Chapter 57
Lin Que
Extra 13

Lin Que never thought there was anything wrong with him. He was polite and well-mannered, excelled academically during his school years, and after becoming an adult, he took over his father’s family business. He managed to turn around the failing Lin family enterprise, organizing it efficiently and expanding it significantly. By all accounts, he was outstanding.

If there was anything different about him, it was that he always felt something was missing in his life—or rather, in his heart. Friends who knew him well said he was too ascetic. Despite not being a reserved person and being quite popular in school, he remained single and showed no interest in romance.

Some maliciously speculated that, given his privileged background, he avoided relationships because he indulged in secret affairs. But he genuinely wasn’t interested in that aspect of life.

So, when he received a historical romance novel from Lin Qiwu and found himself engrossed in it, he was surprised.

It was around the time he finished the novel that he had a car accident. His car wasn’t severely damaged, and he remained conscious, able to get out on his own. However, the impact affected him—his head felt dizzy, his chest hurt, and his clothes were stained with blood, likely from some injury. The smell of gasoline was nauseating.

He walked to the roadside, surrounded by people either helping or watching. The crowd was probably noisy, but he couldn’t hear anything—his ears were ringing from the loud crash. He walked through the crowd, looking for a safe place to sit and wait for the ambulance.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a girl’s face out of the corner of his eye. His gaze followed her, and his steps changed direction.

—Don’t go.

Instinctively, he reached out to the girl walking away from him. Before he could understand why he felt this way, he lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, his mind was blank, remembering nothing.

The doctor said he had been unconscious for a month, and his body and memory would need time to recover.

Indeed, his memory began to return shortly after he woke up, but it was strange. He recalled memories not just from this life but from a previous one in an ancient dynasty called “Great Yong.” He was Lin Que, his mother was Gu Shu, and his father was Lin Huaijin. But when he was seventeen, his entire family was killed by his grandfather, the emperor. He drank the poison given by his grandfather and barely survived for nine more years.

Finally, he passed away.

When he died, he had no regrets. He had avenged those who needed avenging. After his death, his adopted son, who refused to come home, would surely return, and his mother would understand that praying to the gods was futile.

His death would relieve her of a burden.

As he organized his memories, Lin Que recalled the novel Lin Qiwu had sent him and felt quite depressed: even if he died, things wouldn’t improve.

This left him in a low mood for several days, feeling as indifferent as his former self, who faced death calmly. His father, Lin Huaijin, worried about him and even contacted a psychologist for counseling.

Lin Que assured him he was fine and would recover in a few days. After all, it was in the past, and with time, he would be okay. As he thought this, his remaining memories began to piece together, and he finally remembered his second life.

In his second life, he had no memories of the first, so the first half of his second life was the same until the turning point in the first month of the year he was destined to die.

A message from the pigeon house mentioned a girl named Li Mu.

From that point, everything changed. Their first letter, their first meeting. Later, they married, shared a bed, he told her about his past, accompanied her back to her family, taught her how to live better, watched night-blooming cereus together, and coaxed her into sharing some wine with him. She would pretend not to hear things she didn’t like, but when drunk, she would boldly say, “You are good to me, I will try to be good to you,” and would learn massage techniques to help his headaches, always “helping” him. Despite being timid, she would come to him, and if he reached out, she would find the courage to walk to his side. The only thing she wouldn’t do was let him drink, which he found frustrating.

These memories lightened his gloomy mood. He began to enjoy organizing these chaotic memories, and they didn’t disappoint. Every day with Li Mu was light and joyful, making his previously meaningless life interesting. This brought a desire to live, to live longer, with her.

In his memories, he survived the winter he was supposed to die in.

So, it turned out he wasn’t ascetic or uninterested in love; he just had a place in his heart that was…

…

Click.

Lin Que opened his eyes.

They loved taking photos of each other and had bought a photo printer for their home. Once printed, some photos were framed, displayed, or hung on the wall, while others were placed in albums with dates marked.

Even his desk had a framed photo of Li Mu. In the picture, Li Mu is wrapped in a scarf, her eyes bright as she looks at him, smiling happily.

“Another candid shot,” Lin Que said, pulling Li Mu over and taking her phone to see what she had captured.

He realized it was his own phone. Apart from the first few photos Li Mu had just taken of him, the rest were mostly pictures he had taken of her.

No wonder there was a shutter sound; his phone wasn’t on silent like Li Mu’s. The most recent photos were of the New Year’s Eve fireworks and Li Mu under the fireworks.

