Lin Zhizhi was now 46 years old. When she and Sheng Guoning got their marriage certificate, they also adopted 8-year-old Yi Shi. A year later, the couple had another boy named “Sheng Yu’an,” meaning a bright and peaceful life. He was now 19, a talented swimmer currently in his first year at a sports school.
Lin Heyu sighed: “…I didn’t know any of this.”
Now, Zhizhi, who was still a naive young girl beside him, was suddenly revealed to have been with Sheng Guoning and already had a nearly twenty-year-old child. The amount of information was overwhelming for Lin Heyu to fully process, and he was still in shock.
“I haven’t mentioned these things before?” Yi Shi tilted his head slightly, feeling he should have told Lin Heyu, considering he had even revealed Sheng Yu’an’s secret, there was no reason to hide ordinary information about his family.
“Maybe you mentioned it, but I can’t recall,” Lin Heyu said with a smile, rubbing his temple, “My remaining memories of you are sparse, and I can’t remember many details. Sorry.”
Yi Shi turned around, staring seriously into his eyes: “So, will you eventually forget me completely?”
Lin Heyu was at a loss for words. He couldn’t give a precise answer, as these memories were uncontrollable and beyond his choice. He had long compared this feeling to holding sand—no matter how tightly you grasp, it still slips through your fingers.
All he could say was: “I don’t want to forget you.”
“Hmm, then try not to forget,” Yi Shi’s lips curved into a slight smile, his eyes softening, “I will also try my best to remember you.”
The glint in his black eyes turned into starlight in Lin Heyu’s view. He had never realized how beautiful someone’s eyes could be, and through these eyes, one could explore a different world.
As their eyes met, ten seconds passed. Yi Shi felt increasingly uncomfortable and his throat drier, unable to resist licking his lips. Lin Heyu’s gaze was drawn to the sudden appearance of the pink tongue, as it traced a circle around Yi Shi’s lips: “Are you thirsty?”
Yi Shi nodded eagerly, wishing for any excuse to shift his attention. Lin Heyu got up to fetch a bottle of unopened mineral water, unscrewed it, and handed it over. Yi Shi tilted his head back and took a big gulp, as if he was extremely thirsty and severely dehydrated.
This time, Lin Heyu didn’t come so close but returned to his seat, watching Yi Shi drink. His keen observation caught every detail, including a tiny water droplet sliding down Yi Shi’s lip, following his jawline, and eventually disappearing into his wide collar.
Lin Heyu’s throat moved, and in that moment, a spark of heat ignited in his own throat.
Yi Shi wiped his lips, capped the bottle, and noticed Lin Heyu’s slightly heated gaze: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Lin Heyu cleared his throat, “Do you have a recent photo of your adoptive parents?”
“Hmm.” Yi Shi set the mineral water aside and found the only family photo from his phone, placing it in front of Lin Heyu.
The photo showed a family of four: a middle-aged couple sitting together and two promising young sons standing behind them. The son on the left was fair and delicate, with a gentle smile, while the one on the right was tall and hearty, his eyes curved with a bright smile.
It was almost unnecessary to scrutinize. Lin Heyu instantly recognized the gentle smiling woman as Lin Zhizhi. Compared to her youthful and charming appearance, her looks had not changed much; she had simply dressed more maturely and elegantly, her entire demeanor transformed significantly.
The youthful and naive aura of her early years had long faded. Perhaps due to raising two children, Lin Zhizhi exuded a maternal glow, and her smile, besides being graceful and beautiful, also carried a touch of kindness. Time always favors the beautiful, allowing them to age gracefully even without modern cosmetic enhancements, with the fine lines at the corners of her eyes being the best proof of time’s gentle touch.
From her smile, one could see the happiness and contentment brought by a harmonious family, and Lin Heyu’s dissatisfaction with Sheng Guoning gradually faded. He had never wished for Zhizhi to be with a colleague from the police force, given that police officers have to sacrifice their own families for the greater good, facing dangers without being able to care for their loved ones, with some high-risk positions even compromising personal safety.
He and Zhizhi came from single-parent families when they were young. His only hope for her future was to have an ordinary love and for her children to have a complete family. Her partner might not be a hero saving the world, but he should be someone who can provide her with shelter and always be by her side, making her feel cherished and happy. Therefore, when Sheng Guoning showed interest in Lin Zhizhi, Lin Heyu had almost no hesitation and didn’t consider him as a potential brother-in-law at all.
At this moment, faced with the established facts, Lin Heyu gradually came to terms with it. Perhaps giving Zhizhi to Sheng Guoning was the right choice. After all, even after twenty years of marriage, Zhizhi’s expression still showed happiness and satisfaction, with her smile reaching from her eyes to her heart.
Lin Heyu’s gaze changed from initial reluctance to acceptance, and finally to a subtle sense of relief. These nuanced changes were all noticed by Yi Shi. Yi Shi felt this kind of look seemed vaguely familiar. After some thought, it resembled the gaze of a father giving his daughter to her groom at a wedding.
Lin Zhizhi and Lin Heyu share the same surname, which inevitably leads to speculation about their relationship. However, they are both from Linjia Village, and during the investigation, it was clear that the village had very few outsiders. Therefore, Yi Shi couldn’t precisely determine their relationship. However, he wasn’t one to keep things hidden, so he directly asked, “What’s your relationship with Aunt Lin?”
