On the day of Xie Tao’s college entrance exam, Wei Yun didn’t attend the court. Instead, he sent Wei Jing to the palace to inform Empress Zhao Shuwei, merely mentioning he was ill and would take two days off.
But because he had some matters to attend to, he arrived a bit late.
Xie Tao had already gone to school.
Wei Yun drove and, upon arriving at Xie Tao’s school gate, he noticed at a glance that the roadside parking was almost full, and the school entrance was crowded with people.
Wei Yun frowned slightly, then decided to park his car in the underground parking lot of a nearby shopping mall.
In June, the sunshine was intense.
The sunlight lingered on the verdant leaves of the trees beside the pedestrian walkway, seeming to spark dazzling flames among the clusters of shade.
Wei Yun actually disliked wearing a mask, but here, he had no choice but to do so.
Behind his sunglasses, his eyes carried a hint of irritation. With one hand in his pocket, he crossed the zebra crossing. When he reached the school gate on the other side, standing beside a flowerbed, he took off his sunglasses to look at the closed gates, surrounded by the chatter of parents.
“Wei Yun, you’re here too?”
A familiar voice suddenly came from behind him, carrying a casual smile.
Turning around, Wei Yun saw Xie Lan, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and ripped jeans.
“What are you doing here?” Wei Yun glanced at him, his voice cold.
“It’s such a big event as Tao Tao’s college entrance exam. How could I not come?” Xie Lan said, taking a sip of yogurt through a straw.
After saying that, he frowned, “Old Xi also wanted to come, but when he was about to leave, he changed his mind. That old man, who knows what he’s thinking every day.”
“He is afraid of seeing me,” a woman’s voice suddenly came through, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of high heels getting closer.
Wei Yun and Xie Lan turned to look at the same time, only to see Meng Lichun walking towards them in a red dress and high heels, chin up, gracefully removing her sunglasses.
Many parents’ eyes were already drawn to this woman who suddenly appeared, dressed in a fiery red dress, her skin pale and her face strikingly beautiful.
She was like a peony too red, its color flowing like flames, stunning enough to capture everyone’s attention at that moment.
As if she was born to be the center of attention.
Watching her high-profile demeanor, Xie Lan touched his chin and clicked his tongue, “If I didn’t know you were hundreds of years old, I’d really think you were a twenty-something sister.”
“You can call me sister if you want,” Meng Lichun said, flipping her curly hair and covering her mouth with a laugh. However, her graceful and bright smile turned into an awkward chuckle when she met Wei Yun’s cold eyes, “So, Mr. Wei is also here for Tao Tao’s college entrance exam…”
Her neck always felt cool.
Meng Lichun couldn’t help but touch it.
When Nian Jitang ran over, panting, he handed Meng Lichun an umbrella, “Boss, your umbrella!”
Meng Lichun took the fancy parasol, opened it, and sighed in relief when Wei Yun ignored her. She started looking around.
“There are too many people here,” she sighed.
Xie Lan was about to say something when his gaze suddenly stopped on a figure not far away.
Wei Yun noticed and followed Xie Lan’s gaze, only to see a woman standing under the shade of a tree outside the crowd.
She was wearing a beige dress, looking well-maintained and not very old.
At that moment, she stood there, holding a parasol, her gaze trying to pierce through the crowd and directly into the gate.
“That’s Tao Tao’s mom,” Xie Lan suddenly said.
Meng Lichun hurriedly looked in that direction.
After the first mission failed, she had checked Xie Tao’s information.
Her father had almost disappeared from her life during her childhood, becoming a distant figure who never returned home.
And her mother was not a good mother either.
Xie Tao was not an orphan, but it seemed her life no longer needed any trace of her parents.
At that moment, Wei Yun glanced at the woman under the shade of the tree, but it was only for a moment before he looked away.
As if he had never cared about this suddenly appearing woman.
After the morning exam, Xie Tao walked out of the school gate, pushed and shoved among numerous parents and students wearing the same uniform as her.
Finally, someone grabbed her collar and pulled her back.
She looked up to see a pair of familiar eyes.
“Wei Yun!”
Xie Tao couldn’t help but smile.
Then, Xie Lan leaned in, head tilted, “How did Tao Tao’s sister do in the exam?”
Before he could finish, Meng Lichun slapped him away, “Didn’t I say not to ask such sensitive questions? You dummy!”
