Chapter 66.1

“Jiang Nian.”

Lu Yu came over and approached her, noticing her pale face. Jiang Nian didn’t dare to tell the truth, nor did she dare to reveal her true origins to Lu Yu. She whispered softly, “It’s nothing, I just suddenly thought of your older brother.”

Lu Yu didn’t say anything more, just held her for a moment before saying, “Let’s eat.”

“Mm.”

Jiang Nian smiled faintly and followed Lu Yu to the kitchen.

He made corn pancakes and stir-fried vegetables for dinner, and specially steamed a bowl of egg soup for her. Jiang Nian ate absentmindedly, her mind still preoccupied with what had just happened. Last year when she returned, everything was fine. Why did things feel off this year?

“Jiang Nian.”

Lu Yu lifted his gaze. “We’re leaving tomorrow.”

Jiang Nian was taken aback. “So soon?”

Lu Yu looked into Jiang Nian’s bright eyes. “Mm,” he nodded. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll go pay respects to Uncle Xu and my older brother. Then we’ll visit the old professor. After that, we’ll pack up and leave.”

Jiang Nian hadn’t expected things to be so rushed. She murmured an acknowledgment and lowered her head, eating the egg soup with a heavy heart.

Her lips were a bit cut, and it hurt a little when she ate.

She licked her lips and thought about Lu Yu’s panic-stricken look when she regained her senses earlier. It seemed like it was the first time in the year they’d been together that she had seen him lose control. Jiang Nian gripped her chopsticks tightly, looked up at Lu Yu, and unexpectedly met his gaze.

Then she quickly looked down again.

Did Lu Yu notice something?

After all, her reaction just now was so abnormal that even she herself felt something was wrong.

After dinner, Jiang Nian washed up and lay down early in bed. She thought she would be sleepless, tossing and turning, but unexpectedly, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Once again, she dreamed of returning to her home in the new century. She opened the door as usual, expecting to hear her grandparents and parents calling her to dinner, but instead saw another her sitting at the dining table, looking exactly like her, wearing her clothes, calling out to her relatives.

Jiang Nian stood still, thinking for a moment that this was herself.

“Grandpa, Grandma.”

“Dad, Mom.”

Jiang Nian called out, but they didn’t seem to notice.

She frowned, feeling it must be a dream within a dream, so she turned back to her room, only to find the book that had been placed on the bedside was gone. Footsteps approached from behind, and Jiang Nian turned around to see another ‘Jiang Nian’ walking towards her, standing just a few steps away.

‘Jiang Nian’ smiled faintly, her eyes full of kindness.

Jiang Nian’s hand gripped the door handle tightly, and in an instant, she realized the other’s identity. “You’re… Xu Cheng’s wife?”

‘Jiang Nian’ didn’t say a word. She passed Jiang Nian and entered the room, placing a trash can in front of her.

Jiang Nian pursed her lips and looked down. Inside the trash can was a pile of burnt ashes of paper, with some parts not completely burned, revealing words on top.

— She couldn’t bear the humiliation and crashed into the wall, dead.

This was a sentence that appeared at the beginning of the book. The disappeared words reappeared clearly in Jiang Nian’s eyes. She clenched the paper tightly, looked up at the ‘Jiang Nian’ across from her, who continued to smile, never speaking a word.

Jiang Nian felt a sense of unease.

She remembered her own abnormality earlier that night. Could it be related to ‘Jiang Nian’ burning this book?

So she asked, “When did you burn it?”

‘Jiang Nian’ handed her the phone and typed a seven on it.

In other words, it was 7 o’clock in the evening, which coincided exactly with the time she was laying out the bedding in Xu Cheng’s room. 

No wonder she suddenly felt dizzy at that time. The subsequent abnormal behavior was also explained and was related to the burnt book.

‘Jiang Nian’ typed a few more words on the phone: ‘Live well with Lu Yu.’

In that instant, Jiang Nian’s head suddenly ached, and she unconsciously opened her eyes and shouted, “Lu Yu—”

Outside the room, Lu Yu’s deep and powerful voice came: “I’m right outside the door.”

Jiang Nian breathed heavily, staring blankly at the beams above.

Was this real or a dream?

Was her body in the new century occupied by ‘Jiang Nian’? But when she hit the wall last time, she clearly saw herself covered with a white cloth.

“Jiang Nian.”

“Are you okay?”

Lu Yu’s worried voice came from outside. Jiang Nian blinked and gradually regained her thoughts. She got up, put on her clothes, walked out, looked at Lu Yu standing outside her room, her eyes slightly sore and swollen. She walked over and hugged Lu Yu, buried her head in his arms, listened to Lu Yu’s strong and steady heartbeat, choked up before saying, “I dreamed of her.”

Lu Yu furrowed his brows slightly, hugged Jiang Nian without saying a word.

Jiang Nian sniffed and added, “I dreamed of your older brother.”

Lu Yu said, “We’ll go pay respects to my brother tomorrow morning.”

Jiang Nian hugged Lu Yu tightly, asked softly, “You haven’t slept yet?”

Lu Yu raised his hand and rubbed her head, “I couldn’t sleep, so I just sat in the yard.”

After a pause, he continued, “It’s still early, you can go back to sleep. Call me if you need anything. I’ll be outside.”

Jiang Nian nodded gently, “Okay.”

She returned to the room and crawled into bed, sleeping through until dawn the next day. She heard the sound of splashing water outside before getting up, thinking about what happened last night, it felt like a real dream. Jiang Nian slapped her face, put on her shoes, and walked out to wash up. Lu Yu had already prepared breakfast. She sat on the stool, smiling at Lu Yu, “Did you stay up all night last night?”

