Fragile Dream

Night fell. After Chen Qin and Tang Keke finished dinner and went their separate ways, Ye Shuang also sat at his desk in his room, staring blankly at his computer screen.

Perhaps reminded of the afternoon's events, Ye Shuang suddenly opened his browser and typed in four characters: "Tian Shu Qi Tan" (Heavenly Book Fantasy).

"It's still there... hasn't it shut down yet?" Looking at the game's login page, Ye Shuang selected the server, and with familiar background music playing, he entered his password.

Since the account could be set by himself, he hadn't forgotten it even after over a decade.

It was just his birthday, after all.

[Peak Young Master Ye

lv.70 Assassin]

After the game loaded, looking at the extremely simplistic pixelated character, Ye Shuang felt an inexplicable sense of nostalgia.

He clicked on the pets tab. A mutated Fire Pincer Crab with the "Water Magic Burst" skill was looking around.

"Long time no see." Ye Shuang smiled slightly, his gaze falling on its name.

"Dog Egg."

The Fire Pincer Crab: "..."

"Click, click, click." The sound of fingers clicking the mouse rang out. Ye Shuang just controlled his character walking aimlessly. He wasn't sure what he was doing, just feeling somewhat interested in revisiting these once-familiar sights. The graphics hadn't changed much; it was just that Lingchang City had been split into two maps.

Passing by an NPC responsible for facilitating marriages, his hand stopped. Come to think of it—

He had an in-game spouse, and it was a girl too.

Opening the friends list, it was filled with greyed-out avatars. Ye Shuang couldn't remember the other person's name anymore, only recalling that their class was a "Cultivator" and the name was in English.

This game actually had a stat allocation system, but back then, Ye Shuang didn't know how to play and hadn't allocated a single point, brute-forcing his way past level 30, pretty much dying his way through.

That spouse was initially a passing pro player. Perhaps seeing him die everywhere, they sent a party invite, then carried him through bosses and maps, even helping him catch this mutated pet.

The Assassin class had a move called "Shadow Fist" that caused recoil damage—hurting the enemy a thousand while injuring oneself eight hundred. The pro played a Cultivator, a healer class, who could restore his HP and often gave him various little items.

After playing together in a party for a few months, the pro suddenly said, "Let's get married."

So they did.

When not grinding monsters, the two would often chat about interesting topics, and Ye Shuang found the other person seemed to understand him very well, often chatting late into the night.

The other person even called him "hubby," but because Ye Shuang was just an elementary school student, he felt too embarrassed to call someone "wifey," so he never addressed them that way.

And later... there was no later.

One day, Ye Shuang simply stopped logging in. After switching to "Dungeon Fighter" with Chen Hai and the others, he never touched this game again.

"Even though the pixel art was so ordinary and the effects were simple, it felt so fun back then," Ye Shuang couldn't help but think. Come to think of it, he never properly said goodbye or anything.

Maybe he should have exchanged contact info back then?

Just as Ye Shuang wandered around for a bit and was about to log off, he accidentally opened the friends list again and noticed one avatar was lit up. And this name...

His expression turned slightly stunned. He looked again at the relationship status between the two characters: Married.

Ye Shuang's fingers stiffened for some reason. After hesitating for a moment, he still sent a private message.

Peak Young Master Ye: Hello

...

The other side seemed silent for a while before replying with a question mark.

Peak Young Master Ye: Long time no see, um... It's been so many years, not sure if you still remember me.

CHQN: I remember. My hubby who's been dead for over a decade.

Ye Shuang choked a bit, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and replied: School kept me busy, so I just stopped playing.

CHQN: Oh~

CHQN: Why did you suddenly log on?

Peak Young Master Ye: Suddenly remembered this game, so logged on to take a look... Feels like not much has changed from before.

Peak Young Master Ye: Why didn't you dissolve the marriage?

CHQN: Keeping widow's vigil.

Peak Young Master Ye: ...

Peak Young Master Ye: Sorry.

CHQN: It's fine.

Ye Shuang glanced at the other's level and found it wasn't high either, almost the same as his. Meaning she probably hadn't been grinding levels either.

Peak Young Master Ye: Are you also just logging on to look? I see your level hasn't moved.

CHQN: Just logging on to see if my hubby has resurrected. If my level was too high and I just carried you through everything instantly, where would the fun be?

Ye Shuang was taken aback. Was the other person's meaning... that she was waiting for him?

For some reason, he simply wanted to chat with her, unsure whether he missed this person or missed his own hazy youth.

Peak Young Master Ye: Is it okay to add each other as friends? Like a QQ number or something.

The other person was quiet for a moment, then sent a number over.

Seeing it, Ye Shuang immediately added it.

The other person didn't seem to be a catfish or anything; the profile picture was a rather cute anime girl, though the "Moments" were set to three-day visibility, showing nothing.

Right at that moment, the other person sent a message first—

TuTu: Hubby.

Ye Shuang: That sounds weird. Just call me Xiao Ye. You're probably older than me, right?

TuTu: Why?

Ye Shuang suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. He rubbed his nose and continued replying.

Ye Shuang: Over a decade ago when I married you in the game, I was just an elementary school student.

TuTu: What a coincidence, I was an elementary school student back then too.

Hiss...

Huh? ↗

Ye Shuang scratched his head. So this person was around the same age as him now?

The thought of two kids getting married in a game gave him an indescribable sense of absurdity, and he even couldn't help but chuckle. "Interesting."

But after chatting a bit more, Ye Shuang didn't say much else. After all, the other was just a stranger he'd never met; maintaining a sense of boundaries was important.

Ye Shuang: Gotta go, taking a shower.

TuTu: Oh.

Ye Shuang put down his phone to charge, gathered his clothes, and went to take a shower. Come to think of it, he had to visit Uncle Chen's family tomorrow, so better rest early.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, in an office within a certain high-rise building, Chen Qin was looking down at her phone.

On the monitor in front of her was the game screen of "Heavenly Book Fantasy."

A Cultivator character floated there, the ID above it displaying CHQN.

"Ah Ye really doesn't notice a thing."

She actually logged into this game every week to check, taking a look at the "hubby" in her friends list. This was Chen Qin's little secret, because she felt that even this form of marriage—

She cherished it deeply, burying it in her heart, comforting herself that she was way earlier than Zhao Mengyao.

Nurturing a fragile dream.