GV – Chapter 90

C-City was an inland municipality with sluggish economic development. Just as notorious and criticized as its slow economy was its custom of favoring boys over girls. The female illiteracy rate here was more than ten percent higher than the male rate—an almost unthinkable statistic in an age of compulsory education.

This year, however, a famous female entrepreneur and a famous female philanthropist had arrived.

Rumor had it they were going to build a school here—one that would pay girls to attend.

These two people were Shen Wei and Shangguan Xianxian.

Inside a newly completed school building, Shen Wei answered a phone call. Afterward, an expression of fury appeared on her face, which was usually unconcerned with managing expressions.

She downloaded Weibo, and after watching the full video, her anger subsided slightly—at least enough that she could tell Shangguan Xianxian about it without worrying it would upset her.

After lodging her complaint, Shen Wei added indignantly, “Why is Song Zhiqing like a lingering ghost…”

Before she could finish, Shangguan Xianxian shot her a look, and she immediately shut her mouth.

Shangguan Xianxian, however, was unfazed. After years of navigating various factions, she no longer paid any mind to such minor squabbles in public opinion. Only Shen Wei still saw herself as the proud and aloof young lady of the Shangguan family. But thinking of her friend, Shangguan Xianxian sighed and gave her a call.

“Hello, Huanhuan, have you seen the trending topics on Weibo?”

“It’s nothing, I’m not offended. But… have you still not told her anything?”

“But you’re Song Zhiqing, too.”

“Forget it. If you insist, then have it your way. But I don’t think Song Zhiqing would necessarily dislike the real you.”

After hanging up, Shangguan Xianxian recalled the day six months ago when Ye Yuhuan had come to her to input character data. Yes, on that day, Ye Mo was still called Ye Yuhuan.

But after returning to the country to settle down, she had changed her name.

Ye Mo, with the “Mo” from “mòshēngrén”—stranger. She was always reminding herself to keep her distance.

Because she had to approach Song Zhiqing, inevitably. She had to save Song Zhiqing, even though they were practically strangers. But the way she looked at that data was with more joy than when she had received her doctoral diploma.

This friend, whom she’d met abroad and instantly clicked with, was even more stubborn in matters of love than in her academic pursuits. Shangguan Xianxian had felt this deeply over the past few years, but she could only watch her friend fall deeper. After all—she glanced back at the woman on the phone, ordering her subordinates to suppress the trending topic—she wasn’t much better off herself.

Meanwhile, Ye Mo, having watched Song Zhiqing leave, continued to eat her slice of cake, slowly and deliberately, just like her attitude toward Song Zhiqing.

But Song Zhiqing… she had walked right past her.

For two years, Song Zhiqing had been frantically chasing the memory of the “Song Zhiqing” from her dreams. Just like the year she had confessed her feelings, Song Zhiqing had never truly seen her.

Ye Mo finished the cake, bite by bite. When she went to pay, the cashier told her that the young lady from before had already settled the bill.

Ah, was it while I was on the phone?

Ye Mo nodded, her expression unreadable, and walked out of the cafe, following the path Song Zhiqing had just taken.

Not long after she got home, her parents called. They looked hale and hearty, and the Alps in the background were as beautiful as a postcard. When she had gone abroad to study, these two had declared their intention to live the second half of their lives freely. They had packed their bags and set off to travel the world. Now, even though she had returned to the country, they were still sketching all over the globe, living the life of wandering artists.

Her father, Ye Chu, answered the video call and leaned close to the camera, examining her for a few moments before frowning. “Sweetie, have you been eating properly lately? How come you look thinner again?”

Her mother, Si Zhen, chimed in, “Your chin has gotten so sharp.”

Ye Mo touched her face. It was true she had lost some weight. Song Zhiqing had been busy filming a movie lately, and they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. Her appetite had probably decreased a little.

But of course, she couldn’t say that.

Ye Mo forced a cheerful smile. “No, it’s just this app. The camera has a built-in beauty filter that slims my face.”

