Winter Returns

Chapter 248 A Fleeting Dream of the Past (The End)
Zhang Shutong stared blankly at the woman's face, where two tear tracks slowly rolled down her cheeks.

The gun fired.

"and many more!"

He growled and reached out, but his hand passed right through the woman's body. Even his roar disappeared into the night, turning into a shaking of the door. It was Lu Qinglian who realized something inside and belatedly pushed the door gently.

But how could the door be pushed open? The surroundings suddenly became quiet. The woman didn't speak, she just stood silently in front of the door. Lu Qinglian didn't speak either. She didn't tentatively call out "Mom" or innocently ask where you were going.

A sudden loud noise shattered the silence—the muffled thud of a fist hitting the wooden door. Zhang Shutong could only hear the muffled thuds, one after another. Lu Qinglian realized something was wrong. Although she didn't know what was going to happen, Zhang Shutong felt an overwhelming chill suddenly sweep over his entire body. His heart was gripped tightly by a hand, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

But the pounding on the door didn't stop; instead, it became even more intense. She used her fists and feet, neither begging nor crying out, putting all her strength into breaking down the door.

Zhang Shutong frantically tried to pull out the latch, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move it an inch. Only one sentence kept repeating in his mind: If only it had been one day later.

If it had been just one more day, I could have devoured a whole rib without being trapped by a door bolt, but it has to be now.

Unable to unlatch the latch, he reached for Lu's mother's clothes, simply because the woman had already made a move. Not long ago, she had stood outside the door without saying a word, placing her hand on the door several times. Zhang Shutong knew that opening that door would be as easy as turning her hand over, but she simply didn't move, only keeping her eyes closed. There was only a door between her and Lu Qinglian, yet it felt as if an entire world separated them.

Amidst the violent shaking of the door, the woman withdrew her hand. She lit the lamp on the eaves, her face streaked with an indistinguishable mix of sweat and tears. She was about to leave. Zhang Shutong pulled the latch even harder, gritting his teeth and telling himself he couldn't wait any longer; continuing like this was a waste of energy. This was the rule of this dream, and it was something that had already happened.

His hand just missed again. How can a living person touch the body of a dead person?
But Lu Qinglian is trapped in this room. Eight years ago, on this night, she was all alone and helpless. She frantically pounded on the door, but no one could help her open it. Now, there is someone standing outside the door, but he does not belong to this world.

Zhang Shutong subconsciously apologized, but no one could hear what he said. Lu's mother's lips moved slightly; she softened and said sorry to her daughter before turning and walking away.

The woman hadn't gone far when she suddenly stopped again.

Zhang Shutong's joy was almost overflowing. Was she hesitating? Or had the changes she made before finally taken effect, and she wasn't planning to leave?
He was confident he could rewrite the ending if he could just delay one more night, he thought fiercely. But the woman showed no sign of turning back. She stood there, then suddenly smiled, bent down in Zhang Shutong's direction, and whispered into the empty night:
"Thank you."

Zhang Shutong was completely stunned, and then he realized what this meant.

He wasn't late; he simply never had the chance.

He suddenly remembered a Buddhist verse he had seen in his mother's collection of books when he was bored: "All things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, dew, and lightning; thus should they be viewed."

His heart clenched painfully. He abandoned Lu Qinglian and turned to chase after her with all his might, shouting at her retreating figure, "Don't go! Since you were aware of my presence all along, you should be able to hear me, right? What if there's another way? Then don't go, stay with her!"

But the woman kept walking; it was a dry night, and the road she walked on was damp.

Her figure quickly disappeared into the mountains. Zhang Shutong tried his best to chase after her, but he was wrong about one thing. He was only able to keep up with her before because the woman deliberately slowed down. The temple keepers' physical strength was far beyond what an ordinary person like him could match.

Zhang Shutong chased after him for a few steps, but then completely lost sight of his target. In the pitch-black night, he had no direction, and the chill on his body reached its peak at that moment.

