Rebirth at the Start: This Fate is Too Explosive!

Chapter 344 Hello, Auntie! I am Ye Fan.

She raised her tear-filled face and looked at her mother's face, covered in brick dust and etched with exhaustion. Overwhelmed by a deep sense of heartache, she cried out, "Mom! Didn't you say work wasn't hard? It's clearly... clearly so hard! Getting up so early, traveling such a long way, and you still lied to me and said it wasn't hard..."

By the end, she was sobbing uncontrollably, as if the whole world had been deceiving her.

Li Xiulan opened her mouth, but all the excuses she had prepared beforehand, such as "cleaning the office" or "helping someone mind the shop," were stuck in her throat, and she couldn't say a single word.

My daughter followed me all the way from our front door!

This fact was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing all her attempts to conceal her wishful thinking.

Looking at her daughter's shoulders heaving violently from crying, and her clear eyes filled with heartache and accusation, Li Xiulan felt her heart being torn apart.

"Mom knows, Mom knows it's all my fault." Li Xiulan could only hug her daughter tightly, her voice choked with sobs, "Mom just... just wanted to earn more..."

"Mom!" Xian Zuling suddenly raised her head, her hands tightly gripping her mother's calloused hands as if grasping at a lifeline. Her voice was filled with desperate pleading, "I'm all grown up now! Really! I can work part-time at school, I can take care of myself! Let's go back, okay? Please don't do this anymore! We don't need so much money, let's find an easier, less tiring job, okay? Your health will break down, Mom!"

Her daughter's near-collapse plea and the deep fear in her eyes completely shattered Li Xiulan's defenses.

All pride and dignity become insignificant in the face of their daughter's heartbreaking tears.

She nodded vigorously, tears welling up again: "Okay! Okay! Ling'er, Mom will listen to you! We're not doing it anymore, we're going back right now! Don't cry, be good, Mom won't do it anymore..."

This is not a perfunctory statement, but a heartfelt commitment.

Making money is important, but her daughter's peace of mind and health are her bottom line.

However, the thought of possibly not receiving her hard-earned money from this period cast a shadow over her heart.

Just then.

A steady voice broke in: "Hello, Auntie! I'm Ye Fan."

Ye Fan had already walked up to them without them noticing, speaking in a gentle and polite tone, showing the respect due to a junior.

Li Xiulan looked up at the sound, a hint of embarrassment and scrutiny flashing across her tear-streaked and dusty face.

She guessed that the outstanding and handsome young man in front of her must be the "boss" and classmate her daughter had mentioned.

"Hello..." she said instinctively, using polite language, which made her seem a little awkward.

Ye Fan smiled slightly and said humbly, "Auntie, you're too kind. I'm Ling'er's classmate, so you can call me Xiao Ye or Ye Fan."

As he spoke, he took out a bulging envelope from his pocket, handed it to Li Xiulan with both hands, and explained, "Auntie, this is your wages for this period of time. I just had the foreman settle it with you. Please count it and see if it's correct."

He then suggested, "Auntie, Ling'er, it's dusty here, let's go back to the car first? We can talk about it on the way."

Xian Zuling nodded vigorously, holding her mother's arm tightly, as if afraid that she would change her mind.

Li Xiulan held the thick envelope, feeling its substantial weight. A great weight lifted from her heart, and her gratitude towards Ye Fan deepened at the same time, along with her lingering doubts.

She silently followed Ye Fan and his daughter toward the MPV parked by the roadside.

Ye Fan naturally opened the car door for Li Xiulan.

Li Xiulan was suddenly jolted out of her reverie. Seeing Ye Fan's outstretched hand and the spotless interior of the car door, then looking at her own work pants, now covered in red brick dust and unrecognizable as their original color, and her worn-out gloves, her face instantly contorted with embarrassment. She frantically waved her hands and backed away, saying, "No, no, no! You can't! I'm too dirty. Don't get your nice car dirty! I'll just take the bus home!"

"It's alright, Auntie," Ye Fan said with a smile.

Li Xiulan was about to refuse when he looked at the ancestral spirit and made a small joke, "If it gets dirty, can Ling'er help me clean it later?"

Xian Zuling nodded hurriedly, her eyes red-rimmed, and pulled her mother's arm: "Mom, let's go."

"Oh well!"

Seeing her daughter's pleading eyes and Ye Fan's irresistible tenderness, Li Xiulan finally gave in. She carefully sat down in the car, trying to only touch the edge of the seat. Her restrained movements and posture were exactly the same as when Xian Zuling first rode in this car.

On the way back.

Sitting in the back seat, Li Xiulan couldn't help but scrutinize Ye Fan in the driver's seat through the rearview mirror with an almost harsh gaze.

His handsome profile, composed demeanor, refined speech, and considerate thoughtfulness (even settling her salary in advance), coupled with the previously heard aura of being a "top scorer in the college entrance examination" and his obviously affluent family background...

This young man is impeccably excellent from every angle; he is simply the "perfect template" in the eyes of his elders.

But it was precisely this perfection that caused Li Xiulan's unease to grow wildly like vines.

She absolutely refused to believe that it was all just a "coincidence".

Last night, his daughter slept in his car, and instead of waking her up, he stayed with her all night.

This morning, they happened to "bump into" me leaving home and followed me all the way to the brick factory?

And so "coincidentally" settled his wages?

How many things in the world are just right?

If she only had a vague suspicion when she saw Ye Fan personally picking up her daughter at the alley entrance last night, then now, after witnessing Ye Fan in person and feeling his maturity and control far beyond his peers, that suspicion has turned into an almost certain assessment.

What puzzled her most, and even made her feel a little uneasy, was her motive—

If Ye Fan is so kind to her because he likes Ling'er, that's only natural, and she can understand it.

The problem is... Li Xiulan's gaze fell on her daughter beside her—her clothes were so plain they were almost rustic, her hair was deliberately styled in an old-fashioned way, her face was deliberately made up to look ugly, and her eyes were even red and swollen from crying just now. This was clearly an "ugly duckling" that she had deliberately protected!

Why would a young man with such a top-notch family background, appearance, and abilities care so much about his "ugly duckling" daughter and go to such great lengths for her?

Could it be... that he really only has a preference for this type? This thought made Li Xiulan feel even more absurd and uneasy.

Just as her thoughts were in turmoil and she was getting more and more into them, the car had already smoothly driven back to a relatively bustling area of ​​the county town and stopped in front of a breakfast shop that looked clean and bright.

"Auntie, Ling'er, let's get out of the car and have something to eat? We've been busy all morning and we're all hungry." Ye Fan stopped the car, got out first, walked to the back seat, and naturally opened the car door for Li Xiulan.