Yan Zheng asked Lin, "I heard that your grandmother gave you the bell. When did she give it to you?"
Lin said uneasily, "I was very young... I don't remember very clearly."
Yan Zheng asked again, "Why did I give you this bell?"
Lin said, "Grandma said...for...peace."
"Did they say anything else?"
Lin shook his head: "Let me always... carry it with me."
Jiang Xi thought for a moment and asked, "Lin, which city does your grandmother live in?"
Lin remained silent for a long time, as if deep in thought, before finally saying, "...Suichun City."
Yan Jing'an frowned, his gaze toward Lin becoming increasingly meaningful.
Jiang Xi asked him, "Is something wrong?"
Yan Jing'an pondered for a moment and said, "Yes, Grandma is in that city." Fearing they might not understand, he added, "Jiang Xi's grandma in this world is in that city."
Yan Zheng then asked, "Do you still remember what your grandmother's name was?"
Lin thought for a while: "Du..."
Jiang Xi stared intently at Lin, and when she uttered the name Du, she could no longer contain her emotions: "Du Rongzhen, isn't she?"
At first, Lin seemed a little unfamiliar, but after a few breaths she nodded.
Jiang Xi, who was sitting to the side, couldn't hold back her tears and her eyes turned red. Yan Zheng quickly went up and pulled her into his arms.
It's my maternal grandmother.
It took Jiang Xi a long time to recover before she choked out, "It was Grandma. Grandma gave her the bell."
Just as everyone was still in shock, Lin said, "When I was sick... Xiao Xi... and Grandma gave me... Xiao Xi said the bell would keep me from dying."
Then, like a child at a loss, she said, "Xiao Xi doesn't remember me."
Jiang Xi suddenly heard a snap in her mind, as if a string had broken.
Her lips trembled slightly as she asked Lin, "Have we known each other before?"
Lin looked at her and nodded.
No, she was certain she had never met Lin. Jiang Xi said, "Perhaps she mistook me for Jiang Xi of this world."
Yan Jing'an suddenly stood up and asked Lin in a cold tone, "How did you two meet?"
Lin was startled by him. She thought for a long time, but it had been so long that she couldn't remember. She just kept shaking her head.
Yan Jing'an couldn't stand her slow and hesitant manner. His gaze turned icy as he gripped her arm and asked again, "How exactly did you meet?"
Lin was so frightened that she burst into tears. Her eyes, which had just recovered, were now red at the corners and filled with tears. She kept shaking her head, unable to remember anything.
Yan Jing'an went berserk with rage, kicking the chair next to Lin hard and grabbing a handful of his own hair.
Seeing that he was not in a good state, Yan Zheng said in a deep voice, "Try to control yourself."
Yan Jing'an was like an enraged leopard. He took a deep breath, poised to pounce, and asked Yan Zheng with bloodshot eyes, "How do I control this?"
"She knows Jiang Xi from this world, she knows my best friend, and they even have the same birthmark. And that bell that makes people immortal."
His face was grim, and his eyes were filled with a storm brewing: "To hell with the bell, I just want to know what's going on."
“If it really is a paranormal event, maybe Jiang Xi didn’t die at all, or maybe she went to another dimension like you.”
Yan Jing'an became more and more excited as he spoke, and his arms trembled violently.
Jiang Xi, standing to the side, gripped the armrest of the round-backed chair tightly, her index finger constantly tracing the wood grain.
She suddenly made up her mind and calmly said, "Tonight I want to enter the Bell Dream again."
At this moment, both Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an were looking at her.
Jiang Xi said slowly and deliberately, "It will be fine. I just wanted to try and see if I could see anything else through this bell."
She glanced at Lin, who was squatting by the door, and said to her, "Lin, don't be afraid, it's okay. Can I use your bell for a moment?"
Lin then looked up at everyone, nodded, and walked out.
Yan Jing'an said, "Wait, I'll go with you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin glanced at her in alarm.
Yan Zheng stopped Yan Jing'an and said, "I'll go. You'll scare her again."
