A very, very long lifetime, a very, very short lifetime, a very simple lifetime

“Good luck is coming, I wish you good luck; may good luck bring happiness and love…”

“Good luck is coming, I wish you…”

In a daze, Tang Yuyao gradually regained consciousness. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly as she opened her eyes. Looking up, she saw a white ceiling dimly lit by the room’s gloomy light.

Was she still… in the hospital?

Hiss… Strange. Why did her head hurt so much?

It couldn’t be because she had been staying up too late recently, could it?

She really needed to start going to bed earlier. Staying up too much would make her skin age faster. What if she wasn’t even thirty yet but ended up with the skin of a forty-year-old? That would be terrible.

She was already considerably older than the young girls around her. Sigh… Sleep. She would sleep first, then apply a couple of face masks to replenish her skin’s moisture after waking up. By then…

Hmm?

Tang Yuyao had just closed her eyes when she suddenly opened them again. Something… seemed wrong.

Had she forgotten part of her memory?

For example… for example…

For example, what?

Tang Yuyao discovered that whenever she tried to think, her head began to throb violently, as if it were about to explode. The pain made her whole body twitch.

“Hiss… It hurts so much. What is it?”

Tang Yuyao clutched her head and continued trying to remember. Before long, some strange noises coming from the side interrupted her thoughts.

“Good luck is coming, I wish you good luck, good luck…”

Tang Yuyao: “???”

What the hell was that noise?

Tang Yuyao abruptly sat up in bed. Only then did she notice that there was someone else in the room. In an inconspicuous corner stood a “small altar,” glowing with a reddish light.

At the center of the altar was a phone displaying a photograph of Ye Cheng. In front of the phone sat a large assortment of offerings… spicy strips, crispy instant noodles, and iced tea.

Kneeling before the offerings, her youngest son was playing “Good Luck Is Coming” while praying for Ye Cheng’s safe return.

And there were even more details. The boy’s hands were covered in pendants, all printed with images and made using a 3D printer. Every single one was a top-tier “lucky charm.”

There was a resurrection armor, a resurrection totem, a Death-Defying Blade, resurrection coins… Whatever one could name, he had it. The collection was quite a mess, but putting everything else aside, his sincerity was absolutely genuine.

“Little Uncle, you have to come back alive! When you become general manager, I’ll be deputy general manager. The two of us can just sit around and live off the company. From then on, no other good-for-nothing parasites who loaf around and freeload will be allowed in the company…”

“So, Little Uncle, you have to come back alive. Knock, knock, knock…”

As the boy muttered, he beat a small wooden fish with a stick and recited some kind of scripture. It seemed to be something he had hurriedly learned online at the last minute.

As for whether it would work… don’t worry about that.

He had even equipped Little Uncle with resurrection armor. Little Uncle would definitely be fine… Yes, that was definitely how it would go.

And then… knock, knock, knock…

Tang Yuyao: “???”

“Little Fatty, what are you doing? Playing around with ghosts in the middle of the night? Believe it or not, I’ll smack you!” Tang Yuyao’s head was full of question marks as she spoke in a somewhat dazed voice.

The youngest boy’s muttering and prayers were completely drowned out by the deafening “Good Luck Is Coming.” She couldn’t hear a word of it.

The Little Genius smartwatch was truly something else!

The singing coming from it was so loud that Tang Yuyao’s ears hurt. She finally couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up.

The youngest boy, who had been praying in the corner, heard the voice from behind him and jumped in fright. He thought the resurrection armor had actually worked and became incredibly excited.

But the moment he heard his aunt’s voice, the expression on his face collapsed.

What a letdown. It wasn’t the resurrection armor showing its power after all. It was just his aunt waking up…

Hmm?

Wait, no. This was great news—his aunt had woken up!

The youngest boy’s tiny, mung-bean-sized eyes widened as far as they could go. He hurriedly shut off the “Good Luck Is Coming” playing on his Little Genius smartwatch and snatched up the photograph of “Little Uncle” from the stool.

