The Early-Deceased Mother of the Male Lead CHAPTER 1
Chapter 1
In the summer mountains, even at eight o’clock at night, the sky wouldn’t fully darken. The streetlights, illuminated earlier, finally gained a sense of presence.
Warm-toned light, filtering through the white curtains of the sliding windows in the neighboring apartment building, spilled into the room.
It was a small room, less than ten square meters, simply furnished: a ceiling light, white walls, a wardrobe, a bed, and a desk by the window—practically all the room contained.
“Mom…Mommy…” a child’s voice, soft and trembling, came from the slightly ajar door across the way.
After a few seconds, a rather indifferent female voice replied, “What?”
The child’s voice grew even softer, timidly, “It’s…it’s very late, you haven’t eaten…”
“I’m not hungry.” The woman’s voice remained indifferent.
The instant her words fell, a resounding “rumble” echoed, unusually clear in the small room.
An awkward silence descended.
“I…I’ll go buy food!” The child’s voice, less hesitant than before, accompanied by the sound of receding footsteps.
Then came the sounds of a door opening and closing.
Quiet quickly returned to the room.
On the small, one-and-a-half-meter bed against the wall, Luo Wen Shu slowly opened her eyes.
The room was dimly lit, but it didn’t affect her.
She quickly surveyed her surroundings. It was an unfamiliar environment, yet, after absorbing some memories of the original owner of this body, a strange sense of familiarity arose.
Luo Wen Shu wasn’t from this world.
Orphaned from a young age, she grew up relying on the kindness of strangers. At the age of seven, Master Luo Ming Qi took her in, making her his only disciple.
Her master was the head of the Xuanmen (a mystical sect), having previously taken on three disciples who had all graduated and become prominent figures among the younger generation of the Xuanmen.
After that, the Master hadn’t taken on any more disciples.
Then, after twenty-odd years, he suddenly brought a child home, causing a stir within the Xuanmen.
At the time, Luo Wen Shu was small and frail, in the midst of losing her baby teeth; two gaps remained where her adult teeth hadn’t yet grown in. She looked quite odd.
No one could have imagined that this seemingly unremarkable little girl would be a once-in-a-millennium genius.
In ten years, Luo Wen Shu had cultivated an unfathomable level of skill.
At eighteen, Master Luo Ming Qi formally passed the leadership of the Xuanmen to her.
The ceremony was attended by prominent figures from the Xuanmen, yet no one voiced any objection.
Master Luo Ming Qi expected the Xuanmen to reach new heights under Luo Wen Shu’s leadership.
However, Luo Wen Shu hadn’t even had time to properly settle into her role when, one night after taking over, she blinked and found herself transmigrated to this world.
The original owner of this body was also named Luo Wen Shu, slender, beautiful, with pale skin.
This body was twenty-four years old, with a five-year-old son, Luo Xingyu, about to start his last year of kindergarten—the child who had just asked her if she was hungry and gone to buy food.
After giving birth to Luo Xingyu, the original owner’s health deteriorated, worsening year by year.
In the memories Luo Wen Shu absorbed, the final scene was her son, Luo Xingyu, standing by the door, looking at her with concern.
“I’ll just sleep for a while; you go play with Xiao Bao and the others,” the original owner’s voice was gentle yet weak.
From the hallway outside came a child’s voice, “Xingxing, come on!”
Luo Xingyu, intelligent and sensible from a young age, was still just a five-year-old child. Urged by his friends, he quickly closed the door and went out to play.
The original owner soon closed her heavy eyelids.
That sleep was her last.
When she opened her eyes again, this body housed a new soul.
————
The evening breeze blew.
The trees outside rustled.
Luo Wen Shu suddenly frowned.
Besides the original owner’s memories, fragments of strange images flooded her mind.
Those fragments told her that this world was a novel, and her son, Luo Xingyu, was the protagonist.
At the start of the story, Luo Xingyu was already an adult. Only a few words described his past.
His father, Zhou Huai, had died in an accident before he was born. At the age of five, his mother, Luo Wen Shu, also passed away, after which he was sent to an orphanage until adulthood.
A tragic, yet typical, male lead template.
So-called “parental sacrifices pave the way for boundless power.”
In the fragmented memories, Luo Xingyu possessed extraordinary talent, constantly overcoming challenges and growing stronger.
