He did not meet any of the things that might make another bitterly disappointed while doing business. That was because he was a famed man in the capital, and there were an uncountable number of people who wanted to work with him. Even the recent happenings in Pei Ge’s company were unable to shake the overwhelming trust and faith the public had in him in the capital.
Pei Ge had the chauffeur drive them to their original house first. As they had gone overseas, everything here had been sold off. She had only ordered someone to buy back this place a few days ago.
The car stopped in the front yard. From afar, their house looked well-maintained and exquisite.
“Mom, we’re here. Let’s stay in our own house for a while,” she said. Her beautiful eyes were filled with sincerity, while her face was a mix of happiness and sorrow.
This place held so much familiarity and so many beautiful memories for them.
However, coming here today, it felt as if they had nothing. Even her most beautiful memories seemed to fade from her mind slowly.
“Ge Ge, let’s go down; I haven’t been here in a long time.”
Zhang Manhua did not mind whether she lived in a normal apartment or an expensive villa. In her eyes, as long as her family lived in harmony and love, the rest were inessential.
Pei Ge opened the car door and walked down the path. In front of them, there were two bodyguards. Opening the door to the house, they were greeted with a cozy and sweet ambiance. This place was specially furnished when she went to fetch her mother in the morning.
As she did not want her mother to feel sad after returning here, she could only stifle the pain in herself and move everything that used to be here in a room. She had people purchase new furniture, cookware, et cetera, as well as change out the bedsheets in the room.
Although the design of the house was the same as before, there was still a tinge of incompatibility in this familiarity.
This was the exact result she wanted.
“Ge Ge, this is?”
As expected, her mother could feel that the furnishings and design of the house were a little different from before.
“Mom, don’t panic yet and listen to me. I’ve stashed away all the things in the house from before. No matter how this house changes, it is enough that the two of us are together. Dad will feel very happy in heaven if he sees us living better and better.”
She tried to console her mother, but before she could continue speaking, her mother interrupted her.
“I know. I know your efforts. I see them all, but since I am back now, I am willing to face everything from the past. Plus, I have you now. As long as you are well, as long as we are all well, that is enough. As long as we are together, as long as you, Xiao Ji, and the three children are together, that is enough.”
Zhang Manhua’s eyes curled into crescents. The beautiful light in them was very similar to Pei Ge’s.
“Mom, I understand.”
Her voice was very soft and delicate, making her mother recall the time when she was still very young. Pei Ge had been so young back then when her father left them.
Now, she was a mother of three children; she was even full of maternal love.
“Shall we go take a look at the rooms? Did you change the house entirely?”
Zhang Manhua still felt a bit upset. After having left for so long, what she saw first was that her house had changed from what she was familiar with. Still, the signs of their past were still vividly felt and left in the house.
Perhaps the furnishings had changed; perhaps the previous occupants of the house might have felt that the house they used to live in had changed into another look, but the furnishings inside had not changed.
The bodyguards were split into two groups—one standing motionlessly downstairs and another following closely the mother-daughter pair up to the second floor. Of course, Butler Charlie was closely following Zhang Manhua, afraid that something would happen to her. Otherwise, when they returned, his master would definitely feel very sad.
“Mom, I only changed the positions of some things in the house, but I didn’t replace all of them. I left some happy memories behind, so this house still has the shadows of our past.”
Pei Ge helped her mother up the stairs step by step. The paintings hanging on the corridor were all drawn by her. Even after she grew up, as long as she stayed at home, she would be able to draw a painting filled with a child’s liveliness. It was precisely because of this that Zhang Manhua would paste her drawings on the wall. It was so that she would be able to see them all when she returned here in the future.
“Mom, be careful where you step.”
She held onto her mother, afraid that the latter would be careless and fall down.
“I know; I know. Don’t worry. I can still walk.”
Zhang Manhua chuckled. Seeing how careful and concerned her daughter was with her, she could not help but lament on how her daughter had left her protection after all these years. It was time for her daughter to walk her own path.
She now had her family—a man who loved her and three lively and filial children. It seemed that all of her life goals had been achieved. As long as she was this happy and healthy, that would be enough.
The two slowly climbed up the stairs to the second floor. There, Zhang Manhua carefully looked at each painting. They were all her daughter’s ‘masterpieces’ when she was young. There were all sorts of ideas and concepts in them.
“Ge Ge, do you still remember this sunflower painting?”
She stopped in front of a sunflower painting that her daughter had drawn, which was modeled after Van Gogh’s Sunflower, and asked with a smile.
Pei Ge walked toward it. It was indeed her drawing, but one she had copied after Sir Van Gogh’s. She thought it looked good when she was young, but now that she was an adult, she only found the young her back then to be so childish. How did she even like such a painting she had drawn herself?
“I remember that, back then, I asked dad for money to buy this painting from me.”
She nodded. The memories from back then were slowly unearthed. It was good that these past memories still existed like a movie’s plot. Still, her father had left too early. Before they could even give a price to this sunflower she had painted, her father left this world for good.
“Mom, tell me: Did dad say something else when he was calling you during his last moments?”
The mention of her father made her heart shiver. It had been so many years, but she still could not forget it. No matter what, she would never forget it.
