I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

June 12, 2008, noon

Shen Kang squatted on the street and looked to his right. Not far away, on the TV in the appliance store facing the street, a news program was playing, showing someone running with a torch.

"The torch relay for the Beijing Olympics has begun, and our first torchbearer from Yangcheng is Academician Ouyang, the chief scientist of the lunar exploration program..."

The Beijing Olympics, the torch relay... it feels like I've truly been reborn from 2025 back to 2008...

Shen Kang was in a daze until an old-fashioned text message ringtone startled him awake.

He subconsciously pulled his phone out of his pocket; it was a Nokia 3310, a feature phone, and then he awkwardly opened the text message.

"No. 31 Jiangjun Road, Left Bank Cafe." — A mother I met on Tieba.

"..."

Shen Kang looked at the nickname he had given the sender of the text message, "My mom whom I met on Baidu Tieba," and remained silent for a long time.

No, is this "mother" serious?

Am I feeling so sexually repressed right now?

Fortunately, he quickly remembered what was going on.

This is an absurd thing he did when he was 18 and graduated from high school: he adopted a mother and a father on the "Find Your Relatives" forum. He did this because he had no parents.

He was an orphan who was abandoned at the gate of Yangcheng Third Welfare Home shortly after birth and was raised by the welfare home from a young age.

His background made him crave family affection, which is why he did such a thing.

However, he remembered that he hadn't attended the appointment on this day in history. What was the reason again? ...

As he was pondering, a hand patted his shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

Shen Kang looked up and realized that three boys were pushing bicycles around him, their faces both unfamiliar and somewhat familiar.

Among them, the one who patted him on the shoulder was a curly-haired man with an ordinary appearance and a slightly protruding forehead. His face was the most familiar to him; it was none other than his old friend, Yin Mingyang.

The two had been friends since high school, and their friendship had lasted. Later, on the day Shen Kang got divorced, it was Yin Mingyang who stayed up all night drinking with him.

"It's nothing."

Shen Kang casually put his phone away, stood up, looked at Yin Mingyang who wasn't bald yet, and said with some emotion, "Old Yin, you look much more handsome with hair on."

"?"

Yin Mingyang was puzzled, but didn't dwell on it. He immediately said excitedly, "Old Shen, we're not going to the internet cafe today. Ji Gang and his group are going to karaoke, let's go!"

The other two boys seemed surprised that Yin Mingyang would invite Shen Kang. After exchanging a glance, one of them, Chen Song, hesitated before speaking, "Old Yin, they said it's split the bill..."

As he spoke, his eyes kept glancing at Shen Kang.

Everyone knows that Shen Kang is an orphan and very poor, as can be seen from the yellowed Dacron shirt he is wearing and the rusty old bicycle next to him.

Yin Mingyang waved his hand, put his hands in his pockets, and said, "Fine, I'll pay for Lao Shen's share..." But after feeling the meager amount of money in his pocket, his expression froze. "Uh... if it really doesn't work, we can all help Lao Shen pay..."

Seeing this scene, Shen Kang finally remembered why he hadn't gone to meet his parents, whom he had met on the online forum, on this day in history.

On the one hand, I was just a keyboard warrior at the moment, and I chickened out when it came to the real thing. On the other hand, it was also because of this sudden karaoke incident today.

With both options combined, he simply went along with it and didn't keep the appointment, instead going to the karaoke bar with Yin Mingyang and the others.

Afterwards, the parents he had met online never contacted him again, and he subsequently deleted their contact information.

After sorting through this memory, Shen Kang looked at the three of them again.

The three of them haven't reached a conclusion yet.

Yin Mingyang was trying his best to persuade the other two to join him and help Shen Kang A, but the other two were still hesitant.

"I won't go."

Shen Kang spoke up, interrupting them, and at the same time took out his phone, waved it, and grinned, "I have something to take care of."

"No, you have to go!"

In a moment of panic, Yin Mingyang leaned closer and whispered, "Ran Wei is here too!"

The name Ran Wei made Shen Kang pause for a moment—who is Ran Wei?

Then I remembered that this seemed to be a girl I had a crush on, but so much time had passed that I couldn't even remember what she looked like.

He gets annoyed by all this talk of love and romance now.

