Even if I didn’t expose myself, she would have asked? What did she dream about to make such a direct guess…
Yue Chengqi gripped the corner of the quilt tightly, her voice a soft murmur. “What kind of dream was it?”
What kind of dream could possess such power?
The corners of Su Ye’s mouth lifted. Her voice, crisp as a warbler’s song, carried a shimmering mirth. “I dreamed of a little girl hugging my leg, asking if she could come home with me.”
“She said she did poorly on her exams—didn’t get a perfect score in Chinese—and that her mother would look down on her if she went home. She asked if I would look down on her, too.”
Yue Chengqi felt a surge of guilt. “What did you say?”
“I said that I’d never even passed a Chinese exam myself. A perfect score? I wouldn’t even dare dream of it, so how could I look down on her? But I told her that not going home wasn’t an option because her mother was waiting for her. Staying away would only break her mother’s heart.”
“…” How could she dream of that? Those were the exact words Su Ye had told her back then.
In that distant past, she had pondered those words all the way home—just as she was doing now. When they had reached the front door, she had solemnly taken Su Ye’s hand and said with utter sincerity: “Auntie, your mother definitely wouldn’t think you’re bad either. After all, you didn’t have money for school when you were little, right? I think you’re amazing, really, really amazing. Your mother would be proud of you too.”
Back then, Su Ye had crouched down, gently pressing a hand to her head. “You’re right,” she had said warmly. “My mother was indeed very proud of me, but not because of my grades. Your mother will be proud of you too, because you are her daughter. That alone is something to be proud of.”
At the time, Yue Chengqi was too young to understand the melancholy shimmering in the woman’s eyes, as if a layer of mist had filled their crystalline depths. She had only muttered a sullen rebuttal: “But Mom still hits me.”
Su Ye had merely smiled and ruffled the little one’s hair.
Thinking back, those times were truly beautiful—carefree, without the need for calculation. Unlike now… Forget it, I’ve already lived my way to this point. I’ll just have to make do.
Using the hand that wasn’t hooked to the IV, Su Ye gently poked Yue Chengqi’s chest. The girl said in a soft, sweet tone, “Ah Huan, say something. Why did you stop?”
“Ah.”
“I know it was you. Your face was so clear in the dream. You were so cute when you were little, Ah Huan.”
Yue Chengqi buried her head. “Stop it. It’s embarrassing.”
“Aiyaya, it’s not embarrassing at all. But why would I dream about the future? I have to remember the words from the dream. If I really meet a tiny Ah Huan in the future, I have to tell her the same thing.” She play-acted as an adult, gently smoothing Yue Chengqi’s hair.
“Do you… do you want to know more about the future?”
<pThis time, the girl refused without hesitation. "Actually, I never really wanted to. I was just angry that you kept things from me, making us feel like strangers. Now that you have no more secrets, I don't want to know. As for the future, it’s better to create it with your own hands. What’s the point of knowing? It's like I said before!"
Yue Chengqi smiled, speaking the words almost simultaneously with the girl—
“The future? Who cares about the future!”
Once the IV drip was nearly finished, the medication made the girl’s eyelids too heavy to keep open. Yue Chengqi climbed off the bed, called the nurse to remove the needle, and confirmed the time for the next round of anti-inflammatories. After seeing the nurse out, she returned to pull the curtains and sat on the edge of the bed, pressing down on the injection site. She whispered, “Go to sleep. I’ll head to the market tomorrow and buy a wheelchair while I’m at it.”
As she spoke, she reached out and turned off the main light, leaving only the small bedside lamp.
“I want to hear you sing, Ah Huan,” the dazed, sleepy girl murmured with a whimsical request.
How could she bear to refuse a patient?
Yue Chengqi thought for a moment. “I don’t know many old songs. How about ‘Grandma’s Penghu Bay’?”
“…Fine, as long as it’s something.”
Her cool, clear voice wasn’t wasted on singing, even if it was just a simple tune. The cool white nightlight illuminated half her face. Her ink-black hair, spilling over one shoulder, caught the light. Her body swayed gently with the melody until the song reached its end.
