Sharing Dreams with My Bestie's Cousin

"I wanted to see the moon, but I saw your face instead."

Perhaps this was what every day of Dilibaier Ahemaiti’s late years in Licheng Gongnaisi was like.

...

Three days after the funeral, the old man fell seriously ill.

He was unconscious for a whole day and night, and everyone stayed up all night afraid that, bereft of grief, he would not survive.

Fortunately, after six days, the old man slowly began to recover and regained some spirit.

On the seventh day after the funeral, the old man summoned all the younger family members who had not left and they together paid tribute to the old lady.

After the mourning period, the Han family members gradually left Gongnaisi, leaving Licheng.

At ten o’clock that night, Wen Zhi was in the room preparing cold medicine for Shang Hexing. Since Shang Hexing had arrived for the funeral and the days of the ceremony up to now, he had barely slept.

Tending to everything personally, without rest, even a body as tough as iron walls and copper bars couldn’t withstand such torment.

He’d had a chill for several days and had a persistent low fever for several nights. Fearing that Wen Zhi would worry, he had not told her about it. Tonight, had Wen Zhi not hugged Shang Hexing and felt his abnormal body temperature, she would not have known about his fever.

"We usually sleep separately, if I hadn’t hugged you tonight, were you planning to just endure it?" Wen Zhi asked, her tone carrying a trace of complaint as she brought the prepared cold medicine."

She was upset that he neglected his health.

Shang Hexing took the cold medicine from her hand: "Given my physical constitution, it wouldn’t be a big problem."

Wen Zhi withdrew her hand, leaving Shang Hexing clutching at air. He looked up at her, his handsome face slightly worn out.

The sight upset Wen Zhi.

Forget it, he was sick now; it was okay to indulge him a little.

Shang Hexing gave a wry smile: "Not giving it to me anymore?"

"Here," Wen Zhi handed him the cold medicine, "Don’t do this again next time."

Once the medicine was in Shang Hexing’s hands, he drank it silently.

Wen Zhi, still feeling stubborn, challenged him: "Did you hear what I said?"

After drinking the medicine, he set the cup aside and looked up at Wen Zhi: "I heard you."

Wen Zhi continued to be confrontational: "Well, I might as well learn from you."

Shang Hexing raised an eyebrow: "Learn from me?"

Wen Zhi firmly stated: "To pretend nothing’s wrong even when I’m clearly ill, to grit my teeth and bear it. Since I’m young and healthy, I could probably get through it without you knowing. And if I couldn’t..."

"I know I was wrong," he said, pulling her hand towards him, his palm warm: "I will change."

After speaking, he pressed his forehead to her hand: "Actually, it feels terrible, don’t learn from me."

Wen Zhi’s stubbornness melted away, only to feel a bit gloomy again.

He had lost his mother at a young age and had borne everything alone, weathered by storms; he never wavered, grew overnight into a towering tree, his heart long hardened.

Wen Zhi remembered the day Shang Hexing couldn’t make it in time to send his grandmother off on her final journey. He had kneeled emotionlessly by the bed, his expression devoid of emotion, and calmly kowtowed four times to the elderly lady.

It was his final act of filial piety.

Wen Zhi flipped her palm to touch his forehead, the fever not feeling as acute. Settling beside him, she extended her arms to embrace his waist.

Shang Hexing sat up straight and let her hold him. After a while, he asked, "Still hot?"

Wen Zhi: "It’s not that quick, and it’s not a miraculous elixir."

Shang Hexing sighed with a smile.

Wen Zhi pinched his waist with two fingers, and Shang Hexing kept silent. Wen Zhi reminded him, "Take your temperature again in half an hour, and don’t go out tonight. Just rest well."

He tilted his head, leaning close to her face, and asked, "What about you?"

Wen Zhi answered, "I will stay with you." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Shang Hexing was about to speak when a knock at the door interrupted him—

"Uncle!"

Wen Zhi released Shang Hexing, and they both stood up almost simultaneously.

Having just experienced the old man’s critical coma a few days ago, whenever someone knocked on the door at night or they were suddenly sought, Shang Hexing would reflexively tense up, his whole body entering a state of alert.

"It’s Meng Fan," said Wen Zhi.

Shang Hexing hummed in acknowledgment, walked to the door, opened it, and looked at Meng Fan outside: "What’s happened?"

Meng Fan knew that her uncle was also inside, so she had called out in advance.

Seeing her uncle’s tight expression, she immediately explained, "I’m not looking for you, I’m looking for Zhizhi."

It was past ten o’clock, and it had just gotten dark. Shang Hexing didn’t step aside to let her through, instead asking first, "What do you need her for?"

Meng Fan replied, "Great-grandfather sent me. He wants to see Zhizhi, so I specifically came over to take her to him."

"Grandfather wants to see her?"

"Yes."

"I’ll check on that."

Shang Hexing was about to leave when Meng Fan stopped him, "Uncle, you don’t need to go. Great-grandfather is in good health. He just mentioned that he wanted to see Wen Zhi, probably because he has something to tell her."

As for what he wanted to say, no one could guess.

But Meng Fan had a good intuition and always felt that this meeting between great-grandfather and Wen Zhi wouldn’t be for anything bad.

"I’ll come with you," said Wen Zhi as she came out.

Shang Hexing stepped aside, and Wen Zhi walked alongside him. She looked up at him, "Grandfather probably just wants to chat with me. You saw, after the funeral he didn’t talk to anyone, hardly speaking a whole day."

If a person doesn’t speak for too long, they may gradually shift from not wanting to speak to finding themselves unable to speak, and then they might forever fall into silence.

Shang Hexing said, "I will go with you, and I’ll wait outside for you."

Not going inside didn’t matter; he wanted to stay by her side.

Wen Zhi willingly took his arm, "Then let’s go."

Meng Fan had relayed her message and left first, then Wen Zhi followed Shang Hexing to meet the old man.

On the way there, Wen Zhi brought up something to Shang Hexing. She said, "That day, probably everyone thought it was grandma who indulged me, willing to fulfill my wish to see grandfather one last time despite her unresolved hatred."

Upon hearing this, Shang Hexing guessed what Wen Zhi would say next.

He whispered softly, "You know it wasn’t just because of you."

Wen Zhi nodded, perhaps sharing this burden with Shang Hexing lightened her heart and added a spring to her step.

She spoke calmly, "I once read a book that said people can sense when their last few minutes are approaching. I think grandma knew she wouldn’t make it this time, but she still had unresolved regrets. She didn’t want to leave with those regrets, yet she couldn’t speak directly. So, she let me make a wish."

This was the old lady’s last resort before she passed away.

"I’ve thought about it since—if I were a greedy person, and my wish was the opposite of what grandma intended, what would have happened?" Wen Zhi’s eyes sparkled with a slight smile: "Grandma surely would have fulfilled my wish without hesitation, because she knew I wouldn’t let her leave with any regrets."