Chapter 156 (End of Main Text) - I'm going to kiss you, Zhong Jiuli.

No matter how confidently Bai Ye proved that he had recovered, Bai Yuzhu remained unconvinced.

She watched her daughter finish dinner, supervised her to take a shower and dry her hair, and then left the hospital with her bag.

Bai Ye was the only one left in the empty ward. The bed next to him was empty, and he didn't even have a fellow inmate to talk to about his condition.

Bai lay listlessly on the bed, holding a small turtle doll in his arms, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Until the ward door was pushed open, an unfamiliar nurse entered the ward and walked towards her, grabbing the restraints to tie Bai up.

"Sister, can we not tie you up tonight? It's so uncomfortable to sleep with you tied up." Bai tried to bargain.

The nurse looked at her, then glanced at the empty bed next to her, and nodded, saying, "Then we won't tie you up today. You're not allowed to do anything silly tonight. Take your medicine and go to sleep."

Bai obediently took the pills and swallowed them with warm water. Within minutes, he felt a strong drowsiness.

The tranquilizer in the medication quickly put her into a deep sleep.

......

"Number 23, time to get up."

The next morning, a familiar voice woke Bai. She opened her eyes and saw a nurse and a doctor in a white coat standing by her bedside, and her eyes lit up.

"Doctor!" She sat up abruptly. "I think I'm cured. Can I be discharged now?"

"Of course! I'll approve your discharge right now!" The doctor waved his hand and wrote out a discharge certificate. "Take this and go complete the formalities!"

Bai was overjoyed and took the paper, threw off the covers, jumped out of bed, and ran outside.

"Hey, hey, bed 23, don't run away!" The nurse hurriedly stopped her. "You haven't taken your medicine for today."

"I've already been discharged from the hospital, why should I take any more medicine? Taking too much medicine will make me stupid!" Bai happily spun around in the ward, like a monkey eager to run towards freedom.

The nurse snatched the discharge certificate from her hand and pointed to the portable IV stand behind her, saying, "Look, isn't this Dr. Liu?"

Bai stared blankly in the direction the nurse was pointing. The doctor who had been standing there just moments before was gone, leaving only a cold, heartless, unreasonable, and unresponsive IV stand.

"Where's the doctor?" She rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

"There's no doctor at all." The nurse looked at her worriedly. "You've been having hallucinations quite frequently these past few days. We'll have to get Dr. Liu to come and take a look later."

Bai patted her cheeks, trying to clear her head, but the IV stand turned into a doctor in a white coat, winking at her.

"Am I... really sick?"

"It's alright, hallucinations are a common symptom. You'll feel better after taking your medication," the nurse reassured her softly.

After taking the pills, Bai fell into a daze again. She lay paralyzed on the bed, her thoughts gradually becoming blurred. Only twenty-four hours had passed since she woke up yesterday, and her beliefs had suffered a huge blow.

Perhaps she really is ill, just sometimes lucid and sometimes confused. Were those experiences traversing the Nine Provinces merely hallucinations during her illness?

Is Zhong Jiuli also a fictional character she created? She's really dreaming, knowing how to pick the most beautiful wife for herself!

Bai also picked up the old, worn-out toy from the bedside table and muttered softly, "Jiaojiao, can you hear me?"

"Ye Zai, what's wrong?" The little turtle blinked its big eyes and looked at her with concern.

"Are you a doll, or my precious darling?"

"I'm Jiaojiao!" The little turtle tilted its head, looking puzzled. "Yezai, you're acting a little strange today?"

"Are you Jiao Jiao, the dragon turtle Jiao Jiao?" Bai murmured softly. "No, Jiao Jiao is golden, and you are green. Your colors are different."

While she was chatting with the turtle, the ward door was pushed open again, and the nurse and Dr. Liu, who was wearing a white coat, walked in.

When Dr. Liu saw Bai chatting with the little turtle, he greeted her with a smile, "Bed 23, chatting away?"

Bai nodded, not wanting to pay attention to the guy who came up to her. She ignored him, but he kept talking incessantly, which was incredibly annoying.

Dr. Liu asked for a long time, but Bai ignored her, so she had no choice but to give up. She shook her head and turned to leave the ward with the nurse.

The annoying stick was gone, and the ward became quiet.