Lu Yu put the dishes on the table, looked at Jiang Nian’s bright and beautiful eyes, and smiled. “No.”

After breakfast, the two went to pay respects to Xu Cheng and Father Xu. When Jiang Nian got up to leave, Lu Yu stayed behind. He said to Jiang Nian, “You go wait for me at the field, I’ll be there in a moment.”

Jiang Nian nodded, “Okay.”

She stood at the field for a while, kicking the ground with her toes. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around and saw Lu Yu clapping his hands towards her. She pursed her lips and smiled, “Let’s go see the old professor.”

Lu Yu smiled, “Okay.”

The two returned home, brought some corn pancakes and vegetables for the old professor. Lu Yu had cut some meat yesterday and bought a bucket of milk powder, and they put it in a small cloth bag. It was snowing now, and everyone in the village was staying indoors by the fire. They took the opportunity of fewer people and went to the old professor’s place.

Passing by the educated youth station, Jiang Nian turned her head and saw two male educated youth fetching water at the well and several female educated youth cooking in the kitchen. It seemed like they were dividing the work. When they arrived at the cowshed, the old professor was sitting in front of the stove, rubbing his hands at the stove from time to time. He was wearing the cotton coat Jiang Nian gave him last year.

The old professor heard footsteps behind him, turned his head slightly, and then his head suddenly stopped turning back. “You are here?”

Jiang Nian ran over with a smile, “How have you been this year?”

The old professor smiled,”I’m still the same.”

After that, he led the two into the cowshed. Although it was simple inside, it could at least block the wind and cold.

While Jiang Nian talked with the old professor, Lu Yu put the small cloth bag beside the old professor’s pillow and saw a letter under the pillow. The envelope was partially exposed, showing only the surname Xiang. Lu Yu sat on the wooden bed, looking at Jiang Nian talking to the old professor with bright eyes, talking about how the year had been.

She spoke very quietly, as if afraid that he would interrupt her.

Lu Yu could tell that every time Jiang Nian came over to the old professor’s place, she opened up like a chatterbox.

Jiang Nian smiled, “Old comrade, I don’t even know your last name.”

The old professor’s face was full of kindly smiles, “My last name is Ling and my name is Ling Zhixuan.”

Lu Yu looked at the old professor and asked, “Comrade Ling, do you know someone named Xiang Shizhou?”

The old professor was stunned for a moment, lowered his head to look at the letter under the pillow, half of the envelope was exposed, and only the word ‘Xiang’ was visible. He pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment before saying, “I know him. I taught him for a while.”

After speaking, he looked at Lu Yu, “Do you know him too?”

Lu Yu said, “We worked together for half a year.”

There was warmth in the old professor’s eyes. He moved his lips and hesitated for a while before asking, “How is he now?”

Ever since he was sent down here, Xiang Shizhou would write him a letter every year and send him a lot of food. He had only taught him for three months, but the child had been thinking about him for so many years. The letter he sent back every year only contained a few words, asking him to take care of himself.

Lu Yu said, “He’s doing well.”

He didn’t say more.

The old professor didn’t ask for more either. Sometimes, it’s best to stop when touching upon certain topics.

Jiang Nian was afraid that Lu Yu would ask the old professor about their past, waited for them to stop talking, and then started talking to the old professor again. When they were done talking, they said goodbye and left. Jiang Nian said, “I’ll come back to see you next year.”

The old professor smiled and said, “Okay, go slowly on your way.”

On the way back, Lu Yu looked at Jiang Nian’s face, which was a bit red from the cold, and couldn’t help but rub her cheek, “Every time you come here, you like to talk more.”

The man looked at her and smiled, his eyes filled with ambiguous meaning.

Jiang Nian coughed twice, “I felt that I got along well with the old professor, so I talked a little more.”

Lu Yu chuckled softly, “Yeah.”

Back home, the two packed up their things together. Lu Yu went to the kitchen to cook, and Jiang Nian folded the bedding and wrapped it with a sheet. After cleaning up the room here, just as she was about to enter Xu Cheng’s room, Lu Yu called out to her. “Don’t go in.”

Jiang Nian was taken aback, “What’s wrong?”

Lu Yu said, “Come help me start a fire.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Nian turned and ran to the kitchen, sitting by the stove to start a fire and warm herself up. After dinner, Lu Yu washed the dishes. Seeing Jiang Nian about to go clean Xu Cheng’s room, he furrowed his brow, “Tell Aunt Zhao and the others we’re leaving. I will go and clean up.”

With that, he headed straight to Xu Cheng’s room.

Jiang Nian said, “I’ll be right back then.”

Listening to the footsteps fade away, Lu Yu quickly folded the bedding and packed it in a sheet, carrying his bag and leaving. Looking back at the clean and tidy house, he didn’t dare let Jiang Nian enter again after what she went through last night. He feared that the Jiang Nian in front of him might disappear…

Taking Jiang Nian’s small bag, Lu Yu walked out of the house gate. As he locked the door, someone passing by asked, “Lu Lao’er, leaving so soon?”

Lu Yu replied, “The holiday is approaching.”

When Jiang Nian came out from Aunt Zhao’s house next door, she saw Lu Yu already waiting at the gate with his bag. She hurried over, her bangs blown by the wind, her nose red from the cold, “Did you get everything?”

“Got everything.”

Lu Yu handed her a scarf. Jiang Nian took it and wrapped it around herself. As they left the village, Jiang Nian glanced in the direction of the Jiang family’s house. Lu Yu was anxious; today there was no chance to ask for money from the Jiang family. Next year when they returned, she planned to go and stir up trouble with the Jiang family again.