The fireworks burned out, and the small courtyard was dimly lit.

People gradually returned to their homes one by one. Chen Xi walked to Grandpa Guan’s lounge chair.

She bent down and said to him, “Grandpa Guan, it’s time to sleep.”

Grandpa Guan was covered with a blanket, his eyes closed, his head tilted to one side, a peaceful smile on his face.

“Grandpa Guan, let’s go back to your room to sleep.”

Chen Xi called Grandpa Guan again, but the old man still didn’t respond.

Chen Xi’s heart suddenly gave a heavy thump, and a chill ran down her spine.

“Grandpa Guan.”

She gently pushed Grandpa Guan’s shoulder, but he still didn’t respond.

“Grandpa Guan.”

Chen Xi’s voice carried terror, piercing through the thick night.

On this reunion night, some families rejoiced while others grieved.

After a chaotic half-night, Grandpa Guan was finally admitted to a hospital room.

Chen Xi stayed to keep vigil, letting the others go home to rest.

Qin Lie took Sensen back to his place. The child was probably frightened badly – he neither cried nor made a fuss, didn’t say a word, like a dull marionette.

It wasn’t until he lay in an unfamiliar bed, surrounded by darkness.

He hugged his blanket and began to sob quietly, crying harder and harder until he couldn’t control himself.

Fear swept toward him like towering waves, and he trembled like a thin leaf, shaking as he wept.

The bedroom door was gently pushed open. Through his tear-filled eyes, Sensen saw a tall figure enter the room and stop beside his bed.

After some rustling sounds, Qin Lie sat on the floor and reached out to touch Sensen’s tear-stained face.

“Can’t sleep?”

Qin Lie’s voice was deep and hoarse, carrying a soothing calm.

Sensen sniffled and hummed in agreement.

Qin Lie placed a bottle of beer and a glass of milk on the bedside table, saying quietly, “If you can’t sleep, let’s watch a movie.”

He fiddled with the projector for a while and projected a movie onto the wall opposite the bed.

Sensen wiped away his tears, sat up, and leaned against the headboard.

“What movie is it?”

Sensen took the milk Qin Lie handed him.

“Interstellar.”

Qin Lie leaned against the bedside table, opened his beer, and clinked glasses with Sensen.

The boy drank a sip of warm milk, and his cold fingertips gradually gained some warmth.

In the dark room, a long movie played.

The tears on Sensen’s face dried, and he watched intently.

Qin Lie sat on the floor, accompanying the young boy, watching just as intently.

When the protagonist Joseph Cooper was about to leave Earth for the unknown cosmic starry sky, searching for Earth’s last glimmer of hope.

He came to his daughter Murph’s room to say his final goodbye.

The little girl wrapped herself in her blanket, giving him an angry look.

Joseph whispered in Murph’s ear, “Your mom told me that now we’re just memories for the kids in the future. Once you have children, you become your child’s future ghost.”

In the mottled light and shadow of the darkness, Sensen’s childish voice suddenly spoke.

“Brother Qin Lie, do you believe people have souls after they die?”

Qin Lie looked at Sensen. The boy’s pale little face was half buried in his blanket, his eyes like twinkling stars.

He nodded and hummed softly.

Sensen asked, “Do you believe it?”

Qin Lie replied, “Yes.”

Sensen said wistfully, “I want to believe it too, but I can’t. If there are souls, why has my grandma never come back to see me?”

The projected light fell on both their faces, constantly changing.

In the movie, the protagonist left Earth with regret, his daughter still unwilling to forgive him.

Qin Lie suddenly spoke, his voice low.

“Sensen, death is eternal – hundreds of millions of years, billions of years, tens of billions of years – we will all be dead. Compared to death, the time humans are alive is shorter than the blink of an eye.”

Sensen looked at Qin Lie, a glimmer of earnest hope flickering in his eyes.

At this moment, he wished someone could tell him with absolute certainty that people go to another world after death.

Carrying memories of life, continuing to live happily, and waiting to reunite with loved ones again.

That someday in the future, he would see Grandpa again.

Qin Lie looked at Sensen, his gaze calm.

“Human life is so short, yet in this brief life, how much unknown has been explored, how many miracles created.”

“So I believe that in eternal death, there must be unknowns even more vast than black holes, waiting for people to discover.”