Whether dreaming or awake, the girl murmured softly, “Learn a Teresa Teng song, Ah Huan…”
Yue Chengqi gave a helpless, soft affirmation. “Alright.”
As Su Ye’s breathing leveled out, a slender finger pressed the switch. The last source of light vanished into the long night.
However, her sleep was fitful. She drifted in and out of consciousness all night, never entering deep sleep. Near dawn, Yue Chengqi heard Su Ye tossing and turning restlessly. Unable to sleep any longer, she simply got up and filled the ward’s thermos with hot water.
Is she thirsty?
Yue Chengqi pulled back the curtain. Su Ye wasn’t awake, but the tears shed in her sleep had already soaked half the pillow. Amidst her labored breathing, she could hear faint, gritted-teeth gasps of pain. Cold sweat beaded her brow.
Yue Chengqi sat on the other bed, clutching the thermos. After a long silence, she let out a heavy sigh.
She had hidden certain things and ignored certain words, numbing herself. But sitting here… she wanted so badly to hold Su Ye, to kiss her, to let her lean on her.
That phrase—that mumbled “Don’t go” from earlier—was it a dependency on a sister, or…
Yue Chengqi didn’t dare think too deeply. She couldn’t.
She began to paralyze her own mind, deceiving herself.
Even so, as she looked down at the girl gasping in pain even in sleep, Yue Chengqi walked over and gently took her hand. Her thumb rubbed softly against the hock of Su Ye’s hand, hoping to provide even a modicum of comfort.
After breakfast, Su Ye sat propped up in bed, craning her neck to watch the bulky CRT television on the corner iron rack. A nameless drama was playing on the color screen; the hero and heroine were agonizing over whether they loved each other.
By unspoken agreement, neither mentioned the tear-soaked pillow. Yue Chengqi had brought over a pillow from the other bed, and after silently swapping them, she dropped the subject.
If Su Ye didn’t want to admit she was in pain, Yue Chengqi wouldn’t force her.
The girl watched for a while before turning away in boredom. “There’s no food, this is no good at all. I thought hospital life was all about being pampered with food and drinks. But look at me, I have nothing! Sigh…”
The person who had just finished tidying up the breakfast was met with a mental row of ellipses.
Su Ye pouted. “Speechless again! You’re speechless again! Can’t you say something nice, like telling me you’ll bring something back from the market?”
Yue Chengqi countered, “You can’t eat spicy food, you can’t eat ‘trigger’ foods, and you shouldn’t over-supplement. Fine, what else do you want to eat?”
A warm, mature female voice joined the conversation. “You want to eat these little cookies I bought, don’t you?”
“Ah! Sister Wanjia, you’re here!” Su Ye’s eyes welled up. She reached out as far as she could, hugging the woman’s waist and pressing her face against her side. “I almost thought I’d never see you again.”
“That would have been great!” Lin Wanjia supported her own waist while pinching Su Ye’s ear. “Then I’d get three months of rent for free. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
“Sister Wanjia!!”
Lin Wanjia laughed and shook her head, looking at Yue Chengqi. “Are you heading out, Little Huan?”
“I have to. Su Ye says we can’t let the shop go to waste. I’ll go open up for a bit and come back early in the evening. I’ll leave things here to you and Sister Mingfang.”
Lin Wanjia nodded slightly, signaling her to go ahead without worry.
Once Yue Chengqi had left, Lin Wanjia sat down and slowly unwrapped the cookies. “I suddenly remembered last year, or maybe the year before. You ran off to the forest farm to pick strawberries by yourself. You picked a whole crate and made sixty yuan. You were so happy that day.”
Su Ye blinked. “Huh? Why bring that up suddenly?” It’s normal to be a bit foolish in the early days of a business!
Lin Wanjia continued, “What I wanted to say was the next day, you got up at dawn and pedaled six kilometers there and back just to pick three crates. Back then, I knew you were money-grubbing, but I didn’t realize it was to this extent. You’re in this state and you’re still thinking about opening for business?”
