At this moment, the look in Su Lili’s eyes could no longer be described as “looking at an idiot”; it also carried a hint of inexplicable sorrow and sympathy.
“Dad… you’ve been single too long, and now you can’t even tell the difference between men and women?” the little girl sighed with a hint of frustration. “You can’t just say she’s a guy because she has short hair!”
At that moment, Su Lili understood something. Her mother was absolutely right: her father was a total, unrepentant straight man.
How did this guy, with his head full of tokusatsu and 2D anime, ever manage to win over such a gentle and virtuous mother?
Lin Yizhou rubbed his temples. He still wasn’t quite buying what Su Lili was saying.
And then Su Lili continued.
“Dad, I know you still have a lot of doubts, but what I want to say is that you have to take the initiative now. Otherwise, something will happen in the future that you’ll regret for the rest of your life…”
As she said this, the little girl’s eyes dimmed, her voice grew softer and softer until it almost became a broken mutter, and she dropped her head.
“…Mom is going to leave us.”
Lin Yizhou also noticed that even though Su Lili was holding back her tears and didn’t cry out, her eyes were red, and tears swirled inside but refused to fall.
This extraordinary strength only made it more heartbreaking.
So he reached out, placed his hand on the little girl’s head, and softened his tone as he spoke.
“Did something happen in the future?”
Su Lili’s words made Lin Yizhou’s gaze become serious.
Seeing Lin Yizhou ask, Su Lili wiped her face with her sleeve and answered softly.
Su Lili’s story was slow and gentle, and she said a lot. Lin Yizhou listened patiently.
But in short, the future Su Ziling fell ill with a mysterious, incurable disease.
When Lin Yizhou found out, he poured all his efforts into researching a cure, and although he eventually solved the problem and developed a remedy… it was ultimately too late.
Su Ziling couldn’t wait any longer and left forever.
Su Lili lost her mother, and Lin Yizhou was consumed by endless guilt and regret, never recovering, drowning in the shadow of pain.
To rewrite this tragic ending, Su Lili used the precious wish of a magical girl and staked everything to return to the present.
After finishing, Su Lili took a breath, seemingly strengthening herself again, clenching her fists as if to cheer herself on.
“So Dad! You need to act fast and win Mom over! As long as we prepare in advance, we can definitely avoid this tragedy!”
“I understand.” Lin Yizhou sighed lightly.
“I’ll look into them.”
“Really?” Su Lili’s bright eyes lit up with excitement again. “Then you definitely know how to chase a girl, right?”
“?” Lin Yizhou was stunned. “Why chase? Women aren’t as good as 2D waifus.”
“But… but Mom is really beautiful! Dad, you’re not even a little tempted?”
“No matter how beautiful a real woman is, she still has to take a dump. But a 2D girl doesn’t. It’s like a math problem—if you don’t get it, you just don’t get it.”
“Then why did you just say you’d investigate?”
“Yeah, I’m investigating her background and family medical history. I never said I’d chase her.”
Real women are too much trouble. 2D characters are way less stressful.
Hearing this, the little girl’s mouth fell open, her eyes wide. She had held back tears all this time, but now she couldn’t help it and burst out crying with a “waa,” running off as she spoke.
“Dad, you absolute 2D ridiculously stubborn straight man!!”
“?”
—
Time came to the next afternoon.
Su Ziling walked into the classroom with a textbook under one arm and an almost-finished popsicle in the other, slipping in just as the bell rang.
Although a lot happened yesterday, college life goes on, and unlike others, she had never missed a class, whether elective or required. She never skipped, and her grades were excellent—she was practically a model student in the teachers’ eyes.
Her counselor had even tried more than once to make her a class or group committee member, but Su Ziling always refused.
She still had to occasionally transform into a magical girl and fight monsters to earn a little extra cash.
In that regard, she actually envied those monsters a bit. They could rob banks whenever they wanted, break ATMs whenever they wanted—if they didn’t get caught, it wasn’t a crime. They were as free as those “zero-dollar purchase” guys in her past life in America.
Of course, just thinking.
In her previous life, she was still a good citizen who had received nine years of compulsory education and was steeped in socialist core values. That law-abiding gene was still in her bones; even if she became a monster, she wouldn’t do anything illegal.
She found a seat by the window and sat down. Just as she pulled the popsicle stick out of her mouth, her gaze was caught by a particularly distinct figure not far away.
He was sitting cross-legged, wearing a “pain shirt” printed with Magical Girl Meluke, with earphones in. If you looked closely, he was playing a song from NetEase Cloud Music.
He was a true veteran otaku.
On the other side, Lin Yizhou naturally noticed Su Ziling’s arrival. Or rather, he came here specifically to find Su Ziling.
After exchanging a glance with Lin Yizhou, Su Ziling quickly looked away.
At this moment, she was very puzzled.
‘What wire did my future self cross to fall for this otaku?’
Lin Yizhou, on the other hand, nodded internally to his judgment from last night.
This person not far away, although their gender was very ambiguous and hard to tell, Lin Yizhou subjectively judged from their clothes and sitting posture that they were male.
‘See, Su Lili must have gotten something wrong.’
“Buzz, buzz…”
The phone vibrated at just the right moment, interrupting Lin Yizhou’s thoughts. He looked down and saw a message from his subordinate.
“Boss, all the information on the ‘Su Ziling’ you asked us to investigate, including family background, has been compiled for you.”
After seeing this message, Lin Yizhou’s lips curled into a smug, confident grin.
With the data in hand, truth is mine.
This would conclusively prove that Su Ziling was that “energetic girl,” and the person in front of him was her older brother.
So, Lin Yizhou didn’t hesitate and opened the file.
Then he froze in place.
First, the data couldn’t be wrong. His subordinates were always meticulous—they almost knew what the person’s ancestors had for breakfast three generations back.
Second, the photo in the file clearly showed that the target was the figure sitting not far away, not the energetic girl from Su Lili’s photo as he had imagined.
That was one thing…
But who can tell me! Why! Was the glaringly obvious character in the gender column a “male”?! Why!!!!