[Parallel World IF Scenario]
[Chu Tingyun’s birth year is postponed by three years, and the age gap between the two is adjusted to six years.]
Nancheng, late July.
The summer heat was relentless, and the noisy chirping of cicadas echoed through the lush branches. At this hour, the children of the welfare home were supposed to be napping, but no one could sleep.
Because one of them was about to be taken away by an adoptive family.
“How lucky, he’s going to have a mom and dad.”
“I just peeked a moment ago, it’s those two, uncle and aunt, who often come to visit Yan Xun. They even brought a kid, the one in the wheelchair.”
“What’s so great about that? The man who wanted to adopt Yan Xun before was way better. He donated a bunch of stuff to us, and his car was amazing. I heard the teacher say it’s called… a BMW?”
“……”
Most of the children in a place like this matured early. As the ones being chosen, they quickly understood that only by being adopted by good parents could they leave here and have a better life.
Naturally, they also became aware of the adoptive families’ conditions.
However, there weren’t many people in this small city of Nancheng who were willing to adopt children. And the children left in this welfare home were usually those with some physical issues or less attractive appearances.
So among these children, Yan Xun, with his handsome and cute looks, smart mind, and well-behaved personality—plus the fact that he was a boy—stood out especially.
The teachers all liked him, and many people who visited the welfare home also took an interest in him. Even though Yan Xun had been in the welfare home for less than six months and hadn’t yet entered the adoption process, many families had already shown interest in him. Some of them were quite wealthy.
This made many of the children in the welfare home envious, and some were even jealous. Some would isolate Yan Xun or create little troubles for him.
But these things wouldn’t really affect Yan Xun’s future much, because everyone believed he would be adopted by a very good family and would leave the other children behind, entering a completely different world.
What no one expected was that Yan Xun rejected those families with excellent conditions and chose the Lin couple instead.
The teachers and the head of the welfare home didn’t understand and thought the child didn’t know any better, so they tried to analyze the pros and cons for him, persuading him in various ways.
In the end, Yan Xun understood everything. He comprehended all the practical issues the teachers had explained, but he remained stubborn.
“I know, I understand everything, teacher, but I just want them.”
He insisted on choosing this couple who were not well-off financially and already had a disabled biological child.
“Alright.”
In the end, the head of the welfare home agreed.
So today, the Lin couple came to the welfare home with their son. They had brought all the necessary documents and planned to take Yan Xun to the adoption registration office to formalize the process.
While the other children in the dormitory were chattering about this, the Lin parents were in the headmaster’s office, probably discussing things not suitable for children to hear, so Yan Xun waited downstairs in the activity room.
—He was very nervous.
So Yan Xun couldn’t help but keep glancing at Lin Ran, who was sitting in the wheelchair beside him.
Lin Ran was eleven years old at the time, with delicate and youthful features, though the overly gloomy expression on his face made him seem ill-tempered.
Because of this, little Yan Xun was a bit scared of him.
Back when the Lin couple saved Yan Xun from traffickers, he had learned that they had a disabled son. It was because they were praying for their son’s safety that they happened to rescue him that day.
So in Yan Xun’s heart, he had a good impression of Lin Ran, even though they’d never met. And seeing how much the Lin couple loved Lin Ran, Yan Xun felt envious.
Maybe if they became my parents, they would love me just as much.
Yan Xun would sometimes think this, but then feel guilty, as if he were stealing Lin Ran’s parents.
So now he carefully stole glances at Lin Ran for a long time before finally summoning the courage to greet him.
“Gege…”
“Who’s your gege?!”
Lin Ran’s already bad expression instantly darkened. He turned his head away, refusing to look at Yan Xun, as if he really disliked him.
“Get lost! Stay away from me!”
“…Oh.”
Little Yan Xun muttered softly and obediently retreated to a corner by the wall, crouching down with his knees hugged to his chest.
But after a few seconds, Lin Ran turned back. He looked at the small child crouched by the wall and suddenly squeezed his fist tightly with his eyes closed.
