The next time Fu Qi went to see Qin Zhen, he went with her mother.
All three members of the family were surnamed Qin: Old Qin, Teacher Qin, and the sick Little Qin.
Old Qin had gone to find a doctor, while Teacher Qin sat beside the bed and introduced him to Qin Zhen. “This is a classmate of your cousin’s. Your cousin mentioned our little county town to him, and something happened at home, so he came here to clear his head. He stopped by to see you on your cousin’s behalf.”
Fu Qi smiled at the eighteen-year-old Qin Zhen, who did not know him yet, and said, “Hello, I’m Fu Qi. My nickname is Sweetie.”
Qin Zhen was propped up in bed. A small table had been placed in front of her. Her left hand rested beside her as an IV drip ran into it, while a box of colored pencils sat to her right. She had been drawing before Fu Qi arrived.
The moment she saw him, her face tightened. “Hello.”
She had called him a lunatic the first time they met. Fu Qi knew she wasn’t going to accept him as a guest so easily.
He found an excuse to step away, leaving the mother and daughter some privacy to whisper. Sure enough, he heard Qin Zhen ask suspiciously, “Which cousin of mine?”
“The one surnamed Bai. Don’t you remember Bai Yunbian?” Teacher Qin said. “Your Third Granduncle’s grandson—the one whose family owns a factory. Your Third Granduncle mentioned him two Chinese New Years ago.”
“…I don’t remember.”
Teacher Qin continued, “The one studying in the capital. Didn’t you two exchange letters back when having pen pals was popular?”
Qin Zhen remembered. “The one with the ugly handwriting!”
Teacher Qin pointed out that she remembered only his handwriting and not his good grades. Qin Zhen didn’t want to listen to her nagging. She said she had seen Fu Qi yesterday, that he seemed like a suspicious lunatic rather than a good person, and asked whether Teacher Qin had confirmed his identity with her cousin.
She hadn’t.
If she had, Fu Qi’s lie would have been exposed.
Qin Zhen’s parents had entrusted their house to relatives of the Bai family. The fact that those relatives had not come to look after it for forty years suggested that they didn’t care about the property at all. They were probably quite wealthy, and perhaps not very close to the Qin family.
The couple were teachers, with a sick daughter to care for. Fu Qi guessed they wouldn’t go out of their way to contact Bai Yunbian over such a trivial matter. Nor would Qin Zhen’s dreams contain the contact information of some distant cousin. That was why he had dared to invent this identity.
Qin Zhen said, “What if he’s a con artist?”
“He got acquainted with Old Li across the hall as soon as he arrived yesterday. Old Li’s family has four or five police officers…”
Fu Qi waited until the two of them had finished whispering before going back in. But since they weren’t familiar with each other, he couldn’t say much and left soon afterward.
Over the next few days, Fu Qi didn’t bother Qin Zhen too much. He acted just as he had described to her parents—as though he had come to clear his head—and spent his time wandering around the little county town Qin Zhen liked so much.
He was good at many things, and even managed to make a little money on the side. From time to time, he brought fruit to the school to visit Old Qin and Teacher Qin. He asked them questions while taking advantage of their hospitality and meals.
Gradually, he learned a great deal about Qin Zhen.
Not only were her parents teachers, but her maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather were teachers as well. Her father taught at a school while also contributing to magazines. He was a somewhat well-known writer on the side.
Her health problems had begun suddenly when she was fifteen. After more than six months of examinations, the doctors confirmed that the problem was with her heart, and she had been forbidden from taking part in anything strenuous.
Like Jiang Little Crazy, she had taken the college entrance examination that year and been accepted into a good university. But because of her poor health, she might have to apply for a leave of absence when the time came.
She was a picky eater who loved meat and hated vegetables, which earned her no end of lectures from Teacher Qin.
She usually began her medication in the morning, spending the time drawing or reading novels. One of her parents would always stay by her side. By the time the IV drip was finished, it was already afternoon. She would put on her headphones to listen to music or watch a movie, and the hours would pass quickly.
Toward evening, when the sun was no longer so fierce, she often went downstairs to play with Jiang Little Crazy. If the nurses allowed it, she would occasionally ride her bicycle home along the tree-lined road blooming with silk trees and spend the night there.
