Chapter 23

Xiang Wan gasped, feeling as if she was either having a nightmare or had returned to the time before her rebirth.

And that was 49 years later.

She pressed down on her wildly twitching left eyelid, still trying to comfort Wang Yidong: "I'm not here to pick you up. You still have many years to live."

The old woman's wrinkles deepened at the corners of her eyes, making her look extremely kind: "Miss, you seem to have become much younger."

'You've aged quite a bit too.' But Xiang Wan didn't say that aloud.

Looking at the elderly Wang Yidong, she didn't know what to say, and just looked at her quietly.

As she looked at her, the old woman was also looking at her: "Miss, are you doing well in the other world?" She held Xiang Wan's hand tightly, her eyes filled with pity and a touch of sadness.

Seeing the heartache in her eyes, Xiang Wan also felt a pang of grievance. She wanted to tell her about her rebirth, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the bracelet on the old woman's wrist.

Perhaps Wang Yidong in this timeline is not far from his death.

Realizing this, Xiang Wan suppressed the surging emotions in her heart and put on an indifferent smile: "I'm doing very well now."

Hearing that she was doing well, the old woman seemed even happier than she was: "That's good."

"Was I by the young lady's side in that world?"

"You'll be waking me up in a few hours."

The old woman couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this.

Xiang Wan seemed to have thought of something and asked her, "Where was I buried?"

"After I fell ill, Old Zhang was the one who looked after the Xiang family's ancestral estate."

Before she could finish speaking, another flash of white light appeared. Xiang Wan's consciousness was gradually pulled away, and she glanced at Wang Yidong one last time.

Her wrinkled face was wet with tears of joy as her wish was fulfilled.

“Miss, I have always regretted not being able to see you one last time before you passed away. It is so good to be able to see you one more time.”

"Young Miss, please take care."

"Wang Yidong, you must take good care of yourself too."

Xiang Wan didn't know if she could hear what she was saying, because before she could finish, her dream had already switched to another scene.

Recognizing the familiar architectural style, she knew this was the Xiang family's ancestral estate.

She remembered that this place used to be a lawn, but now it was filled with roses. In the center of the endless roses stood a tombstone.

Looking at her grave, Xiang Wan felt no sadness whatsoever; in fact, she smiled slightly. She had loved roses in her previous life, but she never imagined that her grave would become a rose garden.

She walked to the tombstone, glanced at the epitaph, and read it: Xiang Wan, the eldest daughter of the Xiang family. Looking at the tombstone, she felt a sense of familiarity and even reached out to run her hand over the words on it.

Her grave was covered with flowers and letters, which looked like they had just been placed there. Judging from the dates on them, it was probably the fifth anniversary of her death.

Xiang Wan casually opened one of the letters, and coincidentally, it was also written by Wang Yidong. Wang Yidong was only 37 years old when she passed away, so she would be 42 years old now.

【Young Miss, today marks five years since you left that world, right? Happy birthday. I have some good news for you. I've adopted a daughter; she's very cute. I thought about her name for a long time, and finally decided to name her after your courtesy name, Shuhan. Would you mind?】

Xiang Wan smiled and said that Wang Yidong had called her daughter Shu Han earlier because he had named her daughter using her courtesy name.

Shuhan was the nickname given to her by her grandfather, so people who knew her would call her Xiang Shuhan, although relatively few people knew this name.

She read several more letters. Although five years had passed since her death, many of her classmates had still written her letters of condolence.

She opened several more envelopes until she found the one written to her by Zhou Chengze.

Upon seeing Zhou Chengze's handwriting, Xiang Wan subconsciously frowned, but ultimately couldn't resist her curiosity and opened the app.

【A-Wan, I love you.】

"..."

Xiang Wan couldn't help but roll her eyes. She glanced to the side and knew without looking that the bouquet of jasmine flowers was definitely bought by him.

Jasmine, representing the white moonlight, is the flower that she can't stand anything related to the white moonlight in the years since her rebirth.

