In the mediation room of the He'an District Police Station, Mao Feixue had already grasped the current situation.
"Can I ask something? If you both care so much about Yuntong, why did she come to the police station alone two months ago looking for her dad? And Zhong Jin, why didn't you recognize Yuntong at all before? Ms. Qiu, where were you during the time your child was wandering alone outside?"
Qiu Sheng didn't know how to answer and glanced at Zhong Jin.
Zhong Jin waved his hand dismissively, "I refuse to answer that question."
Mao Feixue, "..." Her face was filled with the helplessness of "If you're going to be this uncooperative, there's nothing I can do."
This was Qiu Sheng's first time in a mediation room, and she was secretly surprised. So, you could actually be this bold when being questioned by the police? She had always been a law-abiding citizen and thought you had to answer every question the police asked.
Mao Feixue remained silent for a while, then changed her mediation strategy.
"Alright, since we're not talking about the past, let's discuss the future. Don't treat this as a police interrogation; think of it as a casual conversation. I'm a few years older than you and also a mother. From my experience, I can tell you that when parents don't get along, the child is the one who suffers the most."
Perhaps realizing this, both Zhong Jin and Qiu Sheng's expressions turned grim.
Just as Mao Feixue was about to continue, a round head peeked into the interrogation room from outside, wearing a gossipy expression. "Did they start fighting yet?"
Mao Feixue, "..." She stood up, walked over, and pushed the door shut, locking it.
"In any case, even if your actions today didn't have any direct impact on the child, they were still inappropriate. Ms. Qiu, can you explain why you took the child away without consulting anyone?"
Qiu Sheng raised her head, her gaze clear. "I had some business to attend to in Jing City and wanted to take Yuntong with me for a short trip. I was only planning to be gone for two or three days. Sister, I wasn't trying to kidnap her. I'm her mother too. Isn't it reasonable for me to take my child on a short trip?"
"Why didn't you discuss this with Zhong Jin beforehand?"
"I know him too well. If I had brought it up, he would never have agreed."
Mao Feixue, "Is there really no way for a couple to communicate? Besides, it's perfectly normal for a mother to take her child on a short trip. Zhong Jin isn't unreasonable; if you had talked it through properly, he would have agreed. Right, Zhong Jin?"
Zhong Jin, with his arms crossed and leaning back in his chair, replied expressionlessly, "I would never agree. Yuntong can't leave my side."
Mao Feixue, "..."
Silence.
Mao Feixue suddenly stood up. "You two can talk this out yourselves."
She walked out of the mediation room in her high heels, reaching her office door and about to open it when she suddenly thought of something. She glanced toward the lobby and, as expected, saw that most people had already left.
Mao Feixue turned and walked into Gu Le's office. As she had guessed, a group of people were crowded around the surveillance screen, eagerly watching the drama unfold in the mediation room.
The unlucky child of the station chief was sitting right in the middle of the table, legs crossed, chin propped up on her hands, grinning happily.
This kid really had a carefree attitude.
Mao Feixue knocked on the door. "Gu Le, turn off the surveillance for Mediation Room One."
The office erupted in groans, but Mao Feixue was firm. "Doesn't everyone have their own issues? Don't you all have your own privacy? If it were you, would you want your colleagues gossiping like this? Turn off the surveillance."
Gu Le turned off the monitor, and Mao Feixue pointed at the group. "Get back to work. I don't mind if you gossip about strangers, but when it comes to your own colleagues, it affects team morale."
Seeing that the entertainment was over, the little kid turned around, kicked her short legs a few times, and grunted as she prepared to climb down from the table.
Gu Le picked her up and set her on the ground, bending down to pinch her cheek. "Yuntong, your parents are fighting. Why don't you come live with me from now on?"
The kid grabbed Gu Le's ear, leaned in, and shouted, "Dream on!"
The shout left Gu Le's ears ringing. The little rascal hopped onto her scooter, her chunky shoes giving a quick push as she smoothly glided out of the office. At the corner of the hallway, she executed a perfect drift and zoomed into the lively Mediation Room Two.
Inside the mediation room, Zhong Jin stood up from his seat. "Let's talk outside. There are cameras here."
"Alright," Qiu Sheng also stood up.
"Wait for me in the car," Zhong Jin said to Qiu Sheng.
He walked into Mediation Room Two, where the little girl was standing on her tiptoes, stretching her neck, completely engrossed in the drama. Zhong Jin scooped her up, tucked her under his arm, and carried her out of the police station.
Zhong Jin drove to a nearby beach.
By now, the sun wasn't as harsh, and the beach was filled with people, many of them parents playing with their children.
A vendor had set up a small area on the sand, marked off with little flags, and buried some toys in the sand, enticing kids to come play a treasure hunt.
Yuntong, as if equipped with some kind of game radar, spotted the treasure hunt area immediately, despite being so small and the area being inconspicuous to Zhong Jin and Qiu Sheng.
"I want to play that."
Zhong Jin bent down, took off her shoes and socks, and let her walk barefoot on the sand. He paid the 10 yuan for the game and watched as Yuntong, armed with a small bucket and shovel, began her treasure hunt. Only then did he return to Qiu Sheng.
The vendor had placed some small stools nearby, and Zhong Jin and Qiu Sheng sat on them, watching their child play.
The stools were too low, and Zhong Jin's legs were too long. No matter how he positioned them, they didn't fit comfortably. Eventually, he had to sit like a mantis, knees spread apart, feet tucked in front, folding his legs awkwardly to make them fit.
Qiu Sheng glanced at him, stifling a laugh, and turned her head away, pursing her lips.