…
The days passed one after another.
Then, one day, Qin’s father went to the provincial capital to attend a writers’ gathering. On the summer evening after he left, a sudden torrential rain swept in. Teacher Qin received a call saying that Qin Zhen’s grandmother had accidentally fallen and been taken to the county hospital.
Teacher Qin was an only child. She hurried out, and at the school gate she ran into Fu Qi. She asked him to take dinner to Qin Zhen at the hospital and told her to rest there properly. She would go and keep her company the next day.
When Fu Qi arrived at the hospital, thunder boomed overhead and rain poured down in sheets. The sky outside was dark and oppressive, as though it might collapse at any moment.
“I’ll be visiting relatives for the next few days, and I’m leaving for school on Saturday…” Jiang Little Crazy was saying goodbye to Qin Zhen. “I’ll come see you again when I’m back for the National Day holiday.”
Qin Zhen said, “Don’t you have to keep taking your driving test—the second section?”
Jiang Little Crazy had suffered a crushing defeat during the second stage of the driving test. She had failed three times and ultimately hadn’t managed to get the driver’s license she had been longing for before summer vacation ended.
Qin Zhen had hit her where it hurt. Jiang Little Crazy clutched her chest in wounded anguish.
But that was what best friends were for—hurting each other. She quickly pulled herself together and said, “It’s only a few days. I can take the exam during winter break instead… Once I’m in college, I’ll be able to date. When I come back for National Day, I’ll tell you all about my boyfriend!”
Teenagers of that age had only just escaped the intense pressure of studying. Their minds were brimming with energy, and they were full of longing for college and romance.
Qin Zhen was no exception. However, because of her health, she had little contact with people her own age, and her parents kept a close eye on her. Dating was out of the question for her, so she was extremely envious of Jiang Little Crazy.
As they chatted, a nurse came over, and Fu Qi followed her inside.
The nurse said, “Jiang Little Crazy, the director was just asking about you. It’s raining so heavily—why haven’t you gone home yet?”
“I’m leaving now.” Jiang Little Crazy waved at Qin Zhen and headed outside.
She knew that Fu Qi was a guest of Qin Zhen’s family, but she still didn’t like him. Since she hadn’t yet evolved into Academician Jiang and become so compassionate, she shot him a cold look as she passed by.
The nurse had come to draw blood. Afterward, she closed the window and left. Only then did Fu Qi tell Qin Zhen what had happened at her home.
Qin Zhen had a cell phone. She called her mother and learned that Grandma’s fall hadn’t been too serious, which put her at ease. She then fiddled with her phone until she found a movie, planning to eat while watching it.
The phone in her memories was one of those old-fashioned antiques with a rather small screen. Fu Qi washed some fruit for her, and when he came back out, he heard the sound coming from the phone. He turned to look and happened to see a zombie in a dark blue Daoist robe hopping along as it went to bite someone.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Don’t always watch movies like this…”
In Qin Zhen’s old memories, the two of them weren’t close yet, so saying this counted as rather offensive.
Sure enough, Qin Zhen glared at him. “What’s wrong with this kind of movie?”
Fu Qi fell silent.
How was he supposed to explain it?
Should he tell her that watching movies like this had damaged her brain, which was why she had mistakenly thought she was a zombie?
Then again, during the time she had lived alone inside a tomb, believing herself to be a zombie had made things much easier for her.
Fu Qi sighed. “I just think your heart isn’t very strong, and I’m worried you’ll get frightened.”
“These movies aren’t scary at all!” Qin Zhen said. “They’re comedies. They’re nice and relaxing, okay?”
“You like this sort of thing?” Fu Qi asked.
“A little excitement, but nothing frightening. Of course I like them.”
Fu Qi had never seen a movie like this before. After expressing his curiosity and receiving Qin Zhen’s permission, he sat down beside the hospital bed and watched with her.
Rainy nights were perfect for watching movies.
Whether it was because of something in Qin Zhen’s memories or because the hospital had arranged it that way, she was the only person staying in the room.
In reality, Qin Zhen would definitely have snuggled into Fu Qi’s arms and held on to his arm while they watched. But the Qin Zhen in this dream wouldn’t.
