Chapter 32

Chapter 32: The Altered Timeline

After subduing the glasses-wearing uncle, the JC uncles dispatched another vehicle to escort him back to the police station for further investigation. Without the opportunity to delve deeper into the case, Mei Fang and Xia Yuan continued to be safely escorted to Xia Yuan’s grandmother’s house.

The two of them rode in the car for nearly an hour before finally leaving the city and arriving at their destination.

This was the suburban area of Jiangcheng. Apart from the buildings being taller, there wasn’t much difference from other rural areas. There was a wide cement path with lush green fields on one side and neatly arranged residential buildings with courtyards on the other.

Since Xia Yuan’s grandmother had received the news in advance, she had been waiting at the entrance of her small courtyard to welcome her granddaughter.

Xia Yuan’s grandmother had white hair, looking about sixty or seventy years old, but she looked very healthy. As soon as she saw Xia Yuan, she opened her arms wide.

“Grandma…”

Xia Yuan was closest to her grandmother, visiting her every summer. Although she had thought of many things to say, once she saw her grandmother, she couldn’t help but start to pout and seek comfort, throwing herself into her grandmother’s embrace.

“Oh… Yuan Yuan, don’t be afraid. It’s okay, everything’s fine… You made me so worried.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to worry you, Grandma…”

“I know what happened. This isn’t your fault… When your father comes, I’ll deal with him.”

After consoling Xia Yuan, Xia Yuan’s grandmother stood up to thank the JC uncles and even warmly invited them to stay for dinner. Of course, they declined and left after giving some instructions.

At this point, Xia Yuan’s grandmother finally had time to focus on Mei Fang.

“You must be Mei Fang?”

“Hello, Grandma.”

Mei Fang nodded. Because Xia Yuan’s grandmother had been pacing around with her hands behind her back, examining him, he felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Just as he was about to say something, Xia Yuan’s grandmother turned behind him and suddenly gave his shoulder a powerful pat.

“Hahaha! You’re really a remarkable young man!”

“Thank you for bringing our Yuan Yuan here!”

Mei Fang endured the pain in his shoulder and politely smiled with his hands behind his back.

“We’re good friends; it’s only natural.”

“Good friends? Just good friends?”

Xia Yuan’s grandmother continued to pound on Mei Fang’s shoulder, frowning in deep thought, “I remember that when Yuan Yuan was younger, she always talked about wanting to give a boy named Mei Fang a ‘hairball,’ wasn’t that you?”

Xia Yuan jumped around in embarrassment.

“Grandma! Why do you keep bringing up my childhood stuff!”

“Hahaha! That’s just how Yuan Yuan is! Get used to it!”

Xia Yuan’s grandmother kept pounding on Mei Fang.

Okay, if she keeps hitting like this, it won’t be polite…

Mei Fang felt his young shoulder might be broken by this elderly person.

They ate some snacks at Grandma’s house, and Xia Yuan told her grandmother about her journey away from home. Her grandmother not only did not scold her for running away but also praised her bravery.

In addition, Xia Yuan’s grandmother kept pounding on Mei Fang.

The reason was that Mei Fang’s smart actions during the journey had greatly pleased her, and she praised him highly.

As dusk approached, Xia Yuan’s parents finally arrived at her grandmother’s house in their car.

Xia Yuan took her grandmother’s hand and went out to meet her parents.

Although she had prepared many words with Mei Fang’s help, when she saw her parents, she suddenly couldn’t speak.

She had never seen her parents look so disheveled.

Her mother had messy hair, and her father looked exhausted.

Xia Yuan’s father walked up aggressively, looking very angry.

Xia Yuan tightly closed her eyes, quietly waiting for her father’s scolding.

Smack!

A loud and fierce slap.

But it wasn’t on Xia Yuan.

Xia Yuan opened her eyes and found her father kneeling on the ground, continuously slapping his own face.

“Dad… Don’t do this… Please… Please!”

Xia Yuan cried and pulled at her father. After several slaps, Xia Yuan’s father tightly embraced his daughter.

“Yuan Yuan, I’ve been searching for you all day. When I couldn’t find you, I thought of so many things.”

“These past few years, I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t spent enough time with you. If I had spent more time with you and your mother, you wouldn’t have run away.”

“When I thought about possibly losing you forever, or if something bad happened to you outside, my heart would break. Do you understand?”

“If that were true, I would never forgive myself.”

“Don’t do this… Dad… I also made mistakes.”

Xia Yuan rubbed her eyes, “I shouldn’t have made you and Mom worry… I promise I won’t do this again.”

“Alright… Then I promise you too. I won’t mortgage our house. I’ll sell the struggling restaurant and spend more time with you from now on!”

“Mm-hmm!”

“Xia Xun, you little rascal!” Xia Yuan’s grandmother started pounding on her son-in-law’s shoulder, “Men should keep their promises. Don’t fool my precious granddaughter. I’ll make sure you stick to it!”

“Y-Yes…”

Xia Yuan’s father was already grimacing as he spoke, clearly having experienced this before.

Regardless, fortunately, the situation didn’t turn out as badly as Mei Fang had feared.

Xia Yuan’s father still loved his daughter very much.

Perhaps it was because of this love that he didn’t want to leave his daughter to suffer alone in this world.

But no matter what, this reason couldn’t hide the fact that he was unfit to be a parent in his previous life.

This incident wasn’t truly over until his promises were fulfilled.

Only then could Mei Fang consider the events of his previous life as part of a parallel timeline.

Apart from that, during this journey away from home, Mei Fang had an unsolved question in his heart.

Why hadn’t his parents called him even though he had been missing for so long?

Was it possible that I lacked the care of family?

Considering that they had to go back to school the next day and little Mei Fang hadn’t seen his parents yet, they decided to drive back to Bai Mei County overnight.

Xia Yuan’s uncle was also in the car, so they could take turns driving, completely avoiding the problem of drowsy driving.

Xia Yuan nestled in her mother’s arms, talking a lot. She dozed off for a while and then suddenly woke up.

She nudged Mei Fang, who was dozing off beside her.

“What’s wrong?”

Xia Yuan leaned close to Mei Fang’s ear to whisper.

“Mei Fang, I need to tell you something. I had a really scary nightmare just now.”

“What kind of nightmare?”

“I dreamed that I was eating dinner with my mom and dad, and the dinner was really, really lavish.”

“My mom and dad poured me lots of juice.”

“Then, I fell asleep.”

“After that, my mom held me and cried, cried for a long time.”

“I’ve never seen her cry so hard before, so I cried too.”

“Then, my dad and mom drank juice and fell asleep with me.”

“We slept so deeply, as if we would never wake up.”

Mei Fang raised his eyebrows slightly and then gently asked,

“Weren’t you sleeping? How did you see this?”

“Mmm… Let me think…”

“Let me think…”

Xia Yuan lay on Mei Fang’s chest, falling into a daze again.

While everyone wasn’t paying attention, Mei Fang gently caressed Xia Yuan’s fair cheek, freely savoring the beauty of life.

Oops, I accidentally sent it out! By the way, what do you think is the best time to post books? I plan to schedule it.