He ruffled Sensen’s hair and smiled faintly.

“Death is not the end.”

Sensen asked urgently, “Then what exactly is death?”

Qin Lie replied, “I’m searching, and you can search too.”

Sensen asked, “Where should we search?”

Qin Lie looked at the projection on the wall – a starship crossing the galaxy, heading toward the vast depths of the universe.

He smiled and said quietly, “Perhaps in the universe.”

Sensen nodded with half understanding.

His heart still felt like it was soaked in a cold deep sea, chilly.

But in some small corner, a spark of hope had ignited, bringing some warm comfort.

He felt that perhaps Grandpa had gone somewhere. Though he didn’t know where, that place might truly exist.

In the boundless expanse of time and space.

As long as he missed him, he could feel it.

In the hospital room, Chen Xi sat beside the bed, tucking in the blanket corners for Grandpa Guan.

Grandpa Guan seemed to sense something. After a period of labored breathing, he slowly opened his eyes.

“Grandpa Guan.”

Chen Xi leaned over the bed, trying hard to hold back the tears in her eyes.

“How do you feel?”

Grandpa Guan turned his face and stared at Chen Xi for a long while. His cloudy gaze gradually showed a trace of clarity.

“Chen Xi…”

As soon as he spoke, he was seized by a heart-wrenching cough.

Chen Xi quickly got up to find a nurse but was grabbed by Grandpa Guan.

He seemed to have had an incredibly long dream and had finally awakened from it.

In this moment of clarity, he feared being alone, feared his consciousness would sink into the chaotic abyss again.

“Don’t leave.”

His voice was hoarse. He closed his eyes weakly, the wheezing in his throat like the sound of a broken bellows.

Chen Xi sat back beside the bed and carefully felt Grandpa Guan’s forehead.

“Grandpa Guan, how do you feel now?”

Grandpa Guan, with his bellows-like voice, slowly said, “Fine.”

Chen Xi asked softly, “Grandpa Guan, do you recognize me now?”

Grandpa Guan nodded and asked, “Where’s Sensen?”

Chen Xi replied, “He went home to sleep. He’ll come to keep you company first thing tomorrow morning.”

Grandpa Guan slowly shook his head. “School is important.”

Chen Xi’s nose stung. Even with death at his door, the old man was still concerned about these trivial matters, which nearly broke Chen Xi’s heart.

She composed herself and tried to make her voice sound relaxed.

“Uncle Shuping is on the train and will arrive tomorrow.”

Hearing his son Shuping’s name, Grandpa Guan’s eyelids moved slightly, but he no longer felt the obsession to see Shuping one more time.

He didn’t know why, but that longing just wasn’t as intense anymore.

At this moment, he wanted more to chat with Grandma Fan.

“Guess who I dreamed about?”

Grandpa Guan said hoarsely.

Chen Xi asked, “Who?”

Grandpa Guan replied, “Your grandfather.”

Chen Xi made a sound of acknowledgment, and a vague image of her grandfather appeared in her mind.

Grandfather had died early, so Chen Xi didn’t have many memories of him.

Grandpa Guan continued, “And your grandmother. I dreamed we were young, planting trees in the Gobi Desert. The wind was so strong…”

As he spoke, he was seized by another violent coughing fit.

Chen Xi’s heart twisted into knots. “Grandpa Guan, stop talking and rest well.”

Grandpa Guan shook his head. At this moment, he wanted to talk to someone about anything.

“Please talk with me.”

His voice carried a trace of pleading.

Chen Xi stared at him, suppressing the sadness in her heart, and softly hummed in agreement.

At three in the morning in the hospital room, the old man and young woman chatted by the moonlight outside the window, becoming more and more spirited.

Chen Xi talked about the loach Grandpa Guan had grilled for her when she was little. Grandpa Guan talked about the sandstorm that hit Dunhuang the night Chen Xi was born.

Chen Xi said she still wanted to eat Grandpa Guan’s yellow noodles. Grandpa Guan taught Chen Xi the secrets of kneading dough.

The moonlight gradually faded, and a glimmer of morning white appeared outside the window.

Grandpa Guan grew tired from talking, his eye sockets sunken deeply.

He dozed off for a short while, then suddenly opened his eyes again.

“I dreamed of Sensen’s grandmother.”

