The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Two years ago, an accident plunged Shang Yibo into an endless coma. For six months, he seemed to teeter on the edge of life and death. But when he finally broke free from the darkness and regained consciousness, an inescapable dream haunted him.

The scenes in his dream intertwined with reality, blurring the lines between illusion and truth. After countless recollections and explorations, Shang Yibo finally understood that it wasn't a dream. All the events were his past experiences, things that had truly happened.

As the fragments of memory gradually pieced together, Shang Yibo began to re-examine himself. Since that accident, his longing for her had never ceased. The girl he once considered a passerby in his life had now become an indelible mark on his heart.

Only after losing something do you understand the excruciating pain. Zhou Yanruo gradually realized in his memories that he had lost that girl and abandoned his former self in the depths of time.

Twenty years have passed since that summer of 1999. That girl has a long way to go, and I'm already standing here waiting for her.

Shang Yibo cannot help but look back on that period of time, the turning point that changed him.

His thoughts drifted back to that summer, and those memories buried by time began to resurface...

2017

Shang Yibo has finally finished his exams, and he has been excitedly preparing for his long-awaited graduation trip these past few days.

He could go out and have fun for ten days or so, and come back just in time to fill out college applications. His college entrance exam scores had already been released, and they were 11 points higher than he had predicted. With this score, he would have no problem getting into Tsinghua or Peking University, and he could also choose his favorite major.

In that case, half of his dream would be realized: his dad, mom, and Aunt Chen all graduated from Tsinghua and Peking Universities, and he could become their alumni.

His plan this time was to go to Guizhou. Last year, while preparing for the college entrance examination, he accidentally read a report that mentioned a legend of an ancient Miao village, which aroused his strong interest in Miao culture.

He'd been collecting information online for the past few days, thinking to himself as he packed his things, "I need to save it to a bigger hard drive before I leave tomorrow." Then he suddenly remembered that he couldn't delete the college entrance exam materials stored on his several hard drives; his mother's best friend's daughter had already asked to take them.

He had no choice but to go to Chu Yiming.

"Yiming, can I borrow your hard drive for a moment?" Shang Yibo said, standing at the door of Chu Yiming's room.

"Who still uses a hard drive? Just upload your data to the cloud." Chu Yiming was busy playing games on his computer and didn't even look up before casually replying.

"I went to the mountains, where the signal was bad and the download was too slow," Shang Yibo explained.

"No, I won't lend it to him. His hard drive is full of my favorite games, all from years ago and when I was a kid. I finally managed to organize them. Now, even if I had the money, I couldn't buy them anywhere," Chu Yiming said. "Go to the study and get Dad's hard drive. He doesn't use it anyway. His secretary has backups of all the data on it, so it's fine to delete it."

"You still keep those crappy games that kids used to play? Have you forgotten how badly you played them back then?"

"Bro, don't be sarcastic. I was so young back then. Let's have a match now, how about we play a game right now?"

"I don't have time to play games with you. Besides, I stopped playing a long time ago. Only kids like you play this."

"Tch," Chu Yiming said dismissively, "You're only 17, not much older than me."

"I'm 18, I'm an adult, who wants to play with little kids?"

"Don't act like an adult. You're still several months away from turning 18. This family only has me to nag." Chu Yiming was busy with his hands and his mouth was also busy. "Brother, you're just a carbon copy of Dad. When you get to his age, you'll be even more old-fashioned than him."

"So what if he's like my dad? I wish I could achieve as much as he has when I'm that age." Shang Yibo leaned against the door frame, one leg crossed in front of the other, talking about Chu Fanqing with an expression of admiration.

Chu Yiming had just finished a game, stood up and walked to the door. Through the door frame, the two brothers bantered back and forth.

"Brother, seriously, why don't you go out and have fun next month?"

"What? You have your final exams coming up soon, and you're worried that if I'm not home, no one will protect you from Dad's beating."

"Okay, stop making me sound so pathetic. My mom's got my back. I just want to go out and have fun with you."

"Stop, bye-bye."

After Shang Yibo finished speaking, he turned around and quickly went downstairs to the study on the second floor.

Chu Fanqing's study was on the second floor of the house. It was actually his office at home, and Shang Yibo and Chu Yiming rarely went there. If they were summoned to the study, it meant they had made a mistake and were about to be reprimanded, so the study was a place where nothing good ever happened to them.

