Under Wen Zhao’s silent permission, the two of them became travel companions in Songping County.
During the day, Wen Zhao would wake up early to set her destination for the day, heading out to bring back breakfast before leaving again. By lunchtime, a Zheng Miaoning would invariably “refresh” beside her.
At night, Zheng Miaoning would walk into Wen Zhao’s room with a head of half-dry hair and sit down as a matter of course. After Wen Zhao dried her hair, she would even more naturally climb into Wen Zhao’s bed, waiting for Wen Zhao to turn off the lights and come over to coax her to sleep.
After a week, Zheng Miaoning’s complexion had improved significantly.
Wen Zhao was very satisfied.
She had said it before—Zheng Miaoning’s previous claim that Wen Zhao couldn’t take care of people was pure slander.
At the same time, Wen Zhao felt more or less wavered regarding the decision she and the System had made previously.
After leaving her, Zheng Miaoning’s state had not been good.
Yet Wen Zhao feared that this improvement was only temporary; she was terrified that her existence would bring a more profound harm to Zheng Miaoning in the long run.
It was another morning. The early sun was scorching, signaling that the footsteps of summer had arrived.
Wen Zhao walked to the window in her slippers to draw the curtains, yet her face remained hidden behind the fabric.
Through the window, Wen Zhao watched the people passing by on the street.
The population of Songping County was small; compared to City B, even its most bustling moments felt like the early hours of the dawn.
Wen Zhao had already visited the nursing home and the orphanage.
She had served as a volunteer for two days at each location and made some anonymous donations. Zheng Miaoning had found out and clamored to donate as well.
Now, those two places likely didn’t need any more volunteers; the enthusiasm of the staff had improved quite a bit.
Suddenly, Wen Zhao didn’t know what to do.
Should she keep moving to a new place?
Zheng Miaoning would surely follow again. Should she stay here and wait for the System to return?
Wen Zhao fell silent.
She was silenced by her own endless indulgence of Zheng Miaoning.
Clearly, her original intention for leaving City B was to stay away from her.
Zheng Miaoning opened her eyes and didn’t find breakfast, but instead saw a Wen Zhao who had wrapped herself in the curtains.
She pulled back the quilt with slow movements and walked light-footedly behind Wen Zhao; Wen Zhao actually didn’t notice.
“What are you thinking about?” Zheng Miaoning stepped forward and hugged Wen Zhao tightly.
She was certain Wen Zhao had something on her mind.
Something other than the secret Wen Zhao refused to tell her.
Hearing the dissatisfaction in Zheng Miaoning’s tone, Wen Zhao let go of the curtain, gave her a smile, and offered a perfunctory, “Nothing.”
By allowing Zheng Miaoning to get close, Wen Zhao had already committed a great mistake.
Anything Zheng Miaoning wasn’t supposed to know, Wen Zhao would not reveal a single bit of it.
Zheng Miaoning detested Wen Zhao’s concealment.
She was willing to share all her secrets with Wen Zhao—why was Wen Zhao unwilling?
Wen Zhao broke free from the embrace and turned to walk out. Zheng Miaoning followed closely.
She snatched the keys from Wen Zhao’s hand and walked ahead with childishly fast steps, not stopping until she had overtaken Wen Zhao to say: “Wait for me.”
Wen Zhao had always felt distressed that she wasn’t sleeping well, so she would get up early every day to buy breakfast and then urge her to get up and eat.
Since Zheng Miaoning was already awake today, she naturally wouldn’t just wait for Wen Zhao to accommodate her anymore.
An angry Zheng Miaoning left.
Since Wen Zhao didn’t have the keys, she had no choice but to sit back down at the table by the window.
Her phone was right at hand. Wen Zhao didn’t particularly enjoy playing on her phone; in her spare time, she preferred to prop her chin on her hands and stare blankly at the old residential buildings across from the guesthouse.
Wen Zhao’s heart had long since died.
That she could still prop up this framework of skin and bone to look around was thanks to the fact that someone still needed her.
But Wen Zhao still frequently fell into a state of distress.
