Cao Yanhua?

When Mu Dai turned around, she nearly tripped over herself. The car headlights directly facing her were so bright she couldn’t open her eyes. She vaguely saw Cao Yanhua’s familiar figure weaving quickly left and right through the traffic.

Little Seven chattered beside her: “See? I didn’t lie to you, did I? Haven’t you found your friend? I really didn’t lie.”

Cao Yanhua rushed over, his face sweaty but smiling. When he opened his mouth, his grin looked like he was about to cry.

“Little Master, you don’t know what happened to me. I was posing for a photo when you all stopped moving. It scared me…”

Mu Dai also smiled. As she smiled, her vision blurred, and she said: “Cao Pangpang, let’s get out first. Little Seven said we can’t stay in the ripples too long…”

At this point, her heart suddenly skipped a beat: could they really not stay too long? She seemed to have ridden the cable car all day.

When she asked Little Seven, it replied righteously: “Yes, yes, look at this water clock—it’s leaked down to just this much left. Of course we need to hurry.”

Mu Dai wasn’t fooled: “Little Seven, the sand doesn’t leak in the ripples—I remember, only in the corridor, when I keep walking or running, does the sand move.”

Little Seven said: “Oh my!”

It raised both arms, shyly covering its face: “You caught me again!”

Before Mu Dai could speak, Cao Yanhua beside her suddenly leaped up and kicked Little Seven flying: “Little Master, this is an evil bamboo slip. Can you believe anything an evil bamboo slip says?”

Little Seven’s thin long body flew out, hit a car roof, rolled down, then stood up, cackling with laughter, and scurried away through the crowded traffic until it disappeared.

Cao Yanhua’s anger hadn’t subsided: “I’ll show you for talking nonsense… I’ll kick every one I see.”

Kick every one he saw—that’s right. Before meeting Mu Dai, Cao Yanhua had already kicked one away.

Initially, his experience was the same as Mu Dai’s.

“Several shadowy figures, chattering away, so annoying, saying we lost.”

“Can you believe anything evil bamboo slips say? I got angry, grabbed one and started hitting. All seven looked the same—I don’t even know which one I was hitting.”

Indeed, at the time, another evil bamboo slip had covered its head and screamed: “You already hit me! Stop hitting! This is the third time!”

Mu Dai laughed heartily.

Since entering the Viewing Four Mirage Tower, this was the first time she had laughed so freely. Although the entire sky was still overcast with gloom, Cao Yanhua’s appearance was like lifting a corner of the sky’s covering, letting in bright colors and warm sunlight.

Cao Yanhua continued his story.

Later, with a roar, Fengzi Ridge’s peaks spewed fire, the Viewing Four Mirage Tower appeared, and the evil bamboo slips shouted in a tone like sending away plague gods: “Go on, enter through the entrance, run to the end, and you can get out!”

Cao Yanhua said resentfully: “As if I’d believe that, Little Master. If it’s that simple—just run track and field to get out?”

When entering the entrance, an evil bamboo slip tried to follow him in obsequiously, but he kicked it flying far away.

“You can’t let these bad guys stay around you—they’re definitely trouble!”

Mu Dai said: “Their words are half true and half false. Some can be picked out and listened to.”

Cao Yanhua scratched his head: “Anyway, I didn’t let it follow me.”

He was confused, seeing the sundial and water clock without knowing what they meant. The cave was initially very dark. He groped forward carefully while ripples beside him were like casually brushed dynamic display pictures, frame by frame, sliding past his elbow.

“I could see they seemed to be my experiences from childhood to adulthood. I thought they were touchscreen pictures, so I swiped one with my hand. Before I knew it, I got sucked in, saw myself as a child, thought it was fun, tugged my hand, and whoosh—I seemed to attach to the body. I was so scared, but fortunately after trying a few times, I came out again.”

So he figured it out—if he walked straight along this corridor to the end, maybe he’d reach that camping place at Fengzi Ridge, and then he could meet his friends.

“So I walked and walked, looking as I went…”

He paused.

Mu Dai understood clearly: “When did you finally stop?”

Cao Yanhua was very embarrassed: “I saw myself with a basin under my arm, climbing on a roof.”

When he had fled his arranged marriage, he hadn’t seen his family for over ten years. Last time he returned to Cao Family Village, he heard people gossiping about Cao Jinhua again, saying she had suffered because of him and angrily remained unmarried.

