14 Chapter 14

It was a sunny and beautiful day.

Zhan Xinyue woke up crying. She had shed far too many tears. When she woke up, her whole body was curled up, her fingers tightly clutching the clothes on her chest.

The lights in the room were on, and she stared blankly at the small lamp on the ceiling, momentarily disoriented, unable to tell where she was.

In a daze, a chilling thought suddenly occurred to her: Was what she had just seen in her dream merely a dream, or reality in a parallel world? Or perhaps, that was the real world, and this so-called rebirth was just a grand dream, a desperate delusion she harbored before her death?

"Why is your fever so high?" A pair of cool hands covered her forehead, pulling her out of her daze. "Did you have a nightmare? Don't be afraid, Mom is here."

Zhan Xinyue's gaze slowly moved down from the ceiling to the face of the person beside her. Pang Yun was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking down at her with his eyes filled with worry.

She grasped Pang Yun's hand, which was resting on her forehead, feeling the warmth of her palm and repeatedly confirming her presence. Then, she sat up abruptly and hugged her tightly.

This time, Zhan Xinyue truly felt her presence.

Tears welled up uncontrollably again. She couldn't say anything else, only repeating these words over and over again, just like in her dream: "Mom, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"What's wrong?" Pang Yun hugged her even tighter. "Don't be afraid, Mommy's here. Did you have a nightmare? Why are you so scared?"

Zhan Xinyue shook her head, then nodded. "It was a nightmare, a very, very terrible nightmare."

"Don't be afraid, dreams aren't real." Pang Yun wiped away her tears. "You have a fever, and you must have had nightmares because you're feeling unwell. The wind was too strong last night, and your window wasn't closed properly... Here, take this fever reducer, and you'll feel better in a bit."

Zhan Xinyue then realized that she was indeed burning up; her whole body ached, and her head was spinning.

Pang Yun brought the cooled water to her lips, and Zhan Xinyue took the medicine from her hand, asking, "What time is it? Shouldn't you be going to school?"

Pang Yun said, "Are you delirious from the fever? It's Saturday. Sleep a little longer. Mom will stay with you. The fever will go away when you wake up from your nap."

Zhan Xinyue slowly lay down again, rubbed her dry, burning eyes, and said, "I can't sleep."

"It's good to lie down a little longer if you can't sleep." Pang Yun carefully tucked her in and sat down next to her, watching her. "Your schedule is really too tiring. You have to get up at six o'clock every day. Even a child made of iron would get sick if you kept doing this. It's rare that you don't have to go to school today, so sleep a little longer."

"Okay," Zhan Xinyue said in a muffled voice.

Zhan Xinyue lay there staring at Pang Yun. Although her expression was solemn, thankfully she did not look haggard or old, and she did not resemble her appearance in the dream at all.

Pang Yun looked at her with even more worry: "Why are you looking at your mother like that? By the way, Yueyue, tell your mother the truth, has something happened to you lately? You've been acting so strangely lately, and your mother is really worried about you."

Looking into Pang Yun's eyes, for a fleeting moment, she almost wanted to tell her everything without hesitation. Despite how absurd everything had been, she had no doubt that Pang Yun would believe her if she told her.

But she can't do that; her parents shouldn't be saddened by her actions anymore.

She pulled the blanket up to cover half her face and shook her head: "I'm just under a lot of academic pressure."

"Okay, it's okay if you don't say anything, but remember, Mom will always be there for you whenever you need her."

Pang Yun sighed softly and changed the subject: "You haven't had a fever in a long time, how come you caught a cold in the middle of summer? But when you were little, you were weak and would get sick and have a high fever every few days, which often scared your dad and me."

Zhan Xinyue said, "Really? I don't remember at all."

"Of course you don't remember. You were only two or three years old then. One time you had a really high fever. Actually, your temperature wasn't that high at first. I gave you fever-reducing medicine before bed, thinking it would go down the next day. But in the middle of the night, your fever got higher and higher. Your dad and I tried all sorts of ways to lower your temperature, but nothing worked. We quickly prepared to take you to the hospital. Later, your dad went to get the car, and I held you and stood downstairs waiting for him. When I took out the thermometer, you had a fever of 40 degrees Celsius." Her eyes looked towards the headboard, as if she was lost in memories.

Zhan Xinyue held her hand and listened quietly.

“It was around three or four in the morning. It was dark, and I was holding you all by myself. I looked at you in my arms, your eyes were tightly closed, and your face was flushed. I wished someone could tell me what to do, but no one was there. There was no one around. All I could do was keep touching your burning face with my hands.”

