After Agreeing to Go on a Parenting Show With My Omega Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 87

Mommy.

This should have been an exceptionally ordinary day in Yu Luo’s life.

There were no warnings or hints, so life should have continued to flow along smoothly.

It was just that the person who said she would wait for her to wake up didn’t keep that small promise.

…Is that all?

The scorching, blinding sunlight brushed against her skin, yet it raised a sudden chill.

Yu Luo shivered from the cold, and a sense of emptiness began to weigh heavily on her heart.

She suppressed the inexplicable turmoil and panic surging within her, threw off the covers, got out of bed, and rushed to the bathroom door in a few steps.

She pushed it open.

It was empty inside. There was no one.

“…Qi Song?” her lips murmured.

She must have gone to the kitchen.

She took a deep breath, turned, and walked toward the bedroom door. Her bare feet on the wooden floor made a faint “creak” sound.

Her hand grasped the doorknob, and just as she pressed down—

“Knock, knock, knock.”

A sudden knock came from the bedroom door.

The force was restrained and polite, creating a sense of distance.

The sound vibrated through the air, like the tolling of fate’s great bell, ringing heavily in Yu Luo’s heart.

Her mind went blank for a moment.

…The person outside the door isn’t Qi Song.

Why would Qi Song knock on her own bedroom door?

…The person outside can only be Qi Song.

This was their home; there was never anyone else.

Cold sweat broke out on Yu Luo’s back.

She stared at the incredibly familiar door in front of her, her heart racing wildly. She actually began to feel afraid.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

The door was knocked on again, this time a little heavier.

The vibration traveled from the doorknob to her palm, so clear and strong it was almost terrifying.

A sudden numbness swept over the top of Yu Luo’s head. She held her breath, her lips pressed so tightly they turned white.

Leaning against the door, she managed to speak with difficulty amidst her chaotic heartbeat, “Who are you?”

There were a few seconds of silence from outside, followed by a voice that was familiar to her very bones:

“Don’t be afraid.”

Muffled by the bedroom door, Qi Song’s tone became indistinct, but as soon as Yu Luo heard that clear, gentle timbre, she unconsciously relaxed a little.

This was probably just a prank to tease her.

She slowly opened the door and looked up to see the familiar figure, muttering with some grievance, “I was a little scared…”

As she spoke, she reached her hands out to Qi Song, habitually wanting to nestle into that warm, soft embrace.

And Qi Song would surely hold her tight, pat her back lovingly, and comfort her in a soft, gentle voice.

But—

“I’m sorry.”

“Qi Song” took a step back, avoiding her attempt to get closer. “I didn’t do a good job. I promised her I wouldn’t let you be scared.”

Yu Luo’s arms remained outstretched in mid-air, her entire body frozen stiff.

She subconsciously lifted her gaze to look closely at Qi Song’s face, and her pupils immediately constricted.

It was still the same beautiful and bright facial features, so familiar she could trace them in her mind with her eyes closed. Her figure was also unchanged, and she was even wearing the same pajamas from last night.

But her eyes and expression were overwhelmingly unfamiliar.

There was no passionate love. In its place was a complex gentleness that contained a certain nostalgia or regret.

With just one glance, Yu Luo knew this was not her little puppy.

It couldn’t be.

This person was so similar to Qi Song as to be insignificant, yet so different as to be unbearable.

The sense of alienating fragmentation ground a dull ache into her heart. She fell into a panic, stumbling back a few steps.

She silently pinched her wrist and felt the pain. This wasn’t a dream.

“…You, are you her other personality?” Her throat felt tight and sore, and it took a great effort to make a sound.

A split personality was the only explanation she could think of.

But the “Qi Song” in front of her decisively denied it. “I am another person… well, I’m not really a person.”

“My name is Ah Ran¹, that’s the name you gave me.” As she spoke, Ah Ran’s eyes lit up, and her gaze toward her grew warm. “You and Qi Song helped me.”

But the light dancing in Qi Song’s eyes did not belong to Qi Song, which only made Yu Luo’s heart fill with dread.

