SAG -Chapter 4 He’s Back!

Without realizing it, Zhang Sicheng found himself standing on the rooftop of his apartment building.

A single chair sat there.

He had placed it there himself years ago, and over time it had become a habit.

When his mother was still alive, she had loved sitting on rooftops. She would hold him and his younger sister in her arms as they gazed up at the stars, telling them stories about their father.

Eventually, that became Zhang Sicheng’s own routine.

Though they had moved many times over the years, they always rented apartments in older, low-rise neighborhoods.

Whenever he was troubled or unhappy, he would come up to the roof, sit in that chair, and look up at the night sky.

Even now, he could vividly remember the look in his mother’s eyes whenever she spoke about his father.

They sparkled like stars.

She looked just like a young girl gazing at the idol she adored.

Decades had passed.

The world had changed.

Everything around them had transformed.

Yet that look in her eyes had never changed.

It had always remained so clear…

So bright…

So full of love.

Neither he nor his younger sister had ever blamed their father.

No matter how difficult life became…

No matter how much they suffered…

They never resented him.

Because they knew their father had died long ago.

It wasn’t that he had abandoned them.

They had a father.

And their father had been extraordinary.

A man with vision far beyond his own era.

In fact, both siblings had always admired the father they had never met—

A father who had died without ever knowing they even existed.

As they grew older and experienced more of life, that admiration only deepened.

Simply from the stories their mother told, they could imagine how far-sighted he had been…

How charismatic…

How remarkable.

Zhang Sicheng took out his phone.

He opened a single treasured photograph.

It showed a young woman standing beside a handsome man.

The woman was his mother.

The man…

Was his father.

It was the only photograph she had ever left behind.

After learning that his father’s ship had disappeared at sea, she had never allowed another picture of herself to be taken.

She had once explained why.

“Your father stayed in that moment.”

“So I want to remain there too.”

“I don’t want to watch myself grow old.”

“I want to stay forever in the same time as him.”

Zhang Sicheng stared silently at the old photograph.

His lips trembled as he whispered,

“…Mom.”

“He’s back.”

Shanghai First People’s Hospital

After finally finishing the tasks on her shift, Liu Lu rubbed her aching shoulders and walked wearily over to the nurses’ station.

Looking at a nearby coworker, she frowned.

“Why does it feel like half the doctors have disappeared? The hospital’s packed today, and everyone’s overwhelmed.”

“I heard they’ve all been urgently reassigned,” her colleague, Liu Xiaoting, replied quietly.

“Not just our hospital—others are short-staffed too.”

“What happened?”

Liu Lu’s curiosity was immediately piqued.

“Haven’t you been online? It’s all over the internet.”

“When would I have time?” Liu Lu rolled her eyes.

“I’ve been busy all day. Stop teasing me and just tell me.”

Liu Xiaoting leaned closer.

“You remember that cruise ship—the Goddess of Fate—that disappeared twenty-eight years ago?”

“It suddenly came back.”

“Not a single passenger is missing.”

“And every one of them still looks exactly the same as they did twenty-eight years ago.”

Liu Lu blinked.

“Seriously? That sounds impossible.”

“It is true.”

“The government has already officially confirmed it.”

“Wow…”

“That’s huge.”

“Tell me everything.”

She had become even more interested.

Unfortunately, before they could continue chatting, work called them away once again.

Liu Lu actually knew very little about her husband’s family history.

She only knew that Zhang Sicheng had grown up in a single-parent household, and that his father had supposedly died before he and his sister were born.

As a result, she knew almost nothing about the Goddess of Fate.

A Luxury Villa in Shanghai

The sprawling mansion was ablaze with warm lights, illuminating every corner of its lavish interior.

Huo Zhiyuan stood before a floor-to-ceiling window, a glass of red wine in her hand as she silently gazed into the distant night sky.

Are you doing well?

I miss you so much.

The words echoed softly in her heart.

Standing nearby, her secretary, Zhao Jingyu, watched her employer with concern.

Ever since graduating from university seven years ago, Zhao Jingyu had worked at Huo Zhiyuan’s side.

She knew her boss better than almost anyone.

To outsiders, Huo Zhiyuan was the perfect businesswoman.

Beautiful.

Capable.

Decisive.

Strong-willed.

Although she was already forty-three years old, she looked no older than a woman in her early thirties.

Time itself seemed reluctant to leave marks upon her.

The public also regarded Huo Zhiyuan as a devoted lifelong single.

And everything appeared to support that image.

Over the years, no man had ever been seen by her side.

Not even the slightest romantic rumor had ever surfaced.

At the same time, she was one of the country’s most respected philanthropists.

Her Yuanran Charity Foundation donated more than two hundred million yuan every year, with educational aid receiving the largest share.

Zhao Jingyu herself had once been one of the students helped by that foundation.

That was why she had insisted on remaining by Huo Zhiyuan’s side, hoping someday to repay her kindness—even if she knew Huo Zhiyuan probably needed nothing from her.

After so many years together, however, Zhao Jingyu had gradually discovered the truth.

The so-called lifelong single…

Wasn’t truly single at heart.

She already belonged to someone.

More than once, Zhao Jingyu had seen Huo Zhiyuan sitting alone, holding an old photograph of a man.

She would stare at it absentmindedly.

Sometimes smiling.

Sometimes crying.

At those moments, the powerful business magnate disappeared.

Instead, she looked like a young girl experiencing first love.

Almost foolishly innocent.

Nothing like the formidable woman the outside world knew.

Zhao Jingyu had seen the photograph herself.

The man was only moderately handsome.

His clothes, viewed through modern eyes, looked hopelessly outdated.

Yet he possessed an unusually calm temperament.

There was an indescribable charm about him.

Still…

The picture had been taken nearly thirty years earlier.

Zhao Jingyu simply couldn’t understand.

What kind of man could possess such overwhelming appeal?

What had he done…

To make a woman like Huo Zhiyuan—

A woman blessed with beauty, intelligence, wealth, talent, and status—

Remain so utterly devoted?

No.

“Devoted” wasn’t the right word.

Obsessed.

Everyone else believed Huo Zhiyuan remained unmarried because she embraced the single life.

Only Zhao Jingyu knew the truth.

For all these years, Huo Zhiyuan had refused to marry…

Had avoided close contact with any man…

All because of the man in that faded photograph.

More than once, Zhao Jingyu had wanted to persuade her.

To tell her to let go.

To find someone she loved—or someone who loved her.

She wanted her employer to smile again.

To live a normal life.

Not spend her entire life alone.

But she had only dared raise the subject once.

Just once.

The icy indifference in Huo Zhiyuan’s eyes that day had frightened her so deeply that she never mentioned it again.

And because of that moment…

Zhao Jingyu understood better than ever exactly how much space that man occupied in Huo Zhiyuan’s heart.