Su Ye hummed and hawed, wrinkling her nose and pouting, refusing to let her continue.
“Stop talking!!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop. Honestly, it’s just the two of us, no one else is here. Come, have a bite of this cookie.”
The girl obediently opened her mouth, waiting to be fed.
Lin Wanjia was amused. She popped a piece in and warned, “If you keep doing that, I’m going to treat your mouth like a basketball hoop.”
The girl obediently closed her mouth, though it kept moving as she crunched on the crisp handmade cookie. Her eyes darted around, quickly spotting something—
“Sister, what happened to your finger? Why is there a fingernail mark here?”
In truth, it wasn’t just her finger. Her face was several shades paler than usual, and there were beads of sweat on her temples she hadn’t managed to wipe away. Once the mark was discovered, the woman nonchalantly wiped her sweat and forced a smile. “I probably scratched it in my sleep. What about you? Does it still hurt?”
“It hurts.”
“Oh my, it hurts and you’re still so cheerful? I’ll go wash an apple for you.”
After the woman left the ward, the girl held her cookies, chewing thoughtfully. She looked a bit lost. “If I don’t smile, what else am I supposed to do?”
Yue Chengqi spent some time crouching in the small park downstairs before sitting cross-legged on the grass to soak up the sun. She watched two children in hospital gowns kicking a ball around. The sunlight was so bright it made her squint.
Life here was equally ordinary. Common people lived their daily lives under the common sun. Although it wasn’t as convenient as the future—no advanced internet—it was still life. There were relatives, friends, people to care for, and people to look forward to.
She was actually quite happy here.
Being able to accompany Su Ye as she grew up was also a source of happiness.
In fact, it was much happier here than in 2023. Here, the most she had to worry about was what to eat if she didn’t make enough money. She didn’t have to stress over domestic trifles or feel conflicted about her mother.
It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other. They were the closest blood relatives; how could they not? But with only the two of them at home, all conflicts were heaped upon their shoulders, day after day, until they became a tangled, endless ball of yarn.
It seemed that escape was the only solution. Now, she truly had escaped. She could reconsider everything from a different perspective. She just didn’t know if she would ever have the chance to face it all again.
But at least this was an opportunity, wasn’t it?
Yue Chengqi lay back on the grass, the stiff blades pricking her neck. She suddenly thought: Isn’t this time travel itself a chance?
At a time when her feelings for Su Ye were becoming increasingly complicated, she was given a chance to understand the Su Ye of the past. To grow alongside her, to learn about the 1998 she never knew, and to give herself the chance to make a choice.
She just didn’t know how long this wondrous experience would last. She didn’t know if the adult “her” could still exist in this time once the infant “her” was born.
There were still two years. She would live these two years of overlapping coincidences first.
But really, it’s such a coincidence.
Returning to the past, meeting Su Ye, failing to prevent the things she tried to stop… there were too many coincidences. So many that… it made her feel they weren’t coincidences at all, but rather a play orchestrated by someone, ensuring everything happened as scheduled, unchanged by the addition of a single person.
Is it really unchangeable?
Yue Chengqi suddenly felt something was wrong. If an extra person was added, how could nothing change?
A sudden pain flared in her shoulder as a small leather ball flew into her. Yue Chengqi hastily caught it and sat up. A little girl came limping toward her, accompanied by a familiar-looking woman pushing a wheelchair.
The little girl reached her, and as Yue Chengqi helped her stand, she saw the girl’s clean face was covered in sweat. Grinning, the girl said, “Sorry, Big Sister. I was able to run today, and I got a bit too excited, so I kicked the ball into you.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Yue Chengqi wiped the sweat for her and solemnly returned the ball. “In that case, you have to hold your ball even tighter!”
“Mm-hmm!” The little girl bowed. “Thank you, Big Sister! Auntie, let’s go.”
![Us Outside of Time [Rebirth]](https://i1.wp.com/dobytranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/rebirth.jpeg?resize=151,215 "Us Outside of Time [Rebirth]")
