killing me with suspense."
Something had happened at home, and if the company had issues because Xu Pengfei followed her back, Li Wanning really wouldnât know what to do.
Does heaven still think it hasnât tortured her family enough?
Being urged by Li Wanning like this, Xu Pengfei, with an already chaotic mind, blurted out what the boss had just said in a burst of emotion.
"The company developed a special leukemia drug when we were in Jing City. The boss says it has a cure rate of up to eighty percent, but due to some processes, itâs not on the market yet."
"Plus, for some special reasons, only the boss knows about it in the company."
Wanning was completely stunned, her mind buzzing, feeling like the world was spinning.
Compared to her brotherâs death, Wanning found it even harder to accept this fact.
Unable to grasp it for a moment, Wanning rolled her eyes and fainted.
Fortunately, Xu Pengfei caught Wanning in time; otherwise, if she fell to the ground, how could Li Peng and Lu Lanfen, who just lost their son, survive?
"Uncle! Auntie!"
"Li Wanning fainted."
Hearing Xu Pengfeiâs shout, Li Peng and Lu Lanfen hurriedly ran over.
Li Peng stumbled and fell and crawled over.
In Li Wanningâs bedroom, after listening to Xu Pengfei explain the whole situation, Li Peng and Lu Lanfen trembled all over.
Finally, Li Peng sighed, "This is fate."
"When King Yama wants you to die at three in the morning, you wonât live until five."
Li Wanning fainted for over an hour before slowly waking up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, seeing her mother by her bedside, tears instantly flowed from Wanningâs eyes, her tone filled with guilt and sorrow.
"Mom..."
"Itâs all my fault, itâs all my fault."
"Why am I so strong-willed? If I had just mentioned it, my brother might have already recovered."
Lu Lanfen held her daughterâs hand, covered her mouth with the other, shook her head, and sighed:
"Youâve done enough, this is just your brotherâs fate."
"Donât blame yourself. Without your support, how could your brother have held on until this year?"
"The hard-earned money from your hard work, you didnât even buy yourself a single piece of expensive clothing, spending it all on your brotherâs medical bills."
"Enough, enough, youâve done more than enough."
"From childhood till now, it was always you letting your brother have his way."
The next morning, Li Wanning boarded the bus, not daring to look back.
Afraid that if she looked back, she would cry and worry her parents.
After Wanning and Xu Pengfei left, Lu Lanfen and Li Peng closed the door and took some paper to Wenboâs grave.
"Wenbo, you know better than Mom and Dad how good your sister was to you."
"This time, donât blame your sister; she didnât know the life-saving medicine was right in front of us."
"Your sister set out for the company today. You have to bless her with a safe journey and successful work, okay?"
Lu Lanfen laughed through her tears and said:
"Your sister always protected you before, now itâs time for you to protect her."
On the high-speed train, Li Wanning stared blankly at the scenery retreating rapidly outside the window.
Passing through a tunnel, she suddenly turned to Xu Pengfei sitting next to her.
"If... I mean, if we were to get married and have a second child, could the second child take my last name?"
Xu Pengfei held Wanningâs hand and nodded sincerely:
"Of course! Even the first child could."
ââââââââ
Returning to normalcy in their work, Xu Pengfei and Li Wanning gradually regained their vigor, though Wanning sometimes dazed off during quiet moments.
The large osmanthus tree at the park canteen entrance became the base for Bun and Dagger.
Every time Dagger was taken for training, Bun would always come punctually to watch.
When Dagger finished its exhausting training and enjoyed the trainerâs massage, Bun would go up and sometimes receive the same treatment.
In summer, the weather is always unpredictable in the landlocked Huo County.
It could be clear skies in the morning and torrential rain by afternoon.
In the armed police hall, Bun and Dagger crowded behind Candy.
Though the food in Candyâs hand was tempting, neither Bun nor Dagger would snatch it directly from her hand.
Even so, Daggerâs keeper kept his eyes on them.
Candy climbed onto the sofa, found a comfortable spot to sit, and looked at the two little ones wagging their tails earnestly.
Candy divided the food in her hand into three parts.
First, Candy split it evenly into two parts.
"This is for Guoguo."
Then she divided one of those parts again into two smaller parts.
Looking at the one big piece and one small piece, Candy furrowed her brows in frustration.
Glancing at the two little ones, Candy closed her eyes and dropped the food on the ground.
Whoever got the big piece first would get it.
"This is for you guys."
The keeper watching from a distance showed a surprised look when Dagger only got one piece and the other was snatched by Bun.
Is this the power of food?
Otherwise, with Bunâs size, how could it run so fast?
Such a small piece of food, both Bun and Dagger swallowed in one bite, probably without tasting anything.
Seeing Candy still had some, the cat and dog sat in front of Candy again, wagging their tails.
Dagger tilted its head at Candy, using the legendary head tilt trick.
As more AI core code was written, Mo Jingchun, feeling the office buildingâs security was insufficient, moved his computer to the lab directly.
This way, if someone tried to steal the computer, theyâd first have to get past the armed police.
And to reach the top floor, theyâd have to take the elevator.
Even if there was a hacker, theyâd first have to breach Mo Jingchunâs firewall.
But triggering the firewall would automatically set off alarms in the entire lab building, locking onto the intruder with surveillance.
To be completely foolproof, if the computer was stolen,
Mo Jingchun backed up the data daily into a storage device hidden within the wall as he wrote code.
Coming down from the top floor by elevator, Mo Jingchun habitually walked into the armed police hall to check if Candy was there.
At this hour, Candy was likely waiting for him to finish work and eat dinner here.
Sure enough, Candy was lounging on the sofa, swinging its little legs.
"Guoguo, itâs time for dinner."
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