Chapter 538: Wen He 2 (Two-in-One)

The two poor souls naturally had no way of finding the lost candy.

But perhaps the candy wasn't what mattered most.

At least now there were two of them.

"Your hair shouldn't be too long. You'll look sharper with it a bit shorter."

In the days that followed, Wen He gave Yan Jing a new haircut.

She also taught him how to wash his face.

"It's normal to break out during puberty. I brought you some facial cleanser."

She taught him how to brush his teeth.

"Pay attention when you brush. Up and down, not left and right. You have to take care of your teeth, or getting cavities filled later will be a real hassle."

She taught him how to wash his underwear.

"You have to wash your underwear by hand; you can't just throw it in the washing machine. Watch how I do it. You have to make sure this part is completely clean." She also made him exercise.

"You need to exercise more. Health is the most important thing. Don't be like me."

Aside from that, Wen He also taught Yan Jing how to court girls, how to get along with his middle and high school classmates, how to take the subway, how to ride the high-speed rail... She taught him so many things.

Yan Jing decided he had to repay her somehow.

He didn't like owing people.

"Xiao Yan, thanks for the hard work... Here's this month's pay."

The man patted Yan Jing on the shoulder and pressed a stack of red banknotes into his hand.

Since Yan Jing was still a few months shy of sixteen, the man paid his wages in cash to avoid trouble.

"Thank you, Brother An."

Yan Jing gave the young bar owner a slight bow.

"Don't mention it."

The man waved him off, then leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"I know you're short on cash. When you're a bit older, if you still need money, come work for me. We'll make big money. A lot of customers really like your... craftsmanship." "Okay. Thank you, Brother An."

Yan Jing gave the man another slight bow. Having worked as an assistant here for months, he knew exactly what the man's real money-making business was. If the pay was good enough, he wasn't opposed to doing it.

Tucking the money away, he headed back to the orphanage.

Bed checks at the orphanage were already done for the night. He slipped in through a gap by the back door, but hadn't taken many steps before he spotted Wen He waiting there. "Xiao Jing, you're back."

Wen He let out a sigh of relief. She stepped forward and took his hand just like always, leading him to a small cubicle next to her dormitory used to store broken desks and chairs.

Under the dim yellow light, the cluttered furniture was stacked between two abandoned bunk beds. A small table sat in the middle, bearing a lidded lunchbox.

"It's so cold today. Are you wearing enough, Xiao Jing?"

Wen He pulled him over to the table to sit, draped a coat over his shoulders, and reached out to tuck in his collar.

"I'm fine. The bar has heating."

Yan Jing opened the lunchbox. Inside was a neatly arranged meal—greens on the left, and beef stir-fried with white radish on the right.

Right in the middle sat a soft-boiled egg.

"Sister Wen He, did you eat?"

Yan Jing looked at her.

Wen He beamed. "Of course I did. I asked the cafeteria auntie for these extras. You're still growing, Xiao Jing, you need to eat more."

Yan Jing nodded and lowered his head to eat.

Wen He sat across the table, watching him quietly.

She always watched him this quietly whenever he ate. He had asked her why once, and she only replied that watching him eat made her happy.

Yan Jing ate two-thirds of the food on the left side, then wiped his mouth.

"I'm full."

Wen He looked at the remaining beef and radish and pursed her lips.

"Eat a little more, Xiao Jing..."

"I'm really full."

Yan Jing raised his eyes to meet hers.

"Sister Wen He, you know I wouldn't lie to you."

Wen He pursed her lips, took the lunchbox, and began eating the leftovers bite by bite.

In an era when most people's lives were steadily improving, the two of them were truly struggling.

It was because Yan Jing insisted on giving the vast majority of his earnings to Wen He for her medical treatments.

"This is this month's pay."

While Wen He ate, Yan Jing took out the money Brother An had given him, pulled out a third, and stuffed the rest into Wen He's pocket.

Wen He's chopsticks paused. She looked up at him.

"Xiao Jing, I want to discuss something with you."

"You have to treat your illness." Yan Jing already seemed to know what she was going to say.

"It's been very cold lately, and you've just started high school, Xiao Jing. You have a lot of academic pressure. I found another job, which should be enough to cover the medicine." "My talents don't lie in studying." Yan Jing had once tried dedicating himself entirely to his studies for half a year. It yielded results, but he was still far from the top tier of students at his school.

Unless he got into one of the top-tier universities, he figured it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Because he had to pay for Wen He's treatments, he definitely wouldn't be able to take a government job in the future anyway.