Bai held Jiaojiao in his arms and drifted off to sleep. After dark, his mother came again.

This time, Bai was much calmer. She recounted her childhood experiences clearly and logically, trying to prove that she was of sound mind.

Bai Yuzhu sat by the bed, patiently listening to Bai Ye's rambling. Only after she finished did she ask, "Does A-Ye also want to be discharged from the hospital?"

Bai nodded vigorously, "Mom, I feel something's wrong with this place. The things in the hospital are too strange. This morning, Bangchui came to talk to me, but I didn't want to talk to her."

"Okay, Mom promises you, we'll leave the hospital when nothing strange talks to you anymore, okay?" Bai Yuzhu coaxed her softly.

Bai nodded somewhat dejectedly, then turned over and lay down with his back to his mother.

Bai Yuzhu stood silently by the bed, watching Bai Ye, who was throwing a tantrum, for a long time. Then she tucked the blanket around her, placed the little turtle next to her pillow, and silently got up and left the ward.

The lights were off in the room. Bai held Jiaojiao in his arms and lay on the bed, listening to the two bedside tables arguing. He fell asleep without realizing it.

......

Days passed by haphazardly amidst pills and hallucinations. Bai gradually got used to life in the mental hospital, got used to arguing with the bedside table, and even began to seriously consider how to make a living and support himself as a mental patient.

After all, my mother is getting older, and I definitely have to take on the responsibility of caring for her in her old age.

"If only you were really Jiaojiao!" Bai buried his face in the toy turtle shell and said sullenly, "If we cut off your turtle shell and sold it, my mom and I could live a good life."

The little turtle trembled in her arms: "Ye Zai... don't say such scary things, it's terrifying."

“I have a good idea,” the bedside table suddenly interjected.

Bai and the little turtle turned their heads to look at the same time.

"You could find a scrap collector and sell all the bedside tables in the hospital, so your mother can retire in peace!"

“Bullshit, if anyone’s going to be sold, it’ll be you!” another bedside table immediately retorted. “Don’t listen to its nonsense, bed 23. Sell it, I’m all you need.”

Bai rolled his eyes in annoyance: "You two are crazy cabinet idiots. If I were to steal something, I definitely wouldn't steal you. These broken cabinets aren't worth much. I'd steal the IV stands; those are stainless steel, they're much more valuable!"

"I think Yezai is right..." The little turtle's words were cut short as it suddenly froze in place.

Bai stared in surprise at the suddenly quiet little turtle and the bedside table, then turned to look out the window. The shadows of the trees had stopped swaying, and the dust was frozen in mid-air. It was as if the world had been put on pause.

Time has stopped flowing, but she can still move?

Sunlight streamed through the iron bars of the window into the ward, and in the broken beams of light, a hazy figure walked in, stepping on a halo of light.

Bai stared wide-eyed at the woman emerging from the halo of light. She raised her hand and patted her cheek, wondering if she was hallucinating again.

Zhong Jiuli walked slowly over, her gaze falling on Bai Ye, who was wearing a hospital gown and had a blank look in his eyes, lying on the hospital bed.

"Aye..."

Bai Ye's lips trembled slightly, but no sound came out. Was it a new hallucination? Had his condition become this serious?

Until Zhong Jiuli walked closer, his cool fingertips touched her cheek, the touch felt incredibly real.

Bai suddenly grabbed that hand; the warm body temperature and delicate skin made it seem like a hallucination.

"Ah... I've finally found you." Zhong Jiuli's voice trembled, and her eyes quickly reddened.

She reached out and pulled the person in front of her into a tight embrace.

Embracing soft warmth, and smelling a familiar, cool fragrance, Bai was certain that this was not an illusion; this was Zhong Jiuli.

"Zhong Jiuli, is that you? Is it really you?" Her voice was choked with sobs.

“It’s me,” Zhong Jiuli answered, her voice choked with emotion.

Having received a satisfactory answer, Bai finally felt relieved.

She burst into tears, as if to release all the fear, anxiety, and grievances she had accumulated over the past few days.

"Waaaaah~~~ Why did you take so long to get here...?"

“Everyone said I was crazy, that I was mentally ill, and even locked me up in a mental hospital. Even my mother didn’t believe me. I thought those experiences were just my imagination.”