In later generations, he had a marriage.

Before marriage, the woman seemed perfect and was head over heels in love with him, making him feel like he had found true love. However, after marriage, she immediately changed and the two divorced three months later. Finally, under the judgment of a wise and understanding judge, he not only lost most of his property but also inexplicably incurred hundreds of thousands of yuan in debt. In addition to the dowry and other expenses incurred before the marriage, he suffered a devastating loss.

The time Yin Mingyang drank with him all night was the time of their divorce.

He only realized later that he had been set up and forced into marriage to pay off a debt. The love his partner showed him before marriage was all an act.

Having gone through that experience, he's now genuinely afraid of romance. Who in their right mind would date? Especially not a secret crush!

"Then I'm definitely not going!"

Shen Kang shook his head resolutely, his eyes filled with determination as if he were about to join the Party.

Yin Mingyang was taken aback, and reached out to touch Shen Kang's forehead. "Are you running a fever?"

Shen Kang slapped his hand away, "I don't have a fever. I really have something to do and can't go."

Chen Song and his team breathed a sigh of relief.

Yin Mingyang tried to persuade him a couple more times, but seeing that Shen Kang's attitude was very firm, he finally had no choice but to give up.

After Yin Mingyang and the others left, Shen Kang had nothing to do.

After thinking about it, he simply hopped on his old-fashioned bicycle and rode towards General Road.

He wasn't saying he longed for family or really wanted to recognize parents or anything like that; he just wanted to watch something funny—recognizing sons, husbands, and wives on online forums, and then even going so far as to arrange offline meetings. To actually verify this is truly outrageous and too abstract!

"Those two are truly amazing...hehehehe..."

Shen Kang pedaled hard on the old-fashioned bicycle, feeling excited; his inner fun-loving person was starting to burn.

General Road wasn't far, and Shen Kang arrived at the entrance of the Left Bank Cafe a dozen minutes later.

After locking his bicycle nearby, Shen Kang arrived at the entrance of the coffee shop.

"It only mentions the coffee shop, but not which table. How am I supposed to find it...?"

However, as soon as he pushed the door open, he realized that he didn't need to look anymore.

The café was quite large, with more than a dozen tables, all of which were empty except for three customers sitting at the table in the very center.

The male supervisor, wearing a bow tie, came up directly. "Excuse me, sir, we've booked the entire place for today and are not accepting guests."

"Uh, I had an appointment with someone."

Shen Kang hesitated for a moment, then pointed to the three people at the table, "This must be the one we arranged to meet."

The male supervisor immediately smiled, stepped aside, and waved, "Please come in, sir."

Shen Kang nodded and walked towards the table, expressionless, but inwardly puzzled: What's going on? These two extraordinary individuals have actually booked the entire place? And why is there another person here? ...

He walked and pondered, and soon arrived at the table, where he looked over the three people sitting there.

There were two women and one man in total.

The man looked to be in his thirties, dressed casually, wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He was very handsome, a typical dashing middle-aged man, with a refined and easygoing demeanor. He must be the amazing father he had met online.

To the man's left sat a woman in her thirties, her hair styled in a bun at the back of her head, her makeup exquisite, and she wore a beige Chanel business suit. She sat confidently and elegantly, her eyes calm yet seemingly containing a storm within them, exuding the aura of a wealthy young woman.

Opposite the man was a girl of about 18 years old, wearing a black and white long dress, with her long black hair flowing down. She wore no makeup, but her face was as clean and clear as white jade. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and her head was slightly lowered, but it could not hide the beautiful curve of her chin. Her face was so beautiful and delicate that it was frightening. However, her right hand was always holding an old red rope chain on her left wrist.

"..."

Shen Kang withdrew his gaze, silently took a deep breath, and sat down in the last empty seat.

He considered himself handsome, even his ex-wife, who married him to pay off debts, had to admit it, but compared to these three...

Shen Kang had to admit that his looks were inferior to those of the three people in front of him.

At the same time, he realized that the wealthy young woman opposite him was probably the amazing mother he had met online.

Thank goodness I didn't lay the tiles.

If it were Wa's junior, he might mistake her for someone else and call that stunningly beautiful 18-year-old girl "Mom."