"Ugh, it’s no use, he’s beyond saving. Stop wasting your effort." Bai Yifan covered his face with one hand, crying, while grabbing Bai Anhai’s arm with the other, stopping middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan from "saving" him.

"Let go quickly!"

Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan was anxious.

"He’s beyond saving, just... bury him!" Bai Yifan sobbed.

Bai Anhai: ...

Great, he could already feel the frustration of crawling out of his coffin N years later.

"Xiao Fan, let go! Your dad might still pull through!"

Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan was anxious, pushing Bai Yifan aside and pulling Bai Anhai and Bai Xiqin towards the car window.

"He’s gone, everything’s cold already, I’ll bring white chrysanthemums during festivals." Bai Yifan’s wailing turned into melodramatic sobbing.

He looked exactly like the model child who lost both parents.

"Shut up!" Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan glared at Bai Yifan, tears falling from his eyes.

Could it be that he and his wife went through all this trouble to travel back in time and couldn’t change the family’s fate?

His heart was wrenched painfully.

For a moment, he wanted to cry out loud like Bai Yifan, curse the unfairness of fate.

He did exactly that, crying loudly while moving each person to the window for air.

Bai Yifan saw the genuine tears in the eyes of middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan and middle-aged Liu Jing and paused for a moment.

Their crying was sincere, unlike Bai Yifan’s purely for entertainment.

"Why are you... so sad?"

Bai Yifan wiped his tears, looking at the two who seemed to be in unbearable pain, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

He actually had a rather good impression of the middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan couple, always feeling a strange sense of familiarity with them.

In reality, they’d only met a few times.

In an apocalypse, friendships or familial bonds formed at first sight were simply impossible, yet he felt very good about these two.

Even so, the expression on their faces was too sorrowful.

As if it wasn’t his whole family that died, but Uncle Bai’s family.

For a while, Bai Yifan forgot to cry, only observing the two.

"Of course we’re sad! Your whole family died, aren’t you upset!" Middle-aged Liu Jing saw Bai Yifan’s scrutinizing expression and scolded directly, "How can you be such an ingrate, they’re all dying, and you’re still so careless."

In middle-aged Liu Jing’s view, Bai Yifan’s behavior was extremely unfilial.

"I... I’m sad too, just that you guys... aren’t you overreacting a bit?" Bai Yifan scratched his head, still puzzled by the actions of middle-aged Liu Jing and Bai Zhengxuan.

"You brat! Shut up, go away! Don’t block the way!"

Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan shot a fierce glance at Bai Yifan, directly pushing him onto the sofa, then bent down to carry another person towards the window.

"Uh—"

Bai Yifan wanted to say more.

Middle-aged Liu Jing hugged Xiqin and started sobbing.

"Xiao Niu! Grandpa and grandma have been looking for you for so long, finally found you, and now you’re... you don’t know, grandpa and grandma went through a lot to find you, travelled to so many places, finally reaching here..."

The tears of middle-aged Liu Jing fell heavily on Bai Xiqin’s hand.

Bai Xiqin felt it burning fiercely, spreading to her heart.

"I don’t understand what you’re saying?"

Bai Yifan lay on the sofa, tired from crying, listening to the sobbing words of middle-aged Liu Jing, equally confused and growing more curious.

Middle-aged Liu Jing ignored Bai Yifan, just tightly holding onto Bai Xiqin’s cold "corpse," eyes filled with grief locked onto the Bai Family.

"Grandma, I finally found you."

Bai Xiqin’s long eyelashes slightly lifted, voice trembling, arms suddenly reaching out to embrace middle-aged Liu Jing’s trembling body.

The helplessness from past lives surged again, tears falling uncontrollably.

"Xiao Niu?"

Middle-aged Liu Jing paused, tears unwashed, but surprise already spread across her face.

Quickly, she too hugged Bai Xiqin back, body twitching, unable to calm down for a while.

After Bai Xiqin woke up, the Bai Family also opened their eyes with complex emotions.

From the broken phrases of middle-aged Liu Jing, they formed a bold idea.

"You all, okay?"

Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan stood still, holding Bai Zhengxuan’s leg, tears still falling down his eyes.

Suddenly, he understood something.

His face showed relief from a narrow escape.

"It’s fine, now no one uses gas, and we weren’t having hot pot, just suddenly wanted to play a prank, you were scared, we were too." Bai Zhengxuan cast a wistful gaze at the car roof.

"It’s fine, it’s fine."

Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan murmured softly.

"Future me, could you please let go of my leg first?"

Lying in the living room, Bai Zhengxuan silently watched as middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan pulled his leg towards the car window.

The future him really had double standards, didn’t he?

Moving everyone else to the window with a princess carry.

He was the last, fine.

Dragged over, fine.

Dragged by the leg, fine.

Did he notice the big bump on my forehead?

That was from middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan not watching the table while pulling him, bumping his forehead on it...

"Oh, sorry."

Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan glanced at his prior self, who had opened his eyes, and immediately released his fingers.

With a soft thud.

Bai Zhengxuan’s old leg stiffly dropped to the ground.

... It kind of hurt.

Bai Zhengxuan sighed heavily, quietly stretching his old arms and legs, struggling to get up, hobbling.

Well now, the whole family pranked together, but he was the only one hurt, and it was future him who did it.

Couldn’t even curse or hit anyone, or it’d be self-harm.

Bai Zhengxuan felt extremely frustrated inside.

"You all..." Middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan scratched his nose, glanced over at the lively Bai Family, suddenly understood.

He’d been pranked.

Yet even so, middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan showed no sign of anger, only elation from narrowly escaping disaster.

"We’re fine, didn’t expect the future me to be so young!"

Bai Zhengxuan sized up middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan, eyes filled with intense light.

Being this young, he could probably eat several braised pork knuckles in a meal?

Should be quite durable when being hit by his wife, right?

Enough!

The Bai Family’s eyes were collectively on middle-aged Bai Zhengxuan and middle-aged Liu Jing, full of curiosity.

No suspicion.

Bai Xiqin had a space, with a Divine Beast in it, they accepted it.

With the apocalypse exploding, the dead became lively, they accepted it.

Humans started having superpowers, controlling the elements like ancient gods, they accepted it.

Animals turned from silly to fierce and clever, they accepted it.

With so many strange happenings, seeing their future selves wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

After all, there were already theories of time machines before the apocalypse.

The Bai Family’s scientific notions were shattered, not just Bai Xiqin accepting it, even teacher Bai Zhengxuan quickly accepted it.

"Ahem, some time ago I said your eyes were too small, needing an epicanthoplasty, hope you don’t mind!"

Liu Jing scratched her nose, looking at middle-aged Liu Jing.

She wanted to take back those words, because criticizing middle-aged Liu Jing was like criticizing herself.

"It’s okay, I’m still young, still a chance for an epicanthoplasty." Middle-aged Liu Jing calmly glanced at the wrinkle-lined Liu Jing, "You probably can’t get one, since the wrinkles are deeper than the eyelid crease."

Liu Jing: ...

Hurting each other intentionally, they meant it.’