Jing Yiran walked out of the gate with heavy steps. She took in a breath of air which seemed to be fresher than the one in there.
She looked around and lowered her head. Even though she didn't show it, there was still a hint of expectation in her heart however the reality was clear as day.
Those relatives were the ones who fawned after her the most but when she got into trouble no one ran father than them.
Jing Yiran knew people in wealthy families were inherently selfish but she still deluded herself into thinking family affection was real. Even her biological parents didn't come to see her.
She took a deep sigh and looked at her pitiful luggage. Thankfully she hadn't placed all her bets on them and managed to scarp up a little money through small jobs.
She walked aimlessly on the sidewalk then raised her head and looked fixed at the LED billboard. The face that haunted her dreams for years.
She dropped her head and walked along the alleyways reaching a small house. She opened the door and went inside.
Everything was covered with dust attesting to the passage of time. She dug under a floorboard and found a phone and a new sim card.
She turned on the phone and inserted the sim card immediately going to check her accounts. She saw that many of her accounts had been emptied out and some of them permanently closed. She gritted her teeth and checked an offshore account she opened on a whim.
The money was all there but it was only a few thousand as she didn't pay much attention to this account previously. She sat wearily in the floor and hugged her knees to her chest sobbing softly.
All she wanted was to marry a man who could support her was that wrong? And Fu Ling actually forgot about their friendship of many years and sent her to prison for a man. Thinking about that, a hint if darkness flashed in her eyes but quickly disappeared when she thought of Fu Ling's eyes the last time they met.
She was unwilling. But there was nothing she could do about it for now. All she could do was work hard and become better than Fu Ling. Then she would be able to completely posses him.
Fu Ling on the other side didn't know that Jing Yiran had been released. He had long stopped paying attention to that group of people. In recent years, he became obsessed with charities and foundations.
At first he just passively gave donations but later on, he started running his own foundations. He didn't like things being choked up so he basically opened a foundation for several cases. School bullying? Foundation. Domestic violence? Separate foundation. Orphaned children? Another foundation.
His actions displeased some people who wanted to make money from the misfortune of some and the kindness of others but they couldn't do anything about him so they came together to discredit him but he simply openly placed the accounts for everyone to see and then urged those involved to do the same. They obviously couldn't do that and tried to make various excuses.
The next time people heard about them was that the leader of ... foundation, the head of ... foundation and so on were arrested for misappropriation of charity funds and some who had such thoughts were forced to become honest philanthropists.
In addition to that, he and Gu Yunnain cooperated with the government in the production of several ai robots and they were both national figures. When Fu Ling's laziness kicked in, he stepped back and let someone else take over assuming the role of a teacher.
Gu Yunnain handed Gu group to someone specially trained by him and went travelling around the world with Fu Ling. They traveled for the most part of their latter lives and when they were well aged, they returned to their home country.
The accident rate reduced by 90% because of the existence of the ai scanners installed in vehicles. Crime rates also dropped as the robots were made primary night guards after series of testings.
Not to mention, suicide rate also dropped. A middle class family bought a robot for their taciturn daughter and when she tried to commit suicide, it quickly performed first aid on her and called the emergency services. As a follow up, it also determined the cause of her depression to be due to school bullying and relayed it all to her parents who took strong measures.
The children involved were all over sixteen and could be tried so they got their deserved sentence. When the girl woke up, she was embarrassed that something that had been troubling her for so long could be resolved by just talking to her parents.
After that story spread, many parents bought the robot and the suicidal children were at a loss. They didn't think craving death was embarrassing what was embarrassing was being rescued and having to face your family after that.
Children who were suffering because of their family also found a confidant in their respective robots and as a result they came in contact with other children facing the same situation and together were able to come out of their shadow.
Of course they were also failures who were determined to seek death no matter what but at least the number had dropped. Change doesn't happen all at once. One less dead person, one less accident, one less robbery and the country was striving to become a better place.
The golden sunlight fell on two figures lying side by side on a lawn chair and the atmosphere was serene. Fu Ling felt it the moment the person beside him lost his breath and he closed his eyes muttering under his breath
"Wait for me"
A little robot doing it's rounds scans the owners and finds that there are no signs of life and the relevant personnel are contacted.
According to their final wish, the two were buried side by side and the whole country mourned the loss of these two great men.