Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Come up quickly; the ship is departing.” Ruan Yang beckoned him over.
Xin Ziao didn’t move. Instead, he stood outside, smiling and watching her. The summer breeze messed up the stray hairs on his forehead. Sun rays glistened on his face. An unrealistic shadow formed in the depths of his eyes. His long eyelashes were also swaying in the breeze.
Ruan Yang was somehow distracted for a while. Suddenly, she heard him speak as his thin lips moved: “Ruan Yang, do you think there is a next life?”
“Why are you bringing up this question at this time? The ship is really leaving. If you don’t come up quickly, it’ll just be me and our daughter going out to sea,” Ruan Yang said again.
“It’d be great if there’s a next life.” Xin Ziao’s eyelashes drooped but he was still smiling. His eyelashes formed a shadow under his eyes. “Ruan Yang, I can’t go. I packed many things in the bag—you have to live well on your own.”
“Are you standing me up?” Ruan Yang was a little angry.
“Yeah. I lied to you. I lied to you a lot of times and even hurt you. I’ve let you down.” Xin Ziao sighed softly. “Ruan Yang, you have to take care of yourself. How I wish all this was real.”
“What are you saying?” The moment Ruan Yang finished saying that, there was suddenly a long blast of the horn and the ship departed slowly.
She reached out to grab Xin Ziao, but her hand went through his body and she ended up grabbing nothing.
She felt a strange sense of fear and confusion. She lifted her head to look at Xin Ziao’s face and realized it was getting more and more indistinct and she actually couldn’t see his face clearly anymore. “Ziao… Ziao…”
“Ruan Yang, goodbye… goodbye…” She saw his lips move.
The ship moved further and further away until Xin Ziao’s silhouette disappeared into the distance. She stood at the bow of the ship blankly and felt an inexplicable sense of melancholy. After a long while, she returned to her senses and turned to look at her daughter in her arms, but she came to realize that in her arms were a child’s clothes. Her daughter had vanished into thin air.
Her heart suddenly shook. She wanted to call out to her daughter but realized that she didn’t even know what her name was. She looked around and there was no one on the ship at all. This was an empty ship.
She ran and shouted with all her might.
“Ruan Yang, wake up, wake up.” She seemed to hear someone calling out to her.
She opened her eyes suddenly and sat right up. Li Shaobin was sitting right next to her and was holding her hand, looking a little worried.
Ruan Yang looked at him blankly for a few seconds before she slapped her face hard. She looked out of the window. The sky had just started to brighten up. Her forehead was wet with sweat and she was trembling slightly.
She took a few deep breaths and leaned into Li Shaobin’s embrace slowly. She could feel the warmth of his body and that made her less afraid. It was really very scary. Why did she dream of something like that?
“What did you dream about?” Li Shaobin put his hand on her shoulder.
Ruan Yang’s lips trembled. “I had a strange dream.”
“Was Xin Ziao in the dream?” Li Shaobin suddenly asked.
Ruan Yang froze and lifted her head. She realized that there was some sort of sorrow and frustration hidden in his eyes. “You called out ‘Ziao’ countless times tonight.”
Ruan Yang facepalmed. “Don’t misunderstand. I really had a very strange dream. I don’t even know why I had such a dream.”
“Perhaps you haven’t forgotten Xin Ziao.” Li Shaobin clenched his fists and teeth tightly as he said coldly, “You had a very deep love with him. I know it’s a little difficult for you to forget him so quickly, but don’t forget how much he’s done to harm you. Forget all this. You even called out to him in your dream. Ruan Yang, how much do you like him?”
“You’re mistaken.” Ruan Yang held his hand.
Li Shaobin swung her hand away and suddenly sat up. He was really angry. Why couldn’t she forget Xin Ziao when she had promised him to make their marriage work out? “I am your husband but you were calling out to him instead of me in your dream. Ruan Yang, do you know how I felt when I heard that?”
“Listen to me…”
“I don’t want to listen.” Li Shaobin grabbed his clothes by the side, put them on quickly, and walked out.
Ruan Yang didn’t dare to chase after him. She was afraid that if they were to cause too much of a commotion, the Li Family members would be alarmed. Not long after, she heard the sound of a car leaving from downstairs.
The room was still very dark. Ruan Yang recalled the dream she had and was a little afraid. She switched on the lights and shrank into the covers. She felt a little cold.
She hadn’t dreamt of Xin Ziao for a very long time. Having a dream like that all of a sudden was really weird.
It was only right for Li Shaobin to be angry, but she really didn’t have any longing for Xin Ziao.
Ruan Yang switched her phone on and called Li Shaobin. The phone on the coffee table suddenly rang. He left in such a hurry just now that he even forgot his phone. She didn’t know where he would go at a time like this.