“Now thinking about it, why was that necessary? Was it worth having a father-son falling out over such a small matter? What couldn’t be discussed openly and reasonably?”

In his hesitation, he stepped into the ripples.

He didn’t climb the roof or bang the basin, but his “communication” with Old Man Cao ended in failure. His intention was to talk “openly,” but after opening up only halfway, Old Man Cao grabbed a rolling pin and chased him around the yard.

“You’re rebelling,” Old Man Cao said. “Jinhua is such a good match for you—plump and white, good for bearing children. Her family even has a tractor. After becoming in-laws, we could often borrow it for plowing and hauling.”

Mu Dai cried out and bent over laughing while clutching her stomach.

“Truly, you can’t discuss ice with summer insects,” Cao Yanhua said in a scholarly manner. “Little Master, when communication doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work. This generation gap goes all the way to the earth’s core. I thought then that the mountains were still too isolated, with too narrow a perspective. I should go to big cities to broaden my horizons.”

Mu Dai’s heart stirred: “So you still ran away from home?”

“I left a note saying I was going to the city to work.”

He paused and added: “Before leaving, I talked with Sister Jinhua. I felt that just slapping my butt and running wasn’t what a real man should do. If I didn’t want to marry, I didn’t want to marry—I had to make that clear to her.”

Mu Dai nodded: “And then?”

“The conversation went well! I even encouraged Sister Jinhua to go out and see the world, not to always stay in Cao Family Village. She was scared at first, saying she had little education and was afraid she couldn’t make a living outside. I said, you can learn if you’re uneducated! There are all kinds of jobs outside—sweeping, washing dishes, doing promotions, selling houses, selling insurance—what won’t work?”

He was very pleased with himself, then suddenly remembered something: “Oh right, Little Master, there’s one thing that would definitely make Great Master happy if he knew.”

“What thing?”

“I didn’t become a thief!” he said excitedly. “I saw myself about to go astray and quickly rushed in to pull back from the brink. I thought, I’m someone who will subdue evil bamboo slips in the future—my moral character can’t be bad! I’m different from my brother Sansan. When Sansan was homeless on the streets, he was young, and his cheating and swindling was for survival. Me? I have hands and feet—I can make money doing anything. It might be tiring, but why steal? Right?”

A strange feeling rose in Mu Dai’s heart.

Cao Yanhua’s life had already changed, changed very early.

She probed: “Then what did you do for a living later?”

“Work! Didn’t I help at the bar and Phoenix Tower? Waiting tables, kitchen work—I could do it all.”

Mu Dai felt something was wrong. After thinking, she asked: “Did you come to the cable car to find me?”

If Cao Yanhua had the same thoughts as her, they should have met during the day. She had been at the cable car all day and hadn’t seen Luo Ren or Cao Yanhua.

This question actually stumped Cao Yanhua.

He stammered, thought for a while, then said: “No… no, Little Master, I think I came out… for a walk.”

The last three words were very quiet, somewhat guilty.

“I came out for a walk, saw the cable car, felt strange inside, always felt this cable car was related to me somehow, so I walked around it a couple more times. Walking around, I suddenly saw you, so I… I rushed over.”

Mu Dai tried to sort out his words: “You just came out for a walk?”

Cao Yanhua was nervous: “Yes.”

“When you were walking, you weren’t thinking about finding me, weren’t thinking about going to Gatherings and Partings Follow Fate to find us?”

Cao Yanhua was embarrassed but nodded very firmly: “Yes.”

A chill crept up Mu Dai’s spine. She suddenly shouted at the traffic: “Little Seven! Come out, Little Seven!”

Strange laughter swept through the air. Little Seven’s figure seemed to leap from a distance up to the sky and never appeared again.

Mu Dai pulled Cao Yanhua: “Let’s go.”

The two of them retreated back to the corridor together, but there was no path left. Ahead was a stone wall, with only one adjacent ripple remaining—that was Gatherings and Partings Follow Fate.

Cao Yanhua was a bit nervous: “Little Master, what’s happening?”

Mu Dai reached out to touch the solid stone wall in front, saying: “Can’t get through. We’ve reached the end.”

Can’t get through. Reached the end.

Little Seven had told some truths, but many more lies.

