◎Lin Anran's Life◎
On the second day of returning to her original world, Lin Anran woke up and stared at the room before her, still feeling somewhat disoriented.
So, she was really back.
She slowly got out of bed, washed up, and then sat back down, lost in thought, her mind wandering aimlessly.
Lin Anran had always been a late riser in the past, usually settling for a simple breakfast of toast and fried eggs.
But today, as if her body clock had synced with the other timeline, she woke up before seven in the morning.
Wide awake, with no chance of going back to sleep.
She stepped out of her bedroom and saw her father packing boxes in the living room.
Lin Anran froze for a moment, and so did Lin Fan.
"You're up so early today? Did I wake you?"
It took her a second to process—last night, she had mentioned wanting to return to Bin City, and now he was already packing.
Her gaze swept over the neatly bagged clothes and shoes, the sorted boxes of miscellaneous items, and for a brief moment, she wondered if her father had packed up everything in the house except the things in her room.
Lin Anran shook her head. "No, I should start packing too."
Truthfully, she didn’t own much. She had never considered this place her real home, so apart from clothes and daily necessities, she didn’t have many personal belongings.
With Lin Fan’s superhuman efficiency, it took only three days from the moment Lin Anran brought up moving back to Bin City to packing, cleaning, terminating the lease, and hitting the road.
Blankets, clothes, kitchenware, daily essentials—all their belongings combined barely filled the back of the SUV before they set off.
"In Bin City, one of my old army buddies helped find a place, but I’m not sure if it’s what you’d like."
"We’ll stay at a hotel first and take our time looking for a place."
Lin Anran wasn’t sure where she wanted to live either. She had checked the neighborhood she lived in during the other timeline, but given her father’s current financial situation, long-term renting was out of the question. A luxury penthouse for just the two of them would be excessive.
She just wanted to be in Bin City—that was all.
Lin Fan and Lin Anran stayed in a hotel for a week, first virtually touring properties via VR before visiting them in person.
The technological gap over the past two decades was both vast and minimal—smart home systems had become the standard.
While viewing a three-bedroom apartment, they happened to run into their neighbor in the elevator. Lin Anran stared at the man for a moment before lowering her gaze.
They ended up settling on that apartment.
On their third day in the new home, Lin Anran watched as her father bought some fruit.
"We just moved in—let’s introduce ourselves to the neighbors. It’s good to have someone nearby in case we need help."
She followed him to ring the neighbor’s doorbell, listening as her father exchanged pleasantries.
"How should we address you?"
"My surname is Ye—Ye Ping'an. Just call me Ping'an."
The man looked to be in his thirties, well-built, wearing a loose gray sweatshirt, his hair slightly tousled. He had a clean, approachable aura.
"This is my daughter, Anran."
"Brother Lin, you look so young to have such a grown-up daughter!"
"Ah, I married early."
The two men seemed to hit it off instantly, chatting at the doorway for a while. The Ye household accepted the fruit, and after Lin Anran politely bid farewell with a "Goodbye, Uncle Ye," they returned home.
Back in her room, Lin Anran dug out her other phone and stared at a group photo. Time truly was a marvel.
Just days ago, she had seen her single godfather—now here he was, twenty years older.
One thing puzzled her: Had her godfather really stayed single all these years? How strange!
That afternoon, while shopping online for home essentials, she stepped out of her room to find Lin Fan gone again. A glance at her phone revealed a message:
"Uncle Ye from across the hall is showing me around the neighborhood’s shopping spots. I’ll bring back something tasty for you."
Lin Anran’s expression turned odd. What was this—fate at work? Or was male camaraderie just that fast to ignite?
In this tech-driven society, human connections felt far colder compared to the world she had left behind twenty years prior.
Yet here her father and godfather were, already close enough to go grocery shopping together.
That evening, their neighbor reciprocated with half a pot of fragrant "yan du xian" stew.
By their second week in the new home, Lin Fan and Lin Anran were already regulars at the Ye household for meals.
"Ping'an’s cooking puts mine to shame," Lin Fan admitted at the dinner table.
"Not at all—your stir-frying skills are way better," Ye Ping'an waved off the praise.
"My cooking’s been called hopeless by Boss Chu, an old friend of mine. He’s been trying to teach me for years, but even with recipes, this is the best I can manage."
Boss Chu?! Her godfather, the fried rice master!
Lin Anran’s head snapped up from her food, prompting a chuckle from Ye Ping'an.
"Anran seems interested? He’ll be visiting soon—I’ll make sure he cooks a few meals before he leaves."
"We’ll have to try it then," Lin Fan said.
Upon learning that their neighbor Ping'an was a Bin University graduate—even if from nearly two decades ago—Lin Fan’s respect for him grew tenfold. He had always admired those who excelled academically.
"Ah, college was the peak of my life. Back then, I studied computer science and caught a bit of the industry boom. Never had big ambitions—just coasting now."
"Campuses these days are way better than in our time, but I got lucky back then too. Our dorm was a six-person room, but only four of us lived there—all from different majors, yet we got along great."
"Four people?!" Lin Anran blurted.
It made sense that her father wasn’t one of them, but who was the missing fourth?
"Yeah—me, Boss Chu (though he’s not running his restaurant anymore, the elusive ‘Kitchen God’), Brother Ye (a legend in his own right back then), and Old Xiao. You might’ve heard of him—Bin City’s youngest expert in classical Western medicine, also the husband of veteran actress Gu Jiasui."
"Top-tier universities really do produce talent," Lin Fan marveled.
Lin Anran discreetly searched two names on her phone—"Yan Qingwen" and "Zhu Jue"—but found no relevant results.
Her expression darkened. Four people. No godfather Zhu Jue.
So, the changes in the other world… were they because of her godparents?
