Li Qing took Yuan Miao to Ninth Street.
Ninth Street was the most chaotic and mixed neighborhood in the old city district.
Standing in the best location of the neighborhood was a building, the entire property of Uncle Jiu.
The first two floors had been converted into the Miye Bar, while the other floors served as regular residences.
After Li Qing first rebelled against Li Jianhui’s beatings and scoldings and ran away, she accidentally wandered into this area.
The bar manager, Zhao Wenyi, found her.
By chance, Li Qing began learning mixed martial arts from him and later often came here to help out.
It was daytime now, and the bar hadn’t opened for business yet.
Li Qing had called Zhao Wenyi in advance, briefly explaining Yuan Miao’s situation, and then led him in through the bar’s back door.
She thought Yuan Miao would feel uncomfortable, but she soon realized she was completely mistaken.
Yuan Miao’s ability to act like he belonged was something ordinary people simply couldn’t match.
“Ah!”
“Mom, is this the bar where you used to work?!”
Yuan Miao observed everything like a curious child, stopping abruptly when he noticed three people standing near the bar counter.
“You—you are—”
He suddenly covered his mouth.
But it wasn’t out of nervousness—it was excitement.
Just as Li Qing walked over, she saw Yuan Miao, flapping like a big moth, darting over in an instant.
“Uncle Zhao, Uncle Luo, um… and this uncle I don’t recognize… I never expected you’d all be here!”
“Could Grandpa Jiu be here too?!”
Zhao Wenyi and the others were stunned.
They looked at Li Qing with pleading eyes.
“You know them?”
“Of course!”
Yuan Miao answered without hesitation, puffing out his cheeks in dissatisfaction. “Mom, you still don’t believe me!”
Then he directly called them out by name.
“This is Uncle Zhao, who dotes on me the most!”
“This is Uncle Luo, who always takes me out to have fun, even though he always gets scolded by Uncle Zhao afterward…”
“And Grandpa Jiu, who hasn’t shown up yet—he looks like a tough old man, but he’s actually really nice!”
Yuan Miao glanced at the last person in the room, a flicker of guilt flashing in his eyes.
He ducked behind Li Qing and whispered, “Mom, I’ve never met this uncle before.”
Li Qing’s last shred of hope vanished.
Except for the last person, the bartender Zeng Huai, whose name Yuan Miao couldn’t recall, he had correctly identified everyone else.
The tallest and most muscular one was Zhao Wenyi, who treated her like a younger sister.
When Zhao Wenyi was young, he went to prison for killing his stepfather, who had molested his sister. After his release, he learned that his sister had committed suicide while he was in prison and nearly took his own life.
Later, he was taken in by Uncle Jiu, worked for him, and became the manager of Miye Bar.
The one next to him with a roguish demeanor was Luo Zhengyu, the bar’s security guard.
After being released from reform-through-labor, he was abandoned by his family and picked up by Zhao Wenyi. Uncle Jiu also took him in.
The one with gloomy, silent features was the bartender Zeng Huai. He lived in the same neighborhood as Li Qing, with only an elderly grandfather at home.
“Xiao Li, how did you bring back such a big son?”
Luo Zhengyu teased, raising an eyebrow. “Young people these days are really something. I never knew you had such a taste before.”
He didn’t take Yuan Miao seriously at all, thinking it was just some playful dynamic between young people.
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Wenyi’s hand landed on his head with a smack.
“Ouch.”
Luo Zhengyu pretended to suck in a sharp breath, his face still wearing a playful, carefree grin.
Yuan Miao curiously poked his head out and let out an impressed “Wow.”
“Uncle Luo, so you were this annoying even when you were young.”
Luo Zhengyu: “…”
Li Qing: “…”
“Xiao Li, what on earth is going on here?”
Zhao Wenyi’s brows were tightly furrowed.
Li Qing was eighteen, and he didn’t oppose her dating, but what kind of relationship was this…
“As you can see.”
Li Qing rubbed her temple in frustration.
She trusted them deeply and hadn’t hidden Yuan Miao’s situation.
“This kid suddenly appeared, claiming to be from twenty years in the future and my biological son.”
