Chapter 328: Meeting Her Parents
Su Zhaozhao was frantic. She was back in her apartment again. She glanced at the time—it was two days later than her last return.
‘Is the flow of time converging?’
After all, several days had passed between her last return here and her subsequent trip back.
Just then, Su Zhaozhao’s phone rang.
“Zhaozhao, your mom and I are driving over to see you now. Last time, she said you didn’t seem to be doing well. Is work too tiring? I’ve always said, a girl shouldn’t be in this line of work. It’s too frightening,” Father Su said with a laugh.
Su Zhaozhao’s mother also leaned into the frame, shaking a pile of things she was holding in front of the camera.
“Zhaozhao, Mom made you dumplings, your favorite—pork and corn. And this here is one of our own hens. It’s all cleaned and ready for you to make some chicken soup.”
“Mom…” Su Zhaozhao’s pupils contracted. She never expected her parents would actually come to see her.
The distance between them wasn’t that great, but she was usually the one who went home, not the one to have her parents come over.
‘Was it because her parents noticed something was wrong with her during their last call?’
This felt so normal for the modern world, yet Su Zhaozhao suddenly felt the urge to cry.
‘This is good, too. I can see my parents now, while I have the chance. Maybe… this will be the final goodbye?’
She didn’t know if they would be heartbroken after she told them everything.
But Su Zhaozhao knew she had to tell them regardless.
If she was really going to stay in that other world, she had to let her parents know in advance.
Su Zhaozhao immediately tidied up the apartment, then took out some snacks, fruit, and drinks and arranged them on the table.
That way, they could chat and eat when her parents arrived.
Her apartment was a two-bedroom, one-living-room unit, specifically so her parents would have a place to stay when they visited.
Her parents only arrived two hours later.
Seeing her parents, Su Zhaozhao immediately rushed forward and gave them a hug.
“Mom, Dad, I missed you so much!”
“Oh, sweetie, what’s all this?” Su Zhaozhao’s mother smiled gently at her.
Su Zhaozhao’s father stood beside them, also smiling warmly.
“It hasn’t been that long. Why are you acting like we haven’t seen each other in ages?”
Su Zhaozhao looked at her mother. Su’s mother was a university professor. Although she didn’t deliberately take care of her skin, the simple environment she was in made her look much younger than her peers.
And Father Su was a doctor, strict yet with a gentle side.
These were her parents. Growing up, they had taught her with a firm hand, but in daily life, they were incredibly kind.
Whatever she liked, even if they didn’t recommend it, they would still support her.
Tears immediately streamed down Su Zhaozhao’s face.
She didn’t know if her parents would be sad, or if they would think she was too cruel for abandoning them.
“Oh, Zhaozhao, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Seeing Su Zhaozhao’s pained expression, Su’s mother quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe her tears.
Father Su also looked worried. “Zhaozhao, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Let’s put these things in the fridge first. Mom, Dad, please sit down and rest. In a bit, I want to have a serious talk with you.”
“Okay… okay. You child, what on earth has happened?”
Both Su’s mother and Father Su were very worried about Su Zhaozhao.
After they had put everything away, Su Zhaozhao sat on the sofa and looked at them. “Right, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s about what I’ve been experiencing recently. But Mom, Dad, after you hear it, please don’t think I’m crazy for thinking this way.”
‘Anyone would think I was crazy if I told them this, wouldn’t they?’ Su Zhaozhao thought.
Especially her parents, who were intellectuals and believed in science, not this kind of nonsense.
“Zhaozhao, just tell us. Is it a problem at work? Is the pressure too much?” Su’s mother asked.
Su Zhaozhao shook her head. “No, it’s… Mom, Dad, recently, I’ve transmigrated into a book.”
Transmigrated into a book?
Father Su and Su’s mother exchanged a look, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.
Su’s mother reached out and felt Su Zhaozhao’s forehead. “Zhaozhao, you aren’t sick, are you? Have you been reading too many novels?”
“Or is the stress from work so bad that you’re having delusions to escape reality?” Father Su added.
Su Zhaozhao shook her head. “No, no, I’m not delusional. It’s real. Mom, Dad, please believe me.”
She thought of the love-filled gaze Xie Huaizheng had for her. ‘How could that be fake?’
Su Zhaozhao refused to believe it.
Sigh. But she also knew that no one would believe her if she just said it like this. Still, she had to say it.
“It’s a novel I was reading recently. I transmigrated into it and fell in love with a guy in there. We grew very, very close. I even married him.”
Su Zhaozhao went on to tell Father Su and Su’s mother some of the things that had happened between her and Xie Huaizheng.
Even though they found the whole thing utterly absurd, seeing Su Zhaozhao’s earnest and resolute expression, they felt they had no choice but to believe her.
Wouldn’t they know if their own daughter was lying or had mental problems?
They could only choose to believe her for now, even if the matter seemed far too preposterous to them.
But as they listened to Su Zhaozhao’s descriptions, an image of Xie Huaizheng formed in their minds.
It was as if he were someone who had always been a part of their lives.
“But now, I’ve been told that the book’s protagonist is gradually approaching their happy ending, so the story is also coming to a close. I was inexplicably pulled in, and the novel has given me a choice: stay in this world, or go live in the world of the novel. Mom, Dad, you’ll support me, right?”
As Su Zhaozhao spoke, her voice grew choked with sobs.
Tears fell from her eyes once more.
Su’s mother’s eyes also welled up. She looked at Su Zhaozhao in disbelief. “You mean to say… you’re going to choose to stay in that world?”
Su Zhaozhao nodded.
“But you’ve been living here all this time. If you choose to stay in that world, what about your traces in this one?”
“I don’t know either, but I think… most likely, my entire being here will just… disappear…”
Thinking of this, Su Zhaozhao felt a strange sense of sorrow.
After all, this was the world she had lived in for so many years—a modern, high-tech world, with her family and friends.
“Zhaozhao, are you going to leave your mom and dad behind?” Su’s mother looked at her and sighed deeply.
But she also supported Su Zhaozhao.
She was her daughter, after all. Her finding happiness was the most important thing.
They couldn’t be with Su Zhaozhao for her entire life. Their greatest dream was to see her find her own happiness.
And now, Su Zhaozhao had found it.