While watching the movie, Fu Qi also kept one part of his attention on Qin Zhen.
The movie really was quite good. Qin Zhen was completely engrossed in it. Several times, she stared at the screen so intently that she forgot to eat, and Fu Qi had to remind her.
When the movie ended, Qin Zhen was still savoring it, looking as though she wanted to watch it a second time. It wasn’t until she saw Fu Qi finish gathering up the dishes and utensils that she finally lifted her head from the phone.
First she glanced at the torrential rain outside, then she looked at Fu Qi. Her expression turned a little pitiful as she said, “You’re leaving already? The rain’s so heavy.”
The moment Fu Qi heard her say that, he knew she didn’t want him to leave.
Even in the dream she cherished most, she still had many lonely moments.
“It’s precisely because the rain is so heavy that I need to get back quickly,” Fu Qi said. “Otherwise, people will think I’m crazy again.”
Qin Zhen, who was completely at ease with him, would have gotten angry at him for imitating her and directly ordered him to stay. But the Qin Zhen who wasn’t familiar with Fu Qi yet was too embarrassed to say something like that to an outsider. After hesitating, she said, “…Oh. Be careful on your way home.”
Fu Qi left the hospital room, only to return five minutes later. After receiving permission, he pushed open the door and went inside.
Qin Zhen’s originally dejected expression instantly brightened with delight.
“Why are you back?”
Fu Qi regretfully said that the rain was too heavy.
“Yes, it’s raining so hard, and there’s thunder too. It’s really scary!” Qin Zhen said, hiding the happiness in her eyes. To comfort him, she enthusiastically invited him to continue watching the movie with her.
Fu Qi agreed and watched the second zombie movie with her.
By the time it ended, it was already very late. The nurse came in to draw more blood and reminded Qin Zhen to go to sleep early.
It wasn’t convenient for Fu Qi to stay. Under Qin Zhen’s reluctant gaze, he left.
He came back early the next morning. Qin Zhen was delighted to see him and pulled him into watching movies with her again—the very same two they had watched the day before.
“These are the only two I have. Jiang Little Crazy helped me download them,” Qin Zhen said.
As she spoke, her eyes suddenly lit up. “Why don’t you go to an Internet café and download a few new movies for me?”
Computers hadn’t yet become common household items in those days. Aside from waiting for something to come on television, the only way to watch movies was to download them onto a phone—and the phone’s storage was so limited that two movies filled it completely.
Fu Qi had never even been to an Internet café. He answered honestly, “I might not know how to use computers from this era.”
Not knowing how to use a computer was perfectly normal. Not knowing how to use a computer “from this era,” however, was rather strange.
Qin Zhen asked, “You’re not from this era, are you?”
“No.” Fu Qi said, “I came here from the future. In our time, computers and cell phones are only about the size of a palm and can be carried around anywhere. They have more movies than you could ever finish watching.”
Qin Zhen didn’t believe him. “You say you came here from the future, so do you know what my future will be like? How long will I live?”
Fu Qi thought for a moment. “You and Jiang Little Crazy will both live into your sixties. She’ll become a renowned medical academician in China. You’ll be even more impressive—you’ll become an old lady and still look young and beautiful, and you’ll save all of humanity… The only regrettable thing is that you’ll become a pervert.”
“You’re the pervert!” His prediction was so far in the future that Qin Zhen didn’t believe a word of it. She said irritably, “I knew you weren’t a good person. The moment you get familiar with someone, your true nature comes out!”
Fu Qi said, “I’m obviously a model gentleman.”
“What model gentleman goes to someone else’s house every day to freeload?”
“Everyone has times when they’re down on their luck.” Remembering that Qin Zhen liked reading novels, Fu Qi searched his memory and said, “Haven’t you heard the saying? Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—never look down on…”
“Get lost!” Qin Zhen cut him off.
After that day, the two of them could be considered friends. Fu Qi asked Qin Zhen why she didn’t simply go to an Internet café to download movies herself. Surely she had at least half an hour of free time.
Qin Zhen said she didn’t like the atmosphere there or the smell of smoke.
