After the meal, Cong Yixing went to call Zhong Rui back. Jiang Ding hid in the bedroom and didn’t listen.
After all, she had refused someone’s plea for help—and while she knew perfectly well she had the right to refuse, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt.
She lay back on the bed and played with her phone. After chatting with friends for a bit, she switched to the background to check her recent videos and found the data was quite poor.
Opening the work group chat she hadn’t checked in a long time, she found that everyone’s traffic was struggling. Some believed it was because all the attention lately was focused on weather discussions.
— Did you guys see the news? Many desert countries are at a breaking point from the heat. One country is even migrating its entire population.
— I heard the Sands Kingdom is negotiating with our country, hoping to merge with us, bringing along their mineral and oil resources.
— Huh? They’re so rich; couldn’t they just go anywhere to escape the heat? How did it get to this point?
— I saw that too, but I think it’s fake. Even if they were to merge, it wouldn’t be with China!
— Is merging with China that far-fetched? Don’t you know how powerful our country is now?
— If they really merge, it would be great. They have resources, we have the capability; together, we’d only be stronger.
— You guys make it sound too easy. Even if they want to merge, would Country X just stand by and watch? They’ll definitely sabotage it. It might even start a war!
— People are dying of heat, and you’re thinking about war? The priority should be more tech R&D to help humanity survive this high temperature!
— Yeah, how long do you think this abnormal heat will last? It won’t be this hot every summer from now on, will it? If so, what’s the difference between this and the apocalypse!
Admin: …Alright, stop. Any further and this group will be gone.
Jiang Ding searched curiously for news about the Sands Kingdom merging with China. It actually seemed quite detailed, but the comment section of the source video was closed, so many people were reposting it for discussion.
She scrolled through a mix of true and false news for a while, then clicked on the trending topics. Most were weather-related.
— Northwest region breaks 50°C today; surface temperatures reach over 80°C
— Glacier melting causes rising coastlines; coastal areas should prepare early
— Some regions break China’s historical high temperature records: What does this signify?
…
Jiang Ding put down her phone dejectedly. Lately, the internet was saturated with this kind of news, leaving one feeling suffocated. She didn’t want to see it, so her recent screen time had drastically shortened.
The bedroom door opened. Cong Yixing had finished his call. He originally intended to see if Jiang Ding had fallen asleep, but he saw her leaning against the headboard with a face full of unhappiness.
He walked in, sat on the edge of the bed, and asked, “What’s wrong? Why the pout again?”
Jiang Ding sat up and leaned on Cong Yixing, resting her head on his shoulder. She answered gloomily, “When do you think this heat will pass?”
“I don’t know either.” Cong Yixing patted her back comfortingly, his voice gentle. “It’s okay. In another month or so, it’ll be autumn. Once autumn hits, winter will be here soon.”
Jiang Ding was still uneasy. “It’s so hot this summer; will winter really come smoothly? Won’t winter become colder than before, too?”
Cong Yixing didn’t want her dwelling on these thoughts, so he changed the subject. “I’ve settled things with Zhong Rui. I told him to stay at a hotel for now and go back once the AC is fixed.”
Jiang Ding asked in a low voice, “He didn’t curse me, did he?”
Cong Yixing laughed. “Why would he curse you? If he dared to curse you in front of me, I’d definitely punch him.”
Jiang Ding added, “And then break off the friendship after punching him!”
“Alright.” Cong Yixing coaxed her with a smile, then said seriously, “I’ve reflected on it. I was wrong in this matter. I shouldn’t have thrown the problem to you and made you the ‘bad guy.'”
“But don’t worry, I explained it to him, and he isn’t angry.”
Jiang Ding was curious. “How did you explain it?”
“I said the second bedroom was converted into a study and doesn’t have a bed. Plus, the walls are thin, so it wouldn’t be convenient for him to stay.” Cong Yixing paused, then added, “I also lent him 2,000 yuan in your name.”
Jiang Ding said, “Wow, then he definitely won’t be angry.”
Cong Yixing smiled. “Exactly. He even asked me to thank you on his behalf, saying he’ll remember your great kindness for the rest of his life.”
Since the money didn’t come from her but she got the good reputation, Jiang Ding didn’t feel embarrassed at all. She waved her hand. “No need for thanks, as long as he promises not to fight me for you in the future!”
“No one is fighting you for me. I am forever yours.” Cong Yixing kissed her forehead and asked, “Still sleeping, or do you want to get up and work with me?”
“I do!”
