Ye Xu only recently learned this. Don't be fooled by the system's cold attitude towards adults; it's incredibly patient with children. Zhenzhen only spends half a day studying with Ji Ling each day; the other half, she either reads in her room or goes out to play with her friends.
Ye Xu had always assumed that Zhenzhen spent most of her time playing, and that she probably only read interesting storybooks. But that wasn't the case; she was reading textbooks, and the system itself was her teacher. Ye Xu wondered if the system had given the girl anything like brain-boosting pills, but Zhenzhen had already finished her elementary school textbooks and was ready to enter middle school at any time.
The system even promised to help with Zhenzhen's identity and school enrollment. Ye Xu's return to his original world was a direct teleportation to fifteen years after he left. The system had already fabricated his social life over those fifteen years. In the memories of everyone he knew, he had applied for a job in a relatively distant coastal city, worked hard, got married once, had a daughter, but his wife passed away two years ago.
Ye Xu: Good heavens, I only went out to open a shop for a little over three years, and now fifteen years have passed since I came back, and I have a twelve-year-old daughter.
I woke up looking more than ten years older, but luckily it was only in terms of social status and my ID card, otherwise I would have been at a huge loss.
"Everything is ready, that's good." Jiang Yuexuan was relieved. "Then why did you get Zhenzhen to borrow an extra 1 billion from me? She doesn't need to redeem herself now, what does she need that 1 billion for?"
"We need to change Zhenzhen's bloodline. She's so delicate and frail; I'm worried about her going to school. We need to give her a strong, top-tier bloodline so she won't get hurt at school."
There's also school bullying. Girls are so vulnerable to school bullying, and Ye Xu couldn't bear to see her precious daughter suffer like that. With her powerful bloodline, she could protect herself in such situations, and the bully would be no match for her. She wouldn't be afraid even if the bully was a tall, strong male school bully.
The reasoning was so compelling that everyone was convinced. They began to huddle together to discuss which bloodline to choose for the little girl, but Xiao Suguang eventually stopped them.
"Which one to choose, we should still ask Zhenzhen for her opinion."
Could a twelve-year-old girl make this decision? Everyone looked at Zhenzhen, feeling it was a bit difficult. But Xiao Suguang was right; the bloodline should be chosen according to the person's own preference.
Ye Xu then asked Zhenzhen, "Is there anything you want?"
Zhenzhen nodded seriously and said earnestly, "Aunt Xuan is amazing. I want to be like her."
Ye Xu's heart broke: "Isn't Dad amazing?"
“Dad is a boy,” Zhenzhen said, having her own reasons. “When I choose a classmate to study with, I will definitely choose a girl.”
In the end, Zhenzhen chose the same bloodline as Jiang Yuexuan, abandoning her physical body to become a soul. Everyone was worried that there might be problems during her bloodline fusion process, so they didn't rush to disperse and stayed with her for three days. Only after they confirmed that everything was alright after she woke up did they go to the plane they had chosen.
Jiang Yuexuan was the last to leave. Before leaving, she told Ye Xu something: "Bloodline fusion is pretty much the same. Top-tier bloodlines generally take three to seven days. The shorter the time, the higher the compatibility. Zhenzhen completed the fusion in three days. She suspects that she also has the talent of the Purgatory type. You can keep an eye on this aspect."
Very well, after his daughter stopped idolizing him and learning from him, another thing has become a source of sadness for the old father: his daughter's talents are different from his. However, these are things beyond human control, and Ye Xu can only sulk in silence.
Having settled all the trivial matters, the father and daughter finally embarked on their journey to Ye Xu's original world. Returning to their hometown once again, their lodgings were naturally no longer the rented house they had stayed in before.
The system extracted a small portion of Ye Xu's monetary funds, using it to secure the necessities for his current survival. First was this two-bedroom apartment in a top-tier city's school district. These apartments were difficult to buy; recently, there were high prices but no buyers, but his child's schooling couldn't be delayed, so a home was essential.
This time, the system was very considerate; it didn't try to get any extra payment from Ye Xu and handled everything perfectly. Ye Xu and his daughter took a walk around the house, and they were both very satisfied.
Don't let the fact that it's only a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment fool you; each room is quite spacious, neither too empty nor too cramped, making it very comfortable to live in. Secondly, this apartment is located on the top floor, the sixth floor, a perfect height with no tall buildings nearby blocking the sunlight.
This house doesn't have the typical problems that top-floor apartments have; instead, it has a small attic and a small terrace. Half of the terrace has been converted into a sunroom, which Zhenzhen loved at first sight. She said she wanted to turn it into a greenhouse, and Ye Xu readily agreed.