And so the task fell to Fu Qi. He learned how to use the computers of that era, took Jiang Little Crazy’s place, and would occasionally go download movies and music for Qin Zhen.
He ran errands for Qin Zhen, only to be criticized for coming back with the smell of smoke clinging to him.
“You should call me Sweetie,” Fu Qi said.
At last, Qin Zhen had the chance to mock the nickname she had wanted to complain about ever since she first heard it.
Later, Qin Zhen’s father returned, and it was time for the universities to begin their new term. He went to Qin Zhen’s school and arranged for her to take a leave of absence. After he came back, No. 1 High School also started its new term.
Qin Zhen’s parents resumed their lives of preparing lessons and teaching classes, while Fu Qi took on most of the responsibility for keeping Qin Zhen company.
He also bought himself an old-fashioned cell phone. Qin Zhen often sent him messages. At first, they said things like, “Little Qi, come over and eat some fruit!”
Later, they became, “Little Qi, movie!”
In the end, even the form of address disappeared altogether. She would simply write, “Come keep me company!”
Fu Qi accompanied Qin Zhen as she admired the roses climbing the hospital’s outer walls. He took pictures of her and rode a bicycle with her through the avenue shaded by trees and blooming silk trees. Sometimes, he would take her to the river embankment to watch the midsummer sunset.
Every day was ordinary beyond words.
There was only one problem: Fu Qi had no money, so he had no choice but to find a job.
When the Qin family of three heard that he had become a shooting instructor at the famous, high-end shooting range in the county town, they were all astonished. Because of this, Fu Qi specifically invited the entire family over to try it out.
The couple felt embarrassed, but Fu Qi told them it was no trouble. He was the most handsome instructor there, had the best aim, and was highly favored by the owner and trusted by the customers, so he could bring people in to play.
His lack of modesty left the couple speechless.
In the end, with Qin Zhen eagerly looking forward to it, they still took half a day off from the hospital and went there.
Qin Zhen enthusiastically fired several rounds, but, unsurprisingly, every shot went wide. Old Mr. Qin was good with a pen but hopeless with a gun. Teacher Qin, on the other hand, had surprisingly good aim and hit the target many times.
After spending the entire afternoon there, the couple invited everyone out for dinner on the way home. During the meal, they reminded Qin Zhen not to keep calling Fu Qi over to the hospital all the time and interfere with his work.
That reminder made Qin Zhen think of something. She asked, “When are you going home? Is your family in the capital?”
Earlier, Fu Qi had said that something had happened to his family. Assuming it was something unfortunate, and because they were not very familiar with him, Qin Zhen’s parents had never asked about it. Now that Qin Zhen had brought it up, the couple both turned to look at him.
“In the capital. I’m not going back for now,” Fu Qi said.
As he spoke, his gaze swept across the three members of the Qin family, lingering for two seconds longer on Qin Zhen’s rosy cheeks. In a low voice, he said, “Perhaps not going back would be a good choice, too.”
Qin Zhen’s parents were both startled. Qin Zhen, putting herself in his place, asked, “If you don’t go back, what will your parents do?”
“They’ve already passed away,” Fu Qi said. “I have no family left there.”
In the apocalypse, being alone was the norm. Of all the people Qin Zhen had met before, very few had family members by their side like Fan Xu and Ye Hui.
“Oh…” Qin Zhen was stunned.
Before anyone in the Qin family could offer words of comfort, Fu Qi continued in a clear voice, “My name is Fu Qi. I’m twenty-seven years old and from the capital. I was enrolled in a combined master’s and doctoral program at a national defense university. Seven years ago, an accident happened. All my parents and other relatives died, and I was unable to complete my studies. Still, I have a clean background, and my family left behind some assets. They should be enough to support me comfortably for the rest of my life.”
The amount of information was overwhelming, and all three members of the Qin family fell silent.
Old Mr. Qin was the first to recover. “If you were my student, that would be wonderful.”
Teacher Qin wordlessly nudged him, telling him to shut up.
Fu Qi smiled and turned to Qin Zhen. “I became an orphan at twenty, and you…”
Qin Zhen had been twenty-one when she lost her parents, making her much the same as him.
