Ch 104 (Extra 4): After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

Sunlight spilled through the curtains, casting a warm glow in the dim room.

“Zhengfei, I just had a dream,” Wei Jiao turned to look at Ruan Zhengfei, who had also just woken up. She nuzzled into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. “I saw… the three of us, living in a world where everyone had flying swords and practiced immortal arts.”

Ruan Zhengfei, familiar with this routine, hugged her tightly and adjusted her pillow a little. “You saw it?”

Wei Jiao nodded. “Yeah. It felt like I was watching from outside, like a third party. You two didn’t see me at all.”

“Then maybe what you saw was our family in a parallel timeline,” Ruan Zhengfei said as he hugged her tighter again. “But right now, your husband is holding you. I can see you, and I can hold you too.”

Wei Jiao had felt a little melancholy at first, but after hearing Ruan Zhengfei’s words, she couldn’t help but laugh. She hugged him back and kissed his cheek. “Fei Fei, I hope the three of us… can live happily for a lifetime.”

“Not just a lifetime—let’s be happy for several lifetimes,” Ruan Zhengfei replied, glancing at the curtains before pulling the blanket over them again. “It’s the weekend. Let’s sleep in. Jiao Jiao, dream a little more—let’s go to Jing City with Cha Cha in your dream.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Wei Jiao closed her eyes again but cast one last look at Ruan Zhengfei, a complex expression rising in her eyes.

There was something she hadn’t told him.

When she’d just woken up, she suddenly realized that the scene in her dream was something she had actually experienced as a child. Back then, Wei Jiao had just arrived at the orphanage and hadn’t yet met Ruan Zhengfei, who used to visit there with Grandpa Ruan.

She had been young, simple, and naive—convinced she’d somehow arrived in a magical world where people wore beautiful long robes, flew on swords, and cast glowing, colorful spells.

But compared to those people, Wei Jiao had been too small, too weak—easy to bully. Later, a family of three appeared and took her in.

Gradually, she’d learned to farm vegetables in that world, and over time, she developed a strong sense for the intentions—good or bad—of the people around her.

As she recalled those childhood dreams, her expression softened. After waking from that dream, she had forgotten everything about it… but from that day on, she’d been able to grow the most delicious Chinese cabbage.

And last night, when she had the dream again, she was stunned to realize that the people who took her in all those years ago were actually her grown-up self, Zhengfei, and Cha Cha.

Wei Jiao laughed and shook her head. Maybe she’d just watched too many fantasy dramas, and her imagination had run wild. Adopted by her future self? No way, right?

Soon, she pulled the warm blanket up again, cuddled into Ruan Zhengfei, and slipped peacefully back into sleep.

—

While Wei Jiao and Ruan Zhengfei drifted off for a lazy morning nap, in the room next door, a person lying on the bed stirred.

Long lashes trembled slightly, then slowly lifted to reveal inky-black eyes tinged with faint red.

Ruan Cha stared blankly at the ceiling. Scenes from the cemetery flashed intermittently through her mind—her father and Fu Chen’s sorrowful faces especially vivid.

On the desk, the 1128 system, still in the form of a soft glutinous rice ball, saw her waking up and carefully scooted over to nudge her arm. Its voice was thick with tears.

“Ruan Cha… this system is deeply guilty. My crimes are unforgivable. I—I harmed one person after another…”

The system’s wailing pulled Ruan Cha out of her thoughts. Watching the poor rice ball sobbing uncontrollably, she felt a mixture of helplessness and heartache. She reached out, picked it up, and gently patted it.

“It’s not your fault. Everything was done by Virus X and those selfish, twisted people. You were just caught in it.”

She tilted her head slightly. “1128, did your database update again?”

Ruan Cha remembered that until now, 1128 had only known about the events of the second timeline.

Back when its energy pool was full, she hadn’t told it about the first timeline because, after learning how devastated it had been just from discovering that Yu Zheng had hurt someone, she couldn’t bear to add to its guilt.

The system nodded, its big round rice-ball body nudging Ruan Cha’s arm as it moved.

“Last night while you were asleep, I fully integrated with the antivirus program. Turns out, once the program’s embedded Dreamweave Cards were all used, its firewall stopped blocking me.”

1128 had always thought it had done a perfect job—helping Ruan Cha defeat Ren Qingqing and Yu Zheng, preventing them from harming others.

But after merging with the antivirus program, it had a total breakdown.

Because it realized—it had been completely wrong.

In the previous timeline, it had inadvertently caused Ruan Cha’s death. It had led to the death of Grandpa Ruan. It had let that young actress die. It had failed so many.

If not for the reversal of time…

Wuwuwu…

1128 couldn’t even bear to think about it anymore.

“Dreamweave Cards?”

When Ruan Cha asked, the system hurried to explain what they were. After finishing, it hesitated for a moment, then added:

“Because the previous Fu Chen sealed one of your past-life emotional signatures into a Dreamweave Card, it created resonance between your consciousnesses across timelines. So… everything you’ve seen in your dreams, actually happened once.”

