Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The System was astonished that I wanted to give up.

“Why bother, Host?

“Even if the target won’t marry you, you can just keep things as they are. As long as he doesn’t marry anyone else, you can stay in this world forever.”

I remembered Cheng Nian gazing up at Ye Xi and asking her to marry his father. A bitter smile touched my lips.

Now that the heroine was back, a man like Cheng Su would surely choose her in the end.

I might as well return to reality. If I resumed treatment early enough, perhaps I could even buy myself a few more years.

When the System saw me like that, even its usually flat mechanical voice released a sigh.

“I understand. Wait here, Host. I’ll submit a request to my superiors and see if there’s anything I can do.”

It was gone for the entire night.

When it returned, its voice was much brighter.

“Host, my request was approved!

“You can go home, back to the exact moment when you first entered the novel.

“I combined the points you earned here with some points I had saved and exchanged them for a healthy body. When you return, your cancer can be cured.

“Don’t worry.”

I stared. “You used your own points too? Won’t that cause trouble for you?”

The System gave a soft hum.

“It’s fine. Systems are supposed to maintain good relationships with their hosts.

“You never know. I may need to ask for your help someday.”

As promised, the System cured my cancer when I returned to the real world.

I began living like an ordinary person. I met a man I loved, one who loved me in return, and had a second child.

The System never appeared again.

Until today.

Now its voice sounded utterly dejected.

“The main problem is the child called Cheng Nian. He’s showing signs of turning dark. He’s only twelve or thirteen, but he thinks like someone much older. He’s withdrawn, independent, and has almost no friends.

“We’re afraid he’ll grow into a major villain.

“So, Host… could you go back and stay with him for one more month?”

When I abandoned the mission, the System had spent its own points to appeal to its superiors for me. Without its help, I might not have lived this long.

So although I truly did not want to return to that world, I agreed.

“But,” I said, “I need to discuss it with my husband first. I’m married now.”

“Yes, of course,” the System said at once. “I’ll wait.”

My husband, Xu Chengzhou, knew the whole story.

He was an architect and, once upon a time, my boss. Before we began dating, I had told him everything about my years inside the novel.

So when I mentioned the System, he did not look surprised. The knife in his hand merely stopped halfway through a vegetable.

He turned to me, his breathing uneven.

“Shen Zhi, you’re going back?

“You will come home… won’t you?”

His voice trembled over the final words.

I smiled.

“Of course I will. The System said it would only be for a month. And there isn’t even a mission this time. No matter what happens, I won’t stay there.”

The kitchen door flew open before I finished.

Xu An’an rushed in and grabbed my sleeve.

“Mommy, where are you going? Are you leaving me because you don’t want me anymore?”

I blinked, then burst out laughing. I scooped him up and ruffled his hair.

“How could I? You’re Mommy’s precious baby. I could give up anyone in the world before I’d ever give up you.”

But the little fellow still did not believe me. He shook his head furiously in my arms and clung to my sleeve as if I might vanish at any moment.

“But I heard you. You told Daddy you were going somewhere far away to find another child.

“Mommy, is it because I asked for a hamburger tonight?”

He looked ready to cry.

“I’ll be good. I won’t ask for McDonald’s or KFC ever again. Please stay, Mommy.”

I had never told Xu An’an about Cheng Nian. I had always believed there was no need to burden a child with the past.

What was over should remain over.

But when I saw the grief on An’an’s face, I wondered whether adults were wrong to assume children understood nothing.

Perhaps telling them the truth was kinder.

I sighed, held his shoulders, and spoke as gently as I could.

“Mommy has another son. He’s your older brother, and he hasn’t seen me in a very long time.

“I’m going back to celebrate his birthday. Then I’ll come home. All right?”

After a moment, Xu An’an gave a hesitant hum and nodded, only half understanding.

“Then I’m coming too. I want to meet my big brother. Can I, Mommy?”