Away from the needs of others, Wen Zhao could no longer see herself.
The dark screen lit up. Wen Zhao retracted her out-of-focus gaze, taking a few seconds to refocus. She had received messages from two people.
[Heart]: I’m in line, I’ll be back soon.
[Wen Qian, B University Law Dept]: Sister Wen Zhao, are you free today? I want to ask you to meet up.
Wen Zhao clicked on the chat box of the contact with the heart emoji: [Take your time, no rush. Watch where you’re walking, don’t trip.]
[Heart]: Take my time? And then you run away again?
[Heart]: I’m coming back right now.
Wen Zhao: “…”
After a moment of wordless silence, Wen Zhao stared at the contact name of the other person. After hesitating for a long while, she ultimately chose to flip her phone face down.
Regarding Wen Qian, there was no doubt that Wen Zhao had initially been full of pity for her.
When they reunited in the classrooms of B University, Wen Zhao was very happy.
After all, B University was a top-tier domestic university. Getting in there at least proved that Wen Qian’s future path would be a bit easier.
Moreover, Wen Qian had always been so diligent and hardworking.
However, meeting in Songping County this time, Wen Zhao gradually felt that something was off.
The timing of Wen Qian’s appearances was always too coincidental.
The first meeting was on the rainy night when Wen Zhao had been tormented into illness by Qin Zhuyu and Zheng Miaoning had rushed back to the country.
The second meeting was on the day Wen Zhao had finished saying harsh words to Zheng Miaoning and was using “attending class together” to compensate Qin Zhuyu.
And then there was this time.
Zheng Miaoning’s appearance was an accident. Setting that accident aside, the “node” for this time should have been the second day after Wen Zhao ended her contract with Qin Zhuyu, shook off Zheng Miaoning, and started a new life in a new location.
Zheng Miaoning’s hostility toward her was not concealed at all.
This made Wen Zhao begin to grow suspicious.
Qin Zhuyu had been so provocative toward Zheng Miaoning, repeatedly jumping on her “landmines,” yet Zheng Miaoning had never made things difficult for her during the time she filled in for classes.
Wen Zhao knew Zheng Miaoning.
To her, being the “favored daughter of heaven” was both a glory and a shackle.
Even in a small county like this where she wouldn’t encounter any acquaintances, Zheng Miaoning would never allow herself to speak harsh words to others on the street.
On the day the three of them went shopping together, Zheng Miaoning’s overt and covert targeting of Wen Qian went beyond just the initial greeting.
Thinking carefully, every time Wen Qian appeared, Wen Zhao would end up feeling more distressed for her.
If it weren’t for Zheng Miaoning, she might have become the “next Qin Zhuyu.”
Unable to reach a conclusion after much thought, Wen Zhao heard the sound of the door lock turning. She turned back and looked toward the doorway.
Zheng Miaoning returned carrying three plastic bags covered in white mist.
Seeing this scene, Wen Zhao actually wanted to laugh.
Zheng Miaoning set the hot and sour rice noodles down, untied the knots on the plastic bags, and took their spoons and chopsticks out of the portable case to set them out. She looked at Wen Zhao in confusion: “You like eating this that much?”
She pointed incredulously at the steaming hot and sour noodles.
Wen Zhao picked up her chopsticks, pinched a soft steamed bun, and “drowned” it in the soup of the hot and sour noodles. After taking a bite of the bun skin soaked in chili oil and meat juice, followed by half a ball of meat filling, she squinted her eyes in satisfaction and naturally handed the chopsticks over.
Zheng Miaoning lowered her head and ate the remaining half of the steamed bun.
“I wasn’t laughing at that,” Wen Zhao said only after swallowing her food. “I’m laughing because you used to never eat anything that was just packed in a plastic bag, but now you actually wait in line to buy these things.”
Zheng Miaoning’s chewing motion paused for a split second.
Moving her own stool over, Zheng Miaoning sat down right next to Wen Zhao.
The two of them squeezed together in front of a single window, finishing two bowls of noodles and a basket of steamed buns accompanied by the sounds of people and car horns outside.