Sunlight streamed in through the curtains, casting golden light across the dim room.

“Turns out the second half of that conversation in the cemetery… was what the me from the previous life had wanted to say all along. Can a family really meet again in the virtual world?” Ruan Cha murmured with a soft smile, recalling what Fu Chen and her dad had said about the online game.

“Meet again in the virtual world?”

1128 couldn’t see what was inside the Dreamweave Cards, nor could it see Ruan Cha’s dream, so it didn’t quite understand what she meant.

“Yeah, meet again. And… thank you, 1128.” Ruan Cha got out of bed and pulled open the layered curtains, letting the golden sunlight flood the entire room.

Looking out at the garden, the greenhouse, and the flower room, she felt calm. “In the previous life, the mental remnants of me and my mom that the antivirus program collected have started to show signs of activity.”

“Fu Chen and my dad are trying to bring our mental forms back in the virtual world. Even if we can’t see the real world anymore, seeing the world inside a game is still something.”

Whether real or virtual—being able to see your family again, to see the person you like—was more than enough.

Hmm…

Ruan Cha scratched her head. Speaking of the person she liked—was it possible that the “Ruan Cha” from her previous life and Fu Chen had liked each other too?

The thought made her a little melancholy. She glanced at the phone on her desk. Should she message Fu Chen?

“Wuwuwuwu!”

“I’m so happy! Ruan Cha, in my original world, some people actually preferred living in virtual games! I truly believe your family from the previous life will be really happy!”

“And you and Fu Chen are working on making Planet Manager’s Handbook into a fully immersive VR game, right? If you ever need it, you can totally back up the game data in my internal database. I promise—as long as I exist, the game will live on! Isn’t that what you humans call legacy?”

Ruan Cha laughed. “It’s just a game, and you’re talking about legacy? Even if it lasts, maybe no one will be playing by then. Let’s just go with the flow.”

While chatting with 1128, she made up her mind. She opened her phone, tapped into WeChat, saw that it was already 9:30 a.m., hesitated a moment… and accidentally pressed the video call button.

Before she could cancel it, Fu Chen picked up immediately—giving her no chance to backtrack.

He seemed a little surprised she was video calling him so early, especially since they had just confessed their feelings the day before. They were still in that fluttery stage where even making eye contact could send their hearts racing.

Afraid his surprise might make her hang up, Fu Chen quickly masked his expression and smiled gently. “Cha Cha, good morning. Have you had breakfast?”

“Just woke up, about to head out and eat.” As she spoke, her eyes landed on Fu Chen’s bright and energetic face, and her heart instantly softened. “I just… suddenly wanted to see you.”

Ruan Cha understood clearly that the Fu Chen in front of her and the one from the past life were technically different people. The thanks for the antivirus program belonged to the Fu Chen of that past life.

But hearing her say she wanted to see him first thing in the morning made Fu Chen’s lips lift uncontrollably, a soft light blooming in his eyes.

“Cha Cha, I wanted to see you too.”

Not just see you—I want to hold you.

Fu Chen smiled and pretended not to notice how her eyes darted away shyly after she spoke. He gave a light cough and asked, “Are you free tomorrow? Since things between us have changed, I think we should do something appropriate for this new relationship.”

“I’m free,” Ruan Cha replied, then blinked. “But what kind of thing is ‘appropriate’ for our new relationship?”

A hint of mischief lit up Fu Chen’s handsome features as he deliberately slowed his voice. “Like… going on a date?”

Ruan Cha: “……”

Was Fu Chen breaking character right now, or was that just her imagination?

She didn’t reply immediately, so the arc of Fu Chen’s smile lifted even higher. Then, more seriously, he added, “Cha Cha, go eat breakfast. Skipping it isn’t good for your stomach.”

Ruan Cha nodded, raised a hand in a small wave, and replied with a soft “Mm.”

Just before ending the call, she pressed her lips together slightly and said, “See you tomorrow. Let me know on WeChat when you’re on your way.”

She hung up cleanly right after that, exhaled deeply, and smiled to herself.

As she’d expected, video chatting with Fu Chen felt completely different now that she had accepted her feelings.

He looked like he had just come back from a morning run—and he still looked ridiculously good.

Meanwhile—

Fu Chen stared at the darkened screen for a long moment, the surprise in his eyes slowly melting into quiet happiness. He couldn’t hold back a low laugh.

Cha Cha said see you tomorrow.

Didn’t that mean… she’d agreed to the date?

“Hey! Didn’t you just get back from your run? What are you rushing off to now?” Father Fu appeared in the hallway just in time to see Fu Chen, a towel thrown over his neck, heading straight out again.

They had already planned to visit the cemetery later that day, so Father Fu had cleared his entire schedule. He had just come back from the garden and was hoping to talk for a bit—only to watch his son turn tail and sprint off the moment he appeared.

Fu Chen waved back cheerfully. “I’m going for another half hour!”

Father Fu: “???”