Du Lai felt strangely disoriented. He stared at the card, and his hand just didn’t reach out to take it.

Qiaona waited a moment, then set the card on the side table by the door and said impassively, “There are seventy million in cash on the card. Mr. Fu is also gifting you two properties valued at sixty million each. You may live in them, sell them, or rent them out for income. A lawyer will deliver the relevant documents to you shortly.”

Du Lai stood and listened.

Qiaona stepped back toward the door. “Mr. Du, please rest well.”

“Wait—hold on.” Du Lai finally found his voice.

Qiaona stopped.

“Fu—” Du Lai’s tongue felt dry. He asked, “…Fu Miaoxue. What happened to her?”

Qiaona looked at him without expression. “Mr. Du, that is not a question you should be asking.”

Du Lai had nothing to say to that.

Qiaona left the room.

After a long moment, Du Lai slowly came back to himself. He picked up the bank card from the side table, and only then did it feel real.

He had been rescued. And Fu Miaoxue—had gone home.

He took the card and opened the door. Outside was a clean corridor, with several nurses chatting softly in the distance. He was in a high-end private hospital.

A nurse saw him come out and smiled gently. “Mr. Du, are you feeling better?”

“Ah… better, yes.” His voice came out stiff, his thoughts still sluggish. “Could I… borrow a phone?”

……

Du Lai called home. The one who picked up was Xiaomiao—a fifteen-year-old girl who’d gotten lost on the street at age five or six, been picked up by their master, had her eyes blinded to send her out begging, and after the master’s death had stayed with Du Lai and the other children as they made their own way.

Xiaomiao was overjoyed to hear from him, warm and eager on the line. “Du Lai-gege, why are you suddenly calling? Is there a holiday on the ship? Are you coming back? Is this a new number?”

Du Lai didn’t know what to say.

He felt as though he’d lived half a lifetime on that island—yet the friends waiting for him in the world outside had no idea. They still thought he was working on a ship somewhere. The collision between those two realities created a sharp and jarring sense of fracture.

“Du Lai-gege?” Xiaomiao asked. “Are you still there?”

He came back to himself. “Where’s Xiaodou? Not home?”

Xiaomiao’s voice grew hesitant. “Dou-gege… he’s, he’s not here…”

Du Lai’s brow furrowed. “Did something happen to him?”

Xiaomiao never lied to people outside, but she never lied to Du Lai either. She told him straight: “Dou-gege… he stole something. He got caught.”

Then immediately added: “Don’t worry! They said it’s only fifteen days’ detention! He’ll be out really soon!”

Du Lai asked, “Why did he steal? Did the household money run out?”

“No…there’s still money at home,” Xiaomiao’s voice dropped. “I don’t know why he stole someone’s wallet either…”

Du Lai fell quiet.

They were all people who’d crawled out of the mud. Old bad habits clung to all of them, himself included—didn’t he still get the occasional itch to show off his skills? Knowing something was wrong didn’t mean you could always stop yourself.

“We’ll deal with it when I get back,” he finally said, sighing.

“Du Lai-gege, you’re really coming back?! That’s wonderful! We all miss you so much!” Xiaomiao’s voice shot up with excitement.

The heaviness in Du Lai’s chest eased the smallest bit. He looked down at the card in his hand, and said with a quiet smile, “Yeah. I’m coming back. And I’ve got enough saved for your surgery.”

Xiaomiao practically screamed: “I can have the surgery?! I’m really going to have the surgery?! Xiaodi! Xiaoke! Du Lai-gege’s going to get me the surgery!”

Laughter from other children came through the phone. Du Lai thought: *Maybe this is the best ending after all.*

—