Chapter 69#
Zhao Rong spent the entire morning leisurely packing at home.
During this time, both Xu Xin and Fang Zhuoqun had come to ask if he needed help, but he refused. If he truly wanted help, he could just hire a moving company, but he didn’t like that.
He was a person with many small belongings. When he lived with Qiao Nanqi before, he couldn’t display anything. This habit had been suppressed for a long time, so much so that after moving back to his own home these past few months, it had intensified, and his house was stuffed to the brim. In this situation, others coming to help him pack would likely be more of a hindrance than a help. Moreover, he quite enjoyed the feeling of packing before returning to his hometown—the one from before he transmigrated into this book—to settle down. He decided to do it himself, finishing whenever he finished.
And so, he spent the morning in a carefree manner, listening to music while packing his things.
After lunch, Zhao Rong went to the nursing home.
Unfortunately, Zhao Ming was not lucid today.
It was already freezing outside, and Zhao Ming was having an episode. The caregiver had settled her in bed. When Zhao Rong arrived, Zhao Ming had her eyes closed, whether asleep or in a daze.
He didn’t dare disturb her, so he only whispered softly to her, “Mom, the things I needed to handle are done. Once the paperwork is ready, we’ll leave in a while.”
There was a certain risk in Zhao Ming flying in her condition; if she had a severe episode on the plane, it would be impossible to handle in time. He contacted the people at the nursing home and bought a vehicle that could house some emergency equipment. The caregiver who had been looking after Zhao Ming was a staff member at the nursing home. Her entire family was in Yangcheng, and she didn’t want to follow Zhao Rong. Zhao Rong spent some more time setting requirements and asked Xu Xin to help find a caregiver who could accompany them on the road over the next few days—as for Zhuxi, he had already made all the necessary arrangements there, so there was no need to worry.
With all these trivial matters settled, the day passed silently.
By the time Zhao Rong left the nursing home, the hour hand on the clock was nearing four.
Deep winter was quietly and slowly creeping in. The days were very short, and twilight was about to descend.
The weather had been too clear these past few days, with hardly a cloud in sight, only the faintly emerging golden hue about to spill out.
It was like the rising and falling tide, or like the silent tolling of an evening bell, stirring a slowly rising golden ripple.
As he drove into the residential complex, the security guard leaned out. “Mr. Zhao, someone was looking for you just now. You weren’t here, and that gentleman seemed to follow another resident inside.”
“Thanks,” Zhao Rong was a bit confused and slowed his car down. “Did he register a name?”
“Let me see…”
The guard flipped through the visitor log. “No, the name column is blank.”
“Understood, I’ll go in and check.”
But once he parked and walked to his front door, there was no one waiting.
He had a lot to handle these days, so it was possible someone came to find him, though most of these matters were handled through Xu Xin.
Zhao Rong sent Xu Xin a message asking if anyone was looking for him. He planned to continue packing after entering the house, but a new message popped up in his notification bar.
It was the young girl from the pet shop.
Opening the message, the first thing he saw was a photo of the oldest cat.
The lighting in the photo was much brighter, unlike the ones taken at night.
There was no text, only a single photo. Following their usual habit, perhaps the girl was outside and the internet connection was poor, so other photos were still being sent.
He casually clicked into the girl’s recent updates. On her homepage, all the recent photos were only of the cats he had boarded at the pet shop; there were no other cats.
He had quite a good impression of this young girl.
Thinking about how she didn’t show up yesterday and the electronic invitation he sent showed no record of entry from start to finish, he set down the items in his hand, sat on the carpet by the window, hugged a pillow, and typed: “Thanks. Did you take the cat home?”
Another photo immediately popped up from the other end.
It was of another, younger cat, also raised to be quite chubby. It stared at the camera with round eyes, its chin slightly tilted up, looking as if it were waiting for the person taking the photo to reach out and pet it. Seeing this, Zhao Rong instinctively reached out, only realizing he couldn’t actually touch it when his fingertips hit the screen.
How silly.
He smiled and shook his head.
The other side seemed to be staring at the phone, as an immediate reply came: “Mhm.”
Exceedingly brief.
Zhao Rong initially wanted to directly ask if there was some inconvenience that prevented her from coming to the wedding yesterday, but seeing the “typing…” status on the input bar, he decided to wait for her to finish.
But as he waited, the “typing…” status remained at the top of the chat box, yet no new message arrived.
…Was she writing some long discourse?
Wait, they didn’t really have anything long to discuss, did they?
Zhao Rong was truly puzzled and didn’t plan to wait any longer, so he sent the question he had drafted.
However, at that exact moment, the other side had finally finished typing. Just as Zhao Rong’s message went through, a message arrived from the other end as well.
The two messages from them appeared in the chat box simultaneously.
