Shocking! The Broke Campus Heartthrob Is My Child’s Father - Chapter 82
Her grandparents clearly hadn’t processed it yet.
What was it again?
Lu Siyan was their granddaughter’s son? How could that be possible? Even calculating the ages, it didn’t make sense… Wait—time travel? Travel through what?
Jiang Ruoqiao wasn’t surprised by their reaction. Not just her seventy-something grandparents—even her tech-savvy roommates who constantly surfed the latest trends would probably react the same way if they knew.
After a prolonged silence, Grandpa was the first to recover, hesitantly saying, “When I first saw that child yesterday, I kept wondering why he looked so familiar… Had I seen him somewhere before?”
Grandma was still examining the paternity test report Jiang Ruoqiao had given her, taking off her reading glasses in disbelief. “What’s this about? Coming back through time travel from the future?”
Jiang Ruoqiao had to thank all those time-travel dramas from recent years.
Grandma had binged them for ages and had genuinely empathized with the female protagonists countless times.
As for Grandpa, he’d been dragged along to watch time travel shows too.
The elderly couple understood what time travel meant…
“It’s true,” Jiang Ruoqiao said helplessly. “I’ve never lied to you. Grandma, think about it—Siyan’s natural curls and his dimples are inherited from our family genes. I’m really not joking about this, and I’m not deceiving you.”
Her grandparents remained speechless.
Jiang Ruoqiao really hoped they would believe her quickly, but knew this matter couldn’t be rushed. She softened her tone, “I’ll step out for a bit so you can think. I’ll come back at noon to take you out for lunch, then we’ll go to the hospital in the afternoon, okay?”
They naturally agreed.
A moment to process was needed—if they didn’t believe her, she would just be anxiously waiting.
Jiang Ruoqiao went out. Not knowing where to go, she wandered around the community. She lifted her skirt hem to look at her iodine-stained knee, smiling bitterly. Fortunately, she was wearing a longer skirt today, so her grandparents hadn’t noticed. She sat on the edge of a flower bed. The weather has been nice lately—not too hot, not too cold. Her knee hurt occasionally, and this pain easily reminded her of Lu Yicheng applying medicine to her wound.
She seemed to understand a bit why “she” would fall for Lu Yicheng and marry him.
Back at the guesthouse, Grandpa and Grandma sat formally.
Grandma suddenly spoke, “Didn’t you take photos of the child yesterday? Hurry up and show me.”
She feared she might have remembered the child’s appearance incorrectly.
Grandpa remembered and quickly took out his phone from his pocket. His fingers trembled as he unlocked it. Unfortunately, at crucial moments, phones always seemed to rebel. Grandma scolded, “Qiaoqiao bought you a new phone but you refused to use it, insisting on waiting until New Year to show off! You should replace this broken thing right away!”
Grandpa grumbled, “…It’s not broken yet.”
He finally managed to unlock it and open the photo gallery, which contained about ten photos of Lu Siyan.
Grandma zoomed in and examined them repeatedly, saying suspiciously, “He really does look like our Qiaoqiao when she was little, as if they were cast from the same mold.”
Grandpa nodded thoughtfully, “They do look quite similar.”
Having weathered many of life’s storms, the elderly couple felt more certain the more they pondered it. Goodness—perhaps it really was true!
But time traveling from the future seemed a bit far-fetched.
“Honey, pinch me,” Grandma said. “I want to see if I’m dreaming.”
Grandpa flexed his wrist, “Well, don’t mind if I do!”
Despite his words, Grandpa didn’t use much force, but Grandma still felt pain enough to want to hit him, “Are you trying to pinch me to death?!”
“So we’re not dreaming,” Grandpa counted on his fingers. “Traveling back twelve years would make Qiaoqiao thirty-two, and the child is five. She had him at twenty-seven, conceived at twenty-six? Wait!” Grandpa suddenly realized a blind spot, “Did Qiaoqiao mention who the child’s father is?”
Grandma pondered, “Do we even need to ask? Think about who the child is with now!”
Grandpa: “…Xiao Lu.”
It had to be said that Jiang Ruoqiao’s method was effective.
With this even more incredible matter to consider, neither Grandpa nor Grandma seemed as worried about the illness anymore.
At their age, they were indeed afraid of hospitals and death, but paradoxically, they had also come to terms with mortality.
Especially Jiang Ruoqiao’s grandparents, who had devoted their entire lives to their children and granddaughter. At this moment, their own mortality seemed less urgent; they were more concerned about what their twenty-year-old granddaughter was experiencing.
Now that Grandpa and Grandma had accepted this truth, Grandpa recalled the hospital appointment and hesitantly asked, “And your illness…?”
Grandma patted her chest confidently, “I know my own body. If I’m sick, I’ll get treatment! Listen to the doctor—whatever they say, that’s what we’ll do. I’ll try to live a few more years. After all, I need to help Qiaoqiao look after the child. She’s so young, still a student, and will have to work later. How could she manage it all!”
Jiang Ruoqiao hadn’t expected her grandparents to accept it so readily.
Thinking back to her own reaction, she had also embraced this reality very quickly…
This psychological resilience must be hereditary!
However…
On the phone, Grandma said with full vigor, “We can have lunch, but invite Xiao Lu too!”
Jiang Ruoqiao: “…”
Grandma said, “He’s caring for my family’s child, so I definitely need to ask him some questions.”