That further narrowed the difference a degree would make.

He had his own plans.

Wen He fell silent.

This conversation had played out between them countless times. She knew pressing the issue would yield no results.

Yan Jing listened to her on almost everything, but he refused to yield a single inch on this.

As for arguing...

From the day they met, they had never argued once.

It was a tacit understanding between them.

Any sadness, any pain, any grievance—you could pour it all out to the person sitting across from you.

You knew they would never hurt you. They would blame themselves if they so much as made you sad. Under those circumstances, how could you ever bear to pick a fight?

Not even once.

Because the person across from you was your final refuge in this world. How could you bear to hurt them?

They both knew this.

Even though neither of them had ever said it out loud.

"I wonder what kind of girl our Xiao Jing will end up with." Watching him sit at the desk doing his homework, Wen He smiled unconsciously. Yan Jing didn't answer, focusing intently on the problems in front of him.

Perhaps time should have stopped right then.

Later on, whenever he thought back to this, that idea would surface in his mind.

Even though they were penniless, he was happier then than at any other time in his life.

But he hadn't thought that way back then.

At the time, he only wanted to free the woman in front of him, just a little bit, from the death sentence of turning forty.

Even if it just bought her another year, or maybe a year and a half.

He already knew that some illnesses couldn't be cured with money; he just hoped to keep her around a little longer. He knew that one day, the illness would eventually take her from him.

But Fate was just like that. It liked to suddenly punch you, and when you smiled and said, "It's fine, Fate is just like that," it would kick you. Then, just as you caught your breath, it would stab you with a knife, run you through with a sword, and gouge out your eyes, beating you down until you couldn't get up and admitted defeat. Only then would it leave with a smile. Yan Jing never saw the day Wen He succumbed to her illness.

Because Wen He didn't die from her illness.

Under a sky full of flames, he watched billowing black smoke pour out from the familiar orphanage dormitory, screaming Wen He's name with everything he had. "Wen He!!! Wen He!!!!!"

He screamed until his voice gave out, his gaze darting between every figure in the crowd, desperate to find that familiar face.

"Did you see my sister? Wen He, about this tall..."

"Excuse me, did you see my sister? Was she on duty today? She's about this tall, long hair, a little mark on her face..."

"Excuse me, I—my sister is missing, her name is Wen He..."

Amidst his frantic questions, one of Wen He's colleagues on a stretcher finally heard him. Enduring the pain of their burns, they spoke up, "I... I saw Wen He. She was at the stairs, but for some reason, she turned back and ran into the dorms..."

The moment he heard that, Yan Jing charged toward the burning building without a second thought, but was immediately grabbed and held back by the nearby firefighters. "My... my sister is still inside... the dorms... third floor... third floor..."

He had never cried so wretchedly in his entire life—a hundred times worse than when he had bawled over losing those thirty-nine candies. He wept while thrashing violently, trying to break free from the firefighters' grip.

"I know how you feel, kid, but you can't go in there right now. We've already called for a rescue team. We'll do everything we can to get her out. Going in now won't save your sister; it'll only get you killed too."

The firefighter held Yan Jing tightly. He clearly hadn't expected the clean-cut teenager in his arms to be so stubborn.

He was like a young calf, relentlessly trying to break loose.

It didn't look like he was going in to save someone; it looked like he was going in to die with them.

Until a figure, burned almost to charcoal, was carried out.

All the strength suddenly drained from Yan Jing's body.

He stared blankly at Wen He's corpse for a few seconds before looking up at the rescue workers carrying her.

"Excuse me, is my sister still alive?"

A flash of pity crossed the rescuer's eyes before he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, kid."

After speaking, the rescuer turned around to resume the search.

Knowing now that his actions couldn't cause her any secondary harm, Yan Jing threw himself to her side, grabbing her charred left hand and mumbling blankly, "Sister Wen He... Sister Wen He... Sister Wen He, please say something..."

He called out to her again and again, his voice already hoarse from his earlier screaming. Yet his tone was so gentle that the nearby firefighters couldn't bear to listen. They turned their heads and walked away, giving the boy a wide berth.

"Sister Wen He, why aren't you saying anything..."

Yan Jing tightly held Wen He's left hand, muttering softly, "You're only twenty-nine this year, you're not even forty yet. Why aren't you speaking... Do you just not want to talk to me anymore..."

His eyes were glassy, but no tears fell. He just kept holding tightly onto her hand.

Until the crowd began to disperse, and a firefighter walked over to him.

Before the firefighter could get close, Yan Jing took the initiative to lift Wen He's charred body, hoisting her onto his back.

