After Qin Yuanzheng returned this time, he still had a nightmare in the middle of the night.
It was the same dream as before. In it, he lay sick in bed, his illness terminal, while Qiao Lanshu sat beside him, looking haggard and painfully thin.
Why did he keep having a dream like that?
Everything in the dream felt so real, as though it had actually happened.
Qin Yuanzheng woke from the nightmare once again.
He lay in bed and glanced toward the window. The curtains were drawn, and it was still dark outside. Not a sliver of light seeped through.
He picked up the little clock on the bedside table. It showed three o’clock in the morning.
Qin Yuanzheng quietly put the clock back.
Then he turned to look at Qiao Lanshu beside him, only to realize that she had woken at some point.
Qin Yuanzheng froze, slightly surprised. “Why are you awake? Did I wake you?”
Qiao Lanshu shook her head. In the darkness, she sat up and turned on the light.
As soon as the room lit up, Qin Yuanzheng sat up as well. He looked at Qiao Lanshu with concern, wrapped an arm around her, and asked softly, “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
Qiao Lanshu looked at him and wiped the sweat from his forehead with her sleeve. “Nothing’s wrong with me. I woke up to see what was wrong with you.”
Qin Yuanzheng fell silent.
He lowered his head and said quietly, “I’m fine too. I just had a nightmare. Go back to sleep.”
As he spoke, he reached for the light.
Qiao Lanshu pressed down on his hand and looked at him seriously. “What kind of nightmare was it? Tell me.”
Qin Yuanzheng stared at her in silence. After a long moment, he still said nothing.
If it had been an ordinary nightmare, he could have told her without a second thought.
But this nightmare was far too frightening. In it, he had died, and Qiao Lanshu had died afterward. The two of them had never had any children.
There was no Qin Qiao’an, no Qin Qiaoxia, and no Han Ye.
Even he could barely bear a dream like that. If he told Qiao Lanshu, wouldn’t she be even more frightened?
That was why Qin Yuanzheng remained silent, unsure how to begin.
Qiao Lanshu noticed that something was wrong with his expression. She shifted around until she was sitting directly across from him. Facing him, she asked softly, “Brother Zheng, you haven’t been sleeping well this whole past month, have you? Have you been having nightmares often? I thought it was something going on at work, but now it seems that isn’t the case?”
Qin Yuanzheng looked at her silently. He reached out and smoothed the bangs away from her forehead.
“It has nothing to do with work,” he said quietly. “I just haven’t been sleeping well.”
Qiao Lanshu had previously assumed that something had happened in the army. After all, every time she asked Qin Yuanzheng about it, he refused to say anything.
Matters in the army often required confidentiality, so since he wouldn’t tell her, she hadn’t dared ask further.
But more than a month had passed, and Qin Yuanzheng still wasn’t sleeping well. He had been taking the traditional herbal medicine she prepared for him every day, yet it clearly wasn’t helping.
He had only just returned from the capital, and now he had woken from another nightmare in the middle of the night.
This time, Qiao Lanshu had no choice but to get to the bottom of it.
She moved closer and sat directly on Qin Yuanzheng’s thigh. He looked at her in surprise, then instinctively wrapped his arms around her.
Qiao Lanshu leaned into his embrace, draped her arms around his shoulders, and asked softly, “Brother Zheng, how long have we been married?”
Qin Yuanzheng thought for a moment. “A long time. An’an is already in high school.”
They had been married for more than a decade, yet they still got along wonderfully and had never argued.
They always kept each other in their thoughts and had never once felt that the other was lacking.
Qiao Lanshu had known from the beginning that Qin Yuanzheng was a good man, and that life with him would be comfortable and happy.
As it turned out, she had been right.
Qiao Lanshu said gently, “We’ve been married for so long. There are no secrets between us. Whenever something happens to me, I always tell you directly. But now that something is clearly bothering you, you still want to hide it from me.”
Holding Qiao Lanshu in his arms, Qin Yuanzheng silently sighed when he heard that.
He knew she was worried about him and wanted to know what had happened.
He was still hesitating when Qiao Lanshu continued, “Brother Zheng, be honest with me. Is there someone else?”
Qin Yuanzheng: “???”
Her words startled him. He hurriedly explained, “No! Of course not. How could you possibly think that?”
How could he have someone else outside?
He spent every day worrying that someone might steal his wife away. Where would he find the time or inclination to look at anyone else?
Besides, in his eyes, there were very few women out there who could compare with his wife. He already had such a young and beautiful wife—why would he be interested in anyone else?
Qin Yuanzheng had still been feeling exhausted a moment ago, but Qiao Lanshu’s words had jolted him fully awake.
He pinched her cheek, somewhat annoyed, and scolded her, “Someone else? Why would you suddenly say that? Is there someone else in your life? Do you think I’m too old and don’t want to stay with me anymore?”
Qiao Lanshu fell silent.
It seemed Qin Yuanzheng really was hung up on his age.
There was nothing he could do about it. He had married a woman much younger than himself.
He was already in his forties, while his wife was only in her thirties—the prime of her beauty and maturity.
Qin Yuanzheng stared at her and pressed, “Teacher Qiao, you tell me. Have you started thinking I’m too old?”
Qiao Lanshu pushed his hand away, climbed off him, and sat down on the other side of the bed. With complete seriousness, she said, “Well, that’s hard to say. If you refuse to tell me anything and insist on hiding everything from me, I might just discover the virtues of other men. Don’t you agree?”
Qin Yuanzheng fell silent.
His face darkened with anger.
He lunged at Qiao Lanshu and pinned her beneath him. In a low voice, he threatened, “You’d better not. Go ahead and try getting involved with another man.”
Qiao Lanshu wasn’t frightened in the slightest. She merely said, “Whether the men outside are any good depends on you, doesn’t it? What do you think, Chief Qin?”
Qin Yuanzheng fell silent again.
He truly had no way of dealing with Qiao Lanshu.
For the first time, he felt that his position at home was rather low.
His son didn’t listen to him, his daughter didn’t listen to him, and even his wife refused to listen.
What a life.
Having run out of options, Qin Yuanzheng pulled Qiao Lanshu into his arms and looked down at her. “You really want to know?”
Qiao Lanshu nodded. “What has been happening to you all this time? Did something happen?”
Qiao Lanshu didn’t believe that he was merely having nightmares.
She suspected that Qin Yuanzheng was hiding something else from her, refusing to tell her because he was afraid she would worry.
Qin Yuanzheng remained silent for a long while before finally sighing and saying quietly, “Actually, I’ve been having nightmares almost every night for more than a month now. It’s always the same nightmare.”
The elders often said that if someone had the same nightmare for several days in a row, it might be a prophecy—or perhaps something else—and that they should consult a fortune-teller or spiritual master to have it dealt with.
Qin Yuanzheng had never believed in such things before. Naturally, he had never considered anything supernatural either.
But the doctors in the capital had suggested that he go to a temple to burn incense.
So he went.
They had already paid their respects and burned incense, so why was he still having nightmares?
Qin Yuanzheng was feeling troubled.
“Nightmares? Have you really been having the same nightmare over and over for this long?” Qiao Lanshu asked worriedly.
Her expression gradually grew solemn. She sat up again and looked at Qin Yuanzheng. “What kind of nightmare is it? Tell me about it.”
Qiao Lanshu couldn’t help thinking of the period just after she had been reborn.
At that time, although she was already together with Qin Yuanzheng, she often had nightmares about her past life.
She dreamed of being locked in a cave dwelling, of Qin Yuanzheng dying from the aftereffects of his blast injuries.
In short, she had dreamed of many terrible things. But after the man who had kidnapped her died and everything came to an end, the nightmares stopped.
She had never had another one since.
The events of her past life had gradually faded from her life like smoke drifting away.
So much time had passed that she had almost forgotten those memories.
Sometimes, she even wondered whether everything that had happened in her previous life had really been nothing more than a dream.
It had been a long time since she had thought about those events.
That was why she couldn’t help growing tense when she heard Qin Yuanzheng say that he had been having the same nightmare for more than a month.
She looked at him, waiting for his answer.
Qin Yuanzheng was silent for a while before saying, “It’s nothing good, anyway. In the dream, I—I’m seriously ill, and there’s no cure. You’re heartbroken, crying every day…”
He paused, then pulled Qiao Lanshu tightly into his arms before continuing. “In the dream, I die from my illness. Not long after I die, you also…”
He couldn’t bring himself to finish.
He didn’t want to say that Qiao Lanshu died too.
It was an inauspicious thing to say, and he didn’t want to put it into words.
Qiao Lanshu’s heart trembled when she heard this.
In a low voice, she asked, “In the dream, are you the same age as you are now? Is the me in the dream in her thirties and in poor health? When you’re lying in the hospital bed, do all your internal organs hurt terribly, yet you still force yourself to endure the pain and introduce other men to me?”
Qin Yuanzheng fell silent.
He stared at her in shock. “How—how did you know?”
In the dream, his internal organs hurt terribly.
And every time he woke up, he could still feel the pain inside him. He didn’t know whether it was his liver or some other organ; all he knew was that it hurt terribly.
But he had forced himself to bear it without showing anything. He was afraid Qiao Lanshu would worry.
Yet Qiao Lanshu had just described everything that happened in his dream.
Qin Yuanzheng stared at her, too stunned to speak for a long while.
By then, tears were streaming down Qiao Lanshu’s face.
In her previous life, she had married Qin Yuanzheng when she was around thirty.
They had been married for five years and had spent those five years in happiness together.
When she was thirty-five, Qin Yuanzheng had been hospitalized after his old injuries resurfaced. He had suffered severe internal damage from the explosion, and some of his organs had been left with lasting complications.
Old injuries were prone to flaring up. Five years later, he had failed to recover.
Qin Yuanzheng had left her forever when Qiao Lanshu was thirty-five.
Only now did Qiao Lanshu remember that, in her previous life, this was around the time when she and Qin Yuanzheng should already have been dead.
She was exactly thirty-five now, and Qin Yuanzheng was already forty-six.
They were no longer young.
But in this life, they were destined to live happier and longer together than they had in the past.
Qiao Lanshu suddenly threw her arms around Qin Yuanzheng and began to cry silently. She cried so hard that she couldn’t speak for a long time.
Qin Yuanzheng was deeply shaken as well. He didn’t know what had happened to Qiao Lanshu, but he knew there had to be more to this than met the eye.
A strange sadness also welled up inside him. He held her tightly and told her what he had been going through these past few weeks.
“Every time I woke up from the nightmare, all my internal organs would cramp with pain. It was awful, but I was afraid you’d worry, so I didn’t dare tell you. More than half a month ago, I secretly went to see a doctor. After hearing me describe my symptoms, the doctor said I might have a serious illness.”
The moment Qiao Lanshu heard this, she jerked her head up and stared at him. Her tears flowed even faster.
Qin Yuanzheng quickly took his clothes and wiped her tears as he said, “See? This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid you’d cry once you found out. Don’t worry. It’s all over now. I went to Beijing this time to get examined at a hospital there. The results are already out. I’m fine—the doctor said I’m in excellent health.”
Qiao Lanshu had been so frightened that she could barely think. Hearing this, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
After calming herself down, she choked out, “Where—where’s your medical report? Let me see it.”
Although she wasn’t a doctor and might not understand the reports, she was afraid Qin Yuanzheng was merely saying this to comfort her. She had to see the results herself before she could truly relax.
Qin Yuanzheng reassured her, “I left the reports in the car and haven’t brought them inside yet. If you want to see them, should I go get them now?”
Qin Yuanzheng usually parked his car just outside the courtyard gate. It wouldn’t take long to go out and get them.
Qiao Lanshu looked at him hopefully.
Under her gaze, Qin Yuanzheng could only give in. “All right, all right. Stop crying. I’ll go get them now.”
Qiao Lanshu wiped her tears and immediately climbed out of bed with him. “I’m coming with you.”
Qin Yuanzheng was speechless.
He said helplessly, “The night wind is cold, and the car’s right outside. I’ll bring them back for you. Stay here and wait for me, all right?”
Qiao Lanshu ignored him. She had already put on her shoes and gone outside.
Qin Yuanzheng had no choice but to hurry after her.
When they stepped out of the room, Qiao Lanshu sniffed and reminded him in a hushed voice, “Keep your voice down. Don’t wake the children.”
Qin Yuanzheng nodded. He picked up a flashlight and quietly crossed the courtyard. After opening the gate, the couple walked over to the car outside.
Qin Yuanzheng had tossed the medical reports into the car earlier without giving them much thought.
He hadn’t brought them into the house because he had originally intended to keep them from Qiao Lanshu and the children.
But since Qiao Lanshu wanted to see them, he might as well let her. He was perfectly healthy, after all, and seeing the reports would help put her mind at ease.
In those days, medical reports were still handwritten by doctors. The handwriting on them wasn’t particularly difficult to read.
As soon as Qiao Lanshu got the reports, she hurried back inside and bent over them beneath the lamp.
There were two pages in total, one of them a CT report.
Qiao Lanshu examined them carefully for more than ten minutes before finally setting them down. Her expression had relaxed somewhat.
Qin Yuanzheng said quietly, “See? I told you I’m fine. You really don’t need to worry.”