Zhong Jiuli gently patted her back and coaxed her softly, "I'm sorry I'm late and made you suffer."

"Now, I'll take you home."

As the power of time and space shifted, the figures of the two gradually became transparent.

"Hey, wait a minute, Zhong Jiuli, wait a minute!" Bai Ye quickly stopped him.

“I can’t just leave like this. My mother is coming to see me tonight. If she finds I’m gone, she’ll go crazy. I want her to see you. Once she sees you, she’ll understand that I’m not crazy.”

"Okay, whatever you say." Zhong Jiuli was more gentle than ever before, and sat down on the edge of the bed while holding her.

The two fell silent, quietly savoring the embrace of their long-awaited reunion.

After a long silence, Bai finally spoke, asking, "How have you been since I came back?"

"not good."

"Usually when faced with this kind of question, don't people just say it's alright?" Bai muttered to himself.

Zhong Jiuli shook her head and said, "Without you, I'm not doing well at all, and I'm unhappy every day."

Bai chuckled, "I really like your straightforward style, hahaha."

As the two were chatting, the ward door was pushed open again. The nurse entered the ward and saw a woman dressed in white, whose beauty was otherworldly, standing by the bedside. She was stunned.

She rubbed her eyes hard, turned her head away, and handed the medicine to Bai Ye before leaving.

"Didn't you see there's another person here?" Bai called out to her.

The nurse shook her head with her back to them: "You're the only one here. Hurry up and take your medicine. I need to take some too."

Bai sighed helplessly, "From the first day I met you, I felt that you were seriously ill."

"Yes, I'm quite ill!" The nurse nodded seriously. She really felt that she was quite ill, and she was even hallucinating.

"Let me introduce you, this is my wife, Zhong Jiuli!"

Hearing Bai say this, the nurse became even more certain that she was really sick, and she hurriedly left the ward.

As Zhong Jiuli watched the nurse's departing figure, she softly asked, "Is this the world you live in?"

“Hmm…” Bai nodded, then shook his head violently. “No, this is the world I live in, but not this place. This is a hospital, like a clinic, except that the people living here are all mentally unstable, so they are not quite normal.”

"In their eyes, you are also a person who is not in his right mind, so that's why they imprisoned you here?" Zhong Jiuli asked.

“It’s not imprisonment, it’s treatment. My mother spent a lot of money to send me here, hoping the doctor can cure my hysteria.”

Zhong Jiuli took her wrist, placed her fingertips on her pulse point, and sent a wisp of spiritual energy into it, which flowed through Bai Ye's meridians.

“Your body is indeed somewhat obstructed, with many blocked meridians, especially in the head, where there is stagnant blood that has not dispersed.”

After she finished speaking, she pointed to Bai Ye's brow and poured pure immortal power into Bai Ye's body. Whether it was blocked meridians or accumulated blood clots, they all melted instantly.

For Zhong Jiuli, who is already an Immortal Emperor, this act of sorting out someone's meridians is as effective as using an ancient elixir to cleanse the marrow and refine the essence.

In just a short while, Bai felt his mind clear, the drowsiness of the past few days dissipated, and the world before him became much clearer.

"Are you feeling any better?" Zhong Jiuli asked softly.

Her fingertips traced her own brow downwards, as if caressing a rare and precious jade, and finally rested on her slightly parted lips, gently stroking them.

"I feel...incredibly good." Bai Ye's eyes were a little dazed, his mind was almost blank, and he mumbled incoherently.

"Now, even if I were to run a full marathon, participate in a triathlon, or fight a hundred bronze skeletons, it would be no problem for me."

"Is that all you're thinking about?" Zhong Jiuli's eyes sparkled, her voice as sweet as honey, every syllable exuding an alluring sweetness.

Her fingertips lingered on the soft lip line, reluctant to let go.

Bai also grabbed the mischievous hand and whispered close to her ear, "None of that matters. What's most important now is..."

"I'm going to kiss you, Zhong Jiuli."

"Heh~" Zhong Jiuli chuckled softly, leaning down to take that soft spot into her mouth, grinding and rubbing it repeatedly.

"Ugh~" Bai groaned, her eyes still closed, before her wife kissed her forcefully. She stepped back, wanting to start over.

