Chapter 33: The Long Road

Sunset, 7:00 PM.

Time reset… she returned to her grandfather’s house.

Wang Jiexiang adjusted her breathing, and the thoughts in her mind gradually became clearer.

— Go to Yin Xian’s school!

— Take him to the hospital to see his grandfather!

With her tasks decided, she got up, quickly opened the door, and rushed down the hallway, grabbing the bicycle she had ridden earlier.

But.

She still didn’t know the way to his school.

Wang Jiexiang fell into the same deadlock she had been in the last cycle: she wanted to ask for directions, but the people passing by on the street were all background characters.

The only person who wasn’t a background character last time was the caregiver for Yin Xian’s grandfather.

But she couldn’t afford to waste time waiting for her to come just to ask for directions.

Moreover, the caregiver had gone home, meaning it was already too late.

“Think, calm down, there must be a way.”

Wang Jiexiang thought about how to find a passerby who wasn’t a background character.

There were many people in the Employee Dormitory who weren’t background characters: Brother Xu, He Shan, colleagues from Yin Xian’s office, the small shop owner, the security guard…

An idea suddenly lit up in her mind.

The people who Yin Xian was familiar with, the ones who interacted with him regularly, were not background characters in his mental world.

Wang Jiexiang scanned the people and buildings in her line of sight and headed towards the road outside.

She didn’t see any shops along the way and rode to a completely unfamiliar area.

Suddenly, the bike wheel seemed to hit a glass wall.

An invisible force blocked her path, preventing her from going forward.

A barrier.

Wang Jiexiang had seen this before, and she calmly changed direction, continuing to ride.

Finally, at an intersection, she spotted a very eye-catching newspaper stand.

“Please, let there be someone real,” Wang Jiexiang prayed inwardly.

As expected, the newspaper seller was not a background character.

Wang Jiexiang was thrilled.

She parked the bike and rushed over, almost grabbing the man’s hand to say, “Comrade, I finally found you.”

The man did not disappoint her expectations. He was able to talk to her normally and even knew the way to Second Middle School.

“Keep going straight down this road to the end; turn left and go uphill for about 200 meters, there’s an intersection. Then, turn right, go uphill again, and after a short distance, you’ll see a big bank sign. Cross the street there, and take the first turn downhill on the opposite side.”

“That’s too complicated,” Wang Jiexiang said, feeling confused. “I can’t remember all of that.”

The man kindly tore off a piece of paper and drew a map for her.

Wang Jiexiang thanked him repeatedly.

“How far is it?”

“Not far, about 15 to 20 minutes.”

She checked his watch. It was now 7:40.

The streetlights had all come on, and night had fallen.

Wang Jiexiang looked at the map, but the man’s abstract drawing made it hard for her to figure out the exact distance to ride or which turn to take.

She couldn’t find the “big bank sign” he mentioned, and the road seemed wrong.

There was no other choice. Wang Jiexiang decided to ask someone else.

The road she was on was quite busy, but the shop owners and customers were all background characters.

She quickly walked her bike and caught sight of a sign that sparked hope.

“Chongqing Noodles!”

She pushed her bike towards it.

“This spicy noodles are Yin Xian’s favorite.”

She had to admit, after five years of dating, she knew him pretty well.

The customers in the shop were background characters, but the waitress wasn’t.

Wang Jiexiang held up the map drawn by the newspaper man, and the waitress added a few extra notes.

The noodle shop was close to the school, and now, Wang Jiexiang felt confident she could make it.

After much effort.

Wang Jiexiang, drenched in sweat, finally arrived at the entrance of Second Middle School.

It was dark, and the school gates were quiet.

She knocked on the security booth window. “Hello, I’m a family member of Yin Xian from Class 3, could you please help me open the gate?”

The security guard glanced at her and didn’t pay much attention. “Parents can’t enter the school, wait at the gate.”

Wang Jiexiang’s face grew anxious. “What time does he finish school?”

“No overtime, 8:30 PM, just 20 minutes. Wait here.”

“I can’t wait!” Hearing the time, her anxiety grew even more. “He has an emergency and needs to go to the hospital. Can you please call him?”

“What emergency?”

“His grandfather is sick, and he needs to see him at the hospital.”

“Alright,” the security guard finally relented. “Write a note, and I’ll go find him in his class.”

At this crucial moment, they couldn’t skip the procedure?

