Chapter 14: A Blueprint for the Future

Cheng Yuan’s eyes lit up. “Dad, is it possible that Mom left after regaining her memories?”

“Impossible,” Cheng Huaien said, shaking his head. “Even if someone loses their memory, their nature stays the same. Xiaoxiao was gentle and kind—she loved you with all her heart. When you had a high fever as a baby and I was working in the county, she carried you alone down the mountain to get you treated. She might have thought I wasn’t good enough for her, but she would never abandon you.”

His voice was soft but resolute, without a trace of doubt. Xiaoxiao’s love for their daughter had been unwavering. She simply wasn’t the kind of woman who could walk away from her child.

“That mountain path to the county takes two hours, doesn’t it?” Cheng Yuan asked. She’d walked that narrow shortcut before—a lonely road that passed a graveyard. Even during the day, she’d been too scared to go alone. She could hardly imagine her mother making that same trek in the dead of night.

How much courage did that take?

“Exactly. Xiaoxiao was always afraid of graveyards,” Cheng Huaien said, a touch of warmth softening his gaze. “But to save time, she braved the shortcut rather than take the main road, even though it meant walking through a place that terrified her. You were barely a year old, crying nonstop. Her eyes were swollen from crying too, and she must have fallen more than once. I didn’t even realize she was hurt until we got to the hospital.”

Cheng Yuan pictured it in her mind—a woman holding a wailing child, stumbling along a dark mountain path in desperation, driven by nothing but love.

“And when you were two and got chickenpox, she didn’t sleep for an entire week. She stayed by your side, holding your hands so you wouldn’t scratch yourself. Only after the scabs had formed did she finally rest.”

“She could never abandon you,” he finished, his voice thick with longing.

“Mom…” Cheng Yuan’s heart tightened. She had never known just how much her mother had done for her. She really did love me…

Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Dad, what if Mom did remember something—but only her old memories, not the ones with us?”

That was how it always went in dramas—lost memories returned in fragments.

“Could that actually happen?” Cheng Huaien looked at her, uncertainty flickering in his eyes. If that were true, it might explain why Xiaoxiao vanished without a trace.

“The human brain is weird. What if everything just got scrambled?” Cheng Yuan said, growing more convinced by the second. “Dad, what if we find Mom one day and she doesn’t even recognize us?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Cheng Huaien said softly. “As long as she’s safe.” A quiet hope bloomed in his chest. “I need to start making more money. Once you get into Hai University, I’ll open a restaurant near campus. We’ll buy a big house—a real home for just the two of us.”

“You’re not worried I’ll fail the entrance exam and embarrass you?” Cheng Yuan teased, her white teeth flashing as she smiled. His unwavering belief in her filled her with strength.

We’ll have our own house one day. Our own home.

“I believe in you,” he said firmly. “You’ve always been one of the top students. You’ll definitely get in.”

“I won’t let you down,” Cheng Yuan replied, straightening her back with determination. “By the way, how are the tea egg sales going?”

“Great! Oh shoot—I need to go crack the shells.” He smacked his forehead. He’d boiled the eggs earlier, but after rushing to school in a panic over the incident, he’d completely forgotten.

Eight hundred eggs was no small task.

“I’ll help,” Cheng Yuan offered. After showering, she picked one up—but hesitated. “What if I mess it up?”

“They’re only half-cooked,” Cheng Huaien reassured her. “It’s fine.” When she successfully cracked one, he beamed. “Yuanyuan, you’re amazing!”

“Dad, go take your shower,” she said.

She wasn’t very skilled at first—sometimes cracking too hard, sometimes too soft—but she urged him to go.

“Alright,” he relented, grabbing clean clothes and heading to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he returned, towel in hand, drying his hair. “Yuanyuan, stop. Go to bed. I’ll finish this.”

“You already wasted a bunch of time. Let me help,” she said without looking up, cracking another egg. “Besides, I finished my homework.”

“You’ve got school tomorrow. You need sleep.”

But Cheng Yuan stayed put, not budging. In the dim light, she said, “In the time you’ve spent talking, I’ve done three more. We’ve got over eight hundred to go! If we don’t hurry, when are we going to finish? We still have to boil them too!”

The quiet courtyard echoed with the rhythmic tapping of eggshells.

“Dad, after we sell these and save a little money, we’ll open that restaurant, right?”

“Yeah. The tea egg business is still going strong. Even if we don’t run it ourselves, we shouldn’t let it go to waste.” He paused for a moment before Cheng Yuan cut in.

“I think we should teach Aunt Yu how to make them,” she said. “She probably earns way less at the factory than she would selling these.”

“Yuanyuan, you’ve really grown up,” Cheng Huaien said, touched by her thoughtfulness. “Aunt Yu helped us a lot when we first came to the county.”

“I know,” Cheng Yuan said with a smile. “She’s a good person. Have you really never thought about it?” Her eyes sparkled in the low light, teasing and bright.

In the past, she would’ve never dared speak to her father like this, let alone joke with him. Their conversations had always been awkward and distant. But now, sitting side-by-side and chatting under the soft glow of the courtyard lamp, everything felt natural.

“I’ll only ever marry one woman in my life,” Cheng Huaien said solemnly, trying to keep a straight face.

“I understand,” Cheng Yuan said with a grin. “Then you’ll just have to make the restaurant famous—nationwide even! That way, maybe Mom will see it and remember us.”

“And what if I run it into the ground?” he teased, raising an eyebrow. His past-life experience told him he could make it work—but still, her confidence amused him.

“I believe in you,” Cheng Yuan said with conviction, her eyes bright and full of trust.