"I finally saw your dad's car driving by in the distance, and suddenly, you started convulsing in your mother's arms... I've never seen you like this before, your little body twitching uncontrollably..."

Pang Yun didn't continue, and after a long pause, she said again, "Guess what I was thinking at the time?"

Zhan Xinyue forced a smile and said, "You must be really afraid I'll burn myself silly."

Pang Yun smiled and said, "Actually, at that moment, I had already thought about my own funeral arrangements. I was thinking that if something happened to you, I wouldn't want to live either."

Her eyes were already burning dry, but tears still welled up. Zhan Xinyue shrank further into the blankets and said in a hoarse voice, "Why do you keep bringing up things from so long ago lately..."

Pang Yun's eyes were also a little red. She wiped her eyes and said, "I don't know why, but lately I keep thinking about you when you were little. Maybe it's the bond between mother and daughter, you..."

She didn't continue, looked down at Zhan Xinyue, and said earnestly, "Yueyue, no matter what happens to you, whether you want to tell your parents or not, you must be well and take good care of yourself. You must know that you are your parents' life. If anything happens to you, your parents won't be able to live. Your parents have no other expectations for you, their only hope is that you are healthy and safe."

Zhan Xinyue turned her head away and said in a low voice, "Why are you making it sound so serious? I'm really fine. I'm just under a lot of pressure from studying lately, and I'm worried that I won't do well on the exam."

Pang Yun touched her face. "Just consider it as a reason. Don't force yourself. Just do your best. No matter how you do on the test, your parents won't blame you."

Last night's rain was so heavy that it knocked down the flowers in the yard that hadn't yet been damaged by Shi Yao. Early this morning, several workers were already quietly busy in the garden.

"Knock knock knock".

Aunt Zhang stood at Shi Qiyue's door and knocked several times, but there was no response from inside.

"What's wrong with Xiaoyue today..." Aunt Zhang hesitated for a long time before finally going downstairs.

"Let her sleep. Kids this age need to sleep a lot." Zhu Qing said dismissively, "Don't worry about her."

Aunt Zhang still looked worried, but she didn't know what to say, so she didn't speak again.

The air conditioner in the bedroom was set very low. Shi Qiyue pulled the blanket over her face, listened to the knocking on the door, and decided to ignore it. But when the knocking stopped and didn't come again for a long time, she became annoyed, sat up, and ruffled her hair into a mess.

She glanced at the time, then snuggled back into bed, tilting her head back to look at the ceiling.

After some time, the knocking sounded again, unhurriedly.

Shi Qiyue shouted, "Stop knocking! I'm not eating!"

This time, however, it was Shi Ziqian's voice that rang out from outside the door.

His voice wasn't loud as he asked, "Are you still going out?"

Shi Qiyue froze for a moment, then quickly rolled out of bed and flung open the door with a bang. Outside, Shi Ziqian stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at her.

"Why...why are you dressed like this?" Upon seeing him, Shi Qiyue's face showed a strange expression, and she frowned as she looked him up and down.

Shi Ziqian's eyes flickered, and he hesitated for the first time, unusually, and asked, "What, does it look strange?"

“It’s not that it’s strange, it’s just…” Shi Qiyue stared at him, pondering for a moment.

He looked very different today. His hair was carefully styled with hair gel, and he wore a light blue hooded short-sleeved shirt, which made him look less cold and more youthful.

“Okay, now I believe you really did have a date today.” Shi Qiyue shrugged. “It looks like you’re in your courtship period. It’s like an iron tree blooming. How rare!”

Shi Ziqian looked at her for a few seconds: "I don't think you're in a hurry to go out."

"I'm going!" Shi Qiyue exclaimed quickly. As if afraid he might change his mind, she added, "I really have something to do today, and I have appointments with others!"

"I'm only responsible for getting you out of the house." Shi Ziqian glanced at her messy hair and said, "I'll only wait five minutes for you."

"Five minutes..." She was about to protest, but seeing his cold expression, she swallowed her words and slammed the door shut again. "Five minutes it is!"

Five minutes later, Shi Qiyue opened the door again. Shi Ziqian was still standing at the door, his back to her, leaning against the railing in the corridor. Hearing the door open, Shi Ziqian didn't turn around, only said "I'm leaving," and then turned and walked downstairs.

The two went downstairs one after the other.

