Chapter 67: Anomalous Times 33

Chapter 67: Anomalous Times 33

Beneath the captivating moonlight that graced the eaves, two adults stood side by side on the stone steps, their hushed voices blending into the indistinct murmur of the night.

Not far away, two little children, having just finished their whispered critique of a cowardly and despicable child, found their gazes irresistibly drawn to the contrasting figures of black and white.

Yuan Yuhang squinted at them, then turned his eyes to the "sister" beside him, muttering softly, "Strange, why do I suddenly feel... quite... quite happy?"

Despite the seasonally confused winter night, with its unyielding chill that still made one's legs tremble, the oppressive atmosphere had not entirely dissipated, lingering in the invisible air around them.

Yet inexplicably, those caught in the same bone-chilling cold began to feel that this inexplicable winter had somehow become softer and warmer.

To quote a sentence from an elementary school essay, it was as if "there was a taste of happiness in the air."

The genuine elementary school student, He Xi, shared the sentiment. After some serious thought, she seemed to have found an explanation, her tone buoyant as she said, "Me too, maybe it's because there's a feeling of family!"

"A family?" Yuan Yuhang immediately shook his head, correcting with meticulous precision, "No, no, no, it's Uncle and Dad, without Mom, how can it be a family!"

"It can still be a family without a mom."

He Xi didn't mind this minor issue, her gaze filled with a naive and carefree satisfaction as she whispered, "If only I really had a family like this."

"Dad," "Uncle," "Brother"... everyone treated her so well, better than real family.

The young girl's voice, full of innocent longing, caught the attention of the fake little boy, who paused before correcting her, quickly changing the subject. "That's true, two adults and two kids, we might even get discounted family tickets to that children's park!"

He Xi giggled. "Right, my teacher mentioned that amusement parks have family tickets, you can save a bit of money, right?"

Her face lit up with anticipation, and the shorter brother immediately raised his hand, patting her head in an old-fashioned manner, promising, "Yes, I'll take you when I have the chance!"

"Really?!"

"Really!" The little boy patted his chest, disregarding any potential opportunities, vowing, "I'll definitely take you, if I lie, I'm... Zhang Wei!"

He Xi was momentarily confused. "What about Zhang Wei?"

"Ah, nothing with him!" Yuan Yuhang was amused by his own words, chuckling, "I mean, if I lie, I'm a puppy!"

The warm moonlight bathed the beautiful courtyard, and the smiling brown-haired youth finally turned to look over, beckoning to the two children who were huddled together, laughing foolishly.

He and the man with suddenly less terrifying blue eyes walked toward the main entrance of the restaurant.

"Coming, coming!"

The two children responded in unison, immediately dashing toward them, filled with eager excitement.

At the same time, the sound of two other sets of footsteps approached from the opposite direction, accompanied by a starkly different mood.

"What's wrong with you today?" The elegant voice carried a tinge of anger. "I warn you, don't embarrass me!"

A slender finger, adorned with meticulously manicured nails, fell onto the back collar of the little boy, impatiently straightening his clothes.

Zhang Yizhe, already changed into a new outfit, was led by his mother toward the restaurant, dragging his feet, his demeanor listless and filled with genuine fear.

"Mom, can I skip dinner? I'm not hungry..."

"No! This is a big deal, they all brought their families here, even those overseas rushed back overnight. Everyone knows it's a critical moment, how can you not be there!"

Chang Baoqin frowned, complaining, "Do you think I'm hungry? You peeing your pants at this age has already disgusted me so much I can't eat!"

As the restaurant, shrouded in the night's shadows, drew closer, the terrifying aura seemed to awaken once more, descending upon him.

The little boy's face instantly paled, his slow pace halting completely, panic-stricken. "Those two people are really scary, really! They're definitely going to the restaurant too, Mom, I don't want to go over!"

"...A doctor and a foreigner, what's so scary about them?"

Chang Baoqin, who hadn't seen them herself, didn't believe a word her son said, her expression scornful. "Besides, why do you care about these outsiders? Don't lose sight of the focus today, it's those two kids!"

Her delicate fingertips jabbed harshly at Zhang Yizhe's forehead. "At such a young age, they could make Grandpa happy with their Go skills, now look at you, taught for an entire day and you learned nothing!"

"I told you to pry information out of those two kids alone, but you didn't find out anything! You can't even handle an eight-year-old girl, what use are you?!"