Her lips trembled, and she couldn’t help but take another step back, saying in a small voice, “Qi Song, stop playing tricks on me like this, Jiejie is really a little scared…”

Even though she already felt in her heart that this wasn’t Qi Song, she still couldn’t help but cling to that last shred of possibility, her tone fragile and pleading.

“We still have to leave for D City in the afternoon. Weren’t you looking forward to revisiting Giant Rock? If you want, we can stay in D City for a while longer…”

Yu Luo spoke word after word, her speech rapid and dense, not daring to pause for a moment. It was as if any gap would allow an unacceptable truth to rush in.

“—I’m sorry.”

The “Qi Song” before her interrupted gently, “I’m sorry, I’m really not her… I don’t know how to make you not afraid, but I will absolutely not harm you.”

The air fell into silence.

Yu Luo’s words died on her lips. Her pale lips quivered, her face revealing a pitiable helplessness and panic.

After a moment, her trembling voice was already choked with sobs. “But I don’t know you at all. I just want to know where Qi Song went. She was clearly fine before bed last night.”

“Can you give her back to me…”

Ah Ran’s brows drew together as she looked at Yu Luo with some worry.

She raised her hand slightly, as if wanting to comfort her, but in the end, she restrained herself and lowered it.

“You don’t know me right now, because we weren’t supposed to meet for several years.”

“As for Qi Song… she has something she must do. I can only look after her body for the time being.”

Yu Luo was struck dizzy by the series of bizarre words. “Several years later? Look after her body? You, her, soul…?”

A huge sense of absurdity was like black clouds pressing down on the city², crushing Yu Luo until she was unsteady on her feet and had to lean against the doorframe.

“It might be hard for you to believe, but I really did come from the future. I can’t say more about the rest. When the dust settles, you will naturally know everything,” Ah Ran said, spreading her hands helplessly.

When Qi Song was helpless, her eyes would always be smiling warmly, looking bright and composed.

But when the “Qi Song” before her was helpless, her brows drooped, giving her a look of powerlessness and difficulty.

Besides, Qi Song never made a gesture of spreading her hands.

Amidst this unignorable difference, an endless resistance surged in Yu Luo’s heart. She couldn’t help but lower her eyes, unwilling to look at the body in front of her.

Ah Ran noticed.

But she didn’t mind Yu Luo’s reaction. A gentle tolerance surfaced in her eyes as she said softly,

“You need to take good care of your daughter, and then wait patiently for her to come back.”

Another moment of frozen silence.

“Our daughter?” Even deeper confusion appeared in Yu Luo’s already chaotic eyes.

As if in response—the faint sound of a child’s whimper suddenly drifted over, landing softly by Yu Luo’s ear.

Ah Ran’s gaze grew profound.

She looked at the woman before her, as if looking at another scene through the long river of time.

Her eyes reddened slightly because of it, and she urged in a gentle tone,

“Yu Luo, go see your daughter.”

Seeing Yu Luo lost in a daze and not reacting, she had no choice but to raise a hand, take Yu Luo’s sleeve, and pull her into the guest room.

“Look, your daughter.”

Ah Ran’s voice sounded from behind. Yu Luo’s rigid gaze shifted slightly, and when it fell upon the bed, her whole body couldn’t help but tremble.

Lying on the bed was a little milk dumpling³, looking to be about a year old.

She was wearing a cute, butter-yellow baby outfit. Her little face was as if carved from pink jade⁴, and she was babbling “Mama” from her mouth, her big eyes shimmering pitifully with tears.

Although her small features hadn’t fully developed, one could still vaguely see the shadows of Yu Luo and Qi Song.

She was clearly a stranger to this baby, yet through an indescribable sense of blood connection, Yu Luo felt a deep heartache before any other thoughts could form.

—Her heart ached that this child was crying.

She unconsciously took a step, slowly walking toward the bed.

The little milk dumpling had been crying and calling for “Mama,” but when she saw Yu Luo, she abruptly stopped, forgetting to cry.

Her obsidian-like eyes, washed clean by tears, were exceptionally bright and clear, fixed tightly on Yu Luo.

In a soft, delicate voice, she called out indistinctly, “Mommy…”

That sound landed softly on Yu Luo’s heart. An intense sense of fate made her body go weak in an instant, and a powerful numbness coursed through her limbs.