“Exactly, exactly!” Nian Jitang also gave him a disdainful look.
“…” Xie Lan was momentarily speechless.
Seeing Xie Lan stunned, with a tuft of hair sticking up, Xie Tao couldn’t help but burst into laughter, her eyes crescent-shaped, “The math exam this morning felt okay.”
“Why did you all come?”
This was the most surprising thing for her.
Xie Tao once thought that she might be destined to be alone in this life.
Living alone, eating, going to school, even the college entrance examination should not make any difference.
But she did not expect that on this day, there would be four people waiting outside the school gate, just like many parents waiting for their children, they were also waiting for her to come out.
“You’re taking the college entrance exam, so we’ve got to be here for you,” Xie Lan said.
As if trying to explain for Old Xi, he added, “Old Xi wanted to come too, but suddenly something came up, so he didn’t make it.”
“He’s got no business.”
Meng Lichun snorted coldly and rolled her eyes.
He’s just afraid to see her, isn’t he? How can a grown man be so hesitant, he hasn’t changed at all over the years.
Wei Yun, however, patted Xie Tao on the head, “Hungry?”
“Uh-huh!” Xie Tao took his hand and nodded.
“Let’s go! Let’s go eat! Brother Lan is treating!” Xie Lan slapped his chest, looking very generous.
As they were walking across the street, Su Linghua, who had been standing under the shade of the trees, kept her gaze fixed on the silhouette of the girl being led by hand by a man wearing a mask, tall and slender, with long hair. Her fingers were tightly clutching her purse, almost bursting into tears.
She wanted to rush up to Xie Tao and ask who the man holding her hand was; she wanted to ask her many things.
But at this moment, her feet seemed to have taken root, standing there, watching her daughter laugh and talk as she walked away with those people, yet she couldn’t move a step.
This time,
Among the hustle and bustle of the passing crowd, she caught sight of her daughter at a glance.
But Xie Tao,
Never saw her.
The next day was the last day of the college entrance examination.
Xie Tao got up early, and when she went downstairs, she saw Meng Lichun wearing an apron, holding a spatula standing in front of the dining table, bending down to sniff the pot of soup in front of her.
“Boss… better not let Tao Tao drink this soup, it looks a bit dangerous,” Nian Jitang looked at the pot of dark soup, his expression becoming very strange.
“…I think so too.”
Meng Lichun chuckled sheepishly, having to admit that the pot of soup she made seemed to be a failure.
Nian Jitang wiped the sweat from his forehead, finally relieved.
He estimated that if Tao Tao drank this stuff, she might not be able to take the exam today.
“What is this, Aunt Meng?” Xie Tao walked over, glanced at the soup on the table.
Nian Jitang blurted out again, “The boss wanted to make you a pot of soup, but it turned out like this…”
Meng Lichun glared at him, pointed to the pot of soup, and said, “I, as the bureau chief, now order you to finish this soup!”
“…I’m leaving!”
As soon as Nian Jitang’s words fell, he turned into a streak of light and vanished without a trace.
Meng Lichun rolled her eyes, then took out the breakfast that Nian Jitang had just bought from the kitchen and placed it in front of Xie Tao, smiling, “Tao Tao, eat your breakfast.”
“Thank you, Aunt Meng.” Xie Tao sat at the dining table and took a bite of a bun.
When Wei Yun arrived, Xie Tao had already finished eating and was packing her school bag by the sofa.
He walked over and asked, “Checked everything? Did you forget anything?”
When Xie Tao heard Wei Yun’s voice, she turned her head to look at him, smiled first, and then nodded, “I’ve checked, didn’t forget to bring…”
She looked obedient.
Dressed in a blue and white school uniform, with her hair tied in a ponytail, her face was clean and fair, and her eyes seemed to shine when she looked at him.
Wei Yun couldn’t help but reach out to touch her head and asked softly, “Nervous?”
“A little…”
Xie Tao nodded honestly.
“Don’t be afraid, you will do well.”
Eventually, Wei Yun said.
When Wei Yun and Meng Lichun took Xie Tao to the school gate, Xie Lan and Nian Jitang were already waiting there.
“Tao Tao sister, you have to cheer up! Lan brother will be waiting outside for you to come out, then we’ll go eat something delicious!” Xie Lan made a cheering gesture.