As for the offerings, he blocked them with his round, chubby body.

“Ehehe, Auntie, you’re awake! Auntie, you should rest a little longer. I’ll go tell Second Uncle and the others.”

The youngest boy stood ramrod straight, his face filled with guilt. With both hands behind his back, he gathered up all the offerings that had been on the stool and stuffed them into his pockets. Whatever wouldn’t fit, he shoved into his underwear.

Oh, curse that damn padding!

The youngest boy suddenly looked as if he had developed both a prominent chest and an oversized rear. Carrying all his things, he prepared to flee through the doorway.

His Second Uncle and the others had told him that he absolutely must not stimulate his aunt right now. What if she passed out again just like before, closing her eyes and kicking her legs?

She had already “died” once. If he hadn’t used his resurrection armor, she probably wouldn’t have woken up. Sigh…

Even if he still had resurrection armor, it needed time to recharge after use. If his aunt died again now, he could probably only rely on the resurrection totem.

That was right. Before setting up the altar and praying for Ye Cheng, the youngest boy had already equipped Tang Yuyao with resurrection armor. He might not deserve one hundred percent of the credit for keeping his aunt alive, but ninety percent definitely belonged to him.

“Little Fatty, stop right there.”

Tang Yuyao’s voice came from behind him. The youngest boy, who had only made it halfway to the door, froze.

He turned around.

“Well… my gentle and kind aunt, may I ask what you need? It’s already very late, and children should be asleep at this hour. Otherwise, they won’t grow tall in the future.”

As he spoke, the youngest boy gestured above his head with one hand.

Tang Yuyao: “…”

“Come here.”

The youngest boy: “…”

He obediently walked over.

“Hehehe, what’s up, Auntie?”

“What were you doing just now?”

Tang Yuyao raised an eyebrow and asked.

The youngest boy shook his head frantically and hurriedly denied it. “Nothing, Auntie! I wasn’t doing anything!”

“Fine. Then you won’t be getting any allowance from now on.”

The youngest boy blinked. “Auntie, you’ve never given me an allowance in the first place, have you?”

“That’s right. Is there a problem?”

Tang Yuyao shot back.

The youngest boy: “???”

His aunt had never given him an allowance, yet she was saying he wouldn’t be getting one from now on…

Wait a minute. Wasn’t that just robbery?

The youngest boy: “…”

“Don’t worry. I’m not unreasonable. Since it’s your allowance, naturally your aunt has no right to take it away. I’ll just turn that allowance into something worthwhile and send it back to you in another form. For example, mental-arithmetic workbooks, math problems, English vocabulary…”

Tang Yuyao casually listed off a whole pile of things that could easily take the youngest boy’s life.

The Death-Defying Blade in the youngest boy’s hand was the first to shatter. Then came the resurrection armor, the resurrection totem, and the resurrection coins. All of them were annihilated by Tang Yuyao’s demonic whispering.

No!!!

The look in the youngest boy’s eyes instantly became crystal clear.

“Auntie, what were we talking about just now?”

The expression on his face suddenly became much more handsome.

Tang Yuyao: “I have no idea.”

“Oh, so this is where I am. I remember now. I was just praying for my little aunt’s husband, and even trying to stack a couple of resurrection armors while I was at it. Hopefully he can come back soon…”

The little boy confessed everything honestly.

Tang Yuyao’s face stiffened, her expression turning strange. Before long, the shock on her face gave way to terror.

“Wait. Are you saying none of that was a dream?”

A loud buzz filled Tang Yuyao’s head, and she felt as if it might explode at any moment. Only then did she finally remember why her head had been hurting.

She also remembered why she had ended up lying here in the middle of the night. She hadn’t been having a nightmare—she had actually passed out once already. In other words, everything she had thought was part of a nightmare had really happened!