After Yan Zheng and Lin retrieved the bell, Jiang Xi hung it on the window.
It was still dark, so to avoid any unforeseen circumstances, Yan Zheng suggested that they enter the dream after dark.
Yan Jing'an had disappeared. Yan Zheng was preparing dinner, while Jiang Xi and Lin were sitting in the house.
"Lin, were we good friends before?" Jiang Xi asked softly.
Lin nodded: "Xiao Xi is very good."
Jiang Xi felt inexplicably sad, so there was a reason why Lin had been clinging to her from the beginning.
Jiang Xi laughed: "So many years have passed, how did Lin recognize you?"
Lin smiled shyly: "Your eyes... are easy to recognize."
Jiang Xi was deeply moved.
Although she wasn't Jiang Xi from this world, after so many years, she still had a childhood friend who remembered her. She thought that if Jiang Xi from this world knew, she would be very happy.
Everything was ready after dinner.
To avoid any unforeseen circumstances, Jiang Xi invited Lin to sleep in the main room.
Yan Jing'an thought for a moment and offered his room: "Anyway, I can't sleep, so let her sleep. Move a wooden bed to the living room, and I can make do for one night."
Yan Zheng was afraid that Jiang Xi would wake up again in the middle of the night, so he slept with her.
Before going to sleep, Jiang Xi glanced at Yan Zheng.
Yan Zheng stroked her hair and comforted her, "Go to sleep. I'll stay here. Remember to wake me when you wake up."
Jiang Xi hummed in agreement, nodded, snuggled into Yan Zheng's arms, and closed her eyes.
At night, the cicadas chirped incessantly, and a gentle breeze blew into the bedroom through the small window, causing the bells by the window to tinkle incessantly.
When Jiang Xi regained consciousness, she knew that she had successfully entered the Bell Dream and unconsciously followed the sound of the bell out of the main house.
Pushing open the door, the scenery outside changed dramatically; it was no longer a mountain forest.
Rivers flowed like woven threads, and rice paddies stretched as far as the eye could see—it was just like the old house in Jiang Xi's memory. Jiang Xi felt a surge of envy.
It was early morning, and a thin mist swirled over the fields. She saw her grandmother in the rice paddies.
This bell belongs to Lin, so the interference should be with Lin's memories.
My grandmother was exactly the same as I remembered her, wearing a familiar green linen shirt, her hair neatly combed and pinned up behind her ears.
Jiang Xi suddenly felt a lump in her throat. She remembered that her grandmother used to always say that no matter where she was, she should always keep herself neat and tidy.
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xi heard the sound of children laughing and playing.
Two teenagers suddenly ran out from the ridge of the field.
Jiang Xi recognized the girl with two pigtails; it was her as a child, or rather, it was Jiang Xi from this world.
It's amazing to actually see this.
There was another child running behind her, with short hair that reached her ears, wearing a yellow short-sleeved shirt, and with two deep dimples on his cheeks when he smiled.
The two children ran and played around.
Xiao Jiangxi said, "Du Ling, Grandma said we'll have tofu fish for dinner tonight. Can I give you the fish head? Grandma says children who eat fish heads are very smart."
The short-haired little girl said with a grin, "What if I'm smart and you're not? How about we each have half?"
Xiao Jiangxi thought for a moment and said, "Okay then, I want to be smarter too."
She told the short-haired girl, "Grandma said that I'll be going to school in the city after this summer. If I'm not smart, I won't be able to study well."
Du Ling said smugly, "That's not true at all. The kids in the city are all so stupid. They don't even know the difference between chives and green onions."
Xiao Jiangxi opened her mouth in surprise, looking at Du Ling with disbelief: "Really? Then you can eat the fish head tonight. I think I'm smart enough, I don't need to be any smarter."
As Jiang Xi listened to the two children chatting away, a look of longing unconsciously appeared on her face. Childhood was so lovely, she thought.
But this happiness didn't last long. The bell rang again, and Jiang Xi unconsciously followed the sound, this time arriving at a hospital.
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