Chapter 935: An Unbearable Outcome
"Another rainy day. My joints ache. I'm truly old. The house is so cold and desolate. Hearing the neighbor's child crying, I think of Little Fan when he was young."
"The old man says nothing, but I know he misses Little Fan even more than I do. He often calls out his name in his sleep at night. Several times I've turned on the light and seen cloudy tears on his face. We are truly old."
...
The diary had yellowed. Every page Ye Fan turned brought tears streaming down. It was filled with longing for him, carrying their love.
"Dad! Mom!" Ye Fan couldn't help but weep. He had endured so much hardship and suffering on the Big Dipper, never shedding a tear. But now that he had returned, he could no longer hold back. Tears fell continuously.
The dust-covered diary felt heavier than ten thousand jun, making his hands tremble uncontrollably. His heart ached. His aged parents, their desolate twilight years, calling his name in their sleep—yet upon waking, only cold tears remained.
"New Year's has come, same as always, just the two of us. If only Little Fan would suddenly return and appear by our side, how wonderful that would be."
"The fifteenth has arrived, the Lantern Festival. It should be a time for family reunion, but the house is so cold and quiet. We went to bed early, but lay awake until dawn. Our waists and legs ache. Our bodies are failing. I don't know how many more years we can wait for Little Fan."
...
Ye Fan wept loudly, kneeling on the ground, clutching this diary stained with tears and longing. His body trembled. Every word pierced his heart, causing him unbearable pain.
How had the two elders gotten through these years? Tears blurred his vision. Page after page of yellowed paper carried so much—heavier than a mountain.
The last diary entry stopped ten years ago. It contained only a few lines: their bodies were failing, they missed him so much they were becoming dazed, the two elders could barely exchange a few words over several days, depressed into illness.
Ye Fan's heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife. He grabbed his hair in anguish, kneeling in pain, wishing he could reverse time and return to that moment, just to make them smile.
This was a diary from ten years ago. What remained here now? Only dust, not a trace of life. Ye Fan's mind roared, and he felt as if he had lost his soul.
He knew some things were destined to be unchangeable, but he still couldn't accept it. He roared like a wounded beast, letting out a mournful howl of pain.
"Dad! Mom!"
He cried out to the heavens, tears falling like rain. He clawed at the void, trying to reclaim something, but he could do nothing.
He searched frantically, scouring every corner, but every object only deepened his sorrow. The moldy, damp bedroom, the simple furniture, the spoiled instant noodles—all of it showed that the two elders' later years had not been comfortable.
Finally, in a relatively newer wardrobe, he saw many neatly folded clothes. Each one was well-preserved. They... were all his!
Ye Fan choked with sobs, trembling as he touched them with his hands. He knocked his head against the ground, kneeling there, unwilling to rise. He pounded the floor in anguish.
Though he tried to control himself, cracks still spread outward. This was an unacceptable outcome. He wanted to roar aloud.
He had disregarded everything, traveling from the Big Dipper Star Domain, only to reunite today and appear before the elders. But in the end, he was too late.
Ye Fan wept bitterly, calling out in grief, crying for his parents like a child. Tears flowed endlessly. He felt as if he had lost the entire world.
If his enemies on the Big Dipper Star Domain knew, they would surely be baffled. How could this man, with a heart harder than iron and merciless in action, have such a side?
No one knew how long passed. Ye Fan's heart was empty and hollow. His eyes were lifeless. He sat motionless, hugging his knees.
After reading the diary and seeing everything in the house, he could already infer that his parents' bodies had given out ten years ago. He could guess the outcome.
Like a wounded child, Ye Fan curled up in a corner. For a day and a night, he didn't move. His eyes were vacant, staring blankly at every object in the room.
Only on the second day did he stand up, ready to uncover the final scar on his heart, to face the cruel, bleeding pain.
He walked out slowly, looking at the sky. Everything seemed bleak. Even the sun had lost its radiance. Everything was so oppressive.