This time, Ye Xu doesn't plan to open a large shop. He intends to develop it into a chain restaurant, avoiding some branches. This way, the large number of robots he has accumulated will have a place to be used. Ideally, he would also open a store near the residential area, so that the robots in the store can take care of the house's cleaning and other issues as well.
Since he had at least six more years to spend here, Ye Xu wasn't in a hurry to earn points. Unlike in previous worlds, he no longer racked his brains to come up with a type of shop that could earn a lot of points. Instead, he decided to open a shop that was less stressful.
Without the restriction of "no duplicate store types," Ye Xu could sell whatever he wanted. In the end, he chose the braised chicken chain, simply because it was convenient.
Once the broth for braised chicken is prepared, cooking it is not difficult at all, and there are few variations. The restaurant offers about five or six options, such as braised chicken, braised tofu, braised pork ribs, etc. Just change the ingredients and you're done.
Ye Xu didn't have many chef robots, but he had plenty of waiters. Opening other restaurant chains would require buying additional chefs, which was too troublesome, and preparing a large number of dishes would also increase the workload of all the robots.
Braised chicken is so good! One chef in the shop makes the broth, and the other robots cook it mechanically. It requires no skill; any robot could do it. The free shop manager doesn't have a purchasing panel, so buying ingredients and other items is troublesome. If they don't want to spend energy to synthesize them, they have to go out and buy them.
It's worth mentioning that the free shops no longer require the use of system-produced items, allowing the sale of external ingredients. Otherwise, without the purchasing panel, they would only be able to synthesize energy, which is too inefficient.
"It seems like not many people are taking the braised chicken to go." Ye Xu didn't treat Zhenzhen like a child. He thought that Zhenzhen would have to go out and run a business sooner or later, so he might as well start influencing her now. Therefore, he simply dragged his daughter along to discuss the decision.
Twelve-year-olds are more "knowledgeable" than adults think. Zhenzhen nodded knowingly, "My uncle and aunt used to eat here, either in person or by ordering takeout."
Getting takeout from the store is such a hassle. Why not just eat it there since we're already there? Braised chicken soup is so watery, and it's not as convenient to pack as fried chicken.
The operation is simpler, opening a chain store is convenient, and it also solves the problem of customers not dining in. Ye Xu thinks this is a perfect choice. He thinks that he won't offer takeout, and if customers want to eat, they have to come and dine in, which should guarantee a certain number of seats.
Even without the top-tier (95 points) ingredients supplied by the purchasing panel, Ye Xu remained calm. The chefs had meticulously researched how to make the most delicious braised chicken back in interstellar space, and they remembered the recipe perfectly. Lower-quality ingredients didn't matter; as long as the broth was flavorful, it was fine. His braised chicken was undoubtedly the best in all of China!
For the next few days, Ye Xu took Zhenzhen to work on the renovation and opening of the new store. There were still a few days until the start of junior high school. After school started, Ye Xu would have to become a full-time dad and would try to let go of the store's affairs as much as possible.
Zhenzhen should have everything that other kids have. Ye Xu plans to learn cooking, not expecting her to make gourmet dishes, but just some snacks and desserts for Zhenzhen to take and share with her classmates. He also plans to pick her up and drop her off at school every day, take her out to play on weekends, and give her small gifts on holidays, ensuring that Zhenzhen becomes the most envied child among her classmates.
He wants to make up for all the care Zhenzhen lacked in her childhood.
Previously in other dimensions, Ye Xu didn't know what the parents of children in those dimensions looked like when they were young, so he couldn't learn from them. Now, this is his home turf, the modern dimension. Even though he is an orphan and can only learn many things by guessing based on other people's descriptions, it's still better than some ancient interstellar world.
Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've still seen pigs run, right? Ye Xu clearly remembered his childhood fantasies about his parents. No matter how much his father, the hospital director, loved him, he wasn't his only father, and there were many things he couldn't do perfectly. Now, however, he had the opportunity to play the perfect father according to his fantasies.
Ye Xu put on her apron with a happy smile and went to the kitchen to practice baking.
Zhenzhen followed along like a little tail, asking expectantly, "Daddy, can I help?"
"Of course, you can help me with the meat noodles. Today we're making cream buns." Ye Xuxin readily agreed.
Making bread together as father and daughter was a memorable experience. Ye Xu summoned Miss Luna and asked her to take a picture to remember the occasion; he wanted to look back on it later.
As for Shuangshuang, this hardworking little elf assistant was naturally left at the shop by Ye Xu. Now that there's no butler robot to help keep an eye on things, she'll have to work harder and personally take charge of the overall situation.