"But I really asked many times!" Zhang Yizhe hurriedly defended himself. "She's just too tight-lipped! She wouldn't say anything useful, only that she came to play Go."

"Go?" Chang Baoqin scoffed. "The kind of Go that kicked us all out, perhaps?"

She hadn't expected that the old man would pull something like this at his age.

But the old man surely hadn't anticipated that this sudden threat would unite his bickering children into a united front.

First, they would stand together against the common enemy, working in concert to drive out the parachutists, then they would split apart.

These two children were still very young, and would always be easier to handle surrounded by a group of adults eyeing them like prey.

Chang Baoqin thought this, lifting her eyes toward the direction of the restaurant, guessing that everyone else was already there, while she had wasted time due to her son's inexplicable accident.

Feeling anxious, she quickened her pace.

"That's enough, hurry up!" She urged her sluggish son. "Don't make me discipline you, Zhang Yizhe!"

Zhang Yizhe could only unwillingly start walking, the warmly lit restaurant drawing nearer, clearer in his field of vision. His peripheral vision caught sight of several familiar figures.

His expression froze, hastily hiding behind his mother, lowering his voice. "Mom, look, it's them!"

On the other side, the little girl with keen ears heard the commotion from behind and immediately tugged at her brother's sleeve.

Yu Bai was still engrossed in conversation with Xie Wufang, oblivious to others.

And the latter, with his sharp senses, remained true to his word, treating the strangers as if they didn't exist, even stingy with a glance backward.

Under the tranquil night, the elegantly dressed mother and son, as well as the slender sister and brother, their four gazes collided through the cold air, causing their steps to momentarily freeze.

The clever sister and her quick-witted brother exchanged a glance, swiftly reading an unspoken understanding in each other's eyes.

Then, Chang Baoqin and Zhang Yizhe could only watch helplessly as these two children continued to dash towards the two young men.

The little girl ran up to the youth in his snowy white coat, tilting her head up to call out crisply, "Uncle!"

The little boy ran to the man in his pitch-black formal attire, bowing his head slightly in fear as he called him, "Dad, Daddy!"

The clear voices drifted through the air, instantly triggering two grand earthquakes of pupils.

…What did he just call him?

Daddy?!

The fashionably dressed beautiful woman drew in a sharp breath, her eyes unblinking as she looked at the two 'outsiders' she had initially disregarded.

The youth called Uncle quickly followed the sound, lowering his gaze affectionately to ruffle the little girl's head, a hint of a smile softening his originally cold yet strangely contradictory features.

However, the man called Father ignored the little boy by his side. His half-blood-like profile was deep and icy, enough to instill fear without a word, like a born superior being.

At this moment, the heavily struck Chang Baoqin finally believed her son's words, her heart suddenly filled with bewilderment and instinctive fear.

Unaware of all this, Yu Bai helplessly rubbed He Xi's head again, attempting to recall sad memories to help manage his expressions.

He had just finished laughing.

…Stop calling him uncle and dad to make him laugh!

There were still serious matters to attend to!

The two walked into the elegantly decorated restaurant side by side, the two children obediently following on either side, creating an unusually harmonious scene that drew attention.

Accompanied by the sounds of their footsteps, the warm yellow lights indoors suddenly fell upon them, drawing the gazes of everyone in the room.

Zhang Yunjiang, who was in an exceptionally good mood today, saw the arrivals and froze, abruptly stopping his conversation. The lively chatter in the room thus suddenly ceased.

"Ah! You're feeling better?"

The old man hurriedly got up, leaving behind the group of children surrounding him, and quickly walked towards the young man with black hair and blue eyes, his tone full of pleasant surprise as he asked with concern, "I thought you'd need more rest, so I didn't have Doctor Yu call you. How are you now? Has your fever subsided?"

Yu Bai smiled and answered for Xie Wufang, "The fever has already subsided, and his health is basically recovered. It's just that his spirit may not be too good yet."

His gaze calmly swept over the strangers he had met once before, his tone casual as he said, "By the way, it wasn't a cold, it's not contagious to everyone."

"What's this about contagious or not? I didn't mind that!" Zhang Yunjiang immediately waved his hand, "It's Doctor Yu who's amazing, curing someone in an afternoon!"

"I was just regretting that you couldn't come for this dinner," the old man looked at the Go teacher who had greatly benefited him over the past two days, his expression growing even happier, "It's not complete without you! By the way, if you're uncomfortable anywhere, just say so, you can leave the table anytime!"