“What about you?” Fu Qi asked in a low, clear voice. “Qin Zhen, could you ever leave your parents?”
The question sounded utterly baffling to Qin Zhen. Seeing how miserable Fu Qi was, she refrained from asking whether something was wrong with his brain and shouted, “Of course I could never leave my mom and dad! I have to stay with them for the rest of my life!”
The Qin couple were looking at her with affectionate amusement. She continued, “And if they won’t let me help write lesson plans and grade papers, then I definitely won’t be able to leave them in my next life, either!”
“…” Teacher Qin gave her a slap on the back. “Eat your food!”
That evening, when they returned to the hospital, Teacher Qin stayed behind with Qin Zhen. Fu Qi went downstairs with Mr. Qin, and they parted ways in the lobby.
Fu Qi watched Mr. Qin leave, then sat alone in the pavilion outside the hospital. He stared for a long time at the brightly lit sign reading “Haiyin Charity Hospital” before turning to look up at the ward on the third floor.
After the lights in the third-floor ward went out, he raised his head toward the sky.
Air pollution was not as severe in those days. The night sky was a deep blue scattered with stars, and even the moon, a symbol of reunion, was exceptionally full—just like the family of three that Qin Zhen had.
Qin Zhen had her parents and friends here, all the most important people in her life. It might not be so bad to let her remain here forever, right?
At least she was happy.
That was enough.
Fu Qi began to consider staying with Qin Zhen forever. What changed his mind was a young man.
When he met the man, Qin Zhen was receiving an IV while helping Teacher Qin grade math papers, and Fu Qi had been dragged in to help.
“This Wang Lipeng got a sixty-seven last time and a fifty-two this time. Not a single bit of improvement, honestly!” Qin Zhen lamented, as if she really were a teacher.
Fu Qi had less experience than she did. He handed her a test paper and said, “Little Qin, could you help me figure out how many points to take off here?”
Little Qin was easily satisfied. She accepted the paper with a giggle.
The two of them were in the middle of grading papers when someone knocked on the ward door from outside. Qin Zhen assumed it was a nurse and told them to come in.
However, the person who entered was not a nurse but a young man in his twenties. He was wearing a shirt and was not particularly tall. His gaze toward Qin Zhen was intense, and as soon as he entered, he smiled and said, “Do you remember me?”
“Mr. Lin,” Qin Zhen called him.
Mr. Lin looked eager to chat with Qin Zhen, but Qin Zhen had no desire to speak with him at all. After exchanging a few polite words, she tugged at Fu Qi, who was narrowing his eyes as he sized Mr. Lin up, and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Lin, but I’m busy with something and can’t talk for long.”
Mr. Lin was not offended. He merely smiled gently and left.
After he was gone, Fu Qi asked who Mr. Lin was. Qin Zhen said, “He’s the young owner of this hospital. His name is Lin… Lin Hongzhi, I think? He seems to live abroad. He’s particularly interested in my illness and comes to see me every so often. He often tries to persuade me to go abroad for treatment.”
Fu Qi was silent for a moment before asking, “Do you want to go?”
“Of course not,” Qin Zhen said. “I don’t want to go, but my parents said they’ll consider it depending on how my recovery goes. If there’s really no other way, then we’ll talk about it…”
Fu Qi nodded and fell silent.
Before leaving that night, he deliberately asked the medical staff where Mr. Lin was staying. Then he subdued him, strangled him, and broke his neck in one swift, efficient motion.
Fu Qi knew this was only a dream. The events in reality had already happened; he could not change anything, nor could he be certain that killing Mr. Lin would not cause something abnormal and uncontrollable to happen in Qin Zhen’s dream. Even so, he chose to do it.
As it turned out, it was all in vain.
The next day, Mr. Lin appeared before Qin Zhen again, smiling and chatting as if nothing had happened.
Fu Qi realized he had been wrong.
He had wondered whether remaining forever asleep in the past might be better for Qin Zhen. But fiction was fiction. Once her dream reached the age of twenty-one, where would she go from there?
And when that happened, would he, an outsider powerless to change anything, simply watch the tragedy happen all over again?
Fu Qi could not accept it.
