DASB Ch35

Ye Xi felt like he had returned to his previous life, everything was so vivid, so real. Strangely, he could stand there like a bystander, watching his own past unfold before him.

He even saw many things he hadn’t known before, beginning from the love story of his parents.

*

It followed the most cliché pattern, his mother fell in love with his father at first sight. They had a flash marriage, and soon she was pregnant. She believed he truly loved her… until six months into the pregnancy, she discovered he was cheating.

Day after day of endless fighting drove her into prenatal depression. So from the earliest point of Ye Xi’s memory, he was constantly being scolded, beaten, because he was a living reminder of the disgrace and pain his parents could never move past.

Even though their marriage had already fallen apart, his mother still refused to divorce. She said she was unwilling to give up, she believed he would return to her someday.

And in a way, she was right.

When Ye Xi turned eight, his father cut ties with the other woman and came home. The reason? The illegitimate child wasn’t even biologically his, and all his money had been scammed away.

At age nine, they had another son.

They never spoke of the past again. As if it had been erased, they poured all their affection into the younger son. But when they looked at the older one, Ye Xi, there was always a flash of disgust in their eyes.

Ye Xi watched it all unfold with a calm expression. He had already learned the truth from a neighbor auntie when he was sixteen.

At eighteen, in his senior year of high school, he had excellent grades and was on track to be directly admitted into a prestigious university. But his parents threatened suicide, forcing him to give up the recommendation and sit the provincial college entrance exam to “win glory for the family.”

He didn’t win the top spot, but he did win a diagnosis of late-stage cancer.

Abandoned by his parents, he managed to hang on for two more years thanks to the help of kind strangers. He died at twenty.

***

The scene in front of Ye Xi shifted.

He saw a familiar figure.

Unable to hold back, Ye Xi took a step forward, dazedly murmuring, “Huo Rulan…”

That year, because he wanted to hug his little brother, nine-year-old Ye Xi had been pinned to the ground and beaten by his father. Crying, he ran out of the house into the pouring rain and used his small prize money from a competition to buy some medicine from a local clinic. Then he hid in the dark alley next to it, sobbing as he treated the wounds on his forehead, face, neck, arms, and thighs.

A gentle, hoarse voice startled him mid-treatment.

Watching from outside the scene, the present-day Ye Xi saw a slightly younger Huo Rulan sitting against the wall on the other side of the alley. The lighting was dim. Huo Rulan, only fifteen at the time, wore a faded t-shirt and was also covered in bruises.

With a smile, he tossed a peach-flavored lollipop to the younger Ye Xi and said, “Don’t cry. Candy makes the pain go away.”

The little boy silently accepted the candy, stood up, and walked over to share his medicine. “Thank you…”

They didn’t have time for more words.

Moments later, some men burst into the alley and grabbed Huo Rulan. Terrified, Ye Xi didn’t dare make a sound. He hurried to pick up the medicine Huo Rulan had dropped and followed the men from a distance.

He faintly heard someone say, “…The Huo family… letting a foster son inherit… get rid of him… ship him overseas.”

He watched Huo Rulan being forced into a car.

The scene paused.

Ye Xi’s eyes were filled with confusion.

The next second, the scene shifted again.

Twenty-four-year-old Huo Rulan, dressed in a suit, sat silently in a car, looking out the window.

Outside was eighteen-year-old Ye Xi, once again buying medicine for his bruises and treating himself in that same alley.

“What are you looking at, little brother?” asked his foster brother, sitting beside him in the car, pretending to care.

Huo Rulan calmly withdrew his gaze. “Nothing.”

The car drove off.

His foster brother added, “You just got back. The old man really missed you.”

Huo Rulan didn’t reply, still watching the window.

Annoyed at being ignored, the foster brother shot him a venomous look and turned away.

Later, Ye Xi was hospitalized. When Huo Rulan found out, he secretly paid all his medical bills. He sent people to check on Ye Xi from time to time, but under the foster brother’s watchful eye, he couldn’t visit him himself.

But traces of Huo Rulan were always around Ye Xi.

