Madam, Please Behave

Feng Qian silenced the ringing phone.

He felt like he had just closed his eyes for ten minutes when the call came through. Too exhausted to care, he opted to hang up. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.

After an entire sleepless night spent working alongside his staff, only he remained at the office once everyone else had reached their limit. Fortunately, he had just finished the campaign plan moments ago.

The company was severely understaffed lately, forcing Feng Qian, the boss, to take on the work himself. Years of late nights had left him with lingering health issues, making his back and neck ache during the quiet hours of the night.

He didn’t know how much longer he could keep going. But whenever the fatigue became overwhelming, he would open his phone’s standby screen and gaze at the adorable face of his daughter.

Feng Shuyan—the most precious child in the world, as far as he was concerned.

Feng Qian’s wife had passed away due to illness.

Theirs had been a love story spanning decades: from high school sweethearts to college companions, they had stayed together in the same city after graduation.

From sharing a cramped 20-square-meter apartment in their early days to building a modestly successful life together, Feng Qian considered meeting his late wife the luckiest thing in his life.

She had endured so much for him. Whenever he was about to give up, she would comfort and encourage him. Even when she was tired from work herself, she would drag her weary body out of bed to cook him a bowl of egg noodles when he came home late.

Their life began to improve after their daughter was born and his business started to thrive.

But when Feng Shuyan turned three, their world collapsed. His wife was diagnosed with a tumor.

The diagnosis shattered him. At that moment, Feng Qian felt like his entire world was falling apart. Everything he had ever wanted—sharing a life with his wife, watching their daughter grow up, seeing her succeed in her studies, fall in love, marry, and have children—was slipping away.

When the tumor was discovered, it was already malignant. Feng Qian took his wife to every hospital he could find, selling off everything they owned to pay for her treatment. Watching their years of hard work disappear didn’t faze him—he only wanted to keep their family whole.

He could never forget the day his wife, her hair lost to chemotherapy, lay weakly in her hospital bed and said:

“Stop… take care of Shuyan and live well.”

When she was buried, Feng Qian felt like his heart had died too.

For a long time, he let everything fall apart. He even considered joining her in death.

During that time, he often sat in the corner, clutching her photo, lost in thought.

But just when he thought he was ready to follow her…

“Daddy, don’t be afraid…”

Feng Shuyan’s childish voice pulled him out of the darkness.

He saw his daughter, her hair unkempt, her face pale, her thin frame trembling, yet still reaching out to hold him.

At that moment, she was just like her mother—offering him strength when he was at his lowest.

His daughter brought him light.

A blinding light in the darkness.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

The shrill ringtone blared again, breaking through Feng Qian’s thoughts.

Barely holding back his frustration, he answered the phone despite his exhaustion.

“Hello?! Who is this? What do you want?!”

“……”

But the other end of the line was silent.

After a pause, the voice on the phone spoke coldly.

“Your daughter is with me. If you want her back, meet me at 6:30 tonight at XX Small Restaurant. We need to talk.”

The line went dead, replaced by the sound of a busy signal.

Feng Qian stood frozen.

The fatigue that had gripped him moments earlier vanished completely.

Liu Changqing personally went to pick up the kids from school.

As he often noted, his job at the bookstore was so leisurely it felt almost like charity work. The low salary was offset by the complete lack of effort required—most days involved sitting at the counter and watching TV. If not for his novel-writing sideline, the boredom might have been unbearable.

Earlier that day, after dropping the kids off at school and heading to the store, he discovered another round of generous rewards from his mysterious benefactor.

Though the individual donations of several hundred yuan weren’t as dramatic as the initial 100,000 yuan, the cumulative amount was nothing to scoff at.

Liu Changqing decided it was worth fostering a good relationship with this "client."

He sent a message through the novel platform, leaving his personal QQ number and expressing a willingness to connect further. His intentions were clear—he wanted to curry favor.

If not for my kids, who would willingly grovel like this?

So far, there had been no response from the benefactor.

When it was nearly time for his daughter to get out of school, Liu Changqing called it a day and left the store early.

Arriving at the school gate, he spotted the two children chatting and laughing.

Mostly, it was his daughter laughing.

Feng Shuyan, in contrast, exuded her usual lack of energy—a trait Liu Changqing had come to recognize during their short time together. She seemed mature beyond her years, overly so for a child her age.

“Chubby uncle!”

Feng Shuyan spotted him first, waving as Liu Xiazhi quickly suppressed her smile, deliberately adopting a more serious expression.

Reaching the kids, Liu Changqing flicked Feng Shuyan lightly on the forehead, a small reprimand for calling him "chubby."

“Do you have to tease me like that on purpose?” he grumbled.

Turning to his daughter, he asked, “Have you been waiting long?”

“You’re too slow!”

Feigning irritation, Liu Xiazhi’s tone carried a hint of mock scolding.

Though she still pretended to dislike him, Liu Changqing felt that their relationship was steadily improving. Compared to her initial refusal to say even a single word to him, her current attitude was a significant step forward.

It felt like the dawn of a better life where father and daughter could close the gap between them.

As they walked, they passed the usual assortment of vendors selling snacks and stationery near the school gate. Unsurprisingly, the snack stalls outnumbered the rest.

Suddenly, Liu Changqing felt a tug on his pants.

Looking down, he saw that Feng Shuyan had stopped walking.

“Cotton candy!”

She pointed a small finger at a stall nearby.

Following her gaze, Liu Changqing frowned and immediately refused.

“That stuff is terrible for your teeth…”

“But it looks so yummy!”

On hearing this, Liu Xiazhi also noticed the cotton candy stand and lit up with excitement.

Girls were always drawn to pretty things.

Seeing his daughter’s enthusiasm, Liu Changqing let out a defeated sigh, pulling out his wallet and taking out some cash.

“What flavor do you want?” he asked.