After that, Ruan Yang didn’t go back to sleep.
…
At around 7 am, she got dressed and went to eat breakfast. During breakfast, Li Zhongchi asked, “The servant said Shaobin left before 6 am. Where did he go?”
Everyone cast her a curious glance. Grandma Li was also a little disappointed. She thought she would be able to have breakfast with her grandson.
Ruan Yang swept her hair behind her ear awkwardly. “He received a call in the middle of the night. I think it was something urgent, so he left in a hurry.”
“It must’ve been something important. I rarely see him leave so early.” Li Zhongchi found it very weird but he didn’t think it could be because the couple had a quarrel. After all, if it was a quarrel, it would’ve happened at night. People rarely quarreled at 5 am.
“Perhaps. I was sleeping then so I’m not very sure,” Ruan Yang answered ambiguously.
Since she said that, the Li Family members didn’t probe further.
After Li Xiaoxia left for school, Ruan Yang was about to find an excuse to leave the Li Household to go to Li Hall or the villa they lived in to look for Li Shaobin when He Mingshan and Li Congyang came back from their walk.
Before they even entered, He Mingshan’s voice came from the hall. “Big news!”
“What’s the big news?” Grandma Li turned around and saw He Mingshan looking very agitated.
“Mrs. Shi called me just now. Oh my gosh, something huge happened in the Xin Family last night.” After He Mingshan said that, she paused for a while and looked at Ruan Yang, who was at the side.
Ruan Yang suddenly recalled her dream last night and her heart thumped vigorously. Her face didn’t show it and she didn’t say anything. Shen Liu asked, “What happened in the Xin Family?”
“That Zhao Zhu is really mad.” He Mingshan patted her chest. She lowered her voice and said, “I heard that last night, she put poison in Xin Ziao’s tea. Not long after Xin Ziao drank it, he vomited blood and almost dropped dead.”
Ruan Yang’s brain buzzed and blanked out. Grandma Li, who was beside her, asked anxiously, “So did he die?”
“I don’t know.” In any case, the servant quickly called the ambulance when she saw. I heard that when he was sent to the hospital, he was bleeding from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. It’s so scary. I don’t know whether he’s dead or alive but I reckon it’ll be hard for him to survive. A lot of police went to the Xin Family this morning and arrested Zhao Zhu. That Zhao Zhu seemed to really be mad. She wasn’t even scared. She kept shouting that she wanted to kill Xin Ziao.” He Mingshan shuddered as she said that. “In the end, he’s still her husband. No matter how much hatred there is between them, is there a need to be so ruthless?”
“Yeah.” Shen Liu looked at Ruan Yang complicatedly. Everyone clearly understood that she was the root of all the problems between Zhao Zhu and Xin Ziao; they just didn’t dare to say it aloud. However, Ruan Yang couldn’t be blamed for this. After all, she was already married and the poisoning incident was between Xin Ziao and Zhao Zhu.
Grandma Li frowned. She didn’t gloat but instead, she let out a long sigh. “Sigh, I’ve seen that Xin Ziao a few times since he was young. He was quite a pretty and smart child. Although he did go overboard with the wedding incident, it’s really a pity for a person to die so young.”
“That’s why you have to marry your son off to someone a little more normal.” He Mingshan lamented. “If Xin Ziao dies, Wang Yuting, who treats her son as her treasure, would definitely go mad.”
Everyone fell silent for a while. The only thing they could do was sigh.
“Mom, I’m going upstairs to change.” Ruan Yang continued listening to them and only stood up after a few minutes. Her exquisite face seemed to be covered with a thin veil and no one could tell whether she was feeling sad or something else.
He Mingshan opened her mouth but ended up nodding her head.
Ruan Yang walked upstairs with her body upright. She was a little dazed. Her body felt as though it was as heavy as lead. She didn’t feel sorrow nor did she feel happy.
She pushed open the bedroom door and sat quietly on the bed. She turned sideways to face the sun outside.
In her mind, last night’s dream resurfaced faintly. Xin Ziao was standing outside the ship, saying that it would be great if there was a next life.
Why did she dream of that? Did she sense something?
Or was he already dead?
“Death” seemed unfamiliar and distant. Ruan Yang hated Xin Ziao but not to the extent of wanting him to die. Life was hard. She would cherish her life and wouldn’t want people to die either.
In addition, he was a living person—a person whom she was once deeply in love with. If that person were to just die like that…
She stared blankly at a pot of daffodils on the balcony.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard the door open. She lifted her head and Li Shaobin walked in through the door slowly. His lips were tightly shut and his face was solemn.