Except for his family background, he was no less than anyone else.
Later, that single shortcoming was rectified.
Zhou Huai, the father who had died before his birth, suddenly resurfaced.
Zhou Huai came from a wealthy family. During his rebellious youth, he ran away from home, unexpectedly meeting Luo Wen Shu, Luo Xingyu’s mother. They quickly fell in love, their relationship passionate and devoted.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last.
Luo Wen Shu, an orphan whose parents had died young, was unacceptable to the Zhou family, who sent people to bring their rebellious heir back.
Zhou Huai naturally refused to obey, but during his escape, he was in a car accident, hitting his head. When he woke up, he no longer remembered Luo Wen Shu.
After his disappearance, a few months later, Luo Wen Shu belatedly discovered she was pregnant.
————
Luo Wen Shu never imagined that the timid child outside the door was the overwhelmingly powerful male lead of the novel, and the original owner was the male lead’s deceased mother—carrying him for ten months, painstakingly raising him to kindergarten age, before passing away.
A quintessential tool character.
The novel’s plot barely involved the original owner; Zhou Huai, invisible in the early stages and resurfacing later, dominated a considerable part of the story.
Now that Luo Wen Shu occupied this body, she naturally would take care of the original owner’s son. As for the rest, she didn’t particularly care.
“Rumble.” Her stomach rumbled again.
This body hadn’t eaten anything all day, not even a sip of water.
Her son, Luo Xingyu, had gone to buy food. Luo Wen Shu remembered a small restaurant nearby whose owner had been kind to the mother and son; Luo Xingyu had probably gone there.
The dinner rush had passed; the restaurant wouldn’t be busy. Normally, a round trip would take twenty minutes.
But it had been over half an hour, and Luo Xingyu hadn’t returned.
Luo Wen Shu, sharing a blood connection, sensed no danger, but decided to go check.
It was a seven-story self-built apartment building; the original owner rented a one-bedroom apartment on the fifth floor at the end of the hallway.
The hallway was dark and long, the only light source a sliver from a window at the corner of the staircase across the way.
Motion sensors should have lit the lights, but Luo Wen Shu didn’t mind. Such darkness meant nothing to her; it didn’t affect her vision or frighten her.
She moved lightly down to the first floor.
Exiting the building, she ran into the landlord and his wife.
The energy-efficient light at the entrance was always on, but the wattage was low, casting a dim, pale light on the couple.
They looked anxious, hurrying past Luo Wen Shu.
Luo Wen Shu didn’t stop, only glancing at them.
In the dim light, she saw a wisp of black energy surrounding the couple.
This indicated a looming calamity.
Fortunately, though the ominous clouds were dark, they hadn’t fully formed, suggesting a chance of escape, depending on whether the couple could seize the opportunity.
Luo Wen Shu didn’t stop them. In any world, being a good person wasn’t easy; more often than not, they’d be seen as manipulative, causing resentment.
She would only intervene at the right moment.
Outside was an asphalt road lined with houses of varying heights.
This was a resettlement area, with a good environment nestled by mountains and water.
Luo Wen Shu turned left and walked slowly along the road, gradually hearing sounds from the distance.
Children were playing; adults chatted and laughed.
The area outside the resettlement zone was bustling. Standing at a crossroad, Luo Wen Shu saw various shop signs and lights.
Across the road, people waited for the traffic light.
A small figure stood among them: Luo Xingyu, who had gone to buy food.
Carrying the food, he noticed Luo Wen Shu and waved.
Luo Wen Shu nodded in response.
The countdown for the red light was forty-seven seconds.
Luo Wen Shu sensed something and looked to the front right.
A white SUV sped from that direction, showing no sign of braking, its tires crossing the zebra crossing and heading straight for the oncoming traffic.
It was about to hit a small pickup truck loaded with goods when the driver of the truck swerved, narrowly avoiding a collision. The truck zig-zagged a short distance before stopping.
The white SUV crashed into a roadside tree.
“Bang!” The loud collision drowned out the previous noise at the intersection.
The red light countdown was now forty-four seconds.
It seemed like a premonition.
The tree trunk was thick; an adult could barely wrap their arms around it. The impact only caused it to shake slightly, with a few leaves falling.
