"What? You're going back?"
Shen Mingsu was shocked when he heard Yan Chi's plan to return to his original world. Seeing Yan Chi already packing his clothes, he panicked and grabbed his hand as he folded them.
He asked repeatedly, "Why do you want to go back? Is there something wrong with the school, or is there something you're not happy with about the current house? Or did I do something wrong and make you angry?"
Shen Mingsu clung to his owner like a puppy afraid of being abandoned, wanting to know what he had done to displease him.
"Nothing," Yan Chi patted his hand. "I'm just going back to see the orphanage headmistress. She's getting old, and it's almost the New Year. I have to go back and see her this winter."
Yan Chi was raised by the headmistress. Although he had found his father, he could never forget her kindness.
Shen Mingsu carefully observed Yan Chi's expression and tentatively asked, "Will you come back?"
Won't he just leave him alone with two children?
“I’ll be back. I’ll bring the headmistress back with me as soon as I pick her up.” Yan Chi put down the clothes he was folding halfway, stood up, and kissed Shen Mingsu on the cheek. “Don’t overthink it. I’ll be back in two or three days at most.”
Two or three days… Shen Mingsu looked dejected. So he wouldn’t see Yan Chi for two or three days, would sleep alone at night, and wouldn’t have a goodnight kiss before bed…
“Teacher Xiao Chi.” Shen Mingsu suddenly spoke up, “I’ll go with you.”
Yan Chi hesitated. “Then if you leave, the school…”
“The director is there, it’ll be fine.” Shen Mingsu hugged Yan Chi, pleading softly, “Just let me go with you. I promise I’ll be obedient and do whatever you ask.”
Yan Chi wasn’t worried about that. “Are you really going? We might have to stay at the orphanage for one night. The environment there isn’t very good; you might not be able to adapt.”
Firstly, there’s no heating. Secondly, to save space, even the staff and volunteers at the orphanage sleep in bunk beds.
Yan Chi was already used to it, but Shen Mingsu was different; his life had always been privileged.
Shen Mingsu felt a warm glow in his heart and pinched Yan Chi's cheek. "How do you know I can't adapt? Teacher Yan Chi, am I a princess in your eyes? Sigh, I know it's because my Teacher Yan Chi loves me so much that he can't bear to see me suffer even a little bit. It's such a sweet burden."
"Don't talk nonsense, I didn't mean that." Yan Chi slapped his hand away and rubbed his flushed face. "If you want to go, then go. But let me make it clear beforehand, you can't stay in a hotel just because of something so small."
Shen Mingsu: "Okay, whatever you say."
That evening at the dinner table, Yan Chi told Shen Chang Le and Shen Changyao that he and Shen Mingsu were going out. Shen Chang Le's expression immediately fell. "How long are you going to be gone?"
“We'll be back in two days at most.” Yan Chi was also worried about him. “If you feel lonely or need anything else, go find my dad. He just seems cold, but he actually has a very good temper.”
Upon hearing that he should go find Yan Qingyuan, Shen Chang Le immediately abandoned his pitiful "left-behind child" persona and said sincerely, “Actually, I'm quite independent.”
So, going to Yan Qingyuan is out of the question.
Yan Chi noticed that he was afraid of his father and didn't force him. “Alright, Uncle Zhinan next door is here too, you can go find him too.”
This time, Shen Chang Le finally nodded in agreement. When Shen Changyao heard that Shen Mingsu was also leaving, he couldn't suppress the smile on his face, but babies don't understand adults, so he could only desperately try to suppress the upward curve of his lips.
His expression suddenly became particularly strange.
Shen Mingsu took in his expression, then turned his head slightly and whispered in Shen Changyao's ear, "You don't want Chang Le to know you're not even a baby, do you?"
Shen Changyao pursed his lips, looking at him warily.
Shen Mingsu, in the manner of a loving uncle, affectionately ruffled Shen Changyao's hair. "Manage your expression, Uncle loves you."
Shen Changyao lowered his eyes in submission.
Shen Chang Le witnessed the interaction between the two. Looking puzzled, he asked, "What are you talking about?"
Shen Mingsu: "Tell your little brother to behave during this time, or we'll give him a good spanking when we get back."
Shen Chang Le covered Shen Changyao's ears, his face disapproving. "He's just a baby, it's normal for him to be naughty. Don't be too harsh on him. Besides, I'll take good care of him."
Shen Mingsu: "Okay."
Yan Chi gave Shen Chang Le some encouragement. "Yes, I feel very reassured with you here."
...
At the Jiangcheng Welfare Home.
The headmistress sat alone in the children's lounge. Snow was falling heavily outside, but the room was cold due to the lack of heating. Chilblains covered the backs of her exposed hands. She sat by the window, wearing reading glasses, sewing trousers.
A howling wind creaked the old iron gate, and the swings and slides in the yard were covered in snow, revealing patches of rust.
