Wan Yunting and Ouyang Zhixin stared at each other for a long moment, as if the air had frozen. Ouyang Zhixin's eyes were red, and the overwhelming emotions of excitement and joy welled up, filling his eyes. His body trembled uncontrollably with agitation.
Wan Yunting, however, did not display such overt excitement. His gaze was complex, his heart filled with a multitude of emotions, and he seemed to want to question why he had been abandoned in the service area restroom years ago.
Why.
“Zhixin, is Xiao Wan truly the son you lost?”
Ouyang Shenhe stood up excitedly, interrupting them. Gu Yuanbai couldn't help but rise to look at Wan Yunting and Ouyang Zhixin, completely taken by surprise by the turn of events. This was too sudden. After all, only their family knew that Wan Yunting had been adopted by Wan Tielin; outsiders were unaware.
Ouyang Zhixin took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his surging emotions. He pulled his gaze away from Wan Yunting and turned to his father, saying, “Just now, Zhi Shang and the others said they went to the Huadu City Children's Welfare Institute for verification. It’s basically confirmed, he is the child I lost.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful, truly wonderful…” Ouyang Shenhe became as animated as a child, his hands dancing. He couldn't help but reach out and excitedly grasp Wan Yunting, who stood stiffly in place. “Xiao Wan, I had this intuition the first time I saw you yesterday. I never expected you to be my lost grandson…”
Wan Yunting’s eyes were dazed as he watched Ouyang Shenhe shed tears of excitement. On the other side, Ouyang Zhixin also couldn't help but weep, his body trembling with emotion. Twenty-seven years.
When Wan Yunting regained his senses, his eyes also turned red. Yesterday, when he first met Ouyang Zhixin and Ouyang Shenhe, he had felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity and connection, a bond of blood…
“Dad, don’t get too worked up…” Seeing his elderly father’s agitation, Ouyang Zhixin quickly went to support him and said, “We need to do a paternity test to confirm.”
“Good, good, good.” Ouyang Shenhe nodded excitedly, looking at Wan Yunting with great joy. “No need for a paternity test, I can be sure Xiao Wan is my grandson. Haha, this is truly wonderful. I never thought this old body of mine would live to see my lost grandson return home. Heaven has eyes…”
Standing rooted to the spot, Wan Yunting took a deep breath, trying to calm his complex emotions. Gu Yuanbai approached him and asked, “Xiao Wan, were you adopted?”
Wan Yunting glanced at Ouyang Zhixin and nodded at Gu Yuanbai. Ouyang Zhixin could see the complicated emotions in his eyes, a thousand doubts and questions. He sighed and said, “Doctor Wan, whether you are truly my lost son or not, what happened back then was not that we intentionally abandoned our son in the service area restroom. It’s because we were being pursued…”
The scene rewinds to the night of October 13, 1994. On the highway from Shenzhen to Huadu City, an older model Mercedes-Benz sedan was speeding through the storm. In the back seat sat a young couple, Ouyang Zhixin, just twenty-six years old, with a handsome face filled with anxious urgency. He urged the bodyguard driving, “A Qing, faster…”
The young man driving was equally anxious. Especially the baby’s cries, which tightened the nerves of the three in the car. Sitting beside Ouyang Zhixin was a woman of stunning beauty named Xia Xiangyun, the daughter of the head of one of the five great families in Beijing. She held a son only a few months old in her arms. Due to the excessive speed, the child was frightened and cried incessantly. The woman’s expression was panicked as she continually soothed the child, “Yu’er, don’t cry…” Ouyang Zhixin, beside her, stared at his wife and son, his eyes wide with inner anxiety, constantly looking back at the cars behind them…
Two black sedans were in close pursuit. One car’s window was rolled down, and a head poked out, holding a handgun. He fired at Ouyang Zhixin’s vehicle ahead…
Bang!
The rear windshield was shattered by two bullets, causing Xia Xiangyun to cry out in alarm as she clutched her child. Ouyang Zhixin quickly cupped his wife’s head, pulling her body down as much as possible…
The bodyguard, A Qing, also startled, swerved the car slightly. He spotted a service area ahead and shouted, “Boss, there’s a service area ahead.”
“Quickly!” Ouyang Zhixin yelled loudly. The rear windshield was shattered, and the rain and wind howled in, but he used his upper body to shield his wife and son beneath the back seat. His son continued to cry incessantly, and Xia Xiangyun trembled all over from fright…
A Qing drove the car directly into the service area. However, it was late at night, and the service area was very basic. Besides a few large trucks, there were few people in the parking lot. The shops inside the service area were all closed, with only two employees on duty at the gas station.
A Qing stopped the car right at the entrance of the service area and shouted, “Boss, you get out first. I’ll hold them off.”
“Alright…” Ouyang Zhixin quickly opened the car door, took his son from his wife, and pulled her out of the car, running into the service area.
At the same time, the two cars behind had caught up. Six men in black trench coats got out, all holding guns, clearly professional killers.
