Chapter 81

In the past few days, Meng Xinyu sent her many messages, and until just now, she even sent a message asking her to call back to make sure she’s okay.

She mentioned the start of the school year, and Ji Anning glanced at the date, only to realize that it was already March 1st. She and Wen Yu had not left this house for several days and nights.

She was staring at her phone when Meng Xinyu sent another message, this time it was a voice message.

Ji Anning opened it and heard Meng Xinyu’s voice.

“Anning, I want to tell you something,” Meng Xinyu said, “My mother… passed away.”

Ji Anning suddenly widened her eyes.

Meng Xinyu’s voice continued, “Just this spring…”

Before she could finish the voice message, her phone made two beeping sounds, indicating that the battery was drained, and it automatically shut down.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Kk Gddkdt bwaaklezu plyanble qsa bla cyt, qswde vbl nbyatla, yde rzwttle kv kdvs vbl rsola pswanl. Fbl oykvle qsa y xkdwvl clqsal alpvyavkdt bla rbsdl.

Fbl srldle vbl hsknl xlppytl ytykd yde blyae Yldt Dkduw’p hsknl sdnl xsal.

“Gddkdt, R oydv vs vlzz usw psxlvbkdt. Yu xsvbla… rypple yoyu,” Dkduw’p hsknl oyp zso, nyzx. “Rv byrrldle ewakdt vbl Frakdt Wlpvkhyz. R saktkdyzzu… eked’v oydv vs vlzz xu nzyppxyvlp. Ebu vlzz svblap psxlvbkdt zkjl vbkp? Ebu cwaeld lhlausdl okvb uswa psaaso?”

“R eked’v lmrlnv vbyv yp pssd yp R alvwadle vs pnbssz, R oswze blya ycswv uswa pkvwyvksd. R, R oyp wvvlazu ewxcqswdele. Ebyv ulya kp kv? Ebu es ol byhl vs ts vbaswtb pwnb vbkdtp?” Yldt Dkduw’p hsknl tayewyzzu elhlzsrle y dypyz vsdl.

Fbl nsdvkdwle, “R wdelapvyde bso usw’al qllzkdt aktbv dso. Zsw rascyczu esd’v oydv vs pll ydusdl, esd’v oydv vs vyzj, aktbv? R qllz vbl pyxl oyu.”

“Jwv xu eye osd’v yzzso kv. Yu xsx eked’v lkvbla! R oyp okvb bla obld pbl rypple yoyu. Zsw jdso, pbl bye clld pknj qsa xydu ulyap, yde ol olal xldvyzzu ralryale qsa kv. Rd vbl lde, ol olal yzz okvb bla.”

“Rd bla zypv xsxldvp, pbl oyp zwnke, bszekdt xu byde, yde pyke, ‘R xwpv cl olzz.’ Fbl pyke, ‘Zsw xwpv cl olzz.'”

“Gddkdt,” Yldt Dkduw nakle, “R’x pwal uswa taydexsvbla oydvp usw vs cl olzz, fwpv zkjl xu xsx. Usxl cynj iwknjzu, pnbssz byp yzalyeu pvyavle. Usxl cynj vs pnbssz! Ebyv lzpl nyd usw es kq usw esd’v ts vs pnbssz? Zsw pvkzz byhl uswa sod zkql!”

“Please call me back!”

“Call me!”

Tears welled up in Ji Anning’s eyes.

Her hands trembling, she dialed Meng Xinyu’s number, and it only rang once before Meng Xinyu answered.

“Anning! Anning!” Her voice still carried traces of recent tears. “Where are you? Are you okay? Anning, please speak!”

Ji Anning opened her mouth and said, “Ah… ah…”

Her throat felt sore, but she gathered her strength and managed to say, “Ah, Yu… Xin… Yu…”

She finally spoke.

Meng Xinyu immediately started crying. “When are you coming back?”

“I…,” Ji Anning’s voice was still hoarse, “I don’t… know.”

Meng Xinyu choked out, “Are you with Wen Yu?”

Ji Anning, her voice still hoarse, replied, “Yes…”

Meng Xinyu felt relieved, took a tissue, wiped her nose, and said, “That’s good. Can he take care of you? Rest well and take some time to adjust. Don’t worry about your schoolwork. When you come back, I’ll help you catch up.”

Ji Anning took a deep breath, called Meng Xinyu’s name, and said, “Please accept my condolences.”

