Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The Dreamweaver’s lip twitched almost imperceptibly.
How was this person not following the script at all?
He couldn’t comprehend Ning Shuo’s eagerness to be rid of his troubles. Pointing at the people on the beds, he said, “I will arrange for your consciousness to interface with theirs. As long as you can find an opportunity to bring them out, I will help you solve your problem. How does that sound?”
A flawless smile remained fixed on the Dreamweaver’s face. “Only when all of you are awake will my own troubles be resolved.”
Ning Shuo looked at the five people bundled up like packages, having slept for who knows how long. “Are there any other rewards for waking them up?”
“Your gains will be more abundant than anyone else’s.”
“Fine then,” Ning Shuo said, immediately lying back down. “Please, begin.”
***
When Ning Shuo opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Shen Xiao in the mirror.
According to the Dreamweaver, the dream was in the first-person perspective. Since Ning Shuo was entering someone else’s dream, he had to avoid being discovered by the host.
In other words, Ning Shuo was a squatter in someone else’s body and had to stay tucked away like a turtle in its shell.
Otherwise, the dream would detect the intruder and kick him out.
After Shen Xiao finished washing up and pushed the door open, a maid said, “Young Mistress, breakfast is ready. The Master and Madam are waiting for you downstairs.”
Shen Xiao gave a haughty nod, looking nothing like the gentle, smiling young woman from the Script.
She was a proud, wealthy heiress.
During the meal, Shen Xiao’s father asked, “Going to see Yu Min again?”
Shen Xiao’s hand, holding her knife and fork, paused for a moment. “No, I’m going horseback riding with the others.”
“What could you possibly hide? Haven’t you been chasing after Yu Min for months now?”
Outside of the Script, Shen Xiao’s mouth was as stubborn as a dead duck. “I just think he’s interesting. It’s not exactly like I’m chasing him.”
Mr. Shen laughed. “Sometimes you need to drop that pride of yours. When I was courting your mother, I stood on ceremony for too long and almost lost her to someone else.”
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Shen covered her mouth, the smile in her eyes impossible to hide.
Shen Xiao, however, didn’t look particularly happy. Ning Shuo heard her mutter under her breath, “I’ve been chasing him for months, and I still can’t tell if he’s even interested in girls…”
Mr. Shen didn’t catch it. “What?”
Ning Shuo could feel Shen Xiao’s ears burning. “Nothing!”
An open-minded family, a decent-if a bit tsundere-personality, and striking looks.
What kind of past was trapping Shen Xiao?
Shen Xiao’s “horseback riding” plan was real, but it wasn’t just her friends there; Yu Min was there too.
On the way, Shen Xiao was already thinking about how to interact with Yu Min. The thoughts swirling in her mind made Ning Shuo marvel at how active the youth’s imagination was.
Once they reached the stables, a group of young men was waiting. Ning Shuo’s attention was instantly drawn to one of them.
He was currently using Shen Xiao’s body, so more accurately, it was Shen Xiao who noticed him.
It was a handsome, clean-cut young man with a shy smile and a comfortable aura.
The moment she saw him, Shen Xiao immediately quickened her pace, only to freeze when she saw the girl standing beside the young man.
Seeing Shen Xiao, Yu Min waved. “Xiaoxiao! You’re here.”
Based on Shen Xiao’s reaction, she didn’t know the girl.
Suddenly, Ning Shuo sensed a change in the body.
It seemed Shen Xiao’s memories were awakening. Like Ning Shuo before him, Shen Xiao likely believed she had “reincarnated” back to this moment.
Shen Xiao stepped forward immediately, pulling Yu Min away before he could introduce the girl.
As she dragged Yu Min off, Ning Shuo saw a flash of memory.
It was Shen Xiao’s.
In the original story, Shen Xiao had assumed the girl was just someone a friend had brought along. However, just after she had greeted everyone, Yu Min announced that she was his girlfriend and that they had been dating for a while.
The seed of a crush had only just realized its own name when it was drowned by a sudden downpour.