Suddenly, a large black umbrella appeared at the entrance of the orphanage. Yan Chi stared blankly at the desolate building, his hands clenching tightly at his sides.
When it snowed, the children usually stayed indoors, but they were always restless, constantly chattering. Now, a deathly silence pervaded the familiar space, making him afraid to take another step.
As he walked, Yan Chi saw numerous deep pits of varying sizes in the ground. What he remembered as the location of tall buildings was now a bottomless abyss.
According to Shen Mingsu, this world had aged and was dying, causing the space to collapse. Those who fell into the giant pits were captured by the system and eventually became players, traveling to different worlds.
Therefore, the number of players was increasing.
The only saving grace was that the orphanage remained intact.
Shen Mingsu stood with Yan Chi outside the gate for a while. He reached out and took Yan Chi's cold hand, warming it in his own. "Let's go in. Don't you want to see her?"
The warmth gradually spread from his hand to his whole body. Yan Chi glanced at Shen Mingsu; with him by his side, his fear and timidity gradually subsided.
"Yes, let's go in."
Just as Yan Chi took a step, a raggedly dressed child darted out from beside him, bumping into him and falling to the ground with a cry.
Yan Chi was startled and quickly picked up the child.
It was a little girl who looked only five or six years old. In the heavy snow, she wore a thin, pilling sweater. Her face was blue with cold, and Yan Chi could feel her thin body shivering as he picked her up.
Yan Chi felt a pang of pity. His hand had just touched his coat when Shen Mingsu pressed it down, taking off his own coat and covering the child with it. "I'm not cold, wear mine."
Yan Chi's physical condition was far inferior to Shen Mingsu's; he didn't bother arguing with him about it.
He gently asked the little girl, "Where are your mom and dad?"
The child trembled, but recovered somewhat. She sniffled, looked at the older boy, and said in a clear voice, "My mom and dad took my little brother and left. They don't want me anymore. They abandoned me."
Yan Chi frowned. "Where did they go?"
"I don't know." The little girl shook her head, looking in the direction of the orphanage. "I don't have a mom and dad now. It's so cold outside. I want to go to the orphanage. My mom and dad brought me here before, so I know the way."
"Big brother, don't your mom and dad want you either?"
Hearing the child's calm words, Yan Chi felt a chill in his heart. Being abandoned by one's parents should be a devastating tragedy for a child of that age, yet this child could speak of it so casually. Did she already know she would be abandoned?
Yan Chi didn't dare think too much about it. "My family is in the orphanage, so I came to see them. Come with me for now, and I'll take you to the police station later so the police can help you find your family, okay?"
The girl shook her head. "But there are no police stations anymore; they've all fallen to the ground."
It seemed the collapse of this world was more severe than Yan Chi had imagined. His voice was hoarse. "It'll be alright."
"Yes, yes! I know." The girl was quite optimistic. "I'm happy I'm still alive."
"Brother, put me down. I'm very heavy."
Yan Chi noticed she was wearing sandals. "You're not heavy at all."
Carrying the girl, Yan Chi and Shen Mingsu walked through the gate. He went straight to the lounge, knocked on the door, and after a short while, the old lady slowly opened it.
Yan Chi smiled. "Headmistress, I'm back."
The old woman's eyes instantly reddened. Her cloudy eyes scanned Yan Chi from head to toe. Her lips moved, and her wrinkled hands gripped Yan Chi's shoulders. "You...you child, why didn't you tell me you were coming? Look...look, I didn't prepare anything."
Yan Chi took her hand. "You don't need to prepare anything, don't tire yourself out."
The headmistress patted his hand, looking at the child in Yan Chi's arms. "Oh dear," she exclaimed, "Why is the child dressed so lightly? It's so cold outside, what if she catches a cold?"
Yan Chi hesitated. "This child..."
"Headmistress," the girl called out to the old lady, mimicking Yan Chi's greeting. She stepped down from Yan Chi's arms and knelt on the ground with a thud. "Headmistress, may I stay in the orphanage? I have no home."
The headmistress pulled the girl up in surprise. "Child, why are you kneeling like that?"
The girl replied, "My mother said I'm a burden, so I have to be grateful for everything I've received and kneel before my benefactor."
"Pah! They're talking nonsense!" The headmistress was furious. "Don't listen to them! They just can't stand to see you doing well, they're deliberately making things difficult for you. Don't be afraid, your mother won't support you, but this headmistress will."
The headmistress went to get a thick cotton-padded coat for the girl, then, after thinking for a moment, got Shen Mingsu a heavy military overcoat as well. "Your coat is too thin. This one may not be as nice, but it's warm."
"Thank you, headmistress," Shen Mingsu said sweetly, immediately putting on the overcoat. He was tall and well-proportioned, and even in the heavy overcoat, he looked quite handsome.
The headmistress looked at Shen Mingsu with a complicated expression, then led them all inside.