“Sure,” Meng Xinyu paused for a moment and softly said to Ji Anning, “Please accept my condolences too.”

Ji Anning hung up the phone, sat for a moment, then suddenly stood up and walked back to the bedroom.

Wen Yu had put on a pair of pants, was bare-chested, and sat at the foot of the bed, smoking.

The wall lamp cast a soft and dim light in the room.

He hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees. Hearing her voice, he glanced at her.

His face was covered in stubble, his eyes bloodshot, and dark circles marred the skin beneath them. His body exuded an aura of excess, as if he might collapse at any moment.

He stared at her, lifeless. Like when he was awaiting execution in a prison cell in his past life, counting the days until his death.

Ji Anning was both horrified and startled.

What were they doing? What were they both doing together?

Were they sinking and perishing together? Just like in their past lives?

For what purpose had she been reborn?

Would her grandmother in the afterlife want to see them like this?

“Get up,” Ji Anning shed tears and went over to embrace Wen Yu’s head. “Get up!”

Wen Yu was shocked. “You… can you talk now?”

Ji Anning wiped away her tears and hoarsely replied, “It’s time to get up.”

Wen Yu was confused. “Get up for what?”

Ji Anning said, “Leave this place.”

Ji Anning walked over to the French window and swiftly pulled open the blackout curtain. The harsh sunlight streamed in from outside, instantly revealing the messy state of the room.

Ji Anning gazed at the city outside. She had died here once and then been reborn.

This rebirth had come at the cost of losing her closest loved one.

She was reborn not to sink but to live a better life and become a better person.

Her grandmother must have hoped for that, right?

Wen Yu’s eyes stung, and he raised his arm to shield his eyes from the light. Once his eyes adjusted, he lowered his arm and squinted.

Ji Anning stood in the light, wearing one of Wen Yu’s T-shirts that had become slightly translucent, revealing her delicate curves.

So frail.

But standing in the light, she seemed to have shed her old self and undergone a soul transformation.

She turned and walked over, extending her hand to Wen Yu.

She pulled Wen Yu up as well.

As Wen Yu and Ji Anning drove out of the garage, both of them felt like they were in a different world.

Wen Yu brought Ji Anning to the funeral home. Ji Anning approached the front desk, and the staff looked up. “Hello?”

Wen Yu gripped Ji Anning’s hand tightly.

“Hello,” Ji Anning said softly. “I’ve come to claim… a family member.”

Her grandmother’s remains were at the funeral home, waiting for Ji Anning to arrive.

They didn’t have any family or friends, so there was no need for a formal funeral. Wen Yu accompanied Ji Anning as she took care of her grandmother’s final arrangements and scheduled the cremation.

Then Ji Anning accompanied Wen Yu to meet Wen Guoan.

Wen Yu asked her to wait outside, and Ji Anning nodded.

Wen Yu stood in front of the meeting room for a few seconds before pushing the door open and going in.

Wen Guoan had been waiting for him and raised his eyes to look at him.

Facing his old father again, Wen Yu felt his body stiffen. He walked over and softly called, “Dad…”

Wen Guo’an nodded and said, “You’ve arrived.”

Wen Yu sat down stiffly.

Wen Guo’an examined him for a moment and said, “You don’t look too well. You haven’t rested properly in these past few days, have you?”

Wen Yu replied, “I’m okay.”

Wen Guoan remained silent for a while and then asked, “What do you want to ask me?”

Wen Yu raised his eyes and saw that Wen Guoan’s temples had turned gray. He stared at him and inquired, “How did my mom die?”

Wen Guoan retorted, “Do you think I killed her?”

Wen Yu, puzzled, said, “I didn’t think so initially.”

Wen Guoan asked, “Initially?”

Wen Yu nodded and said, “A man named Yang Yuan told me something.”

“Yang Yuan…” Wen Guoan repeated the name, with a hint of disdain in his tone. “What did he tell you?”

Wen Yu was sweating profusely.

“Whether it’s true or not, I think you have the right to know about this matter.” He clenched his teeth, took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, smoothed it out, and pushed it over.

Wen Guoan put on his reading glasses and looked at it.

The meeting room suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

Wen Yu clenched his fist, closed his eyes, and his palms grew sweaty.

After a long pause, he heard Wen Guoan let out a long sigh.

“In the end,” he said, “you found out, huh…”

Wen Yu suddenly opened his eyes.

Wen Guoan took off his glasses and looked at him calmly.

