News about the termination of the contract with Sheng Corporation quickly spread far and wide. Later, Shi Niannian learned that Sheng Corporation had already been facing problems in many of its industries, and Jiang Wang’s contract termination brought them an even more severe crisis.

Shi Niannian didn’t know much about these matters; she only knew that the rumors about her in the outside world were becoming increasingly fantastical.

As the Spring Festival approached, the company closed for the holiday. This year’s bonuses were twice as large as last year’s. In the company group chat, no one thanked the big boss; instead, they all said “Thank you, Empress.”

Jiang Wang showed his phone to Shi Niannian, making her laugh uncontrollably.

On New Year’s Eve, the two rarely slept until noon.

At noon, Jiang Wang accompanied her to her aunt’s house for a meal. Xu Ningqing was also there, but the little girl named Chang Li, who claimed to be his girlfriend, wasn’t seen, probably having gone home for the New Year.

“You’ve been married for some time now. When are you planning to have children?” her aunt asked at the table.

Shi Niannian’s hand holding the chopsticks paused: “Ah, it’s still early. We haven’t thought about it yet.”

Jiang Wang chuckled, answering naturally: “After Niannian finishes her studies. Her academic pressure is already quite high.”

“Yes, indeed,” her aunt agreed. “Studying is hard work. I see you haven’t gained any weight at all; you’re still the same as in high school, not looking like a graduate student at all.”

Shi Niannian smiled in response: “Not true. I’ve gained a few pounds since returning to China.”

Xu Ningqing hardly spoke at the table and seemed to be in a bad mood. After the meal, as they were about to leave, he called Jiang Wang aside to talk.

Once in the car, Shi Niannian asked: “What was my brother talking to you about just now?”

Jiang Wang curved his lips: “He said that little girl at his home had a tantrum and ran away, and he asked me how to coax her back.”

“Huh?” Shi Niannian was surprised, hesitantly saying, “…Chang Li?”

He replied casually: “Probably.”

“What did you tell him?”

She rarely got angry herself. Given how well Jiang Wang treated her, it seemed impossible that he could make her angry enough to run away from home. She wondered what Xu Ningqing could have done to upset Chang Li so much.

Jiang Wang recalled a time long ago when Xu Ningqing had gloated: “Jiang Wang, you’re going to fall hard.”

Now that he and Shi Niannian had finally settled down, it was Xu Ningqing’s turn.

He had boasted to Xu Ningqing at the time: “Oh, my wife doesn’t throw tantrums with me,” which had greatly annoyed Xu Ningqing.

The car stopped at a red light. Jiang Wang turned his head to look at Shi Niannian. The little girl seemed quite curious about this question; even her eyes were bright with interest. He suddenly felt mischievous and decided to tease her.

Jiang Wang leaned forward, moving close to her ear, drawing out his voice with a half-smile: “Just fuck her once and she’ll be fine.”

Shi Niannian’s ears grew hot as she pushed him away: “What are you saying?”

He laughed, his magnetic deep laughter rippling outward: “Isn’t it true? When she’s angry, she extends her claws like a wild cat, but after being fucked, she softens up.”

His words became increasingly shameless. Shi Niannian looked away, staring out the window, pretending not to hear.

Jiang Wang hadn’t returned to the old mansion in years. He hadn’t lived there for long. After his mother’s death, he moved out directly and rarely returned afterward.

Shi Niannian watched as the scenery outside the window gradually became unfamiliar. The Jiang family’s old mansion was nestled against a mountain beside a river, far from the commercial district. As they drove further, there were fewer and fewer cars around.

“Why did you suddenly decide to come back today?” Shi Niannian asked.

“No particular reason,” Jiang Wang said. “Just to have a look.”

Shortly after Jiang Chen’s car accident, his second wife had taken her daughter and left through divorce. After his death, Jiang Wang had hired people to handle the affairs. There was no grand funeral; after cremation, he was buried in a cemetery, and that was the end of it.

Throughout his life, Jiang Chen had maintained the image of a gentle and refined businessman to the outside world. When his second wife left, many people criticized her for not sharing in hardships after sharing in good times. No one knew what Jiang Chen was truly like.

After his death, Jiang Wang had dismissed all the servants at the old mansion. Such a large house remained unoccupied but unsold, standing empty.

The house had accumulated a thin layer of dust. As they pushed open the door, sunlight streamed in, revealing floating particles in the air. Shi Niannian raised her hand to wave them away as she followed Jiang Wang inside.

The windows were reopened, dispersing the dampness that had accumulated in the long-uninhabited house.

Shi Niannian saw two black and white photographs displayed prominently in the center of the living room. One was of Jiang Chen, whom she had seen before, and the other was of a very beautiful young woman.