“You, come here.”
“…Huh?”
Little Yan Xun looked up at him, tilting his head with some hesitation, but still obediently shuffled over in small steps.
“What’s wrong, gege?”
“…I told you not to call me that!”
“Then what should I call you?”
“My name is Lin Ran.”
“Oh, well, Lin Ran, nice to meet you. I’m Yan Xun.”
The little boy thought it was a polite exchange of introductions.
But Lin Ran got annoyed: “Of course I know!”
“……”
Little Yan Xun realized Lin Ran seemed to get angry very easily.
Calling him ‘gege’ made him mad, keeping a distance made him mad, and now introducing himself even made him mad.
So Yan Xun tried to appease him: “Wow, you’re so smart to know that.”
The little boy even clapped his hands a few times as if giving Lin Ran a round of applause.
Lin Ran: “……”
He grabbed the boy’s hands to stop him from clapping and then pulled him closer.
“Let me tell you this first, my family has no money. We’re really poor.”
“I heard that there was a man who wanted to adopt you before, and he was really rich. He even drove a luxury car worth millions.”
Lin Ran actually didn’t know how much that car cost; he was just trying to exaggerate its value.
“Do you know how much a few million is, kid? It’s enough to buy mountains of delicious food and toys. You could wear new clothes every day without repeating…”
“The adoption paperwork isn’t done yet. If you regret it, there’s still time.”
“……”
Yan Xun looked at him steadily for a few seconds, then shook his head.
“I know how much a few million is, but I don’t regret it.”
“……”
Lin Ran felt frustrated.
He thought this kid must have something wrong with his head. After thinking for a few seconds, he switched to something a child could understand.
“If you come to my house, you’ll only be able to sleep in the storage room. It’s really small, really dark, and stuffy.”
“You’ll only get to drink thin porridge every day, without any rice. You won’t even eat meat once a month.”
“And you’ll have to take care of me, a cripple, from morning till night. You’ll be my servant for the rest of your life, dragged down by me. Do you get that?”
“……”
Yan Xun still didn’t react much. He just stood there, his head down, quietly listening without saying a word.
Seeing the kid still looking confused and impervious to persuasion, Lin Ran got really angry. He fumed for a few minutes, and finally, he had no choice but to use his trump card.
“Hey, squat down!”
“Lin Ran, my name is Yan Xun.”
“…Yan Xun, squat down.”
“Oh.”
The little boy obediently squatted down again.
“Come a little closer.”
So Yan Xun shuffled closer, until he was almost at Lin Ran’s legs.
It was the height of summer, with an outdoor temperature of 34 degrees, yet Lin Ran still had a thin blanket covering his legs.
He must be really hot like this.
Yan Xun thought.
But without his legs, Lin Ran-gege had to stay like this to hide the fact that his body was incomplete.
Thinking about this, Yan Xun suddenly felt very sad.
But at that moment, Lin Ran lifted the cloth covering his legs and bent down to roll up his empty pant legs.
He wanted to show the boy the most terrifying, hideous scars.
Once, a neighbor’s kid accidentally saw them and was so scared that they burst into tears. After that, they were always afraid of Lin Ran.
—He didn’t believe Yan Xun wouldn’t be scared.
However, Yan Xun’s reaction completely surprised him. The close-up sight of those scars didn’t scare the boy at all. Instead, he gently blew on them.
Yan Xun asked softly, full of sadness, “Gege… Lin Ran, does it hurt?”
“……”
In that instant, Lin Ran felt as if he’d been struck by lightning.
He looked at Yan Xun’s face, his lips trembling, unable to speak for a long time. But then he flew into a rage out of shame, and with a forceful shove, he pushed the boy squatting by his legs away.
“Why would it hurt?! How could it hurt?!”
“I don’t have legs! There’s nothing there! I can’t feel anything, do you understand?!”