Looking at the old courtyard house, he fell silent. Back then, he had left his parents a considerable amount of money. After he disappeared from Mount Tai, the house, car, savings—all of it should have belonged to the two elders. Why hadn't their lives been good?
By the living standards of that time, what he had left behind should have been enough for an ordinary person to live comfortably for several lifetimes.
Price increases? Inflation? In 2010, ten yuan had about the same purchasing power as one yuan in the 1990s. But even if more than twenty years had passed, with outrageous prices and even worse inflation, those assets should still have been enough for them to enjoy their old age.
Ye Fan shook his head. What was the point of investigating this now that they were gone? He was nearly in despair as he prepared to face the final result.
He wanted to find out where his parents had gone after the diary ended. He wanted to see their final moments. To do this, he decided to use his divine powers, enter relevant government departments, and, regardless of how shocking it might be, access all records.
First, he released his powerful divine sense, searching the memories of some people in this courtyard house. He carefully searched, then erased all traces of his actions.
To his surprise, he actually found an extremely valuable clue. Ten years ago, someone had taken away his parents, whose bodies were already failing. It was a woman.
These people didn't know who the woman was, only that her surname was Xu, because before getting into the car, his parents had called her "Little Xu."
A woman surnamed Xu. Ye Fan's heart stirred. In his life, among the people he knew who had intersected with him and whom his parents would address that way, there was only her.
Thinking of this woman, Ye Fan was stunned for a moment, then let out a soft sigh. More than twenty years had passed. What could be done? Time was so merciless, changing so many things.
Xu Qiong—a woman who had left a deep mark on his life. Twenty-plus years apart. He wondered what it would be like to meet again.
Leaving this suburb, he used his divine powers to enter some government departments, access archives, and search for important information. He found out where Xu Qiong lived.
After graduating from university, his relationship with Li Xiaoman had also come to an end. A little over a year later, he met a woman named Xu Qiong. They were friends for two years.
From a calm, ordinary acquaintance to two years of friendship, becoming very close... and then... there was no "and then." Because before it could begin, it all ended.
If there hadn't been that gathering, if he hadn't gone to Mount Tai, if he hadn't disappeared from this world, perhaps there would have been many more stories.
In this city of B, where land was worth its weight in gold, owning a villa was a dream many could never achieve in a lifetime, especially here—Western Hills.
Western Hills was the collective name for the mountains west of B City. The location was excellent, the scenery beautiful, especially famous for its ancient temples. Adjacent to scenic areas and within them, it was known as the royal district.
Ye Fan stood not far from a standalone villa, watching quietly. The weather was cold. The leaves had long since fallen from the trees. He could see that this place was carefully chosen—good for views and living, in a prime location.
There were no waves, no surprises. He smoothly found Xu Qiong's residence—the standalone villa ahead.
In the distance, a car slowly approached. A graceful woman got out. She was so familiar that Ye Fan's heart jolted. It was Xu Qiong.
She had aged well. Though long past her prime, she showed few signs of the years. Instead, she had gained a kind of maturity and steadiness.
Ye Fan stared blankly, recalling many memories. The beautiful woman of those days had loved to laugh and talk, very outgoing. Now, her temperament was completely different.
The passing years, the lost youth, had changed so much. If not for meeting here, he might not have dared to recognize her.
"Mom." The other car door opened. A sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl got out, hopping and skipping, very lively and also very beautiful, much like Xu Qiong twenty-some years ago.
In the distance, Ye Fan was stunned. So many years had passed. The girl he once knew was now a mother, with a daughter this big. A flood of emotions washed over him, and he stood there in silence.
"Time," he slowly breathed out those two words.
In the distance, Xu Qiong happened to look over and saw him. Her handbag fell to the ground. The expression on her face froze. She stared at him in shock.
Then, her expression became incredibly agitated. She reached out a hand, pointing at Ye Fan, murmuring, "You... you... you are..."