“Her name is Yu Feng⁵, her nickname is Taotao.”

When Ah Ran added this from behind, her voice actually held a subtle sourness as she muttered, “Hmph, you never even gave me a formal name.”

As Taotao stared with wide, round eyes and held out her hands expectantly as if for a hug, Yu Luo was at a loss.

Her fingertips curled, and she said distractedly, “I… I’ve never had a child.”

“You had a daughter later,” Ah Ran said.

Yu Luo’s face was pale, and she was instantly speechless.

If everything else could be explained away scientifically—for example, the Qi Song behind her was still Qi Song, just another personality playing a prank.

But the existence of this little girl in front of her nullified all speculation, completely confirming what Ah Ran had just said.

“We weren’t supposed to meet for several years,” “I’m from the future,” “You had a daughter later.”

The guest room fell into a long silence, so quiet it felt as if a speck of dust landing could create a huge crash.

Yu Luo stood where she was, staring blankly at the little milk dumpling on the bed.

The little milk dumpling kept calling “Mommy” while trying hard to reach out her hands to get to her.

In a daze, Yu Luo extended her hand, and her index finger was grasped by a small, soft hand.

It was warm.

This warmth brought with it a reality that could not be refuted, overturned, or resisted.

She was caught off guard and tripped by that reality, so dizzy and pained that she couldn’t get up for a long time.

A long, long time later, a sliver of reason finally broke through the chaos in Yu Luo’s eyes. She asked wistfully,

“If this is real, then what happened in the future?”

What could have happened to make Qi Song suddenly have “something she must do,” and to cause their future child to be stranded in the present time?

Ah Ran gazed at the woman’s back, a deep sigh in her eyes.

Her eyes reddened a little, and she pressed her lips together tightly.

After trying to compose herself for a moment, she spoke in a deliberately lighthearted tone, “Who knows? Maybe the future Qi Song and you wanted to ditch the kid to have some time to yourselves, so you sent Taotao to the present for you to raise.”

Ah Ran’s words were full of holes and didn’t make any sense.

Yu Luo lowered her eyes, her fingertips gently stroking Taotao’s delicate fingers.

The feeling was strange and indescribable. It was as if contact with this child could coax a bit of baseless warmth out from all the panic, shock, and confusion in her heart.

She asked in a low voice, “When will she be back?”

“It should be soon. You just have to wait patiently,” Ah Ran said.

Yu Luo turned to look at her without a word. Those clear and beautiful eyes held no emotion at that moment, thus naturally possessing a kind of pressure.

Ah Ran mumbled, feeling guilty without realizing it, “Ahem, it might be a little longer, but anyway, she’ll be back sooner or later.”

Yu Luo just kept staring at her without speaking.

Ah Ran’s gaze began to dart about randomly.

“It’s possible she’ll never come back, isn’t it?”

Yu Luo’s eyes gradually reddened, filling with a sheen of water.

Ah Ran couldn’t bear to see her cry and fumbled to pull a few tissues from the nightstand for her.

“Don’t be so pessimistic. At least, before she left, she told me she would definitely come back.”

“She wants you to eat and sleep well, and to hug your daughter more.”

“She also said that she and your daughter will always love you.”

---

They had known each other for eleven years, lived together for seven, and been in love for three.

Nearly half of Yu Luo’s twenty-something years of life had been occupied by Qi Song.

It was too long, too constant, giving her a certainty that no changes would occur. So, right up until bedtime last night, she had firmly believed that she and Qi Song would continue to accompany each other like this forever.

But all of that had turned into bubbles. Now, all that remained was the dim night light in the room and the delicate whimpers of a baby.

Yu Luo watched a tutorial on her screen while clumsily changing the baby’s diaper by herself.

Perhaps something wasn’t put on right. Taotao’s little eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she called out pitifully, “Mommy.”

Every time she heard those two words, Yu Luo’s heart couldn’t help but tremble.

She had never imagined she would have a daughter, much less was she prepared to be a mother.

Her hand trembled, and she said in a panic, “Wait… wait a second, I’m sorry, I, Mommy will put it on again for you.”