Zhong Jiuli's slender fingers pierced through Bai Ye's hair, trapping him in front of her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Um... I didn't intend to escape." Bai Ye's voice was drowned out by his increasingly heavy breathing.

Their warm breaths mingled, the air in the ward filled with an ambiguous and romantic atmosphere. Immersed in this long-awaited kiss, the two were completely unaware that the ward door had been pushed open.

Bai Yuzhu, carrying a lunchbox, stood at the door, stunned. She rubbed her eyes hard, wondering if she was hallucinating.

"Aye..." she called out tentatively in a soft voice.

The two people who were embracing froze instantly.

Zhong Jiuli released her hand from Bai Ye's head, created some distance, and by the time she turned around, she had already calmed down.

Bai wiped the water from the corner of her mouth, her face flushed as she looked at her mother, "Mom, why didn't you knock before coming in?"

Bai Yuzhu's gaze lingered on Zhong Jiuli, unable to look away for a long time. This girl was so beautiful that she couldn't believe she was real. She began to seriously doubt her own mental state.

"Oh dear, Mom seems to be hallucinating. She just saw a girl in white... kissing you."

"Ahem!" Bai cleared his throat, got out of bed, took Zhong Jiuli's hand and walked to his mother. "Mom, you're not hallucinating. There really is someone here."

She solemnly introduced, "This is Zhong Jiuli, my wife."

Bai Yuzhu nodded blankly, then turned and walked out with the lunchbox, heading straight for the nurses' station: "Xiao Zhang, something terrible has happened! I'm hallucinating too! Can you help me check if there's someone in the ward?"

Nurse Zhang, who had suspected something was wrong with herself that afternoon, was startled upon hearing this: "Auntie, you saw it too?"

"Yes, you saw it too?"

The two exchanged a glance, then turned to look at Bai Ye and Zhong Jiuli standing at the door of the ward, asking in unison, "Is there really a woman in your room?"

Bai nodded helplessly: "Yes, I do. I've said it before, I have a wife."

......

The three sat facing each other in the ward, the atmosphere slightly awkward.

Bai Yuzhu's thoughts were a bit chaotic, and her gaze kept drifting towards Zhong Jiuli. She couldn't help but think to herself, "This girl is just too beautiful. She's like a fairy who stepped out of a painting."

Although my own child is pretty and fair-skinned, and tall, how can he be worthy of such an outstanding person?

"Mom, stop peeking at her all the time," Bai Ye reminded her. "Your little tricks won't escape her notice."

Bai Yuzhu awkwardly looked away and denied it, saying, "Don't talk nonsense, Mom didn't peek anywhere."

"Okay, okay, you didn't peek." Bai nodded perfunctorily. "Now you should believe I'm not crazy, right?"

"I believe it, Mom believes it." Bai Yuzhu nodded absentmindedly, her gaze still lingering on Zhong Jiuli.

"Shall we go find Dr. Liu now to complete the discharge procedures? I want to go home." Bai was also very impatient.

"Dr. Liu has already left work. Besides, you need to undergo a comprehensive examination and professional evaluation before you can be discharged to confirm that you have truly recovered," Bai Yuzhu explained, her tone somewhat absentminded.

Her mind had already wandered elsewhere; the family still had about 100,000 yuan in savings. She had originally saved over 300,000 yuan, planning to use it as a down payment for a house for Bai after she graduated. Then, in a few years, when she retired, she could use her pension to help her child pay off the mortgage.

But now... my child hasn't even graduated from university yet, and suddenly he's getting married, and he's even brought his girlfriend home with him.

The girl across from me has an extraordinary air about her; she must come from a wealthy family. My family's savings aren't even enough to afford a decent wedding, let alone a house.

What if the other party's elders look down on their family's poor living conditions?

In a short time, Bai Yuzhu had already mentally planned out the wedding room, the banquet, and so on, and the more she thought about it, the more worried she became.

"Can I be discharged tomorrow morning?" Bai Ye's question pulled her wandering thoughts back to reality.

“Okay, Mom will take a day off tomorrow and come first thing in the morning to help you with the procedures,” Bai Yuzhu quickly agreed.

