“Can we talk?” Ke Bei asked again.
Her tone was earnest.
Cheng Qian ran a hand roughly through his hair, a hint of irritation showing, then pointed toward the backyard. “Let’s talk inside.”
With that, he turned and walked ahead to lead the way.
Ke Bei hurried after him, holding the child.
When they reached the door, Cheng Qian paused and glanced sideways at the young employee who was trying to sneak away. A trace of helplessness flashed through his eyes.
“You can get off work now. We’re not opening today. Lock the door properly when you leave.”
After saying that, he strode toward the small room in the backyard that he usually used for resting.
Because the Auto Parts Market was located in a relatively remote area, the rent was cheaper. The shop Cheng Qian rented was quite spacious, the kind with a storefront in front and a yard in the back.
The front was a small service counter for taking orders, while behind it was a large courtyard.
On one side of the yard stood three single-story rooms, used respectively for storing repair tools, serving as a warehouse, and as Cheng Qian’s temporary resting place.
The open space on the other side was used for repairing cars.
The small room was simply furnished: a table, a chair, and a single bed.
Although there were few items, everything was arranged neatly and methodically, revealing the disciplined, soldierly bearing ingrained in its owner.
“Have a seat.” Cheng Qian moved the only chair in the room to face the bed and gestured for Ke Bei to sit.
Then he looked at the little one, who was no longer crying loudly but still hiccupping with lingering sobs, and a troubled expression crossed his face.
“Wait here a moment,” he said, leaving the room again. Soon he returned carrying two cups of water.
He handed a cup of warm water to Ke Bei first and pointed at Cheng Tian in her arms. “Give him some water.”
Then he set the other cup on the table beside them.
Ke Bei did not refuse.
She naturally took the cup from her husband’s hand and, supporting her son’s back, fed him all the water.
After finishing the cup, Cheng Tian seemed to regain some energy.
He looked at the father standing beside him and pouted again in grievance.
But this time he did not stubbornly demand to be held. Instead, he leaned sorrowfully against his mother’s shoulder, tears sliding down his cheeks one drop at a time.
The sight made Ke Bei’s heart ache terribly.
She clenched her teeth, lifted her head, and looked at Cheng Qian pleadingly. “Could you hold him? Just once.”
Cheng Qian had never experienced anything like this.
Logically speaking, faced with something so obviously like a setup to pin responsibility on him, he should have been wary. Yet for some reason, deep down he felt no resistance at all.
As a straight-laced man of steel who had grown up in the military camp, in twenty-nine years of life he could count the women he was familiar with on one hand.
That count even included his grandmother and his mother.
Cheng Qian could swear to heaven that he did not know this woman, nor did he know this child.
And yet—
When facing them, he felt an indescribable sense of familiarity.
It was precisely that sense of familiarity that kept him from turning them away.
He did not respond directly to Ke Bei’s request. Instead, he turned and straightened the bed before finally reaching out his hands, explaining somewhat awkwardly, “Let him lie down on the bed for a bit. He’s been crying for so long, he must be tired.”
Cheng Tian immediately threw himself forward.
“Daddy.”
The little one finally stopped crying.
He nestled in Cheng Qian’s arms, burying his damp little face into his father’s neck and calling out softly, “Daddy.”
Then, in contentment, he rubbed against his jaw, wrapped his arms tightly around his neck, and refused to let go.
Cheng Qian stood there stiffly, held fast by the little boy, looking utterly at a loss.
He had intended to lay the child down on the bed, but he simply couldn’t bear to make him upset again.
From somewhere deep inside, an indescribable ache and bitterness welled up.
And… a profound sense of guilt.
Cheng Qian had no idea what was going on.
All he could do was hold the child a little tighter, trying to steady his own emotions, gently patting the little one’s back.
Until his gaze inadvertently fell on the military jacket wrapped around the boy.
He froze.
“That jacket is yours. You treasured it the most. Every time you went on a mission or had to do heavy work, you couldn’t bear to wear it. After you disappeared, I kept it all this time, just hoping that one day you would come back and have the chance to wear it again.”
Following his line of sight, Ke Bei looked at the jacket as well and explained softly.
Cheng Qian’s brows knitted tightly together, feeling that the situation was becoming more and more absurd.
This woman was speaking in such strange ways that he couldn’t believe a single word.
And yet, the jacket looked almost identical to the one he owned, both had visible hand-stitched marks where the shoulder epaulettes were attached.
His own jacket had been torn shortly before he left the service, during a fight with Fang Yi.
Afterward, that bastard had secretly taken the jacket while he wasn’t paying attention, clumsily stitched it up, and stuffed it back into his suitcase.
The guy’s sewing skills were about as nimble as his toes, the stitched seam looked like a centipede crawling across it, simply unbearable to look at.
But from then on, that jacket had become Cheng Qian’s prized possession. It hung in his wardrobe, and aside from occasionally taking it out to look at, he couldn’t even bear to wear it again.
Much less let it become so worn and tattered.
But, every single stitch on this jacket was exactly the same as the one he owned.
He had seen it too many times; there was no way he could be mistaken.
Cheng Qian didn’t believe there could be a second identical jacket.