The baby on the bed had moist eyes, her little mouth opening and closing, on the verge of tears; the adult fumbling with the diaper pressed her lips tightly, her reddened eyes also holding back tears that threatened to fall.

When the diaper was finally on, Taotao let out a comfortable “Mmm,” her small hand grasping Yu Luo’s wrist. The soft warmth should have been a soothing comfort.

But Yu Luo couldn’t relax because of it.

After the child fell back asleep, Yu Luo stiffly wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye, staring blankly at that little face.

She had once fantasized that this was just a huge scam.

—This child wasn’t hers, everything before her was deliberately orchestrated by someone, and she had just carelessly fallen into some kind of trap.

So, with a sliver of undying hope, she had scheduled a paternity test that afternoon.

But… just after the person who came to collect the samples left, as she was carrying Taotao back to the bedroom, the back of Taotao’s hand accidentally bumped against the door. The pain made her bury herself in Yu Luo’s arms, crying and whimpering.

In that instant, she felt a sharp pain in her own chest, a mix of heartache and self-blame, wishing she could suffer in Taotao’s place.

Other than Qi Song, she had never cared so much for anyone else.

So how could Taotao not be her child?

The night was deep. Yu Luo’s gaze swept past the intimate photo of herself and Qi Song on the headboard, toward the myriad of flickering lights of the city outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

“Where on earth did you go…” she murmured, lost and bewildered in the boundless loneliness, her tear-dried eyes aching.

Just sleep. It’ll be better after sleeping.

When I wake up tomorrow morning, Qi Song will be by my side, and all of this will have just been a dream.

But it was a pity.

When the morning sun fell into the room the next day, the dream still hadn’t dispersed as she had wished.

Yu Luo slowly sat up in bed.

She realized that there was truly no one left in this world who loved her.

---

Sometimes, Yu Luo thought she had just gone mad.

Perhaps she was just too lonely, so in her first year of high school, she had imagined a person named “Qi Song” into existence.

That person was like a fluffy little puppy—enthusiastic, loyal, with eyes only for her. She only approached her, only wagged her tail at her.

And she enjoyed being loved so much that she immersed herself in the fantasy, to fall ill and never recover.

Qi Song’s sudden departure was just her illusion shattering.

But every time she saw the baby in front of her babbling “Mommy” and throwing herself into her arms, every time she touched that little face, as if carved from pink jade, that so resembled Qi Song, Yu Luo knew it wasn’t a fantasy.

Qi Song was real.

It was just that now, she had also really left.

She hugged the sleeping Taotao tightly, resting her chin gently on her daughter’s soft hair.

“Liar,” she said, her eyes lowered, her gaze empty and unfocused.

You promised to kiss me when I woke up that day, but you didn’t keep your promise.

You said we would go revisit Giant Rock, but the plane tickets to D City have long since expired, and winter has turned to spring.

You said you would love and accompany me forever, but you left without any warning, with no date of return.

It had been half a year.

Nearly two hundred long days and nights, with no turning point, just an unchanging routine with no end in sight.

“…How dare you not come back.” The woman’s clear, cool voice was steeped in the dim yellow light of the bedside lamp, revealing a helpless sob.

She hadn’t cried in a long time, just gradually sinking into a dry despair.

When reading parenting books and seeing all the sentences emphasizing the “need for collaboration between two parents”; when changing her daughter’s diaper alone and hearing Taotao mumble about another “Mama” in her innocent state; when seeing any news about Qi Song online; when the unknowing Chen-jie sighed with regret about how Qi Song had suddenly lost her ambition…

She would feel like crying, but she never did.

It was only then that she realized she used to cry so often simply because she knew Qi Song would come over, heartbroken, to coax her.

And now she didn’t know if the past six months were just a microcosm of the next few decades.

Hope would be dashed, waiting would be exhausted, and she might never see that person again.

---

Yu Luo woke up to see several missed calls from her manager, Chen-jie.

She glanced at her peacefully sleeping daughter, got out of bed quietly, and walked out of the room to call back.

“What’s going on with your Qi Song?” Chen-jie asked, confused. “How did she suddenly end up on the trending topics for being unlucky and in debt?”

“…” Yu Luo’s heart trembled. “I’ll tell you later.”

