The VIP ward was eerily quiet.
Only the cold “beep—beep” of the heart monitor remained, like it was mercilessly counting down the final moments of a life nearing its end.
The air was filled with a nauseating mix of disinfectant and the scent of death.
Huo Yunshen lay quietly on the snow-white hospital bed.
He had become so thin that he was little more than a skeleton. His face was sallow, his lips cracked, and his body was filled with various tubes, like a shattered puppet.
Lin Peiru was slumped beside his bed, tightly holding his hand—thin as a chicken claw. Her tears fell like broken pearls, one after another, quickly soaking his hand and the bedsheet.
“Don’t… don’t cry…” Huo Yunshen opened his mouth. His voice was hoarse like a broken bellows; every word cost him immense effort.
“My body… I know it best.”
“Being taken care of by you… living to my sixties… already over twenty years… that’s enough. I’ve lived worth it.”
He tried to form a smile to comfort her, but he no longer had the strength to move his lips.
Lin Peiru cried even harder, trembling all over.
“But we’ve only been together for twenty years!” she sobbed, barely able to breathe. “How is twenty years enough? I don’t want you to have ‘lived enough’—I just want you to be fine.”
“I beg the heavens to let you live to a hundred. I want to spend my whole life with you—no, I want the next life, and the life after that too!”
Huo Yunshen slowly raised his other hand, the one without an IV drip, trembling as he touched her tear-soaked face.
His rough fingertips carried the last bit of warmth he had left, gently brushing her skin.
“Silly girl…” His clouded eyes were filled with endless tenderness and regret. “The only regret in my life… is meeting you too late.”
His breathing began to quicken, and the heart monitor’s “beep—beep” grew chaotic.
“If there is a next life… if I can start over…” he stared at her as if trying to engrave her image into his soul with his final strength.
“I will definitely get there before Chen Mingde! I’ll marry you first!”
“Even if you don’t want me, I’ll tie you up if I have to, I’ll steal you back no matter what!”
These words were domineering and forceful, just like when he had barged into her life twenty years ago.
Lin Peiru shook her head through tears.
“But… how could you have even known me back then…”
Suddenly, she grabbed his hand that was touching her face, as if it were her last lifeline.
“If there is a next life, if I can start over…” she choked out clearly, word by word.
“You don’t need to come and steal me.”
“I’ll go find you first!”
“I won’t marry Chen Mingde, I won’t marry anyone!”
“I’ll marry you, Huo Yunshen! I will only marry you!”
Hearing this, a rare light suddenly appeared in Huo Yunshen’s blurred eyes.
He smiled—like he had received the most precious treasure in the world. Satisfied. Without regret.
He gently stroked her face one last time.
Then his hand slowly fell.
Beep——
The annoying “beep-beep” turned into a piercing continuous alarm.
On the heart monitor, the line representing his heartbeat became a straight, hopeless line.
Lin Peiru froze completely.
She looked at the straight line, then at the peaceful smile on his face.
Time seemed to stop.
The next second, a heart-wrenching cry filled the entire ward.
“Yunshen——!”
Her world collapsed in that moment.
Time stretched into an endless line. Everything before her blurred and faded.
His peaceful smile, the straight line, the rushing footsteps of medical staff…
Everything turned into a slow, silent film.
It felt as if her soul had been pulled out of her body, drifting away, back to her distant youth.
…
It was 1975. To avoid being sent to the countryside, she agreed to an arranged meeting.
The man was Chen Mingde, introduced by the neighborhood committee director. He worked as a group leader in a factory and seemed honest and steady.
Her parents said, “Peiru, marry him and you can stay.”
She nodded. So she married him.
Life after marriage was plain—neither good nor bad—until she failed to conceive a child. Her mother-in-law grew colder every day.
She went to the hospital countless times, but no one could find the cause.
Later, a sudden accident took her parents and elder brother. Her sister-in-law soon remarried and left with the child.
She became an orphan, living in her in-laws’ home like a servant, unable even to breathe freely.
Time passed into the era of reform and opening up.
Chen Mingde quit his stable job and went into business.
As his wealth grew, so did his disdain—he looked down on her for being old, uneducated, and childless. Eventually, he divorced her for a young factory girl.
After the divorce, Lin Peiru survived by washing dishes, running street stalls, and working in garment factories.
Until one day, she served food to a group of wealthy businessmen in a restaurant.
“Stop.”
A deep, commanding voice stopped her.
Startled, she looked up.
At the head of the table, a powerful man with sharp eyes was staring directly at her.
She didn’t recognize him—but he saw through her weathered face and recognized the girl she had once been.
It was Huo Yunshen.
She had already forgotten him, but he had remembered her for his entire life.
From that day on, his pursuit was overwhelming—wild, domineering, unstoppable.
As if he were compensating for all the years he had missed.
Eventually, her heart, worn down by life, was warmed again.
After marriage, he spoiled her endlessly, teaching her what it meant to be cherished.
That was the life she had always dreamed of.
But happiness didn’t last.
Old injuries from his dangerous past gradually caught up with him.
His health deteriorated day by day.
In the end, they only had twenty years together.
Twenty years… how could that ever be enough?
His funeral was handled entirely by Lin Peiru. They had no children, and all his vast wealth was left to her.
But she didn’t want it. She only wanted him.
After the funeral, Lin Peiru walked aimlessly along the roadside, completely unaware that a runaway truck was roaring toward her…