The Viewing Four Mirage Tower wasn’t about re-experiencing life, but about assembling countless possibilities of life like modules. Just as back at the orphanage, Huo Zihong could adopt her—that was module A—or not adopt her—that was module B.

The Viewing Four Mirage Tower was like a Rubik’s cube, flipping different modules.

Initially, Little Seven suggested she not interfere, just put her head down and run forward. If she had done that, not even looking at the ripples, her endpoint would be a scene she herself would find strange.

But interfering also carried risks. Life’s trajectory could miraculously align or be completely different.

Cao Yanhua said, “Little Master, I think I came out for a walk,” and also said, “I felt strange inside, always felt this cable car was related to me somehow.”

Cao Yanhua didn’t want to be a thief anymore and changed part of his life. Simultaneously, he forgot some things about the five people in the real world, forgot his first meeting with Mu Dai at the cable car, forgot that Gatherings and Partings Follow Fate bar in Lijiang, leaving only the haziest impression in his heart until, by coincidence, he saw Mu Dai herself—for him, Mu Dai was a reminder of the real world.

So why couldn’t so many people who tried reach the endpoint? Because both interfering and not interfering brought enormous risks. Five people playing chess simultaneously would definitely make the game unrecognizable.

Mu Dai’s lips trembled as she ran back the way they came. After just two steps, she crashed into the stone wall again with a bang, the pain making her fall to the ground. Cao Yanhua hurried to help her, but Mu Dai didn’t move. After a long while, she roared hoarsely and pounded her fist heavily on the ground.

The forward path was also sealed. The path traveled couldn’t be retraced.

Cao Yanhua panicked: “Little Master, what’s wrong?”

No going back, no changing anything. Only one ripple remained—they could no longer freely shuttle into past situations, couldn’t go find Wan Fenghuo or Ma Tuwen to ask about Luo Ren, couldn’t enter through the ripples to that future where she met Hong Sha. Where her and Cao Yanhua’s trajectory lines collided, illusion receded and reality arrived. This new level of reality was their endpoint.

Cao Yanhua sat with her in the narrow space between stone walls for a while. The ripples flashed in front of them, casting light on both their faces. After a while, Cao Yanhua said: “Little Master, let’s go in.”

Mu Dai wearily stood up, letting Cao Yanhua pull her as they stepped into this final ripple.

So many tourists, crowded together, with continuous shouting. Mu Dai kept thinking about Luo Ren. The places in his life he wanted to change—there were many.

He wanted to save back Uncle Luo Wenmiao, wanted Pin Ting not to be possessed by evil bamboo slips, wanted Tasha to live safely, wanted the many brothers in the Philippines not to die in vain.

Given another chance, who wouldn’t want to seize it? Even Cao Yanhua wanted to correct those small regrets of “slapping your butt and leaving isn’t what a real man should do”—how much more so for matters of life and death?

Mu Dai whispered: “But you can’t change me out of existence.”

The bar’s exterior wall was already decorated. Bottles of various shapes and colors gleamed blindingly in the sunlight. Pushing open the door, that bleached-hair bartender was practicing bottle juggling, having moved his territory from inside the bar to outside. All the tables and chairs in the hall had been moved aside, giving him a huge space for his acrobatic performance, like a traveling street performer.

Cao Yanhua was bewildered: “Where’s my brother Sansan?”

Before his words finished, Uncle Zhang’s booming voice rang out from the side: “The little boss lady is back! Who’s this chubby guy?”

Mu Dai forced a smile: “This… is someone here to work at the bar.”

Uncle Zhang laughed: “How strange—another one here to work! A girl came two days ago, desperately wanting to work. The boss lady said the bar wasn’t hiring, but that girl said she didn’t want money—she’d even pay to work!”

Mu Dai was curious: “Who was it?”

Screaming came from the staircase. Mu Dai looked up to see Hong Sha, whom she hadn’t seen in so long, sweeping down like a whirlwind. The screaming didn’t stop as she knocked over the bartender, sending his juggling bottles rolling to the corner.

Cao Yanhua also shouted: “Sister Hong Sha!”

He opened his arms, joyfully welcoming her. When she got close, Yan Hongsha ducked down, slipped under his arms, and without slowing down, almost lunged straight at Mu Dai to embrace her.

Mu Dai couldn’t steady herself and crashed into the table behind her with a bang, then struggled to push Hong Sha away: “Hong Sha, my waist—I hurt my waist.”