She scrolled through Weibo for a while, then immediately dialed Ah Ran’s number.

“Yu Luo?”

The familiar, clear voice came from the phone, always making her feel dazed for a moment, a tiny flicker of hope rising unconsciously—could it be Qi Song?

But in the next second, she would realize, why would Qi Song call her “Yu Luo.”

“Come to my place when you have time,” Yu Luo said, her voice cold.

“Oh, okay,” the other side responded obediently. “I’ll be right there.”

The moment Ah Ran entered the house, eager to greet Yu Luo, she was grabbed by the collar.

Yu Luo was slender and didn’t have much strength in her hands, but because Ah Ran was completely unguarded, she easily pinned her against the wall in the entryway.

She moved closer, staring into Qi Song’s eyes, trying to see through them to the soul occupying the body, her tone heavy:

“To what extent are you going to trample on her career?”

“She used to work almost year-round, and once she was so busy she fainted on the job, all to achieve so much in just a few short years.”

Yu Luo tightened her grip on Ah Ran’s collar, her eyes gradually turning red, her voice trembling with disheartened despair. “Just how do you plan to ruin the things she left behind?”

Ah Ran stared blankly into Yu Luo’s eyes.

This woman, who had always been composed and gentle, now had a suppressed hysteria churning in her gaze.

After Qi Song left, Yu Luo had gone from initial panic and unease to her current state of normalcy. Ah Ran had once thought she was accepting it well.

It was only in this instant that she suddenly knew that Yu Luo was just silently suffering, in unbearable pain.

Ah Ran felt a pang of heartache and wanted to hug her like she used to. But now, occupying Qi Song’s body, she would only make Yu Luo uncomfortable.

“It’s not that I’m doing it on purpose.”

Ah Ran said with difficulty, “I told you… this is the price Qi Song must pay. She knew beforehand and was willing.”

“You know it too. The last time you stopped me, Taotao immediately fell into a coma and only woke up after I finished those things… So it’s not that I want to do it, I really have to.”

“No one wishes for your family to be whole more than I do,” Ah Ran said sincerely, word by word.

“But she has already lost all her wealth. Isn’t that enough?” Yu Luo’s eyes filled with tears, her voice choked. “Now you’re completely destroying the career she worked so hard to build, deliberately getting scammed, and racking up huge debts… What’s next? Are you going to give her a criminal record too?”

Qi Song had worked so hard just to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her. But now her career was collapsing overnight. How could she to stand by with hands in sleeves?⁶

“Wealth, career, reputation… these are all her price to pay.” Ah Ran knew Yu Luo was emotional right now and could only do her best to soothe her. “Compared to what she wants, what she’s losing now is not worth mentioning.”

“You’ll understand in the future. Don’t worry, okay?”

“Be a little gentler with me.” Ah Ran felt uncomfortable being pinned by Yu Luo and couldn’t help but shift, starting to feel wronged. “I miss you a lot too.”

“From the first day we met, you haven’t even looked at me properly… You usually only track my location and don’t let me see you casually,” Ah Ran said.

Yu Luo was silent for a moment, then slowly released Ah Ran.

Her gaze stared emptily at the pale white wall of the entryway as she said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

She had never misdirected her anger at someone like this before.

But the thought of someone occupying Qi Song’s body and destroying everything Qi Song had left behind made her lose control.

The glory Qi Song had created, the adoration and love Qi Song had received—they were all proof that Qi Song had once existed so vibrantly.

And for the rest of her life, she might only be able to repeatedly confirm how brilliantly Qi Song had once been her pride through that proof.

But now, it was being destroyed, bit by bit.

“Leave a little for me, I’m begging you.”

Yu Luo sobbed with restraint, clear tears silently streaming down her cheeks, utterly humbled. “I’m begging you.”

After speaking, she slowly turned away. Her steps were extremely light, carrying an emptiness that showed she was indifferent to everything.

Ah Ran stood in the entryway, silently watching Yu Luo’s back.

When the soft click of the bedroom door closing sounded, Ah Ran instantly drooped like a little puppy whose fur had lost its shine.

“I really want to hug you too,” she said, dejected. “…….Mommy.”

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