Eleven-year-old Lin Ran was obviously much stronger than six-year-old Yan Xun, so in his emotional outburst, he easily shoved the boy to the ground.
At that moment, the adults, who had just finished their conversation upstairs, heard the commotion and quickly came down to check on the children. Yan Xun, who had fallen to the floor, got up right away.
The Lin couple arrived first. They looked at the two children, who clearly weren’t getting along well, and asked Lin Ran what had happened.
Yan Xun rushed to answer, “It’s nothing, we were just playing.”
“……”
Lin Ran was stunned, his eyes wide open. His expression upon hearing that sentence was as if someone had slapped him across the face.
“He’s lying! I pushed him! I…”
“Lin Ran!”
Father Lin sternly scolded him, forcing him to apologize to Yan Xun. When Lin Ran refused, his father pushed him outside to reflect in the car.
Meanwhile, Mother Lin came over to check on Yan Xun.
“Aunt Shen, I’m fine.”
Mother Lin’s name was Shen Su, so Yan Xun called her Aunt Shen.
Shen Su also apologized to Yan Xun, saying that Lin Ran didn’t know any better, and she hugged the boy, comforting him with kind words.
Finally, she asked Yan Xun:
“Your brother lost his legs, so he struggles a lot in daily life. Little Yan is so well-behaved and capable; you might have to help take care of him in the future.”
“Mm.”
The little boy lowered his head, taking a deep breath, and tried his best to show her a smile.
“I…”
Yan Xun wanted to say, I’m willing to.
But before he could get the words out, a teacher suddenly burst in, filled with excitement.
“Wait!”
“I’m terribly sorry, Ms. Shen!”
“The police just called with new developments in the kidnapping case. They’ve found Yan Xun’s biological parents!”
“They’ve just landed and should be here in about two hours. So, today you might not be able to…”
—take the child away!
Shen Su was stunned on the spot. “…What?!”
Yan Xun was also dumbfounded.
His mind went completely blank, and he didn’t even react when the teacher gently took him out of Shen Su’s arms.
“Biological parents…”
The news was too sudden, and Shen Su found it hard to accept.
“Are they really his biological parents? Could there be a mistake? Could it be like before…”
This wasn’t the first time someone had come looking for the child, claiming Yan Xun resembled their biological child. One person had even matched the detail of a jade pendant. But after the DNA test, it turned out he wasn’t their child after all.
So Shen Su found it difficult to believe.
The teacher, holding the child, patiently explained to her, “This time is different. This time, the call came from the police who were investigating the kidnapping case back then. They’ve probably already verified some information, and it’s almost certain.”
A child’s appearance doesn’t change much between five and six years old. They didn’t even need a DNA test. Just by comparing Yan Xun’s photo with the one of Ye Chengyi from back then, anyone could immediately tell that they were the same person.
“…”
Shen Su’s face turned pale, and she forced a smile.
“Is that so? Then… then I’ll wait a little longer, we’ll stay with Xiao Xun a bit longer…”
She didn’t want to believe it, and there was some unwillingness too.
Waiting is actually a very agonizing thing, especially when the result of that wait is about to come. Time seems to stretch out indefinitely, like sandpaper grinding against the softest part of your heart.
But Yan Xun’s biological parents were probably feeling the same way, so they managed to shorten the two hours the teacher mentioned to just over an hour.
Soon, a black car screeched to a halt in front of the orphanage.
Shen Su held Yan Xun’s hand tightly, waiting in the courtyard. Standing beside them were Father Lin and Lin Ran.
At that moment, everyone saw two people hurrying out of the car, a man and a woman. They were almost running as they came in, and the man even nearly stumbled.
“Yan Yan!”
Yan Xun was tightly embraced by his mother, as if he was the piece of her heart that had been torn away.
And so, the child Shen Su had been holding onto was now taken away by Xie Fengjun. She also saw Ye Cunshan following closely behind.
Blood ties can be quite miraculous at times. Without any other proof, just one glance is enough to confirm it.