Bouquets of flowers would appear in the high-end hospital room. Peach-flavored lollipops on the nightstand. A black sedan flashing by outside the hospital’s garden fence…

In Ye Xi’s past life, Huo Rulan died even earlier than he did.

Ye Xi was nineteen. Huo Rulan was twenty-six.

That gentle, bright man died in a car crash, a deliberate one.

After that, the flowers in Ye Xi’s hospital room never stopped. The lollipops never stopped.

But the black car outside the fence… never came back.

Ye Xi’s eyes were brimming with tears. He wanted to squat down and cry his heart out, but the vision wasn’t finished yet.

***

This time, he was lying in bed, sleeping peacefully. Beside him was a screen playing his dream.

It was nothing like reality, it was a beautiful fantasy, one he had stitched together for himself from fragmented wishes.

In the dream, he had always been happy. His parents loved each other, their family was harmonious. They were strict, but loving. They respected his choices and supported his interests.

Later, in the dream, his parents passed away, and he was once again alone.

Then he met Huo Rulan, at a hospital.

In the dream, they seemed to recognize each other instantly, as if they had been together for a long time.

They fell in love slowly, quietly.

Huo Rulan proposed. Ye Xi said he didn’t want a wedding, didn’t want rings.

Huo Rulan agreed.

He quietly hid the wedding plans and the ring he had prepared, waiting for the day Ye Xi would change his mind.

Later, they had a child, held a belated wedding, and lived a long, peaceful life together.

At the end of the dream, they were old and gray, sitting in wheelchairs watching the sunset. Their fingers intertwined, matching elegant rings gleaming on their hands.

***

Everything in that dream… why was it exactly like what was written in the book?

In his past life, he clearly had many encounters with Huo Rulan.

Then why… did he not remember?

When the glowing orb appeared, Ye Xi was still standing in place, staring blankly at the frozen scene before him, his thoughts in utter disarray.

【This is your original life path, Ye Xi.】

Ye Xi looked at the glowing orb and asked in confusion, “Who are you?”

【I’m Cheng Yun’s system. I wanted to tell you the truth, and also… make up for what happene】

Before he could speak, the system continued:

【Due to the headquarters’ request, I turned your dream into a novel and created the “transmigrated into a book” world. But since the host they matched wasn’t you, everything in the dream was rewritten, and you were doomed to be just a stepping stone.】

【Because you transmigrated into a book, some of your past life memories were intentionally erased. Now that my host is dead and the romance failed, I’m returning your memories to you.】

【Please don’t ask me why I helped Cheng Yun. I’m just another worker bound by orders. Tasks are enforced, until completion, I have no autonomy. But… to compensate for the car accident, I’ll give you a medicine that can heal the body. That’s all I have.】

After speaking, the system quietly hovered in front of Ye Xi, as if watching him for a long time, then began to drift away.

Ye Xi hurried after it, mouth opening as if to ask something, but no words came out.

The system paused. After a long silence, it said:

【You remind me too much of who I used to be. Saving you and Huo Rulan… maybe I just wanted to save the old me.】

【Go back now.】

The system vanished.

Ye Xi’s body began to turn transparent as he slowly left the illusion and regained consciousness.

“Wahhh!!”

The first thing he heard was the loud, healthy cries of newborn babies, crying like two tiny trumpets.

Ye Xi opened his eyes and turned his head slightly. He saw Huo Rulan sitting in a wheelchair, dressed in hospital clothes, his hair completely white, holding two babies in his arms. His eyes were dull, lifeless, staring blankly at Ye Xi who was lying in bed wearing an oxygen mask.

Ye Xi opened his mouth.

Huo Rulan snapped back to himself, met Ye Xi’s gaze, and instantly, his eyes turned red.

He carried the babies close and kissed Ye Xi’s cheek through his tears. “It’s been a month, Ye Xi…”

Ye Xi slowly raised a hand to touch Huo Rulan’s white hair. Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, soaking the pillow.

“Huo Rulan…”

Huo Rulan kissed his hand, his tears soaking Ye Xi’s palm.

