Chapter 70: "From beginning to end, from the past to the future..."

Unlike the previous documentary, this footage is somewhat blurry, as if it was shot with an old-fashioned camera.

The rumbling thunder continued, one after another, growing clearer and clearer.

With a "crack," it sounded like some kind of glass object shattering, but it quickly blended into the cacophony of rain and became indistinguishable.

On the rooftop, the short-haired girl's school uniform jacket was completely soaked and clung tightly to her body.

She held onto the slightly swaying wooden ladder, tiptoed, and carefully lifted a kitten out from the gap between the water tower and the wall. Light orange and dark gray patches, like randomly splashed paint, were irregularly distributed on its wet white fur.

She shielded the kitten with one hand and gripped the ladder tightly with the other, retreating step by step.

The wooden stairs were slippery from the rain.

Just two squares away from stepping onto the ground, her foot suddenly slipped, and she fell heavily onto the puddle.

The camera shook almost imperceptibly.

A water stain appeared on the girl's school trousers, but she didn't care about herself. She quickly tucked the kitten in her arms into the front of her school uniform jacket to protect it from the cold rain.

Is it worth it?

A low, husky male voice rang out from behind the camera, carrying a deliberately maintained calm, yet unable to hide a self-deprecating tone: "Some lives are born unworthy of being loved."

The girl turned around in response and squinted her eyes.

“No life is destined to be unloved.” Her voice was clear and bright, cutting through the sound of rain. “It just hasn’t met the person who is willing to stop for it yet.”

She pulled the kitten closer to her chest, raindrops sliding down her hair.

Her wet eyes, like stars washed by rain, shone softly yet firmly in this oppressive, suffocating rainy night.

"If no one loves it, then I'm willing to be the first."

Su Cheng stared at the projected image, frozen in place.

Without flashy camerawork or complex transitions, the entire video uses the simplest recording method to slowly narrate the story, yet it stirred up a storm in her heart.

My heart felt like it was being gripped by something; it stopped for a moment, then started pounding wildly out of control.

That rainy night, as she tiptoed up the swaying wooden ladder and reached for the kitten in the gap, she accidentally knocked off her thick-framed glasses in her haste.

She suddenly remembered that someone had indeed spoken to her, but due to her severe nearsightedness, her vision was blurry, and she could only barely make out the outline of a figure, making it impossible for her to identify who it was.

How could she have imagined that the figure she had forgotten in the rainy night was actually Jiang Muzhou?

The video continued to flow, and one photo after another appeared in front of the eyes, like a photo album being gently turned over by a breeze.

The first photo shows a cow cat being slowly lifted up by a fishing rod.

That was the first rescue she participated in after joining the homeless community.

Next, the little orange cat was scooped up in the net.

Then there were the Decepticons, the Flower Roll, the Square Head, the CopyPaste... that we encountered later on.

Their figures flashed by one by one, each one having been in a sorry state, each one having wandered and struggled on the brink of starvation.

Su Cheng's eyes warmed slightly, and her bright pupils became moist.

The image gradually becomes clearer, and the timeline keeps zooming in.

The little lives she had saved appeared before her one after another, as if a pair of gentle hands were picking up all the scattered starlight from the years and piecing it together into a river.

These scattered photos mostly appeared briefly on the community's social media accounts or the rescue station's official WeChat account back then, and she herself didn't bother to pay attention to them.

Most of them may have been silently deleted in successive system updates or account migrations.

Su Cheng felt a soreness in the tip of her nose.

A moment that she herself hadn't even paid attention to was so carefully preserved by someone.

When did Jiang Muzhou begin recording these things?

He spent countless late nights pausing and taking screenshots of each video, going through pages of accounts that might have been forgotten, to meticulously preserve every single rescue she had participated in, regardless of its size.

In this way, without her knowledge, he silently collected all these bits and pieces related to her.

The images are a jumbled mess of images: the once skinny and battered furry children have now become plump and healthy, living a life of luxury and comfort in their new homes, with endless cans of food and scratching posts every day.

Love is a miracle that reshapes blood and bones.

I was once utterly alone, until I met you, and only then did I glimpse the light of day in the rainy night.

This film is dedicated to my sun, and to everyone who, in this torrential world, holds up a patch of clear sky for wandering souls.

The footsteps behind her grew louder as they approached, each step feeling like a blow to Su Cheng's heart.

The living room door was gently pushed open, and Jiang Muzhou stood in the doorway holding a bouquet of flowers.

He stands tall and has a gentle, jade-like appearance.

The bouquet shifted slightly, revealing a face with still distinct features, but those usually cool and aloof peach blossom eyes were now churning with too many emotions that she couldn't understand.

"I'm sorry, Su Su, I lied to you." The once arrogant man's eyes were red, and his voice was low and hoarse. "The one who can't eat or sleep... it's not the cat, it's me."