Wen Yu’s heart had a moment of intense contraction. His head was spinning.

“Is it true?” he asked.

“Yes,” Wen Guoan replied, “You are indeed your mother’s child and his.”

Wen Yu, with a dry throat and a hoarse voice, asked, “When did you find out?”

Wen Guoan smiled.

He released the paper and leaned back. “Probably, from the time your mother became pregnant with you.”

Wen Yu, still dizzy, quickly processed and analyzed the information Wen Guoan had given him and then came to a conclusion.

“You… can’t have children?”

Wen Guoan sighed.

“When I was young, I was too reckless. I didn’t listen to your grandfather’s guidance, and messed with things I shouldn’t have, which damaged my body,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t have children at a very early age. I knew it even before I married your mother.”

So when his young wife suddenly told him one day that she was pregnant, his anger was palpable.

Wen Yu was dumbfounded as he listened to Wen Guoan’s story.

“I really wanted to kill your mom and that adulterer at that time. When I was young, my methods were always a little extreme. I thought that after she gave birth to the baby, I would kill this family of three”. Wen Guoan recalled leisurely.

“Waiting for a child can really be a long time; I have to wait for ten months. In this waiting process, I discovered something interesting. Your mother has a strange attitude towards the child in her belly… I observed carefully and, after thinking about it, concluded that she didn’t know this child isn’t mine. Well, we never used contraception, so she naturally wouldn’t have thought that I couldn’t have children.”

“At that time, Wen Yu’s grandparents had already passed away. For the sake of the unborn golden egg, Wen Yu’s maternal grandparents came to take care of Cheng Lian.

They were overjoyed, always concerned about their daughter’s unstable marriage, and now, they finally had an extra layer of assurance.

They chatted incessantly, reporting Cheng Lian and the fetus’s condition to Wen Guoan, letting him listen to the heartbeat and allowing him to feel the fetal movements.

Wen Guoan coldly cooperated with them.”

But fetal movement is truly miraculous; inside a woman’s belly, there’s a little thing that moves!

At that time, Wen Guoan truly began to regret his past indulgences during his youth. If he hadn’t recklessly damaged his own body, he could have let a woman carry a truly his little one in her belly.

He later thought that when the child was born, he would deal with the adulterous wife and her lover, and as for this little thing… he would leave it with the old man and old lady.

He would spare the little one’s life.

As for that adulterous lover named Yang Yuan, he had already investigated him thoroughly. Superficially, he seemed successful, but with the money he received from women, he had failed in several business ventures.

It’s just that when it comes to women, Wen Guoan does admire him. After Cheng Lian married him, this Yang Yuan got married and even had children. Yet, he still managed to keep Cheng Lian under his charm.

Is it because he’s too skillful? Or is Cheng Lian too naive?

Cheng Lian is certainly not naive in her work.

Wen Guoan held his breath, enduring until Cheng Lian finished unloading the goods.

A little thing with a wrinkled face, reddish skin, and closed eyes, crying “wah wah,” was handed to Wen Guoan by a nurse.

So small, so light, so soft, with a peculiar scent, it startled Wen Guoan.

Before Wen Yu was born, if someone had told Wen Guoan that life is a miracle, he could have used money to make them fly into the sky.

But after that, if someone had told Wen Guoan that life is a miracle, he would probably sigh and say:

“Yeah, it’s truly unimaginable.”

---

Sansukini: Blood is not always thicker than water. Wen Guoan is one of the best Dads ever. And also, this chapter is about having emotional support. Anning got that from Meng Xinyu and Wen Yu got it from Anning. It’s a really wonderful thing. Anyways, thank you for reading.

I wanna say, can you also support Casting Nets to Catch a Husband, but I really think you should stockpile some chapters first because the first few chapters were a little slow, but the plot is now starting to consolidate. It’s also a really great story that made me cry a lot (No, it does not have a tragedy “tag”, it’s more like After Rebirth, but in the ancient era. She also unalive herself to escape being assaulted, then got reborn, with one month left before her adopted family sells her), with a solid story-telling, but it’s a little long, (over 200 chapters) so there’s a mix of slice of life in there and some business. Please give “Casting Nets to Catch a Husband” a chance if you have the time.

Thanks for visiting. If you like this story, then I’m shamelessly asking you to visit NovelUpdates and give a 5⭐ review. (人❛ᴗ❛)♪тнайк　чоц♪(❛ᴗ❛*人)

You can also check out my other translations Here