Su Cheng hesitated and softened his heart. When he returned and saw his mother smiling so lovingly at the child, the corners of her eyes crinkling with joy, he suddenly thought, let it be like this.

He was someone who ^[1]“had braved gunfire and rain” means that he had courageously faced dangerous, intense situations—particularly in battle. “Gunfire” symbolizes the dangers of combat, while … Continue readinghad braved gunfire and rain, and maybe one day he would die under the enemy’s fire. Marriage was just like that.

He had been away from home for a long time, so having a child to accompany his mother was good.

So, he suppressed this matter.

“Alright, let’s not talk about that. What I want to tell you is what happened afterward, about my narrow escape from death…” Su Cheng noticed that Ji Meng was still in shock and unable to collect her thoughts. He smiled, reached out to touch her head, and said.

Hearing this, Ji Meng lifted her head and saw Su Cheng seemingly lost in some memories as he slowly began to speak: “I have indeed died once…”

Ji Meng’s fingers, hanging at her side, trembled slightly, and then she listened as Su Cheng gradually recounted his experiences.

Rebirth.

The question that she and Sansan had pondered over before finally had an answer.

Su Cheng was reborn. After witnessing the tragic and desperate life of the daughter he reluctantly acknowledged, even while ^[2]“wearing a green hat” (戴绿帽子) is a metaphor that means being cheated on by one’s romantic partner, especially a wife or girlfriend. If a man “wears a green hat,” it … Continue readingwearing a green hat, he returned with all his strength.

“When I was able to contact the outside world after returning, I called the commune, and it was Mom who answered. She said you took the child back to the city. At that moment, I felt something was wrong. I know that woman too well, even if she were reborn, she wouldn’t choose to bring her daughter, who was tied to her when they jumped off together, back to the city. I worried she had sold the child, so I bought a ticket to the provincial capital. I didn’t expect that by coincidence, we ended up in the same carriage…”

“That man on the train was you?” Ji Meng exclaimed, looking up in surprise.

So that was why she had exposed herself so early…

“Yes,” Su Cheng nodded.

“I noticed that although you both looked alike, your personalities were completely different. I suspected you were sent by a certain party, but later I realized that wasn’t the case… And you already know what happened afterward.”

After finishing, Su Cheng looked at Ji Meng. “So, Mengmeng, can you tell me who you are?”

“Aren’t you afraid that I’m a spy?” Ji Meng asked, fidgeting with the blanket around her and looking at Su Cheng.

Hearing this, Su Cheng smiled and shook his head. After a moment, he reached out to hold her face, looking at her with a smile. “Silly, if I were suspicious that you were a spy, I wouldn’t have gone through all this to get here.”

“Also, tell me, which spy would boldly expose all their flaws? Your signature at the youth educated point, your ability to draw, and your knowledge of the counterfeit techniques for traditional Chinese herbs that even my father-in-law doesn’t understand… And Mengmeng, don’t you think your style and some of your ideas are a bit ahead of your time?”

“You can just say I have a ton of flaws.”

For some reason, Ji Meng, who should have been feeling very heavy-hearted, suddenly felt that being deceived by Sansan and having her true identity exposed wasn’t such a big deal anymore.

In fact, she should be happy, shouldn’t she?

She fully understood this man and knew that he had always liked her, he had always been just her man.

As for Qiuqiu, she realized when she arrived that she was not her daughter. She treated Qiuqiu like her own daughter, but not because of the original body’s past.

So now, should she tell this man about her origins?

How should she put it?

Ji Meng pursed her lips for a moment before finally speaking: “It’s just as you think, but I’m not from the era and world where Qiuqiu grew up…”

Upon hearing this, Su Cheng’s expression slightly stiffened.

“Our two worlds, if we’re being precise, should be considered parallel worlds. The timeline and historical trajectory are roughly the same, but the characters are different. For example, the art master my dad mentioned at dinner tonight doesn’t exist in my world. There might be similar figures, but with different names…”

“I know some things about this world and about Qiuqiu, you can think of it as if I’ve read a book.”

Ji Meng explained everything to Su Cheng, except for the existence of the system, which she couldn’t disclose.

“I don’t know where that woman went, but when I woke up, I realized I had become her. I had always thought I was using her body…”

Su Cheng had suspected a large part of this but didn’t expect that for Ji Meng, this world was merely a book.

He took a while to process this, and after some time, he asked again, “What about you? Will you…”

Su Cheng paused and clenched his fist tightly: “Will you leave?”

Would she suddenly disappear like that woman?

Was he only concerned about whether she would leave?

Ji Meng felt a ripple of emotion and found some courage to share her own story.

“No,” she shook her head, responding with certainty.

“I had already died before I came here.”

Su Cheng’s heart suddenly tightened, and he instinctively tightened his arms around her.

“How could you be dead? You’re right here.” He couldn’t bear to think of her not being here.

Ji Meng was pulled closer to him by the force of his grip, her waist was held tightly, causing her some pain, but she endured it and didn’t speak up, feeling his concern for her.

“I encountered an explosion from an oil tanker. When I opened my eyes, I found myself here. Given the situation, there was no way I could have survived, so I always thought I was using her body…”

Ji Meng explained in detail, but she couldn’t mention the existence of the system, which created a bug in her story. After thinking for a moment, she offered a somewhat reasonable explanation: “I feel like my appearance in this world is meant to change the fates of Qiuqiu and Qingyu.”

“Otherwise, there’s no way to explain why I have Ji Meng’s memories or how I knew about Qiuqiu’s existence, especially since I happened to read that book.”

Su Cheng didn’t care about those details, he only cared that Ji Meng would stay and accompany him for the rest of his life. He lowered his head to kiss her, savoring her presence.

“Those things don’t matter, it’s enough that you’re here.”