Zhao Rong: “Why didn’t you come yesterday? Was it inconvenient? If you were worried about something, maybe I was a bit abrupt. How about I just transfer some money to you? I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of them.”
The girl: “I didn’t go to pick up the wedding favor yesterday, sorry.”
So what she had been editing just now was about not coming yesterday.
Zhao Rong: “…”
He seriously counted the number of characters in that sentence—including the formal punctuation, it was only fourteen characters.
Fourteen characters, yet the “typing…” status had been there for at least five minutes.
This girl had always been laconic in their previous chats; could it be because she was a slow typer?
“If typing is inconvenient, you can send me voice messages, I can listen to them.”
“Don’t be sorry. I invited you because I wanted to thank you; it’s fine if you couldn’t make it. If they have any major expenses in the future, feel free to contact me.”
He was in a good mood today, so after sending that, he even picked a cat emoji and sent it over.
The other side didn’t seem interested in what he sent, but the typing was faster now. In just a few seconds, she replied: “Are you very happy today?”
Was it that obvious?
But it seemed that, except for yesterday’s wedding when Lu Xingping was there to help him keep his emotions tightly wrapped, he was easily read by others at other times.
He was indeed happy, so he naturally wouldn’t deny it.
“Yes, because I’m about to move to a place I’ve always wanted to live. I’ve been packing for the past two days.”
The other side suddenly went silent.
Perhaps she didn’t want to talk about such private topics.
After all, she was a girl, so it was normal. He might have been too happy and lost track of his boundaries.
He didn’t pay it much mind, exited the chat with the girl, and checked the reply Xu Xin had just sent.
No one was supposed to come looking for him today.
Zhao Rong’s brow furrowed slightly.
Then who was the person the guard mentioned? Everyone who knew him had his contact information; they wouldn’t come all this way and not say a word.
And it was a man…
Could it be that driver of Chen Jingnian’s?
That person hadn’t appeared for so long that Zhao Rong had almost let his guard down.
He opened the footage from the few cameras he had installed at his front door. After staring at the screen for a while, his defensive expression turned into bewilderment.
On the small path outside, he saw a figure he could recognize at a single glance without even needing to look closely.
Zhao Rong felt helpless.
Had it been a few days ago, seeing this person waiting outside for him again like this might have sparked a rare flash of anger.
But after his talk with Lu Xingping yesterday, having settled on his current plan and started preparing to move to Zhuxi, everything in Yangcheng was reaching its end. Zhao Rong couldn’t seem to get angry; instead, he felt quite peaceful.
Forget it, he was leaving anyway.
He stood up, intending to go outside and tell Qiao Nanqi to leave, but his phone suddenly rang.
Zhao Rong checked the caller ID and answered, “Senior, is something wrong?”-
Xia Yuantu was looking around.
Lu Xingping placed a coffee in front of him and said bluntly, “Looking for Zhao Rong?”
“That’s an ambiguous way to put it,” Xia Yuantu said hurriedly. “I didn’t come here to find Zhao Rong, unlike Nanqi—” He paused. “Cough, shouldn’t he be living with you now? I was just looking… he doesn’t seem to be here. Where did he go?”
“At his own home, likely packing. Since you’ve come during my working hours, any more nonsense and I’ll bill you for my time.”
“…” Xia Yuantu moved closer to Lu Xingping, saying with a guilty conscience, “I actually just… sigh, I wanted to ask you privately. Why were you so unfair to Old Qiao? If you and Zhao Rong are together, then you’re together; it’s not like we didn’t know before. But Old Qiao only recently realized he likes Zhao Rong. At this juncture, you two getting married—isn’t that just provoking him? Are we still friends or what?”
“Do you think either of us is the type of person to ignore decorum over such things?”
“…Well, certainly not.”
Unless Qiao Nanqi went mad.
Qiao Nanqi indeed almost reached a point of recklessness, but unexpectedly, he hadn’t done so.
Lu Xingping had changed out of yesterday’s formal wear. Today he wore only a plain grey sweater and glasses, sitting casually on the sofa.
He took a small sip of his freshly brewed hot coffee and said, “You say not to provoke Nanqi at this time. But at this juncture, is there anything related to Zhao Rong that wouldn’t provoke him?”
Xia Yuantu was slightly stunned.
Lu Xingping was right.
In the end, the reason Qiao Nanqi could be so lifeless yet hysterical upon hearing the wedding news a few days ago wasn’t because Zhao Rong was with a good friend, but because Qiao Nanqi suddenly realized that Zhao Rong had truly left completely and would never look back.
Even if it weren’t Lu Xingping, if Zhao Rong had fallen for someone else, or directly cut off all future possibilities for Qiao Nanqi, or hidden away silently just as he did when he moved out of Qiao Nanqi’s house…
Qiao Nanqi would likely find it all unacceptable.