So, the moment Shen Su saw their faces, the stone that had been hanging in her heart exploded like a bomb.
Father Lin felt both disappointed and relieved, with a hint of guilt. As for Lin Ran, he was surprisingly the happiest one in the family.
As they said their goodbyes, Yan Xun saw the older brother who always seemed angry in his wheelchair give him a small smile.
So today, Yan Xun did indeed gain parents—but not adoptive ones, rather his biological parents.
However, he insisted on having a paternity test done. After waiting seven days for the results, Yan Xun was taken back to the capital by his parents.
That day marked the biggest turning point in his life, or perhaps it was more accurate to say that it set him back on his original path.
His identity information was corrected, and Yan Xun’s name was changed back to Ye Chengyi.
Xie Fengjun and Ye Cunshan had stayed at the orphanage for a week. The conditions at the small-town orphanage were far from ideal, with several, even ten children, crowded into one room. In the summer, there was no air conditioning, only old electric fans.
So, soon after returning to the capital, the couple sold the new house they had bought just two years earlier. They poured all their savings into it and took out a loan to buy a bigger, more expensive house with better security.
The master bedroom was for Xiao Chengyi, and his parents also gave him a separate little study room. Everything they provided was the best they could afford.
After three months of being spoiled by his parents 24/7, Xiao Chengyi finally started to adjust. So when Xie Fengjun asked him what he wanted as a gift for his belated sixth birthday, he said:
“Mom, I want to learn martial arts. Is that okay?”
“—Of course, it is!” Xie Fengjun agreed without hesitation.
“Is there anything else you want to learn?”
“…”
Xiao Chengyi thought for a moment and shook his head.
“Nothing else.”
Even though he had already said no, his mother still took him to try out various extracurricular classes—calligraphy, painting, dance, guitar, swimming, ice skating…
Most of them went fine, except for ice skating, which was a bit tricky to learn. During the trial class, Xiao Chengyi fell hard several times. He didn’t cry; when the pain was too much, he just sat on the ice for a while before getting back up again.
After a few rounds of this, he soon managed to skate quite a long distance.
“Coach Liu…”
Xiao Chengyi turned back to look at his coach, but noticed that the man was gazing off into the distance, lost in thought.
Bang—
A sharp sound echoed as someone landed cleanly on the ice. In the distance, Xiao Chengyi saw a figure take off, light as a butterfly. But then he thought they looked more like a maple leaf twirling in the wind. The athlete’s incredible hang time made each of their movements look like a beautiful painting.
After completing a triple jump, the teenager finished with a perfect 3A landing.
“A genius…”
Coach Liu couldn’t help but sigh, clearly impressed.
“Coach, what’s that?”
Xiao Chengyi tugged at the man’s sleeve, but his eyes never left that skater.
Coach Liu explained to the boy, “Figure skating. That older brother must be a professional athlete.”
“Oh…”
Xiao Chengyi nodded, softly repeating the words.
Figure skating, professional athlete.
Figure skating. A professional athlete.
At that moment, everyone inside and outside the rink, whether professionals, amateurs, or even people who didn’t understand figure skating, couldn’t help but stop and watch.
This rink was quite large, with plenty of space, but now it seemed like everyone had intentionally left the center open, moving to the edges to watch.
As a result, the crowd quickly grew dense, and Xiao Chengyi could barely see anything.
Anxious, he tried to skate forward to get a better view, but he wasn’t very steady. He would skate a little, fall, or bump into someone. Eventually, after much effort, he managed to push past the adults blocking his view and reach the front.
Unfortunately, the breathtaking performance didn’t last long. After five minutes, the young skater neatly finished his final move and glided straight toward the exit, clearly done for the day.
Sigh—
Coach Liu let out a small, disappointed sigh and prepared to resume his work.
“Alright, Xiao Chengyi, let’s con—”
Wait!
Where did he go?!
Coach Liu was startled.
Meanwhile, near the rink’s exit, Xiao Chengyi had taken another huge fall, flat on his back.