Jiang Ruoqiao: “Let me check if he’s available first.”
After finishing the call with Grandma, Jiang Ruoqiao dialed Lu Yicheng’s number and somewhat awkwardly explained the situation, “They seem to have accepted this matter.”
Lu Yicheng was slightly surprised, “This quickly?”
He had thought it would take at least two or three days for them to process it, but it hadn’t even been two or three hours, had it?
But he also recalled that day when Jiang Ruoqiao had very calmly and quickly accepted Siyan’s existence, and then promptly gone for a paternity test.
He understood—this was an inherited quick response.
“My grandmother asked if you have time. If you’re free, we could have a meal together,” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “If you’re busy, I’ll explain to them… I’m sorry, when I told them about this, I only thought about diverting my grandmother’s attention from her illness.”
This was troublesome indeed.
That’s why they had tacitly agreed not to tell others about this matter, to avoid such complications. But now, she had broken their agreement first.
Although he had expressed understanding before, Jiang Ruoqiao still felt apologetic.
Lu Yicheng smiled, “I’m free.”
Seeming to sense Jiang Ruoqiao’s mood, he said, “I can understand. If my grandmother were still alive, I would have told her too. I think if the same situation were placed on me, you wouldn’t refuse either, would you?”
Although they hadn’t spent much time together, he always felt she was an extraordinary girl.
She seemed to want to avoid all trouble, yet had a soft heart. Otherwise, she could have completely refused to take on the responsibility of caring for Siyan.
He thought, if today it was him who didn’t want to leave regrets, if it was him who wanted to tell his sick grandmother about this matter, she would definitely agree and understand.
Isn’t that how people interact? Mutual respect, mutual understanding.
Jiang Ruoqiao also seriously considered the scenario he had hypothesized, and nodded, “I probably wouldn’t refuse.”
Lu Yicheng laughed softly, “So, I won’t refuse now either.”
He wanted to call her name—it hovered on his lips—but he didn’t know how to address her.
Should he call her directly by name? Or…
No, that wouldn’t be appropriate.
He decided not to struggle with it.
“The child isn’t just mine; you have the right to tell your family. So don’t overthink it. The most important thing now is your grandmother’s health.”
Jiang Ruoqiao gripped her phone tightly, listening to his voice, the corners of her lips turning up slightly, “Lu Yicheng, thank you.”
She paused… then said self-mockingly with a smile, “I feel like I’ve said ‘thank you’ more in these past few days than in my previous twenty years.”
Lu Yicheng’s laughter came through from the other end, warming her ear.
“Then I should feel honored,” he said.
After saying this, he realized, why did it feel like he had heard this somewhere before?
He couldn’t recall it for the moment.
After agreeing on a meeting place, Jiang Ruoqiao hung up. There were about forty minutes left before they were to meet. Lu Yicheng suddenly thought that since he had fried eggs and luncheon meat that morning, he might smell of cooking oil… With this concern, he took a shower. After showering, wearing his pajamas, he stood drying his hair while facing a dilemma in front of his wardrobe.
Lu Yicheng had very few clothes.
He had always felt that as long as clothes were wearable, that was enough, so he might only have about three sets for each season.
Wearing a T-shirt and casual pants would be fine…
In the end, Lu Yicheng put on the white shirt and black pants he had worn to the kindergarten meeting.
When Jiang Ruoqiao saw Lu Yicheng, the first thing she noticed was his attire. She found it strange—was this occasion so formal? Lu Yicheng, on the other hand, felt somewhat uncomfortable and avoided eye contact with her. Her grandparents’ gazes at this moment were like X-rays, scanning him up and down, as if they wanted to read his every thought clearly.
Lu Yicheng, under the scrutiny of those two X-ray gazes, was under tremendous pressure, as one can imagine.
Under the waiter’s guidance, the four of them entered a private room.
As soon as they sat down, Grandma got straight to the point and directly asked, “Xiao Lu, I didn’t properly greet you yesterday and almost forgot to ask, you…”
Lu Yicheng prepared himself mentally.
On his way here, he had also searched online for related hot topics.
Elders are generally interested in how many people are in the family, whether parents are retired or still alive, where the family lives, what future plans are…
He held his breath, going through these in his mind, preparing how to answer these questions.
He sat upright, looking straight ahead, as if facing not Jiang Ruoqiao’s grandparents but examiners.
Grandma paused for a moment, then asked with interest, “How tall are you? Are you one-eighty centimeters?”
Lu Yicheng looked up in surprise and bewilderment.
Jiang Ruoqiao couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Grandpa was somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, “What’s this about one-eighty or not? Why are you asking this? Is height important?”
Grandma glared at him fiercely.
Jiang Ruoqiao didn’t know how to explain to Lu Yicheng… why her grandmother was obsessed with height.
Apparently, when Grandma met Grandpa years ago, Grandpa had put something in his shoes, forcibly presenting himself as a young man of one hundred and eighty centimeters.
Grandpa’s actual height was only about one hundred and seventy-five centimeters.
Lu Yicheng was stunned for a moment, then answered honestly, “Last year’s measurement was one hundred and eighty-four centimeters, without shoes.”
Grandma looked gratified, “I knew it! You look so tall!”
“I’m relieved,” Grandma said, “Then our Siyan will definitely be over one-eighty centimeters in the future!”