"Sister Wen He, don't be afraid. We're going home. We're going home..."

Clatter.

An iron box fell to the ground.

Yan Jing looked down, only then noticing the iron box Wen He had been clutching tightly to her chest.

He bent down, extended a trembling hand, and opened it.

Inside were stacks of banknotes—red ones, green ones, loose change... On top of the money lay a piece of paper. The handwriting was messy, clearly written in a frantic rush.

"For Xiao Jing."

"Xiao Jing, don't cry."

"I love you."

"This is the money I've saved up over the years. It's all for you to buy a house, Xiao Jing. Later on, our Xiao Jing can find a pretty girl, and you can move in together."

"If anyone else finds this box, please give it to Yan Jing. He's my little brother."

"Xiao Jing, don't be afraid. I'll be watching over you from heaven."

"Xiao Jing, I love you."

"Xiao Jing, I love you. Meeting you that day was the happiest thing that ever happened to me."

Looking at that piece of paper, Yan Jing finally couldn't hold it back anymore. His tears broke the dam, and he sobbed until he lost his voice, ultimately fainting on the spot.

"Your mental state is fine, but due to extreme grief, you might be experiencing some memory loss."

"We're going to ask you a few basic questions now. Please answer them if you can."

The doctor looked at Yan Jing on the hospital bed and spoke.

"Okay, doctor."

"Do you remember your name?"

"Yan Jing."

"Age?"

"Nineteen."

"What do you do?"

"University student."

He answered question after question fluidly, until...

"Do you have any family?"

"I don't have any family. I'm an orphan."

The doctor's expression remained neutral. After asking a few more questions, he turned and walked out of the ward.

Through the door, Yan Jing faintly heard his conversation with the deputy director of the orphanage.

"It's not good for him to remember right now, otherwise the problem might get worse. We have to let him recall it on his own..."

Yan Jing didn't know what those words meant.

The director had only told him that a fire broke out at the orphanage while he happened to be visiting, and he had suffered significant burns.

Looking at his burned skin, Yan Jing had accepted the explanation.

After that, he worked various part-time jobs to support his studies like normal, graduated from university like normal, found a stable job, and then... he transmigrated like normal... "But later, someone told me that I've entered the River of Time many times."

Yan Jing looked at Weng Lingxiao across from him and smiled.

"So don't take what I just said too seriously. Maybe it was all just my delusion."

He had told Weng Lingxiao everything he could remember, leaving out only the final part about his transmigration.

Weng Lingxiao narrowed his eyes.

It was hard to believe he had just sat there listening to the human across from him tell a story for half an hour.

"Have you ever told this to anyone else?"

"No, you're the first."

Impossible, was Weng Lingxiao's first reaction.

But seeing Yan Jing's expression, he subconsciously asked, "Why?"

"Because whether you know or not has no effect on me," Yan Jing smiled.

"Are you going to make a move against me? That alcohol just now?" Weng Lingxiao's expression changed instantly.

Yan Jing shook his head.

"It's not that I'm going to make a move against you. It's that I can do so at any time."

Weng Lingxiao's face fell.

Those words were rather harsh.

He didn't think he would definitely lose if it came to a real fight.

But watching Yan Jing toss over the key to unlock the handcuffs, he ultimately decided against arguing further.

"Once a person enters the River of Time, the River of Time automatically distorts their memories. When they leave, the River erases their memories of saving anyone. That's the river's self-protection mechanism."

Weng Lingxiao told Yan Jing everything he knew about the River of Time:

"So it's an open trap. You go in to save someone, and you will very likely never remember saving them. Even if you succeed, you'll never remember that you saved them."

"From this, we can draw a conclusion."

"Only the biggest fools in the world would ever step into that River."

"And the only way to break all of this is an anchor point."

"That is to say, the person you want to save."

"You need to find her, confirm that she is the one you want to save, and then choose her."

"You only have one chance to choose your anchor point. If you get it wrong, you'll be completely lost."

"It doesn't sound difficult, but before that, you still have to discern one thing."

"Whether or not you are still in the River."

"If you are still in the River, you cannot step into the River again."

Yan Jing nodded.

It wasn't his first time hearing this theory.

He stood up.

"So this world might be fake."

Weng Lingxiao fell silent for a few seconds before saying calmly, "Don't worry about whether this world is fake, and don't believe what others say about whether this world is fake. What's important is whether you are fake."

Yan Jing seemed to understand what he meant.

He walked out the door and headed toward Mu Tian's office.