Chapter 52 The Secret of Yun Jin
Xishan is the highest-standard cemetery in Pingcheng. Despite its extremely high land value, 90% of the units were sold out instantly upon opening. Only the bustling areas near the main gate and some minor corners are still available at the sales center.
It was already winter, and the night wind was icy and biting, cut into mournful howls by the tombstones.
Wrapped in a thick down jacket, Yun Jin leaned against the tombstone, fast asleep, until she heard soft footsteps beside her, at which point she suddenly opened her eyes.
Hua Cheng, dressed in thin pajamas, stood before her, looking lost and dejected. His knuckles were red from the cold, and his body was trembling slightly, but he seemed oblivious to the cold, simply staring at her.
Yun Jin was surprised to see him here. After a slight pause, she noticed the redness in his eyes.
In the southwest of the cemetery stands a clock tower, with a decorative clock face hanging at the top. The second hand smoothly turns past the number 12, marking the end of the seventh day of the eleventh lunar month and the start of a new day.
Yun Jin's tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and the spasmodic pain in her wrists stopped.
"You've arrived." She waved.
Hua Cheng looked at her calm and composed expression, and after a long while, he asked in a hoarse voice, "What exactly... happened?"
"You've already come all this way, haven't you guessed it yet?" Yun Jin asked with a smile.
Hua Cheng felt that after 12 o'clock, she seemed to be different, like Cinderella who had escaped the banquet and no longer had to wander in a world that did not belong to her. She felt much lighter.
Hua Cheng stared at her for a long time, then smiled bitterly: "I didn't guess anything, and I... dare not guess."
He wanted Yun Jin to tell him in person.
Yun Jin paused for a moment, then reached out her hand to him.
Hua Cheng half-squatted down in front of her, lowered his eyes, and held her hand.
His fingers were so cold, as if they had just come out of a freezer. This reminded Yun Jin of when she brought him home from the hospital, when he was lying on a specially made gurney, and his fingertips were just as cold.
Yun Jin disliked it very much, so she unzipped the down jacket and wrapped him inside.
The warmth enveloped Hua Cheng, and the comforting air made him want to cry. He tried to struggle, but Yun Jin whispered, "Don't move," and he obediently leaned against her.
Only when his frozen body softened again did Yun Jin murmur as if in a dream: "There are too many things to say, where should I begin... Let me introduce myself first."
Hua Cheng looked up and met her eyes.
Yun Jin raised the corners of her lips and gently stroked his eyebrows: "Hello Hua Cheng, I am Yun Jin, who is 33 years old."
In her story, 2025 was a year she would rather forget.
That year, her husband was emaciated from illness and had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment several times.
Also in that year, her brother was in a car accident. The fire caused by the accident burned 70 percent of his skin and led to severe organ failure.
In the end, both of them died that year, only five days apart.
She still remembers every detail of the day Fatty had the accident.
It was her 30th birthday. Although the atmosphere at home was in a mess because of Hua Cheng's deteriorating health, and she had no heart to celebrate her birthday, Fatty still brought a large group of friends over that evening.
They helped her light candles, make a wish, and even had a big meal with her.
Everyone was happy, and she was happy too, so much so that she didn't realize that it was the last bit of happiness in her long life's memories.
In the years that followed, she often wondered if Fatty hadn't gone to pick up Beibei after the party ended that day, if Huacheng hadn't suddenly fainted after he left, and if she hadn't called Fatty immediately after taking Huacheng to the hospital—would Fatty have survived?
Nobody knows the answer.
While Fatty was being treated in the ICU, Hua Cheng had already fallen into a deep coma. She and her sister-in-law stayed on different floors, quietly waiting for their lover's final fate.
My sister-in-law arrived first.
The woman lost her husband in middle age, her hair turned white overnight, and she was mentally devastated. She handled all the funeral arrangements herself.
In Pingcheng, the funeral is held in the morning and the ceremony ends before 10 a.m. Hua Cheng woke up at 11 a.m.
She took off her mourning clothes, put on protective clothing, and held his hand through the thin gloves.
Hua Cheng was in good spirits after waking up, his eyes were bright, but he didn't have much strength when he held her hand.
"I..." His voice was low and weak.
She leaned closer and asked, "What?"
“I dreamt about Fatty,” he said.
She paused for a moment, then asked, "What did you dream about?"
“I dreamt of him when he was young. His father had a cerebral hemorrhage, and he didn’t have enough money. He was hiding in a corner of a bar and crying,” Hua Cheng chuckled, his eyes gentle. “I found his crying annoying, so I put my salary into his backpack.”
She touched his face: "What else did you dream about?"