Ye Xu: My conscience doesn't hurt at all.
The heartwarming daily routine lasted for about two months, until Zhenzhen went to school. During the National Day holiday of her first semester, Ye Xu finally decided to take his daughter back to the city where the orphanage was located.
Firstly, he wanted to go back and check on the situation in the hospital, and also let his daughter know about the place where he grew up. Secondly, he wanted to go to his father's room to see what message his father had left for him.
The system's original plan was for Ye Xu to return to his original plane and discover the truth on his own. Although Sister Xuan had helped clear things up beforehand, there should still be something left for him in his original plane. He didn't know the specifics of the arrangement, but if it was something like a letter, he'd better go and get it to avoid being seen by others.
Fifteen years have passed, and the orphanage has changed dramatically. It is said that several children who had left the orphanage returned to donate money, and kind-hearted people also provided funds. The current director was very polite when he saw Ye Xu. After all, he hadn't been back for many years, and the director had changed several times. The other party didn't recognize him, but knew that he was a wealthy man.
The dean said gratefully, "Thank you so much for your donations over the years; they have been a great help to us."
Ye Xu nodded, not surprised.
The donation was something he had asked the system to do himself. Since the system could help him buy a house, it wouldn't be difficult for it to help him donate money as well. Ye Xu had plenty of money these days, so he took out a lot of it all at once. To help him legitimize the source of this money, the system created a persona for him that he was very good at stock trading.
Ye Xu initially thought it was unnecessary and could simply donate anonymously. However, the system was quite insistent on this, and it was unclear whether it was worried that Ye Shi would mind or something else.
Now, after chatting with the dean, Ye Xu had a general idea. Because he had donated money, when he told the dean he wanted to take his daughter to sit in the room of the first original owner of the body, the current dean readily agreed. If it weren't for the donation, it might not have been so easy for the dean to agree.
Many years have passed, and Ye Shi's room is still cleaned regularly. Ye Xu noticed two familiar elderly women in the courtyard. They had been helping out at the orphanage since he was a child and hadn't retired yet. They must also be the ones cleaning the director's room.
When Ye Xu entered, he happened to see one of the people sweeping the hallway outside, so he went back out and chatted with him for a few minutes. The aunt was also very happy to see him return and pulled him and Zhenzhen aside to ask them several questions.
However, as the conversation went on, Ye Xu noticed a problem—the aunt didn't seem to be a real human being; she seemed a bit like the robots in his house.
No wonder they haven't retired yet; they're robots left over from the first generation of the system. However, they're more like living people than ordinary robots, probably at the butler level. If you didn't know the inside story, it would be really hard to notice anything unusual.
The butler robot had its own personality and thoughts, making it practically a semi-intelligent life form. Therefore, after learning the truth, Ye Xu only sighed briefly, without any particular particular thought.
After saying goodbye to his aunt, Ye Xu led Zhenzhen back to the room. He pointed to the large framed photo hanging in the room and told Zhenzhen that it was her grandfather in the picture. Then he closed the door and began searching for letters and other items.
"Dad, what are you looking for?" Zhenzhen asked curiously.
Ye Xu didn't know either: "Since it contains some information, it could be paper or a USB drive."
Zhenzhen thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll help you, Dad."
After saying that, she also started searching. The father and daughter opened all the drawers to check, and if they still couldn't find it, they would look in the nooks and crannies.
There weren't many items left in the room, and most of the drawers were empty. They were quickly searched through. Ye Xu checked under the bed and behind the cabinets, while Zhenzhen tilted her head and thought for a moment. She then moved a chair to the front of the large photo frame, climbed up, and tried to lift the frame to see what was behind it.
That's how it's portrayed on TV—there's something hidden behind the picture frames and paintings.
But the moment his hand touched the picture frame, time seemed to freeze. Ye Xu immediately sensed something was wrong; he was the only one present who was sensitive to fluctuations in spacetime elements, and he quickly ran to his daughter's side to protect her.
Zhenzhen hadn't noticed anything unusual at first, but when she saw this, she was startled. She grabbed her father's clothes and buried herself in his arms, not daring to make a sound, thinking she had done something wrong.
"It's alright," Ye Xu reassured her. "Zhenzhen must have found something."
Zhenzhen cheered up again and asked softly, "Really?"
Ye Xu blinked and saw a phantom materialize in the room. He slowly nodded and said, "Of course. Grandpa's here. Zhenzhen, quickly greet Grandpa."
He then pulled the little girl out and gestured for her to look at the extra people in the room.