With every sentence he spoke, the expressions of the family members with ulterior motives in the room became subtly more awkward.

Especially when contrasted with the old man's enthusiasm and the other party's indifference.

The old man chattered on for a long string of sentences, but the extraordinary young man merely nodded slightly, not uttering a single extra word.

Yet, Zhang Yunjiang seemed to care not at all, as if he was used to it.

Just what background did this person have?

"Come, come, take your seats quickly!" Zhang Yunjiang invited Yu Bai and Xie Wufang to sit down, not forgetting to arrange seats for the two children, "Would you two like to sit here?"

"Okay." He Xi smiled sweetly at him, "Thank you, Grandpa."

Grandpa Zhang was indeed a grandpa, and calling him by his surname didn't roll off the tongue smoothly.

The little boy beside him immediately shot him an approving look, cleared his throat, and threw caution to the wind, mimicking the call to the old friend, "Grandpa, I want an iced cola!"

Zhang Yunjiang's smile became even more kind as he patted the heads of the two children, "Alright, alright, iced cola!"

Seeing this, Doctor Yu, who was seated at the guest seat to the right of the old man, laughed and casually said, "Still drinking something cold in such cold weather?"

The black-haired man sitting beside him then cast a faint glance over.

The little boy who had declared he wanted cola instantly shivered, becoming a coward in a second, lowering his head submissively, "Ah, y-yes, that's right, then I won't drink the cold one, I won't drink it, I won't drink it!"

Zhang Yunjiang's laughter deepened the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes as he spoke up for the child, "Just a little bit, it's fine! Have some hot milk later, okay?"

Doctor Yu was also convinced, "Then I'll have an iced cola first."

In just a few words, it was as if they were a harmonious three-generation family.

Those completely excluded from this warm scene looked at each other, sizing up the young man who was clearly no ordinary person and could make the little boy obey so well. Suddenly, a terrifying conjecture arose in their hearts.

Why would the old man care so much about him? And say that it's not complete without him?

Moreover, since they came in, Zhang Yunjiang hadn't given them, the group of daughters and grandchildren, a single extra glance. For example, he didn't even notice Chang Baoqin and her son following closely behind as they entered the restaurant.

Right.

Now that he mentioned it, why were the faces of these two people so ugly?

Chang Baoqin's husband was already seated. When his seemingly dazed wife and child walked to his side to take their seats, he hurriedly lowered his voice to ask, "What's going on with you two? Smile a little, Dad is watching!"

When his wife whispered something in his ear, the middle-aged man's false smile instantly faltered, his eyes filled with shock.

Someone across the dining table noticed the couple's odd behavior and immediately bowed their head to tap rapidly on their phone, sending a message to inquire.

Thus, the plague of shock spread one after another throughout the restaurant.

Yubai, who noticed the group's changing expressions, was somewhat perplexed.

He hadn't done anything yet, so why did this group already look as if they were on the brink of heart attacks, all secretly sizing him up as they glanced at Xie Wufang beside him.

It wasn't until the two children sitting next to Xie Wufang secretly flashed him a smug victory sign that Yubai suddenly understood.

No wonder they had suddenly called out to them like that earlier.

How clever.

Yubai quietly returned a thumbs-up and explained in a hushed tone to those around him, "They've already taken you for their greatest enemy, hence these looks."

His voice was buoyant with amusement, and Xie Wufang could tell. He softly asked, "Is this right?"

Yubai thought that He naturally couldn't comprehend the complex desires and machinations of humans, probably not even understanding why their appearance would put the old man's other children on high alert.

But it didn't matter. Xie Wufang didn't need to understand; he just needed to be himself.

"Mm, absolutely right." Yubai nodded earnestly, saying, "I said it before, I'm glad you're here."

He said it casually, but the sharp-eyed man beside him silently surveyed the various expressions of those around them, revealing a faint smile that made him seem both dignified and gentle.

The frigid winter night suddenly felt warm. Despite holding a cup of icy, invigorating cola, Yubai felt as if he were sipping warm milk, his mood inexplicably returning to a bright summer day.

The silver-haired elder and the innocent child beside him felt similarly, finding the night more beautiful than ever.

In contrast, the family members who caught the stranger's glance felt as if they had been plunged into an icy cellar, one after another.

That calm smile following a disdainful glance was truly unsettling.

What an audacious fellow!

...But also genuinely terrifying!!