Seeing that Li Qing’s reaction didn’t seem like a joke, the three across from her gradually grew serious.
Zhao Wenyi asked sternly, “Didn’t you hand him over to the police?”
“They couldn’t find any information about him, and this kid only recognizes me, so I had to bring him back first.”
“I really am from twenty years in the future!”
Yuan Miao defended himself indignantly. “I was on my way to see my mom when some jerk threw a banana peel on the road. I slipped and ended up here.”
Everyone: “…”
That was truly despicable.
After speaking, Yuan Miao leaned his face close to Li Qing’s. Zhao Wenyi’s eyes sharpened, ready to intervene, but then he heard Yuan Miao’s next words.
“Look, haven’t you all said that my eyes and eyebrows look just like my mom’s? If that’s not enough, a paternity test should convince you, right!”
“???”
Their eyes shifted back and forth between the two, their expressions gradually turning strange.
Zeng Huai spoke quietly, “It seems like a paternity test isn’t necessary…”
There was another important reason: professional paternity tests were expensive, and they couldn’t afford one.
Zhao Wenyi fell silent as well.
Li Qing cleared her throat lightly. “Where’s Uncle Jiu? Is there an empty room upstairs? Let him stay there for now.”
“…I’ll arrange it.”
Zhao Wenyi glanced at Yuan Miao’s innocent face with a complicated expression, hesitated, and finally sighed.
“You go take care of Aunt Chen. We’ll look after him.”
“Thank you.”
Li Qing breathed a sigh of relief. That was exactly what she had in mind.
Her mother had been in the hospital these past few days, undergoing physical conditioning and waiting for tests.
To prevent Li Jianhui from doing anything to her mother while she was away, Li Qing had simply arranged for her to be hospitalized.
Li Qing first went to the doctor’s office to inquire about her mother’s condition.
“Your mother’s condition can only be managed with long-term chemotherapy to control the tumor’s spread. However, the results of the chemotherapy will depend on her subsequent progress…”
“She can’t start chemotherapy immediately. Her body is severely depleted and needs conditioning first. Only when her test results meet the standards can she begin chemotherapy…”
“I understand.”
Li Qing nodded calmly.
Her mother had worked tirelessly for the family all these years, and it was no surprise that her health had deteriorated.
Li Qing walked into the hospital room.
“Mom.”
“Qingqing, you’re here.”
Chen Ruohua was chatting with an elderly patient in the next bed. Hearing her voice, she looked up with a smile.
During her stay in the hospital, away from Li Jianhui’s torment, the weariness on Chen Ruohua’s face had noticeably faded.
Li Qing told her about the doctor’s advice, suggesting she continue staying in the hospital to recuperate and, if bored, take walks in the hospital garden.
“This is too long. Staying in the hospital costs a lot of money… I could just come for injections every day.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Ruohua instinctively wanted to refuse.
“And there’s your father. If no one is home to keep an eye on him, who knows what trouble he’ll cause…”
“Don’t worry about him.”
Li Qing frowned. “He has hands and feet. He won’t starve.”
Chen Ruohua knew Li Qing disliked her mentioning Li Jianhui, so she awkwardly fell silent.
The elderly woman beside her chuckled and offered some advice.
“Ruohua, having a filial daughter is a blessing for you!”
“Look at me, an old woman—I spent half my life busy with the whole family, but when I fell ill, no one cared…”
Chen Ruohua quickly comforted her.
Seeing this, Li Qing placed the health-conscious meal she had bought on the way onto the nightstand between them.
“Grandma Xu, I’ll have to trouble you to keep my mother company during this time.”
“Qingqing is so thoughtful… I heard from your mother that you’re about to take the college entrance exam? Aim for a good university and go out to see the world!”
Li Qing smiled but said nothing.
After leaving the hospital, she went to do her part-time job.
It wasn’t until late into the night, after Li Qing had been busy for hours, that she remembered to call Zhao Wenyi to ask about Yuan Miao’s situation.
Zhao Wenyi told her that Yuan Miao had seamlessly blended in with them and had even started helping out at the bar under the guise of being family.
Li Qing fell silent for a moment.
Well, as long as she was settled in, that was fine.