Lin Heyu looked at him fixedly, and after a while, said, “Zhizhi is my younger sister.”
Yi Shi was stunned.
Lin Heyu opened his phone and showed a photo album with many pictures of Lin Zhizhi and them together. The sibling relationship was evident and indisputable.
Yi Shi hadn’t anticipated this at all. Since Lin Zhizhi was Lin Heyu’s sister, does that mean Lin Heyu is also a relative of his in terms of family ethics?
Now it was Yi Shi who needed to process the sudden huge piece of information. Lin Heyu joked, “By the way, according to the seniority, shouldn’t you call me ‘uncle’?”
Yi Shi turned his head, looking dazed and innocent, opening his mouth but unable to produce any sound.
It was too awkward to say, so he hoped it would be forgotten.
Lin Heyu found it amusing and pinched his cheek. Since Yi Shi didn’t want to call him that, Lin Heyu had no intention of forcing him and was just teasing him.
“You didn’t mention it before, but Aunt Lin rarely talked about her past. According to her, there are no relatives left in Linjia Village, only once she casually mentioned an older brother who couldn’t even be listed in the family genealogy…”
“That’s right. The old clan leader didn’t allow me to be listed in the genealogy unless I changed my name,” Lin Heyu said, spreading his hands as if indifferent. “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. Zhizhi and I left Linjia Village a long time ago, and with our mother gone, I have no attachment to that place.”
“A name like ‘Heyu’ is a good one, embodying both grandness and principles,” Yi Shi said with a faint smile.
Lin Heyu’s gaze fixed on Yi Shi’s face. A full minute passed, making Yi Shi feel uncomfortable. Yi Shi waved his hand in front of him, but Lin Heyu grabbed his hand and said softly, “You’re the first person to guess the meaning of this name besides my mother.”
It wasn’t actually hard to guess, but most people wouldn’t think in that direction. When seeing the character “壑” (he), most people would associate it with “欲壑难填” (an insatiable desire), subconsciously linking it to desire.
However, considering a mother naming her son with this character, it is meant to convey a beautiful wish for a broad mind, and it references a passage from Ouyang Xiu’s “Drunken Old Pavilion” which has an impeccable artistic conception.
Lin Heyu explored Yi Shi’s slender fingers with his thumb, feeling each joint gently, as if playing with them. Yi Shi noticed this and, feeling his heart skip a beat, quickly pulled his hand away, pretending nothing happened.
He shifted his body to one side and propped up the notepad on his knee to write, then placed it in the center, inviting Lin Heyu to study it together.
The paper detailed all the personnel from Nanyi and Haijing, with overlapping names listed first and non-overlapping names afterward, showing ages and positions, effectively serving as a detailed organizational chart.
This made the differences between the parallel worlds clear at a glance, and the timeline became even more confusing.
Lin Heyu’s colleagues at the Haijing City Bureau were about twenty years older than the ones Yi Shi met, suggesting that Yi Shi’s timeline should be about twenty years ahead of his. However, in Nanyi, there were younger individuals like Yu Shen and Shao Shiqing, making it seem like Yi Shi’s timeline was twenty years ahead. This contradiction reinforced the uniqueness of the mirrored world.
Lin Heyu drew two boxes, linking the older groups in Haijing and Yi Shi’s world, making the age groups seem more harmonious and “same age.”
Yi Shi studied the chart, feeling like their two worlds were originally a complete puzzle, now scrambled and placed in the wrong positions for some unknown reason, leading to these discrepancies. The best evidence was the connection between the two worlds, evident in Yu Shen’s case where the memories of the young and adult versions synced. Increasing contact with Lin Heyu also meant memories from both sides were equally increasing, serving as strong proof.
However, many aspects remained puzzling. For example, why didn’t Yi Shi’s world have Lin Heyu? Why had Lin Zhizhi never mentioned Lin Heyu to him?
Aunt Lin only returns to Haijing once a year during Qingming Festival to sweep the graves of her ancestors. When Yi Shi was younger, his whole family would go together, but as he grew up, it became just Aunt Lin going back to Haijing alone or with Sheng Guoning. The two children were rarely brought back to Haijing.
A large cemetery composed of rows of stone tablets flashed through his mind. The grave in the Northern District of Southern Cheng’an Cemetery, Row 15, Number 10, had only one surname inscribed, painted in red cinnabar—“Lin.”
Could that tombstone belong to Lin Heyu?
Once this speculation took root, it spread uncontrollably, leading to many strange and puzzling thoughts. Yi Shi’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter, his expression growing more serious. Could this be the reason Lin Heyu does not exist in his world?
It wasn’t that he never existed, but rather… he had died. Why did he die? When did it happen?
Lin Heyu couldn’t guess that Yi Shi’s mind was racing through 108 possible ways he could have died. Seeing Yi Shi’s increasingly furrowed brow, Lin Heyu couldn’t help but press his thumb on his forehead and say, “Not a good look.”
This time, Yi Shi did not shy away but met his gaze. “I seem even more confused.”
His confusion wasn’t just about Lin Heyu’s appearance but also about the reason he was erased by time.
—