He murmured, “She came to pick me up.”

Chen Xi’s eyes reddened, and she said softly, “Grandpa Guan, was Sensen’s grandmother’s nickname Qingqing?”

A faint smile appeared at the corners of Grandpa Guan’s lips. “How did you know?”

Chen Xi smiled, “You called out to her.”

Grandpa Guan closed his eyes, and the smile on his lips carried a trace of gentle warmth.

Chen Xi said, “You two had such a good relationship.”

Grandpa Guan perked up again and said with a smile, “People of our generation lived simply. Being with one person and living a good life together was enough.”

Chen Xi leaned over the bed and said sincerely, “I envy you.”

Grandpa Guan smiled, “If you want to envy someone, envy your grandparents. Those two were unique in this world.”

Chen Xi asked curiously, “Why?”

Grandpa Guan teased her, “Do you want to hear the story?”

Chen Xi nodded. She had never heard her grandmother talk about the past.

In her opinion, her grandparents should have had an ordinary arranged marriage.

An ordinary companionship, an ordinary marriage, with no stories worth telling.

Grandpa Guan said, “If you want to hear it, promise me one thing.”

Chen Xi nodded.

Grandpa Guan looked at Chen Xi and said calmly, “Let Sensen go with his father. Give Shuping another chance.”

Chen Xi stared at Grandpa Guan, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

She knew Sensen had a father, but she didn’t feel comfortable or willing to entrust Sensen to anyone.

But Grandpa Guan looked steadily at Chen Xi, his gaze unwavering.

In their silent gaze, Chen Xi seemed to see all the vicissitudes and regrets of the old man’s life.

He still couldn’t let go of Shuping.

Chen Xi finally nodded gently.

After a moment of silence, she said quietly, “If Sensen is wronged, I’ll still bring him back.”

Grandpa Guan nodded and smiled with relief.

He rested for a while, then slowly began to tell the story of Chen Xi’s grandparents when they were young.

“Your grandmother carried your grandfather out from the gates of hell.”

Chen Xi’s eyes widened in surprise.

Seeing Chen Xi’s surprised expression, Grandpa Guan continued, “In our time, engagements were arranged very early. Your grandmother and grandfather were betrothed at fifteen.”

“During those years of natural disasters, every household went hungry. Your grandfather, wanting to get both families a full meal, learned to hop freight trains with some wild boys from the village. He fell and hit his head, lying in bed, unable to wake up.”

He rested for a long while before continuing, “Your grandfather’s parents died early, and he grew up in his uncle’s house. He was already considered a burden.”

“When he was well, he could at least earn food for the family, but once he was bedridden, no one wanted him.”

“Your grandmother was still a young girl then, but she didn’t care about gossip. She went to take care of him every day, feeding him rice soup, helping him with his bodily needs. Later, both his uncle’s family and your grandmother’s family became unhappy.”

Chen Xi listened with a heavy heart and asked, “What happened next?”

Grandpa Guan continued, “Then his uncle found a fortune teller who said his soul had already gone to the underworld, waiting for reincarnation. His body was still trapped in the mortal world, and if they didn’t let him rest in peace soon, his ghost would come to harm people.”

Chen Xi looked incredulous. “That was possible?”

Grandpa Guan smiled, “In the old countryside, all sorts of strange things could happen.”

Chen Xi asked, “What happened next?”

Grandpa Guan said, “The fortune teller picked an auspicious time – they were to cremate your grandfather at dawn. Your grandmother secretly carried him out of the house in the dark.”

“She carried your grandfather and walked several miles along the railway, finally hopping onto a train. They rode along the railway line, swaying back and forth, until the last stop at Liuyuan.”

“The two of them lived under a bridge. Your grandmother begged for food during the day and massaged your grandfather at night. Later, your grandfather woke up. Except for some speech difficulties, he had no other problems at all.”

“I was planting trees in the Gobi then. Seeing their hardship, I called them to plant trees too. They worked there for the rest of their lives.”

Grandpa Guan smiled gently at the ceiling.

“Your grandmother was truly extraordinary.”

Chen Xi sat stunned, unable to speak for a long time.

This was the most thrilling love story she had ever heard in her life.

Grandpa Guan grew tired from talking and dozed off again.

Chen Xi sat beside the bed, sleepless through the night.