Chapter 525: Leaving the Small Fishing Village

“Dad, do you want to go see Mom?”

Once she’d said “Dad” for the first time, saying it again came much more naturally.

Yun Jiao had been staying here with Lan Xu for the past few days, and the father and daughter had gradually grown closer.

At her words, Lan Xu paused the net he was mending.

“I do. I have to go see her.”

Even if it was only a grave now, he still wanted to go.

“But I don’t have an ID.”

When Lan Xu first arrived here, everything about the outside world was foreign to him.

This remote little fishing village didn’t pay much mind to things like household registration. Even now, there were still people who, like Lan Xu, had never been registered.

Especially the children.

Lan Xu had no connections and didn’t know how to go about it, so to this day, he was still undocumented.

“Leave it to me,” Yun Jiao said.

Fu Mingyu stepped out just then. “Let me handle it. A call to my grandpa will get it done much faster.”

“Great.”

Yun Jiao gave him an OK sign.

After getting in touch with Grandpa Fu, he pulled some strings and made a call. When Yun Jiao and the others took Lan Xu to get his household registration and ID processed, the staff didn’t ask many questions. They just had him get his picture taken.

He could pick up his ID in three days.

During those three days, Yun Jiao and the others felt as if they were back in their own village, going out to sea to have fun every day.

The exception was Yun Xiao Ba, who preferred finding a spot to draw. He would sit for hours on end, sometimes sketching landscapes, other times drawing people.

After going out to sea with Yun Jiao once, Lan Xu was utterly stunned by his daughter.

His daughter could hold her breath underwater for several times longer than he could. And that was saying something—due to his special bloodline, Lan Xu himself could hold his breath for about half an hour.

His daughter could hold her breath for so much longer than he could!!!

What’s more, Lan Xu could dive to a depth of a thousand meters without any equipment, and that was his absolute limit.

But his daughter could go even deeper!

Lan Xu was deeply gratified.

His girl’s abilities were far greater than his own—greater, even, than any of the Water Weaver clan he had ever known.

‘What a shame… Her mother can’t see this. If she could, she would be so proud of her.’

Yun Jiao was surprised to find pearl mother shells here.

There were few in the shallows, but quite a lot in the deeper waters.

They produced white pearls, and sizable ones at that.

Yun Jiao brought up several large pearl mother shells and shook them for her father and brothers to see.

Once on the wooden boat, she said happily, “I can’t believe there are pearl mother shells here! And the color is so beautiful.”

The pearls were a gentle, delicate white, radiating a soft luster in the sunlight.

They were also perfectly round—every single one.

Lan Xu, on the other hand, wasn’t surprised at all.

He had discovered them long ago and had been trading the pearls for money. It was how he’d been able to get by without worrying about his daily needs.

But since he was only staying in the fishing village to wait for his love, his material needs were minimal.

“Those pearl oysters over there in the sea… I’m the one who raises them.”

Among the Water Weaver people, it is the men’s responsibility and a measure of their ability to cultivate pearls and find pearl-producing oysters in the ocean.

And he happened to be an expert at cultivating pearl oysters.

“Does Jiaojiao like them? I’ll go get some for you.”

With his love gone, Lan Xu now poured all his affection onto the daughter who looked so much like her.

Seeing how much Yun Jiao liked them, he dove into the sea without another word.

Before long, he returned with the very best pearl oysters from his farm. He placed them all in a heap before Yun Jiao, his pale blue eyes watching her with eager anticipation.

Yun Jiao…

‘This is my father, not a big puppy,’ she told herself.

“I love them. Thank you, Dad.”

Lan Xu’s face lit up when he heard she liked them.

They returned to shore, their boat laden with their bounty.

“We can pick up the ID today. Once we have it, let’s go buy plane tickets.”

Lan Xu had no objections. He felt a little reluctant to leave the place where he had lived for so many years, but only a little.

After all, he had stayed here for An Zhiya.

Once everything was ready, Lan Xu went into the village a day ahead of their departure to say goodbye to the villagers he had grown close to over the years.

Lan Xu had saved many villagers during a sea disaster years ago, so everyone in the small fishing village treated him well. Knowing he lived alone on the mountainside, they would occasionally bring him supplies to help him out.

The villagers had even helped him with repairs on his house.

Just two days after Yun Jiao and her group left, the small fishing village received a visit from the local government.

They announced that the entire village would be getting electricity and newly paved roads. As for the cost, a kind benefactor had already covered it for them.

This kind benefactor was, of course, Yun Jiao and her friends.

*

A plane was much faster than a train.

They boarded the plane and flew back to the Capital on the same day.

Arriving in an unfamiliar city—and making the jump from a remote village to a massive metropolis—was no small challenge for Lan Xu.