Yuntong, having just dug up a bird, held it up and shouted, "I found it!" But then she paused, took a closer look at the bird in her hand, and exclaimed, "Ugh, it's so ugly!" before tossing it far away.
Both Qiu Sheng and Zhong Jin burst out laughing, but when their eyes met, the smiles faded from their faces.
After a moment of silence, Zhong Jin spoke. "I'm planning to take a leave of absence and take Yuntong back to Jing City."
Qiu Sheng looked at him in surprise.
Being a police officer had been Zhong Jin's dream since he was a child. Back then, he hadn't wanted to take over the family business. His father had even arranged for him to study business management at university, but Zhong Jin had changed his application back to his original choice, firmly deciding to attend the police academy.
Because of this, his father hadn't spoken to him much for a year or two.
Over the years, Qiu Sheng had grown accustomed to seeing Zhong Jin in his police uniform, always ready for duty. She couldn't imagine what he would be like if he stopped working.
"You don't have to go that far," Qiu Sheng said.
"Taking Yuntong back to Jing City isn't as big a deal as you think. I just had some things I needed to take care of there, and I didn't want to be apart from her so soon after reuniting. I was only planning to be gone for three days at most. Yuntong's kindergarten starts on Friday, and I'll definitely be back before then."
"You've already enrolled her in kindergarten?"
"Yes," Qiu Sheng replied matter-of-factly, glancing at him. "We agreed this morning that I would take her to register."
Zhong Jin scratched the hair on his forehead, saying nothing.
Although he was furious that Qiu Sheng had taken Yuntong without a word, he hadn't expected her to have already enrolled the child in kindergarten.
He had thought Qiu Sheng was planning to take Yuntong back to Jing City and never return.
"Of course, leaving Yuntong in Haishan to be raised doesn't mean I'm giving up on fighting for custody. I'll be moving to Haishan temporarily to live with my child."
Qiu Sheng looked at Zhong Jin and continued.
"I know you've grown attached to the child during the time you've been raising her, but my feelings for her are no less than yours. She’s the child who has appeared in my dreams countless times over the past decade. You’ve only appeared sporadically a few times, but she’s been in every single one of my dreams. It’s a kind of longing etched into my soul, a feeling you might not understand. It’s the kind of longing that makes me not want to wake up from the dream, and when I do, my heart aches."
Zhong Jin’s gaze never left the child. When he saw her throw the shovel aside, kneel on the ground, and start digging frantically in the sand with her hands, he immediately called out to stop her.
"Zhong Yuntong, no! Your hands will hurt."
He kept watching until the child stopped digging with her hands and picked up the shovel again. Only then did he turn to Qiu Sheng and say, "I understand."
His heart had ached too, during the typhoon.
Qiu Sheng brushed aside the hair that the sea breeze had blown into her face. "Zhong Jin, let’s set a one-year period. We’ll raise the child together for this year, and after that, we’ll let her choose again. No matter who she chooses, the other will step aside gracefully, okay?"
Zhong Jin remained silent, not agreeing.
Qiu Sheng continued, "Stepping aside gracefully doesn’t mean never seeing the child again. It just means accepting a supporting role, finding another way to be there for her."
Zhong Jin knew that Qiu Sheng’s proposal was probably the best solution at the moment, but he couldn’t bring himself to accept it. If Yuntong chose Qiu Sheng in the end, he didn’t know what he would do.
Zhong Jin let out an almost imperceptible sigh. He thought to himself, *How can it be this hard when we’ve only known each other for two months?*
Then it occurred to him—they’d actually known each other for two lifetimes.
The chubby little girl, tired from playing, came running toward them barefoot, carrying a bucket full of her "treasures." "Look how amazing I am!"
She squatted down and started pulling out the items one by one from the bucket to show her parents. "This is a crab, this is a shrimp, this is a little panda..."
The stall owner, sitting in a fishing chair, called out, "Hey, kid, you can’t take the toys you dig up with you!"
Zhong Jin bent down and picked up the poorly made toys, putting them back into the bucket. "Take these back to the uncle. He told you before you started playing that you couldn’t keep the toys."
"No!" The child started being unreasonable, pressing her chubby belly against the bucket. "You can just pay him."
Having been spoiled by her wealthy father, the child had developed a mindset that money could solve anything. If it couldn’t, then just throw more money at the problem.
"Zhong Yuntong, do you want a spanking?" Zhong Jin raised his hand and gently tapped her bottom.
The child immediately turned to her mother to tattle. "He hit me!"
Qiu Sheng didn’t indulge her either. "If you don’t behave, you get punished."
Realizing her parents were serious, the little troublemaker backed down. Sniffling, she got up, picked up the bucket, and wobbled back through the sand to return it to the stall owner. She politely thanked him, "Thank you, uncle. Here are your toys. Goodbye."
Then she came back, sniffling and looking pitiful. "I gave them back."
Zhong Jin patted her head and patiently explained, "If you want any toys, we’ll buy them for you. But when someone tells you the rules beforehand and you agree to them, you have to follow them, understand?"
The child bumped her head against her father’s arm repeatedly. "I want to buy a bomb and blow up the school."
"You can’t buy that. Where did you learn such nonsense? You’re not allowed to play with Hu De anymore."
Zhong Jin scooped the child up into his arms and started walking back.
As they left the beach, Zhong Jin turned to Qiu Sheng and said, "Take Yuntong back to Jing City tomorrow."
Qiu Sheng, carrying the child’s shoes and socks, followed behind, looking skeptical. "Really? You’re okay with me taking Yuntong alone?"
Zhong Jin adjusted the chubby child in his arms. "I need to go back too."
