Soul Patch

Chapter 149 The Missing Fatherly Love

Wen Tianyi slowly walked to the flower garden in front of the villa. The night was cool and still, and his thoughts were welling up. He sat on the wicker chair next to the terrace.

I lit a cigarette and quietly smoked it as the wicker chair swayed.

The image of paramedics carrying a stretcher away flashed through my mind.

He took a deep drag on his cigarette, flicked the ash off, and muttered to himself: "His surname is Jia."

He then put the filter back into his mouth, held it there, and silently swallowed and spit it out.

When I'm lost in thought, I smoke a lot. One cigarette, two cigarettes... Before I knew it, several cigarette butts were scattered in the ashtray next to the wicker chair.

Finally, he got up, flicked off the ash from his cigarette, rubbed his face with his rough hands, took a deep breath, and went into the villa.

His wife was waiting for him in the living room. Every day after dinner, Zhao Ruyun would do aerobics in the living room, stretching her arms and kicking her legs, exercising for about half an hour.

Zhao Ruyun seemed a little distracted today, stretching her legs while glancing towards the door.

When she saw Lao Wen come in, she grabbed a towel from the yoga mat next to her, wiped the sweat from her face and neck, and hung the towel around her neck.

I took two steps forward and turned off the music.

She walked quickly to Wen Tianyi's side, took his arm, and warmly pulled him to the sofa. After settling him down, she sat down next to him and whispered in his ear, "Old Wen, I've thought of a good idea."

Upon hearing this, Wen Tianyi looked down at her.

Zhao Ruyun, who had just finished exercising, was a little out of breath. Her forehead, which she had just wiped, was covered with fine sweat, and her face was slightly flushed. Her eyes were gentle, as if they were soaked in candied fruit, sweet and warm.

"We've been classmates and bedmates for most of our lives, don't I understand my own wife?" Wen Tianyi snorted lightly.

It means I'm listening, waiting for her to continue.

Zhao Ruyun still felt sweat dripping down her forehead, so she picked up a towel and gently wiped the sweat away.

He put down the towel and glanced warily toward the stairwell.

There wasn't a soul in sight.

Right now, Wenjie is sleeping in his bedroom upstairs, while Anran is washing dishes and cleaning in the kitchen.

She covered her mouth with her hand and said softly, "Last time you mentioned that Xiaoman, the assistant at Huahai Technology Company, is quite nice. Why don't you introduce her to our son? I think our son is just too lazy to stay at home. Going out and dating might help distract him and maybe he'll get better."

"Hmm," Wen Tianyi pondered for a moment. Of course, he knew who Xiaoman, the woman his wife was referring to, was.

He pulled his arm away from Zhao Ruyun's grasp, crossed his hands, stretched his arms forward, and lay back on the large sofa.

This position was much more comfortable. He leaned his head against the leather back of the sofa, closed his eyes, and the image of Li Shiman appeared in his mind.

Li Shiman is a high-achieving graduate of Harvard University in the United States. She is beautiful and lovely, has strong professional skills, and speaks fluent English due to her overseas education background. When she applied for the job, she outshone many others and was hired by Huahai Technology Company's M City branch as the Public Relations Director with a high salary.

She and Wenjie?

Undeniably, Wen Tianyi, as the largest shareholder of Huahai's M City branch, greatly admires Li Shiman. She is highly skilled and professional, and she skillfully resolved several critical challenges when the branch was first established.

However, this appreciation is purely based on a superior-subordinate relationship, without any personal motives.

Seeing that Wen Tianyi didn't respond at all, Zhao Ruyun couldn't sit still any longer. She moved closer to him, placed her hand on Wen Tianyi's hand, pulled it back, and placed it on her knee: "Wenjie is not young anymore, he should find a girlfriend. Why don't you care about this?"

"Ugh, it's hot!" Wen Tianyi pulled his hand away, raised it to rub his temples, and said casually, "We're an old married couple, always so close, don't you find it hot?"

