Genius Playground

Chapter 27 The palm of the hand and the back of the hand
There was no delay.

Jiang Ran grabbed her phone and rushed out the door.

Cheng Mengxue and Qin Feng immediately followed, and the three of them hailed a taxi at the school gate and headed to Hangzhou Hospital as quickly as possible.

On the way, I learned the whole story.

The elevator in the building where Jiang Ran's parents live is malfunctioning and is being repaired.

So Jiang Ran's mother went down the stairs, but accidentally fell down the stairs, landing headfirst and losing consciousness. She was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.

The hospital said the situation was very bad, with a large amount of blood pooling in the brain, and that immediate craniotomy was necessary.

The three rushed to the hospital's ICU in a panic...

Relatives and friends are all here, their palms sweating.

Several hours later, Jiang Ran's mother was still in critical condition.

When signing the critical condition notice, the doctor said that even if the patient survived, brain function would likely be damaged, and the family should prepare themselves mentally in advance.

Jiang Ran's heart was pounding like a drum, and Cheng Mengxue held his hand tightly the whole time.

Qin Feng patted Jiang Ran on the shoulder:

"Let's go back and use time-space text messaging."

Jiang Ran frowned deeply:

"But……"

They are both parents and children. If you saved your own mother, shouldn't you save Qin Feng's father too?
Although one happened a few hours ago and the other ten years ago, the resulting butterfly effect and risks are on completely different scales...

But all parents are the same, so how can there be a difference?
"Don't worry about me."

Qin Feng urged:

"Save Auntie first, and I'll talk about my wish later. Don't worry, I know the butterfly effect is vastly different in these two situations, so you don't need to worry."

"Don't feel guilty. After the timeline changes, Xiaoxue and I won't have this memory. Just handle it yourself. Tell the you from a few hours ago in the time-space text message not to tell us about this."

"That's impossible."

Jiang Ran shook his head:

"I can't possibly keep this from you."

"Jiang Ran..."

Cheng Mengxue, her eyes brimming with tears, clutched Jiang Ran's hand tightly:

"Let's go back quickly... save Auntie!"

……

After another two hours of high-speed driving in the taxi, the three of them returned to the club activity room at Tunghai University.

Jiang Ran stood next to the transformer distribution box, the text message already edited.

The solution this time is very simple.

The elevator malfunctioned because the bottom buffer was loose. This isn't a major problem; it can be easily fixed if detected and repaired promptly.

If it had been discovered and repaired a day earlier, the elevator could have been running normally today, and Jiang Ran's mother wouldn't have needed to walk down the stairs and wouldn't have fallen.

Therefore, as long as you notify the property management two days in advance and make repairs in advance, it will be fine.

"The text message is ready!"

Jiang Ran shouted towards the window.

Cheng Mengxue sat on the windowsill, made an OK sign, and then looked at Qin Feng.

With the addition of a visual control panel, everything becomes simple with the positron cannon.

Qin Feng turned the knob to reset the year, month, and hour numbers on the screen to zero, and turned the day number to 2.

This way, you can send a time-space text message two days in advance.

"I've set it up on my end too!"

Cheng Mengxue nodded and looked out the window:
“那我喊了哈！5！4！3！2！1！0！”

The positron cannon roared, and Jiang Ran pressed the send button for the text message—

hum!
hum!
hum!
The world spins, gravity is lost, and a sense of discomfort sets in.

Jiang Ran gritted her teeth and persevered.

Two seconds later, everything vanished.

He opened his eyes.

I discovered that my position had changed again; from the outdoor electrical distribution box just moments before, I was now sitting upright on the sofa in the activity room.

He quickly took out his phone and dialed his father's number:
"Hello? Dad! Where's Mom?"

"Oh? Your mom just came back from grocery shopping and is cooking now."

There was music playing on the other end of the phone; they were probably watching TV. Jiang Ran breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good. You and Mom are getting old, so be careful when you go downstairs and walk on the stairs, they're easy to slip."

"Hey! Who would take the stairs when there's an elevator?!"

Dad disagreed:

"Speaking of which, this elevator was out of service for maintenance a couple of days ago. I hope it won't fall down halfway down."

"It's nothing." Jiang Ran smiled.
"For you elderly people, even if an elevator malfunctions, it's still much safer than stairs. With so many locking mechanisms, it's practically impossible to fall."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, we hung up the phone.

Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue, look over here:
"You just experienced a worldline jump?"

Jiang Ran nodded.

He made no secret of his story and told everyone how he saved his mother using time-travel text messages.

What are we doing now?

He put away his phone and shared his memories with the two of them simultaneously:
"What were we discussing just now? Where were we?"

"Now that we've talked about Qin Feng's wish..."

Cheng Mengxue, holding the Rhine cat, whispered:

"Qin Feng said he wanted to use time-space text messages to revive his father who died ten years ago."

……

Ok.

What's meant to come will come, and what's meant to happen will happen.

Judging from the atmosphere inside the room, they must have been at an impasse over this matter for a long time.

"Vote."

Cheng Mengxue raised her head:

"Just like how we solve problems before, when there are disagreements, we resolve them by voting, with the minority submitting to the majority."

"I abstain."

Qin Feng stood up from the chair and walked towards the door:
“I know this is no small matter. To bring a dead person back to life from ten years ago and rewrite the history of the past ten years... The butterfly effect in time and space is too strong to be measured.”

"But this person is my father after all, and my reason might not be able to make a rational choice, so I abstain."

Snapped.

As Jiang Ran passed the sofa, she grabbed Qin Feng's wrist:
"Don't leave."

He didn't look up:
“We’re a trio. How can we vote if you leave? We’ve never been apart when making decisions.”

"I have to go."

Qin Feng glanced at Cheng Mengxue, then looked down at Jiang Ran:

"You understand, Jiang Ran. If all three of you vote together, the result will definitely pass."

Jiang Ran knew what he meant.

Because Cheng Mengxue will definitely vote in favor, and with Qin Feng added, that's two votes in favor; the minority obeys the majority, so Jiang Ran's vote against is useless.

"I don't want to embarrass you."

Qin Feng's voice was very soft:

“I miss my father very much, but I cherish you two friends just as much. To me, both sides of the scale are the same.”

"So... you two should discuss this. It doesn't matter how long it takes, a few days or a few months is fine. I'll wait for your answer."

Say it.

He gently closed the door to the activity room, and his footsteps faded away.

……

Only Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue remained in the room.

But the silence and heaviness did not dissipate; instead, they grew stronger.

Jiang Ran lowered her head, propped her elbows on her thighs, and covered her face with her hands.

Am I... selfish?

He said it to Cheng Mengxue, and also to himself:

“I objected when saving Xu Yan, and I remained silent when saving Qin Feng’s father… but when it came to saving my own mother, I pretended to hesitate for a moment.”

Cheng Mengxue gently placed the warm, cozy rice cooker-shaped cat figurine into Jiang Ran's arms; it still retained her body heat. Then she stroked Jiang Ran's neck and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Because they're different."

She closed her eyes and spoke softly:

"Sister Xu Yan, you still managed to save him in the end. After all, Qin Feng's father passed away ten years ago. The butterfly effect over the past ten years... even Qin Feng himself said he couldn't afford to gamble."

“Jiang Ran, I understand your courage better than anyone else… You are not a coward, and you are definitely not a selfish person.”

Jiang Ran's breathing became heavier:

"Then what if..."

He bit his lip.

There was a pause.

He voiced a question he had repeatedly hesitated to ponder:

"What if it had been my father who died ten years ago? Would Qin Feng... have agreed?"

(End of this chapter)