Chapter 99 Springtime: She entered a young body...

Summer 2024

After writing the letter, Zhuang Fuyao put the envelope into the peach-colored locker and went downstairs to chat with her grandmother for a while.

Although this time travel didn't achieve its purpose, it wasn't a wasted trip. At thirty-eight, my grandmother was still alive, and being able to accompany my deceased loved ones in this time dimension was also a kind of serendipitous experience.

During the days she had been in this world, she hadn't stayed in her own apartment. Sometimes she stayed with Ms. Ji and Lao Zhuang, but most of the time she stayed in her grandmother's suburban house, eating and chatting with her grandmother. She cherished this time immensely and wished she could stay by her grandmother's side 24 hours a day.

On her last day here, she had breakfast with her grandmother as usual, then played tennis with Ms. Ji for a while, and had lunch with Ms. Ji and Lao Zhuang.

In the afternoon, she drove aimlessly around the familiar city, and finally decided to visit Liang Huaixu one last time.

She parked her car in the parking lot of Changting, near Liang Huaixu's parking space, and waited for a while after get off work before seeing him come out.

Compared to Liang Huaixu, who was 45 years old and physically weak and sickly, the 38-year-old was in good physical and mental condition. He was dressed in a blue-black suit, with a stern face, looking like a typical business elite.

The glasses he wore added a touch of refined elegance to his appearance.

Zhou Ting followed closely behind, carrying a suitcase, looking hurried, as if she was rushing to catch a flight for a business trip.

Zhuang Fuyao stared blankly into the car for a long time.

In the autumn of 2045, she received news of Liang Huaixu's death, which was accompanied by an awakening of memories that revealed the truth of this world.

It turns out this is the world of a book, and in order to maintain the characters' personalities, the world's consciousness guides them toward their own endings.

She was the wicked mother-in-law who hindered the development of the relationship between the male and female protagonists.

Memories of past confrontations with Shu Run surfaced in her mind. During that time, she had experienced confusion and self-reflection.

Although I am usually willful and prone to throwing tantrums, I am definitely not such a snobbish and aggressive person.

But when she was in front of Shu Run, she completely changed. She became extremely irritable and disapproved of everything Shu Run did.

Now that she's come to her senses, she realizes she was being interfered with by the world's consciousness. People who are happy enough are very susceptible to becoming vicious, so in order to create her persona as a vicious mother-in-law, they had to arrange a failed marriage for her.

This is why she felt both happy and repressed in her marriage.

She even suspected that, in order to prevent her from remarrying, her worldview had shut down her feelings for Liang Huaixu.

Otherwise, there's no way to explain why, after the divorce, she only remembered what happened between her and Liang Huaixu, but the emotions between them were blank and empty.

The reason for awakening now may be that after Liang Huaixu's death, Liang Chaoluo, as the male lead, became the new head of the Liang family, and the female lead Shu Run also rose in status. As the wicked mother-in-law, she no longer posed a threat, and the main storyline finally came to an end.

Upon awakening, the emotions that had been suppressed surged forth violently, intense and burning, ultimately transforming into grief and sorrow over Liang Huaixu's death, suffocating her...

Liang Huaixu died at the age of forty-five, and she didn't even get to see him one last time.

Whenever she thought of this, Zhuang Fuyao felt a surge of hatred—hatred for the world, and even more hatred for herself.

Overwhelmed by guilt, self-blame, and regret, she suddenly felt that living in this world seemed meaningless.

She went to the place where Liang Huaixu had stayed before his death, stayed there for a while, and bought a small knife at a Chinese supermarket that Liang Huaixu might have visited. She then ended her life in the bathroom.

The bathtub was stained with blood. She stared blankly into the distance, her eyes filled with resentment.

I hate it! It's so unfair!! Why?!

She was influenced by the plot and turned into a vicious mother-in-law, fine, but why did she have to plot to kill a perfectly good person?

If they hadn't divorced, things wouldn't have turned out this way, and Liang Huaixu wouldn't have died so young. It's all because of this terrible plot!

"Wait, is she going to die?"

"She can't commit suicide. Even if the relationship between the male lead and her has broken down, the bond between mother and son still exists. If the male lead finds out that she committed suicide, the relationship between the male and female leads will definitely crack, and the main plot will collapse."

"Quickly think of a way to stop her!"

Zhuang Fuyao vaguely heard two voices and even felt an invisible hand helping her stop the bleeding.

She guessed it might be the world's consciousness, and struggled desperately, her eyes bloodshot as she roared at the air, "Get out!"

From their conversation, she understood why the world's consciousness was preventing her from dying. But she hated this world, so she deliberately didn't want it to go her way. She picked up the small knife that had fallen into the bathtub, preparing to stab herself deeper.

"Did she... hear us talking just now?"

"And she also told her to get lost."

Zhuang Fuyao gave a mocking smile, "No matter who you are or what you want to do, I won't let you have your way."

"No! Everything is negotiable. Tell me what your demands are."

Zhuang Fuyao shook her head, feeling utterly hopeless; she had no desire to live in this world anymore.

Seeing that she was going all out, the two voices panicked, "We can bring Liang Huaixu back to life!"

Zhuang Fuyao's lifeless eyes sharpened instantly, and her bloodless lips trembled slightly. "What did you say?"

"We can give you a chance to travel back in time, allowing you to return to seven years ago and make amends for your regrets. But there's a condition: you must relinquish your current physical body and let the world's consciousness control you to complete the rest of your story."

Zhuang Fuyao sneered, "Want me to travel back in time and be manipulated by you all again?"

"No! After completing the main world's storyline, the other parallel worlds will not be affected by the storyline, and you can live the life you want there."