Wang Jiexiang had no energy to argue. “I’ll write it, I’ll write it right away. You go find him first.”

After she wrote the note, the security guard found Yin Xian.

The boy kept his distance from her and coldly said, “I don’t know her.”

Wang Jiexiang didn’t argue with the child.

“I’m a relative from your grandfather’s side, your distant sister,” she said, walking over and grabbing his hand to lead him away. “Let’s go to the hospital quickly, your grandfather is in critical condition.”

The suspicion in Yin Xian’s eyes faded after hearing her last sentence.

He paused for a moment, then allowed himself to be dragged to the bicycle.

Wang Jiexiang released the pedal, and with a glance, Yin Xian obediently sat on the back seat.

Although he was only in his third year of junior high, he was already quite tall, making it hard for her to carry him.

“How do we get to the hospital?” she asked.

He didn’t respond.

Wang Jiexiang turned to look at him.

His eyes were empty, nervously chewing on his fingers.

“Yin Xian,” she raised her voice, “How do we get to the hospital? Which is the fastest way?”

He pointed the way for her.

“Keep an eye on the road. Let me know when we need to turn.”

Yin Xian nodded.

They lost too much time on the road. Based on the caregiver’s return time, it was already too late.

Wang Jiexiang, drenched in sweat, pedaled the bike, mentally preparing for the worst and silently memorizing the route.

…

They reached the hospital.

Exhausted, Wang Jiexiang’s legs felt weak, and she could barely walk.

She parked the bike and let Yin Xian go ahead while she struggled to catch her breath, feeling a sharp cramp in her stomach.

“Sister, which ward is grandfather in?”

She leaned on the bicycle, her throat aching, and she could hardly speak clearly.

“Have you never been to his ward?”

He shook his head.

“Do you know where the outpatient hall is? Which department is your grandfather in?”

He nodded.

“Go to the outpatient hall. There should be signs, and then ask a nurse for the room number.”

While watching Yin Xian run into the hospital, Wang Jiexiang pounded her chest and coughed violently.

— If only Yin Xian had learned how to ride a bike as a kid, she wouldn’t be this exhausted!

— Please let us make it in time, or I’ll have to ride again!

After catching her breath, she hurried to follow Yin Xian into the hospital’s outpatient hall.

Unexpectedly.

Yin Xian was still there, and a tall woman stood beside him.

Wang Jiexiang recognized the woman as Yin Xian’s mother.

He snatched the paper from his mother’s hand.

The doctor had stamped it — it was his grandfather’s death certificate.

Yin Xian held the paper, reading the simple words over and over again.

It seemed like he couldn’t read, like he didn’t understand.

His thin lips were pressed into a straight line. He swallowed hard and softly called out to her, “Mom…”

He asked, “You’ve been at the hospital today, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

His mother rubbed her forehead.

“You had class, what was the point of telling you? What could you have done?”

Yin Xian lowered his head and closed the paper.

“That was grandfather.”

When he spoke again, his voice was completely hoarse.

“Do you blame me?”

Her enunciation sharply distinguished “you” from “me.”

“Do you think I haven’t had enough of a burden?”

Yin Xian remained silent.

His mother sighed and said no more.

In the hospital’s outpatient hall, mother and son stood face to face, yet they seemed more distant than strangers.

Wang Jiexiang realized: even in the last cycle, when Yin Xian came to the hospital alone, encountering his mother, she would have said the same things.

Her words were very pragmatic.

Yin Xian was a child, unable to help.

But it was too devoid of humanity.

If only she could adopt Yin Xian, Wang Jiexiang thought.

She quietly looked at him, rubbed her nose, and shed a few worthless tears for the fifteen-year-old Yin Xian—for the Yin Xian to come.

The world was resetting.

The space around them twisted rapidly, centering on the death certificate clutched tightly in the boy’s hand.

The hospital vanished. His mother vanished.

In the shattered fragments of space, only Wang Jiexiang and that young boy remained.

That night was already so far away from the Yin Xian of today.

But there was still a Yin Xian—a part of Yin Xian—trapped here.

He couldn’t get past this hurdle, stuck in the dark house, his heart breaking over and over again.

“Yin Xian.”

Wang Jiexiang called his name.

He looked at her, eyes red, holding back tears.

“Next time, we’ve agreed—next time.”

She gently patted the boy’s soft hair and made a promise.

“I’ll be faster next time. I’ll take you to see your grandpa.”