Bang, bang…!
Several gunshots completely startled the people in the service area. The truck drivers who were squatting by the entrance smoking scattered in fright, rushing back to their vehicles… The two employees at the nearby gas station also heard the gunshots and saw the six men armed with guns. People in the vicinity immediately fled, and one of the gas station employees called the police.
A Qing turned the steering wheel and drove towards the six men, crashing into them. One of them couldn't dodge in time and was hit directly by the car, rolling onto the ground with a scream, unable to get up.
Bang, bang!
The car window was shot out, and bodyguard A Qing was shot in the head and died in the car. The sedan lost control and crashed into the guardrail… The remaining five killers immediately entered the service area, pursuing Ouyang Zhixin and the others…
“Zhixin, we can’t let our son get hurt.” Xia Xiangyun’s face turned pale with fright, her delicate body trembling uncontrollably. She said fearfully to Ouyang Zhixin.
Ouyang Zhixin’s eyes widened as he looked at his son in his arms and then at the restroom. He hardened his heart, carried his son into the restroom, opened the innermost stall, and placed his son on the ground. “Be good, Yu’er, Dad will be back to pick you up soon.”
The swaddled child waved his tiny hands, no longer crying. Ouyang Zhixin gritted his teeth, stood up, closed the door, and rushed out, grabbing his wife’s arm and leaving the service area through the back door.
“Where are they? Chase them…” Two killers entered and happened to see Ouyang Zhixin leaving with his wife. They immediately contacted the other killers to pursue them. However, the killers did not notice the child placed in the restroom because their target that night was Ouyang Zhixin.
Ouyang Zhixin grabbed his wife and ran out, spotting a small car about to drive off. He went up, pulled open the driver’s door, dragged the owner out, and told his wife to get in quickly. Ouyang Zhixin got into the car, closed the door, and floored the accelerator towards the highway entrance.
“Hey, my car…” The owner, who had been dragged out, shouted as he chased. However, seeing the five killers chasing behind, he was scared and crouched on the ground, trembling.
“Chase them…” The killers saw this, and two of them quickly got into cars. The five killers drove off, continuing their pursuit of Ouyang Zhixin.
When the car owner saw the five killers drive away, he stood up and ran to the gas station, shouting, “Call the police quickly…” The gas station employee, who had been hiding in a corner, poked his head out and nodded, shouting, “I’ve already called. Have they left?”
“They’re gone.” The car owner, both scared and angry, said, “I just bought that car, and they drove it away…”
Not long after, several police cars arrived. The car owner and the gas station employee explained the events of the past twenty minutes to the police. Soon, the traffic police at all subsequent highway exits were blockaded.
Half an hour later, a small sedan slowly entered the service area. The man who got out of the car quickly opened his umbrella and opened the rear door to help a woman out, saying, “The rain is really heavy…” This man and woman were Wan Tielin!
As he reached this point, Ouyang Zhixin sighed and said, “We drove, fleeing all the way, and finally at the toll booth ahead, we were stopped by police cars. When the killers behind saw the police cars, they also got out and ran over the highway guardrail.”
Wan Yunting, sitting with Gu Yuanbai, stared blankly at Ouyang Zhixin. His expression was pained as he continued, “When we returned to the service area to look for our child, we found that the child had disappeared. I asked everyone in the service area, but they all said they hadn’t seen anyone take our child…”
“Alas.” Ouyang Shenhe sighed as he spoke.
Wan Yunting, who now understood, was internally excited. If Ouyang Zhixin was indeed his father, then they had not intentionally abandoned him. Their actions back then were solely to protect their child’s safety.
“Later, we searched for a long time in Shenzhen and Huadu City, but we could never find any trace of our child. My wife cried tears every day, and I deeply regretted not choosing to leave our child in the service area restroom.” Ouyang Zhixin’s eyes reddened as he spoke, his tears shining… One could imagine the panic and subsequent despair the couple felt when they returned to the service area restroom and found their son gone.
Wan Yunting fell silent upon hearing this, unsure of what to say. When he learned that he had been adopted, Wan Yunting had found it difficult to understand why his birth parents would have abandoned him in a restroom. Consequently, Wan Yunting had isolated himself for over a month before finally coming to terms with it.
For a moment, everyone was silent, the atmosphere becoming somber. Ouyang Zhixin looked up at him and asked, “Doctor Wan, regardless, can you do a paternity test with me?”
Wan Yunting looked up. Ouyang Zhixin gazed at him with hopeful and excited eyes, as he had searched for twenty-seven years and now encountered someone who was most likely his son. Ouyang Zhixin could not let this opportunity pass.
“Yes.” Wan Yunting nodded. At this moment, his heart was also filled with anticipation and excitement. He no longer resisted as he had before, hoping that Ouyang Zhixin before him was his biological father.
“Good, good…” Seeing his agreement, Ouyang Zhixin and Ouyang Shenhe were thrilled. They quickly took out their phones and said, “I’ll have doctors come over to collect our blood samples for testing now…”