Tomb raiding: A mere 20 is nothing!

On the eve of her departure, Li's mother contacted her.

Looking at the name flashing on his phone screen, Shen Mingchao hesitated for a long time before finally answering the call.

Li's mother had just recovered from a serious illness and her body had not fully recovered yet. No matter how much of a quarrel she had with Li Chu, she couldn't let Li's mother worry about it.

As usual, the call started with a few pleasantries.

Shen Mingchao deliberately made his tone sound light and cheerful. He first inquired about Li's mother's health, then wished her a Happy New Year and said a few auspicious words.

After these polite opening remarks, there was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before the crucial question was finally asked.

"Xiaohan, did you and Xiaocu have a fight?"

"..."

Shen Mingchao's heart skipped a beat.

As expected, what was bound to happen couldn't be avoided.

Faced with her mother's blunt question, she opened her mouth, her throat tightened, and for a moment she didn't know how to explain.

She knew Li Cu's personality; he was stubborn and most likely wouldn't tell others about the conflict between them.

But Li's mother was observant; how could she not notice anything amiss?

She was still frantically choosing her words when her mother's voice came through, albeit intermittently.

"Xiao Han, let me tell you, that brat Li Chu has always been stubborn. If I had known he would make you angry, I would never have let him come to you."

"I don't know what happened between you two, and I don't want to get involved, but if he did anything wrong that hurt you, just tell me."

"I immediately made him go buy a washboard and kneel down in front of you to apologize."

When Shen Mingchao heard the last sentence, he was stunned and only subconsciously let out an "Ah".

Is this...is this process correct?

"That's what I've seen said online."

"If the washboard won't work, then let's use a durian. Boys are tough; it won't break if they kneel on it."

Shen Mingchao sighed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

My biological mother.

This is truly a loving mother.

But she really wanted to explain that this wasn't some sweet romance drama, and the problems between her and Li Chu couldn't be easily resolved by kneeling or arguing.

After making those jokes, Li's mother sighed softly, her voice becoming serious.

"Xiaohan, no matter what happened, don't take it to heart if you're angry. Don't make yourself suffer."

"I just had a brush with death, and I've come to understand a lot of things. In this world, nothing is more important than life. Living well and being safe and sound is better than anything else."

"We only live once, so we should do whatever makes us comfortable and live according to our own wishes."

Her rambling words were like the warm sun in winter.

Shen Mingchao suddenly felt a pang of sadness in his nose.

She could tell that her mother was trying to comfort her.

She felt fortunate to hear such caring words from a family member in this foreign land.

As for whether it was just Li's mother on the other end of the phone.

That's fine too.

It doesn't matter if it isn't.

Ultimately, it all comes down to them caring about her and being concerned about her well-being.

She didn't want to delve that deeply.

The following day, Shen Mingchao officially began his journey.

During that month, she traveled to many places. She completely emptied her mind, focusing only on the scenery before her, temporarily leaving all the troubles behind.

Quiet, at ease, and relaxed.

It felt like finally escaping from a long and difficult situation.

Sometimes nature is truly amazing.

The wind blows through the mountains and forests, the waves crash on the beach, and the sunlight falls on your shoulders. The gloom and grievances that were originally stuck in your heart are gradually soothed in the vastness of the world.

But there was one more crucial place on her trip – Changbai Mountain.

It's no exaggeration to say that this place holds special significance for all rice. Therefore, before transmigrating into the book, she mostly heard about it from Shen Mingyue.

For her, it was just a tourist attraction she had never been to before.

And now.

Changbai Mountain also holds a special significance for her.

This is where she transmigrated into the book, the place where she and Zhang Qilin survived in the wilderness for five months. To put it more interestingly, it's her newbie village as a transmigrator.

Shen Mingchao did not go to Changbai Mountain at the beginning, but instead decided to do so at the end of her journey.

In early March, spring had already arrived in the south, while Changbai Mountain in the northeast was still in the depths of winter.

Shen Mingchao checked the weather forecast in advance and specially chose a day when Tianchi was open to go up the mountain, so she was lucky.

Looking out, the entire mountain range was covered with thick snow, the peaks were draped in white, and the clouds and mist slowly flowed among the mountains, creating a clean, silvery-white landscape.

Vast and silent.

Changbai Mountain looks completely different now than when she visited in August; it resembles a frozen world.

Shen Mingchao, wearing a heavy down jacket, stood on the mountaintop for a very long time.

At that moment, she felt incredibly small. She listened to the wind and the voice of her own heart.

As puffs of white yawns blurred his vision, Shen Mingchao quietly asked himself: Yueyue, if you experienced these things, what would you do?

The wind at the mountaintop is always biting.

She could only hear the wind; she heard no reply.

Or,

She didn't expect to hear an answer; the moment she asked a question, she already knew the answer.

Just like the coin that Zeng Xiaoxian tossed in Love Apartment.

[When faced with two choices, flipping a coin always works. Not because it always gives the right answer, but because in that split second when it's in the air, you suddenly know what outcome you want.]

Shen Mingchao took one last look at the snow-covered Tianchi Lake, then turned and left without lingering.

Since things have come to this, why bother trying to avoid it?

So she decided to make her hometown the final stop on her journey.

Having been away from home for so long, she hadn't even had a proper look at her hometown before her pace slowed down.

However, after returning home, there were some people and some things that she could no longer pretend to ignore.

seriously.

She wanted to remind them several times that their disguise was really bad.

She kept turning around in the movie theater, thinking she couldn't see anything because the lights were off, right?

The restaurant is so well-covered up, so could you please not pretend to eat while secretly glancing at her? It's so obvious, okay?

Thinking that the shopping mall would be crowded and that she wouldn't notice him even though he was fully disguised, who in a normal situation wouldn't be looking around for someone instead of shopping, taking photos, and chatting with friends?

In short, this group of people is like NPCs that appear anytime, anywhere. You never know when one of them will appear, and they all have to bite the bullet and pretend to be passersby to stage a chance encounter.

Even more extreme, some people dressed up as food delivery drivers and delivered things to her door for three consecutive days, including flowers, lipsticks, plush toys, and all sorts of other items.

This familiar pattern allowed her to guess the other person's identity in a second.

He's like a bear who makes friends out of nothing.

She was foolish enough to offer advice back then; now that she thinks about it, she only hurt herself.

As more and more eyes were peering into the shadows, Shen Mingchao finally reached his breaking point.