Xu Yunzhou took a groggy nap in the narrow rented room. When he woke up, it was already past 3:00 PM.
The chaotic feeling of a hangover completely faded, and the cold reality was clearly laid out before his eyes, forcing him to face his predicament directly.
His monthly salary of thirty to forty thousand was considered a good income in the eyes of others, but right now, after paying rent, his savings were only five or six thousand left.
Over the past few years, Su Qianran and her family were like a bottomless pit, hollowing out his savings under various pretexts.
For every holiday and anniversary, he had to prepare expensive gifts; not only did he have to please her, but he also had to show filial piety to her entire family.
Roughly calculated, the money thrown at her over these years was at least five hundred thousand.
Even worse, he still had a mortgage on his back, plus the credit loans he borrowed to prepare for the wedding and the bride price, totaling over two million in debt.
Even if he gritted his teeth now and sold that marital home at a discount, after paying off all the loans, it was estimated he would only have about four hundred thousand left...
Yeah, only owing the bank 400k!
Working hard for so many years since graduation, holding a seemingly glamorous salary, yet ending up in this state, it was truly ridiculous.Fortunately... he cut his losses in time.
He could only comfort himself like this in his heart. Money gone could be earned again; seeing a person clearly was a great fortune.
In the future, he must keep his eyes peeled.
Thinking this way, the oppressive feeling in his heart indeed lightened a bit, and he even felt a trace of long-lost relaxation—finally, he no longer had to take on side gigs day and night and overdraw his health to satisfy the endless demands of that family.
He finally had a bit of time that belonged to him, where he could breathe freely.
Carrying a complex and indescribable mood, he turned on his computer, clicked into that "Goddess Nurturing" game, and entered the Lin Ruoxuan stage marked "Completed."
He dragged the timeline, reliving the bits and pieces of being with Xuanxuan.
Suddenly.
The timeline stopped on the day they went traveling to Chengzhou.
Xu Yunzhou's gaze casually swept across the screen. In the next second, his pupils suddenly contracted. He violently bounced up from the chair, his eyes abruptly widening, staring fixedly at the screen!
In the footage, Lin Ruoxuan was not alone.
She was standing in front of a couple with a little boy, and she took out a business card from her handbag and handed it to the husband!
And that couple... those incomparably familiar faces, just a dozen years younger... were clearly his, Xu Yunzhou's, parents, Xu Zhongshan and Yang Wenhui!
And that little boy, looking up with a face full of curiosity at the sugar painting stall, was impressively his ten-year-old childhood self!
"This... how is this possible?"
Xu Yunzhou's breathing stalled, his brain went blank, and only his heart was beating crazily.
In the year he was ten, he indeed went traveling to Chengzhou with his parents.
But... why would it appear so clearly in this "game"?
Could the game developers have used surveillance video from back then?
Let alone that in early 2010 there weren't high-definition surveillance cameras everywhere like now, even if there were, how could they possibly get them?
Even more terrifying was—did he really meet Lin Ruoxuan when he was a child?
In that era without smartphones and where the internet was not yet developed, on that Jinli Ancient Street in Chengzhou, he actually had a chance encounter with this business Queen?
Xu Yunzhou forcefully suppressed his heart that was almost about to burst out of his chest, and with trembling fingers, continued watching.
In the footage, Lin Ruoxuan gently bought the sugar dragon that the little boy was longing for, and then walked into a teahouse nearby together with his parents.
Lin Ruoxuan seemed to primarily be asking about some basic information regarding his parents, carrying an undetectable eagerness and exploration.
His own parents, however, had obvious vigilance and politeness on their faces, seeming to only vaguely inform her of the location of their hometown, without revealing more personal information.
A trace of unconcealable disappointment flashed across Lin Ruoxuan's face, but she quickly adjusted her emotions.
She took out a seemingly quite ordinary USB flash drive from her bag, solemnly handed it to his father Xu Zhongshan, and then stood up, politely said goodbye, and left.
The more Xu Yunzhou watched, the more his heart pounded in fear.
He tried hard to recall the scene of going to Chengzhou back then.
During that family trip, in Jinli, he indeed lingered in front of a sugar painting stall and refused to leave... It seems... it seems there really was an extremely pretty older sister with a great temperament who came over to talk to him, and even bought him that hardest-to-draw sugar dragon!
He seemed to be stuttering when he spoke back then because he was shy and nervous... No!
Was this memory originally real, or was it because his brain filled in the gaps and confused things after watching this "game footage" just now?
He forcefully shook his head, trying to clarify these chaotic thoughts.
Right! Mom and Dad! They definitely know!
As if grasping at a lifesaver, he hurriedly took out his phone, aimed it at the computer screen, and clearly recorded this unbelievable "encounter."
Just as he was preparing to contact his father Xu Zhongshan to ask what exactly was going on, his phone rang first. Bouncing on the screen were exactly the two characters "Dad."
He took a deep breath and connected the call.
His father Xu Zhongshan's anxious and puzzled voice immediately came from the other end, carrying obvious anger:
"Yunzhou! What exactly is going on with you? Ranran just called us crying her heart out, saying you want to kick her out and even sell the marital home? It's normal for you young people to argue, what matter can't be talked out properly by sitting down? Do you have to make a scene to this extent? Do you know how big the loss is to sell a house? Definitely don't be impulsive!"
Xu Yunzhou's heart sank, and he tried his best to keep his voice calm:
"Dad, this matter is very complex, don't get involved. By the way, I just wanted to ask you, back when we went traveling to Chengzhou..."
Xu Zhongshan directly interrupted him, his tone even more anxious:
"Can we not get involved in this matter? Can we not worry about the major event of your marriage? We are already on the way to Binzhou right now! Whatever the matter is, wait until we arrive and we'll talk face to face! You stay at home honestly and wait for me!"
After saying that, without waiting for Xu Yunzhou to speak again, the phone was hung up.
Holding the phone emitting a busy tone, Xu Yunzhou thought that things indeed couldn't be explained clearly over the phone, and he would ask properly when they met.
He put down his phone and saw a WeChat message from Shen Jie pop up on the screen:
"Brother Zhou, I took a client to see the house just now, and Sister-in... Su Qianran came back. Seeing us in the house, she cursed and jumped around like crazy, saying we were thieves, and forcibly kicked both me and the client out... This, what do we do now?"
Xu Yunzhou's eyes turned cold, and he understood.
It must be that Su Qianran returned to the "marital home" and found out that he wasn't just playing around, but even brought an agency to the door. Only then did she panic and hurriedly call his parents to cry and apply pressure.
He took a deep breath and replied to Shen Jie:
"Sorry, brother, for causing you trouble. I will go back personally to handle this matter clearly."