After a serious afternoon of work, when they went to the supermarket for beef in the evening, they also picked up some seasonings and shelf-stable dry noodles—thin, thick, wide, and even diamond-shaped dough flakes—buying a large bag of each.
Dinner was handled on the top floor of the supermarket again.
Recently, since the temperature hit 45°C, ingredients became harder to preserve under the heat. Coupled with the drastic decrease in foot traffic during the day, few restaurants stayed open.
This made the situation even more difficult for migrant workers.
Many were renters who usually ate at company cafeterias or bought food out, rarely cooking for themselves. Some didn’t even have the facilities to cook at their lodgings.
Furthermore, with some industries halting due to the heat, the combination of rising living costs and decreasing income led many migrant workers to resign and return to their hometowns one after another.
Some people online remarked that the first-tier cities they had lived in since childhood had never been this empty, making it hard to adjust to.
Jiang Ding didn’t feel that way. The area they lived in was an old district, mostly inhabited by local residents. After the sun went down, many people came out of their homes—some for walks, some for shopping. Especially the few streets near the mall were bustling and lively.
After eating, they carried their supermarket purchases and walked slowly toward home. Passing by others, they occasionally caught snippets of conversation. Jiang Ding heard a man’s voice passing by: “…The water level is dropping severely. Buy more drinking water, just in case…”
Jiang Ding stopped and turned her head to look. She saw a man speaking to an elderly person beside him. The elder seemed to disagree, his voice a bit louder, carrying the words: “…The Lan River is so massive… it hasn’t lacked water in hundreds of years!”
Cong Yixing stopped with her and asked, “Why did you stop?”
Jiang Ding turned back and asked him, “Will the Lan River Reservoir dry up? Will our water be cut off?”
Cong Yixing hadn’t considered this. After a moment’s thought, he said, “It’s hard to say. The Lan River originates from the Qin River in the south of Qin Province and the Fangshui tributary from Fangling. If the Qin River’s water level drops significantly, the Lan River might risk drying up.”
“Oh…”
Jiang Ding returned home with a heavy heart. While Cong Yixing was organizing the things, she suddenly called out to him.
“Cong Yixing.”
“Hm?” Cong Yixing responded, looking back.
Jiang Ding held up her left hand, fingers splayed, and asked, “Does my transfer bead look good?”
Cong Yixing was stunned for a moment. “It looks good.”
Jiang Ding let out a breath. “Never mind then.”
While Cong Yixing went back to organizing, Jiang Ding rubbed the jade bead at the base of her left middle finger with her right hand, lost in thought.
There was something her grandmother had forgotten to tell her, but she had discovered by accident—the jade bead that carried the space was not visible to everyone.
It was a year after her grandmother passed away. Jiang Ding had made plans to go shopping with her classmates.
A classmate mentioned her mother wanted to buy her a gold bracelet, so they went to look at styles together. In a jewelry store, several girls couldn’t help but try on various pieces. Jiang Ding tried on a necklace but didn’t buy it in the end.
Later, after shopping, they sat down at a milk tea shop to rest.
One girl suddenly said to Jiang Ding, “Actually, I think your hands are perfect for jewelry.” She took Jiang Ding’s left hand to show the others. “Look, your hands are so fair and tender, your wrists are slim, and your knuckles are well-shaped. If you wore a bracelet or a simple ring, it would look beautiful.”
Jiang Ding looked at the jade bead on her middle finger and asked with a trembling voice, “Don’t I already have one?”
The girl looked at her in surprise. “Where?”
Jiang Ding struggled to hide her expression and said, “I have a dark green transfer bead.”
Another girl asked, “Is it made of jade? Why haven’t I seen you wear it?”
From then on, Jiang Ding knew that not everyone could see her jade bead.
However, she also remembered that Cong Yixing had praised her early on, saying the dark green jade bead made her skin look even fairer and prettier.
Jiang Ding then remembered her grandmother saying she had tried to pass the jade bead to Jiang Wanyi but failed.
Back then, the bead was on a long string. Grandmother hung it around the young Jiang Wanyi’s neck, but it quickly returned to Grandmother on its own.
Jiang Wanyi likely didn’t even know Grandmother had such a bead.
But Jiang Ding had known since she was a child.
The Jiang Ding who could see the bead since childhood was the recognized heir.
Those not recognized by the bead cannot see its existence.
So what was the deal with Cong Yixing being able to see it?
Having cleared her thoughts, Jiang Ding’s heart trembled: Could it be that I will die unexpectedly? And pass the bead to Cong Yixing before I die?