He attacked the younger Lin Hongzhi five times in all. After becoming certain that he could not change anything, one afternoon he watched the zombie movie with Qin Zhen again and said, “I’ll tell you a story—a zombie story.”
Qin Zhen loved hearing stories like that and hurriedly agreed.
So Fu Qi began. He told her about a young man who fell into a tomb while tracking people who had entered the country illegally. There, he encountered a Zombie King—a young woman who was foolish, kind, and adorable.
“…Without realizing it, he fell in love with her. But later, he discovered that the Zombie King was actually a human who had been persecuted. To help her fellow humans, she had offered herself up for research and fallen into a deep sleep.”
When Fu Qi finished the story, he looked steadily at Qin Zhen.
Qin Zhen stared blankly back at him. Her lips moved a few times before she said, “Two minutes, five sentences, and the story’s already over? You got into such a good university—are you sure you wrote your college entrance exam essay yourself?”
Fu Qi couldn’t help laughing. He wanted to pinch Qin Zhen’s cheek, but as he raised his hand, he remembered their current identities and the difference in their ages, and lowered it again.
“I told it rather briefly. I just wanted to ask you something. Suppose you were that Zombie King. Outside, there’s a bleak, harsh reality and a boyfriend. In the dream, your parents and friends your own age are there, but so are bad people, and you might have to relive the tragic past you once endured… Which side would you want to stay on?”
Qin Zhen said, “The story’s too vague. I can’t put myself in her shoes at all. How would I know what she’d choose?”
Fu Qi said, “Think about it.”
Qin Zhen propped her chin on her hand and thought for a moment. “If it were me, I’d probably stay in the dream… No matter how tragic it was, I’d still want to be in the same world as my mom and dad.”
It felt as though a huge stone had dropped into Fu Qi’s heart. His heart sank heavily, yet at the same time, it felt strangely light.
He squeezed his eyes shut. A moment later, he opened them and gave a soft laugh, saying slowly, “I understand…”
“But she might choose to wake up, too.” The moment Fu Qi finished speaking, Qin Zhen added uncertainly, “The Zombie King has a boyfriend, doesn’t she? What if she really loves him?”
She had never been in love herself, so she felt a little embarrassed. “I don’t know how much the Zombie King loves her boyfriend. If she loves him a lot, she definitely wouldn’t have the heart to leave him alone.”
Fu Qi smiled again. “I don’t know that either.”
Qin Zhen felt that he was a terrible storyteller. If he ever wrote a novel, he would definitely get torn apart by the readers.
She grumbled inwardly and said, “It depends on whether her boyfriend is handsome and whether he has a good personality.”
Fu Qi said, “He’s just like me.”
Qin Zhen let out an awkward “Uh.” She stole a quick glance at him, lowered her eyes, then secretly glanced at him again. After scratching her cheek, she said, “The Zombie King’s boyfriend is just like you, and you’re asking me what I’d think if I were her… You—you wouldn’t happen to like me, would you?”
The moment she finished asking, her face turned bright red.
Red-faced and flustered, Qin Zhen saw that Fu Qi was about to speak and hurriedly cut him off. “Don’t like me, okay? I’m only eighteen. If I’m going to like someone, it’ll be someone around my age. You’re almost ten years older than me. You’re way too old for me—we’re not a good match.”
Fu Qi: “…”
She really had some nerve.
“You and I, as we are right now, really aren’t suitable for each other,” Fu Qi said. “I’m telling you all this because I asked Little Daoist Zombie at Qingyang Temple to do a reading for us. She said that you and I are destined to meet in a future life, and that we’ll fall in love.”
“Ha! Ha!”
The girlish shyness in Qin Zhen’s eyes vanished instantly, leaving only a faint blush on her face.
After loudly expressing her disbelief with a hearty burst of laughter, she said, “I’ve only ever heard of people being destined to meet in a past life. What does it mean to be destined in a future life? What kind of nonsense is that? If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable!”
“I’m serious.” Fu Qi looked into her bright, lucid eyes, seeing the vitality in her expression, while his mind conjured up the image of that small zombie with bluish skin and a painfully thin body.
His heart softened. Looking at Qin Zhen, he spoke slowly and solemnly.