Hua Cheng stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, then said, "I even dreamed of him now, carrying that old schoolbag, coming to say goodbye to me. He said he was going to find his father, and that if I wanted, I could go with him. He said the old man's rice wine is very delicious, and I would definitely like it."
Fatty's father passed away five years ago.
“…Why would I have such a dream? It’s so strange,” Hua Cheng murmured.
She turned her face away, and after a while, she looked at him again: "Yes, it's so strange."
Hua Cheng took a short nap, then woke up with a start. Seeing that she was still there, he felt somewhat relieved.
"Honey, where's Fatty? Why didn't he come to see me?" he asked.
She squeezed his hand and said, "I'm on my way here. As soon as I heard you were awake, I came right away."
Hua Cheng smiled, his face was so thin it looked unrecognizable, but his eye bags were still cute: "Fatty is indeed my best friend."
“Yes, he’s your best friend,” she repeated.
Hua Cheng looked at her again, his eyes tender and affectionate.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Hua Cheng smiled and said, "I love you so much, baby."
She smiled and said, "Yes, I know."
Hua Cheng paused for a moment, then murmured, "Wife, I want to sleep for a while."
"Go to sleep, fall asleep, and Fatty will come."
"Um."
He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. The monitoring equipment on his body emitted a sharp beeping sound, and doctors rushed in to try to save him.
Hua Cheng was going to taste some very delicious rice wine, and she couldn't bear to stop him, so she stopped them.
“I also handled your funeral. Although Fatty didn’t help, I put on a grand show and took care of all the social niceties. Even your picky mother couldn’t find anything wrong with it. You always treated me like a child and thought I needed your support. But it turns out that even without you and Fatty, I could have done a great job.”
The wind howled in the cemetery, and as Yun Jin spoke of the past, a rare hint of childlike pride appeared on her face.
Hua Cheng knew he should smile and offer praise, but he couldn't smile or speak; he could only stare at her.
After a brief moment of smugness, Yun Jin's expression turned cold again: "After your funeral, my sister-in-law took Bei Bei abroad and completely cut off contact with me."
At the intersection of Huaicheng Road and Changjiang Road, turning left is the only way to Beibei's maternal grandmother's house, and turning right is the only way to the hospital. Fatty received a phone call from her one minute before he passed this intersection, and he was in a car accident one minute after hanging up. No one knows whether he was going to turn left or right at the time.
The accident has already happened. Perhaps at that moment, whether he went left or right was not important, but this question has stood between her and her sister-in-law, tormenting them for many years.
Guilt weighed heavily on them, making it impossible for them to face each other. So after Fatty passed away, Sister-in-law took Beibei and left for a distant place, never to return.
“When she left, she talked to me for a long time. She said that if someone had to bear the guilt of causing Fatty’s death, then she would be that person. However, she could no longer see me because every time she saw me, she would think of the days you and Fatty spent in the ICU, and she would be trapped in pain. So she wanted to leave, to go far away, to leave me, and to leave those painful memories.”
Yun Jin recalled the past, a slight smile appearing on her lips: "I understand her feelings, so we never met again."
Hua Cheng continued to stare intently at her, and after a long silence, he finally found his voice: "So... how did you get here?"
Yun Jin looked up, her smile deepening.
"Because we handed over the CEO position ahead of time, and because I achieved some good results in a short period of time, the stock price fluctuated after your passing, but quickly stabilized."
"The transfer of shares went very smoothly. The shares you reaped, plus the ones I had, and the ones my sister-in-law entrusted to me before she went abroad, made Yuncheng Technology completely my personal fiefdom. Do you know how the media described me? They called me a 'new era tyrant.' Isn't that ridiculous?"
“After you left, the poverty alleviation project in the county continued. More and more girls entered school, and older women started working in factories. They also spontaneously organized a women’s union. In addition to protecting their own rights at work, they also helped each other in life. Domestic violence incidents in the county decreased, the divorce rate rose sharply, and more and more people like me who grew up had more choices.”
“When you were working on this project, I thought you were naive and too idealistic, but everything that followed proved you were right. Those who gradually became economically independent no longer had to submit to toxic ideas, and those increasingly weak old-fashioned people slowly shut their mouths because of the change in their family status.”
"Oh, right, and your mother too. When I was planning to make reforms within Yuncheng, she was very dissatisfied because it involved some of your previous decisions. She even came to see me, but because of the document she signed with you back then, she ultimately swallowed her anger and didn't interfere."
Yun Jin rarely spoke so much at once, and since there was no water to drink, she could only purse her dry lips and smile at Hua Cheng.