"Mom, what's wrong?" The girl quickly ran around the car, came up to her, hugged her arm, and shook it worriedly, then followed her gaze toward him.
So many years had passed, but Ye Fan's appearance hadn't changed. In fact, he looked a few years younger than before. He silently approached and stood before her.
"Is it... really you?" Xu Qiong asked, her voice trembling.
"It's me." Ye Fan nodded.
Such a reunion made many words hard to speak at first. They stood facing each other in silence, emotions surging.
"Come inside and talk," Xu Qiong said after calming down a little.
"Mom, who is he?" the girl beside her asked softly.
After entering the living room, Xu Qiong said, "Xu Ye, go to your room. I need to talk with this uncle."
"What uncle? He's only a few years older than me." Xu Ye wrinkled her nose in displeasure, a bit playfully and provocatively, saying, "Hey, little kid, who are you?" Her tone was joking, not offensive, and she seemed very lively.
"Go to your room." Xu Qiong put on a stern face.
"Oh, fine."
The living room fell silent. Neither of them spoke. For Xu Qiong, Ye Fan's appearance was too shocking, too earth-shattering.
After a suffocating silence, Xu Qiong finally spoke after a long time. "These years... where exactly have you been?"
"Far away. So far that I fought with all my might, faced countless brushes with death, and only now have I returned," Ye Fan said bitterly.
Xu Qiong let out a soft sigh. "I didn't wait for you too long. We were friends for two years, and I only waited two years. People have to live, after all."
Ye Fan nodded. Reality wasn't a novel. People had to survive, to live. Waiting a lifetime in suffering—that wasn't realistic. That was just a beautiful story. People always had to move forward.
He didn't know how Xu Qiong had brought his parents here. Something must have happened. There was a story behind it.
"Xu Qiong, my parents..." Ye Fan's voice trembled.
"It would have been good if you had come back three years earlier."
Ye Fan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His whole body went limp as he collapsed onto the sofa. He felt the world go dark. Though he had anticipated it, hearing such an answer with his own ears still felt like falling into a bottomless abyss. His vision went black, and tears streamed down uncontrollably.
Xu Qiong stood up and led him into a room. She told him this was where the two elders had spent their final days. Three years ago, one after the other, within less than a month, they had left this world.
Ye Fan knelt there, silently weeping. He gripped the bedsheet tightly, trying to feel their presence, to capture any trace of their existence.
"They missed you terribly. Every night, they would softly hum the lullabies they used to sing to you when you were little, stroking your childhood photos..."
"Especially when their bodies failed and they could no longer move, they clung tightly to that yellowed photo album, afraid of losing it."
"In their final days, they would touch it with their rough hands, staring blankly at your photos with their clouded eyes..."
Ye Fan could no longer bear it. He knelt on the ground, pressing his forehead against the bed, and wept bitterly in grief.
Twenty-some years. All his efforts had come to nothing. In the end, he had not been able to see his parents. His heart felt as if it were being twisted. It was filled with sorrow and pain, and endless regret!
Heart-wrenching pain. Tears gushed like a spring, blurring his vision. Ye Fan's fingers were nearly crushed from clenching. He could not accept this outcome.
Xu Qiong withdrew, leaving him alone in the room. In a daze, Ye Fan sensed a warmth and a calling.
"Little Fan, have you come back..."
Ye Fan's heart was torn to pieces. He murmured, every word like blood, reciting the Salvation Scripture. He had never thought he would chant it for his parents. Every character was branded into the void, carrying his grief and sorrow, imprinted in the room.
Alas, a sigh. Actually, I didn't want to write this. It took time, effort, and heart, keeping me up so late. But I felt that the cliché of "one person attaining the Dao, and even their chickens and dogs ascending to heaven" was too trite. After finishing this chapter, I don't feel very good either. Mm, for those brothers and sisters who find this moving, please cast your *** to support me.
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