It is only when death is imminent that a person realizes the true value of time.
From the moment she knew her days were numbered, Sheng Yunshu began to plan with a fervor she had never shown before.
Within these four months, she wanted to finish filming the first movie she had produced. She had promised Lu Ling that she would attend the premiere. She also needed to prepare gifts for Xu Zhiqiu’s unborn baby. Furthermore, she wanted Sheng Qingshan to take her out to play whenever she had time off.
She wrote down one to-do list after another, then crossed them out one by one. In the end, only a simple line remained:
Make Sheng Qingshan happy.
Yet, those six simple words were so difficult to achieve.
Sheng Yunshu slumped on the desk, her fingers twisting a strand of long, pink hair as her gaze slowly drifted into the void.
Sometimes, she would think about how she wished she were Ji Xi.
For her, tasks that were as difficult as ascending to heaven were effortless for Ji Xi. With just one word or one side-glance from Ji Xi, Sheng Qingshan’s heart would ripple.
Even if she did nothing, just standing there, Sheng Qingshan’s gaze would inevitably follow her.
It was truly unfair.
Sheng Yunshu closed her eyes and complained silently.
A moment later, she closed her notebook, shoved it into the deepest part of her drawer, and rose to walk toward the walk-in closet, standing in front of the full-length mirror.
The person in the mirror sported a gaudy head of pink hair, wore loose loungewear, and had faint, dark circles under her eyes. She tilted her head, and the woman in the mirror tilted hers as well, looking innocent and lost.
“Sheng Yunshu, are you a coward?” she said to the mirror.
The mirror did not answer her.
She practiced what she wanted to say over and over again, only to throw all her ideas away. Finally, she adopted a “whatever happens, happens” attitude. After all, she was dying soon; what was the harm in having a thicker skin?
At dusk, Sheng Qingshan returned on time.
When she entered the door, she was still on a call. She must have encountered some difficult problem, as her expression was not very pleasant.
However, the moment she saw Sheng Yunshu, the chill in her eyes faded. She reached out to ruffle her hair, said a few brief words to the person on the other end, and hung up.
Before Sheng Qingshan could ask about her health that day, the woman rushed into her arms, nuzzling her hairy head against her neck. “Sister, I missed you so much. Did you miss me?”
Sheng Yunshu was more than half a head shorter than her; when standing straight, she reached exactly the level of Sheng Qingshan’s chin. Every time she hugged her and nuzzled against her, Sheng Qingshan would be reminded of the big Golden Retriever that Xu Zhiqiu kept at home.
It was the same now.
A faint curve appeared on the corner of Sheng Qingshan’s lips, and she touched her head. “Yes.”
Accustomed to her brevity, Sheng Yunshu did not think it was perfunctory. She tilted her face up, her lips grazing the other’s chin. Sheng Yunshu felt her earlobes burn, and she asked nonchalantly:
“Who were you talking to on the phone just now? You were so fierce.”
“A director in the department,” Sheng Qingshan replied, patting her shoulder. “I am going up to change my clothes.”
Sheng Yunshu released her reluctantly.
Until the elevator door closed, Sheng Yunshu clenched her fists and jumped several times on the spot.
When 01 passed by, she violently grabbed the small robot and gave it several kisses.
Fortunately, Sheng Yunshu did not have the habit of wearing lipstick at home; otherwise, the little panda would have needed a bath.
After dinner, seeing that Sheng Qingshan was about to go to the study to work, Sheng Yunshu used the excuse of digesting her food to drag her out for a walk.
This area only contained fifteen houses, each separated by hundreds of meters. People rarely ran into each other, and no one would be so tactless as to step into someone else’s private territory.
The two walked slowly on the lawn. Sheng Yunshu asked to hold hands, and Sheng Qingshan did not ask why, simply taking her hand and walking forward.
The evening breeze blew from the lake, carrying moisture and the scent of grass and trees, sweeping across their long hair.
Sheng Yunshu turned her face to look at Sheng Qingshan. The light from the streetlamp fell upon her face, softening those sharp lines; she did not look as unapproachable as usual.
“Sister,” Sheng Yunshu shook their joined hands.
“Yes.”
“Have you ever thought about getting a dog in the future?”
Sheng Qingshan turned her head to look at her, her eyes filled with a bit of confusion. “Why the sudden thought?”
“Just asking,” Sheng Yunshu said, her toes kicking a small pebble. “Look, your house is so big; it is so lonely living alone. If you had a dog, it would rush over to greet you when you came home, it would lie at your feet when you sat on the sofa, and you could take it for a walk when you were bored. How nice would that be?”