He wheeled himself over to place the two babies gently into the bassinet, then pressed the call button to summon doctors for Ye Xi’s check-up.

After a round of examination, the results were good. Ye Xi took off the oxygen mask and lay on the hospital bed, holding the two babies who had cried themselves to sleep.

The two soft little ones looked exactly alike, their brows and eyes like Ye Xi’s, their noses and lips like Huo Rulan’s.

Ye Xi stared at their tiny, delicate faces, eyes turning red again. When he looked up and saw Huo Rulan’s white hair, fresh tears welled up once more.

Huo Rulan ran his hand through his hair with a grin. “It’s okay. White hair isn’t so bad. Just… the front part’s balding a bit.”

He pulled aside the hair on his forehead to show Ye Xi. The wound had new pink skin growing, and the surrounding hair had been shaved by the doctors, leaving it bare.

Ye Xi cried harder, big fat tears falling.

He suddenly remembered the system’s medicine, hurriedly took it out, and stuffed it into Huo Rulan’s mouth. “Take it! Quick!”

Huo Rulan obediently swallowed the pill. “What was that?”

“A healing medicine,” Ye Xi replied, staring at him. “Does your chest still hurt? Did they check it? What did the doctor say? Do you feel any better after taking the medicine?”

“It doesn’t hurt much now. They checked, doctor said I just need to rest.” Huo Rulan paused, feeling his body. “The medicine tastes bitter.”

“I’m asking how your body feels now, not your tongue,” Ye Xi said anxiously.

Huo Rulan thought a bit longer, then smiled at him with bright eyes. “Still don’t feel anything yet.”

“Then let’s wait a little longer,” Ye Xi said, suppressing his unease. He knew this wasn’t something that could be rushed.

Huo Rulan rolled his wheelchair closer and held Ye Xi’s hand as they looked at the babies together. “Two noisy little troublemakers. Just like little trumpets.”

Ye Xi looked at the two soft pink-cheeked babies, his expression gentle and eyes moist. “Being lively is good… It’s just, they’re so skinny.”

“I’ll raise them to be chubby and healthy. Don’t cry.” Huo Rulan gently wiped Ye Xi’s tears.

Ye Xi leaned into his hand, nodding, eyes shimmering with tears.

When Huo Chengsong and Rong Lan heard Ye Xi had woken up, they rushed to the hospital.

As soon as Rong Lan saw him, she cried and hugged him. “Good child… You’re awake, thank God, you’re awake…”

Behind her, Huo Chengsong discreetly wiped his eyes. He walked over and patted Huo Rulan’s shoulder.

“Your rest time’s up. Go now. Your mom and I are here.”

“Dad, you and Mom just went home this morning. Go sleep some more,” Huo Rulan said, exhaustion plain in his eyes, though he didn’t want to leave.

Huo Chengsong’s eyes were red. He spoke sternly, “You know your own condition. Go. Rest and come back after you’ve slept.”

He wheeled Huo Rulan off to the next room to rest, then came back and gently picked up the babies to place them in the crib.

“Xiao Xi, get some more sleep. We’ll watch the babies.”

Ye Xi was weak and drowsy. He looked at Huo Chengsong carrying the babies and murmured, “Thanks, Dad.”

Then he turned to Rong Lan, who was tucking in his blanket. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Mm.” Huo Chengsong responded softly. Facing away, he wiped his tears again. The once-proud man looked like he had aged ten years overnight.

Rong Lan wept quietly. She stroked Ye Xi’s hair and choked out, “Good child… sleep. Your dad and I will take care of the babies.”

Ye Xi later learned that during the surgery to save him and Huo Rulan, the doctors had issued two critical condition notices.

Rong Lan had collapsed from crying at the operating room door.

Huo Chengsong, red-eyed and trembling, signed both notices. They had nearly lost both their sons before their time.

The twins had also been in poor condition. Born prematurely due to the accident, they were rushed into incubators immediately after delivery.

The blow had been too much. For an entire month, his aging parents had cried themselves to sleep every day.

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