“You said it was sewn for you by your comrade-in-arms. Later, when it started to wear thin and the threads were almost coming loose, you couldn’t bear to wear it anymore. After you went missing, I kept trying to find Fang Yi for you, but I never managed to find him,” Ke Bei continued, gently running her hand over the repaired seams.
At the mention of Fang Yi’s name, Cheng Qian’s expression changed. He took half a step back and looked at Ke Bei with scrutiny. “Who exactly are you people?”
His features hardened, and his tone grew sharp.
Ke Bei’s tears suddenly fell. She looked at Cheng Qian deeply and said in a trembling voice, “I’m your wife, Ke Bei. He is your son, Cheng Tian. We’re back, we’ve come back from eight years in the future to find you.”
Cheng Qian: “……”
His mind went blank for a moment. For an instant, he even thought there was something wrong with his hearing. Staring at the woman in front of him, the corner of his mouth twitched. His lips parted, but after a long pause, he realized he had no idea what to say.
“Well… did you mistake me for someone else?”
What he actually wanted to say was, is there something wrong with your head?
Cheng Qian didn’t want to say anything more to this person. He tried to hand the child in his arms back to Ke Bei, but the little one refused to let go no matter what.
With no other choice, he had to keep holding Cheng Tian and walk toward the door.
“I know you don’t believe me. Take a look at this first.”
Ke Bei quickly wiped her tears, pulled her phone out of her pocket, and shakily opened the photo album.
“Here are pictures of our whole family. These were taken when Xiao Tian was one year old. There are also photos from our wedding and the ones you took of me after I gave birth to Xiao Tian.”
Her voice was choked with emotion as she spoke, flipping through the photos and handing the phone to Cheng Qian.
Her eyes were full of tears, her gaze both hopeful and fearful, as if she was afraid he would reject them.
At the same time, the little boy in Cheng Qian’s arms clung to him even tighter, sobbing again.
“Daddy, don’t leave us. Daddy, Mommy and I miss you so much. We finally came back, please don’t leave us.”
Cheng Qian took the phone.
It was the latest model of the Apple phone.
Just that morning, he had seen an advertisement on TV for this model, which had just launched. Stores in the city were swarmed with fans on the first day.
It was definitely brand new.
But this phone looked worn and aged, as if it had been used for ten or eight years.
The body had several cracks, the screen was scratched, everything about it screamed antique.
That indescribable sense of familiarity washed over him again.
Even though he had never held this exact phone before, Cheng Qian felt as if he had picked it up countless times.
He flipped through the photos, hoping to spot a flaw.
The more he looked, the stronger the odd feeling grew.
Even if he still couldn’t believe what Ke Bei said about coming back from eight years later, his years as a special forces soldier had trained him to recognize authenticity at a glance, the photos weren’t faked.
In the pictures, he looked much thinner, more haggard, with wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.
But his expression was joyful, his demeanor content.
He hugged Ke Bei from behind, half-bending, resting his chin on her shoulder, his eyes focused on her and the swaddled baby in her arms, his gaze gentle and tender.
Cheng Qian couldn’t believe that such an expression could appear on his own face!
His long silence made Ke Bei extremely anxious.
The situation outside was already so serious, and they didn’t have much time left!
She had to gain her husband’s trust as quickly as possible.
Ke Bei suddenly reached into his arms and took their son, quickly pulling down Cheng Tian’s pants to reveal the child’s skinny little bottom, almost without any flesh.
Then she pointed to a thumb-sized red mark on the tailbone and asked, “Do you recognize this? Isn’t it exactly the same as yours?
You said before that this is a unique birthmark in your family, hereditary. Your grandfather had it, your father had it, you have it, all in the same spot. And now Xiao Tian has it too!
Cheng Qian, you can fake a lot of things, but how do you fake this? Your family has had only a single line of descendants for generations, could there be some distant branch that just happens to have a birthmark in exactly the same place?!”
Cheng Qian stood there expressionless, silent.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to say anything, it was that his whole mind had gone blank.
His thoughts were in utter chaos.
Countless pieces of evidence were right in front of him, and all of them were things outsiders couldn’t possibly know.
This forced him to seriously consider what Ke Bei was saying.
But—
His wife had come back from eight years later…
She had come back specifically to find him.
Anyone with even a little sense would find that impossible to believe!
In Ke Bei’s eyes, Cheng Qian’s silence was complete disbelief in everything she was saying.
She was deeply disappointed.
The small flicker of hope deep in her eyes gradually dimmed.
She lowered her gaze and gave a self-deprecating smile.
When she lifted her head again, her expression had returned to calm.
Even though the corners of her eyes were still wet, her demeanor had become resolute.
She looked at Cheng Qian one last time, hugged her child tightly, and said lightly, “Forget it. There’s no time. I can’t wait here for you to make up your mind. We’re leaving. Take care of yourself.”
With that, she turned to the side and walked toward the door with her son.
Just as she passed Cheng Qian, she paused for a moment and whispered, “The apocalypse is coming soon. The mutations in animals and plants have already begun. You need to be prepared.”
Cheng Qian grabbed her hand, stopping her.