She looked up at them for a while. The woman had a scholarly air about her and looked very gentle.

Jiang Wang stood behind her and said: “This is my mother.”

Shi Niannian was startled, then realized that after Jiang Chen’s second wife had divorced him, the only person who could hang beside him on the wall was naturally Jiang Wang’s birth mother.

It seemed somewhat ridiculous to look at it this way.

Given what kind of person Jiang Chen had been during his lifetime.

Jiang Wang truly had no particular business on this trip. The remaining old items in the house were mostly Jiang Chen’s clothes and other valueless things. After his death, Jiang Wang had directly donated all his collections of famous paintings and antiques to charity auctions, and all the money from the auctions had been donated as well.

Jiang Wang had only come to find a ring.

Shi Niannian watched as he took the ring out from a drawer. It wasn’t kept in a velvet box but was casually tossed inside, suggesting that the ring’s owner didn’t value it much.

“Whose is this?” she asked.

“My mother’s wedding ring,” Jiang Wang said calmly. “She wasn’t wearing it the day she drowned in the river. It’s been left here ever since.”

Shi Niannian didn’t ask why he had made a special trip just to retrieve this ring. She quietly followed him as they left the old mansion. Jiang Wang walked to the riverbank in front of the house and raised his hand.

As the ring was thrown into the air, it reflected a dazzling light, then made a soft “plop” as it fell into the water, creating small ripples that quickly faded as it sank to the bottom, disappearing from sight.

Shi Niannian understood now.

During his lifetime, Jiang Chen hadn’t treated Jiang Wang’s birth mother well, yet after death, he wanted to maintain appearances by hanging both their photos together to create an image of family harmony. This didn’t make sense.

Throwing away the ring this way was a final severing of their relationship.

She approached Jiang Wang and silently hugged him from behind, her nose pressed against his back.

Jiang Wang held her hand, gently caressing the diamond ring on her ring finger. Gradually, his face returned to its usual expression.

He said, “This ring of yours, you must wear it always.”

Shi Niannian nodded obediently: “I will.”

Jiang Wang turned around and embraced her: “I’ll be good to you for a lifetime.”

With a lump in her throat, she nodded again: “Mm.”

On New Year’s Eve, the streets were filled with people coming and going. The rows of trees along the pedestrian streets were adorned with small red lanterns, creating a bright scene that turned the bare branches red in their glow.

The fountains in front of the shopping mall were all operating, creating a lively atmosphere. Many couples held hands nearby, and there were also families of three with small babies.

After dinner out, Jiang Wang didn’t drive in the direction of home.

Shi Niannian looked at the familiar scenery outside the window, her heartbeat gradually quickening and becoming erratic.

No. 1 High School.

She hadn’t been here for six years.

When she left, it was winter. Now, returning, it was also winter.

The moon hung overhead, pure and clean, casting down a cold light.

Jiang Wang parked the car at the entrance. Naturally, no one was at school on New Year’s Eve. The gates were locked, and the security guards had gone home for the holiday. The campus was pitch black, without even streetlights lit.

Jiang Wang stood there, tall with long legs, wearing a black coat over a thin sweater. A large portion of his neck was exposed to the cold wind, and the short hair on his forehead had grown a bit, being swept upward by the wind.

Looking at him, Shi Niannian’s heart quietly pulsed with emotion.

He turned his head to look at her, a smile spreading from his eyes: “Can you still climb over walls?”

Shi Niannian paused, then nodded: “I should be able to.”

She had learned to climb walls because she had been bullied in school and was forced to learn.

Jiang Wang gestured toward the wall ahead with his chin: “You go over first.”

Fortunately, she was dressed simply today, though she wasn’t sure if her jeans would affect her movement. Shi Niannian stepped back a few paces, then leaped up, grabbing the top of the wall with both hands, and sat on top with relative ease.

Jiang Wang looked up at her from below and smiled. Just as Shi Niannian was about to reach out her hand to help him, he had already quickly climbed up by pushing off the wall with his foot.

He jumped down first, then opened his arms toward Shi Niannian: “Jump.”

The school wall wasn’t short, and for Shi Niannian, jumping down was much harder than climbing up. In the past, she had often twisted her ankle when jumping down.

She looked down at Jiang Wang, then pushed herself off the wall with force.

She fell onto Jiang Wang, who deliberately let himself fall backward onto the thick, long-untrimmed grass, where the scent of frost and dew filled their noses.

Shi Niannian couldn’t help but laugh, lying on top of him.

The man didn’t rush to get up either, holding her waist and laughing with her, his chest vibrating.

