Chapter 12: Bouncing the Ball

The excessive volume made the young couple freeze on the spot.

Wang Jiexiang was panting heavily, her chest heaving so much it looked like she needed an oxygen tank.

As for the person she was scolding—his expression…

She didn’t even need to look to know what kind of face he was making.

Thin lips tightly pressed together, disdain between his brows, and eyes cold as ice.

Yin Xian let out a cold laugh and said to He Shan, “Forget about finding the ball.”

“Who wants to play with your ball anyway?”

She widened her eyes and puffed up her chest.

Though short, she was trying to use her presence to push him back.

“What, did my mom tell you I’m easy to deal with?”

Yin Xian’s expression and tone were icy.

“And your reason for being rude to an elder you’re meeting for the first time is?”

Wang Jiexiang rolled up her sleeves. If she weren’t so short and had to stand on tiptoe to hit him, she’d have slapped him across the face already.

“You said I was your first love.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. The top half of his face stayed stern, while the bottom half quickly covered up with a hand.

He Shan couldn’t hold it in like him and burst out laughing.

Wang Jiexiang snapped around and gave her a sharp look.

“You liar! You had a girlfriend before—I caught you!”

“Well, kiddo—” He Shan put on a grown-up tone, ready to lecture her.

Wang Jiexiang raised a hand to cut her off, angrily critiquing:

“Unforgivable. This woman—how dare she be this pretty.”

She looked He Shan up and down and accurately described her: “Such fair skin, so much hair, such a great figure, so womanly.”

He Shan was flattered into delight and silently mouthed to Yin Xian:

“What’s up with this kid?”

“Possessed,” he replied.

“Yin Xian!”

A tear fell from the corner of each of Wang Jiexiang’s eyes. “From now on, even if you turn into a rabbit, a crab, or a turtle, don’t come looking for me. I’m never speaking to you again!”

With that, she sprinted away like a track star, fleeing the scene of heartbreak.

Yin Xian’s gaze followed after her, seeing only the back of someone running awkwardly with mismatched steps.

A dejected Wang Jiexiang was bouncing a ball in an empty lot.

The ball was given to her by the old man guarding the auto repair shop—he saw her hopping around outside the reception room and found a ball for her to play with alone somewhere quiet.

Why was Wang Jiexiang hopping around?

Because—unbelievably!—this world had barriers.

In the previous two worlds, she had stuck so closely to Yin Xian that she’d never noticed. Now, heartbroken and just wanting a quiet place to be alone, she found she couldn’t.

Saving Yin Xian? That’s impossible. Wasn’t that what she originally thought?

Wang Jiexiang asked herself: How exactly did he get her to obediently go into house after house to do tasks? Where did it all go wrong?

What swayed her? The words “Come to my island” written on the Paper Crane’s wings? “Feifei’s Home” on Little Rabbit Island? The pitiful bunny claiming memory loss? Or that familiar cup of Carrot Juice?

“Probably all of it,” she muttered.

Frustrated, she bounced the ball harder and harder.

Damn it. Honestly, after coming out of the first house, she had considered not helping him anymore.

She had always given him her all—saving him from the bad guys, teaching him to recite poems. And him? Back on Little Rabbit Island, she merely asked what had happened before, and he’d coldly said, “Can I not say?”

That should’ve been the moment of resolve: amnesia or not, an annoying jerk is always going to be an annoying jerk.

Hmph.

Though it’s not entirely her fault—the first two houses were just too easy.

Going to Little Rabbit Island was optional. The little Yin Xian in the house was weak and in need of help. And how to help him was obvious… It felt natural to lend a hand when she could.

Anyway, this world—she was definitely not going to save him!

Even if Yin Xian got on his knees and begged…

Just then, she caught sight of his figure from the corner of her eye.

Coolly catching the ball with one hand, Wang Jiexiang lifted her chin and waited for him to come over.

Yin Xian strode forward in big steps, eyes fixed straight ahead—not toward her, but toward the phone booth next to the reception room.

“Pretending to make a call?”

That’s what she thought. But in the next second, he inserted a phone card and picked up the receiver.

“……”

Two or three minutes later, Yin Xian finished the call.

Wang Jiexiang stood where she could be seen and waited for him to come out.

“Ahem.”

A strange smell drifted in the air.

She dropped the ball and covered her nose with both hands, but was still choked by the sudden stench.

A gray fog quickly spread and wrapped around the area like it wouldn’t disperse.

In the distance, the sound of bustling voices could be heard. A television was playing a song—amidst the noise, it was hard to make out, but she felt like she had heard it not long ago.

As she strained to recall, someone behind her bumped into her by accident.

“Little kiddo.”

The person steadied her by the shoulders and asked, “Why’re you blocking the gate?”

Little kiddo? That term sounded strange—eerily familiar.

Wang Jiexiang instinctively looked down and saw short arms and legs… Wait, the familiar background music suddenly exploded in her ears.

When she looked up again, she saw a room full of people noisily shuffling cards.

Yin Xian was sitting furthest inside with a cigarette in his mouth, while she stood at the door to the staff dormitory.

Cold sweat instantly covered Wang Jiexiang’s back.

The world—it seemed to have looped.