Chapter 6

If I had known this day would come, I would have rather lived with cockroaches in the sewers of the farmers market.

Years ago, Luke's father was exposed by the media for his evil deeds — behind the facade of a children's philanthropist was a perverted pedophile.

With multiple pieces of irrefutable evidence presented, Luke's father was sent to prison, where he soon committed suicide, unable to bear the shame.

The Wilson family's assets were frozen for investigation, and the company, deeply affected by public opinion, never recovered.

Luke's mother followed in his father's footsteps not long after, screaming her innocence until her dying breath.

But no one believed her.

Overnight, their world turned upside down.

That year, Luke was twelve years old.

Relatives stayed far away from the Wilson family, and no one wanted to take in Luke, seeing him as a burden.

So, just starting middle school, he used the little cash left in the family to rent a small house outside and lived alone for years.

To save money, he would always go to the nearby farmers market at dusk to buy cheap, leftover vegetables that others had passed over.

Until he met a little girl stealing buns.

The bakery owner was chasing her with a rolling pin, determined to teach the little girl a lesson.

Luke originally wanted to quickly pay for his items and leave, but he heard the vegetable vendor complaining:

"It's that unwanted little beggar again."

"I wonder what her parents are thinking."

Luke was stunned.

He thought, wasn't he also an unwanted child?

He stopped the bakery owner and paid for the buns.

When he found the little girl in the sewers of the farmers market, she was feeding the stolen buns to a newborn puppy.

But the puppy couldn't eat what the little girl saw as a delicacy, only whimpering weakly.

"Newborn puppies need milk."

The little girl looked at Luke in terror, immediately becoming defensive.

Luke just walked up, handed the buns he had just bought to the little girl, and patted her head.

"Come on, let's go home with big brother."

"I'll make sure you have buns to eat every day from now on."

And so, under the puzzled gazes of onlookers, he took away a little beggar girl and a female puppy.

In the rented room, Luke used a warm towel to clean the little girl's body.

"Big brother doesn't have a family anymore. Will you be big brother's family?"

The little girl didn't have a family either. She didn't understand what family meant, she only knew that the brother in front of her wasn't a bad person.

That day, Luke named the little girl Lily.

Hoping she would grow up safe and sound, year after year.