There were many unanswered questions, but as long as she asked Lin Jia, she could probably get to the bottom of them.

That was why Jiang Xi was willing to follow Lin Jia back to his house.

A big white cat was lazily lying on the dining table, belly up.

Jiang Xi sat on the left side of the table, Lin Jia on the right.

He looked at her, waiting patiently for her to speak.

Jiang Xi crossed her arms, clearly on guard. “First, tell me, why did I wake up in your house?”

“You fainted,” he answered.

There was a pause—he had obviously skipped over a significant part of the story.

“I brought you back.”

Jiang Xi was speechless.

Technically, she should be grateful. She had collapsed in the street, and he’d helped her—that counted as a good deed. But the timing of his appearance and the way he helped were just too suspicious. She couldn’t bring herself to feel thankful. He had shown up right as she passed out—had he been following her car? And why had he brought her home instead of taking her to the hospital? More specifically, why bring her to his old family home?

And then…

“You gave me an IV drip?” Jiang Xi asked, clearly uneasy about it.

“The doctor came to the house and administered it,” he replied.

Noticing her discomfort, sensing that she felt her boundaries had been crossed, Lin Jia stood up and fetched the IV bag to show her.

It was a glucose drip, a common treatment to replenish nutrients after someone faints.

“Why go through all this?” Jiang Xi let out a long sigh. “Were we that close before? How close, exactly?”

He lowered his eyes and answered calmly, “I’ve known you since the day you were born. We were neighbors.”

For some reason, hearing that made Jiang Xi feel a bit uneasy.

“You know Jiang Xiaochan too, right? She’s my little sister.”

Lin Jia nodded.

He was tall—much taller than her.

Sitting across from her, he hunched a little, his posture slightly slouched.

He didn’t seem to have much energy. The brilliance of his youth was gone, like a plant that had been deprived of sunlight for years, wilted and lifeless.

“You took my photo. Can I have it back?”

He was referring to the photo that had been on the bedside table.

Jiang Xi pulled it from her pocket.

When she’d left, she had casually stuffed it into her pocket. It hadn’t been kept safe, and the photo was now creased.

He took it and pressed it with his palm, trying to smooth it out.

“Sorry about that,” Jiang Xi said.

Lin Jia didn’t look up.

The fold ran straight through the center of the photo, right between Jiang Xiaochan and Lin Jia, creating a jarring divide between them.

He focused intently on smoothing it out, pressing the crease again and again, almost obsessively, as if trying to erase the gap it represented.

“One more thing… I’ve had some issues with my memory. I don’t remember much from before. Sorry I didn’t recognize you.”

“No need to apologize,” he replied solemnly.

After placing something heavy on the photo to flatten it, Lin Jia returned to the living room and handed Jiang Xi a tissue to wipe her sweat.

The air conditioner was on, but she had just gone out for a walk and returned drenched.

She felt sticky all over. Lying in bed the past two days, she hadn’t showered at all.

Jiang Xi glanced toward the bathroom.

As if he’d read her mind, Lin Jia said, “If you want to take a shower, I have new towels and clean clothes you can change into.”

Jiang Xi didn’t refuse.

He opened the wardrobe. The side he searched through was full of women’s clothes. Jiang Xi noticed, with her sharp eyes, the very tank top and shorts she had seen Jiang Xiaochan wearing in the photo.

He handed her a T-shirt and some loose pants—women’s clothes.

The tags were still on. She had no idea who he had bought them for.

Jiang Xi took the clothes and towel. Though she knew asking Lin Jia could clear up many things, at that moment, she simply didn’t feel like asking.

She stepped into the bathroom.

The door locked with a click.

The humanoid ghostly shadow appeared again.

Earlier, when Lin Jia was getting clothes, the shadow had already been leaning on his shoulder. When Jiang Xi walked into the bathroom, the shadow followed her in.

The distance between her and it had once been about a meter. Now, it had shrunk to only half an arm’s length. It even seemed to be getting closer.

In the mirror, Jiang Xi saw the shadow raise its arm. The thin, white silhouette twisted and bent like a rope, wrapping around her arm.

Jiang Xi closed her eyes, muttering under her breath to beg for mercy.

Sweat poured down her forehead. She held her breath in fear, not knowing what it wanted to take from her.

“Please let me go, I’m begging you, let me go.”

The grip on her arm tightened, as if it wanted to crush her flesh.

Her legs gave out, and she sat down on the floor from the pain.

The coolness of the tiles eased the pain slightly, and Jiang Xi struggled to crawl toward the shower.

At last, she turned on the showerhead.

Cold water drenched her head.

The ghost’s grip gradually loosened.

She had no choice but to take this shower.

…

Jiang Xi couldn’t understand and asked herself:

What did I do wrong? Why does Jiang Xiaochan hate me even more now?

For so many years, it had never clung to her this closely.

These past couple of days—during the time she was unconscious—had she done something to make the situation worse?