Whenever she hears the word "white moonlight," she is reminded that she is Zhou Chengze's white moonlight—a supporting female character who had to suffer a heart attack in order to advance the romantic relationship between him and the female lead, Zhou Xinyi.

Seeing Zhou Chengze's words "I love you," Xiang Wan's eyes remained completely unmoved, even showing a hint of disdain. She picked up the jasmine flowers placed in front of the grave and tossed them aside without hesitation.

The pure white jasmine flowers were instantly submerged among the crimson roses, just like the ending of Xiang Wan and Zhou Chengze in this life.

Xiang Wan opened a few more letters and glanced at them. Among them was a postcard from abroad, sent by Shen Feiyang, which also included a selfie of her in front of the Egyptian pyramids.

Unlike his natural look in this life, Shen Feiyang in his previous life loved smoky eye makeup, with eyeshadow so heavy that even the Pharaoh was frightened.

Seeing that she was doing well, Xiang Wan unconsciously smiled and pulled out a black envelope from the pile of letters. Most of the letters in the pile were light-colored or white, but this one was black.

Miss Xiang, may you rest in peace in another world.

—Chen Yan

Upon seeing the name Chen Yan, Xiang Wan paused for a moment. She had a photographic memory, and among all the people she knew, there was no one named Chen Yan.

Apart from 'Chen Yan' in this life.

Although the characters are homophones, Xiang Wan recognized the owner of the letter by the heart radical in the character "愿" (wish).

The heart was written in a very elegant and unique way; only Xiao Yan would write it like that, and the force was so strong it seemed to penetrate the paper. It's likely that Chen Yan is Chen Yan.

In his previous life, he received financial support from the Xiang family and sent a letter of condolence on the fifth anniversary of her death. Xiang Wan's expression remained relatively calm, but her eyes regained some warmth.

She stood up and touched the tombstone again, then tried to leave. However, as soon as she stood up from the rose garden, she saw a man in a black trench coat walking towards her tombstone in the distance.

The man had a cool and aloof demeanor, with indifferent eyes and brows, but his features were extremely refined, especially the beauty mark under his right eye.

Xiang Wan recognized the other party at a glance: Chen Ruilin, the CEO of Sirong Technology.

Xiang Wan remembered that they had only met once, when they were sheltering from the rain. What was he doing here?

Could it be because he also came from Lijia Village, and therefore felt grateful for her assistance?

She's been dead for five years, is it really necessary to go to such lengths? Why not just have her secretary send a letter?

Xiang Wan raised an eyebrow and looked at the bunch of cornflowers in the man's arms. The cornflower symbolizes pure love. Could it be that Si Rong's CEO also has a crush on her?

Did he also treat her as his ideal woman?

Xiang Wan's face darkened. Thanks to Zhou Chengze, she now had a deep aversion to being someone else's "white moonlight."

Being a "white moonlight" (ideal love) isn't easy; if you don't do it well, you're doomed.

She gazed at the man silently, her eyes unconsciously scrutinizing him. A faint sadness lingered between his brows, and his eyes, fixed on the tombstone, held a look of longing.

They had only met once from afar and hadn't even spoken. What was he reminiscing about?

Xiang Wan was a little curious and moved closer to the man, but he simply placed cornflowers in front of her grave, looked at them quietly for a while, and then left without saying a word.

A gentle breeze stirred, and millions of roses surged like waves, intertwining with the man's pure black silhouette.

Red and black, inextricably intertwined...

*

One second Xiang Wan was wandering around the rose garden like a lost soul, but the next second she heard Wang Yidong's voice coming from afar.

"Young Miss, we're going to be late."

Her eyelids felt incredibly heavy. When she opened her eyes, she saw Wang Yidong in front of her, with eyes swollen like walnuts.

"..."

Realizing that the dream was finally over, Xiang Wan felt a sense of relief. Just as she sat up, she was suddenly hugged by her maid.

Thinking of Wang Yidong, who had become an old woman in her dream, she felt a bit like Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly: "Wang Yidong, why are you crying?"

She still held her, only saying that she had a nightmare.

What nightmare did you have?

"I dreamt that the young lady passed away."

