“Auntie, no news is good news. Don’t be sad. Binli still needs you. You can’t give up.” Jiajia sat next to Yan Ning’s mother, Qinghua, trying to comfort her, but tears streamed down her face. She and Yan Ning had grown up together since childhood. Although they weren’t blood sisters, their bond was stronger than that of blood sisters. Now, Yan Ning had been missing for more than half a year without any news, and she felt as if she had lost a sibling.
Qinghua's beautiful face was haggard, and she stared blankly at Jiajia. "In the past six months, you've been running around for Yan Ning's sake, and your father has also put in a lot of effort. I'm really grateful to you both. In a little while, you and I will pack up Yan Ning's things together. I hope my daughter can have a burial plot after she dies, so that when we come back every Ghost Festival, she'll have a place to rest." Before she could finish speaking, Qinghua's voice choked with sobs, and she broke down in tears.
Looking at Qinghua, who used to be strong and confident, but is now so weak and vulnerable, Jiajia knew that the most heartbreaking thing for a mother was her daughter, who was in the prime of her life, missing and whose fate was unknown.
Jiajia helped Qinghua up and led her to Yanning's room. Yanning's home was only 70 square meters, a two-bedroom apartment. Yanning and Qinghua shared one room, while Yanning's younger brother, Binli, had his own. Inside the room, Yanning and Qinghua's belongings were neatly arranged, with ample space. Qinghua sat on the bed next to the wardrobe, organizing her daughter's clothes from childhood to adulthood, while Jiajia went to the table to organize Yanning's books and belongings.
Yan Ning's things were all neatly arranged in a cardboard box. Yan Ning didn't have many friends, and she refused any gifts from boys who pursued her. The box only contained birthday presents Jia Jia had given her since childhood, and matching items symbolizing sisterly affection that Jia Jia had forced her to accept. Jia Jia picked up the box, intending to put it on the bed and help Qing Hua tidy up. The books next to the box, lacking support, fell over on the table; Jia Jia put the box down again, righted the books, and noticed a corner of a photograph peeking out of a notebook. She hesitated for a moment, then pulled out the photo—it was of Yan Ning.
In the photo, Yan Ning is wearing a red evening gown, her long black hair is styled in an updo, and she sits in front of a piano with a sweet smile.
"When did Yan Ning get photos like this? I don't know. Judging from her age, they should have been taken in the last two years, but why are the photos so worn out..." Jiajia didn't think much of it, put the photos in a cardboard box, and carried them to the bed.
Qinghua folded and piled Yan Ning's clothes, picked up the crystal ball and teddy bear from the cardboard box, and tears welled up in her eyes again. Qinghua wiped her tears with the back of her hand, put the items back in the box, and inadvertently glanced at the photo stuck in the box, so she picked it up and looked at it.
Seeing Qinghua staring intently at the photo, Jiajia asked the question that had been bothering her earlier, "Auntie, when was this taken by Yan Ning?"
“This isn’t Yan Ning, it’s Yan Ning’s aunt, Qing Yue. Thirty years ago, my sister was also in the prime of her youth when she suddenly disappeared. There was no body, and she never returned. My mother cried until she went blind. I was still young, and my sister’s fiancé, seeing my mother and me all alone, took on the responsibility of caring for us. When I grew up, I married him out of gratitude, and later we had Yan Ning and Bin Li. But Yan Ning’s father’s love for my sister made him resentful, so for decades he never gave up searching for her. Later, he said that my sister might have traveled to another time and space. He borrowed a lot of money to do research, but after years of hard work, there were still no results, and he passed away, leaving behind so much debt.” After Qing Hua finished speaking, her eyes became deep and thoughtful, as if she were recalling events from many years ago.
"Can you please wake up? My sister is dead." Qinghua pleaded desperately, holding her four-year-old daughter Yan Ning and pulling at her husband who was about to leave.
Su Zhengyang shook off Qinghua's hand and said almost frantically, "Qingyue is not dead. If she were dead, it's impossible that her body hasn't been found for so long. She has transmigrated. Science is so fuzzy these days, I'm sure I can find a way."
"Smack!"
Qinghua slapped Su Zhengyang, silencing him. Su Zhengyang stared at her with wide eyes. "Su Zhengyang, can you please stop believing those absurd claims? It's impossible!" Qinghua shouted back.
Su Zhengyang ignored Qinghua and slammed the door as he left. The next time Qinghua saw him was in the hospital morgue, where the doctor said he had died from overwork.
"Auntie, I only know that Uncle is an archaeologist, but why haven't I heard Yan Ning mention Auntie's story?" Jiajia asked curiously, looking at Qinghua who was lost in thought. She also had very few memories of Yan Ning's father, only remembering that every time she went to see Yan Ning, he was always busy in his study.
“Yan Ning doesn’t know any of this. Although I’m raising Yan Ning and Bin Li all by myself, and I also have to pay off the debts left by your uncle, I still hope that Yan Ning can live a simpler life and let her know that she also has loving parents.” Qing Hua’s eyes were red and swollen. “But I know that because I have a strong personality, Yan Ning has suffered a lot with me. Yan Ning, Mom is sorry.”
Jiajia stood up and wiped away Qinghua's tears. She hadn't realized that Yan Ning's mother had endured so much.
Qinghua touched the person in the photo and smiled weakly. Her daughter looked so much like her older sister, and both of them disappeared at such a young age.
"Yan Ning, Mommy wants to believe you traveled through time, not that you were harmed. Mommy wants to believe your father's absurd idea." Qinghua hugged Yan Ning's clothes, repeating over and over, "Mommy wants to believe, Mommy wants to believe..."
After returning from Yan Ning's grave, Jiajia turned on her computer and looked up information about time travel. The more she read, the less she could accept Yan Ning's father's obsession. Yan Ning's father loved Qingchuan so much that this love had blinded him, and Yan Ning's mother, because of her love for Yan Ning, refused to believe that Yan Ning had left this world, preferring to believe that Yan Ning had traveled through time.
Jiajia walked to the blinds, looked up at the vast starry sky, and said, "Yan Ning, I'm also willing to believe that you've traveled through time and that you're living a happy life in the future or the past, or perhaps in some parallel universe."
In her dream, Yan Ning dreamt that her mother and Bin Li were searching for her all day long, and her mother was in a daze when she got into a car accident.
"Mom, Binli, wait for me, I'll be back soon, wait for me..." Yan Ning sobbed and murmured.
"My lord, the young lady is speaking," said the maid who was kneeling in front of Yan Ning's bed and wiping her sweat.
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