Zhu Qing had already eaten breakfast and was tending to the plants in the living room. Her hair was loosely tied up, and she was half-squatting in front of a pot of peonies, her long dress trailing on the ground. Seeing the two of them come down together, she raised her eyebrows and stood up: "Ziqian and Xiaoyue have come down. I left some food for you."

"I'm not eating." Shi Qiyue paused. "I'm going out."

Zhu Qing was clearly taken aback, and after a long pause, she frowned and said, "Your father said something yesterday..."

Before he could finish speaking, Shi Yaosheng heard the commotion outside and walked out of his study.

"Where are you going this time? Didn't I tell you yesterday that you weren't going anywhere this weekend?"

Shi Qiyue looked up at Shi Ziqian with her little face: "But brother said he would take me to play, right?"

Shi Ziqian remained silent for a second, then nodded.

"Really?" Zhu Qing looked surprised. "It's rare to see Ziqian take his sister out."

Shi Yaosheng had no doubts, and even showed an approving look on his face: "You did a decent job today. I told you before that we should be closer to each other since we're all family. See, isn't this good? Go ahead, but don't come back too late."

“Okay!” Shi Qiyue agreed readily.

Seeing that Shi Yuesheng agreed, Zhu Qing didn't say anything more, but said, "Oh dear, I didn't know you were going out, so I asked Xiao Li to do something for me... How about Xiao Chen takes you there?"

Xiao Li was the driver that Shi Yuesheng arranged for her two children to be married to, and he was responsible for taking them to school. Xiao Chen was her own driver.

Shi Ziqian didn't even look at her, only replied "No need," and went out the door first.

After the two left, Zhu Qing squatted down again to tend to her flowers, and casually said to Shi Yaosheng, "It's like the sun rose in the west today. These two kids never talk to each other, but today they actually went out together."

Shi Yuesheng didn't care at all: "We're all family, there's no need for so much estrangement. The children will naturally understand when they grow up."

"That's true." Zhu Qing responded, glancing at Shi Yuesheng with a hint of helplessness on her face. "But Ziqian, he refuses to use any of the family's drivers... He's probably still holding a grudge, I'm worried..."

"Alright, that's enough." Shi Yuesheng frowned and interrupted her. "I should go out too."

After walking a few steps, he turned back and said, "Don't use their cars anymore. If you need more drivers, just hire another one."

Zhu Qing chuckled twice, "I don't use it often either, it just so happens that I had something to do today..."

As soon as the two left the house, Shi Qiyue breathed a long sigh of relief, her whole face relaxing.

"I'm leaving, you don't need to worry about me." She gave Shi Ziqian a thank-you gesture, then turned and ran.

"Wait a minute," Shi Ziqian said. "Where are you going?"

"Let's just go for a stroll, and then have a meal at Jinghai," Shi Qiyue said vaguely.

Shi Ziqian glanced at his watch. "Be home before eight o'clock."

"Eight o'clock?" Shi Qiyue stopped abruptly. "Why?"

"You've only graduated from elementary school a few months ago."

"Please, I'm already a middle school student, okay? Middle school students don't have to go home at eight o'clock."

Shi Ziqian didn't give her a chance to bargain: "If you don't agree, go back."

"Fine, fine." Shi Qiyue, with a long face, ran away as if afraid he would change his mind.

Shi Ziqian glanced at the time; it was just past nine in the morning, still a long time before the agreed time. He left the residential area and walked leisurely along the sidewalk.

The aquarium is not far from the city center, and Shi Ziqian had passed by it countless times, but this was the first time he had come close.

The museum wasn't open yet, but many vendors had already set up souvenir stalls at the entrance. Seeing that there weren't many people, they didn't call out to attract customers; they just sat there casually. Clusters of balloons depicting various marine animals were attached to the handlebars of their bicycles, swaying gently against the blue sky.

Shi Ziqian stopped in front of a vendor's stall and carefully selected a chubby dolphin balloon. After paying, he took the balloon and found a shady spot to sit down. He looked up at the floating little dolphin for a while, his eyes gradually relaxing.

As more and more people gathered, he saw the ticket window open and got up to queue up to buy a ticket.

The aquarium tickets were printed with orcas, which were very cute. He looked at them carefully before putting them in his pocket, and then stood at the entrance with the balloon in his hand.

Everyone who entered the museum would look him up and down as they passed by, but he acted as if he didn't see them.

After a rain last night, the sky is clear today, and the sun shines through the dense branches of the trees on both sides of the road, casting dappled patterns of light.

It's a beautiful, sunny day.