Yun Jiao took his hand.

“Let’s go, Dad.”

Suddenly, Lan Xu’s anxiety vanished.

“Okay.”

The day had been spent transferring between vehicles and sitting on the plane. Even though they hadn’t walked much, they were exhausted.

It was a mental exhaustion.

They first went to the courtyard house to rest and recover.

The next day, Yun Jiao took Lan Xu out to pick a nice outfit.

Lan Xu was in great shape. From his frequent swimming, his muscles weren’t bulky but lean and well-defined. Combined with his height, he had the perfect frame for clothes—a natural model who looked good in anything.

She had his hair styled, too.

They didn’t cut it all off. His bangs were trimmed and the length was taken in a bit, and the stylist tied the back into a small knot.

It wasn’t an exaggeration—Yun Jiao felt that if her dad joined the entertainment industry, he’d be a star in less than two years.

Having such a handsome father made Yun Jiao feel quite proud.

Once he was all styled, Yun Jiao took him to see Aunt Song.

When Lan Xu saw Song Qing, his eyes reddened again.

“Sister Qing.”

Song Qing let out a deep sigh, walked over, and patted his shoulder.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you to see Zhiya.”

An Zhiya was buried with her father, and her mother’s grave was there as well.

Su Kangcheng was a hypocrite, but he was obsessed with keeping up appearances. The one “good” deed he ever did was arranging for the family to be buried together, all for the sake of his public image.

The group appeared at the cemetery, each holding a bouquet of chrysanthemums.

Lan Xu looked at the familiar face in the photograph on the headstone and broke down in tears.

No one disturbed him. They placed their flowers down and tactfully gave him space, leaving him there to speak with An Zhiya.

But he stayed there for the entire day.

Lan Xu didn’t even eat.

In the end, Yun Jiao had to half-persuade, half-drag him away.

Lan Xu sniffled and gently patted Yun Jiao’s head.

“Jiaojiao, from now on, Dad will take good care of you. For your mother, too.”

Yun Jiao nodded. “Then you have to live well for her, too.”

Over the next several weeks, whenever Yun Jiao had free time, she took Lan Xu out to experience the world. She showed him around the Capital, took him to auctions, and even gave him a tour of her school.

However, perhaps because he was so accustomed to life in the fishing village, or perhaps because his material desires were so few, once the novelty wore off, Lan Xu’s enthusiasm began to wane.

So, Yun Jiao had memorial tablets made for her mother and grandparents. Then, she had her father gather them up, and she packed everything to take to Bailong Village.

“So this is where Jiaojiao grew up?”

Lan Xu was very interested in the place where Yun Jiao had spent her childhood.

Yun Jiao nodded. “But the village now is completely different from how it was when I was little.”

Though it was called a village, it was really more like a small town now.

Bailong Village, the richest village for miles around!

Yun Linhai and Shen Yunlian had already heard the news and were waiting for them at the entrance to the village.

The moment they saw them, they rushed forward with warm enthusiasm.

Although it was the first time they had all met, both families were filled with mutual gratitude.

Yun Linhai and his family were grateful to Lan Xu for giving them such an outstanding and beautiful daughter in Jiaojiao.

Lan Xu was grateful to the Yun family because they had given Jiaojiao a childhood full of familial love and care, ensuring she never had to suffer despite growing up without her parents.

With these feelings between them, the two families got along harmoniously.

Yun Jiao was overjoyed.

Afterward, Yun Linhai, Yun Linhe, and the others enthusiastically took Lan Xu on a tour of the village.

“Brother Lan, from now on, you’re like a brother to us! Just think of our home as your own. Come on, take a look at this dinosaur fossil! Jiaojiao brought all of these up from the deep sea. It’s because of things like this that our village has become more and more prosperous…”

They told Lan Xu many stories about Yun Jiao’s childhood, and he listened with rapt attention.

That evening, they showed him the photo albums.

There were several thick albums, filled with photos of Yun Jiao from when she was a baby all the way to the present day.

There were black-and-white photos as well as color ones.

Lan Xu clutched the albums, spending the entire night looking through them in the room the Yun family had prepared for him.

He only slept for three hours before being called for breakfast.

The dark circles under his eyes were so heavy.

After breakfast, everyone urged him to go back and get some more sleep.

Lan Xu scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

In the warm, relaxed atmosphere of the Yun family’s home, the pain of his lover’s death began to gradually subside for Lan Xu.

He held An Zhiya’s memorial tablet and said, “Zhiya, I’ll be okay. I’ll be here to watch Jiaojiao grow up, with you.”

He deeply regretted missing Jiaojiao’s childhood.

But he would move forward and be there for his daughter for the rest of her life.