That meant some little brat really had come all the way to the northwest for some unknown reason, and by sheer coincidence had ended up inside her second brother’s military district… only to be captured by some monster that had appeared out of nowhere.

Now his whereabouts were unknown, and his life or death was uncertain.

Tang Yuyao: “…”

Unable to take it, Tang Yuyao passed out again.

Thump!

The hospital room instantly fell silent. The little boy shuddered in fright, his face turning pale.

“Oh no! Uncle, my aunt died again!”

He hurriedly dropped the huge pile of offerings in his hands and ran outside, shouting all the way.

When Tang Yuyao woke up again, she found the room surrounded by nurses. An IV was hooked to her hand, and all sorts of monitors were attached to her. For some reason, though, her entire body felt limp, and she was unusually calm.

“Doctor Sis, can you give my aunt a few more shots? Maybe some more sedatives or something? I’m worried she’ll pass out again later. What if she really dies then?”

“Um, little boy, this medicine can’t be used carelessly. The dosage is already sufficient, and Miss Tang’s condition has stabilized. There’s no need to increase it.”

“Oh? Is that so? Ah…”

The little boy shook his head, and there was actually a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Tang Yuyao: “…”

Tang Xiaobao, you’re dead. Just wait.

With the help of the sedatives, Tang Yuyao managed to calm down this time. Her body was still limp, probably because of the medication. She didn’t say anything, merely staring blankly at the ceiling.

But… the longer she stared, the more inexplicably tears began to fall.

Her eyes grew red, and the tears slid down her cheeks, soaking the pillow beneath her.

Why had things turned out like this? Why did it have to be that man of all people? Why…

Countless scenes flashed through Tang Yuyao’s mind, most of them revolving around one question after another. With the medication dulling her emotions, she even figured out why she had seen Dongfang Zhixia and the others gathered together on the plane earlier.

She also understood why she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Ye Cheng during this period.

Something must have happened. Thinking about it carefully, even the timing of her second brother’s health problems had been far too coincidental.

Had she… been set up?

By whom?

Tang Yuyao’s mind conjured up the image of Tang Shouye’s round, potbellied figure, smiling cheerfully like the God of Wealth.

Damn Fatty, just you wait…

Click!

The hospital room door opened, and Su Weiguo walked in from the hallway. Tang Jianjun was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t dared—or perhaps hadn’t had the face—to come and see his sister.

“Little Sister, you’re awake?”

Su Weiguo sighed. After struggling with himself for a long while, he finally spoke. Looking at Tang Yuyao lying on the hospital bed, he felt rather uncomfortable.

Who would have thought their feelings for each other ran so deep? She had lost control of her emotions and fainted twice in a row…

“Big Brother Su, have they found him yet?” Tang Yuyao asked, and the tears continuously sliding from the corners of her eyes finally stopped.

“They’ll find him soon!” Su Weiguo said firmly.

In truth… he wasn’t confident at all when he said it. If that monster really possessed the terrifying abilities they had witnessed earlier, Ye Cheng might already have been reincarnated and be standing in line at the Bridge of Helplessness, asking Lady Meng for another bowl of soup.

Sometimes, it was better not to tell the truth. Otherwise…

“Mm. I understand. Big Brother Su, you can all go out. I’m going to rest for a while. I’m a little tired,” Tang Yuyao said, her voice weary.

Su Weiguo seemed to want to say something else, but in the end, he merely sighed and left. The little boy slipped out after him and went to another part of the hospital, where he continued praying for Ye Cheng.

After a long while, Tang Yuyao sat up in bed and gazed at the moon outside the window.

“Maybe this is just fate…”

Perhaps she was destined to spend her life alone.

If Ye Cheng never came back, then… she would search for him herself. Her life was still long, after all. She could take her time. Whenever she found him, it wouldn’t be too late.

Or perhaps, whenever she closed her eyes for good, she would have found him…

Drip… drip…

Beneath the moonlight, crystalline tears rolled down her cheeks. In the silence, a decision was quietly made.