He Teng's mother cried until she was utterly exhausted. Her greatest regret was, how could she have personally hurt her own daughter? How could she have given up so easily back then?
What she thought was despair—endlessly searching, only to receive no response as if throwing a stone into the sea—she now realized wasn't despair at all.
Their daughter had still been waiting for them to find her. Yet they... why had they given up because of despair?
"Mrs. Gu, from the day you gave up looking for Gu Zhilan, it meant you had forever lost your daughter. From the day you abandoned me, Gu Zhilan disappeared from this world, leaving only me, He Zhilan. So, from now on, there will still be no Gu Zhilan in this world. Don't bother looking for me. I am not her. I won't forgive you. I will continue to hate—hate the both of you."
With that, He Zhilan hung up the phone. Gu's mother didn't have time to respond before the thread connecting her to He Zhilan was abruptly severed.