Su Cheng stared at him blankly, her heart pounding like a drum.

He wasn't holding roses or lilies, but a bunch of pale yellow cream sunflowers.

It was like a ray of warm sunshine suddenly shining through the gloom.

“I don’t know if it’s too late to say this now. I don’t want to burden you. I just want you to know…” Jiang Muzhou’s lips trembled slightly, his Adam’s apple bobbed nervously, and his voice became a thin line. “Su Cheng, I like you.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and the tall figure before her became blurred, gradually overlapping with the indistinct outline of that rainy night four years ago.

A surge of scalding heat rushed to Su Cheng's heart.

All was silent except for the deafening sound of her heartbeat.

His burning gaze went deep into her eyes, "I've liked you for a very, very long time."

Su Cheng opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't make a sound.

Or rather, at this moment, any words seem pale and inadequate to accurately express her feelings.

It turns out that her unrequited love was not without reason.

She took a few quick steps, almost unable to resist running towards him.

But reason held her back.

As he said in his opening remarks, is it really too late to say all this now?

With a sliver of reason remaining, Su Cheng regained her voice and murmured, "What about your white moonlight?"

"What white moonlight?" Jiang Muzhou was clearly taken aback, his eyes flickering slightly.

Then, as if he suddenly understood something, an overwhelming emotion welled up in his eyes.

He took a quick half-step forward, closing the distance instantly, and now all that remained in his deep, dark eyes was her reflection.

“My white moonlight, isn’t it you?” Jiang Muzhou’s gaze was fixed on her, and he spoke each word with unparalleled clarity, “The person I like, the person I love, from beginning to end, from the past to the future, is only you, Su Cheng.”

Su Cheng blinked her moist eyes and looked at him blankly.

My field of vision involuntarily narrowed, focusing on his opening and closing lips.

Everything around her blurred into indistinct spots of light, all noise vanished instantly, and only his last words remained on an endless loop in her auditory channels, each word like a heavy hammer striking her eardrums.

When she was convinced that he had another love in his heart, she was so certain that she never had the slightest doubt.

But now, when he stands right in front of her and tells her in person that he is the one she is looking for, it takes a lot of courage for her to believe it.

She always thought she was chasing an unattainable planet in solitude.

Little did they know that the star had already been captured by her gravity and had been orbiting her for a long, unknown time.

In my empty mind, a grand and dazzling firework exploded.

Everything was so beautiful it felt unreal, and she habitually waited for it to vanish in an instant.

This time, the dazzling brilliance did not fade; it stubbornly shone in her heart, lingering for a long time.

After a moment of blankness, Su Cheng raised her hand and pinched her cheek.

Only when she felt a clear pain did she finally realize that this was not a beautiful dream she had countless times, but a real and tangible reality.

Blood rushed to my cheeks, and they burned intensely.

She glanced at Yuanbao, who was sleeping soundly in the cat bed in the space capsule, then looked at the now-darkened projection screen, her hoarse voice trembling with lingering emotion, "But wasn't the one I rescued that day a little calico?"

The man with eyes as black as lacquer laughed at her words.

Her eyes still held a hint of red, and her tone was a mixture of helplessness and indulgent laughter, "How should I put it, Su Su? Kind-hearted, but with questionable eyesight?"

He rewound the video to the scene where the kitten appeared, zoomed in, and then pointed to the dark gray patches, patiently explaining, "Look, these gray patches are traces of dried sewage. After washing them off, it will be a genuine orange tabby cat."

Su Cheng's legs felt weak, as if she were walking on clouds floating in mid-air, light and airy, never quite settling down.

Hot tears slid down silently, one after another.

The tears that flowed out could not fully express the complex emotions that were surging within her heart at that moment.

An impulse surged through her body.

She wanted to run and cheer, to scream at the top of her lungs, to loudly proclaim to the world, but she desperately held back, wanting only to maintain the last shred of fragile dignity in front of him, just like now.

"You can take it as me pursuing you." Jiang Muzhou gazed into her moist eyes, his fingertips slightly raised, but then he restrained himself and lowered them again.

His thin lips moved slightly, his throat dry, "Or perhaps, you'll just treat me as a willing backup option."

Her long eyelashes trembled slightly.

A single tear, unable to bear its weight, rolled down.

Su Cheng couldn't understand why someone as proud as him would lower himself like this.

In her heart, he would always be the undisputed number one.

No, there's really no order of precedence, because that most important position has always belonged to only him.

She reached out and snatched the bouquet from his arms, her amber eyes bright and clear as she stared straight at the person before her.

She took a step forward, gently tugged at his sleeve, and looked up at him.

Her nasal tone was soft and sweet, like freshly roasted chestnuts.

"A-Zhou, can I hug you?"