The evening sky bathed the city of Xinjing in hues of golden orange. Behind the bustling market, lanterns began to flicker to life, dancing gently in the autumn breeze. The city never seemed to sleep—alive with motion, alive with sound. But for Lu Zhou, it all felt distant. Since morning, he had wandered through alleyways and winding streets, from narrow lanes to wide roads, but the one he searched for remained unseen.
Lu Tian.
His son. His flesh and blood. The only family he had left.
Since their argument the day before—an emotional explosion that could never be taken back—Lu Tian had vanished. He hadn't returned to the inn, hadn't left a trace. Only silence answered Lu Zhou's calls. Now, he could only rely on his weary steps, scouring the city of Xinjing, hoping for just a glimpse of his boy.
His footsteps halted when he noticed a small crowd gathering at the street corner. In the middle, a young boy ran forward, sobbing uncontrollably. His breath hitched as he reached an old man fixing a wooden cart.
"Father! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to drop it…" he cried.
The father turned with a furious expression, eyes blazing. "I told you not to touch that tool! You could've been hurt!"
The man's hand lashed out, striking the boy on the shoulder. The boy flinched, eyes wide—not in pain, but in shock. He stood frozen, head bowed, body trembling with tears.
But only for a moment.
The next second, the father knelt down, pulling the boy into a tight embrace—clutching him as if to mend the heart that had just broken. His voice trembled as he spoke, "I'm sorry… I was just scared. If anything happened to you… I couldn't bear it…"
The scene hit Lu Zhou like a storm.
Lu Tian…
He saw again his son's face, filled with anger and disappointment. He could still hear the echo of Lu Tian's voice from the night before.
"Why do you always think I'm wrong? Why won't you ever listen to me?!"
Lu Zhou remembered how he had shouted back, how his rage had taken over. Instead of understanding, he had inflicted hurt.
"Because you don't understand anything!" he had snapped. "Because I'm your father!"
And now, there was no one left to hold. No voice left to answer. Only regret gnawed at his heart, relentless and cold.
He stood motionless as the world moved on. A father and his son embraced under the Xinjing twilight, while another father held back tears—too proud to fall, too heavy to keep.
"If only I had embraced him first…" Lu Zhou thought. "If only I hadn't let anger win…"
He kept walking, passing faces he didn't know, praying that one of them would be the child he longed to find. He asked the vendors, the innkeepers, the gate guards. None had seen Lu Tian.
But he didn't give up.
Because beyond the silence and distance, there was one thing that never faded from a father's heart: love.
Lu Zhou paused beneath a maple tree as its leaves drifted gently to the ground, then looked up at the darkening sky. His hand clenched, and his voice trembled within.
"Tian… wherever you are, wait for me. I will find you. And when that time comes, I'll say the words I never told you before… that I love you—more than anything in this world."
The twilight passed, but Lu Zhou's steps did not stop.
Because a father's love… is a journey without end.