In the fourth year after Ran Zhihan left home, she unexpectedly got into a car accident, which caused multiple blood clots in her brain, leading to temporary blindness.

After thinking it over for an entire night, Zhang Zhentian finally understood. Since his wife’s heart was no longer with him, no matter how hard he tried to keep her, it was meaningless. Why force someone who doesn’t love him to stay by his side, causing them both unbearable pain? Instead of making two people suffer because of his own mistakes, it was better to completely let go of her, let her live the life she wants, and perhaps she could live freely and happily, never feeling sad because of anyone. He could finally find relief as well.

After figuring it out, Zhang Zhentian called his son. He thought he should tell his son this news first, and he understood that if he called his wife now, she wouldn’t pick up, so why bother embarrassing himself?

Zhang Yichen was in a meeting. When he saw his father calling, he hesitated whether to pick up during the meeting or not. Eventually, he chose to step out temporarily to take the call.

"Sorry everyone, something urgent came up. I need to make a call; please continue with the meeting!"

Zhang Yichen turned around, went into his office, answered the call, and said to Zhang Zhentian, "What made you think of calling me today? What’s the matter? If there’s something, just say it now. I’m still in a meeting. I thought it would be rude not to take your call, so I came out just to answer. Get to the point, so we don’t waste each other’s time, okay?"

"Yichen, when are you free? Let’s meet up!"

"Alright, after the meeting, at the café downstairs from the company?"

"Okay, I’ll wait for you!"

Thus, the father and son cheerfully arranged to meet in the afternoon! 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

After the meeting...

"Can you tell me what’s going on now?" Zhang Yichen asked as soon as he saw Zhang Zhentian. He felt there was nothing more to say to his father. He had begged him so many times to come back, yet he refused. What’s the point of meeting now?

"Yichen, here’s the thing. After a whole night of thinking, I’ve realized I shouldn’t selfishly keep your mother by my side. She wouldn’t be happy. Instead of having her live in pain by my side, it’s better to let her go. Let her be happy and live well outside. Her smile is what’s most important to me. I shouldn’t selfishly erase her right to smile. But I also clearly understand that losing her would make me miserable. I was always too selfish in the past, always doing things that she couldn’t forgive. Now I know I’m wrong, but time has passed, and no one will pay for my mistakes. I understand that I must take responsibility for what I’ve done wrong. So, I have no other choice but to meet with you to let you know. Please tell your mother that I’ve completely understood. From now on, I won’t bother her anymore. She can live the life she wants peacefully. As for whether she’s happy inside, I won’t know. But I do know that I won’t be happy for the rest of my life. I just hope that she can live happily for the rest of her days. That’s enough for me. Please tell her that I’m sorry, that I’m the one who did those unforgivable things, that I failed to consider her feelings and insisted on divorcing her."

"Since you know you’ve done so much wrong, why didn’t you figure this out sooner and let go of my mother’s hand sooner? As a child, I’ve always wanted my mom and dad to separate because, for me, they aren’t happy together. But later, I saw my mother crying and in pain because of your entanglement. I realized my mother was really heartbroken—not because of what I did, but because of you, her husband, who refused to trust her. Trust is the most important thing between a couple, isn’t it? I truly don’t understand when the trust between you and my mom disappeared. Why choose not to believe in my mom but in others? How can she trust you to continue living with you? Everything you did, you never considered the outcome it would bring. So why expect good outcomes to grace you? At the start, whether you were happy or not, I didn’t know. But my mom was always gloomy. No matter how I tried to cheer her up, she remained expressionless. Her smile disappeared the moment you abandoned her; you took away her right to smile. But she still forces a smile, believing that if she faces life with a smile, life will smile back at her. That’s my mom. But I don’t want to see her struggling like that anymore. So I tell you this, not for you to continue pestering my mom, but to let you know that letting go is the right choice. Your release will bring my mom immense happiness. The pain she felt from your entanglement is something you could never understand, watching her husband abandon her and then come back to apologize. It’s like a child getting slapped by an adult, then given a candy by the same adult. Who would feel good about that? You never thought about how things should be handled, did you? Just like my mom said, you act rashly. Doing whatever you think is right may feel good, but does it really lead to the right decisions every time?"

"I know I’ve wronged your mother, but after so long, why won’t she forgive me? I know I made her sad back then, but I’ve apologized. I really don’t understand what she wants me to do to come back to me?" Zhang Zhentian spoke to Zhang Yichen in dissatisfaction.

When he opened his eyes and realized he could no longer see light, he knew leaving home was a mistake.