The Passing River and the Unarrived Wind - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Without the System controlling me, I could finally eat.

Before No. 075 arrived, the System had kept me starving for three or four days.

Because Xiao Qian had taken a new consort some time ago.

He had even punished me for her sake.

The System said, “Don’t worry, Host. As long as you go hungry and refuse to eat, the male lead will regret it.”

It wanted to make Xiao Qian regret things by punishing me.

During the three days I went on a hunger strike, Xiao Qian didn’t send a single person to check on me.

When he heard about it, he only had someone pass along one sentence.

He said, “If she wants to die, tell her to die somewhere far away. Don’t die in Weiyang Palace and dirty my ground.”

The moment the System heard that, it became instantly excited.

Its mechanical voice turned shrill.

“Host, I’m telling you, this is the start of the wife-chasing crematorium arc. As long as you die, the male lead will regret it.

“He will lose his beloved forever, possess supreme power, and enjoy endless loneliness.

“Trust me. As long as you die, our strategy mission will succeed!!!”

I didn’t understand why Xiao Qian would only fall in love with me after I died.

Controlled by the System, I couldn’t swallow any food.

Before No. 075 arrived, I was lying in bed, waiting for death to come.

…

I wolfed down the food, forcing enough nutrients into my body.

I didn’t want to die.

I wanted to live.

Only after she saw that I had finished eating and my color had improved did No. 075 take out something else.

She said, “Li Qingyuan, this is a videotape your parents asked me to bring you. It has a message from them.”

I froze.

After the disbelief came a tidal wave of joy.

The videotape began to play.

On the screen were my parents, whom I had not seen in seventeen long years.

“Old Li, has it started recording?”

Mom sat awkwardly in front of the camera and tugged at her clothes.

Dad appeared in front of the camera right after.

They looked so much older.

Vain Old Li had gotten much darker.

There were many more wrinkles at the corners of Mom’s eyes.

I didn’t dare imagine how they had endured all these years since I disappeared.

“Nannan, they must have found you, right? That’s why you can see this video?”

Mom’s voice was gentle, and her eyes reddened without her noticing. “Nannan, don’t be afraid. They’re here to take you home.”

I nodded with all my might.

I had completely forgotten this was a recording, and they couldn’t see me.

Old Li also raised his arm to show me the results of his workouts over the past few years.

“Nannan, don’t be afraid. Once you’re home, Dad will protect you. I’ll beat up everyone who ever bullied you, okay?”

I said okay.

All these years since I disappeared, Old Li had lived with guilt.

He said that if he hadn’t been lazy that night after evening self-study and had come to the school gate to pick me up, maybe I wouldn’t have gone missing.

Old Li choked out, “Nannan, I’m sorry. It was all Dad’s fault. If Dad had been there that day, my Nannan wouldn’t have gotten lost.”

Mom smacked him, though her own eyes were swollen like walnuts.

Mom said, “Nannan, don’t be afraid. Mom and Dad have always been here. We’ll wait for you to come home.”

The cat I had raised kept meowing at the camera too.

It was crouched on the shoe cabinet by the door.

A little cat didn’t understand what it meant for someone to go missing, nor did it understand separation.

It just crouched by the door, waiting for me to come home like it always had.

Their words reached their lips, but in the end, they couldn’t say anything.

A thousand words all condensed into one sentence.

Again and again, they repeated the same thing: they were waiting for me to come home.

I clamped a hand over my mouth, terrified I would sob out loud.

After arriving in this world, I didn’t cry when both my legs were broken.

I didn’t cry when the slave owner humiliated me like a plaything.

I didn’t cry when Xiao Qian treated me as a trophy to show off and toyed with me however he liked.

But the moment I thought of my parents, the tears wouldn’t stop falling.

The videotape wasn’t long. It finished playing very soon.