【Modern Arc — Continues from the main storyline of the Ancient-Era version.】

In an extravagantly luxurious bedroom, the unconscious man slowly opened his eyes. He wiped away the tears seeping from the corners of his eyes.

“A’yu, you’re awake — you’re really awake.” Shiyao could not believe it. She rubbed her eyes and smiled through her tears.

Xuan Yanyu’s throat was painfully dry. He spoke in a hoarse voice. “What happened to me?”

Before he lost consciousness, all he could remember was Shiyao calling him on the phone, asking him to accompany her to a prenatal check-up. After that, he had been in a car accident on the way.

“A’yu, you were in a coma for five months.”

“Five months?” Xuan Yanyu sat up and rubbed his aching temples.

“Yes. The doctors said your consciousness… might never return. You would remain in a vegetative state. Uncle could not accept it, and in the second month of your coma, he entrusted you to Master Guosi.”

Shiyao wiped away her tears and continued, “Master Guosi has loved tinkering and inventing since he was young. He created a machine that sends people into books. Uncle gathered the personal details of the people around you and handed them to Master Guosi, who then wrote an ancient-era storybook.”

“Through the book-entering machine, he sent you into the story. Everyone in the story was someone from your life. The idea was to use the partings, regrets, and pain within the story to stimulate you into waking up. Master Guosi was not certain it would definitely work — he could only try. Uncle agreed.”

“What an absurd thing to do — and my father agreed to something this absurd??” Xuan Yanyu pressed his hand over his aching chest. Why did his chest feel so heavy and uncomfortable?

“A’yu, yesterday Master Guosi sent you back to Xuan Manor. You woke up today. Master Guosi had said before that apart from the people around you, he would also write a benefactress for you in the storybook.”

“He would arrange an identity for her in the ancient-era story. If such a person truly existed, then this person would also be drawn into the book through the book-entering machine and the workings of the story.”

“She would change the ending Master Guosi had written for you within the book. Only by changing your ending in the story could she leave the book — and only when she left the book could you be released from the story and return to reality.”

“Master Guosi said that after you returned to reality, perhaps her departure from within the book could also serve as the shock that woke you.”

At this point, Shiyao pressed her lips together. “A’yu, do you not remember what happened in the book?”

Xuan Yanyu pinched the bridge of his nose. “Where did my father find this swindler? How much did he con out of my father?”

“… Master Guosi said the book-entering machine can only be used once, and it is now broken. Father gave him a considerable sum. Whether or not he is a swindler — in any case, the fact that you have woken up is wonderful. Truly wonderful.”

Shiyao covered her mouth and wept. “A’yu, if you had truly never woken up again, I would never have been able to forgive myself for the rest of my life.”

Xuan Yanyu’s gaze settled on her abdomen. “Is the baby doing well? Has my father been making things difficult for you two?”

Shiyao smiled. “No. With you lying in a coma, how could Uncle make things difficult for this child?”

Xuan Yanyu gave a nod. He pressed his hand over his heavy chest and closed his eyes in exhaustion.

At the same moment, in a room filled with a dreamy atmosphere, a young woman’s eyes flew open with a start.

【Fafa, Fafa, Fafa.】

【……】 No response.

Yan Yunning sat up in bed. The day before she had entered the book, a system called Fafa had appeared inside her body without any warning. Now that she had returned, Fafa had vanished.

She had left so abruptly — what would Xuan Xixi do?

She had not yet said a proper goodbye to him.

She had not yet eaten the lotus-leaf chicken Xuan Xixi had promised to buy for her.

She had not yet married him… had not yet seen him ascend the throne…

Yan Yunning’s tears began to fall again, impossible to stop. She put her shoes on and got out of bed, then ran to the living room. On the large screen, a man in a suit was being interviewed.

“Young Master Xuan, you have just woken up and are already holding a press conference — do you have some good news to announce?” a media reporter asked.

“No.”

The reporter’s lips twitched — this was his way of telling the industry that he was back.

“Young Master Xuan, we hear that Miss Shi is with child. When will the wedding be?”

The man raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. “Whenever Shiyao wishes to hold the wedding — that question is one you should be asking her.”

The reporter was momentarily speechless and changed the subject. “Young Master Xuan truly has fine fortune — young, accomplished in his career, with a beautiful girlfriend, and now expecting a child.”

Xuan Yanyu smiled and said nothing to refute this.

Yan Yunning stood staring blankly at the man on the screen. He looked so much like her Xuan Xixi — so much alike. When the man on the large screen spoke of the baby, he smiled, and that smile was full of joy.

He had a child. He was getting married.

He was certainly not — certainly not — not her Xuan Xixi.

“Oh my goodness — Lingbao, you’re back from your trip? Why didn’t you call your brother ahead of time? I would have gone to the airport to pick you up… who upset you?” Seeing Yan Yunning with tears brimming in her eyes, Yan Jingzhi clenched his fists.

“A trip?” Yan Yunning murmured.

So it had been Fafa’s doing — otherwise, if she had suddenly disappeared, her family would certainly have taken action.

“Yes, you’ve been traveling for three months.” Yan Jingzhi stepped forward and wiped away her tears. “Who upset you?”

“Brother.” Yan Yunning threw herself into Yan Jingzhi’s arms and sobbed in heaving gasps.

She had been in the book for far more than three months — the flow of time inside the book and in reality had been vastly different.

“You precious thing, stop crying. If Mom and Dad found out you came home looking like this, they’d come back and beat me to death.” Yan Jingzhi patted her on the back. “Who upset you? Your brother will go teach them a lesson.”

Lingbao was the daughter of Third Uncle’s family. Their own family had no daughter — when his mother was pregnant, she had a difficult delivery, so his father had not dared try again. But his mother had always loved little girls.

Since the elder cousin of Uncle’s family had married, his mother had set her sights on Lingbao, asking her to come stay with them for a stretch every year.

This time, his father had taken his mother on a trip and had not yet returned. Lingbao had arrived in Chaxi City right on schedule, and his parents had told him to take good care of his little sister without fail.

And yet, barely a month after she arrived, this little girl had gone off traveling herself — and each time, she only sent back a brief message with some scenic photographs. She would not make phone calls. When he tried to call her, she would not answer. Now she had come home crying like this — if his parents saw this, his life was forfeit.

Yan Yunning raised her head and pointed at the man on the screen.

Yan Jingzhi followed the direction she pointed and looked over. On the screen, Xuan Yanyu had finished his interview and was preparing to leave.

“Yuege — Lingbao — are you saying Yuege upset you? That’s impossible. Yuege got into a car accident rushing to pick up his girlfriend for her prenatal check-up, and has been in a coma for five months… wait — Yuege woke up??”

The belatedly-realizing Yan Jingzhi let out a shout.

“Ah…” Yan Yunning cried even harder.

“Sorry, sorry — I startled you. You precious thing, you must have mistaken him for someone else. Yuege was in a car accident and in a coma — if it weren’t for that, he should have married his girlfriend by now. How could he have upset you? He was in a coma — there’s absolutely no way he could have crossed paths with you while you were traveling!”

All the grief and hurt surged up at once. Yan Yunning forced down her sobs and said, “Brother, I mistook him for someone else. I’m a bit tired from the trip. I’ll go upstairs and sleep for a while.”

She had mistaken him for someone else. The man on the large screen was absolutely not her Xuan Xixi.

“Huh?” Yan Jingzhi scratched his head.

Yan Yunning did not want to say more. She ran back to her room with reddened eyes, sat down at her desk, opened her laptop, and typed “Xuan Yanyu” into the search bar.

A wealth of information about him appeared: