"Yingying, I didn't expect you to sleep in this late too."
Pei Ying walked out of the elevator in a daze. She ran into Tan Momo on the first floor. The latter was also nursing a hangover and had just woken up; she was currently in the kitchen drinking honey water.
"Morning, Momo," Pei Ying forced herself to perk up.
Tan Momo said, "You haven't had any water since you woke up, right? Your throat sounds so hoarse it's practically smoking. Want some honey water? I'll pour you a glass."
Pei Ying looked a bit unnatural.
But Tan Momo had her eyes on the honey water at the time and didn't notice the strange look on her face.
"Here you go." Tan Momo handed over the honey water. "It's rare wild mountain honey. It tastes completely different from the blended stuff on the market. I just had a glass myself, try it."
Pei Ying tried it, and it was indeed quite good. Her parched throat felt as if it had been bathed in a mountain spring, instantly feeling much better. But as she tilted her head back to drink, the long hair resting on her shoulder slipped down a bit, revealing a small patch of fair skin marked with a red hickey.
Tan Momo happened to be standing to Pei Ying's left, and her eyes instantly widened. "Yingying, you and your boyfriend had a breakthrough!"
Everyone knew last night that the young couple hadn't gone all the way yet. But today...
Tan Momo winked playfully. "How was it? Did it feel good? Was his sense of service strong?"
Pei Ying suddenly choked on the honey water, a blush spreading all the way from the tips of her ears to her cheeks.
Tan Momo said excitedly, "I saw on a pink website before, woman on top, riding..."
Pei Ying was quick, slapping a hand over Tan Momo's mouth to forcefully mute her.
Tan Momo muffled a couple of sounds, rolled her eyes around, and made two more muffled sounds.
"Keep it down, it's not exactly something glorious," Pei Ying said, only releasing her hand after getting the other girl to nod in promise.
Sleeping together after drinking—Pei Ying never in her life thought she could be so bold.
Tan Momo disagreed. "How is it not glorious? It's perfectly natural for a young couple to be all lovey-dovey. Besides..."
She lowered her voice a bit. "I heard the Huo family is incredibly wealthy, filthy rich. They have people in both politics and business, with enough money to last eight lifetimes. If you marry Huo Junze, how is that any different from bringing a mountain of gold home?"
Pei Ying was too embarrassed to say that before yesterday, they were just a fake couple. She could only say, "...That's thinking too far ahead. Not everyone's first love ends up being their husband."
"Alright, alright, let's not think that far ahead then. Let's just talk about right now. You took the Huo family's eldest young master's virginity—isn't that an epic achievement?" Tan Momo marveled.
Pei Ying: "..."
"Besides, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. Why think so far ahead? Just live in the moment. Leave tomorrow's problems for tomorrow; let's just enjoy today," Tan Momo said with a grin.
Pei Ying froze. She realized that the fog and gloom that had been lingering in her heart ever since her drunken hookup with Huo Junze had largely dissipated.
The future she was so worried about might as well be left to the future. She really didn't know how to interact with Huo Junze now, nor did she know how long a relationship built in such an unconventional way could last...
There were many things to worry about, but thinking about it carefully, the worst possible outcome was just that she and Huo Junze would go their separate ways.
"Momo, didn't you say last night you wanted to go to the sauna? We didn't get to go yesterday, so how about we go in a bit?" Pei Ying beamed.
Tan Momo put down her crystal glass. "Yay! It's a shame we didn't go yesterday because we drank too much. I don't think you're supposed to use a sauna right after eating, so let's head over now."
After taking a few steps, Pei Ying took out her phone, looked at it for a moment, and ultimately sent him a message, telling him she was going to the sauna with Tan Momo and wouldn't be having lunch with him.
He replied very quickly, saying okay.
Plans can never keep up with changes.
In Pei Ying's original plan, she would find a gentle-tempered boyfriend, preferably from the same hometown as her, and ideally only a year or two apart in age. As it turned out, her current boyfriend met absolutely none of those criteria.
Fine, so he didn't fit. Her plan could be adjusted.
The revised plan was: just date for now, and break up when they found they were incompatible. After all, the love at first sight the eldest young master spoke of probably wouldn't have a very long shelf life.
But then one year passed, then two, then three...
From her sophomore year, to her junior year, to her senior year, three years slipped by before she knew it.
In a sudden moment of reflection, Pei Ying was startled to realize her revised plan had been disrupted once again. While her roommates had gone through an average of two or three relationships, she and he were still the same as ever.
No, she couldn't exactly say the same as ever.
Compared to the very beginning, Pei Ying slowly discovered that Huo Junze actually had many good qualities.
For instance, the man was disciplined and smart, and possessed an extraordinary amount of energy. He could usually sleep for just three or four hours and still be full of vigor. A person like that would be a lethal weapon in any industry. Setting everything else aside, his boundless energy alone was enough to outcompete anyone else, not to mention the higher starting point the Huo family could provide him compared to ordinary people.
Although he still acted as he pleased from time to time, he kept it under control most of the time. Going from resistance to appreciation had been a very slow journey, but not a particularly bumpy one.
Compared to her romance, another matter now occupied the vast majority of Pei Ying's attention.
...
After a heavily jeweled society lady and a young girl came out of the room, the display screen in front scrolled up and showed: [No. A19, Pei Ying, please enter]
Pei Ying picked up her bag and stood up.
The hospital was permeated with the usual smell of disinfectant. The walls were a cold white, and the chairs were slick steel benches with perforated holes.
The passersby around her all wore solemn expressions. Someone sat on a stool, nervously biting their nails, while a parent with a child looked grief-stricken and exhausted.
Pei Ying walked in slowly and pulled the door shut behind her.
There was a woman in a white coat in the room. She smiled gently and politely, much like a spring breeze, completely devoid of any aggressiveness.
Pei Ying: "Dr. Zhao."
"Miss Pei." Zhao Wenxiu had a very deep impression of Pei Ying, who had started seeing her a year and a half ago.
A student from a prestigious university, with outstanding looks and a gentle personality. Judging by her manners, she came from a good family background. Of course, the most important thing was that she was different from all the other patients who came to see a psychologist for depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder.
Her symptoms were highly unconventional among the crowd of patients.
"Have you been having the dreams again recently, Miss Pei?" Zhao Wenxiu asked.
Pei Ying nodded. "The plot of the dream I had the day before yesterday seamlessly connects with the one from three months ago. Even now, I can remember the names of some of the people who appeared in the dream. It's as if I've lived an entire lifetime in my dreams..."
Dr. Zhao didn't interrupt her, just listening quietly.
From the very beginning of her visits to the psychologist, Pei Ying had never revealed the full details of her dreams. She only told Dr. Zhao that she was having bizarre dreams of an era that didn't belong to this time, and that the dreams were interconnected.
When did the dreams start? Tracing it back carefully, it seemed to be just before the start of the second semester of her freshman year. To be more precise, it was the day she met Huo Junze.
If you said these dreams had logic, they indeed did; they could connect with each other even after months had passed. But if you called them baffling, that was also true, because Pei Ying couldn't find their source.
It was like a messy ball of yarn, threads intertwined; she wanted to sort them out but couldn't find the starting thread.
Dr. Zhao pondered for a moment and asked, "Miss Pei, have you still been experiencing blackouts recently, like when you're drunk?"
Speaking of this, Pei Ying looked troubled. "Yes, and it's worse than it was half a year ago. At first, it only happened when I drank too much. Later, I couldn't even touch alcohol. Recently, I've been blacking out for no reason at all, like someone just pulled the plug."
The most terrifying part was that she later realized she wasn't asleep during these blackouts, but conscious. However, this consciousness didn't seem to belong to her, as if there was another person inside her body.
This was why she came to see a psychiatrist; Pei Ying suspected she had schizophrenia.
However, neither Huo Junze, her close friends in the dorm, nor even her brother who had talked to her on the phone during those times, ever suspected that the "she" during the blackouts wasn't her.
Once, she blacked out in her dorm. After coming back to her senses, she indirectly asked her roommates if she had shown any signs of being possessed by a ghost. Her roommate just said she was telling bad jokes and that there was no such thing as possession—even her little habits when thinking were exactly the same, telling her to prepare better next time she wanted to make a joke.
That incident left Pei Ying stunned for a long time.
Later, she simply went to the hospital to get her brain checked, suspecting she had a tumor, but the results were completely normal. So, she went to see a psychiatrist.
"Miss Pei, you mentioned before that you almost always have dreams after interacting with your boyfriend. Since you are troubled by these dreams, have you considered spending some time apart from him temporarily? Not breaking up, just not seeing each other..."
Before he could finish, Pei Ying shook her head. "He's great. We're not separating."
Walking out of the hospital again, Pei Ying looked at the clear blue sky and sighed melancholically.
It seemed like another fruitless session.
Her phone rang just then. It was her boyfriend calling. Pei Ying answered: "...Yeah, I'm still out. I'm done now. You don't need to pick me up, I'll take a cab to the restaurant. Okay, okay, see you later..."
Fifteen minutes later, a BMW X7 appeared at the hospital entrance. The sleek, black body of the car was smooth and full of power, like an elegant mobster in a suit.
The car door opened, and the familiar figure of a man who had transformed from a youth into a mature man appeared before Pei Ying.
Three years wasn't exactly a very long time, but compared to the beginning, his transformation was astonishing.
From military camouflage to a tailored suit, from youthful to mature—for some reason, Pei Ying felt that the current Huo Junze better suited his previously overly mature temperament.
"Sneaking off to the hospital again," Huo Tingshan said as he took her hand. "If you ask me, you'll naturally get better after a while."
Pei Ying had heard this several times, and she never took it seriously.
Could schizophrenia cure itself? In his dreams.
"Let's not talk about this. Let's go eat," Pei Ying changed the subject.
Huo Tingshan chuckled, "Alright."
It was evening, time for dinner. On the drive to the restaurant, notifications from Pei Ying's dorm group chat kept popping up, more active than ever before.
[Mengmeng]: Yingying, where are you right now?
[PassWithConan]: I'll answer for Yingying. She's probably meeting her boyfriend.
[HotGuysPlzThanks]: The weather is great today. Don't rush back, Yingying. Make sure you have a blast out there ovo
Pei Ying rubbed her chin. Something felt off. Why were these three so excited today?
[Yingyue]: What's going on with you guys?
The previously frantic group chat fell silent for a moment, but quickly became active again.
[HotGuysPlzThanks]: Oh, Mengmeng and I went to Fantasy City and we're having a blast, so we're a bit chatty (Image/) (Image/)
The amusement park in the evening was incredibly beautiful. Clouds dyed with the brilliant hues of the sunset hung over the ancient castle, as beautiful as an oil painting.
Pei Ying couldn't help but marvel, "So beautiful."
She actually really liked amusement parks. Perhaps it was because her parents were always busy when she was little; while other kids were often taken to amusement parks by their parents, she never was.
This childhood regret carried over into adulthood. Even though she was grown up now, had the means to go to amusement parks on her own, and had been there many times, she still loved them.
"We'll go to the amusement park after dinner," the man driving suddenly said.
Pei Ying: "Huh?"
"I was planning to take you there for some fun anyway." Huo Tingshan's eyes held a smile.
And so, inexplicably, Pei Ying scored a trip to the amusement park after dinner.
Rather than an amusement park, it was more of an amusement city. Fantasy City in S City was massive. Besides the rides, it also featured several Gothic-style castles.
The roads inside were wide, and the light strips changed colors to the rhythm of the music. Classic animated characters stepped out of their stories, either walking or riding on sightseeing vehicles, singing and dancing under the gaze of the pedestrians.
There were many shops in Fantasy City selling merchandise of animated characters. Huo Tingshan bought a bunny ear headband and placed it on Pei Ying's head.
Pei Ying touched the bunny ears, the tips of her own ears turning slightly red. "Why did you buy this for me?"
