Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

Su Yuyan held Xiaodou and circled around again until the child fell asleep before handing him back to the girl.

At the other end of the courtyard, Hu Zi rushed over, grabbed Jiang Fan's arm, and dragged him toward the bench.

"Brother Fan! Can you tell stories? I'm so tired of Aunt Fang's stories!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Brother Fan is telling a story!"

A dozen or so children swarmed around and sat in a semicircle in front of the bench.

The older ones sat cross-legged, while the younger ones sat directly on the ground, all with their heads tilted back, waiting.

Jiang Fan was pushed to sit on a bench and glanced at the group of younger people below.

Today I'm going to tell you a story from Journey to the West.

He originally intended to tell them a fairy tale to appease them, but he was afraid that fairy tales wouldn't be enough to fool a teenager like Tiger.

Journey to the West is suitable for all ages.

Furthermore, the mythology of Earth overlaps somewhat with that of my previous life; Pangu, the Heavenly Court, and Buddhism are all present in the framework. Fitting the story into this framework won't feel out of place.

Jiang Fan cleared his throat.

"Long, long ago, before heaven and earth were separated, the whole world was a chaotic mass. Later, after Pangu separated heaven and earth, the world was divided into four major continents—East Sheng Shenzhou, West Niu Hezhou, South Zhanbuzhou, and North Ju Luzhou."

"In the Eastern Continent of Divine Victory, there is a country called Aolai. Near the sea of ​​Aolai, there is a mountain called Huaguo Mountain. The mountain is shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, and there are countless rare and exotic animals."

In just a few hundred words, it captured the attention of all the children.

Even Su Yuyan unconsciously stopped what she was doing.

"At the summit stands a celestial stone, erected since the beginning of time by Pangu, exposed to wind, sun, lightning, and rain, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon for countless years. Suddenly one day—snap!"

Jiang Fan slapped his knee.

The three children in the front row were startled and immediately moved closer to the front.

"The stone split open in the middle. A stone monkey sprang out from inside."

"A monkey popped out of a rock?!" A six- or seven-year-old boy stared wide-eyed.

"Yes. As soon as this monkey was born, it soared straight into the sky. The noise was so great that even the Jade Emperor in the Heavenly Palace couldn't sit still and quickly sent his all-seeing and all-hearing gods to investigate what was going on."

Tiger sat cross-legged at the front, his mouth agape.

"Then what?!"

"Then the monkey ran to a waterfall on Flower Fruit Mountain. The waterfall was very powerful, and all the other monkeys shrank back and dared not go up. Only he jumped into the waterfall—"

"Hidden behind is a naturally formed stone cave. The eight characters 'Blessed Land of Flower and Fruit Mountain, Heavenly Cave of Water Curtain' are carved on the stone wall. He led the monkeys into the cave to make their home, and they elected him as their king, honoring him as the Handsome Monkey King."

The crowd below exclaimed "Wow!"

Jiang Fan continued speaking.

Having reigned as the Monkey King for three to five hundred years, he left Flower Fruit Mountain in search of the secret to immortality, crossed the ocean to Xiniu Hezhou, and became a disciple of the Bodhi Patriarch at Lingtai Fangcun Mountain.

His master bestowed upon him the name Sun Wukong.

He was taught seventy-two transformations, and a single somersault could cover 108,000 li.

Just as he was about to continue, the sound of a car came from outside the iron gate.

A white BMW 3 Series turned onto the old road and stopped in front of the welfare home.

The car door opened, and a woman got out.

She was in her early twenties, tall, and wore a white undershirt under a black trench coat.

Her hair was tied in a low ponytail, her features were delicate, and she wore a pair of thin-rimmed glasses with gold wires on her nose.

She took two large bags and a stack of books from the passenger seat.

"Aunt Fang! I'm here!"

His voice was clear and bright, with a sharp and forceful quality.

Fang Xiulan came out of the house, beaming with joy.

"Siyi's here? Come in, come in quickly, look who's here—"

Song Siyi put the book on the bench and straightened up.

His gaze swept across the courtyard and landed on Jiang Fan in the crowd.

Jiang Fan saw her too.

He searched through the original owner's memories.

Song Siyi.

She is two years older than the original owner of this body and also grew up in this orphanage.

She was adopted by a family at the age of thirteen, and after graduating from university, she apparently went to work for an internet company in Shanghai.

The original owner was closest to her when she was a child.

He follows her around all day, wherever she goes, he goes too, and she can't shake him off.

and--

When the original owner was eight years old, in front of more than thirty children in the entire courtyard and Fang Xiulan, he shouted a sentence at the top of his lungs.

"When I grow up, I want to marry Sister Siyi!"

It is still circulating in the welfare home today.

Song Siyi stood next to the bench, and the two of them stared at each other for a few seconds across most of the yard.

She was the first to react.