Her parents looked skeptical, but they didn’t really understand modern technology. They were more familiar with the paintbrushes and pigments in their hands, so they had to let it go for the time being.

After they had updated each other on their recent lives, Ye Chu, seeing that his and his wife’s features on the screen hadn’t changed, saw through his daughter’s lie. He suddenly said, “That little Miss Song… once you’ve cured her, you should let her go. It’s been so many years. There’s no need to waste your time like this. You need to find someone else to like, someone who’s a real possibility, sweetie.”

Her father had said things like this several times recently. After all, it was impossible to hide her involvement with Song Zhiqing from her parents. She had changed her name and her field of research for Song Zhiqing. Such major life decisions, though not discussed with her parents beforehand, had to be reported to them eventually.

This was also why they didn’t have a good impression of Song Zhiqing.

Every time the topic came up, Ye Mo would evade it and change the subject. But today, perhaps because of the unsuccessful conversation she’d just had with Song Zhiqing, the calm exterior Ye Mo struggled to maintain crumbled before her parents.

How could I possibly let her go?!

Whether as a doctor or as someone with a secret crush, it’s gone too far. I can’t let go. I just can’t bear to see her so lonely.

Not to mention, I’m part of the reason why.

It was because I left that she had to be lonely.

It was because of my lies that I had to leave.

A wave of grief washed over her, and tears welled up in her eyes.

“I didn’t cure her,” Ye Mo sobbed.

“I made her suffer more.”

“If I hadn’t woken her up back then, she wouldn’t be in so much pain.”

“She doesn’t like to smile anymore. When she does, it looks strange. It’s better if she doesn’t smile at all. But she was such a gentle person when she was with Ye Yuhuan.”

“In high school, she was just pretending to be bad.”

“Wuwuwu… now I’ve… I’ve… made her so much worse.”

On the other side of the screen, Ye Chu and Si Zhen were frantic, tapping the screen with their hands as if they could reach through the internet to hug their daughter.

“Oh, don’t cry.”

“We won’t talk about it anymore. You can treat her however you want.”

Ye Mo cried for a full half hour before she finally stopped. Seeing her daughter’s face red from crying, Si Zhen let out a relieved breath, her elegant face, weathered by time, showing a hint of helplessness. “What is this? You loved to cry as a child, and you still cry so much now that you’re almost thirty.”

Having recovered from her emotional outburst, Ye Mo now felt embarrassed and mumbled, unsure of what to say.

Ye Chu clicked his tongue. While Ye Mo was crying, she had described Song Zhiqing’s recent situation. From his straightforward, broad-strokes way of thinking, he felt that these two were just torturing themselves.

Song Zhiqing was head over heels in love with his daughter, and his daughter was half-dead from loving her back. Yet one of them was hiding her past so tightly she’d rather live out her days in a machine than take a good look at her surroundings, while the other was concealing her identity so thoroughly that everything from her name to her personality was an act.

What was the point?

Couldn’t they just talk it out?

Ye Chu said earnestly, “Didn’t you have a relationship with her in that virtual world? That proves your souls are compatible. Just tell her the truth. That way, neither of you will have to suffer like this.”

At the mention of this, Ye Mo felt like crying again.

“She… she didn’t recognize me at all.”

“And she hates me.”

“Just like before.”

“If I tell her that I’m her ‘Song Zhiqing,’ I’m worried she’ll have a cognitive breakdown and try to kill herself again. There have been cases like that. I don’t dare to gamble.”

Ye Chu was getting a headache from all these romantic entanglements. He didn’t understand Ye Mo’s predictions based on psychology. Back in his day, he and Si Zhen had fallen in love at first sight, and everything had progressed naturally. Where did all this drama come from? Ye Chu shot a pleading look at his knowledgeable wife, hoping she could offer their daughter some advice. But Si Zhen only told Ye Mo to take care of herself, get some sleep, and talk to them if anything came up.