The white SUV fared far worse, its front end crumpled, its doors severely deformed, the windshield shattered, the airbags deployed, obscuring the view. There was no telling the state of the people inside.
The driver of the pickup truck, initially furious and cursing, stopped, his words fading.
“Aaah!”
The surrounding pedestrians reacted to the accident, their panicked cries overlapping.
The orderly intersection fell into chaos.
Luo Wen Shu quickly looked back across the road. The crowd waiting for the light began pushing, and Luo Xingyu, in the front, was small and vulnerable, at risk of being pushed into the road.
“Mom…Mommy…” He seemed unaware of what was happening, but the situation made him uneasy, his gaze uncertain toward the familiar figure in the crowd.
The white SUV, though it hadn’t hit other vehicles, still impacted traffic.
Vehicles clogged the lane in front of Luo Wen Shu.
With over ten seconds left on the red light, she didn’t wait, weaving through the vehicles and hurrying across.
“What happened over there?”
“Can those at the back stop pushing?”
“Damn it, who pushed me? Try pushing me again!”
Complaints and curses intertwined; Luo Xingyu’s small body was pushed off balance, falling forward.
His mind went blank; he watched the ground get closer.
Just before he hit the ground, a slender hand caught him, preventing his fall.
Luo Xingyu looked up; the familiar face was there. He let her pull him out of the crowd toward a less congested area.
After some time, Luo Xingyu recovered.
Luo Wen Shu stood beside him, carrying the food, calmly looking ahead.
Luo Xingyu instinctively followed her gaze.
It was the scene of the accident; a dense crowd surrounded it, forming multiple layers, yet without anyone touching the vehicle, leaving a clear circle around it.
A tall figure stood quietly there: a young man in a black suit.
Surrounded by so many people, amid the cacophony, no one seemed to notice him.
Perhaps Luo Wen Shu stared too long; he turned his head and looked over.
Their eyes met across the traffic and crowd.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Luo Wen Shu didn’t look away, her expression unchanged, as if she wasn’t the one caught staring.
The man in the black suit’s eyes changed, a hint of doubt emerging.
Then, Luo Xingyu reached out and tugged at her clothes.
“…Mom, let’s go home, okay?” His voice trembled.
Luo Wen Shu looked down at him; his face was pale.
“Okay.” She softly responded, then took his cold little hand and headed home.
On the other side,
A young man in a shocking pink shirt emerged from the wreckage, staring at the crowd. After a pause, he cursed.
“Damn, what are these idiots crowding around for?”
“Car accident?”
“Wow, that car’s totaled!…Wait, that license plate looks familiar. Spring C735…Damn, that’s my car!! Who the hell stole it…”
Before he could finish, a chain wrapped around his neck.
Startled, he instinctively tried to pull it off, opening his mouth to yell.
The chain tightened, cutting off his words; even breathing became difficult.
Worse, his hands seemed glued to the chain, immovable.
Fear crept onto his face; he tried to ask the onlookers for help.
“Help…help me…”
But no one responded; they seemed to ignore him.
“Whoosh!” The slack chain tightened, a great force pulling him; he couldn’t resist and was pulled from the crowd.
“Help…” He tried to grab someone, but he passed right through them.
He froze.
In a flash, he was dragged out of the crowd, seeing the other end of the chain.
It was the young man in the black suit, handsome, expressionless.
He glanced at him indifferently, then turned and left.
The young man was dragged along.
At the end of the zebra crossing, a doorway appeared, vague and indistinct, exuding a chilling aura.
He saw visions flash in his mind.
Someone stumbled out of a bar, shakily entering a back alley. He fumbled for his keys, then struggled to find his car.
Head spinning, eyes unfocused, he got in, started the car.
Wind howled through the windows; lights blurred into hazy spots, and the scenery whizzed by.
Then the crossroad, the red light, oncoming traffic…
“Bang!”
The vision ended after the crash.
The man in the vision wore a shocking pink shirt, with features identical to his own.
“I…died?” he looked dazed, remaining fear etched on his face.
No one answered.
The man in the black suit had entered the doorway.
The young man was dragged in soon after.
The doorway vanished like smoke.
In the distance, Luo Wen Shu, carrying the food and holding Luo Xingyu’s hand, glanced this way before looking away.
