Chapter 1

Chapter 1

After Shen Ci said that, I stood there in a daze for a long time before finally answering, a beat too late.

“Oh. I see.”

After that, silence fell between us.

Shen Ci lowered his head, his hair falling over his brows and eyes. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Honestly, this was how things should have been.

Trees grew upward. People had to look ahead, toward the future.

I opened my mouth, wanting to pretend I was happy for him.

But for some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t lift the corners of my lips.

“Is it that young girl from your company? She’s quite cute. If the two of you get together, you should treat her well…”

Shen Ci gave a soft hum of acknowledgment.

I had so many other things I wanted to ask.

I wanted to ask why he had moved out of our marital home.

I wanted to ask why he had given away the puppy I raised.

I even wanted to ask whether he would still come burn offerings for me on the anniversary of my death.

But when I heard that quiet hum,

I suddenly didn’t know what to say anymore. All I could do was turn around in a bit of a panic.

“Oh, okay. Then I’ll get going…”

I had already drifted several steps away when a voice suddenly came from behind me.

“Qingqing, did you really like that necklace so much?”

It was Shen Ci, his voice as low and deep as ever.

The morning rain in Weicheng dampens the light dust; by the inn, the green willows look fresh and new.

Everyone else called me by my name, Lin Xinliu.

Only Shen Ci called me Qingqing.

“No need. I actually didn’t like it that much.”

Three years ago, I had hidden those necklaces to leave Shen Ci something to hold on to.

To keep him from acting impulsively, from following me in the depths of his grief.

But now, there was no need.

A new girl had appeared at his side.

She was warm and bold, taking the initiative to approach him day after day.

She had melted Shen Ci’s heart and given him a reason to keep living.

That necklace of mine had become something of an eyesore.

Shen Ci asked me, “Qingqing, are you angry?”

In truth, I had no reason to be angry.

I said earnestly, “Shen Ci, I’m really not angry.”

I shouldn’t be selfish and domineering, occupying the rest of Shen Ci’s life even after I died.

How could I possibly be angry? If I had to put it into words…

Maybe my heart just felt a tiny bit sour, so sour that my eyes had gone a little red.

I stared at the wetness on my fingertips and wondered, could ghosts cry too?

When I was eighteen, I learned that I was living inside a book.

Shen Ci was the male lead, and I was the unforgettable first love who died young.

In the book, we only had three years to love each other before I would die of stomach cancer.

So I suppressed my feelings and deliberately avoided Shen Ci.

Nineteen-year-old Shen Ci didn’t understand why I had suddenly gone cold toward him.

He made countless efforts and hit countless walls.

Later, a fire broke out at school. He was the only person who rushed in to save me.

A terrifying scar nearly ten centimeters long wound across his arm.

It made him miss his exams and shattered his dream of becoming a pilot.

Yet Shen Ci comforted me instead.

“Qingqing, I was the one who insisted on going in. It had nothing to do with you.”

That night, I accepted Shen Ci’s confession.

I told myself that as long as stomach cancer was discovered early, it could be cured.

And the plot from my dream wouldn’t necessarily happen.

After we graduated from university, we got married.

After that, I looked up endless information and went to the hospital for checkups every once in a while.

Shen Ci was even more nervous than I was. He practically memorized every line of my test results.

Unfortunately, life rarely goes the way one wishes.

I couldn’t understand it. The cancer had clearly been discovered early.

So why had it worsened into late-stage cancer in just one short month?

It happened so suddenly, so completely beyond reason.

During that time, Shen Ci was like a walking corpse. Half his hair turned white, and he went sleepless night after night.

Yet whenever he came to see me, he deliberately acted relaxed, wearing a hat as he comforted me and told me not to be afraid.

But no miracle happened.

Before I died, I hid three necklaces and hired someone to tell Shen Ci one address every year.

“Honey, these are my favorite necklaces. Remember to burn one for me every year, okay? I still want to be beautiful down there.”

With that promise, I stopped Shen Ci from killing himself countless times.

Because of his love for me, Shen Ci became dejected, depressed, and hopeless.

And because of his love for me, he also struggled to endure and pull himself back together.

Three years later, Su Sangsang, the heroine destined by the plot, appeared.

The heroine would heal him with love and tenderness.

She would save Shen Ci from the past and begin the sweet, doting romance that came afterward.

There was no need to find the final necklace anymore.

And I was destined to be forgotten.