Sheng Qingshan remained silent for a few steps.
“I do not like dogs,” she said flatly. “They are too much trouble.”
“What about a kitten? Wu Ze has a Golden Shaded cat; it is extremely cute! But it has a bad temper and holds grudges. Haha.”
“I do not like them.”
This time, Sheng Qingshan refused even more decisively.
She turned to look at Sheng Yunshu and tightened her grip on her hand. “I do not like noise, and I do not want to raise any more living creatures.”
She did not like to build intimate relationships with people. Loneliness would not destroy her; it was the pain of losing something after having possessed it that would break her.
If Sheng Yunshu were gone, she would not come here again, nor would she seek comfort from any other living thing.
Gone is gone; she hated self-deception.
Sheng Yunshu found the answer in her eyes. A wave of bitterness surged in her heart. She wrapped her other hand tightly around her arm and leaned closer to her again.
“Did I not say before that I wanted to do in vitro fertilization? During that time, I watched a lot of parenting videos; the babies in them were all so cute. I was just thinking, after the baby is born, how would you get along with her? You are always poker-faced, you do not know how to coax people, and every time you only know how to say dry, boring things.”
She made herself laugh as she spoke. Sheng Qingshan raised her hand to tidy her hair, listening quietly as she continued.
“If the baby cried or made a fuss, you would either stand by and watch expressionless, or you would pick her up, pat her, and say, ‘Stop crying,’ right?”
Sheng Yunshu imitated Sheng Qingshan’s tone, keeping her voice low and flat, but she could not hide the laughter on her face, and she leaned against Sheng Qingshan, roaring with laughter.
Sheng Qingshan listened to her happy laughter without refuting it, just looking at her, her gaze as calm as a lake.
Sheng Yunshu laughed enough and let her voice soften. “Actually, I have imagined that scene many times. The way you hold a baby must be very strange; you are so stiff, you would surely be in a panic when holding a child.”
“I will learn,” Sheng Qingshan said.
“Look, you are being so serious again.” Sheng Yunshu poked her and teased her a bit more before laughing again. “But I believe you will be a good mother and love her well. After all, she is my child. Sister, do you love me?”
Their pace slowed down. Sheng Yunshu looked up at her, the moisture that had seeped out from her laughter wetting her eyelashes, shimmering like broken diamonds in the warm yellow light.
In the distance, a few dogs barked; hidden in the quiet night was a heart beating violently.
Sheng Qingshan tucked her long hair behind her ear, her eyes revealing tenderness and reverence. “I love you.”
Sheng Yunshu smiled, the moisture on her eyelashes remaining, bright and clear like morning dew.
“I love you too.” Sheng Yunshu held her hand and, under the cover of the night, told her without reservation:
“I love you; in the entire world, I love you the most!”
If love were divided into ten parts, Sheng Yunshu would be willing to give her nine.
Sheng Qingshan had never given up on trying to save her.
However, every piece of news that Ye Lingyun brought back caused her heart to plummet to a deeper abyss.
After expectations were dashed time and again, Sheng Qingshan began to understand why Sheng Yunshu did not go to the hospital for check-ups; it was truly too cruel to be sentenced to death over and over again.
But Sheng Qingshan had to get used to it, until that moment arrived.
While waiting for a miracle, Sheng Qingshan had someone keep an eye on Sheng Yanzhou’s whereabouts.
Some time ago, Shangguan Wenzhu had come to her, asking her to watch Sheng Yanzhou to see who she usually associated with.
She knew that Sheng Yanzhou had previously been in an assassin organization, but before bringing her home, the Sheng family had long cleared up those lingering issues. Sheng Qingshan did not understand why Shangguan Wenzhu would be interested in her.
Having worked together for many years, Shangguan Wenzhu did not hide the truth: “She once had contact with a physicist. We want to get more information from her.”
Sheng Qingshan continued to ask: “What did that physicist do?”
If it were an ordinary case, the IFIB would never intervene.
Shangguan Wenzhu sipped her tea, glanced at Sheng Qingshan, and lowered her voice: “A time machine.”
Catching the keyword, Sheng Qingshan’s pupils contracted. “Did it succeed?”
“Not sure yet.” Shangguan Wenzhu put down her teacup and said softly: “Last November, someone detected an anomaly in quantum coherence, but at first, no one took it seriously, treating it as normal numerical fluctuation. Yet, as time passed, the vacuum zero-point detectors of all the federations began to have problems. In early February, after a series of deductions, it was determined that the spacetime we occupy is undergoing spontaneous entropy reduction.”
