Chen Fan stood near the entrance of the house and waited quietly.
Half hour… one hour… two hours… finally, a black VW appeared at the end of the road and was closing in.
The VW pulled over near Chen Fan, and two women emerged from it. One was an attractive middle-aged woman, and the other was a coy looking girl in her early twenties.
The middle-aged woman wore only very light makeup and custom-tailored black business dress. On her face, she wore black-rimmed glasses, eyes glinting, and chin up. She gave off the energy of a strong and capable businesswoman.
The moment she saw Chen Fan, her eyes grew soft and a pleased and surprised expression emerged on her face.
“Xiao Fan, why are you waiting here?”
She was Chen Fan’s mother, the CEO of Jin Xiu Group. Her name was Wang Xiaoyun, the future Queen of Jin Xiu.
“Mom.” Chen Fan’s voice was trembling and was laced with anticipation and fear.
He gazed at her familiar face and felt the motherly love in her eyes. Five hundred years of longing and expectation had all turned into this one silent look.
“What is it?”
Wang Xiaoyun came up to Chen Fan and rubbed his forehead and asked.
“Are you afraid that I am going to talk to you about you skipping school at Chu Zhou City? Humph, Auntie Tang had told me everything. Exchange Student at Qingang Middle School, wasn’t it? Those lies could only fool Auntie Tang but not your mom.”
“Of course. Mom is right; mom is great; mom is the big boss of a big company.” Chen Fan gathered himself and jested like a child.
However, he didn’t move his gaze away from his mom.
She was as pretty as he remembered. The tiredness on her face made Chen Fan feel sad.
Chen Fan had spent most of his past life with his father. By the time he left the world at the age of thirty, his father had been mostly overcome with grief and was ready to live peacefully for the rest of his life.
Both Chen Fan and his father were reticent and were not very good at talking about their feelings.
Chen Fan was in the fourth year of university when his mother died in a car accident; he felt as if the world was falling down on him when that happened.
His mother had always been the backbone of the family. Although she only returned home once a year and didn’t stay long even during her visit, both Chen Fand and his father relied on her mother’s income. The tightly knitted family had lived happily and peacefully for over twenty years.
Therefore, when Chen Fan met Wang Xiaoyun again after five hundred years, his mind was overtaken by poignant emotions.
“Mom, aren’t you tired of running the company all by yourself? Why don’t you come back and live with us?” Chen Fan asked out of the blue.
“We haven’t traveled as a family for a while. I really want to see the grand canyon and the tropical jungle. It would be so much fun!”
“What are you talking about?” Wang Xiaoyun pulled a taut face. “Who is going to put the bread on the table if I give up the company? Can you eat fun? Your dad’s wages are not even enough to pay the mortgage, do you want to be homeless?
“And you! With your grades, you will never get into a good university. You will even have a hard time finding a wife. So tell me, how could I not work hard?”
Wang Xiaoyun pointed her finger at Chen Fan’s forehead and refuted.
“Mom, don’t put him down. I bet he already knew what you are going to say.”
The coy looking girl covered her mouth to suppress a giggle.
“For your Sister An’s sake, I will let it slide.” Wang Xiaoyun glared at Chen Fan and said hotly.
Despite her angry voice, her gaze on Chen Fan was soft. Chen Fan laughed in his mind and felt her hard words warming his heart.
In his past life, he hated his mother’s preaching. However, when he wanted to hear it again, his mother was no longer alive. He had to carry the guilt and regret for the rest of his short-lived life on earth.
Sister An was his and his father’s only solace after the accident. Chen Fan knew his father was in as much pain as he was, but his father had proven to be a much stronger man of the two. He had devoted the rest of his life into his work and became a renowned government official.
The thought of Sister An, made him turn to look at the kittenish girl.
The girl looked back, and the two held each other’s gaze for a second. The coy girl’s lips curled softly into a smile, and her eyes gleamed with affection and fondness.
“Sister An.”
Chen Fan was at a loss for words as old memories flooded into his mind.
An Ya was not Chen Fan’s biological sister. Her mother and Chen Fan’s mother were BFFs ever since childhood. Although the An family was not as powerful as the Wang family, it was reputable in Jin City.
Sister An’s biological mother fell in love with a man at university and had a baby before they were married.