Jiang Ding felt terrible.
That night, while Cong Yixing was sound asleep, Jiang Ding took off the jade bead and slipped it onto Cong Yixing’s right pinky finger.
She didn’t sleep all night, wanting to see when the bead would automatically return to her.
But it didn’t. The jade bead sat securely on Cong Yixing’s finger, showing no sign of wanting to return.
Before dawn, Jiang Ding slid the bead off Cong Yixing’s hand and forced it back onto her own, feeling indignant: If I didn’t take you back, would you have just accepted him as your master? You fickle, bad jade bead!
When Cong Yixing opened his eyes, he saw Jiang Ding staring at him gloomily.
He looked horrified. “Where did this giant panda spirit come from? Where did you take my wife!”
Jiang Ding, with her dark circles: “…”
Cong Yixing waited two seconds. Seeing that Jiang Ding didn’t pounce on him to beat him, he looked at her in surprise and asked, “Baby, are you feeling unwell?”
Jiang Ding’s heart felt unwell.
She glared at Cong Yixing. “I have something to tell you!”
“Wait a second, baby.” Seeing her get serious, Cong Yixing stopped teasing. He sat up and pulled a white T-shirt over his torso before asking, “What do you want to tell me?”
Jiang Ding watched his expression. With a calm face, she took a half-cup of lemon water with a straw out of the space. She took a sip, then fed it to Cong Yixing’s lips, letting him take a sip, and then—before Cong Yixing’s wide eyes—she “shoopped” it back in.
Cong Yixing was fed a sip of lemon water in a daze, but he forgot to swallow. Drops of water trickled down from his open mouth. Combined with his unblinking, stunned expression, he didn’t need to act like a fool anymore; in this moment, he was a genuine fool.
Jiang Ding laughed secretly, though her face remained serious.
She stared intently at Cong Yixing’s face, not missing a single trace of his changing expressions.
Ten seconds later, Cong Yixing belatedly raised his hand to catch the droplets falling from the corner of his mouth. He blinked slowly and finally snapped out of it after a few moments, yet he didn’t know how to speak, only staring at Jiang Ding.
Jiang Ding: “Dumbfounded, aren’t you? You’re dating a real fairy, and fairies know magic.”
A long time passed.
After listening to Jiang Ding’s explanation—peppered with a bunch of made-up details—Cong Yixing finally understood.
Supposedly, Jiang Ding’s ancestors were a family of cultivators. An ancestor who ascended to the upper realm left a space for their descendants that could hold all things, and within which time stood still.
Because of this space, their family was able to continue generation after generation through the rise and fall of dynasties and the fires of war. However, by her grandmother’s generation, the massive family had dwindled. When it passed to Jiang Ding, the space was already empty.
Jiang Ding had lived frugally over the years to store a large amount of food in the space, but food alone was far from enough. They needed more supplies to fill the space and face the upcoming hardships.
“Since…” Cong Yixing asked the first question after his shock passed. “…since it’s a treasure passed down through your family for hundreds of years, can you tell an outsider so easily?”
Jiang Ding retorted, “What do you mean ‘outsider’! Aren’t we lovers who are going to be together for a lifetime!”
She added, “And what do you mean ‘easily’? I’ve been vetting you for years before telling you, okay!”
Cong Yixing quickly admitted his mistake. “Not an outsider. A lover preparing for marriage, to be together for a lifetime.”
Seeing Jiang Ding nod in satisfaction, he said, “So I successfully passed your vetting? Can you tell me what the vetting criteria were?”
Jiang Ding made it up on the spot: “First, of course, was your character, morals, and kindness. Then it was your feelings for me—whether they were deep enough, loyal enough…”
Cong Yixing listened seriously, watching her make it up. After she finished a long string of details, he spoke: “So in your heart, I’ve passed in every way, and I’m a perfect person?”
“Not that perfect. You’re a bit long-winded sometimes, a bit soft-hearted, and not very good at saying no to others…”
Cong Yixing thought, I’m very good at saying no to others; I just can’t say no to you.
After Jiang Ding finished listing his flaws, Cong Yixing nodded seriously: “I will definitely correct them in the future.”
Jiang Ding felt a bit guilty. Then she heard him ask, “So what have you hoarded over the years? Can you tell me?”
Jiang Ding didn’t have the patience to list them; she couldn’t even remember how many things there were.
Her eyes darted around, and she said, “I’ll take you in to see for yourself. Aren’t you curious!”
She took Cong Yixing’s hand, placed it over the jade bead, and said to him, “Close your eyes.”