"...Are you Jiang Fan?"

"Sister Siyi."

Song Siyi walked over, looked him up and down, her eyes sweeping from his face to his feet and back again.

"He's grown taller. And he's become more handsome."

"……Um."

Song Siyi pushed up her glasses and stared at him for two seconds.

"Wait a moment."

She took out her phone, quickly searched for something, then looked up and her expression changed.

"You are—that Jiang Fan? The Jiang Fan who wrote 'Blue and White Porcelain'?"

Song Siyi almost dropped her phone.

She looked at the person in front of her again, her gaze completely different from before.

"You... are you still that little brat who used to follow me around and couldn't even speak properly?"

Tiger, who was standing nearby, perked up his ears and slapped his thigh.

"Sister Siyi! When Fan was little, he said he would marry her when he grew up—"

Fang Xiulan glanced at Su Yuyan on the steps out of the corner of her eye, and her hand was already patting the back of Hu Zi's head.

"Say another word and I'll throw you out!"

Tiger covered his head and ran away in a flash.

Su Yuyan was still sitting on the steps, her elbows propped on her knees, looking this way.

She sized up Song Siyi for a while—

Tall and with a clean-cut demeanor, the gold-rimmed glasses gave him an intellectual air.

She heard clearly the rest of Tiger's unfinished sentence.

Su Yuyan tapped her knee twice with her fingertips, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on her lips.

Song Siyi noticed her too and turned her head to take a look.

"Who is this?"

Jiang Fan spoke up: "My friend, Su Yuyan."

Song Siyi was stunned for a moment.

"Su Yuyan? The Empress Su Yuyan?"

Su Yuyan stood up, patted her trouser legs, and walked over.

"Hello there."

Song Siyi looked at Su Yuyan, then at Jiang Fan, her mouth opening twice.

"You're bringing your idol to the orphanage?"

"She insisted on coming."

Su Yuyan gently kicked his shin from the side.

Song Siyi adjusted her glasses and took several seconds to process the information.

"Alright. Your life right now... isn't quite what I imagined."

"Why is it different?"

"I thought you were still working as a security guard."

She looked at Jiang Fan again, her gaze now holding something different.

Just as Jiang Fan was about to reply, his trouser leg was tugged.

The little girl with pigtails looked up at him expectantly.

"Brother Fan, please tell me the story quickly! What happened to the monkey later?"

The other children below joined in the commotion.

"Yeah, Brother Fan! What happened after the monkey learned the skill?"

Jiang Fan was dragged back to the bench by a group of children.

Song Siyi didn't leave either; she moved a small stool and sat down next to the group of children.

Su Yuyan moved to another seat and sat on the other side.

The two women were separated by three or four children, and neither of them gave the other a second glance.

Jiang Fan continued speaking.

After learning a great deal of skill, Sun Wukong returned to Flower Fruit Mountain. In order to find a suitable weapon, he went to the Dragon Palace of the East Sea.

The Dragon King took out his 7,200-jin halberd, but Sun Wukong thought it was too light. Reaching the deepest part of the Dragon Palace, they saw an iron pillar standing there, gleaming with golden light—the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Cudgel).

"It weighs 13,500 jin. It can be big or small. When it's big, it stands tall and upright. When it's small, it shrinks down to the size of a needle and you can stuff it into your ear."

Tiger's eyes lit up: "Inside the ear?!"

The little girl also covered her ears.

"Later, he resented that the King of Hell was in charge of his life, so he went to the underworld, found the Book of Life and Death, and crossed out all the monkeys' names. The King of Hell was furious and complained to the Heavenly Court. The Jade Emperor sent 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals to capture him. He was thrown into the alchemy furnace by Laozi and burned for forty-nine days—"

Jiang Fan paused for a moment.

All the children craned their necks.

"Guess what?"

"Burned to death?" a little boy asked weakly.

"He didn't die. Not only did he not die, he also gained a pair of fiery eyes. From then on, he could see through any demon or monster in the heavens and on earth at a glance."

The children burst into laughter.

Su Yuyan tilted her head slightly, glancing at Song Siyi beside her out of the corner of her eye.

Song Siyi sat on the bench, leaning forward, her fingers unconsciously tapping on her knees.

The Four Continents, Heaven, Underworld, Dragon Palace, Flower Fruit Mountain—

Behind each name lies a whole set of operating logic.

The plot unfolds in a series of interconnected events; any single segment can stand alone as a story, yet together they form a complete narrative.

This is not a bedtime story I made up for a child.

Song Siyi worked in the publishing industry for five years, handling hundreds of thousands of words of manuscripts every day.

But the sheer scale of this story—

Her mind had already started to uncontrollably dismantle the structure.

Song Siyi's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

She looked up and stared at the man on the bench who was surrounded by children.

Only one thought remained in my mind—

How much would this be worth if it were written down?