“Tao Tao, don’t be nervous at all, stay calm and collected, if you don’t know something just choose C and you’ll be fine, this trick really works!”
Nian Jitang’s words had just ended when he was scolded by Meng Lichun, “She hasn’t even taken the exam and you’re already talking about things she doesn’t know, are you sick?!”
Xie Tao glanced at Wei Yun, seeing his always gentle and calm gaze, which seemed to stabilize her uneasy heart somewhat.
With everyone’s blessings, Xie Tao entered the school gate.
Outside, many parents were still gathered, all looking at the backs of the young boys and girls entering the school gate, their eyes filled with nervousness and hope.
This summer, Xie Tao’s college entrance examination finally came to an end.
In the process of reaching this endpoint, she was a year late compared to others, what was three years for others was four for her.
So much so that on the evening of the day the college entrance examination ended, Xie Tao, after the barbecue dinner in the small garden, sat on a swing chair with Wei Yun, looking at the scattered stars in the summer night, she had a moment of trance, feeling as if all of this was like a dream.
It seemed like she would wake up the next moment, only to find herself still in Qizhen, still the girl who had just dropped out of school, escaping from her mother.
Without Wei Yun, and without the so-called two timelines.
Because she got Wei Yun’s permission, Xie Tao drank a bit of fruit wine.
The sweet fruit fragrance, with a burning sensation, rushed straight to her heart, warming her mind and making it a bit blurry.
“Studying is so hard…” she suddenly murmured.
It seemed like she hadn’t yet snapped out of the devilish days before the college entrance examination, struggling with endless problems and immersing herself in a sea of questions.
Wei Yun smiled slightly, with a hint of laughter in his eyes.
His hand gently brushed the cheek of the girl next to him, the slight warmth of her cheek in his fingertips.
“Do you want to know what my dream is?” she obediently placed her chin in his palm, looking at him with her eyes that seemed to be veiled with a layer of mist, suddenly giggling foolishly.
“What is it?” Wei Yun’s eyebrows remained soft.
Xie Tao pursed her lips, as if thinking for a while, and then said, “I didn’t have one before,”
In this timeline, the life trajectory of most people is like this.
Starting from the most ignorant period, embarking on this path of schooling, which lasts for more than a decade.
Like Xie Tao, many people are also confused.
It seems that the college entrance examination, university, are paths that everyone must take, but at the end of this road, where should they go?
“But then Aunt Meng told me something.”
She suddenly said again.
“She asked me if I was willing to work in the third timeline.”
This was something Xie Tao had never thought about.
What exactly the third space-time was, Xie Tao was still not very clear about it until now.
But Meng Lichun said that if she could work at the Third Time-Space Administration, she would be able to rely on the Administration’s work badge to travel between the two space-times.
“But she said, because I am a mortal, it’s difficult to get a work qualification.”
Xie Tao remembered those words Meng Lichun said that day, leaning on Wei Yun’s shoulder, her eyelids drooping, and her voice became a bit muffled.
“Xie Tao.”
After Wei Yun heard her say these things, he was first a little surprised, and then he frowned, stretched out his hand to support her shoulder, and made her sit upright, “If it’s because of me, you don’t have to try such a thing.”
He can travel between the two space-times, she doesn’t need to pay anything more for him.
Just being like now is enough.
“But I want to try.” Xie Tao shook her head, looking at him stubbornly for the first time.
Wei Yun heard her seriously say, “It’s not just because of you, I actually quite want to go there.”
In this world, no ordinary person truly wishes to remain ordinary.
Xie Tao felt the same.
Rather than finding a normal job after graduating from university, working from nine to five, Xie Tao wanted to do something different.
It was for Wei Yun, but also for herself.
She didn’t want to rely on golden powder to be someone who can only passively wait; she wanted to rely on her own efforts to enter his world.
She wanted to do something meaningful.
At this moment, Wei Yun should have been touched by the words she said, but he remained impassive, on such a summer night with a gentle breeze and the sound of cicadas, he suddenly pinched her cheek.
“Is it for me, or for that white bear?”
This sudden question made Xie Tao freeze.
What’s going on?
Why does the plot seem to be developing in a strange direction?
“Of course, it’s you…”
Xie Tao stiffened her neck, saying righteously, “Am I that kind of person?”