"Although I still feel that you should rest well in the final stage of your life instead of doing unnecessary things, I have to say that everything you did ultimately turned out the way you wanted, so..."
Yun Jin tilted her head and looked at Hua Cheng seriously: "Should I praise you?"
“I don’t care about any of that,” Hua Cheng said, meeting her gaze. “I just want to know why you’re here.”
Yun Jin turned her head to look at the tombstone behind her.
The cemetery lights were dim, and the tombstones stood as silent shadows, as if they would remain there for a thousand or ten thousand years.
After looking at the tombstone, she turned back to Hua Cheng: "Do you remember Ah Huang? I'm talking about Chen Xixi's."
Hua Cheng slowed his breathing.
“In my story, I didn’t go to Tong County. After you were injured by the landslide, you were rushed to the local hospital. After recovering for a few days, you went to Chenjia Village to complete the final assessment. You happened to run into Chen Xixi’s parents who were about to kill Ah Huang. You saved it and took it home.” Yun Jin’s eyes softened as she thought of Ah Huang. “I raised it for three years.”
“Three years…” Hua Cheng’s breath hitched. “And then what?”
Yun Jin looked at him and said, "I gave it to Lan Li and asked her to return it to Chen Xixi. With Attorney Lan's endorsement, no one should dare to mess with the puppy again."
Hua Cheng's Adam's apple bobbed, as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
Yun Jin remained calm: "After it came to our home, it was actually not very happy... Well, dogs are best at discerning the intensity of affection, and compared to Chen Xixi, I am clearly not its ideal owner."
"What I asked was..."
Yun Jin suddenly interrupted him: "After you passed away, my lawyer sent me a video. It contained a will that you secretly recorded while I was away."
Hua Cheng paused for a moment, then asked, "What did I say?"
Yun Jin: "You said that even if you're gone, I should still eat and sleep on time, love my dog, love my friends, and love myself. You said I could miss you, but only for three years at most, and after three years I should start a new life. You also said..."
Yun Jin suddenly laughed: "You said that my birth was the best gift this world gave you, so I celebrate it for you every year. Don't forget your birthday just because you're gone."
Hua Cheng suddenly looked up, a hint of surprise appearing in his sorrowful eyes.
After a long silence, he apologized in a hoarse voice: "I'm sorry..."
He didn't know what state of mind "he" was in when he recorded the video, but he was certain that Liu Zhuang was still alive at that time, otherwise he would never have said that she should celebrate her birthday every year.
Yun Jin lowered her eyes and said after a long while, "You always think you can arrange everything and do what you think you should do, but you never think that fate can develop exactly according to your plan."
Just like Fatty, he thought that after he died, Fatty would become her new support, but he didn't expect Fatty to leave before him.
Just like birthdays, he thought this would help her get out of the shadow of his departure as soon as possible, but he didn't expect that because of Fatty's accident, every birthday after that would be like a new torture for her.
Just like how he did so many things to ensure she had no worries, but he never considered that having no worries meant boredom and loneliness, and that she had plenty of time to indulge in pain.
“I have done everything you asked me to do.” Yun Jin looked at Hua Cheng again until they met each other’s eyes.
“I’m living a good life, working, socializing, raising pets, and every year on my birthday I bring a cake to celebrate with you and Fatty.”
Yun Jin patted the tombstone behind her. "This is you."
After saying that, he pointed to the one next to him and said, "That's Fatty. You only bought one back then, but after Fatty had his accident, I bought the one next door as well."
Hua Cheng's eyes were terribly red, and his whole body was trembling.
The thought of how Yun Jin celebrated her birthday made his heart feel like it was being torn apart, and he felt as if he was about to die from the pain.
But there will always be an even more painful truth waiting for him.
“I did it too, I only wanted you for three years,” Yun Jin stretched out her wrist to him, her skin reflecting a warm glow under the dim light. “After the three-year period ended, on my 33rd birthday, this hurt a lot, and then I slept very well.”
It was a really good sleep. Although it was cold, she slept between two tombstones, with her husband and brother shielding her from all the wind.
While I was asleep, I accidentally touched my phone, and a news page popped up.
The female anchor sat in the blue studio, announcing a new discovery from the medical community in her broadcasting voice. Before she fell into a deep sleep, she heard the name Li Yueshu.
When she woke up again, she found herself in 2025.
Because she has a girlfriend who's a homebody, she's familiar with many new and interesting terms, and can accurately distinguish between time travel and rebirth.
For someone like her, who died and then woke up back three years in the past, that is rebirth.
"sorry……"
Hua Cheng knelt on the ground, covering his face in anguish, tears constantly seeping through his fingers.