He was truly anxious for her.

Ji Meng felt warmth and fullness in her heart, suddenly finding the courage to share all her experiences with him.

Her body slightly pulled away as she pressed her hand against his lips, stopping him from kissing her, and she glanced at him, saying, “Let me tell you about my story.”

Su Cheng immediately stilled, focusing intently on her.

Ji Meng withdrew her hand, gently clenched it, and with a slight smile on her lips, she calmly said:

“I’m an orphan, but I wasn’t abandoned. My parents loved me very much, I was the fruit of their love. Both my dad and mom were orphans, and they grew up with the headmistress…”

Ji Meng’s parents were relatively inspiring among all orphans: one became a prosecutor through hard work, and the other, with extraordinary talent in painting, became an artist.

But fate did not favor them for long. Ji Meng’s father died trying to save a pregnant woman during a bank robbery.

At that time, her mother was five months pregnant with her. Losing her husband so suddenly felt like the sky had fallen for Ji Meng’s mother. Immersed in the world of painting and dreaming of fairy tales, her sensitive nature became even more pronounced. This sensitivity gradually robbed her of her ability to paint after losing her husband.

Unable to withstand such an overwhelming blow, shortly after giving birth to Ji Meng, she suffered from postpartum depression.

When Ji Meng was one year old, her mother entrusted her to a childhood friend and committed suicide.

Ji Meng had never shared her background with anyone. As she spoke about it, she realized how much it still hurt her. Her throat tightened, and tears streamed down her face without her noticing.

Su Cheng felt a pain in his heart. He reached out to wipe the tears from her face, but his fingers were rough, and even using the back of his hand left her eyes and cheeks red. He didn’t dare to continue wiping, he could only hold her a little tighter.

He had always thought that her previous life had been very good, which explained her kindness and purity.

“It seems there’s not much left to say,” Ji Meng said, taking a deep breath. She wiped her tears with her own hand and smiled slightly.

“I lived with the headmistress. She has a leg disability and has never married. She took over the orphanage to carry on the old headmaster’s legacy, and it has been very difficult to run. When I was six years old, the pregnant woman my dad saved came to us, donated a large sum of money to the orphanage, and adopted me…”

“Her family is well-off, she’s a university professor, and her husband, like my mother, is also an artist. She adopted me not only out of gratitude for my father’s saving her but also because I have a talent for painting.”

“Her husband was never satisfied that their child didn’t inherit his painting talent and was colorblind. After I went to live with them, I helped alleviate his disappointment…”

Ji Meng told herself that was enough, she could stop there. There was no need to mention her later experiences.

But this was Su Cheng, and she inexplicably wanted him to know everything about her, even the bad parts.

She glanced down at her tear-stained but still fair and clean hands, and those past memories seemed to fade away.

The once-inescapable nightmares, the hurtful insults, the wet, fat hands that had bullied her seemed to have vanished into ashes along with that explosion.

Ji Meng forced a smile and, after a moment, looked up at Su Cheng. “Do you know? I’ve stabbed someone.”

“That year, I was eight.”

“Before you, before I came to this world, I tried blind dates and interacted with some men, but I realized that I was sick, and it disgusted me…”

Su Cheng’s entire body tensed. In a flash, he understood something—he realized the fear she had shown him when she was naked before him the last two times.

“Can we not talk about it anymore?” Su Cheng couldn’t bear to listen any longer, he guessed what she would say and didn’t want her to continue opening up.

He just needed to know where she came from.

“Mengmeng, let’s not talk about it anymore. We should look forward to our lives, right? Those are things from our past lives,” Su Cheng said, lowering his head to kiss Ji Meng, pressing his lips against her tear-stained eyes and the red tip of her nose, whispering softly in her ear.

“Yeah, I think so too. Let’s not talk about it,” Ji Meng replied, lightly sniffing as she wiped away her tears and forced a smile.

She suddenly felt relieved. As for her past life, those things should indeed be left behind.

The only thing she couldn’t let go of was the headmistress. Fortunately, the headmistress had more than one daughter, she had even written a will. In the absence of heirs, half of her wealth was left to the headmistress personally, while the other half was designated for the orphanage. Though her possessions weren’t much, they would be enough to support the headmistress in her old age.

“Are you tired? Should we sleep?” Upon hearing this response, Su Cheng felt no relief in his heart, he barely suppressed the deep sorrow inside him and gently tugged the corners of his mouth into a soft smile.

“Mm.” Ji Meng nodded.

Su Cheng quickly lay down with her, reaching for the light switch before placing his hand on her back, soothing her to sleep like one would with a child: “Sleep now.”

Ji Meng was indeed tired. This was her first time experiencing so many emotional shocks, and with Su Cheng comforting her, she felt at ease and soon drifted off to sleep.

In the dim light of the thin moonlight, as Su Cheng watched her fall into a deep slumber, the pain in his eyes slowly surfaced.

He found it hard to imagine how a girl who had experienced so much from a young age could stand up and become the outstanding person she was today, the more he thought about it, the more it pained his heart.

It felt as if his chest were being pierced by countless barbed steel needles, even breathing hurt.

He recalled the ring he had left in the cupboard, which he hadn’t managed to give her earlier. It was made from an old piece of gold he had melted down with a master craftsman when he arrived in the city.

He had originally planned to give it to her once everything was settled, but at that moment, he couldn’t control himself and forgot all about it, unable to retrieve it.

Now that he thought about it, it was probably for the best that he hadn’t taken it out, that ring was unworthy of her, too shabby. She deserved something much better.

She was the brightest moon in the sky and should have the most brilliant and best things.

He wanted to give her a wedding, a celebration where she could have everything that all the girls in the future would have.

Just a bare ring wasn’t enough.