She wanted to find a chair, but found it dirty. She hurriedly wiped the dust off the chair, saying apologetically, "The house is a bit messy..."
"Let me help," Shen Mingsu readily agreed, taking the rag from the headmistress's hand and quickly tidying up a few chairs.
The headmistress's gaze remained fixed on Shen Mingsu. Having watched Yan Chi grow up, she knew his temperament. Now that he had returned with this tall, imposing man, the headmistress had a good idea of what was going on.
However, she worried that asking abruptly would embarrass Yan Chi, so she remained silent, only nodding to Shen Mingsu.
Yan Chi looked at the empty rest room, then glanced at the next few rooms. "Director, where are the others? Where are the children?"
"They're all gone," the director said, her back hunched, gazing out the window at the relentless snowfall. "The ground keeps collapsing, and people who fall in disappear without a trace. Everyone panicked."
"The orphanage has been built for so many years, it's old and dilapidated. If something happened, everyone would die. So they all left, went elsewhere to try and make a living."
Yan Chi's heart clenched. "Then why didn't you leave..."
What if the orphanage really collapsed? The thought sent chills down Yan Chi's spine. He even began to resent the staff who fled the orphanage for not taking the director with them.
“Xiao Chi, I’m over seventy years old this year, I might die tomorrow.” The director smiled. “I built this orphanage when I was in my twenties. I’ve spent most of my life here, and I don’t want to leave it.”
Yan Chi finally couldn’t hold back and hugged the elderly woman tightly. “No, you will definitely live to be a hundred.”
The director chuckled, not taking Yan Chi’s words to heart. She patted Yan Chi’s shoulder. “Xiao Chi, this young man is…”
Shen Mingsu, with his sharp ears, immediately and confidently introduced himself, “Director, my name is Shen Mingsu, I’m Xiao Chi’s boyfriend.”
The director’s hand trembled slightly when she heard the word “boyfriend.” She tried her best to smile at Shen Mingsu. “Good, you’re a good boy too.”
Even though her heart was in turmoil, the director still spoke to Shen Mingsu in the calmest voice. “So, how did you two meet?”
“We met at school.”
“Are you colleagues?”
“No, I’m the principal.” Shen Mingsu intentionally showcased his abilities to reassure the headmistress about him and Yan Chi.
However, the effect was clearly not as Shen Mingsu had hoped. The headmistress's expression instantly darkened. She glanced at Yan Chi, then at Shen Mingsu, hesitating to speak, and finally just forced a smile at Shen Mingsu.
The headmistress pulled Yan Chi aside, her eyes grave. "Child, I have something I want to ask you."
Yan Chi nodded. "Please go ahead."
The headmistress lowered her voice, secretly glancing at Shen Mingsu. "You...you met through legal channels?"
Yan Chi: "..."
"Has he used his position to pressure you? Bullied you?" The headmistress grew increasingly frightened, her heartache for Yan Chi almost overflowing from her eyes. "What can we do? Is his family particularly powerful? Even so, they can't bully you..."
The headmistress seemed to already see the poor little Yan Chi being threatened by the principal at school, forced to stay with him, and constantly enduring his bullying.
Just thinking about it brought tears to the director's eyes.
"No, Director," Yan Chi explained. "He never bullied me. We fell in love on our own, so please don't overthink it."
The headmistress was skeptical. "Really?"
"Really." Yan Chi took her hand. "Headmistress, I came to take you back to school. There's no landslide near the school; it's very safe. Xie Tao is there too. We'll take care of you in your old age."
The director was unmarried and childless; she was now alone in the orphanage. Yan Chi would never leave her alone.
The headmistress hesitated. "Xiao Chi, you have your job and your life. I can't bother you."
"It's not a bother." Yan Chi's mind raced. "Our school has housing available, lots of empty rooms. You could..."
"We can allocate you a retirement home. You can live alone, or you can come live with us," Shen Mingsu suddenly interjected, his tone gentle. "It won't be a burden on us. We have many elderly people at our school; they sometimes help take care of children. You won't be lonely there."
Yan Chi nodded repeatedly, pleading, "Please come back with us. And...and I've found my father, and he wants to thank you in person."
The headmistress, hearing this, was happy for Yan Chi. "Is your father good to you?"
"Very good. He left me at the orphanage because he couldn't take care of me himself."
The headmistress murmured, "That's good, that's good."
Yan Chi: "Then come back with us."
The headmistress' gaze hesitated, but she finally nodded. She beckoned to the little girl, "Can you take this child with you? You don't need to worry about her. I'll take care of her. It's too cold...I can't leave her behind."
The girl nestled in the director's arms, hugging her waist tightly, her eyes reddening.
Yan Chi nodded, "Of course."
The headmistress patted the little girl's head. "Quickly thank this brother."
The little girl was very obedient. She was about to kneel down to thank Yan Chi, but then remembered the headmistress's words and bowed deeply to him. "Thank you, brother."
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