“Miss, what are you doing all the way out here?”

The driver’s worried question came from behind her. Rong Qian was sitting cross-legged on the edge of a cliff, the wind roaring, her hair blown every which way.

She tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear, not turning around, and asked the driver, “Uncle, have you ever heard of a man named Wei Long?”

“Wei Long? Sounds somewhat familiar. What does he do?” The driver saw that Rong Qian had settled down and showed no sign of wanting to jump, and relaxed with relief.

Rong Qian said, “He was a very famous actor from thirty years ago. Won a lot of awards. Have you heard of him?”

“Oh, you mean him! I wouldn’t have expected a young person nowadays to know about someone like Wei Long.” The driver happened to know who she meant, and sighed with feeling. “A decent man, that one. Pity he didn’t live long — died in his thirties, if I recall.”

“Is that so? How did he die?” Rong Qian bit her lip, fighting back tears.

The driver thought for a moment before saying, “I think it was during a banquet held on a ship — he fell overboard. The rescue team searched for days. People started wondering whether he’d been eaten by sharks. Such a shame — a person that alive and well, just gone like that.”

“And after that — why is there no trace of him online?”

“Who knows. Overnight, he just vanished — as if he’d never existed at all. Strange, when you think about it.” The driver gave an honest chuckle.

Rong Qian tightened her fist. She took a deep breath, then stood up and said to the driver, “Uncle, could you please take me back to where I came from?”

“Heading back so soon?”

Rong Qian grabbed a handful of windswept hair, and after settling into the car, said quietly, “Not so soon. It’s been two months.”

When Rong Qian’s car arrived back at that Cantonese restaurant, Xie Dong had already left. Rong Xi Wen was still sitting in his original seat.

Rong Qian walked over in a fury, slammed her hands on the table, and said with barely contained rage, “Dad, why did you lie to me!”

Rong Xiwen calmly set down his glass and looked up at his red-rimmed daughter. “You’ve already made a trip and come back?”

“You were deceiving me, weren’t you? I couldn’t change a thing! Shen Yi — he has no way of surviving, does he?” Tears hovered at the edges of her eyes. Rong Qian clenched her teeth.

Rong Xiwen looked at her and asked, “Did you do as I said — did you tell him everything that’s going to happen in the future?”

“I told him everything, and it didn’t help at all! And on top of that—” Rong Qian lowered her head, hands balled into fists, breathing hard, unable to accept it. “On top of that, it was precisely because I told him that the outcome ended up happening the way it did…”

“Then that means it went exactly as it should. You did very well.” Rong Xiwen was entirely calm.

Rong Qian stared at him in disbelief. “Dad, you really were tricking me, weren’t you?”

“I had to tell you what I did — otherwise the situation now would be far worse. My daughter, you’ve given it everything you had. To have gotten this far is already more than enough. Turn the page on this, all right?” Rong Xiwen reached out to take her hand, but Rong Qian pulled away.

Rong Qian fixed him with an unwavering stare. “So, Dad — you knew from the very beginning that Shen Yi’s fate couldn’t be changed. The point of my going there was simply to fill in the gaps of history. Is that right?”

“I didn’t know!”

Rong Xiwen’s patience was wearing thin as well. He said irritably, “Everything I did was based on what Shen Yi told me to do. What could I have done about it? Maybe this is the outcome he wanted.”

Rong Xiwen was genuinely exasperated. That boy Shen Yi — what exactly had he been up to, getting his daughter to lay into him like this!

“And what about Shen Fongran?” Rong Qian demanded. “Does he just get to continue on freely? Isn’t he still watching me from the shadows even now?”

But Rong Xiwen said, “Not anymore.”

“What do you mean, not anymore?”

Rong Xiwen looked into her eyes and said, “My daughter, you’re safe now. As long as you stop investigating Shen Yi’s case, you’ll be fine. As for Shen Fongran, I’ll handle that.”

Rong Qian nearly laughed from sheer frustration. She had investigated all this time, and the answer was just — this is the ending? Was he joking?

“My daughter, I’m not trying to discourage you — it’s simply that you have no leads left now. This matter has reached its conclusion.” Rong Xiwen stood up to comfort her. “Rong Qian, stop clinging to the past. Live in the present. What you should be looking toward is your own future, not what’s already gone.”

“No. This isn’t over.” Rong Qian pulled out the key that Mu Chaoxue had given her. “Dad — do you believe that history can be reversed?”

Rong Xiwen froze. “Where did that key come from? What do you intend to do with it?”

“Dad, don’t forget — whose daughter I am. There’s no way I’d accept an ending this muddy and unresolved.” Rong Qian said it with absolute conviction. “That photo from earlier absolutely cannot have been the last time I cross over!”

As she spoke, she turned to leave. Rong Xiwen quickly grabbed her arm. “My daughter, don’t be hasty. I believe you. Whatever you want to do, I won’t stand in your way — but you can’t act alone.”

“I know. I have my limits.”

Rong Qian wasn’t about to charge in recklessly. First things first — she needed to find out exactly where the Longjing Garden written on the key actually was.

Rong Xiwen was worried about her, and followed her back to the hotel.

If it was truly as Rong Qian said — if history really could be reversed — that was something he absolutely had to take seriously.