Lin Zhinuo
“Lin Zhinuo, aren’t you short on money? Give up the lead dancer position, and I’ll introduce you to a few wealthy businessmen.”
“Little girl, if you don’t pay us back soon, we’ll sell you off!”
“You wretched girl! I own half of that villa. What gives you the right to swallow all the money?”
The scene suddenly changed.
On the dazzling stage, a young girl in an ice-blue dress spun gracefully like a fluttering butterfly.
The next second.
Bang!
A sudden loss of balance sent the dancing butterfly plunging from the stage.
The audience erupted into an uproar.
Excruciating pain surged through both her legs, making the girl tremble all over.
Through her blurred vision, a figure came rushing toward her without hesitation and pulled her tightly into his arms.
A panicked, trembling voice rang in her ears.
“Zhinuo, Zhinuo!”
Lin Zhinuo suddenly jolted awake, her back drenched in a cold sweat.
She looked around. In the white hospital room, the strong smell of disinfectant stung her nose.
Leaning against her wheelchair, she slowly exhaled.
She had had another nightmare.
A nurse’s voice came from behind her.
“Mrs. Xu, it’s time for your preoperative examination.”
Lin Zhinuo didn’t turn around.
“Is this surgery really necessary?”
“Helping you stand again is Mr. Xu’s greatest wish in this life.”
A sharp pain suddenly pierced her heart.
Lin Zhinuo’s eyes burned with tears.
“But he’s already dead.”
He had died six months ago, on a flight from Southeast Asia to North America, disappearing forever into the vast waters of the North Pacific.
More than two hundred lives had been lost. There were no remains, nor any trace of them.
He had left this world so decisively. Apart from an inheritance large enough to last several lifetimes, he hadn’t left a single word behind.
Their WeChat chat was still frozen on the last message he had sent her six months ago.
【Sorry, I won’t be able to come home for the Winter Solstice to eat dumplings with you. I just received word that a renowned orthopedic specialist is there. I’ll fly directly from Singapore tomorrow.】
As usual, Lin Zhinuo hadn’t replied.
During their three years of marriage, Xu Qingyan had found countless doctors for her and taken her to numerous hospitals. She had long since become numb to it all.
Yet Xu Qingyan had never given up, simply because of the promise he had made when they first got married:
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll definitely cure your legs.”
Since he refused to give up, Lin Zhinuo simply let him do whatever he wanted.
A month ago, the specialist he had contacted had provided the best surgical treatment plan. Although she would never be able to return to the stage, she would be able to walk normally again.
She gave a bitter smile.
The person in this world who had desperately wanted to heal her legs was gone.
The surgery was scheduled for eight o’clock the following morning.
The moment she was wheeled into the operating room, the stark white lights were painfully bright.
Under the effects of the anesthetic, Lin Zhinuo’s consciousness gradually faded.
She seemed to see that familiar figure again.
He was a dazzling young financial tycoon in the business world. There had never been a shortage of beautiful, gentle women around him, yet he had spent three years devoted to her—a woman who could no longer walk.
They had only met a few times when they were young, yet he had carried her in his heart and protected her for half a lifetime.
From beginning to end, she had only ever been a burden to him.
She hadn’t even been able to give him the simple intimacy and warmth that an ordinary wife could give her husband.
His childhood had already been filled with hardship. After finally struggling his way into a better life, he had ultimately given up his own life for her.
That debt of gratitude was too heavy so heavy that she could neither bear it nor repay it.
All the guilt and regret were lodged in her chest, crushing the air from her lungs.
Xu Qingyan!
“If I hadn’t woken up, would you not have had to board that doomed plane?”
Beep… Beep… Beep…
The monitor began sounding an alarm.
“Patient’s blood pressure… Heart rate is dropping rapidly!”
“There is no significant bleeding during the operation. The procedure is proceeding normally.”
“Not good! The patient has lost the will to survive…”
“Zhizhi, Zhizhi?”
Lin Zhinuo didn’t want to open her eyes, but that deep, familiar voice was so nostalgic that she couldn’t help but want to cry.
She struggled to open her eyes.
“Oh, my little princess. You’re the one who kept insisting on going on vacation these past few days, and now you’re the one who can’t get up in the morning.”
Seeing his precious daughter with watery eyes and an aggrieved expression, Lin Jingshan instinctively softened his voice even more.
“Daddy won’t rush you anymore. If Zhizhi wants to sleep, then sleep a little longer. It’s only the beginning of summer vacation. Daddy can just change the plane tickets…”
It had been so, so long since Lin Zhinuo had seen her father.
In the years after her father’s death, no matter how much she longed for him or resented him, she could never dream of him.
But the father standing before her was so vivid and real.
“Daddy…”
Lin Zhinuo’s throat tightened. Overwhelmed by excitement and the grievances she had buried for so long, she threw herself into her father’s arms and burst into tears.
She had lost her mother when she was only two years old. From then on, Lin Jingshan had raised her by himself, being both father and mother to her.
Lin Jingshan was clever and quick-witted. After retiring from the military, he started a hardware business from scratch and eventually became very successful. But because he was straightforward and softhearted, he was betrayed and manipulated by his most trusted friend. After his business went bankrupt, he got into a physical altercation with debt collectors and accidentally fell from a building.
“Is something wrong with you, Zhizhi?” Lin Jingshan asked anxiously, his heart aching as he watched his daughter cry.
“No… I had a terrible nightmare… I dreamed… I dreamed about you, Daddy…” Lin Zhinuo sobbed uncontrollably.
Lin Jingshan gently patted his daughter’s back.
“Don’t be afraid, Zhizhi. Daddy’s here. Daddy will protect you.”
“Daddy, I missed you so much. Why haven’t you ever come to see me…?”
His daughter’s cries made Lin Jingshan’s nose sting, and before he knew it, his eyes had reddened.
He had been too busy lately and had ultimately neglected his daughter.
“Don’t be afraid, Zhizhi. Dreams are always the opposite of reality.”
Lin Zhinuo sniffled.
That wasn’t a dream. It was the story of half her life.
She clung greedily to her father. Only when his shoulder was soaked through with her tears did she reluctantly let go.
“Oh, look at my precious Zhizhi. You’ve cried yourself into a little kitten. Go wash your face. We’ll set off in a little while.”
Lin Zhinuo sniffed and nodded.
When she got out of bed, she looked down at her perfectly healthy legs, and the tears began flowing again.
She had really returned to the year she was fifteen.
A black Mercedes-Benz was parked outside the villa.
Lin Zhinuo got into the passenger seat, but she was still dazed.
She turned to Lin Jingshan.
“Daddy, let’s not go abroad for vacation. Can we go to Grandma’s house instead?”
Lin Jingshan was stunned for a moment.
During the two most difficult years of his entrepreneurial journey, he had traveled all over the country, and it had been Lin Zhinuo’s grandmother who helped take care of his daughter.
Over the past two years, however, as she had grown older and they had hired a housekeeper, the old woman had returned to her hometown in the north.
He smiled.
“What? Missing Grandma?”
Lin Zhinuo nodded vigorously.
In her previous life, when her grandmother heard that Lin Jingshan had died in an accident, the shock and grief were too much for her, and she passed away soon afterward.
Yes.
She missed the grandmother who was always making different kinds of pastries and noodles for her.
But even more than that, she missed the person who lived just on the other side of the wall from her grandmother’s home.
That young man.
Her dead husband.