After Shi Niannian left, Xu Ningqing couldn’t understand why he insisted on not contacting her. Later, Jiang Wang had told him: “If she and I can’t make it to the end together, I don’t know who else I could walk with.”

At this moment, he was certain of those words.

If it wasn’t Shi Niannian in the end, Jiang Wang couldn’t imagine who else he could love.

Over the years, he had met many women, but none could stir his heart with just one glance like Shi Niannian did.

The school hadn’t changed much. After climbing over the wall, they were at the sports field—the green football field, the red plastic running track, and the surrounding spectator stands with their colorful seats. The school’s pond was frozen, and further ahead were the teaching buildings.

By calculation, Jiang Wang had studied here for four years, but because of Shi Niannian, who only appeared in his life during his second year of high school after he got out of prison, all his beautiful memories of the school seemed to have stopped at that moment.

The classrooms were pitch black, with doors and windows closed. After walking around for a while, they went downstairs to the abandoned storage room behind the gymnasium.

Here, Jiang Wang had once taught her to read a speech, word by word.

He expertly climbed over the wall to get in. This time, Shi Niannian didn’t follow him inside; she waited outside for a while. Then a light came on inside, and the door opened. Jiang Wang took her hand and pulled her in.

A flood of memories returned—those memories she hadn’t dared to think about in detail while abroad now appeared before her eyes as if she were reliving them.

Shi Niannian’s eyes grew moist.

Jiang Wang casually dusted off a spot and sat down.

He looked up at her, and for an instant, it was as if they had returned to the beginning. The storage room had the most primitive type of light bulb—a single electric wire hanging from the ceiling—and Shi Niannian’s silhouette was bathed in its glow.

Like a goddess in his life, she didn’t despise the filth and decay of his past life, her clear eyes looking at him.

Jiang Wang saw the moon in her eyes, and his goddess was willing to bestow her light upon him.

“Do you remember the first time I saw you climbing a wall?” he suddenly asked.

Shi Niannian couldn’t help but laugh at the memory: “Yes, I remember.”

It was the first day Jiang Wang came to their class, at noon. She was all dirty, climbing over the wall, and Jiang Wang called her “little stutterer” from behind. Later, he taught her to say his name, word by word.

Jiang. Wang.

The young man was mischievous even then, always swaggering about, deliberately teasing her, wanting her to call him “Brother Jiang Wang.”

Jiang Wang leaned back slightly, smiling gently in compromise.

“You were good to me from the very beginning.”

“It was you who gave me that bandage, you who gave me candy, you who brought me water during the 4×100 relay, and you who asked if I was afraid.”

Shi Niannian looked at him silently.

Jiang Wang’s gaze was direct, falling on an intangible point: “No one had ever asked me if I was afraid—not when I lost my hearing, not when I stabbed the knife into Gao Sheng’s stomach, not when I went to prison. Only you, holding me lightly, quietly asking me if I was afraid.”

He closed his eyes briefly: “Of course I was afraid.”

Shi Niannian knelt, straightening her upper body to hug him, stroking his hair: “It’s okay to be afraid. I’ll be here for you from now on.”

Not “don’t be afraid,” but “it’s okay to be afraid.”

Shi Niannian continued to hold him, her chin resting on the hollow of his shoulder, speaking calmly: “When I was abroad, I often had the same dream.”

“Did you dream of me?”

“Yes,” she said. “It was the first time I saw you. It was when I was being bullied the worst by Cheng Qi. Every day, I had to hide from them, running as soon as class ended. If caught, I would be bullied. That night, after the evening self-study session, I nearly got caught by her and ran out with all my might, only stopping when I reached that path.”

And then she saw Jiang Wang for the first time.

The young man stepped out from the doorframe, his facial contours sharply defined by the yellowish light—half hidden in darkness, half in a sickly white. His brow ridge was strong, his jaw lean, his eyes fierce, appearing cold and hard, filled with an inextinguishable defiance.

Shi Niannian nuzzled against his shoulder and said, “I don’t know why I always dreamed of that scene. Maybe because it was the beginning of our entire story.”

That summer, dressed in her school uniform, she hid in the shadows, watching as the young man emerged from such a place, surrounded by others.

Later, on an evening filled with cicada songs, he leaned back, his voice hiding mischief, tinged with weariness and nasal tones, casually drawing out an “Eh—”

With drooping eyelids, he called her: “Little stutterer.”

Shi Niannian stood before him in a white dress. This was the beginning of their story.

The monster had devoured a thousand moons, leaving only the last one, standing on the precipice, gently filling the sky, buried in the vast Milky Way.

That round moon of redemption, once his delusion, became what he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Fortunately, what is never forgotten will always find its echo.