Hmm, she looked beautiful. He looked at a few more photos.

Li Mu said, “My phone is downstairs. Let me use yours for now. Send me the photos later.”

Lin Que immediately guessed, “Is it crowded downstairs?”

They were currently at Lin Que’s parents’ house for the New Year, inevitably encountering visiting relatives and friends, with a group chatting in the living room.

Li Mu, afraid of crowds, had left her phone downstairs. She preferred borrowing Lin Que’s phone rather than going down to get hers, fearing the enthusiastic aunts and uncles would engage her in conversation. She didn’t want to end up with awkward memories, which would keep her up at night.

Lin Que handed her his phone and stood up, “I’ll get it for you. Do you need anything else?”

Li Mu, holding Lin Que’s phone, skillfully opened an app she had installed, “There are some cream puffs in the fridge from yesterday. Could you bring a few and a cup of corn juice?”

Lin Que agreed and went downstairs. As he descended, he heard the noisy chatter from the living room. He calmly walked over and saw Li Mu’s phone on the corner of the coffee table.

Lin Que picked up the phone, and as his fingers touched it, the screen lit up, showing a picture of him in casual clothes with sleeves rolled up, washing fruit.

Lin Qiwu, sitting on the sofa and texting Lin Yan’an, glanced up. “Brother, you’re so vain, using your own photo as the wallpaper.”

Lin Que pocketed the phone, “Isn’t it possible this is your sister-in-law’s phone?”

Lin Qiwu was suddenly fed a mouthful of dog food and choked.

Lin Que didn’t stay in the living room long. He casually chatted with relatives before heading to the kitchen to get the cream puffs and reheat the corn juice. When he came out of the kitchen, there were more people in the house—his mother Gu Shu’s old friends and their children.

One of them was about Lin Que’s age, and they knew each other, having been classmates in high school. They couldn’t help but chat a bit. The friend mentioned his upcoming engagement and casually brought up Lin Que’s love life, recalling how uninterested Lin Que was in romance during school. Unsurprisingly, among their familiar group, Lin Que was expected to be the last to marry.

Lin Que didn’t say much, just sipping the corn juice meant for Li Mu. The wide ring on his ring finger gleamed under the light, catching everyone’s attention.

The friend was surprised, “…You’re married?”

Lin Que, satisfied, replied, “Yes,” and added, “I posted it on my social media after getting the certificate. Didn’t you see it?”

In fact, he posted it everywhere he could—company groups, elementary, middle, high school, and university groups. Lin Que shared it all, sending big red envelopes to each group. All the companies under his family’s name also posted celebratory messages on their official accounts.

If it weren’t for Li Mu’s social anxiety, which made it impossible for her to handle a large banquet with many guests, walk through a wedding ceremony in front of so many people, and then go table to table toasting, Lin Que would have loved to host a three-day feast.

How could anyone not know that? Lin Que muttered to himself.

His high school classmate awkwardly apologized and then asked about the timing, realizing they got their marriage certificate last September. “How did you meet your wife? Was it a blind date?”

If it were a blind date, it would likely be a business marriage—and that wouldn’t be surprising.

Lin Que used the story he and Li Mu had prepared: “We met online.”

If it weren’t for the online dating story, explaining how they managed to date secretly without their families’ knowledge would be difficult.

High school classmate: “Huh?”

Lin Que continued, “We’ve known each other for over ten years. Remember my car accident a couple of years ago? She came to see me, and that winter, I proposed to her. We wanted to get the certificate earlier, but she thought the 22nd of the seventh lunar month was more meaningful, so we waited another half a year.”

High school classmate: “…I see.”

Lin Que: “Anything else? If not, I’ll head back upstairs. She asked me to get something for her, and she’s waiting.”

The high school classmate glanced at the cream puffs and corn juice in Lin Que’s hands and wisely stepped aside.

Lin Que went upstairs in a good mood.

In the room, Li Mu heard footsteps and opened the door. She said she had just seen a photo of a ski resort they had visited before and asked if they could go skiing before she started work.

Lin Que agreed, and they discussed what to bring to the ski resort.

The door wasn’t fully closed, and through the gap, they could be seen huddled together, discussing their ski trip plans.

As they talked, they ended up kissing, reluctant to part. Finally, Li Mu pushed Lin Que away, panting slightly as she said something.

Lin Que smiled, kissed her flushed ear, then got up, went to the door, closed it, and locked it.

The End

Thank you for the support!