Once, nothing mattered to me more than having you by my side. When you smiled at me, I could happily gaze at you there. But gradually, I realized that wasn’t the deepest wish of my heart.

"Grandpa, the New Year has already arrived. I don’t know what kind of New Year’s gift you’d want, but now I understand. Maybe the best New Year’s gift would be my parents holding hands and safely returning home to spend the New Year with you. This would be the perfect gift for everyone; no one would think there could be a more perfect gift. Everyone harbors a certain pain, a certain torment, and this pain and torment won’t change just because you plead over and over again.

Everyone in the world pays a price for their actions, and everyone matures gradually because of what they do. Experiences vary, so their wisdom and insights will differ. I don’t know where my parents are now, and I can’t guarantee they can come back to spend the New Year with us. I also wish my parents could return home and spend a New Year with me in happiness, which would be my greatest comfort!

For more than twenty years, my parents have never spent a New Year with me. I have hoped time and again that they could return on New Year’s Day. Time and again, I stood at the door, yearningly waiting for their return, but in the end? In the end, what I faced was just the cold wind blowing on my cheeks over and over; I never awaited my parents!"

Old Master Zhang knew, for he had long seen the letter his grandson wrote to Zhang Zhentian and Xia Jing.

He had to admit that when he saw the moving letter his grandson wrote, his heart was in turmoil.

The letter read: Dad and Mom, where are you? The New Year has come, and this is already the twenty-something New Year I’ve spent. I’ve always been waiting for my parents to come home and spend a New Year with me. It’s not because I want a New Year’s gift from you, but because I really, really miss you. I long for a warm embrace from you. I want to snuggle in your arms and tell you how hard my years have been, to pour out my feelings to you.

Dad and Mom, do you know that I miss you? Every time I stand at the door, straining my eyes towards that distant place, I hope you would appear before me. But time and again, I’m disappointed and return, having awaited only the cold wind ceaselessly kissing my cheeks. I haven’t waited for you to return to me. Instead, over and over, I faced mocking glances from others. Everyone else has their parents with them; I have nothing, only my grandpa.

Even though, in the beginning, I hated you for heartlessly abandoning me, leaving me alone here while you left, I have now chosen to forgive you. Because I now know what I want most in my heart: all I want is a warm embrace from you. Why does fate make it so difficult for me? Why can I forsake all New Year gifts, only wanting you to return; even a distant glance at me would satisfy me.

But why does the result I get time and time again bring so much sorrow, so much pain? I’ve waited so long, year after year, over three hundred days a year. Day in and day out, year after year, I ultimately can’t bring my parents back. Maybe you’ve long forgotten me, but I am your biological son. What reason allows you to ignore me so entirely? What kind of blow would make you abandon even your biological son? What kind of freedom do you yearn for to disregard your family entirely?

Do my parents know the pain I feel as your son? My desires are not much; my demands are very few, almost the lowest. I can forsake all, I can do without any New Year’s gifts; I just want you to return peacefully to spend one New Year with me. Is it so hard? I am a child too. I need my parents’ company. I long for the sincere love of my parents. After so many years, though you’ve never chosen to accompany me, I still choose to love you because you gave me life. No matter what role you played during my growth, my life results from you. I know I should be grateful, but I am also a living person with flesh and blood. I know what kind of life I want and what life brings me the most joy and comfort.

When I see my grandpa secretly wiping tears in the corner time and again, as a grandson, I’m deeply saddened at that moment. I so profoundly resent my parents; why hurt the grandpa who loves me the most? If my parents knew how good grandpa is to me, offering me the whole world, even his life, how would they feel? Would they be moved? Would they be grateful to grandpa? Everyone takes a different path, and in the end, I chose to forgive my parents because I understand that only when I let go of the past can our family’s happiness arrive. If I cling to everything, how could my parents live happily? Where would my happy life be? I don’t want a life of uncertainty. What I want is just a stable home, a New Year with my parents by my side. I forsook all gifts, but my parents won’t return, leaving me deeply saddened...

When Old Master Zhang finished reading this letter, his heart truly ached. He had never imagined his grandson could be so understanding, always compromising, striving for an honest reunion with his parents. But in the end, fate remained harsh. Her parents did not choose to return home but continued to wander without a stable residence. No one could fathom what this couple thought inside. Will her New Year’s gift come true?

I believe our feelings are heaven’s best gift to us; how can we so easily give up?