The figure that materialized was almost identical to the one in the photo, still so young and handsome. He smiled at Ye Xu, then walked over and patted Zhenzhen's head.
Zhenzhen looked up and obediently called out, "Grandpa."
Ye Shi nodded in satisfaction and gave her a small toy: "Sweetie, take this and go play over there for a while. Your dad and I have something to talk about."
Zhenzhen sensibly went to the side.
"You weren't secretly watching all this time, were you?" Ye Xu thought about how he had just rummaged through drawers and cabinets and crawled on the floor to check under the bed and at the bottom of the closet, and suddenly felt terrible.
So it turns out I came here to see Ye Shi himself. I don't know if this is a wisp of his spirit or a projection. But regardless, the real Ye Shi will definitely find out everything here; his image is gone!
Ye Shi was overjoyed: "Don't I know what you look like? I raised you."
However, even grown-up children still have some image concerns in front of their parents, which frustrated Ye Xu.
"Alright, let's not talk about that." Ye Shi proactively changed the subject. "Jiang Yuexuan should have told you everything you wanted to know. Do you have any other questions?"
Ye Xu really didn't have any problems; he'd just lost face and was too embarrassed to bring up the matter of using the back door to become the system. Besides, his daughter was right there, so he couldn't bring himself to act like a spoiled father. Sigh, he should have let his daughter play with her friends earlier.
Ye Shi patted his head, not pointing out the truth, and said considerately, "Since you didn't want to ask, why don't you listen to me? I have a test for you, which you can do after you've raised your daughter."
"What is it?" Ye Xu asked curiously.
"You should know that the first-generation system wanted to retire, so you created the second-generation system, right?" Ye Shi asked rhetorically.
Ye Xu nodded: "I heard you have three second-generation systems under your command."
Ye Shi hummed in agreement: "Those three are debt collectors, let's not talk about them. Anyway, I later found that the second-generation system was not very obedient, so I decided to take a different approach and find a replacement among intelligent beings, so I opened an orphanage here."
At the time, Ye Shi was still somewhat naive, thinking that human cubs were obedient and cute, far superior to his three unfilial sons. He believed that as long as he raised them well, he could surely raise many obedient, filial children who could help his elderly father.
Then he got a lesson from the little devil.
Ye Shi didn't know much about raising children and couldn't handle those unruly little devils. Fortunately, most of these unruly children were relatively healthy, and healthy children were easy to adopt these days. In the end, the orphanage was left with some children with serious congenital diseases and less than ten "reserve" children.
Children in orphanages find adoptive parents more easily than people think, because there are so many infertile couples these days. It's very difficult for ordinary people to adopt a child from an orphanage; there's always a waiting list. So some people with connections cultivate relationships with doctors in the obstetrics and gynecology departments of hospitals, which allows them to get firsthand information about abandoned babies.
Under normal circumstances, abandoned babies without any major health problems will be adopted by those who have received advance notice before others even realize what's happening. Children with treatable illnesses generally don't have trouble finding homes.
Ye Xu and Ye Wen, the few reserve soldiers, were clearly not the kind of children whose illnesses were incurable, so Ye Shi had kept them using other methods. At the time, he felt that his actions were not wrong, but now he felt a little guilty and wanted to ask Ye Xu if he would be angry about it. After all, if it weren't for his obstruction, Ye Xu would definitely have a pair of loving adoptive parents.
Putting everything else aside, Ye Shi can at least guarantee the character of the adoptive parents. Children who leave his care, even those whose adoptive parents later have biological children, are never mistreated. If a system as powerful as his can't even do this, then he's utterly useless.
"It's alright," Ye Xu shook his head.
Ye Xu might have had some regrets in the past, but staying in the orphanage led to his current extraordinary experiences, so in a way, he benefited. A pair of foster parents could never compare to the advantages he has now. Moreover, if Ye Shi hadn't established the orphanage, he might not have been discovered and accepted by other orphanages, and might have been trafficked to the mountains by human traffickers first.
Seeing his father breathe a sigh of relief, Ye Xu teased him, "Did Dad find a suitable 'successor'? We, the rest of us in the reserve, weren't all unqualified, were we? Otherwise, why would Dad have left so early?"
Ye was furious when he mentioned this: "I was supposed to have a long vacation, but it's all those three unfilial sons' fault!"
Ye Shi initially planned to raise a batch of children and then slowly select the best ones. If none of them were suitable in one batch, he would raise several more. However, halfway through, he received news that three level-two systems had run away together, leaving him, the "old father," with all the work to be done. Ye Shi had no choice but to leave early and go back to deal with the situation.