Setting down her chopsticks, Zheng Miaoning waited quietly.
Wen Zhao carefully wiped her own mouth in the mirror, then pulled out a tissue and turned toward Zheng Miaoning.
She pinched Zheng Miaoning’s chin. Zheng Miaoning didn’t speak, only looking down at her.
The wind blowing in from the window carried a hint of heat.
Just as Wen Zhao was about to lower her hand, her wrist was caught by Zheng Miaoning. She said, “Since you remember that I didn’t use to eat these things, why didn’t you know to pick a better place to have fun? Have you stayed here long enough? If you’ve had enough, I’ll take you to an island.”
Ever since the night on the Ferris wheel, Zheng Miaoning no longer demanded promises from Wen Zhao directly.
Instead, she said many “under-the-radar” things like this.
“I think it’s pretty good here. Enjoy the scenery wherever you are; cherishing the moment is the most important thing,” Wen Zhao said.
She often used such words to brush Zheng Miaoning off.
Wen Zhao thought it would be like usual—Zheng Miaoning would fall silent for a moment, and then one of them would bring up another topic.
Today, however, was different.
Zheng Miaoning no longer acted “sensible” as Wen Zhao wished. She pressed on relentlessly: “Why do you always tell me to cherish the moment?”
Wen Zhao was at a loss for words.
“Of course, cherishing the moment is right. But Wen Zhao, you know perfectly well what you mean when you say ‘cherish the moment’ to me.”
Zheng Miaoning tore away the veil of “mother-daughter harmony” that the two had painstakingly maintained over the past few days, pressing Wen Zhao step by step, from words to physical presence.
She held up Wen Zhao’s phone.
With a press on the side, one could see the first half of the unread message. Wen Qian said: Since you didn’t refuse, does that mean I still have a chance?
Zheng Miaoning stared with a pained gaze at the silent Wen Zhao.
She asked, “Why is it that every time I mention future arrangements, you tell me to cherish the moment?”
“Wen Zhao, in your heart, have you always felt that you and I have no future? Is that what you mean?”
Zheng Miaoning was right.
Wen Zhao, with her head lowered, already had red-rimmed eyes. And because Zheng Miaoning wasn’t wrong, Wen Zhao was powerless to refute.
It was all her fault.
Wen Zhao blamed herself for being indecisive, for her soft heart and her greed.
But she had forgotten—it was Zheng Miaoning who chased after her, it was Zheng Miaoning who used illness as a threat to move in, it was Zheng Miaoning who deliberately acted pitiful.
Perhaps Wen Zhao hadn’t forgotten.
She simply didn’t blame Zheng Miaoning.
If it were possible, Wen Zhao also wanted to stay with Zheng Miaoning forever.
Zheng Miaoning was clearly very willful, caustic, petty, lazy, and even insidious and malicious. But her “persona” only allowed her to be sunny, cheerful, and positive.
Every time Wen Zhao’s heart softened, she thought: If I’m not by her side, who else can she show her true self to?
Wen Zhao was not afraid of death.
Wen Zhao was afraid that for the rest of Zheng Miaoning’s life, she could only live behind a mask. She was afraid that Zheng Miaoning wouldn’t be happy.
She was willing to use her life and her blood to nourish Zheng Miaoning’s happiness.
But Zheng Miaoning only wanted her to stay by her side.
To this day, Wen Zhao fully understood the panic the System felt when it learned she didn’t want to be a Task Taker.
The System felt guilty toward the Wen Zhao of that time; it was willing to give Wen Zhao endless preferential treatment to make up for it.
But what Wen Zhao wanted most happened to be the one thing the System could not provide.
Falling upon Wen Zhao, this dilemma only brought increasing internal conflict and pain.
Approaching Zheng Miaoning, or allowing Zheng Miaoning to approach, would absolutely bring immense, bone-deep pain to both of them.
And yet, every moment of being close to each other made Wen Zhao so happy she wanted to cry.
A tiny bit of sweetness could support Wen Zhao to walk for a long, long time.
Wen Zhao, knowing clearly that there was no future, could only urge herself over and over: cherish every second of the present.