In the early eighties, having a baby before marriage was a huge taboo. Big families such as the Ans were particularly intolerant of such a scandal.
Under intense pressure, Sister An’s biological father eventually ran away, leaving his pregnant girlfriend to her own devices. Despite the pressure, An Jinxiu insisted on delivering the baby and thus baby An Ya was born. Right before An Ya turned five years old, her mother killed herself in a bout of depression; little An Ya became an orphan.
No one in the An family wanted to look after the poor girl because she had sullied the family name. In the end, Wang Xiaoyun had persuaded her family and took An Ya under her wing and brought her back to Chu Zhou City.
Later, when Wang Xiaoyun founded her real estate company, she named the company after An Ya’s mother: An Jinxiu.
Since then, Chen Fan’s close family included his parents, Xiao Qiong, and Sister An.
The memory of their first meeting softened Chen Fan’s face. She was a shy little girl wearing a white overall.
“I was pretty bad when I was a kid, and every time I got myself into trouble, you always blamed it on yourself.
“When my parents were both busy with their work, you were the one that looked after me. You patted me with your little hands and tell me bedtime stories.
“When I had spent my allowance, you always gave me yours.
“Even when we were adults, and after my mother passed away, you were the one who took up the huge responsibility of the crumbling Jin Xiu Group. You were only twenty-five at the time, and already, you have to run a multi-billion yuan firm.
“In the end, I failed to heed your advice and eventually ruined Jin Xiu Group. I left the battered company and came back to hide from my failure, yet you were there at the front line, saving the situation as much as you can.
“I owed my parents a lot, and owed Xiao Qiong a lot, but I owe you the most.”
Chen Fan bemoaned in his mind.
Although Sister An looked quiet and meek, she was much stronger than he had thought.
After their mother’s death, their father was paralyzed by pain; however, she worked full time while keep on encouraging her father and brother.
“Without you, the family would have fallen apart right after my mother’s death.”
He looked in the distance wistfully as old memories came back to him. It was as if he had turned back time.
When he left the world to become a cultivator, he worried about Sister An the most. He was afraid that she would buckle under the weight and the pressure. He relied on Sister An as much as she relied on him. She had no other family left, and the Chen Family was all she got.
Therefore, even during his cultivation, he wanted to go back to earth and visit. However, when he finally made it there, it was a hundred years later.
The world had changed, and the people he missed had been buried six feet under.
However powerful he was, he could not turn back time.
“Xiao Fan, why are you staring at me?”
Sister An asked softly.
“He knew he was in deep trouble, and he is asking for help.” Wang Xiaoyun grunted.
An Ya covered her mouth as she giggled. Chen Fan wrenched his mind out of his reverie as a broad smile broke over his face.
“Well, because I think you looked much prettier than last time I saw you six month ago. Same goes with mom. ”
“Save your pretty words. I’d rather you have good grades than me becoming the prettiest woman in the world.” Wang Xiaoyun rolled her eyes at Chen Fan.
The three of them chatted and laughed with each other as they walked toward home. When they got there, they were surprised to see Chen Gexin had already returned home from work. It was a rare sight to see his father come home early on a workday.
His wife’s homecoming was the most important thing on his mind. He hadn’t seen his beloved wife for six months, and he missed her greatly.
Greetings over, Chen Fan, started to make tea for everyone.
Even Secretary Sun was taken aback by Chen Fan’s initiative in helping out with the chores, much less his parents. Despite the shock, his parent’s faces were lit up with joy.
Chen Fan had always been the ladies in the family. He often sat around and wait for others to do things for him. However, after spending six months away from home, he had changed.
“Ok, ok. You are freaking me out. You must be up to something. You better save your energy and spend it on your sister. Only she can persuade me from punishing you.” Wang Xiaoyun waved her hands at Chen Fan.
“You two go somewhere else. I have something to discuss with your dad.”
Sister An cracked a smile and then left the house with Chen Fan in tow.
As Chen Fan walked on the familiar county road with a familiar girl beside him, he was suddenly hit by a deja vu.
He had waited five hundred years for this moment, but when it finally came. He couldn’t say a word.
“Xiao Fan, are you really in trouble?”
An Ya asked softly.