A beautiful summer night

“When you were ten years old, she came back to look for you,” Liu Shubai suddenly said, bringing up the past.

The moment Liu Shubai dialed that number, introduced himself to Xie Qiyan, and gave him his address in Ireland, allowing them to come find him, he had already decided to tell them everything.

He wasn't feeling guilty or remorseful.

He simply realized that he wasn't medicine for Yao Qin.

He couldn't save Yao Qin.

Xie Qiyan was startled, his feverish mind quickly calming down. After thinking it over, he said in a deep voice, "I know the year I had a dispute with Hou Mengqiu and fell into the river."

Liu Shubai looked at him in surprise.

Xia Wanzhi explained, "He waited for his mother for more than 20 years. Mr. Liu, for as long as you have possessed his mother, he has been looking for her for just as long, never letting go of any clue."

Liu Shubai's throat tightened, his lips trembled slightly, and he couldn't utter a word.

After a long pause, he continued, "Perhaps she wasn't going to see you; she was already ill at that time. She went to see Xie Tianqi to ask for a reason."

After saying that, he shook his head with a cold laugh: "No, she wanted to see what the woman who stole her husband had that she could possibly surpass..."

The night in the northern city was quiet in the early hours of that year. When Liu Shubai arrived, he saw Yao Qin lying on the river, having given up struggling.

She wanted to commit suicide.

After discovering that she suffered from depression, Liu Shubai guessed that she had suicidal thoughts.

So he was always annoyed that he hadn't noticed her, because he had let Yao Qin out of his sight without noticing, and she almost lost her life.

If he hadn't arrived in time that night...

Liu Shubai dared not think about it.

After sending Xie Qiyan to the Xie family, Yao Qin lived in Yangliu Lane in the north of the city. At that time, Yao Qin had been depressed for a long time, but for the sake of her young son and because of the promise made by Old Master Xie, she was willing to settle in the north of the city.

Liu Shubai has liked Yao Qin ever since they became deskmates in the second year of junior high school.

They sat at the same desk for two years in junior high school, then entered the same high school together and became classmates again.

For five years, he had kept his feelings buried deep in his heart. What Liu Shubai regretted most was that he couldn't confess his feelings after graduating from high school. Then, he went abroad due to family pressure.

When Yao Qin returned to China, she was already married and had children. She had married Xie Tianqi, who was seven years older than her and whom she had fallen in love with at first sight.

Even after she got married, he still thought of her.

He hid and secretly spied on her life.

Watching her be affectionate with other men, watching her children grow up day by day.

Until that man abandoned her.

He felt heartache, he felt hatred, yet he was secretly glad that he had another chance.

But he discovered that she loved that man so much that she refused to let anyone get close to her.

After Yao Qin went to the North City, Liu Shubai sent people to protect her secretly. When he unexpectedly learned that Hou Mengqiu was going to harm her, he sent someone to Yangliu Lane to bring her back to the South City in advance.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye. During those five years, he tried to get close to her, stay with her, and help her out of her predicament, but she closed herself off and refused to reveal her feelings to him.

She lived in the past every day, in the beautiful memories of Xie Tianqi, and spent her days in tears. She knew how pathetic she looked, so she dared not see her son.

Later, she was diagnosed with severe depression. Liu Shubai was afraid that she would commit suicide, so he stayed by her side at all times. His only mistake was letting her escape his control and fly to Beicheng to find Hou Mengqiu.

That one time, he almost lost her.

Xie Qiyan also almost lost his mother.

“She almost died when she fell into the river.” Liu Shubai’s face turned pale as soon as he mentioned it. His voice was full of fear and sadness. “When she woke up, she didn’t say a word for half a month. The first thing she did was ask me who I was with a smile. I thought she had amnesia, but after a while, she recognized me and asked me where Xie Tianqi was, crying.”

"Later, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia." Every word Liu Shubai uttered struck Xie Qiyan's heart like a heavy blow.

Xie Qiyan felt a tightness in his chest, as if he were drowning and deprived of oxygen.

“She has depression…” Liu Shubai choked up, his eyes welling up with tears as he spoke. He took off his glasses to wipe away the tears and continued, “Her depression wasn’t cured yet, how could she develop a split personality just from falling into the water…”

Schizophrenia caused her to lose her sense of unity with the outside world. She gradually became lethargic, sometimes sleeping for an entire day. Sometimes she would feel anxious and insecure, occasionally muttering Xie Qiyan's name. Then she would suddenly ask who Xie Qiyan was. Over time, she began to talk nonsense and her thinking became severely confused. Sometimes she lived in her own fantasy, saying things that others could not understand. She would even mistake Liu Shubai for Xie Tianqi.

The only saving grace was that she relied on and trusted Liu Shubai.

So Liu Shubai coaxed her every day, weaving one beautiful lie after another, and stayed by her side day after day.

Because of those unpleasant past experiences that made Yao Qin the way she is now, he hardened his heart and took her away from all that trouble.

Including her son who is far away from her.

Over the years, Liu Shubai sought out renowned doctors to treat her, and Yao Qin would still occasionally mention Xie Qiyan and Xie Tianqi's names, but only for a fleeting moment.

More often than not, she was silent and lifeless.

But she no longer sought suicide.

When Liu Shubai was with her, she would smile, like a child.

He had thought that this was fine as it was for him, but during this period, Yao Qin's memories seemed to have returned to more than 20 years ago.

But she became listless and even frequently talked about death, telling Liu Shubai her will.

Occasionally, he would treat the doll as his own son, calling out "Ayan" to lull him to sleep.

Liu Shubai was terrified, extremely terrified.

He was afraid he couldn't save her.