Thud.
His head hit the ice with a loud thump. He was dizzy and couldn’t get up for a while.
At that moment, Xiao Chengyi saw a pair of striking blue eyes.
The same brother who had been gliding and jumping like a butterfly across the ice was now crouched on the ice above him, smiling mischievously as he looked at Xiao Chengyi in his current state.
Earlier, he hadn’t been able to see clearly from a distance, but now, up close, Xiao Chengyi finally got a good look at him.
The older boy seemed to be mixed-race, with chestnut-brown hair that was slightly long and tied up in the back. His eyes were sky-blue, and his features were incredibly refined.
Not yet seven years old, Xiao Chengyi didn’t have many words to describe things, but to him, this brother looked as beautiful as someone from a comic book.
But at this moment, the handsome brother mischievously reached out and pinched Xiao Chengyi’s cheek, asking:
“Hey, kid, why are you following me?”
“……”
Xiao Chengyi stared blankly at him, and in the next second, like a spring, he suddenly sat up.
Bang.
Their foreheads collided.
Chu Tingyun winced, hissing through his teeth.
Xiao Chengyi hadn’t expected to bump into him, and without even having time to hold his head, he immediately apologized.
“S-sorry, Gege.”
“Tsk.”
Chu Tingyun didn’t say “It’s okay.” Instead, he reached out and poked the little kid’s forehead. Seeing Xiao Chengyi’s cute, pale face scrunch up in pain, he felt satisfied.
“What’s your name? Where are your parents?”
Seeing that the little guy had fallen several times without anyone helping him, Chu Tingyun finally came over to check.
“Yan Xun… oh no, it’s Ye Chengyi.”
Still dazed from the fall, Xiao Chengyi instinctively blurted out his old name. Afraid of being misunderstood, he quickly explained further.
“I used to be called Yan Xun, but now I’m Ye Chengyi.”
Xiao Chengyi answered all his questions seriously.
“My mom dropped me off here, she’ll come pick me up later. And my coach…”
Wait!
Where’s the coach?!
Xiao Chengyi tried to stand up to look for his coach, but he was too anxious and fell down twice.
At that moment, the pretty older boy couldn’t bear to watch anymore and grabbed his hand, pulling him up.
“Thank…”
Before Xiao Chengyi could finish saying “Thank you, Gege,” the older boy gave him two pats on his butt and thigh area.
“Your posture’s wrong, little one. Ask your coach about it later.”
“…….”
Xiao Chengyi froze, his pale cheeks instantly turning bright red. He quickly pushed Chu Tingyun’s hand away, backing up several steps as if afraid the older boy might smack him again.
“Got it.”
The little boy mumbled, sounding embarrassed.
Chu Tingyun thought the kid was quite shy, getting all flustered just from two pats on the butt. But he didn’t think much of it. Since there was nothing wrong, he decided to leave.
“I’m off.”
“Oh, okay. Goodbye, gege.”
Xiao Chengyi didn’t know why, but he felt a bit disappointed, though he still politely said goodbye.
Thirteen-year-old Chu Tingyun didn’t turn back. He just casually waved his hand twice in response.
Chu Tingyun thought that this episode ended here, but he didn’t expect that he had just returned to his new home and sat there for less than five minutes when there was a knock on the door.
Chu Tingyun looked through the cat’s eye but didn’t see anyone.
“Knock, knock.”
But the knocking continued.
Chu Tingyun frowned and touched the door, his fingertips gradually moving downward to a position about 1.2 meters away.
“?”
Who knocks so low?
A minute later, Chu Tingyun opened the door and lowered his head to meet the eyes of Ye Chengyi, who was holding a plate of sweet and sour pork ribs.
He stared at the other person’s red forehead for two seconds and couldn’t help laughing:
“Hey kid, you’re not going to chase me here, are you? And you’re banging your head on the door?”
Ye Chengyi, who followed his mother’s instructions and came to deliver food to the new neighbor: “……..”!
