Chapter 21.2: Childhood Friends
“Humph! Of course it’s fast, it’s because I had a great relationship with Mom in my past life!”
“Good enough to call her Mom, huh…”
“So, what’s the big deal… I’ve never called anyone Mom since I was a kid…”
“Are you from a single-parent family?”
“Yes, my mother passed away due to complications when she gave birth to me…”
“My condolences.”
“And the same to you…”
It seems she also knew that my dad passed away from heart disease a long time ago, Shi Hai thought.
“Likewise, oh…”
Jian Sichun was thinking the same thing and naturally thought of her own smiling, bespectacled dad, and said.
“I’ll introduce my dad to you sometime.”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Are you feeling guilty for stealing my mom and planning to compensate by giving me your dad?”
That kind of thing is not really necessary, he doesn’t lack fatherly love that much…
“No way! It’s just that he really likes you.”
“Oh—So, future me and your father get along well?”
“Yes, he likes you more than he likes me!”
This goes back to Jian Sichun’s birth.
Before Jian Sichun was born, her father really wanted a boy, hoping to have a son to carry on his legacy and fulfill his dream of playing video games with his child.
Unfortunately, a girl was born, and he lost his wife in the process.
So after Jian Sichun was born, her father quit his job to work from home and take care of her.
Unexpectedly, though he initially thought that girls wouldn’t be interested in games, Jian Sichun ended up loving them.
Naturally, this was influenced by her home environment.
Her father had been an avid video game enthusiast since the last century, and their home was filled with game discs.
After trying them, Jian Sichun became hooked.
Moreover, since her father was a programmer, they had a computer at home very early on.
So Jian Sichun started surfing the internet in first grade, learned to install single-player games by second grade, and by third grade, she was proficient in using various download software.
However, this made her father both happy and worried.
He was happy because there was no gap between father and daughter—they could play games together and get along very well.
But he was worried because Jian Sichun became too much of a homebody.
She often didn’t wash her hair, wore sports clothes all day, and stayed home playing games without any female friends her age or interest in fashion, essentially becoming a “shut-in.”
This led to concerns about whether his daughter could ever find a boyfriend.
So when Jian Sichun started dating Shi Hai, her father was extremely pleased.
He often invited his son-in-law over for meals, sleepovers, and gaming sessions.
Another reason was that her father was a veteran programmer, and Shi Hai was in the computer science department.
They frequently discussed technical topics that Jian Sichun couldn’t understand, almost as if they were competing for her boyfriend.
Thinking about this, Jian Sichun suddenly realized.
No, I can’t let Dad meet Shi Hai!
If he’s mistaken for my boyfriend, it’ll be troublesome!
“No, wait, forget it. Now’s not the right time to introduce you to my dad…”
“…”
“Hey, are you listening?”
Shi Hai wasn’t listening anymore.
Because he saw a woman standing in the stairwell.
Zhu Lingjie.
His childhood friend.