Zhang Jingchan looked at her once. That glance was deep and quiet, his pupils losing focus as he collapsed in response. Li Weiyi’s entire body trembled, her soul scattering in terror. Only when he fell onto her did she frantically catch him.

Everything around them was so dark. The excavator bucket retreated slowly into the darkness like a ghost.

Li Weiyi held Zhang Jingchan’s body and saw his eyes tightly closed, completely unconscious. Her hands felt large amounts of sticky liquid behind his head. Her mind was completely empty. Her mouth seemed unable to open or make a single sound. Her ten fingers felt like they had grown thorns—she couldn’t even hold him steadily.

“Zhang Jingchan!” She finally made a sound. “Zhang Jingchan—”

But his face was white as paper, with no response.

In that instant, Li Weiyi’s heart felt like it was being torn apart. She slowly reached one hand toward his nose, turning her face to wipe tears on the arm holding him, but new tears immediately welled up again.

The breath beneath his nostrils was barely perceptible.

Li Weiyi tremblingly lowered her hand. She heard her own short, sobbing sounds, and also heard the sound of her teeth chattering. She pulled out her phone to dial 120, then used all her strength to shout: “Zhong Yi! Zhong Yi—”

Zhong Yi, who was fighting in the factory, heard this extremely mournful voice. His heart shook violently. He kicked the worker in front of him to the ground with one foot and desperately ran toward the main gate.

When Zhong Yi arrived, Li Weiyi had already finished the emergency call. Her phone had fallen into the pool of blood. She knelt on the ground, holding Zhang Jingchan completely in her arms, looking dazed and stunned.

Seeing this scene, Zhong Yi felt his heart contract violently. For a moment, he didn’t dare ask her a single word. Then Li Weiyi raised her hand and pointed behind the wall nearby. Zhong Yi looked up, vaguely seeing a corner of the excavator, and immediately rushed out.

With an emergency brake, Li Yunmo stopped the car beside the two of them. He was also shocked senseless. Jumping out of the car, he shouted: “What happened to her?” Suddenly Li Yunmo reacted, his eyes opening even wider, screaming and crying: “Brother Chan—it’s Brother Chan—”

The ambulance lights flashed. Li Yunmo lay on the ground crying in agony. Zhong Yi had dragged back an unremarkable-looking worker and pressed him to the ground—the worker’s eyes were shifty. The two veterans had already subdued all the workers and hurried over. Liu Ying had taken advantage of the chaos to disappear without a trace…

On the chaotic factory street, Li Weiyi held Zhang Jingchan, pressing her face tightly against his ice-cold face, and painfully closed her eyes.

—

Hospital.

11:35 PM, outside the emergency room.

Li Weiyi and Li Yunmo sat on the floor at the door like two homeless puppies.

Father Li, Mother Li, and Li Xiaoyi had all come. Wu Xinhui, receiving a distress call from her “son” Li Weiyi, also came and helped find the city’s best specialists. She looked at her dispirited son, then at the grief-stricken Li family, sighing endlessly.

Father Li’s eyes were red, staring fixedly at the empty space ahead like a sculpture. Mother Li kept crying. Li Xiaoyi was also wiping tears. Zhong Yi sat beside her, having just consoled her with a sentence or two when Li Xiaoyi pushed him away: “Get away! I thought you were steady and measured. How could you bring Weiyi into such a dangerous situation? Don’t touch me!”

The Li family only knew that their “daughter” had been accidentally harmed by workers rioting at the Zhang family factory.

Zhong Yi’s eyes were also red as he lowered his head in self-blame.

Mother Li suddenly stood up and walked to Li Weiyi’s side. Li Xiaoyi quickly supported her and followed. Mother Li said: “Achan, you’ve always been kind to our family. We’re grateful to you. My husband and I are willing to work like oxen and horses to repay you. But why did you bring her to such a dangerous situation as workers rioting? She’s not even an adult yet. She’s a fragile girl—why?”

Facing Mother Li’s tearful interrogation, Li Weiyi only felt her heart aching beyond measure. She buried her face in her palms, saying over and over: “It’s my fault… it’s all my fault… I didn’t protect him well… he was still thinking of protecting me… it’s all my fault, I was so useless… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Seeing this child crying even more heartbroken and devastated than they were, the Li family couldn’t say another word of blame for a moment. Mother Li let out a heavy sigh and sat back down dejectedly.

Wu Xinhui on the side watched and watched, and also began to cry.

Li Yunmo had originally been hanging his head, feeling sullen. Hearing this, he began wiping tears again, calling out softly: “Brother Chan… Brother Chan…”

After another ten-plus minutes, the emergency room light finally went out and the door was pushed open.

Everyone at the door stood up.

The doctor walked out, looked at the Li family, and said: “The surgery was very successful. There’s no more danger to life, but observation is still needed…”

Almost everyone wept with joy—everyone except Li Weiyi, who stood at the very back of the crowd, staring blankly through the gaps between the doctors and nurses’ figures at that person on the hospital bed in the room.

Actually, she couldn’t see clearly at all—only the blue surgical drape and the head wrapped in many layers of bandages.

“However…” The doctor showed a regretful expression. “The victim’s brain suffered severe impact. There will be strong concussion and aftereffects, and some blood clots are compressing the nerves…”

Father Li asked anxiously: “What will happen to my daughter?”

The doctor sighed and said: “There’s a high probability she’ll become a vegetable. It depends on whether she can wake up tonight.”

Mother Li collapsed to the ground and was helped up by Li Xiaoyi and Zhong Yi. Father Li stood frozen.

Li Yunmo suddenly jumped up from the ground, murmuring: “A vegetable… a vegetable… Brother Chan…” He glanced at Li Weiyi, then looked down at his watch: “There are still eight minutes until midnight…”

Li Weiyi gave a miserable smile and said softly: “As long as we can switch back, I’ll be at peace.”

Li Yunmo understood. Tears suddenly burst out. He grabbed her arm and said: “Sister-in-law, he’ll wait for you. He’ll definitely wait for you.”

Just then, the hospital bed was pushed out and sent into the ICU next door. A crowd surged forward but was blocked by the nurses. Li Weiyi only caught a distant glimpse of him lying on the bed before being blocked outside the ICU by the nurses.

Li Weiyi looked down at the time—six minutes left.

She called Zhang Moyun, but it was still turned off. He was still on the plane returning to Xiangcheng.

Li Weiyi stared at her phone and dialed Xu Yi’s number.

Also turned off.

Xu Yi had gone to Beijing with Zhang Moyun. They should be on the same flight.

Li Weiyi exhaled a long breath, raised her head, pulled Li Yunmo—who was peering at the ICU door—back, and said: “Come with me.”

Li Yunmo followed her, confused, to the dim, deserted stairwell. Li Weiyi looked around upstairs and downstairs to confirm no one was there, then pulled out the voice recorder from her pocket and said: “I’m about to leave. This—you absolutely must personally deliver it into Zhang Moyun’s hands. Don’t let anyone else deliver it for you, and it can’t be seen by anyone else. Can you do it?”

Li Yunmo, his eyes red, answered in a muffled voice: “Yes!”

Li Weiyi said: “This is what your Brother Chan exchanged half his life for.”

Li Yunmo said fiercely: “The recorder lives with me, the recorder dies with me!”

Li Weiyi smiled and wiped away a tear, saying: “That’s not quite necessary.” She patted his shoulder and said: “I’m leaving. We’ll see each other again in 2022.”