Touching her arm, the skin there was smooth, without any wounds. The ghost had left no trace of its attack.

Then, Jiang Xi suddenly realized something.

—She had transmigrated during that time.

—She had caused Jiang Xiaochan’s arm to get hurt.

Maybe the transmigration was real. Maybe she really had gone back in time.

After quickly finishing her shower and putting on clothes, Jiang Xi ran out to find Lin Jia.

Lin Jia was changing the white cat’s water and adding food.

He glanced at her, fresh out of the shower, then quickly looked away and said,

“The hairdryer’s in the second drawer of the wooden cabinet in the bathroom.”

“It’s fine, I don’t like blow-drying my hair,” Jiang Xi sat back down at the dining table. “Come here, I have something to ask you.”

Lin Jia walked over. Before he could sit down, she’d already asked:

“When you were 13, did your dad come back once to ask Grandpa for money, and beat you?”

“Yes, that did happen,” he said calmly. “He beat me, beat my grandfather, and I fought back.”

Jiang Xi nervously swallowed. “And then? Can you tell me more specifically?”

“I picked up a knife. I wanted to kill my dad. But a girl appeared and stopped me. My dad flew into a rage and tried to slash me, but she blocked the blow for me.”

As Lin Jia spoke, he watched Jiang Xi’s expression closely.

“I know! That girl was 8-year-old Jiang Xiaochan!”

She had jumped through the window to save Lin Jia—that had been her decision. Otherwise, none of this would’ve happened. She was excited—so she really had gone back in time and changed the past.

“Did her arm… leave a scar afterward?”

He said, “Yes, it did.”

Everything matched.

Jiang Xi’s emotions were mixed. On one hand, she was excited that “a person can go back to the past, and the past can be changed.” On the other hand, the ghost’s growing presence meant that her time-traveling as “Jiang Xiaochan” hadn’t been fully successful.

—Was stopping that knife for Lin Jia… a mistake?

—Was trying to matchmake Lin Jia and Jiang Xiaochan… a mistake?

Her mind a mess, Jiang Xi suddenly wanted to ask him:

“Jiang Xiaochan likes you. You know that, right?”

Lin Jia replied bluntly, “I know.”

Jiang Xi didn’t understand. If he and Jiang Xiaochan liked each other, why had he come to her bed?

She didn’t remember him, but he remembered her.

“The me from before… I mean, Jiang Daxi, Jiang Xiaochan’s older sister—did she like you?”

“…I like you.” he replied.

Lin Jia really is trash.

Jiang Xi couldn’t help but laugh. She had nothing more to say, and the way she looked at him turned scornful.

“Anything else you want to ask?”

He stood up and took the photo from the table.

“If not, I’m going back to feeding the cat.”

“I do.” She stood up as well.

Crossing the short distance of the dining table, Jiang Xi walked over to his side.

“Why did you change my clothes while I wasn’t conscious?”

“Because… you were drenched in sweat.”

Lin Jia kept his gaze straight ahead and subtly put some distance between them.

“Drenched in sweat?” She laughed. “So even my underwear had to be changed?”

He didn’t answer.

There was no deeper reason. Jiang Xi just couldn’t stand the way Lin Jia pretended to be affectionate, pretended to be proper. She wanted to rip that fake image apart.

He had acted all heartbroken when she creased his photo with Jiang Xiaochan, acting like he really cared. But if he truly cared about Jiang Xiaochan, then what were all these ambiguous things he did with her?

Was she the only one in this world who owed Jiang Xiaochan something?

Lin Jia didn’t take the bait. He didn’t respond, as if he hadn’t heard her at all.

Forget it. Jiang Xi had reached her limit. Mentally drained, the urge to leave flared up again. The ghost only clung to her, not him. Staying here would only make things worse, more frustrating.

“Where are you going?”

Seeing Jiang Xi pick up her original clothes, Lin Jia finally spoke.

“I’m leaving. Getting out of here,” she said without looking back, her movements quick.

He grabbed her.

Clearly just trying to find a reason to keep her, he said, “You can’t leave. You owe me.”

Jiang Xi frowned. “Owe you?”

“My photo. You ruined it.”

His voice was low and tired. His face was worn out. His beautiful eyes looked like a dead night sky, dull and lifeless.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, leaned his head on her shoulder, and collapsed like a heavy mountain.

Jiang Xi was tired too.

She was a mess in the head, and he was trash.

And so, in the end, she didn’t leave. They ended up in bed again.

In a room chilled by air conditioning, with the door tightly shut, from afternoon to dusk, then into the night—

They lay side by side, without a word. Only quiet, peaceful sleep.

Darkness fell.

The world went completely black.

The well-rested white cat rolled over, changed positions, and continued napping.

“If only I could go back in time…” That was Jiang Xi’s last thought before falling into deep sleep.

Wrapped tightly in her blanket, listening to the steady breathing beside her, Jiang Xi drifted off.