345: Let it all out

"Little one, where are you staying tonight?" Yan Xiaoli squatted in front of the little girl and asked.

"Dad hasn't said yet. Yesterday we slept in a basement. The day before yesterday we slept in a fast-food restaurant," the little girl answered with a cheerful smile, not sad at all.

As long as she could be with her dad, she didn't feel any hardship!

Upon hearing this, Yan Xiaoli's tears immediately gushed out.

Although she was an actress, she dreaded crying scenes the most, but at this moment, her tears simply wouldn't stop.

"Auntie, what's wrong?" The little girl reached out to wipe Yan Xiaoli's tears.

Her small hands were as warm as spring, and when they touched Yan Xiaoli's face, the wind and snow seemed to melt away.

This world didn't deserve those hands!

When Pan Han heard this answer, the softest part of his heart trembled slightly.

A vast plan slowly emerged in his mind.

Yan Xiaoli held the girl's hands, brought them to her mouth, and blew a warm breath on them.

"Little one, are you cold?"

"No, I just finished eating spicy hot pot, so I'm very warm," the little girl shook her head and said.

But Yan Xiaoli saw that her clothes were thin, and she was wearing single-layer cloth shoes, a summer style.

Pan Han noticed the weather was getting colder, and it wasn't suitable to talk here. So he looked around and saw a chain hotel not far away.

"I'm going to get a room." Pan Han didn't ask the man, nor did he invite him to go along.

If he did, the other party would most likely refuse.

"Hey, friend." The middle-aged man was about to stop Pan Han, but it was already too late.

In a flash, Pan Han had already run dozens of meters away.

Wang Doudou came to the man and said, "Hello, we mean no harm. It's just that the weather is too cold, so we're finding a warm place for you all to stay."

"Miss, thank you for your kindness. That gentleman just now already paid. You've gone to too much trouble for us. I... I..." The man originally wanted to say, 'I can't repay you,' but he swallowed the words back.

He could say that in front of Pan Han, but in front of the women, he retained his last shred of stubbornness.

Wang Doudou saw that he spoke properly, not like someone from a small town coming to the city for medical treatment, so she asked, "Brother, where are you from? What did you do before?"

The man carefully looked at Wang Doudou, clearly a tall, rich, and beautiful woman, definitely not a scammer.

"I live in Changshan City, Dahe Province. Before, I did catering, tourism, homestays, things like that, a bit of everything," the man nodded slightly and said.

"Then it's not far from the capital." Wang Doudou had been to Changshan City; it was famous for pharmaceuticals, and her family had some connections and businesses there.

"Who was that friend just now?" The middle-aged man pointed at Pan Han.

"Oh, him! Just think of him as an immortal," Wang Doudou smiled with narrowed eyes.

"Uh, alright. But still, thank you all." The middle-aged man was a bit surprised to hear that.

"It's nothing, meeting is fate! Look how cute your daughter is." Wang Doudou thought of her own childhood family troubles, and then seeing this father and daughter in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a rush of emotions.

"Thank you, it's just that she deserves better. Sigh." At this point, the middle-aged man became sad, his gaze falling on his daughter, full of tenderness and heartache.

Wang Doudou heard this and wished she could immediately run to the car to get money. There were still over 20,000 in cash in the passenger seat drawer.

"Dad, what are we waiting for? Where are we sleeping tonight?" A cold wind blew, and the snow fell harder. The little girl finally felt the cold, so she ran to the man and asked.

Actually, the middle-aged man also didn't know what they were waiting for, mainly because he didn't know where to sleep either.

He only had 20 yuan on him, where else could he go?

In a place like the capital, any movement cost money.

Not only did he not know where he would go tonight, but he also didn't know about tomorrow, the day after, or the future.

After two years of treating his child, he was numb.

He just wanted to find a place, open his bag, wrap his child in all the usable clothes, find some old newspapers and cardboard to lay on the ground, and hold his daughter to sleep for the night.

He had no confidence whether he would wake up tomorrow!

"Little girl, how about sleeping with Auntie tonight?" Wang Doudou saw the man frozen in place and asked, holding the little girl's hand.

"Thank you, Auntie, but I want to sleep with Dad. He tells me stories," the little girl leaned closer to her dad.

"Then what stories does Dad tell you?"

"He tells me stories about Mom."

...Yan Xiaoli and Wang Doudou exchanged glances, realizing there was indeed a story.

But this involved someone's privacy, so it wasn't convenient to press further.

"You two bring them over." Just then, Pan Han sent a WeChat message.

"Brother, let's go! It's cold outside, don't let the child freeze," Yan Xiaoli put down her phone and pointed to the hotel.

"This..." The man hesitated, but seeing his daughter's red little face from the cold, he still nodded.

So the three adults and one child, carrying their bags, came to the chain hotel.

Pan Han was waiting for them downstairs, holding a room key card.

"Go up to the third floor." Pan Han took the man's bag and led everyone upstairs.

This hotel was located in a standalone small building, up to eight floors high. The first floor had a circle of shops and restaurants, and the second to eighth floors were all hotel rooms.

These economic chain hotels had small rooms, typically 15-25 square meters.

Rent in the capital was expensive, so room types tended to be small, only accommodating a double bed and a bathroom.

But as soon as the little girl entered the room, she jumped with joy. She pulled the man's hand and said, "Dad, we can take a bath tonight."

Pan Han put down his things and said to the father and daughter, "You two will stay here tonight."

After saying that, he slipped the room card into the man's hand and then winked at Yan Xiaoli, glancing downstairs with the corner of his eye.

Yan Xiaoli understood immediately and pushed the door open to leave.

Wang Doudou was about to follow out, but Pan Han stopped her.

"I'll have a few words with Brother, you watch the child." With that, Pan Han pulled the man to the doorway.

"Brother, let's just talk a few words here."

"Friend, thank you." The man closed the door and looked at Pan Han sincerely, his eyes a little moist.

"You're welcome. Just stay here comfortably."

"That's not right, it's too much trouble. We're going back the day after tomorrow," the man waved his hand and said.

"Where's the child's mother?" When the girl said she would tell stories about her mother at night, Pan Han heard it, and he also felt there was a story in this family... The man hesitated for a moment, then said, "She ran away a year ago."

"Because of the child's illness?"

"That was just the last straw. In recent years, the family's invested restaurants and homestays all lost money. The money invested in the stock market before was also all lost. She also liked to gamble and borrowed hundreds of thousands from loan sharks. Seeing that she couldn't pay it back, she simply ran away."

...Pan Han was speechless. This was too tragic. Compared to himself, he should be the one bound by the system.

"The house and car in our hometown were all sold to pay debts and for medical treatment. But it's much better now; the child's condition is gradually stable. She just needs to take medicine regularly every month. After we go back, if I work a few more jobs, I should be able to earn enough for the medicine."

For some reason, the man suddenly said a lot, a lot.

He couldn't tell his daughter about the upsetting things of the past two years, but he also had no one to confide in.

Meeting Pan Han today, and since he was a stranger anyway, he decided to just get it all off his chest.