Chapter 573 - Chapter 573: Chapter 571: The Final Gift
Chapter 573: Chapter 571: The Final Gift
Jiang Feng only managed to mooch a meal when Professor Li and the others had just started eating, and everyone welcomed his freeloading.
Through the entire meal, Jiang Feng was the busiest of all; he had to occasionally echo Zheng Da’s remarks, help Chen Suhua join the conversation, talk about thesis matters with Professor Li, show concern for Master Huang’s health, and spend the rest of the time listening to Zheng Siyuan analyze the pastries he bought from the Court pastry shop the day before.
Jiang Feng was busy with his mouth and ears the entire time, gaining firsthand experience of how tough it was to be a social expert like his great-aunt.
As the meal neared its end, Jiang Feng finally seized the opportunity to ask Professor Li about Fang Yaqing.
“Grandpa-in-law, the sister we met just now doesn’t seem to be a local from Beiping, does she? Her accent sounds southern to me,” Jiang Feng said.
“Your Sister Fang indeed isn’t from Beiping; she’s from Gusu,” Professor Li replied.
“Gusu?” Chen Suhua, who had been focused on her soup, suddenly looked up, realizing something, “Isn’t that girl Fang’s daughter then?”
Professor Li nodded, “That’s right.”
“Does she know about what happened back then?” Chen Suhua asked softly.
“Xie mentioned it when he came over before the New Year; he also feels that she probably doesn’t know. It’s been over ten years, there’s no need to bring it up again,” Professor Li, who clearly didn’t want to talk about this at the dining table, said in a low voice to Jiang Feng, “I’ll tell you more about it on the way home.”
Jiang Feng nodded, not asking further.
The meal ended quickly; the main reason everyone gathered for this meal was just to see each other and become familiar faces. After all, they weren’t very close relatives, and they probably wouldn’t have much to do with each other in the future.
When leaving, Zheng Da subtly tugged at Jiang Feng’s coat to signal he had something to say and cast a special glance at Zheng Siyuan.
“Jiang, during the meal, Siyuan’s boss sent me a message saying they found a suitable girl and could arrange a blind date for Siyuan in the next few days. I’ll be relying on you then, and I’ll notify you once the specific time is confirmed,” Zheng Da whispered.
“Alright,” Jiang Feng nodded, thinking to himself when Ling Guangzhao started to get into the matchmaking business, typically owned by Pei Shenghua, even competing with him for business.
“Siyuan’s boss is really reliable,” Zheng Da remarked.
Jiang Feng: …
This might be the highest praise Ling Guangzhao could receive in his life.
Jiang Feng had only heard others praise Ling Guangzhao for being wealthy; this was the first time he heard someone praise Ling Guangzhao for being reliable.
After leaving the Taifeng Building, Jiang Feng walked to Li Mansion with Professor Li and Chen Suhua, taking it as a post-meal stroll.
Along the way, Professor Li told Jiang Feng about the matter regarding Fang Yaqing.
To be precise, it was about Fang Yaqing’s father.
Professor Li treated Fang Yaqing so specially not because she was his relative, but because Fang Yaqing’s father was a PhD student he mentored many years ago, and also his proud disciple named Fang Wenbo.
Fang Wenbo was a local from Gusu, born into a scholarly family with both parents as university professors and was acquainted with Professor Li. It was precisely for this reason that Fang Wenbo chose to pursue his doctorate under Professor Li. After graduating, Fang Wenbo returned to his hometown and became a professor at a renowned local university, rising to guide doctoral students in his thirties, some of whom were even older than he was.
Up until his forties, Fang Wenbo was what you might call a life winner. A bright future, a happy family, a wife who matched his intellect, and a daughter with excellent grades. Despite his strange temperament, reclusiveness, and a bit of arrogance, he didn’t socialize much, even neglecting his own students, and hardly ever interacted with his parents. Even though they lived in the same neighborhood, he would rarely visit them throughout the year.
He didn’t use any social media, had a phone but mostly neither took calls nor made them, only read emails without responding, and was virtually unapproachable unless someone showed up at his door. Unlike other graduate students who walked their supervisors’ dogs daily, his were always searching all over for him.
Though he was often dissed behind his back for his peculiar and arrogant nature, it was trivial. After all, geniuses often have their quirks.
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The world is always tolerant of geniuses who excel exceedingly in one area, especially in the academic field.
