My girlfriend is from the future!

He Tianran walked out of the house, holding a wine glass in one hand and a bottle of Chambordini in the other.

He wasn't wearing a coat. In the courtyard, the winter night's chill instantly seeped into his thin clothes like ice water, causing He Tianran to feel a thin layer of sweat on his back. It was the sweat that had been forced out after watching Cao Aiqing toast those three cups of wine. The cold sweat now clung to his back, making him feel even colder.

He Panshan walked to the pavilion by the fishpond, facing the bustling port city in the distance. His figure almost blended into the night, with only the cigarette butt on his fingertip, like the city lights, flickering and breathing in the folds of the mountains and the night.

He Tianran silently followed and placed the wine bottle and cup on the stone table.

He Panshan didn't look at his son beside him, but took a drag of his cigarette, focused and silent.

“Do you remember?” He Panshan finally spoke, his voice slightly distorted by the wind, “When you were little, your mother… Bai Wenyu, after finding out about me and Tao Wei, made a bigger scene than Xiao Cao does now.”

He Tianran nodded, and then...

He shook his head again.

"When I was little, I didn't understand. Most of the time, I would cry when I heard you arguing, and then Aunt Wang would pull you apart. Later, when I went to middle school, I gradually became numb and stopped crying and making a fuss. But I just felt that you were so annoying. I felt that you couldn't break up, you couldn't leave each other...heh~actually..."

He picked up his drink and took a sip.

"My mother barged into my room, smashed my guitar, and started packing her bags. I was terrified and begged her not to leave me. But now, thinking back, were my tears more for my guitar or for her not to leave?"

He Panshan turned his head in surprise. "Really?"

Perhaps, even He Tianran himself wasn't entirely sure of the truth behind this answer. He shook his head again, his eyes unfocused.
"I've already said it, it's just how it seems now... When I was fifteen or sixteen, of course I thought my mother was important, but now I really think that piano is more important."

"Because your world has expanded, and it's not just about your parents anymore."

He Panshan picked up his wine glass and took a small sip as well:
"It's like when I abandoned Tao Wei, got close to Bai Wenyu, tricked the old man into investing, started a company, built a big business, and got to where I am today. But I still have this fleeting thought in my spare time: if I hadn't disbanded the band, hadn't accepted the blind date with Xiao Bai, and had continued to be myself and continue to wander the world, what would I be like today..."

He paused, and his son pressed on:
"So, Dad? Do you... like Aunt Tao more, or... my mom?"

He Panshan smiled and said, "I'm almost sixty years old. Do you think it's appropriate for me to ask you who I like more now?"

He took two steps and sat down in the pavilion. He Tianran also slowly sat down at the stone table, and then heard the old man sigh:

"However, the longer you live, the more you feel about the word 'destiny,' and the more you realize that 'destiny' means that you will eventually become the person you were meant to be."

The young man was taken aback. "Why?"

The old man said slowly:

"Because the sum of many of your actions in life is likely the main reason that shapes who you are. Things that often seem like luck actually have little to do with luck, because time will erase all these factors to a very small extent. And setting aside those accidents or misfortunes, the choices you make one by one will make you the person you were meant to be."

"You mean... even if you could do it all over again, you would still choose... to stay with my mom?"

"I would choose the person I am now, the He Panshan I am now. If I could choose wealth, no one would willingly choose poverty; if I could choose happiness, no one would want to experience tragedy."

"But... never mind."

He Tianran hesitated for a moment, but finally let out a low sigh and lowered his head to drink the rest of the wine in his cup.

The alcohol slid down my throat like swallowing a piece of ice.

"But what?" He Panshan's voice didn't let him off the hook: "You want to ask me, after making this choice, am I happy?"

The father hit the nail on the head, puncturing his son's unspoken, innocent question.

"..."

He Tianran did not answer, but his silence was a statement in itself.

Tonight, he witnessed Cao Aiqing's resolute "folding," witnessed Tao Wei and her son's "ruse," witnessed Bai Wenyu's anger, and witnessed Yu Naoqiu's scheming...