She offered no relationship advice whatsoever.

Ye Chu was puzzled. Si Zhen lifted her chin with the air of a cool old lady and said calmly, “The younger generation will make their own way. Let them sort it out themselves.”

“Let’s pack up and go home. No more traveling. If we keep this up, the next time our daughter cries like this, all we’ll be able to do is worry from afar.”

A few seconds later, recalling the sight of her daughter sobbing her heart out, Si Zhen said with an amused smile, “I’ve talked myself hoarse over the years. Today, our sweetie cried even harder than when we tried to make her go to kindergarten.”

Ye Mo, being secretly laughed at by her mother, was of course aware of how embarrassing she had been.

But since she was used to losing face in front of her parents, she quickly composed herself.

Sleep was impossible. Song Zhiqing’s state today, along with the fresh scars on her wrist, kept her awake. She tried to calm down and come up with a better treatment plan, but after sitting in silence for twenty minutes, she had to admit that she couldn’t do anything right now.

She was still heartbroken.

Heartbroken that Song Zhiqing didn’t recognize her.

Heartbroken to see Song Zhiqing’s name linked with Shangguan Xianxian’s again.

And Song Zhiqing’s own heartbreak was heartbreaking.

What should she do?

Everything was tangled into a dead knot.

A dead knot can, of course, be cut open with force, but she didn’t have the courage for such a drastic measure. That courage had to come from Song Zhiqing’s love.

Telling Song Zhiqing that she was her “Song Zhiqing” wouldn’t solve the problem. In the virtual world, she had hidden behind a thick disguise to win Song Zhiqing’s affection.

But in the real world, she was no longer a god-like figure. She couldn’t mold herself into someone Song Zhiqing was guaranteed to love. All that remained was Ye Yuhuan, who had already been rejected.

Song Zhiqing didn’t even remember that a Ye Yuhuan had appeared in her memories.

Ye Mo was a professional psychologist. She knew that under deliberately engineered circumstances, a person could even fall in love with their father’s killer.

Song Zhiqing’s love for her was the result of her deliberate efforts.

Whether it was deliberately creating an appearance she would like, concealing her own bookish nature, or even taking her identity and name to appear by her side—she couldn’t deny that she had hoped Song Zhiqing would fall for her.

Even if she had a noble excuse, like how a likable persona would make it easier to break down Song Zhiqing’s defenses during companionship and help her regain trust in the world.

But so what? A white lie is still a lie, and hers was far from pure white.

Ye Mo shut down her computer. The hazy night was kept at bay, a world away on the other side of the wall.

She ran her hands through her hair in frustration, muttering, “I shouldn’t have set the world to shatter at the moment Song Zhiqing’s self-awareness was at its peak. We hadn’t even gotten married yet…”

“Even playing house, you can get married…”

The ring was less than thirty centimeters away, and then she was jolted awake by the electric current she herself had set.

In the control room, filled with countless wires, no one knew that Dr. Ye, who was supposedly monitoring the data day and night, also had a device connected to her own head.

If she woke up, it meant that within a week, Song Zhiqing’s consciousness would be restored.

During the three days she waited, Ye Mo dreamed of that ring every night. And every night, the ring was less than thirty centimeters away.

But when Song Zhiqing finally woke up and looked at her with such strange, wounded eyes, Ye Mo was instantly jolted back to reality.

Ah, so this is another world.

Ye Mo patted her head, stopping the endless stream of reminiscence and sentimentality. More important than all that was the fact that there were only three years left.

How was she going to face this wager?

Ye Mo gathered her hair and tied it up at the back of her head, her lips pressed into a tight line as she picked up a mirror.

Damn it, I don’t look like her at all!

Could it be… I have to go back in with Song Zhiqing one more time?

If I explain the truth to her using the face of “Song Zhiqing,” she should be able to accept it more easily, right?

Ye Mo glanced at the mirror again and made her decision.

Since Song Zhiqing refuses to cooperate, I’ll just have to use the back door.