In the surveillance footage, sanitation trucks came to collect garbage three times a day, the last time at 5 PM. At that time, there weren't many people around the nearby stalls and shops, and not much garbage either. Only two vendors had thrown some broken foam boxes used for frozen meat into the bin. From then until Fang's second brother appeared in the footage, although people had passed by the bin one after another, no one had thrown any garbage into it, and there were no suspects.
It was as if Fang Zichen had appeared in the garbage bin out of thin air.
The police couldn't find out, so the child remained at the station. But Fang's second brother made a fuss, crying and saying he wanted to find the child. He was the one who picked the child up; he was his brother.
Fang's father and mother were busy with work and didn't have time to take care of another child. Although Fang's eldest brother and second brother were mostly left to the nanny, to build a bond with their children, the couple still tried to make time to spend two hours with them every evening, playing games together. Now that the elder two were finally raised, they could not find the will to take on another.
Then Fang's second brother went on a hunger strike. He refused to go to school, saying without his brother, he had nothing to live for, couldn't even drink water, was going to die, and told his mother to buy a game console to be buried with him.
His mother tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't eat. His father beat him, but he still wouldn't eat.
Left with no choice, they had to use some connections to bring the child home.
Perhaps because they were nearing forty, they yearned for children more and had more patience. The child had stayed at the police station for three days. After bringing him home, Fang's mother found him more and more adorable the more she looked at him. She wouldn't even let the nanny hold him, nor did she let Fang's second brother touch him. She even took him into her room to sleep at night.
When he was a full month old, Fang's father named him Fang Zichen.
Morning sun and evening glow, the new sun rising at dawn. Fang's father hoped he would be vigorous, sunny, positive, optimistic, and cheerful.
[Zi (子): child, son; Chen (晨): morning, dawn]
Fang Zichen was well-protected by his family. Before the age of three, he either played within the villa area or went to the military compound. Everyone outside knew that the eldest son of the Fang family had adopted a child. The child was deeply cherished, given anything he desired. Every member of the family, old and young, guarded him closely. Yet, what the child actually looked like remained unknown to all.
It wasn't until Fang Zichen was three years old that he made his first public appearance.
It was for Grandma Fang's 66th birthday. Not a major milestone, the family had originally planned a small celebration, but too many guests came, so they ended up booking a restaurant.
Fang's father and mother were busy receiving guests, so they told Fang's eldest brother and second brother to look after Fang Zichen.
No introduction was necessary. Anyone could see at a glance that the one being shielded in the arms of the two young masters of the Fang family, being held and comforted, the one who enjoyed such a singular honor could only be the legendary adopted son of the Fang family.
Fang Zichen was dressed in a three-piece suit, a bow tie at his collar, and a pair of shiny little leather shoes on his feet. He was fair-skinned with red lips, clean and neat, like a mixed-race doll, with extremely delicate features. He was being held in the arms of the eldest Fang brother. Seeing a brooch pinned to his eldest brother's chest, he said it looked nice, originally just wanting to compliment it. However, the eldest brother, thinking he liked it, immediately took it off and gave it to him to play with.
Fang Zichen ate a lot and couldn't sit still. Having run around outside all afternoon, the eldest Fang brother, worried he might be hungry, had him sit on a small sofa and said he would go fetch some cake and a drink for him.
The restaurant had surveillance everywhere, and the attendees were all people from the circles of parents, uncles, and grandfathers. The eldest Fang brother wasn't afraid of him getting lost.
The second Fang brother had gone off to play. Fang Zichen, feeling bored alone, began to play with the brooch in his hand. It had a small diamond that sparkled under the lights. Fang Zichen tried to pry it off, but finding he couldn't, and unable to bite it off either, he started stepping on it with his foot.
He didn't think anything of this behavior. He himself had nine similar small diamonds, all bigger than this one. His second brother had once told him that these shiny, sparkling things were just glass beads, not anything valuable, and that he could play with them however he liked.
A few ladies sitting opposite him frowned at his actions.
"Is that the Fang family's adopted son?"
"Should be. I just saw the eldest Fang young master holding him earlier!"
"He looks quite adorable, no wonder the whole family dotes on him."
"Stepping on a brooch worth over three million, the Fang family certainly is extravagant!"
"Who knows what Director Fang and Director Wei were thinking, already having two children and still adopting another, and a boy at that. Aren't they afraid he'll fight for the inheritance later?"
Someone looked around and, seeing no one paying attention nearby, said, "I heard the second Fang young master picked him out of a trash bin."
"Really?"
"That's what people in the circle say. I don't know if it's true or not."
"I thought he was formally adopted from an orphanage. If he was picked from a trash bin, did they take the child for a check-up? He doesn't have some defect or illness, does he?"
"Probably not. He looks fine, doesn't he?"
"You don't understand. Things are messy these days. Those men and women are very promiscuous. Didn't you hear about the Qin family the other day? Their daughter, still a junior in university and quite a party-goer, always hanging out in nightclubs, got pregnant before marriage, and the child contracted HIV. Look at this child's pale skin. They say he's already three, but he's so short. I'd say there's an eighty percent chance something's wrong."
"I also think he must have some problem. Otherwise, why would his birth parents throw him in a place like that?"
"Why raise a child like that? If they really wanted to adopt, why not get one from an orphanage? A child picked from a trash bin, that's unclean."
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