Seven years ago, Shu Run had just graduated, and she and her mother-in-law hadn't officially met yet, so it was still not too late for her to escape the storyline of the wicked mother-in-law.

As long as they escape this plot and the family doesn't fall apart, there is hope for Liang Huaixu's future.

Zhuang Fuyao was somewhat intrigued and asked, "Why does it have to be seven years?"

If it had been earlier, before they divorced, the chances of reconciliation would have been much greater.

"Seven has a special meaning in the rules of the world, so the largest range is seven, but of course you can also choose years within seven."

……

The negotiations with the world consciousness were still fresh in my mind.

The world's consciousness did not lie to her; Zhuang Fuyao's soul transmigrated to the age of thirty-eight.

By this time, they had been divorced for five years. She thought of many ways to meet with Liang Huaixu, but in the end, she did not take any action.

She herself wasn't confident she could win him back after five years of divorce. Even if she did, how would she get along with him?

She has lost the energy and spirit she had in her youth, and even if she were given another chance, she wouldn't know how to make things better.

Her spiritual world has become a withered tree.

So for the past two months since her soul transmigrated here, she has only dared to secretly watch him from afar. Then she made a request to the world consciousness: she wanted her twenty-two-year-old self to transmigrate into this body.

"Yes, but you need to think it through. If you do that, without a body, your soul will be completely destroyed."

Zhuang Fuyao was prepared to die anyway, so whether her soul would be scattered or not was not that important to her.

She agreed, and the date was set for a month later.

For the remaining month, she made a point of facilitating family activities; the whole family went on a seven-day trip outside the province, taking countless photos along the way.

After returning home, she set up a photo wall to display these photos, not only to record this trip but also as a record of her presence in this time and space.

After finishing all this, it will be almost time to say goodbye.

She watched as Liang Huaixu got into the car and drove out of the parking lot, but she remained unmoved and still didn't have the courage to meet him.

Zhuang Fuyao sighed.

never mind.

Let's leave Liang Huaixu's matter entirely to my 22-year-old self; she'll definitely have a solution then.

……

The one-month deadline arrived, and her twenty-two-year-old self transmigrated into this body. However, her current soul did not immediately dissipate but wandered around for a while.

She witnessed her 22-year-old self secretly meeting Liang Huaixu, only to be caught by him during their blind date...

I was really energetic back then. Not long after I arrived, I was already busy preparing to open a Chinese-style restaurant.

Using this as an excuse, he quickly found an opportunity to get close to Liang Huaixu...

She is both a party involved and an observer with a God's-eye view, allowing her to see the bigger picture.

She felt heartbroken and saddened when she saw that Liang Huaixu had developed post-traumatic stress disorder because of her miscarriage.

Seeing their mutual testing and daily interactions felt sweet, reminding me of my younger self; Liang Huaixu simply couldn't resist.

Sometimes I get really angry. Why don't they just say something? If they said it out loud, I would know it was a misunderstanding!

After that, they traveled to Yunnan together.

This was a turning point. She watched as Liang Huaixu gradually broke down his defenses, finally loosening the line of defense in her heart.

After returning to Jiang City, Liang Huaixu changed.

But the younger version of himself didn't realize it.

Although she saw Liang Huaixu's depression from God's perspective, she was somewhat worried that these emotions would affect him.

But sometimes, you can't build something new without breaking down the old. If you hesitate and don't do anything, you'll end up losing even more.

So seeing Liang Huaixu's anxious look, Zhuang Fuyao wanted to laugh, thinking to herself, "Serves you right, who told you to be so patient before!"

Seeing himself use Zhao Zilin to provoke Liang Huaixu, he felt a sense of satisfaction and looked forward to what would happen next.

It's just a pity that she can't be a bystander forever; the things that happen in the real world are like fleeting glimpses to her.

She could feel the power of her soul gradually weakening, getting weaker and weaker...

Fortunately, the ending she wanted didn't keep her waiting too long.

After being provoked by Zhao Zilin, they finally got together.

Zhuang Fuyao believes in her past self and in the strength of their relationship even without the influence of the plot.

With her around, Liang Huaixu would certainly not have met such an early end.

The huge weight on her heart was finally lifted.

With the completion of that promotional short film, her soul at forty-five years old was also coming to an end.

-

Zhuang Fuyao thought that after her soul was scattered, she would have no senses at all, but in fact, it was not so.

She felt her consciousness was in a state of chaos, scattered and confused, as if she was about to fall asleep.

I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly I was sucked in by a force.

As her senses gradually returned, she first smelled a faint fragrance, her eyelashes trembled, and she felt the light outside her eyelids.

Slowly opening my eyes, the surrounding scenery was very familiar.

The entire house is decorated in natural wood tones, paired with antique herringbone patterns. The TV in the room is quietly playing news about the 2008 Olympics, and the withered willow tree on the bedside table is sprouting tender green buds...

Zhuang Fuyao was stunned.

Just then, soft footsteps came from outside the door. Looking in the direction of the sound, a slender and handsome boy entered.

He was carrying food in his hand, so he must have just come back from buying food. When he saw her wake up, the boy's originally downcast eyes suddenly brightened, his eyes became clear and bright, and the love in his eyes was undisguised.

Upon seeing the man's face clearly, Zhuang Fuyao rubbed her eyes in disbelief. After confirming that she wasn't seeing things, she pinched herself.

Ouch—it hurts!

It wasn't a dream. She, who should have been annihilated, actually went into a young body.

Seeing her dazed and confused look when she woke up, Liang Huaixu's voice held a hint of amusement, "Does your head still hurt? What kind of dream did you have just had?"