Gu Zhilan walked up to Wanting. They stood face to face, less than an arm's length apart. Wanting was half a head taller, but Gu Zhilan tilted her chin up and looked at her from top to bottom.

"You... turn around and let me see. Behind your left ear..."

Wanting froze on the spot, as if pinned in place. Then she slowly turned around and lifted the hair behind her ear. Behind her left ear, a small red mole. Niannian had been born with it. Gu Zhilan saw it every day when she bathed her. She had searched for that mole for twenty-four years, looking behind the ears of every girl who passed her by, on every photo on every missing person's notice, in her dreams. Now it was right here before her.

Gu Zhilan covered her mouth with both hands and sank to her knees, crouching on the floor as her shoulders shook violently, making a sound that had been held back for far too long.

Wanting crouched down to look at her. This woman was trembling so hard from crying that no one in the entire evaluation hall made a sound. She cried until even the security guard at the door turned his face away. No one had ever cried for Wanting like this in all her years of growing up. No one had cried when human traffickers stuffed her with sleeping pills. No one had cried when she huddled shivering in Stone Bridge Village. No one had cried when Lu Yichen drove her from their home. She had believed that no one in this world would shed a single tear for her. But this woman before her was crying her heart out.

She reached out and touched Gu Zhilan's shoulder, gently, like touching something that could break easily. Gu Zhilan grabbed her hand.

"Niannian."

Her voice could barely produce sound, each word forced out one at a time.

"I'm your mother. Do you still remember? The osmanthus tree in the courtyard, your cloth rabbit toy, how you would only go to sleep if I read you two stories every night..."

Wanting's tears finally fell. She couldn't remember those specific things. But she remembered the osmanthus fragrance. Throughout her whole life, whenever she caught that scent she couldn't walk another step, always feeling that something incredibly important was hidden within that smell.

Gu Zhilan lifted her head, eyes blurred with tears, and reached out to touch Wanting's face. This time her fingers didn't pull back.

"Like, exactly like your father. The eyes, the nose, the way you smile."

She pulled Wanting into her embrace. The hug was tight, as if trying to return all the hugs owed over twenty-four years in one go. Wanting's chin rested on Gu Zhilan's shoulder, and she caught the scent in her hair—not osmanthus, just the most ordinary laundry detergent. But she thought it was the best smell she had ever encountered in her life.

"Niannian."

"Mom."

She finally uttered this word, her voice breaking into pieces.

"Mom, I'm home."

Gu Zhilan held her, shaking from sobs. In the hall, someone took off their glasses to wipe away tears. An elderly expert on the evaluation panel turned away, shoulders heaving. The security guard at the door reddened his eyes and looked elsewhere.

Shen Zhengye stood rooted to the spot, watching mother and daughter embrace. This man who had never backed down in business negotiations had tears streaming down his flowery-white beard in rivulets. He walked over and extended trembling hands, pulling both Wanting and his wife into his arms.

"Niannian, it really is you."

Wanting was sandwiched between the two elderly people. Gu Zhilan's hair brushed against her left cheek; Shen Zhengye's palm rested on the back of her head, clumsy and careful, as if afraid to hurt her. She had never been held like this before. Li Dashan and Wang Cuihua had never held her. Not that they weren't used to it—they simply didn't want to. In their eyes she was just hired labor, something to do the work, why need holding? Now she knew what it felt like to be held tightly. It was so warm, warm enough to make a person want to cry.

"Niannian, I'm sorry. Dad searched for you twenty-four years, never a single day without searching. But I didn't do enough. I let you suffer so much out there."

"Dad."

Wanting called out this single word. Just this one word. But the moment it left her lips, Shen Zhengye's tears fell again. He never retreated in business negotiations, never hung his head even when the hardest research days demanded he sell everything he had. But at this moment he knelt before his daughter, letting twenty-four years of accumulated guilt,心疼, joy, and anxiety all pour out at once.