It was not until Fang Wenbo met his midlife crisis, and his crisis was somewhat more severe than that of most people.
Due to his personality, Fang Wenbo had no friends in the academic circle and always immersed himself in research alone. This also brought him significant career obstacles, and while he never lacked projects, it became particularly difficult to advance further, such as becoming an academia scholar.
Just as his career was going poorly, Fang Wenbo also encountered a family crisis when his wife of over a decade could no longer tolerate his peculiar character and proposed divorce.
Fang Wenbo knew his personality was problematic, he knew how difficult it was for him to interact normally with people, and he knew he was unable to raise and educate his daughter on his own, so he chose to leave home with nothing, letting his wife take care of their daughter and kept the divorce secret, telling no one but Professor Li.
Without the company of his family, Fang Wenbo grew even more reclusive. Facing blows both in his family and career and having lost even the most basic social interactions, he chose to commit suicide half a year after the divorce.
He hanged himself in the living room of his rented apartment and was not found until two weeks later. It was only because an undergraduate student reported to the academic affairs office that he hadn’t shown up for class in two weeks that the teacher from the academic affairs office contacted his ex-wife, who, after fruitlessly knocking on his door and inquiring with neighbors, sensed something was amiss and called the police. The police broke into the rental, only to find that he had long been dead, hanging in the living room, and his body was in very bad condition when discovered.
At that time, information was not as developed as it is now, the school tried to suppress the news, and local media did not report extensively on it. This news, which could have been sensational today, was thus buried in the memories of a few.
Ironically, Fang Wenbo’s parents only learned that their son had divorced half a year ago on the day of his funeral, adding a touch of grim humor to this already somber and bleak story that was hard to laugh at.
“Everyone knew he had a personality problem. From today’s perspective, he should have seen a psychologist, but back then, who had that awareness? We always thought that as long as he was smart, it didn’t matter if he didn’t like talking to people. It didn’t affect his academic work, so let him be, ” Professor Li said, looking several years older as he spoke about the matter.
“I regret it whenever I think of it. I thought nothing of it when he emailed me to say he was getting divorced. I didn’t care overly or ask his parents about it. I thought it was just that their affections had faded, the child was already grown up, and a natural divorce was nothing serious. With his qualifications, remarrying would be simple, but I forgot that after the divorce, he wouldn’t even have a family member to chat with every day.”
“How can a person not talk? It’s fine for a day or two, but months without talking can drive anyone insane.”
“That…” Having learned the reasons behind these events, Jiang Feng suddenly seemed to understand something when he recalled the scenes he had witnessed in his memories and the details of the final gift described in the product information.
He suddenly seemed to understand why Fang Wenbo insisted on Fang Yaqing coming home for dinner on her birthday.
“Did Fang have any particular actions before committing suicide? He wouldn’t have just done it without reason, right?” Jiang Feng asked.
“I talked to his parents during the funeral, and they said Wenbo suddenly called them on Yaqing’s birthday, asking them to come over for dinner to celebrate together. They were quite happy then, who would have thought that in a few days, the kid would…” Professor Li sighed, “He just got too fixated on one thing. In this world, there is no hurdle that can’t be crossed, alas.”
“Does Fang know about…”
“She doesn’t know. No one dared tell her the truth about Wenbo’s suicide, only that he died in a traffic accident and that his body was too mangled to let her see.”
Professor Li said, “She didn’t really get along with Wenbo, but after all, Wenbo was her dad, so we couldn’t tell her the truth and let her know that her mom was somewhat related to her dad’s death.”
“I also bear responsibility. I was Wenbo’s teacher. I knew he had personality issues, but I indulged him and ultimately, it led to his death.”
Now Jiang Feng understood everything.
Fang Wenbo had not gone on a business trip, he had moved out of his house because of the divorce, which was why there was an empty bookcase in the study.
He had no suitcase, nor did he buy a gift for Fang Yaqing, because his birthday gift for Fang Yaqing was to have dinner with the whole family.
He didn’t want to live anymore, but he wanted to spend one last birthday with his daughter.
The special buff from the puff pastry was prepared for Fang Yaqing, who was the most suitable diner. Even though Fang Wenbo didn’t love this world, he still loved her.
Just as described in the product details, the puff pastry contained the fatherly love Fang Wenbo had for Fang Yaqing, love that was never spoken but surpassed all other emotions in the world, yet Fang Yaqing never felt it.
She needed to feel it.
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