He understood why he felt cold; it was because Lu Qinglian was losing something forever. She always used the word "temporary" in her catchphrase, but the concept of "temporary" didn't exist in her life.

Zhang Shutong suddenly remembered something, and ran down the mountain, telling himself to hurry, hurry, and hurry some more, maybe he could still do something...

After running for an unknown amount of time, Zhang Shutong stopped. He arrived at the shore exhausted, too weak to even lift a finger.

That was a body of water called a "restricted area".

A red shadow was floating in the water.

The woman had worn white when she left, but now it was red, staining the water beneath her red as well. She appeared to be asleep, but her sleeping face was not peaceful; instead, her brows were furrowed, conveying boundless torment and sorrow.

Zhang Shutong wanted to walk over, but then quietly stopped.

He suddenly realized that he hadn't lost anyone or gotten lost, and it didn't matter whether he was earlier or later, because these were just fragments of memory.

Footsteps sounded behind him. Zhang Shutong turned around and saw an old face.

His vision went black again.

When he opened his eyes again, it was bright.

The sunlight made him dizzy. Zhang Shutong pressed his brow and opened his eyes with difficulty. He was in that courtyard again, right in front of the side hall. He looked inside reflexively and saw Lu Qinglian's small figure. The sunlight was so bright that it was as if everything last night was just an illusion.

What's going on? Zhang Shutong was momentarily stunned. Did he really have a chance to start over?

Zhang Shutong was no stranger to this situation. His ability was to rewind time, and he had relived his past life countless times. But this time it was in a dream, and even he couldn't be sure.

He walked over with a hidden excitement, wanting to push open the door, but this time the door was locked from the inside. He pounded on the doors and windows, trying to get Lu Qinglian's attention, but to her it probably sounded like the roaring wind.

Zhang Shutong had no choice but to press his face against the glass, trying to see what she was doing. Lu Qinglian was kneeling quietly with her back to the window. The sunlight was bright that day, allowing him to glimpse a corner of the room.

For some reason, a past event vividly surfaced in her mind. In the tunnel behind the hospital, in that basement covered with photos, Lu Qinglian stared at a picture of a woman in a blue robe. She said that she actually had very few memories of her mother, including the woman's death, and this was the first time she had seen a picture of her mother.

Most of what she said was believable, but a very small part was not. So Zhang Shutong listened to that sentence in reverse: if she said she had no impression, then she had a very deep impression; if she said she knew nothing, then she still remembered that cold night; if she said it was the first time she had seen the other person's photo, then...

However, through Lu Qinglian's back, Zhang Shutong could only see a wooden sign in front of her and some brief writing on it.

—Lu Qinglan.

There really wasn't a single photo. He stood silently outside, feeling nauseous from the sunlight that pierced his skin.

Inside the side hall, Lu Qinglian knelt with her head down.

Eight years have passed. Do you still remember what she looks like? Are you trembling or crying now?
Zhang Shutong was unaware that the glass in the room was somewhat frosted, reflecting his own image and obscuring the view inside. He could only see Lu Qinglian's lips moving, but he couldn't hear any sound from them.

He only had enough strength to push the window open a crack. Zhang Shutong placed her hand on the window frame, and the sunlight conveniently disappeared, allowing him to see her appearance clearly.

Lu Qinglian kept her eyes tightly shut, her lips trembling, and her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Zhang Shutong pushed open the window, bracing himself for some kind of heart-wrenching cry, but only a hoarse whisper drifted out from the crack in the window:

"Guard your heart above all else."

That was Proverbs 4:23 in the Old Testament. He suddenly remembered the origin of all this, and was speechless, only hearing this one sentence:

"Guard your heart above all else. Guard your heart above all else. Guard your heart above all else. Guard your heart above all else. Guard your heart above all else..."

“You should guard your heart…”

(End of this chapter)