She stood up to leave, but after a few steps, she seemed to remember something and turned back to Zhong Jiuli, asking, "Jiuli, where are you staying tonight? Why don't you go home with Auntie? I always keep Aye's room very clean. If you don't mind, you can stay in her room for the night."

Bai's eyes lit up at this, and he immediately replied, "Mom, I also want to go home for one night, and we can come back to complete the discharge procedures tomorrow morning, is that okay?"

"Wait here, Mom will go ask," Bai Yuzhu said as she walked toward the nurses' station.

After some discussion, she returned to the ward with the signed temporary leave slip, a smile on her face, and said, "Let's go home."

"Let's go home!" Bai shouted excitedly, took Zhong Jiuli's hand, and followed his mother out of the hospital.

Zhong Jiuli looked around this unfamiliar world with some curiosity. The streets were brightly lit, and tall buildings rose up, piercing the clouds.

She sighed softly, "It's quite amazing that such a magnificent building could be built in this world, even though there is no spiritual energy here."

Bai leaned closer and lowered his voice, saying, "Our place is very different from Kyushu, isn't it? In a few days, I'll show you around and let you see the wonders of this world."

"Okay." Zhong Jiuli withdrew her gaze and turned to look at the person beside her. What happened outside didn't matter, as long as the person beside her was still there.

......

Back home, Bai Yuzhu sent the two of them to take a shower, while she went into Bai Ye's room and changed her sheets and blankets.

When Bai Ye and Zhong Jiuli finished washing up and came out, the living room lights were off and the master bedroom door was closed. As a mother, Bai Yuzhu knew how to give young people their own space.

"The old lady is quite sensible," Bai muttered softly.

Zhong Jiuli pinched her cheek and scolded her in a low voice, "Talking nonsense again, you have no manners."

"Hehe, I'm just praising her." Bai Ye smiled and held Zhong Jiuli's hand. "Let me introduce you to my room. That desk is where I did my homework every day after school from elementary school to high school."

Zhong Jiuli looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a slightly worn wooden desk with several books neatly arranged on it. Next to the desk was a single bed with freshly changed light green floral sheets and two pillows placed together.

"And this, look, these are all the certificates I received when I was a child." Bai pointed them out to her one by one, his tone full of pride. "This one is from a writing competition in elementary school, and that one is from a physics competition."

Zhong Jiuli's gaze lingered on the small room, where everything bore traces of Bai Ye's past life.

She could almost see every moment of little Bai's growth.

"Huh, how come our family photo album is here?" Bai Ye casually picked up the thick photo album on the desk, flipped it open for a glance, and then immediately closed it again.

Zhong Jiuli's gaze was drawn over, and she looked over. "Why don't you open it and take a look?"

"There's nothing to see here." Bai chuckled dryly and tossed the photo album back onto the table. "We should go to sleep now. We need to get discharged from the hospital tomorrow. I'll take you out to play then."

Before she could finish speaking, the photo album floated into the air and landed in Zhong Jiuli's palm.

"Hey, Zhong Jiuli, how could you do this? Do you know that's cheating?" Bai Ye protested in a low voice, reaching out to grab it, but Zhong Jiuli had already opened the photo album.

The first page features a photo of Bai Ye as a baby. The chubby little guy, wearing only a diaper, sits on a small chair, smiling so broadly his eyes are almost closed. The background is clearly their home, and next to the photo are delicate handwriting: "Aye's 100-Day Photo."

"Don't look, it's silly," Bai muttered softly.

"Not silly, very cute." Zhong Jiuli gently stroked Xiao Aye's chubby little face, her eyes full of tenderness.

"Don't touch her!" Bai Ye propped himself up, snatched the photo album, and threw it onto the desk. "If you want to touch someone, touch me now."

As she spoke, she reached out and turned off the light, then found the person in the darkness and leaned down to press herself against him.

"How about I let you touch me as much as you want?" she whispered in Zhong Jiuli's ear, their breaths mingling.

"Shameless, shameless, and brazen."

"What's the point of having any shame when it comes to your own wife?" Bai retorted confidently, his fingertips deftly unbuttoning his pajamas.

In the darkness came the soft rustling of fabric and the slight creaking of the wooden bed; all the unspoken words were melted into the warmth of their embrace.

......