Shang Yibo shuffled his leather slippers down the thick hand-woven carpet, taking two steps at a time as he went down the stairs. He and his brother had never taken the proper steps when going up or down the stairs at home.

The study door was ajar, and the light coming through the crack was dim, probably because not all the lights in the study were on, only the ambient lighting was on.

When Shang Yibo saw that the study light was on, he knew his father must be in the room. He figured his father was probably busy with work at this hour, so to avoid disturbing him, he decided to come back for the hard drive later.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard Aunt Yan's voice coming from the study: "At least you still have some conscience."

"Why can't you understand? All these years, I just can't explain it to you," Chu Fanqing said in a low voice.

“I know perfectly well. You don’t need to tell me. I have eyes, and I believe what I see,” Aunt Yan said. “Yibo will be 18 in a few months. You should start preparing how to talk to him. Don’t forget you promised.”

"Sister, how do we tell him this? Have you considered Xichen's feelings?" Chu Fanqing said.

“Xi Chen cares about Yi Bo, don’t use her as an excuse.”

Chu Fanqing paused noticeably, then said slowly, "You insist that I tell Yibo in person that I am not his biological father before you feel you have done right by Dad and the Shang family?"

"Yes, and we must return everything that belongs to the Shang family," Chu Fanyan said resolutely.

Chu Fanqing shook her head, strode to the door, and opened it to leave the study. Suddenly, she saw Shang Yibo standing frozen in the doorway, his eyes wide open and staring blankly inside. The warm-toned spotlights in the corridor cast a soft glow on Shang Yibo's face, but even that couldn't hide his pallor.

"Yibo? What are you doing standing here? When did you get here?" Chu Fanqing was a little flustered when he saw Shang Yibo standing at the door. He was not sure how much of their conversation Shang Yibo had heard.

When Chu Fanyan heard Chu Fanqing call out to Yibo, she turned around and looked at the door of the study.

Shang Yibo stood there, stunned, staring at them with wide eyes.

Chu Fanqing had already opened the study door. The light in the corridor was much brighter than in the study, and the light cast Shang Yibo's slender figure obliquely into the study.

Chu Fanyan rushed to Shang Yibo and asked haphazardly, "Yibo, what did you hear? Listen to me, no, your father told you."

Shang Yibo was somewhat bewildered, thinking to himself, "I overheard their conversation, but I didn't mean to listen. I didn't want to eavesdrop outside the door. I wasn't eavesdropping. What were they talking about? Who isn't their biological child? Is it the father who isn't their biological child, or the son who isn't their biological child? They mean I'm not my father's biological son, so whose son am I? Shouldn't someone tell me what's going on? Or should I ask them to find out what's going on? Who should I ask, my father or Aunt Yan?"

"Come in," Chu Fanqing said, spreading his hands and letting out a soft breath. "I have something to say."

Finally, the moment arrived. Even Chu Fanqing, who had seen countless grand occasions, had to take a deep breath and exhale slowly to even out his breathing and calm his emotions.

Chu Fanyan gently pulled Shang Yibo, who was standing frozen at the study door, inside. Then she turned and walked out of the study, closing the door behind her. Leaving the uneasy father and son, bewildered by the sudden situation, inside, she hesitated for a moment, leaned against the door, sighed softly, and dragged herself downstairs.

Chu Fanqing walked to the sofa and sat down. He rummaged through the bottom shelf of the coffee table and brought up an ashtray and an opened pack of cigarettes that were placed inside. He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and coughed violently. He quickly picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea to suppress the cough.

He looked up and saw that Shang Yibo was still standing in the doorway, maintaining the same posture he had adopted when he entered. The study lights were not fully on, and the dim light cast shadows on Shang Yibo's thin frame, obscuring his expression.

"Come and sit down," Chu Fanqing said in a low voice.

Shang Yibo stood at the doorway, his eyes lowered, staring blankly at the ground ahead. Hearing Chu Fanqing speak, he looked up at Chu Fanqing in surprise. He subconsciously leaned forward slightly, but his feet remained rooted to the spot. He didn't want to sit down; he didn't want to move an inch. He didn't want to get close. It was as if, as long as he kept his distance, he wouldn't hear the answer he didn't want to hear.