Looking at his expression, Yun Jin's eyes softened with tenderness: "You probably never imagined that someone like me would ever abandon everything to go with you..."
Even she herself found it amazing.
When her mother passed away and she almost had nowhere to go, she never thought of giving up on herself.
Even when her aunt stole the scholarship money she had painstakingly saved, she never thought of giving up.
She persevered, even when she could only eat hot water-soaked bread in the classroom every day, worked three jobs day and night, and drank herself into a stomach hemorrhage in business.
But when she had everything—a life of luxury and a promising future—she suddenly felt that everything was utterly meaningless. She couldn't wait; she eagerly awaited a new world to reunite with her old lover.
"Actually, in that last year, I hated you a little. I hated that you did so much and did it so well. I hated that your love was ingrained in my flesh and blood and changed my soul, yet you left so easily. I also hated your so-called three-year agreement, which forced me to do things I didn't want to do."
"sorry……"
Hua Cheng was in so much pain that his soul curled up into a ball, turning him into a walking corpse who could only apologize.
“This hatred lingered until I came back. In the very beginning, during the time we spent together, I was even a little annoyed with you,” Yun Jin chuckled. “But I’m still very happy to see you again.”
She always felt that being reborn was a great gift from God, even though this gift meant that she might have to witness her lover's death again, she was still very happy.
Because she saw him again, the living him.
Because she went back to before Fatty's accident, even if she couldn't save Hua Cheng, she could at least save Fatty.
On the third day after she returned, she bought the two graves and decided that after Hua Cheng died, she would come and be his neighbor.
Yes, she still hates him, so she shouldn't be buried with him.
On the sixth day after returning, she completed all the formalities, took a nap on the cemetery plot she had just bought, and found a watch on her wrist when she woke up.
Having obtained the watch, she added a new item to her life plan: saving Hua Cheng.
She traveled through time and space time and time again, sometimes smoothly, sometimes not so smoothly, but her attitude was always positive.
At worst, I'll just die.
At worst, we'll die together.
Since she has tried her best, she will accept whatever the result may be.
Regardless of whether he will make another video asking her to do this or that, she has already done more than enough, and this time she will never listen to him again.
"But it's clear that fate still favors me." Yun Jin brushed aside Hua Cheng's bangs and chuckled.
Hua Cheng was still sobbing in suppressed sobs, his thin back trembling so violently it felt like it was about to break.
Yun Jin silently hugged him and gently patted his back: "Don't cry, it's all over now."
Hua Cheng choked up and buried his face in her neck.
The tears were scalding hot, burning her skin. Yun Jin didn't say a word, she just held him quietly.
At 4:30 a.m., Hua Cheng sobbed as she fell asleep in her large apartment.
Yun Jin returned home alone.
The house was bright and clean, warm as spring. Hua Yu sat on the floor, holding her broken watch in her hands.
A small shadow enveloped him, and he twitched his eyelids, raising his head blankly.
"Hua Yu," Yun Jin called softly.
Hua Yu stared at her for a long time, and then tears suddenly fell down her cheeks.
"My watch...my watch is broken..."
Yun Jin squatted down and held his hand reassuringly: "It's okay, we'll find the best craftsman to fix it."
"It can't be fixed, it can't be fixed... This isn't an ordinary watch, how could it possibly be fixed..." Hua Yu was heartbroken, sobbing as she cried, her shoulders trembling violently.
Unable to comfort the heartbroken young man, Yun Jin could only try to calm him down by hugging him.
Outside the window, the clouds rolled gently, turning from black to white, then bursting with golden light. The handsome young man slept in her arms for a while, and when he woke up, his eyes were still red and swollen.
"I just want to stay here..." His voice was hoarse from not getting a good night's sleep. "I just want to stay by your side, why is it so hard?"
Yun Jin couldn't give him an answer, so she could only gently pat his back: "Let's think of a way together to fix the watch."
Hua Yu struggled to sit up, stared at her for a long time, and then tears welled up in her eyes again: "I only have three days left, three days... Where can I find someone who can repair this kind of watch?"
"I'll ask around and try to find someone who can fix it," Yun Jin said.
Seeing her serious expression, Hua Yu barely managed a sliver of hope: "Is it really possible to find it?"
Yun Jin couldn't give a definite answer, but instead asked, "How will you know if you don't try?"
Hua Yu breathed a sigh of relief, calming down a bit: "Then, let's give it a try. Maybe we'll find it. If we don't find it..."
What will happen if I can't find it?
He suddenly fell silent, unwilling to make such assumptions any longer.
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Author's Note: The main story should be finished tomorrow. Whew, this chapter was really a bit sad.
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