“I never had the chance to say this before. Now I want to tell you: I like you. I might even like you very, very much… Qin Zhen, forty-five years from now, will you be with me?”
Throughout his confession, Qin Zhen had been shaking her head firmly. But when she heard the words “forty-five years from now,” her expression instantly filled with confusion.
She suspected that Fu Qi was talking nonsense, but his voice was gentle and solemn, his gaze deep and earnest, without the slightest hint of a joke.
Eighteen-year-old Qin Zhen still wanted to refuse him, but for some reason, the firm rejection that had come so readily before suddenly wouldn’t leave her lips.
After hesitating, she said, “How about you go to the Seventh Hospital and get your head checked first? I know a brain specialist there.”
Fu Qi countered, “How do you know a brain specialist? Have you been treated there before?”
“…”
Qin Zhen glared at him and angrily reminded him, “You seem to be confessing your feelings to me. Could you at least take it seriously?”
“So, are you willing?”
The conversation had gone off track, and he forcibly steered it back.
Under Fu Qi’s gaze, as clear and still as a tranquil pool, Qin Zhen blinked and said awkwardly, “You really want to be with me when I’m in my sixties? I’ll have gone through menopause by then!”
Fu Qi: “…”
Hadn’t she only not become a zombie and thrown away her brain yet? How could her thoughts already be so bizarre?
And yet, it was adorable.
“I don’t mind,” Fu Qi said. “I don’t mind.”
Qin Zhen looked at him, then lowered her head and thought. After a while, she raised her head to look at him again.
She repeated this four or five times before finally speaking as though she had made up her mind.
“All right. Forty-five years from now, if I’m still alive, single, and my descendants don’t object; if you’re still alive and haven’t gotten yourself entangled in any messy relationships; if you aren’t paralyzed, disabled, or senile; if you can still be as dashing, handsome, fit, and wealthy as you are now; and if you’re still willing to spend money on me the way my parents are…”
Qin Zhen paused to catch her breath, then continued, “I’m not in good health, so I need money for medical treatment. That means I absolutely can’t be poor—and when the time comes, I’ll be willing to be with you!”
There were far too many conditions packed into that long string of words. Most of them made no sense at all, and it was obvious she was joking and brushing him off. But Fu Qi listened with complete seriousness.
He smiled again, gazing at Qin Zhen tenderly as he said softly, “All right. I’ll remember that. I’ll wait for you forever.”
He would wait for her forever, just as she had waited for him alone in an empty tomb many years ago.
“I’ll wait until you come to me.” Fu Qi looked intently at Qin Zhen and made the promise in a low voice.
There was something strange about him, and Qin Zhen kept glancing at his face.
Fu Qi noticed her little movements and said, “If one day you want to wake up, just open your eyes. I promise that the moment you do, I’ll be the first person you see.”
Qin Zhen glanced at him, closed her eyes, and then opened them again, her face lighting up with delight. “Wow! I really did see you the instant I opened my eyes!”
She closed her eyes once more and opened them again. “Wow! I saw you again!”
Fu Qi simply watched her with a smile.
After they played this game a few times, a nurse came to take Qin Zhen for an MRI.
As she was leaving, Qin Zhen turned her head toward Fu Qi and said, “I’ll listen to you spout nonsense later.”
Fu Qi smiled at her. “All right. See you later.”
At eighteen, Qin Zhen’s greatest worry was her heart condition. Every so often, she had to be hospitalized for treatment. She couldn’t attend classes regularly, couldn’t take her driver’s test, and had been forced to give up taekwondo after studying it for years.
Because she couldn’t attend school normally, many of her friends gradually forgot about her. In the end, her best friend became Jiang Xiaofeng, whom she had met during one of her hospital stays.
Although Jiang Xiaofeng loved taking risks and occasionally transformed into Jiang Little Crazy, Qin Zhen still liked her friend very much.
Later, Jiang Little Crazy went out of town for college. Qin Zhen thought she was going to be alone again, but then a new friend appeared.
He was a little older, loved joking around, and sometimes said things that made her want to hit him. Still, he was fun to be around and had a good personality, so Qin Zhen quite liked him.
But one day, after saying a whole string of strange things, this friend disappeared without a trace.
