Rong Qian could understand why Shen Yi had said what he said — he did not know the truth. Yet precisely because he had said those words, she knew she had to tell him everything.

“Shen Yi, what is the one thing you most want to ask me right now?” Rong Qian gave him the chance to go first, to say what was on his mind.

Shen Yi had already grown calm. He held her gaze and asked the question whose answer he desired most: “Why did you cross through time and space to find me?”

“That’s a very good question — a very crucial one.” Rong Qian took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. Rather than answering at once, she first posed a question back to him: “Shen Yi, do you know when I first met you?”

“When I was twelve years old — you appeared in my wardrobe.” Shen Yi answered without hesitation; he had always remembered it clearly.

Rong Qian shook her head. “No. The first time I met you was what was, from your perspective, four years ago. I hadn’t forgotten you at that point — it was simply that at that time, I didn’t know you yet.”

Shen Yi was stunned. She hadn’t known him yet?

With Rong Qian’s clarification, Shen Yi cast his mind back, and indeed found many details that hadn’t quite fit.

“In a situation where I didn’t know you, the reason I knew your name was Wei Long was because—”

Rong Qian stopped abruptly mid-sentence. She realized that if she was going to explain from the very beginning, she would have no choice but to tell him about Xu Mo.

This was different from the time she had told him about Yao Zhengxing and Yao Na’s futures. Xu Mo was the person closest to Shen Yi, and moreover, even if Shen Yi knew, there would be no way for him to change it — because if Xu Mo were still alive, none of what came after would ever happen.

“Because of what?” Shen Yi was still waiting for her to continue.

Rong Qian let out a sigh and told him the truth: “Because of a case from thirty years ago. During construction work, workers uncovered a set of skeletal remains buried underground along with a car. When the police investigated, they found a photograph inside the vehicle. The people in that photograph — were you. And me.”

“Whose were the remains?”

Knowing he would ask this, Rong Qian put his fears to rest at once. “Not yours. They were Xu Mo’s.”

Shen Yi’s breathing audibly deepened. He closed his eyes, then opened them again — and still, the depths of his gaze were entirely clear.

Rong Qian found herself filled with genuine admiration for his capacity to absorb such a blow.

“So after you received the photograph, you crossed over to find me — is that right?” Shen Yi quickly pieced it together.

Rong Qian nodded. “Yes. When I am attacked, or meet with an accident — when my life is in danger — the photograph turns to ash and carries me to your side.”

“An attack? Your life in danger?” The tone of Shen Yi’s voice shifted the moment he heard those words.

Rong Qian did not hide it from him: “In order to cross over to find you, a photograph alone is not enough — I also have to be standing at the threshold between life and death. So every time I come to find you, it is because something has happened to me. Though crossing over does have its benefit: when I return, the time rewinds by a few minutes, which means I can avoid the danger after all.”

Rong Qian spoke of it lightly, not knowing how great a blow her words were landing on Shen Yi as he listened.

He thought back to the last time Rong Qian had come to find him — she had arrived covered in injuries. Which meant that at the time, she had already been on the very edge of death…

The color drained from Shen Yi’s face. He looked at her and said, “The last time — those severe injuries you had — they weren’t from a fight, were they?”

“I lied to you about that.” Rong Qian no longer hid anything from him. “This is also what I meant when I said we are in a very dangerous situation right now. Ever since I began investigating you, I have been suffering attacks from an unknown group.”

“That day, I was cornered. I had no chance to fight back — I was beaten one-sidedly. Of course, they weren’t going to beat me to death, but the situation had already left me no room to think carefully. In order to come find you, the only option I had was to jump from the building.”

Looking back on it now, it was a chilling thought — but at the time, there had simply been no other way.

Shen Yi was so shocked that his pupils trembled. Jump from a building? Just to come find him? And what if she hadn’t been able to cross over? What if she had died on the spot right then?

The thought left Shen Yi’s hands and feet ice-cold — a terror, a dread of losing the person he loved most.

But if merely imagining it made him feel this way, then what about Rong Qian? As the person living through it, each time she stood at the edge of death like this — was she not afraid?

Shen Yi stared at her in stunned disbelief. Rong Qian, caught under his gaze, grew a little embarrassed, and scratched the back of her head with a sheepish laugh: “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not as incredible as you’re thinking! It wasn’t that big a deal!”

Rong Qian assumed Shen Yi was full of admiration for her courage — never knowing that his heart was bleeding with pain.

He had never known that every time she came to find him, she had already made peace with the possibility of dying. Compared to what she had faced, what did his years of waiting amount to?

And yet he had even harbored resentment toward her. Shen Yi, you truly are worthless.

Shen Yi’s fist clenched so tight that the veins stood out across it. Never in his life had he despised himself as thoroughly as he did in this moment.

But what Rong Qian had to tell him did not end there. What came next, she had to weigh each word carefully before speaking it. She told Shen Yi, “The reason I have crossed over to find you so many times is because your life — in the year you turn thirty-two — comes to an end.”

The words had barely fallen before Rong Qian pressed forward, giving him no time to react. She held his gaze and said, with unwavering conviction: “But I refuse to stand by and watch you come to harm! So I want to save you. I want to change your future — and in order to do that, I have to know what really happened to you back then!”

“Including the people attacking me. I believe the reason they are coming after me is certainly connected to you. As long as we can find out who they are, we will be able to discover who it was that made an attempt on your life all those years ago!”

Rong Qian’s emotions were running high; she had said all of this in one breath, and when she finally stopped, she couldn’t help but gasp for air.

She was still about to continue when Shen Yi pulled her into his arms in one swift motion, holding her tightly.

“Shen Yi, what’s the matter?” Rong Qian was bewildered.

Shen Yi held her close and was silent for a long while before his low, hoarse voice finally uttered a single sentence: “You’ve been carrying this all along — it must have been exhausting.”

His words touched something deep inside Rong Qian, and a bittersweet feeling rose up in her heart — though on the surface, she still smiled and said, “Not at all!”

Rong Qian would never know that every word she had spoken, every single sentence, had struck him like a blade sinking straight into his heart.

How could it not be exhausting? She had wept like that when drunk — and yet even now, she still put herself in the position of the one who needed to comfort him, thinking of him in everything.

Rong Qian still thought it was because he had learned he might not live many more years, and that the shock had been too great. She patted his back gently and reassured him, “Don’t be afraid. With me here, I will definitely find a way to change your future.”

“A’Qian, could you step outside for a moment? I’d like some time alone.”

“Of course. I’ll wait for you outside.”

Rong Qian was considerate and gave him all the space he needed — and as it turned out, once she left, Shen Yi shut himself inside the room for a full two days.

This worried Rong Qian terribly. Could learning that he might not have many years left really have been this devastating a blow to him?