It seems that no one in this mansion is "happy". However, He Tianran is the least qualified to say this, because all of this happened because it was his own "choice".

"natural……"

He Panshan stubbed out his cigarette, and the spark went out with a "sizzle" on the black stone railing, leaving a barely noticeable burn mark.

"Happiness is a state of being, an emotion, just like human joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. It cannot last forever. Just as you can cry for an old love today and laugh for a new love tomorrow, you can only try your best to make this state closer to you and easier for it to happen..."

He paused, looked at his son with eyes that had seen through the ways of the world, and said, word by word:

"But happiness is not life itself, but life that creates happiness. And individual differences, experiences, class, values, and worldviews mean that what I consider happiness may not be what you can agree on. For example..."

"Naturally, I consider myself a good father. What do you think?"

He Tianran hadn't expected He Panshan's example to be so straightforward. He opened his mouth, his mind filled with a thousand thoughts, but he didn't know where to begin.

Looking back on my childhood, I recall a child with no one to accompany him, endless extracurricular training classes, a noisy family, oppressive education, and parents who would disappear for ten days or half a month at a time.

If we calculate it that way, neither Bai Wenyu nor He Panshan can be considered qualified.

But that's only during childhood. What about when you grow up?

The He Tianran standing here now runs a company, makes films, walks the red carpet, and invests. He has never been troubled by money or material possessions for a single day, nor has he gone through the difficult process of accumulating wealth from scratch. He only needs to focus on how to spend the money wisely after his father gave him an investment. If he makes a profit, he is successful; if he loses, he is not afraid...

Given his current life, the fact that he still dwells on not being loved by his parents in his childhood is something that would seem pretentious to an ordinary person. And such a person would certainly think that this rich kid is living a very 'happy' life...

This is what He Panshan meant by individual differences. Therefore, even a "writer" who has experienced life today cannot honestly say that He Panshan is "unqualified".

However, He Tianran simply couldn't bring himself to say "good".

So the young son picked up the bottle and poured some more wine into his and his father's glasses, making the best of a bad situation by jokingly saying:
"Dad, you should ask Yuan Chong about this. He'll definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

He Panshan smiled:
"What, you feel wronged? You think I treat my adopted son better than my own son?"

He Tianran shook his head:

"If you were really bad to me, you wouldn't have come out to drink with me alone."

Perhaps because he had been suppressed by He Panshan since childhood, He Tianran had never thought that He Panshan was wrong to attack him in front of Tao Wei and her son in the house earlier. Now, after hearing the other party's argument that "destiny is the sum of choices", he vaguely figured out some truth to it.

"Oh, you're so magnanimous. With the way you always went against me back in high school, I was prepared for you to mock me by saying, 'Why do you, He Panshan, like raising sons for other people so much?'"

He Panshan's disrespectful behavior towards his elders made He Tianran chuckle as well.
"Back then, I was naive. When I saw something I didn't like or was unhappy about, I liked to rebel and argue with everyone and everything."

"No, no, no, no, don't mistake other people's rebellious phase for your own. You were introverted and timid back then. If you dared to say something like that to my face, I'd have to respect you more." "...And then you 'slapped' you away, right?"

"..."

"..."

"Hahahahaha..."

Inside the pavilion, the father and son burst into unrestrained laughter. Outside the side hall, Wang Ma, who had been standing in front of the glass door, looking towards the fish pond in the courtyard, smiled knowingly upon hearing the commotion. Her heart, which had devoted most of her life to this family, seemed to soften a little.

She silently walked to the switch in the corner.

"Clap."

A soft sound came from the house, so faint it was almost drowned out by the wind. Then, one by one, the ground lamps in the courtyard lit up, as if awakened by the laughter.

The warm, yellowish glow spread up layer by layer from under the carefully maintained low shrubs, from the edges of the stone steps, from the eaves of the pavilion...

He Tianran squinted slightly at the sudden light, raised his hand to shield his eyes, and adjusted his vision for a moment.

He Panshan, on the other hand, was at ease. Facing the light, the smile on his face, like the topics of fate, choice, happiness, and the father-son relationship he had just discussed, still lingered in the halo of light, never fading away.

