Holding the Parasol Tree

When I was seventeen, on a stormy night, I found a boy burning with fever inside a cardboard box.

I paid for his education, taught him how to be a decent person, and served as his "emergency contact" for thirteen years.

Everyone thought I wanted something from him.

Until he came back at twenty-four, dressed in a suit, slammed a stack of case files in front of his enemy, then turned to ask me just one thing:

"Sister Wu, this time, let me protect you for the rest of your life."