Extra 4: The dream outside the book has become cold
The smell of disinfectant is pungent and familiar.
Qiu Qingying suddenly sat up from the hospital bed, her chest heaving violently. She seemed to still see Zhang Qing's old face, the smoke from the cooking fires in Mingyuan City at dusk, and the mournful cries of her children and grandchildren.
"Doctor Qiu! You're awake!" The nurse's surprised voice rang in his ears. "You've been in a coma for three days! How do you feel?"
She looked around blankly: cold medical equipment, white walls, and the bustling modern city outside the window. There was no sea breeze, no waves, no one who always kept her bed warm.
She was back. She was back after the car accident.
But the memories of those decades in her mind, those moments of walking hand in hand, raising children, and building a business, were as clear as yesterday, so heavy that she could hardly breathe. That was not a dream, that was her real life.
Doctors said she had a rare "near-death experience," a self-protective act in which her brain constructed an extremely long and realistic illusion. She listened silently, without arguing. Who could believe that not only had she lived her entire life in this "illusion," but she had also become a character in a book, altering a doomed tragedy?
After being discharged from the hospital, she declined all visits and interviews and locked herself in her apartment. As if by some strange impulse, she walked to her study and pulled out the Water Margin, which she had read to pieces during her teenage years, from a dusty bookshelf.
The pages were yellowing, and familiar words came into view. Her fingers trembled slightly as she turned to the familiar yet unfamiliar chapter - "Zhang Qing was destined to marry Qiongying, and Wu Yong plotted to poison Wu Li."
Every word was cold and cruel.
The "Qiu Qiongying" in the novel is Tian Hu's adopted daughter, assigned to Zhang Qing in an effort to win over Liangshan. Her marriage to Zhang Qing began with calculation and ended in tragedy. During Zhang Qing's campaign against Fang La, at Dusong Pass, "Li Tianrun, standing in for Zhang Qing, stabbed him in the thigh with a spear. Zhang Qing turned in pain, but Li Tianrun caught up and struck him in the back with another spear, killing him tragically." Upon hearing the tragic news, "Qiongying" was so grief-stricken that she lost her sight. She personally traveled to Dusong Pass to carry the coffin back for burial. She later raised an orphan and died at home.
In just a few lines, she summarized her life, which "should have" been miserable and short.
Her fingertips traced the words "died in an untimely death," "blinded by grief," and "died at home." Her heart felt like it was being gripped by an invisible hand, the pain stifling her breath. Was this... the original ending for her and Zhang Qing? No paradise abroad, no growing old together, only death on the battlefield, a lonely and miserable end.
She continued to flip through the pages. During the campaign against Fang La, of the 108 generals, only seven or eight were killed. Lu Zhishen passed away, Wu Song lost an arm, Lin Chong was paralyzed by the wind... Those familiar faces who had lived out their old age in the "Mingyuan City" of her memory, some surrounded by children and grandchildren, some becoming elders of the academy, all met their end in various tragic ways in the book.
"Song Jiang drinks poison", "Lu Junyi falls into the water", "Wu Yong and Hua Rong hang themselves in Liaoerwa"...
After closing the book, Qiu Qingying was already in tears.
That wasn't an illusion. It was she, Qiu Qiongying, who, with a soul from another world and an unyielding will, had forged a path to survival from the gears of predetermined fate! She had saved herself, Zhang Qing, and the brothers who had followed them!
She walked to the window and looked out at the dazzling neon lights and the endless stream of car lights below. This era of peace, prosperity, and freedom was what she had always dreamed of. But now, she felt a deep sense of loneliness and melancholy.
The air here doesn't have the salty smell of sea water, the night sky here doesn't have such a brilliant starry sky, and here... there is no Zhang Qing who would clumsily tie her hair, warm her feet, or gaze at her sleeping face in the morning light.
She has the whole world, yet she seems to have nothing.
In her mind, two worlds kept interweaving: on one side was the tragic ending described in cold words, and on the other side was the real life she had personally experienced, full of sweat, tears and laughter.
She recalled Zhang Qing's foolish ecstasy when he learned she was "pregnant"; she recalled the two of them arguing fiercely over a policy in the council hall, and rubbing each other's swollen temples at night; she recalled him in his later years, holding his grandson, pointing to the sea chart, and recounting the adventures of their youth, his eyes still shining; she recalled his last words before his death, as he held her hand tightly: "Qiongying...this life has been worth it..."
Yeah, it's worth it.
Even though her soul has returned, her old friend is gone, and the world has changed dramatically. But the legend they wrote together, the legend that broke free from the shackles of fate, the love and warmth that once existed, have long been deeply engraved in her soul, forever indelible.
She wiped away her tears and opened "Water Margin" again. Looking at those familiar names and the cold ending, her heart was no longer filled with grief, but also with an indescribable calmness and strength.
She changed the endings of "Qiu Qiongying" and "Zhang Qing", leaving sparks in that time and space, proving the existence of another possibility.
Outside the window, the morning light is breaking and a new day is about to begin.
Qiu Qingying (Qiongying) took a deep breath and gently put the book "Water Margin", which carried endless regrets and another possibility, back on the bookshelf.
Her story, outside of the book, already had a different, heartwarming ending. And Qiu Qingying's life, no matter what memories she carries, must continue.
But from then on, her heart was forever filled with a sea, a city, and a person who walked through life with her.
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