Shen Xiao didn’t know what her reaction had been at the time; she only heard herself saying, “Well, look at you, hiding a girlfriend from your best bud.”
Then, Shen Xiao, who had learned to ride horses since childhood, fell and broke her leg. Shen Xiao, fully aware that she had a fracture, finally cried from the pain.
Why did it hurt so much?
Yu Min took her to the hospital. When Shen Xiao’s father arrived and saw the girl standing beside Yu Min, he merely offered his congratulations to the young man, whom he had met a few times and quite liked.
After politely asking all the juniors to head home first, he asked Shen Xiao softly, “Xiaoxiao, do you still like him?”
Shen Xiao nodded numbly, then shook her head. “I won’t tell him.”
Just as Shen Xiao had said, for the next few years, she truly remained nothing more than Yu Min’s best friend, watching him fall in love and get married.
At the wedding, dressed in her bridesmaid’s dress, she stood on the balcony and thought for the countless time:
If she had taken a step earlier, if she had told Yu Min regardless of the consequences and forcefully intruded into his life, would the ending have been a little better than this?
Her phone screen was lit up, displaying a psychiatric evaluation report.
…
The memories were fragmented. Like Ning Shuo’s dream, she only remembered how much she regretted watching Yu Min’s interactions; everything else was a blank.
Shen Xiao was holding onto Yu Min’s wrist.
Ning Shuo reached out and took Yu Min’s hand.
When they got out of the car earlier, Ning Shuo had noticed it.
Yu Min was wearing a ring on his ring finger.
If they had only been dating for a short while, he definitely wouldn’t be wearing a ring.
Just as the flaw in Ning Shuo’s hypnosis had been his own pen name, the ring was the flaw in Shen Xiao’s dreamscape.
Just as Ning Shuo had spent countless dusks writing at his keyboard in a dim room, Shen Xiao had later spent many moments looking at Yu Min wearing that ring.
This Hypnosis Experiment wouldn’t leave a person completely without a chance to wake up; the confusion between later memories and the present moment was the crack in the illusion.
Sure enough, when she touched that ring, Shen Xiao’s originally burning emotions suddenly turned cold.
At that moment, Ning Shuo saw another segment of memory:
During a dinner gathering, Shen Xiao got drunk and forcibly kissed Yu Min, who was helping her back to her room.
Yu Min hadn’t taken it seriously at first, intending only to tease her about it the next day. But when he brought it up the following morning, Shen Xiao had said, “Yes, I love you.”
Shen Xiao locked Yu Min away.
A woman who had endured for years simply decided to let everything shatter once the jar was already cracked.
She didn’t do anything specific; she just wanted to see Yu Min every day, to give herself some time alone with him. Even just looking at him was enough.
But she wasn’t happy.
Yu Min wasn’t happy.
Shen Xiao never again saw that shy, joyful smile on the face of the person she loved.
Later, Yu Min suffered a sudden heart attack. Because he was cut off from the outside world, and because Shen Xiao happened to be delayed for an hour while out buying groceries…
Yu Min passed away, silently and alone.
…
Yu Min asked in confusion, “Xiaoxiao, what’s wrong?”
Shen Xiao snapped back to reality and forced a smile. “Nothing. I just feel like I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Yu Min laughed. “Didn’t we just see each other the day before yesterday?”
Shen Xiao was silent for a moment before saying, “Congratulations. May you two have a long and happy life together.”
Yu Min said in surprise, “How did you know Ran Ran is my girlfriend? I haven’t had a chance to introduce her yet, have I?”
“I saw you two out on a date before by chance.”
“Well, you saw us and didn’t even say hello? I could have introduced Ran Ran to you then. She’s always complaining that I don’t introduce her to my friends.”
“I just didn’t want to disturb your time alone together.”
After Shen Xiao finished speaking, the atmosphere suddenly went still. The companions and the stables in the distance vanished like shards of glass, and soon, Yu Min’s figure began to turn transparent.
Panic seized Shen Xiao’s heart, and she reached out to pull him into an embrace.