“I’m just a catalyst,” Lu Xingping said calmly. “No matter how useful a catalyst is, it still requires a chemical reaction to work.” [1]
As he finished, his aimlessly wandering gaze suddenly paused—in the corner of the sofa lay a wallet, and it wasn’t his.
Last night, after Zhao Rong entered, he had hung his coat on the sofa. The wallet must have slipped out of the pocket then.
He said to Xia Yuantu, “I’m going to make a call first.”
“Okay.”
Lu Xingping took his phone, walked out onto the balcony, and called Zhao Rong.
“…”
“You left your wallet at my place.”
“…”
“No need, I’ll bring it over to you. You must be busy packing these two days. I don’t have much to do today.”
“…”
“No work. I did have some, but Yuantu came over to sit for a while, so I pushed all my afternoon work back.”
“…”
“You’re saying you have some ornaments that are too much to carry and want to give them to Xiaoyue? Alright, then I’ll just pick them up while I’m at it.”
“…”
“You’re at home now? Then I’ll be over in a bit.”
“…”
Lu Xingping hung up and came back. Xia Yuantu had already stood up. “Forget it, I don’t know what to say. About Old Qiao… I’ll try to talk to him once his emotions settle down a bit.”
“Leaving?”
“There’s stuff at the company. I really couldn’t help myself today, so I ran over to ask you.”
Lu Xingping slowly stood up, walked to the corner of the sofa, picked up Zhao Rong’s wallet, put on his coat, and said, “No need to call a driver. I happen to be heading out anyway. I’ll drop you off at the company before I go.” -
Qiao Nanqi was pacing outside Zhao Rong’s house.
Holding the documents that Xiao Wu had specifically prepared as a pretext, he had waited outside the door for an unknown amount of time.
He had actually seen Zhao Rong come home, and he had also sent Zhao Rong a message using the identity of the pet shop girl to confirm that Zhao Rong wasn’t too tired or busy.
But he was hesitant, not knowing how to knock, or what to say after Zhao Rong opened the door that wouldn’t make Zhao Rong unhappy.
He had spent a long time drafting the message to send to Zhao Rong, even considering whether to just confess everything directly.
After hesitating for a long while, he had ended up sending that perfunctory “sorry” instead.
When he saw Zhao Rong’s subsequent reply, he even felt a rare bit of good mood for the first time in days.
Zhao Rong was in a good mood, so he was naturally happy.
But this happiness didn’t even last a few seconds before Zhao Rong’s next sentence left him frozen in place. It took a long time for the needle-like, dense pain to subside.
—“Yes, because I’m about to move to a place I’ve always wanted to live. I’ve been packing for the past two days.”
“A place I’ve always wanted to live.”
Was it Lu Xingping’s house?
So moving in with Lu Xingping made Zhao Rong this happy.
Qiao Nanqi, who had still been harborring expectations and had deliberately brought a document as an excuse to see Zhao Rong more, now didn’t know whether he should knock.
Before he could make up his mind, he wandered along the small path outside the residential complex.
But as he wandered, the door to Zhao Rong’s house suddenly opened, and a car that Qiao Nanqi was intimately familiar with stopped in front of the house.
Qiao Nanqi’s footsteps faltered.
He watched as Lu Xingping got out of the car. Without even knocking, the door opened as if Zhao Rong had known he was coming.
The two said a few words at the door. Lu Xingping pulled something out of his pocket and handed it directly to Zhao Rong.
Zhao Rong smiled and happily took it.
Winter offered no vibrant colors; both sides of the nearby green path were filled with withered leaves and bare, yellowed branches, looking very desolate. Yet, the way those two stood at the door talking was so bright that it seemed to dispel the surrounding chill, like a spring breeze in winter.
Another gust of wind blew. Zhao Rong, wearing only indoor clothes, seemed to shiver from the cold. The two then entered the house together and closed the door.
Not long after, Lu Xingping came out again. While he had clearly arrived empty-handed, he was now carrying a large cardboard box in his arms. It looked quite heavy, and must have been packed full.
Zhao Rong helped him load the box into the car. He watched Lu Xingping leave before returning inside.
From the looks of it, Lu Xingping seemed to be helping Zhao Rong move.
That box… presumably contained the things Zhao Rong was moving to Lu Xingping’s house.
Qiao Nanqi watched Lu Xingping’s car drive further and further away, then looked down at the document in his hand that Xiao Wu had struggled to find as an excuse. He suddenly felt himself to be quite laughable.
Even if he saw the person, it would only make Zhao Rong uncomfortable.
Suppressing the bitterness in his heart, he turned and left.-
After handing over the ornaments he couldn’t take with him to Lu Xingping for Lu Xiaoyue, Zhao Rong went back inside and closed the door. He then remembered seeing Qiao Nanqi in the camera footage.