Wang Ma, who was in the distance, did not disturb them. She simply glanced at the father and son, who were bathed in warm light, through the glass, and then quietly retreated into the depths of the mansion.

The night is still long, but at least for this moment, the lit-up courtyard is no longer so cold and biting.

He Tianran lowered his hand from the light and looked at his father's profile, which appeared softer than usual under the lamplight. Many burdens that had been weighing on his heart seemed to have loosened somewhat in the midst of that earlier burst of laughter and this sudden burst of light. He spoke:

“I know you don’t want to appear too biased in front of my mom, Aunt Tao, and… Yuan Chong. You’re the head of the family, and they are the family you chose, and the life you chose. When I said you should ask Yuan Chong that question, I wasn’t joking, because in his eyes you are indeed a good father. At least in formal situations, you have never shown favoritism…”

He Panshan looked at his son, who had lowered his eyes, took a sip of wine, and, recalling his son's behavior in the room, sighed:
“I’m glad you understand your dad, but I can also tell that if I were to die tomorrow, I don’t think you would treat his mother and daughter well.”

"...because they are not the family I chose."

He Tianran was quite outspoken on this issue.

The son was almost prepared to face his father's wrath; as mentioned earlier, he even closed his eyes, waiting for the expected slap...

"Crack~"

"..."

He did hear a sound, but it wasn't a slap. He opened his eyes and saw his father lighting a lighter and lighting another cigarette.

"Cough cough cough~"

He Panshan couldn't help but cough twice, raising his hand to disperse the smoke floating in front of him, muttering:

"I've grown up, I can't beat you anymore... I can't beat you..."

His body slowly leaned back in his chair. The father and son stared at each other silently for a moment. In the son's eyes was a stunned blankness, as if he had been struck by some emotion. The father, seemingly sensing something, slowly straightened up and uttered a sentence:
"Don't move, lower your head."

He Tianran froze on the spot, his head drooping, motionless. He Panshan leaned forward, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and reached into his son's hair with both hands, pulling and tugging at it...

"Sigh~"

The son took a breath, and when he looked up again, there was a white hair in his father's hand.

"Oh dear, you, your hair finally turned black, how come it's starting to turn white again? There's no such gene for premature graying in our He family."

He Panshan's indistinct words came again, but little did He Tianran know that in his eyes, his father had truly aged, his temples now streaked with gray...

However, the son didn't want to reveal this fact so directly; instead, he wanted to return to his teenage years and "talk back and forth" with his father...

"Why don't you take it for a DNA test? I suspect I might also..."

"I'm really going to hit you!"

He Panshan raised his hand to strike, his familiar angry expression reappearing, while He Tianran, like an ostrich, buried his head in his hands.

When He Tianran looked up again, He Panshan was already leisurely smoking.

"Of the 20 million that Yuan Chong gave you, half should be given to that female artist as compensation, and the other half should be kept in your agency for working capital or used to design a performance bonus within your company. You're not thinking of giving all 80 million to that female artist, are you?"

The familiar instructions appeared again, and He Tianran also became serious.

"Of course not, actually I was thinking of giving about this much."

"And the development rights for those two plots of land, if you don't mind the trouble, I can help you put them under your company."

This suggestion surprised He Tianran a little.

"Are there any conditions?"

“There are conditions.” He Panshan nodded, flicking a wisp of ash from his cigarette: “This matter between you and Yuan Chong will be put to rest, and…”

"As long as they stop causing me trouble, I don't care... And Dad, if you want me to treat them well, you'd better live a little longer, okay?"

"Heh~ I'll try my best."

After finishing their business, He Tianran picked up the cigarettes his father had placed on the stone table and lit one for himself. The stone pavilion was filled with smoke.

"Dad~"

"Ok?"

"There's something I've always wanted to know."

"You ask."

"that is……"

He Tianran stared at the burning cigarette butt, his words mingling with the billowing smoke:

"I've noticed a habit of yours, or rather, something I've never heard you say before... Have you ever apologized to anyone? Not my mom, Aunt Tao, or... me." (End of Chapter)