Qin Zhen was troubled by it for a while. She was lonely and bored for some time, but life went on. As time passed, everything and everyone who had left gradually faded, like old photographs.
Little by little, she could no longer remember him clearly.
Then one day, Qin Zhen’s parents watched a movie with her. It was her favorite kind—a zombie movie. As she watched, she suddenly remembered the story of the Zombie King, as well as the friend who had appeared out of nowhere and then vanished just as suddenly.
Full of excitement, she told her parents the story. At the end, she asked, “If you were the Zombie King, where would you choose to stay?”
Old Mr. Qin said the story was mindless nonsense and that watching too much of it would make her stupid.
Teacher Qin agreed, adding that it was too frightening—more terrifying than a zombie movie—and that Qin Zhen wasn’t allowed to watch things like that anymore because they were bad for her heart.
“Who told you a story like that?”
“Who was it…?” Qin Zhen pressed a hand to her forehead and thought for a moment before finally remembering the name. “Fu Qi. Fu Qi told me.”
“Who’s Fu Qi?” Old Mr. Qin asked.
Qin Zhen said, “Cousin Bai’s friend. The one who came here to get away for a while a few weeks ago. He even took us to the shooting range.”
Old Mr. Qin looked puzzled. “Was there really such a person?”
“You’ve been watching too many ridiculous novels and movies. You’ve confused yourself,” Teacher Qin said, shaking her head as she tapped Qin Zhen on the forehead. “Your Cousin Bai is several generations removed from us, and we only contact him once every few years. How could one of his friends come all the way to our little county town to get away from things, then spend so much time with our family?”
Qin Zhen was completely confused. She tried to find evidence proving that such a person had really existed, only to discover that there wasn’t the slightest trace connected to Fu Qi. Even the nurses at the hospital said they had never seen anyone like him.
How could a living person simply disappear into thin air?
“You must have dreamed it,” Teacher Qin said.
Had it been a dream?
Qin Zhen felt dazed, as though she had become Zhuang Zhou, unable to tell dream from reality.
Unable to decide, she asked her mother, “Am I awake right now?”
“Whether you’re awake or not, don’t you know that yourself?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?” Teacher Qin’s expression grew more severe as she looked at her. “You must stay awake. Whether you’re Qin Zhen, the Zombie King, or anyone else, no matter what you’ve experienced, you must always remain clear-minded.”
“But, but I can’t bear to…”
Qin Zhen didn’t know why she had said that. She only knew that the moment the words left her mouth, it felt as though a floodgate had suddenly opened in her chest. Waves of grief surged toward her, almost choking her.
Her nose prickled, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You may not want to let go, but you still have to stay clear-headed,” Teacher Qin said. “A person’s life is a balance of gains and losses. No matter what you’ve been through or where you are, your mom and dad hope that you’ll always be healthy, clear-minded, brave, and optimistic. You have to believe that even if one day we’re no longer here, there will still be people in this world who truly love you—people worth living well for.”
Qin Zhen’s eyes were already brimming with tears. Her parents blurred before her, and her throat tightened until she couldn’t speak.
She wiped her eyes, trying to see them more clearly, only to find that time seemed to be speeding up under the control of an invisible hand.
More than forty years flashed by in an instant. She watched as her parents rapidly aged, drifted away, and disappeared into the distant sky.
Qin Zhen desperately chased after them. In her haze, she passed through an invisible wall. A blinding white light shone across her face. She wanted to open her eyes, but couldn’t, and there was a great deal of noise around her.
Someone was barking like a dog. Someone else was shouting, “Night Sis!” “Little Guang!” “Little Jiang!” “Little Qin!” And a woman’s voice was saying, “As long as you’re willing to wake up, I’ll marry you.”
What the hell? Why was a woman proposing to her?
If she was going to date someone, it would be a man.
At that thought, a deep voice suddenly rang out in her mind.
“…I like you. I might even like you very much… Qin Zhen, forty-five years from now, will you be with me?”
Qin Zhen abruptly opened her eyes. Through the dazzling light and her hazy tears, she saw the tall figure of a man standing against the light.
So he hadn’t been lying after all.
Qin Zhen thought.
[End of Main Story]