After a moment of silence, Sheng Qingshan suppressed the surging waves in her heart and asked: “Since you suspect it, why not arrest her directly?”
The IFIB had absolute law enforcement power; when facing a major crisis, they could arrest first and collect evidence later.
“That is the problem.”
Tapping her finger on the table, Shangguan Wenzhu spoke gloomily: “We cannot find her. We have used every technology available, but we cannot locate her. We infer that the time we are currently in has already been reset; she has seen the future and can easily evade our detection.”
“At this moment, she may be hiding in some point on the timeline; no one can be sure if she is in the past or the future.”
Sheng Qingshan felt unable to calm down for a long time after hearing this.
She promised to help Shangguan Wenzhu watch Sheng Yanzhou, but she also developed a selfish motive.
She wanted to find that physicist before the IFIB did.
Being watched by several groups of people, Sheng Yanzhou was extremely annoyed, but she could not resist. Once she performed any extreme act, that group would have a reason to arrest her.
Therefore, she could only endure it while Su Sheng came to her office every few days to make small talk.
Life at home was not peaceful either. Shiyun had been acting up again lately. Sheng Yanzhou wanted to use her old methods to make her quiet, but she was too thin; if she continued, her body would not be able to handle it.
When she saw the scene where Sheng Yunshu stayed by Sheng Qingshan’s side every day, laughing and giggling, and Sheng Qingshan responded to her every request, even though she knew Sheng Yunshu was going to die, a sense of imbalance grew in her heart, and malice bubbled up.
She could not hurt her, but could she at least disgust her?
Sheng Yanzhou chose the day Sheng Qingshan went to the federation to attend a grand meeting and had someone pour a large bucket of black dog blood, along with the remains of dead animals, at her front door. The foul, fishy stench could be smelled from half a street away.
Imagining Sheng Yunshu turning pale with fear upon seeing this scene, Sheng Yanzhou felt a sense of joy.
Sheng Yunshu was indeed frightened, but she did not go to Sheng Qingshan crying as Sheng Yanzhou had expected. Instead, she drove back to the old family home and headed straight for her residence.
When she burst in, Sheng Yanzhou was trimming Shiyun’s nails.
“You were the one who made that puddle of blood at the door, right?” Sheng Yunshu threw the bag of flower fertilizer she had snatched from a servant in front of them. The white powder flew up, causing Shiyun to cough twice.
Sheng Yanzhou turned to block her, patted her back, and told the smart butler to come clean it up. Then she looked at Sheng Yunshu:
“I did it. Do you not like it? You can tell me what you like, and I will give it all to you.”
She mimicked Sheng Qingshan’s tone, but the malice in her eyes made Sheng Yunshu feel as if she were being entwined by a venomous snake; the sticky, slippery sensation made her want to vomit.
“How old are you, playing these scaring-people games?” Sheng Yunshu’s anger burned brighter as she thought of Sheng Qingshan’s residence being ruined like that. “01 has already sent the surveillance footage to her. You had better think about how you will explain it when she gets back!”
Sheng Yanzhou stared at her mockingly. “How old are you, telling on your parents when you cannot handle it? Do you have any shame?”
“I have no shame.” Sheng Yunshu met her words decisively. “I am a person who is going to die anyway; what use is shame? You have plenty of shame; keep it for yourself.”
As she was speaking, her peripheral vision caught sight of Shiyun’s pale face behind her. Sheng Yunshu sneered:
“You only do low-life things; no wonder Shiyun does not like you!”
As the words fell, the surroundings fell into a deathly silence.
The expression on Sheng Yanzhou’s face faded bit by bit. She lowered her arm and stared straight at her, as if looking at a dead object.
“Run!”
Seeing Sheng Yunshu still standing there stupidly, Shiyun hurriedly cried out.
But it was too late.
Sheng Yunshu did not see how she acted, but a sharp pain ensued.
Sheng Yanzhou dislocated her jaw so she could not make a sound, pinched her neck with her left hand, and pressed her to the ground. At the same time, she took out that dagger and quickly cut several wounds on her body, and blood instantly surged out.
Looking at those eyes filled with terror, Sheng Yanzhou did not humiliate her as she had the previous times.
She just calmly tightened her grip, letting her gasp for air in the fear of suffocation, thus accelerating the blood loss.