"Say something! I think that assistant, Xiaoman, is pretty good. Bring your son to the company tomorrow and arrange a job for him. Who knows, the young man might find a girlfriend in no time," Zhao Ruyun rambled on, a doting smile creeping across her face.

Wen Tianyi sighed and pondered, "Don't worry about your son's dating life. Zhao Shiman isn't an assistant; she's the public relations director, a senior executive who gets a yearly salary."

However, I would consider arranging a job for my son.

“Yes, we should arrange a senior management position for our son as well. Wouldn’t that be a good match?”

Wen Tianyi was too lazy to argue with her anymore. He got up and went upstairs. There were too many things to worry about at the company, and he was very tired after a long day.

"Wait a minute! Something's not right here. Even if Wenjie doesn't have a job, he's still the eldest son of the Wen family. How could a mere department head look down on him? Hey, Lao Wen, you invested in the company. How could she possibly look down on your son? That doesn't make sense! Lao Wen, you..."

Zhao Ruyun was still muttering something when she looked up and realized that Wen Tianyi was nowhere to be seen; he had already gone upstairs.

Wen Tianyi climbed the stairs to the second floor, gradually slowing his pace. When he reached the door of Wen Jie's bedroom, he stopped.

After hesitating for a while, he tapped on the door with his finger.

"Knock, knock, knock, it's Wenjie, it's me."

Almost instantly, the door opened from the inside, and Wenjie's eager voice came out: "Dad, come in."

Although the matter of taking medicine made Wenjie very unhappy, seeing his father again after so many years filled him with excitement. Lying in bed, he excitedly recalled the moments he had spent with his father.

But those were all blanks; he couldn't remember his daily life with his father.

He was so angry that he smashed his head against it.

He pulled his father's arm, dragged him to sit on his bed, took a bottle of mineral water from the computer desk, handed it to his father, and asked with a grin, "Dad, tell me about my school days!"

"Go to school? What's wrong with going to school?" Wen Tianyi didn't understand what Wen Jie wanted to ask.

"When we were in school, did you ever spank me for bad grades? Was I rebellious during my adolescence? Did I ever talk back to you? Did you always go out to work while I was in school? Did you miss me? Did you call me...?"

Wenjie asked a lot of questions at once, because he had lost all trace of his father after the age of five.

It is said that fatherly love is like a mountain and motherly love is like water. The bleakness, helplessness, bitterness and loneliness of a childhood without a father are indescribable.

He desperately wanted to know what it was like to have his father's company.

"Dad, where's our family photo album? Can you show it to me?"

Wenjie looked at his father expectantly and said in a somewhat childish tone.

Upon hearing this, Wen Tianyi's heart tightened, and his gaze towards his son deepened: Wenjie's memory was getting worse and worse; he had forgotten his own childhood experiences. It seemed that simply staying at home and taking medicine wasn't a solution.

After a long while, as if he had made up his mind, he slowly stood up and put a hand on Wenjie's shoulder.

My father's hands, broad and warm, felt heavy on my shoulders, and a warm feeling washed over me.

He looked at his father with eager eyes, as if he wouldn't feel at ease if he didn't see his father every moment.

"Wenjie, come to Huahai with Dad tomorrow. It's time to help Dad."

Huahai, isn't that the company our dorm leader works for? At the company's opening ceremony last time…

I don't think I went to the last opening ceremony. Why didn't I go?

After the system was finally fixed, what was the reason that it wasn't implemented?

Wenjie patted his head.

Seeing this, Wen Tianyi hurriedly grabbed Wen Jie's hand and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Is there something you can't remember again?"

Wenjie scratched his head sheepishly, realizing there was no need to hide anything from his father: "Dad, why didn't I go to the Huahai Company's opening ceremony last time?"

Wen Tianyi laughed and tapped Wenjie on the head:

"You went? You forgot? It was a celebration held at the Lincoln Villa party venue, and they even invited you to speak."

After Wen Tianyi finished speaking, his eyes dimmed, and his voice trembled slightly:

"Son, I'm getting old. From now on, I'll be relying on you to handle the business."

(End of this chapter)