He reopened the surveillance outside his door and watched for a while, but didn’t see that familiar figure.
…He left?
He put on his coat, walked to the security post, and showed the guard the footage from just now.
“Excuse me,” he pointed at Qiao Nanqi’s figure, “is this the person who came looking for me?”
The guard immediately nodded. “Should be him! Looks very much like him; that gentleman was quite tall.”
Zhao Rong said, “Thank you.”
On the way back, he looked around the small path again, but didn’t see Qiao Nanqi.
He didn’t know why this man had come here only to leave without knocking.
He had originally intended to invite Qiao Nanqi in to sit for a bit. He could have calmly told Qiao Nanqi that he was moving away and there was no need to come here looking for him anymore.
Unexpectedly, Qiao Nanqi came, yet left without a word.
For a moment, Zhao Rong didn’t know how to react. He had already prepared the battlefield and sharpened his weapons, waiting for the enemy to charge so they could have a silent showdown. But now, it was as if he were ready for battle, but the enemy had sounded the retreat.
At the wedding, Qiao Nanqi was the same. He just came and did nothing.
They had clearly known each other for over a decade and thought they understood each other, but in the end, it seemed everyone had changed a bit.
Since the man was gone, Zhao Rong didn’t think about it anymore.
He went home and continued packing.
When he reached the bookshelf, he once again caught sight of the book he had quietly read all the way through while Qiao Nanqi was blocking his front door last time.
Time Migration.
His gaze paused.
Last time, he had pulled this book out at random, but because of the past, he had instinctively tried to put it back as if escaping, only to stubbornly re-read it one more time.
This time, he proactively reached out and opened the book for the third time.-
Half a month later.
After a long period of clear weather, there was another bout of flying snow.
It was the height of winter.
The world was vast and gray. Daylight arrived with the falling snow, and the sun cast a faint light on the white snow on the ground, bringing not a trace of warmth to the passersby.
Zhao Rong looked at his phone. Lawyer Lin had sent him a message saying that the inheritance transfer was completely finished. Zhao Rong didn’t dare tell the hardworking lawyer that he and Lu Xingping had gotten a lightning divorce yesterday. [2]
This fake marriage was just a transactional deal, and both he and Lu Xingping had gotten what they needed.
He put away his phone. Before getting into the car, he heard people passing by say, “Once this snow passes, it should start getting warmer, right?”
Perhaps today was the coldest day.
He smiled and got into the car. Xu Xin was already waiting for him. Zhao Ming’s vehicle was behind them, and the caregiver had already settled her inside.
“Xiao Zhao, with the snow today, the driving will be slow. Should we wait a few days before leaving?”
“No need,” he said. “I just asked Mom. She hasn’t been out for a long time and wants to see the snow along the way.”
“Alright, then we’ll drive slowly. Is everything loaded? Anything else you need me to carry?”
“No,” Zhao Rong smiled, his peach blossom eyes looking like the only spring flowers in bloom in winter. “Brother Xu, thank you for being willing to go to Zhuxi with me.”
“It’s nothing, don’t be so polite. I’m not a local anyway; work is work wherever I go, right? The cost of living in Yangcheng is high. Since you’re paying me the same salary, following you is a better deal for me.”
“Once we get to Zhuxi, pick a place you like. I’ll help buy a house for you and your wife.”
“I was going to be modest, but now I’m actually a bit tempted.”
The two laughed heartily.
Xu Xin slowly stepped on the gas. The engine roared, and the wheels slowly crunched against the snow as the wipers swept away the falling flakes stroke by stroke.
The few cars drove one after another, as if crawling forward through the vast grayness.
Zhao Rong sat in the backseat, his head turned, watching the retreating snowscape and the city of Yangcheng that was gradually moving away from him.
In this moment, it was as if he were watching the seventeen years he had spent in Yangcheng—from the time he transmigrated into the nine-year-old Zhao Rong’s body until now, at the end of his twenty-sixth year—fade away before his eyes like flickering shadows.
And in another place, a place that never saw such heavy snow, once he arrived, perhaps in just a few months, he would be able to see new blossoms in bloom.-
In the city.
At Lu Xingping’s house.
While heading downstairs, Lu Xingping glanced at his phone and saw a “Farewell” message from Zhao Rong.
His expression shifted slightly. He replied with a simple “Mhm,” put his phone away, and continued downstairs.
When he entered the study, he found Lu Xiaoyue crouching in front of his ornamental small greenhouse.
Hearing him enter, Lu Xiaoyue turned around and waved at him. “Brother, come quick! One of the cocoons has broken! This butterfly is so beautiful!”
As white flakes drifted down from the sky, inside the small greenhouse, the newly emerged butterfly stood on the tip of a blade of grass, slowly unfolding its wings.