"..." Xiang Wan's body stiffened, but after a few seconds she returned to normal. "Dreams are always the opposite of reality."

"Hmm." Wang Yidong's voice was still a little muffled. Realizing that she had hugged the young lady, who was still a child, because of a nightmare, she reluctantly let go of her.

But I felt someone gently hug me from behind.

"Wang Yidong, you look better the way you are now."

"What?" She didn't understand what the young lady was talking about and asked, completely confused.

"nothing."

In the private car on the way to school, Xiang Wan still looked a little tired, while Chen Yan greeted her with a smile: "Good morning, sister."

The flush on his face from yesterday's high fever had subsided, but his lips looked somewhat pale, and he still appeared somewhat sickly.

Compared to his enthusiasm, Xiang Wan's response was much more subdued: "Mm." She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, her mind constantly flashing back to the truth of what she had seen yesterday—that Chen Yan had deceived her.

Seeing her coldness, Chen Yan's body stiffened, and his mind tensed up instinctively. His first thought was whether he had done something wrong.

But he had a high fever yesterday, and his brain was so hot that it was all muddled. He didn't make any mistakes with the few remaining fragments of memory.

The two of them acted strangely the whole way, and even Uncle Zhang in front noticed something was off, so the car was driving very fast.

After getting off the bus, Chen Yan thought for a long time before finally saying, "See you after school this afternoon, sister."

"Um."

Chen Yan's back stiffened, but he said nothing and walked alone toward the sixth-grade teaching building.

Behind him, Xiang Wan glanced back at his back indifferently, said nothing, and walked alone towards the opposite direction of Class 3A.

She had barely sat down when the bell rang. Che Nanbei, who was in front of her, was wary of the teacher and didn't turn around to talk to her. Instead, he tossed a note to both her and Shen Feiyang.

[Wanwan, there's a little white cat on the playground. I bought some cat treats. Let's go feed it together later.]

【good. 】

After replying to the note, Xiang Wan kept thinking about the dream she had yesterday.

She herself couldn't believe it was a dream, because everything felt so real, and now, looking back, many of the details matched up.

It wasn't until her gaze swept over the calendar that Shen Feiyang had placed on the table that Xiang Wan realized that yesterday seemed to be the anniversary of her death in her previous life.

Her chaotic dreams were probably also due to the anniversary of her death.

Although she didn't really believe in these things, she still retained a sense of awe, especially after her rebirth, her attitude changed a lot.

After figuring out what happened in her dream yesterday, she began to think about how to face Chen Yan next.

She had always hated deception, but Chen Yan's memorial letter in her dream made her waver.

The more I thought about it, the more agitated I became.

She thought, "Let's talk about it later."

*

On the other side, the sixth grade department.

During the long break between classes, Chen Yan climbed over the wall and went to the public toilet.

The original low wall was raised by the headmaster because of a certain guy. Although it was a bit more difficult to climb over than before, it was still relatively easy for Chen Yan, who had long legs.

On his way back to class from the public restroom, he was still thinking about why Xiang Wan had become cold towards him, when he noticed someone following him.

He suddenly had a bad feeling, and when he turned around, it was indeed him. It was like he was wearing tattered pants; the person following him was none other than that idiot Zhao Luyu.

His already indifferent face became even more unapproachable. Unexpectedly, the other person, shameless as ever, leaned closer: "Little sister, why do you always go to the restrooms outside of school?"

"..." Chen Yan's face darkened. He couldn't stand this idiot calling him "sister" anymore, and he had no patience for him at all. "Stay away from me."

"Little sister, are you in a bad mood? Why?"

"..."

Why am I in a bad mood? Because of you.

But Chen Yan felt that Zhao Luyu might not understand if he said it that way, so he used a simpler method.

"roll."

"..."

After Zhao Luyu left, Chen Yan did not immediately return to the classroom, but looked in the direction of Class 3A, seemingly lost in thought.

As for Xiang Wan in the classroom, she was also staring blankly out the window.

The two students at Beiyi High School harbored different intentions, while in Lijia Village, the Zhou Chengze family also had their own hidden agendas...