The next morning, the three returned to the hospital. After a series of examinations, and confirming that Bai Ye's mental state had indeed returned to normal, they were successfully discharged.

Back home, Bai excitedly planned where to go next.

"Ah, yes," Zhong Jiuli reminded her, "There are still many people in Kyushu waiting for you. Your mother, Jiaojiao, Shi Manman... they all miss you very much. Don't you want to go back and see them first?"

Bai Ye's smile faltered for a moment as he turned to look at his mother's retreating figure as she rushed into the kitchen to work as soon as they got home: "I was thinking about it, but what about my mom? I can't just leave her here alone..."

"That's easy, let's go together."

Bai Yuzhu, who was eavesdropping on her daughter's conversation while washing vegetables, quickly turned around and waved her hand, saying, "No, no, I only took one day off. I have to go to work tomorrow."

"Mom! Your daughter is a goddess, why would she go to that lousy job? I'll take you to cultivate immortality and say goodbye to your working life!" Bai shouted.

"Cultivate...cultivate immortality?" Bai Yuzhu looked shocked. "Really, you can fly on a sword like that?"

Even after seeing Zhong Jiuli's extraordinary appearance yesterday, she just assumed that he was a young person who liked to do cosplay or wear Hanfu.

"You're really good at fixing things." Bai Ye smiled, his eyes crinkling. "Zhong Jiuli, let's go. Let's take my mom to broaden her horizons."

Zhong Jiuli smiled gently, "Don't worry, Auntie, we can come back anytime. We'll just take you to meet A-Ye's relatives and friends over there first."

"Oh, so she has another mother outside?" Bai Yuzhu asked with a hint of sourness.

"Well, there are a few," Bai muttered softly. "But think about it, won't we never have to worry about not being able to find enough partners for our mahjong games again?"

"How many more?" Bai Yuzhu felt uneasy upon hearing this, worried that she would be outshone by the other mothers. "How long will we be gone? If I miss several days of work, I'm afraid I'll lose my job."

She was still thinking about the pension she hadn't received yet.

Bai chuckled and hugged his mother's arm, "From today onwards, we're not going to any classes anymore, let's become immortals."

"Even if you want to become an immortal, you have to finish your meal first. I've already prepared the dishes." Bai Yuzhu smiled and slapped her daughter's hand away, then turned and went into the kitchen.

"I'll go with you." Bai followed her inside and helped his mother prepare a sumptuous meal.

After the meal, Bai quickly cleaned up the kitchen waste, turned off the water and electricity, and then stepped into the time tunnel with Zhong Jiuli.

......

In the capital of Dali, beneath the World Tree, a gentle breeze blows, and the weather is just right.

Bai Shu and the others had been waiting here for some time. Yesterday, Pavilion Master Jiang had predicted that today would be the day of their reunion.

Suddenly, ripples spread across the sky, and a portal of light, imbued with the power of time and space, slowly opened.

Three figures emerged from the portal one after another. The one in the middle, with a cheeky smile on his face, was none other than the little tiger who had been missing for a long time.

"Everyone~~~"

Bai opened her arms wide, a bright smile on her face, her voice clear and resounding throughout the world, "I'm back!"

Old friends reunited, and the return date was just right.

—The End.—

-----------------------

Author's Note: [Fireworks][Fireworks] Let's set off some fireworks to celebrate! I've finished another book. First, let me praise myself: in five months, I wrote nearly a million words. I'm truly amazing!

The main point is to thank everyone for your continued support. Without your constant comments and comments, this book might have been cut short from the beginning in Xizhou.

I am truly grateful for everyone's support. It is because of you that I was able to persevere and complete this story.

At the beginning of this story, my girlfriend said that girls wouldn't like my writing style. (This is just her personal opinion, because she doesn't like my books, saying that I'm always fighting and there's nothing that attracts her. She prefers stories about female protagonists falling in love, and even if I force her to read them, she won't.)

Okay, I won't complain about her anymore. Even if she doesn't like it, many readers still do. Thank you for the third time! [heart emoji]

Next, I'm going to watch some TV dramas and movies to learn how to write about emotional entanglements. If I learn that, I'll become a great writer at creating compelling emotional scenes and hooking my readers.

If you haven't learned it, then keep... fighting and killing. [Pitiful][Pitiful][Pitiful]