It's gonna be okay

His blood ran cold and he could feel his heart stop. He knelt down and checked for any pulse or breathing. There was none.

He was at a loss on what to do.

"Daddy!"

His head whipped to the sound of his daughter's cry, and he rushed back to the living room only to find Xu Changying caught by a man, with another one training a gun to her head. Xu Feng suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe.

The little girl started crying, and there were large drops of tears rolling down her cheeks as she cried out "daddy" several more times. It was apparent in her eyes that she was scared, just like he was.

"Sunshine, it's gonna be okay."

That statement -- "It's gonna be okay" -- was one of the biggest lies created on Earth, to cover up the fact that things were at the termination and life wasn't going to go back to the way it was before. People said it to reassure others, to give them a sense of hope, even if there wasn't any.

That day, Xu Feng said it with so much fervor, not just to reassure his daughter, but also to convince himself that things were really going to be fine.

"Well, if it isn't Juyan's boss." The man holding a gun took out his mask and smiled at him eerily. It was Yang Peizhi, the son of the CEO of Yang Enterprises. Juyan was hired by the government to spy on the illegal trade they were doing in the guise of their company. His father killed himself to avoid being imprisoned, and the Yang Enterprises had to declare bankruptcy. "How does it feel like to be helpless?"

Xu Feng gritted his teeth as he held up his gun in surrender. "Yang Peizhi, you've already hurt my wife. Just let my daughter go. She's just five. She doesn't know anything about this."

"You should've thought about your family before you destroyed mine." His words were laced with hatred, and he spat on Xu Feng's face in disgust. "Now watch me destroy yours."

There was no time to think when Xu Feng saw him aim at his daughter, and he tried to leap towards the path of a bullet in an attempt to defy the laws of gravity. But a bullet was still a bullet, and Xu Feng was just human.

Bang!

His body landed in a loud thud on the floor, and he grimaced as he heard his ribs crack under his weight. He didn't have time to dwell on it and rolled to the direction of Xu Changying, whose head was now lulling to one side, held up only by Yang Peizhi's henchman. He let her go and her body fell slumped on the floor.

He cried out in agony as he crawled to his lifeless daughter, who inherited his spunk and grit, and her mother's beauty and sweetness. Juyan may have been built by his own hands, but it was not his life's greatest work; it was his little Changying.

Yang Peizhi said some things that he couldn't quite make out, but Xu Feng was too busy picking up his daughter's body and holding it against him, unconcerned with the blood staining his clothes. This was his little girl. This was his and his wife's flesh and blood.

He rocked her gently, humming the lullaby he used to make her fall asleep. Only this time, she was going to sleep forever.

He didn't realize when Yang Peizhi and his henchman had left, allowing him to savor his despair.

A week after that, Yang Peizhi was caught by the police and tried for two accounts of murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but he smiled at Xu Feng before he was taken away.

Big Boss shook away the memory and stood up to leave Mo Yiling's office. Once upon a time, he too, had everything, until it was all taken away. Juyan was all that he had after that.

He sighed, refusing to think about what he should do with Ying Yue for the time being. He'll just let nature take its course for now.