Ji Nian was about to speak when the distant sound of fireworks exploding in the sky drowned out her voice.
She decided not to continue, waiting for the noise to pass before speaking again.
The reason Ji Tingzhou could guess it wasn’t just a nightmare came down to how well he understood Ji Nian.
Even if it had been a real nightmare, it would still be unreal—nothing that could leave such deep psychological scars on her.
Scars so severe that in the first few days, the servants stationed outside her door often heard her startled cries in the night.
She even sought out the doctor who came monthly to check on Ji Tingzhou, just to talk.
Beyond these signs, there were countless other things that made it clear what Ji Nian had experienced wasn’t just an ordinary bad dream.
The fireworks continued, but Ji Tingzhou lost patience. He tapped Ji Nian’s arm with his phone, signaling for her to follow him somewhere quieter.
Ji Nian grabbed her half-finished milk tea and trotted after him obediently.
Once inside the room, the clamor outside faded.
Following Ji Tingzhou, she sipped her milk tea as they moved to the tea room.
Setting her drink down, Ji Nian watched as Ji Tingzhou carefully selected a teacup from his collection cabinet.
Casually, she resumed the conversation the fireworks had interrupted.
"You might not believe this."
"I went to a parallel world."
Ji Tingzhou’s eyelids flickered slightly.
But his expression remained largely unchanged.
He set down the teacup he’d picked up and examined another.
Even for something as simple as a casual drink, he insisted on choosing the perfect cup.
"Go on."
He urged her not to stop.
Ji Nian pointed at a celadon teacup. "When I opened my eyes, I was already there."
"But not somewhere unfamiliar—I was in a school bathroom."
Then she recounted what happened afterward, including meeting Gu Xiuyuan.
Ji Tingzhou’s brow furrowed slightly when she mentioned she’d only had fifty yuan on her.
"The meat pie was really good, but when I came back and tried to find the stall, it wasn’t there."
Unaware of Ji Tingzhou’s reaction, she continued with her story.
"Remember that wall where Big Egg used to love digging holes? I climbed over it to get in."
It was just a shame that in that world, Big Egg didn’t exist.
"...Then I met Wei Yang."
She described Wei Yang’s condition to Ji Tingzhou.
He set aside the teacup he’d chosen earlier, picked another, and finally turned around.
Ji Nian stepped where he had stepped, following him.
Then she mentioned, "I saw the other you in the wine room."
"...He wasn’t doing well. He’d been drinking heavily, his health was terrible, and his hair had turned mostly white."
Ji Nian glanced at her father’s expression.
Seeing it was still neutral, she went on.
It wasn’t until she mentioned going to Country O to get the mineral extract from Lu Zhi that Ji Tingzhou finally spoke.
"Pathetic."
Ji Nian: I knew he’d say that.
"He didn’t choose to end up like that."
She took a sip of milk tea to wet her throat before asking, "What about you? If I hadn’t made the antidote, what would you have done?"
Without hesitation, Ji Tingzhou replied, "Killed myself."
If he ever reached a point where he neglected his appearance, grew wrinkles and white hair, and reeked of old age, he’d rather die.
Ji Nian, listening to his matter-of-fact tone: "......"
[I knew he’d say that.]
Strangely, Ji Tingzhou didn’t seem bothered by the other version of himself. Instead, he was more concerned about how Ji Nian had managed in that world.
After hearing her out, he even called Zuo Yi and ordered him to dig up Zhang Yulan’s grave for a posthumous whipping.
Ji Nian immediately lunged for the phone, telling Zuo Yi to ignore the request before hanging up.
"Let the dead rest. Doing this would bring bad karma."
Ji Tingzhou scoffed at her superstition. "Using quantum physics, neuroscience, or neutrino theory to discuss this would be more your style."
Ji Nian: "......That’s not even my field, thanks."
She hadn’t believed in karma before, but after the system revealed the truth to her, she’d started to.
At this point, Ji Tingzhou suddenly motioned for her to come closer.
Ji Nian approached, still smelling faintly of milk tea.
Ji Tingzhou thought to himself—still just a kid.
When she sat beside him, he reached out and patted her head.
His hand wasn’t particularly large or warm, and he even placed a disinfectant wipe beneath his palm, leaving a damp spot on her hair.
But Ji Nian was used to it. To her, this antiseptic-scented touch was the best comfort.
What she didn’t expect, though, was that Ji Tingzhou still sent someone to exhume and whip the corpse.
Karma be damned—he just wanted the satisfaction.
Ji Nian continued talking, with Ji Tingzhou offering few responses, simply letting her ramble.
Eventually, she grew restless, sprawling across the rug and fiddling with a bracelet she’d somehow swiped from Ji Tingzhou’s wrist—one she’d made for him years ago.
"And then I came back."
Finished, she sat up and looked at Ji Tingzhou. "How are you taking this so well? When I told Gu Xiuyuan in that world, he looked like he’d seen a ghost."
Ji Tingzhou glanced at her.
"And?"
The truth was, Ji Tingzhou knew more than Ji Nian realized.
Among the projects he’d invested in was one led by an industry leader whose expertise lay in parallel universes—a concept that did, in fact, exist.
Besides.
Was anything stranger than Ji Nian, at five years old, expertly drugging Bruce to use his lab for her own experiments?
At first, he’d tried to investigate.
But as time passed, through observation alone, Ji Tingzhou had pieced together some understanding—even if it had never been confirmed.
Watching Ji Nian now as she stared blankly at the ceiling, Ji Tingzhou studied her for a moment.
Then, abruptly, he asked, "Did you learn all those things from a parallel world too?"
Ji Nian sighed inwardly.
[Here it comes.]
From the moment they’d started this conversation, she’d known this question was coming.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
At least she wasn’t that little girl who’d panicked when discovered, fur bristling in alarm.
Instead of answering directly, Ji Nian said, "Before I came back, someone told me something."
"They said—"
"We’re fated to be father and daughter. Even if I did inherit the Ji family’s madness, you’d still love me."
"Nothing can sever the bond between us."
