For Zhou Ling and Hu Lin, stopping now would be a way to minimize their losses. Although their lives wouldn't be easy afterward, they would at least still have a house back home.
They wouldn't end up on the streets.
Or be hounded by debt collectors.
But if they continued, especially if they borrowed money to fund further treatment, they could already imagine themselves hiding from creditors years down the line.
And if that were the case.
Their son would only suffer more.
Because they could still move, still walk, still find ways to evade debts, but when they were hiding.
They couldn't exactly take their paralyzed son with them.
So, for their own future and their son's future, they ultimately refused Zhou Shou's requests and forcibly took him back to their hometown.
However, Zhou Shou was ungrateful.
He felt abandoned by his parents.
Confined to his bed, he'd throw tantrums when bored, yelling at his mother. While Hu Lin could tolerate it for a while, it wouldn't last. She soon began to "punish" Zhou Shou by withholding meals.
After a day or two, a desperate Zhou Shou would beg for mercy.
Then, after a few days, unrepentant, he'd repeat his behavior.
This formed a cycle of mutual torment.
Over time, both Zhou Shou and his mother, Hu Lin, were in poor mental states. While calling it outright insanity might be an exaggeration, their mental health was certainly not sound.
Of course, amidst their mutual suffering, they hadn't stopped considering other options. They had thought about approaching the film crew or the agency again, demanding more compensation, or trying to find Ding Yun for her impending marriage.
But the film crew and the company had already paid ample compensation.
And release forms had been signed.
If they tried to demand more compensation.
The company's legal department wouldn't be idle.
As for Ding Yun, she had not only moved but also changed her number, making her impossible to find. Without external factors to influence them, they were left to torment each other. Zhou Ling, meanwhile, had to work. If he didn't, how would they eat or drink?
So, even though he was the sole breadwinner.
Psychologically and mentally,
Zhou Ling was actually the least stressed.
However, Hu Lin had never given up on finding Ding Yun. She worried that when she and her husband were old or passed away, their son would have no one to care for him. Thus, she hoped to find Ding Yun's daughter and, once Ding Yun's daughter was grown and capable, send their son to her.
After all, they were related by blood.
They would have to find a way to latch onto them somehow.
Otherwise, if they died, wouldn't their son die too?
Fortunately, Ding Yun was very careful about her information security, so there was no immediate impact and not much to worry about.
...
Without troublesome individuals appearing to be disgusting, Ding Yun lived a relatively easy and comfortable life. Five or six years passed in the blink of an eye, and her child grew up as quickly as sprouting bamboo shoots in spring.
It felt like they shot up in an instant.
In a flash, they had completed elementary school.
This year was a significant one, not just because the child was graduating from elementary school and moving on to middle school, but more importantly, because the timeline of the young Zhu Lingyun had reached 1970, a crucial turning point.
Whether her mother would pass away from illness.
Was directly related to the mission's completion.
And if her mother did not pass away, how she would then inspire young Zhu Lingyun to study medicine and steer her research towards developing effective cancer treatments.
This, in turn, was crucial for the stability of the timeline.
Therefore, Ding Yun had to take action. If she didn't intervene and guide things, the timeline would inevitably become chaotic.
On August 17th, at 4:30 PM.
This was the date, according to Zhu Lingyun's memories, that her mother had died. Ding Yun deliberately chose this date to contact the young Zhu Lingyun of the 1970s using the Super-Dimensional Second-hand Trading Device and directly inquired about her mother's condition:
"Is your mother's health alright?"
After years of communication, young Zhu Lingyun already knew that the person Ding Yun had mentioned during their first conversation, who had regrets due to hunger, was her mother. However, she didn't know what had actually happened to her mother.
So, upon hearing Ding Yun's question, she replied habitually, "My mother's health is quite good.
But you still can't tell me what exactly happened to my mother that caused my future self to have regrets, right? You keep saying it's not time.
But when will it be time?
You never tell me, so I'm always on edge, worried that my mother might have an accident someday.
So, when exactly will you..."
That's right, to prevent young Zhu Lingyun from learning about her mother's death from stomach cancer prematurely and thus prematurely studying medicine and researching cancer, which would also affect the future trajectory, Ding Yun had never revealed the regret concerning her mother.
No matter how many times she asked.
Ding Yun never revealed it.
But today was different. Today was finally the day, so Ding Yun immediately replied, "Today.
Today, I can tell you what happened. If I hadn't contacted you ten years ago, today would have been the day your mother died, from late-stage stomach cancer, with no cure and no money to treat it.
And today, your mother is still very healthy.
This means she has already passed this death hurdle."
"But there's still one thing: even though your mother has overcome this hurdle, it doesn't mean she'll live a long, healthy life from now on. As long as she doesn't have any other accidents in the meantime, her probability of developing cancer in her later years is still slightly higher than that of ordinary people. Do you understand what I mean?"
Ding Yun didn't say everything she needed to say at once. She planned to speak gradually, giving young Zhu Lingyun time to understand and react.
As expected, young Zhu Lingyun took a while to fully comprehend Ding Yun's words before replying:
"So, do I need to do something?"
"Yes, you do need to do something.
Since it has come to this, I won't beat around the bush anymore. If I hadn't appeared, you would have turned to medicine because of your mother's death and dedicated yourself to researching effective cancer cures. But now, with my appearance, your mother hasn't died, which means you might not study medicine, or even go to college.
And if these changes occur.
The entire future will fall into chaos. So, what I need you to do is to follow the original trajectory and study medicine at this juncture. Only this way can you ensure that the future destiny doesn't change too much.
Do you understand what I'm saying now?"
Although Ding Yun had initially considered guiding her gradually, to lead her back to her original destiny, no matter how she thought about it, she felt that indirect guidance had too high a chance of error and was difficult to guarantee.
That's why she ultimately decided to be frank and direct.
It not only saved trouble.
But also minimized the possibility of misinterpretation.