It wasn't that no women wore them, but the shop had been filled with parents bringing their seven- or eight-year-old daughters. She and he looked completely out of place among them.
"Others have them, so shouldn't you have one too?" His inexplicable competitiveness flared up again.
The two of them took a ride on a sightseeing car, then walked for a good ten minutes before Pei Ying saw a massive castle.
The Gothic castle was decorated with light strips. Under the illumination, the enormous structure turned a dreamy purplish-pink. Fireworks began to shoot up in the distance. Like a fairy tapping her magic wand in the sky, the heavens instantly exploded with a myriad of colorful patterns.
She had only looked up at the fireworks for a moment, but when Pei Ying returned to her senses, she found that she and Huo Tingshan were walking down a floral path.
Diana pink roses, as abundant as brocade clouds, clustered on both sides, stretching all the way down like a pair of giant spread wings. And at the end of the floral path, Pei Ying saw the castle's grand doors decorated with beautiful ornaments.
Some pedestrians, seeing the beautiful floral path, wanted to come over as well but were stopped by the staff. "Sorry, sir, this area is temporarily closed."
"But didn't they just go through?" someone asked in confusion.
The staff member smiled. "Special circumstances."
However, the girl next to the guy understood. "This is the power of money. They rented out this whole area."
Fantasy City looked dreamy, but in reality, it was very practical. Money was king, and privileges were thrown around easily. It was just that booking a venue wasn't cheap; it was calculated in half-hour increments, and adding props cost extra.
The voices from behind drifted over faintly. Pei Ying was slightly stunned, suddenly feeling that something was off.
This morning, her three roommates had been exceptionally excited. Using the excuse of winning a prize at a flagship makeup store yesterday, Lyu Meng insisted on doing her makeup and picking out a beautiful dress for her when she saw her heading out.
Moreover, Mengmeng and the others were also in Fantasy City...
Ascending the steps one by one, the floral path came to an end. Pei Ying saw a sign nestled deep within the clusters of flowers:
MARRY ME
Pei Ying's pupils constricted slightly.
Pop, pop— Someone set off petal confetti cannons.
Vibrant petals shot high into the air before fluttering down gracefully. Amidst the rain of petals, Pei Ying saw familiar faces standing not far away.
Lyu Meng and a few roommates were there: Tan Momo, Ye Ziyi, as well as Chen Quan and Xiang Cheng. They smiled brightly, and Chen Quan had a DSLR camera hanging around his neck.
"Huo Junze..."
"I originally wanted to propose to you when you were twenty, but they all said it was too early and you definitely wouldn't agree. They told me to wait until you were about to graduate to make my move, saying the chances would be much higher then. I hope they didn't lie to me."
Huo Tingshan took a ring box from the bouquet placed nearby, then lifted his crisp suit pants with one hand and knelt on one knee amidst everyone's cheering. "Pei Ying, will you marry me?"
In the distance, fireworks began to launch on a grand scale, illuminating the sky with brilliant colors, as dreamy as Alice's Wonderland. The iridescent lights seemed to blend into a single beam, falling into Pei Ying's eyes.
The bizarre kaleidoscope appeared once again. Many fragments had already been pieced together, with only a few still scattered.
She heard herself ask: "Husband, what did you pray for just now?"
"I prayed for our marriage," a voice identical to his replied. "I prayed that I could accompany my wife safely and soundly until we are a hundred years old in this life, and I prayed that we could meet, understand, and stay by each other's side in the next life too."
The remaining fragments pieced together one by one, and the first golden fragment gradually emerged—
She had time-traveled to the late Chu Dynasty, where she met him when he was still the Governor of Youzhou. There, they came to know and love each other, spending a lifetime together.
Pei Ying lowered her eyes to look at the man in front of her.
He looked much younger, the silver threads in his hair gone, but the emotion in those narrow, dark eyes remained as intense as ever.
Her eyes curved into a smile as she placed her hand into his large palm, saying in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Huo Tingshan, the gods heard your wish back then. We will be together in this life too."
