Extra Chapter - Ji Lu Wushuang - Thank You

The day after returning home, Ji Wushuang woke up very early.

The sky was not yet light.

Her bodily functions operated under a strict internal clock.

She changed into her workout clothes and went out for a run.

It was a habit etched into her bones.

Tangzhou in the early morning was very quiet.

It seemed somewhat different from the roaring steel behemoth she remembered, the one that never rested, twenty-four hours a day.

The air no longer carried that faint smell of burning coal either.

Ji Wushuang jogged slowly along the railway tracks in the factory district.

The tracks had rusted.

The wild grass by the roadside grew tall.

She ran past the abandoned workshops.

Ran past the towering water tower.

Ran past that narrow alley where she once got into a fight.

She was like a ghost, patrolling her long-deserted kingdom.

When she reached the factory district park, she saw a familiar figure.

Chen Lei.

He was also running.

His strides were steady and powerful.

Not as light as hers.

But filled with a solid, masculine strength.

Chen Lei also saw Ji Wushuang.

He stopped.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Then, the two walked side by side, slowly.

"Do you run every day?" Ji Wushuang asked.

"Yeah," Chen Lei nodded.

"Habit. Sit in the office too long, need to move around."

"You?"

"Me too."

Another period of silence followed.

Neither of them were talkative people.

But this silence wasn't awkward at all.

It was like that feeling from before, as if she/he had always been here.

"These past few years, my family matters... I heard everything from my parents. Thank you," Ji Wushuang said.

"It was nothing," Chen Lei replied.

"Uncle and Auntie are getting older. I live nearby, it was just convenient."

Ji Wushuang stopped walking and looked at him.

"Chen Lei."

"Hmm?"

"Why... why have you been so good to my family?"

The question caught Chen Lei off guard.

He looked towards the massive cooling tower in the distance.

Morning mist wreathed its top.

"We're neighbors."

He thought for a long time before speaking.

"You weren't home. I had to... keep an eye on things for you."

He said it very matter-of-factly.

As if stating a simple, obvious thing.

Ji Wushuang was lost in thought for a moment.

In the army, she served her country.

Out in the world, she guarded a girl's fragile and precious dream.

And he, at home, guarded her small, ordinary family.

"Thank you."

Ji Wushuang said softly.

In the following days, Ji Wushuang experienced a kind of stable life she had never known before.

She accompanied her mother to the food market.

Greeting uncles and aunties whose names she could hardly remember.

Listening to them discuss vegetable prices and their children in the familiar local dialect.

She accompanied her father for walks at the Tangji Workers' Square.

Listening to her father's old workmates brag and complain.

She even went with Chen Lei to the Tangji Research Institute.

It was a very new building.

Standing out starkly against the surrounding old structures.

Inside were many precision instruments and countless computers.

Chen Lei was well-liked there.

Although his position wasn't high.

Young engineers respectfully called him "Engineer Chen" when they saw him.

Ji Wushuang watched him.

She confirmed he was truly no longer that awkward boy from their youth.

In the days that followed,

Ji Wushuang replaced all the household appliances, furniture, and her father's old car.

She even personally funded the installation of an elevator in their building.

All just to make her parents' lives a little more convenient.

That evening,

Chen Lei invited Ji Wushuang for a meal.

At a very small barbecue place near the neighborhood entrance.

The shop was small and old.

The tables and chairs had seen better days, but were surprisingly very clean and tidy.

Business was good.

Full of the noisy, vibrant atmosphere of everyday life.

They ordered many skewers and a few bottles of beer.

"What are your plans for the future?"

Chen Lei poured her a glass of beer and asked.

"Will you leave again?"

Ji Wushuang held the cold beer glass.

She thought of Lu Qianqian.

Thought of that grand plan named "Distant Horizon."

She nodded.

"Yes."

"I'll leave when my leave is over."

Chen Lei fell silent.

He took a sip of his beer.

"I received all your letters," Ji Wushuang suddenly said.

While in the army, they had maintained correspondence.

He wrote to her about the changes in Tangzhou, about his studies and work progress.

Her replies were always brief.

Usually, just to say she was safe.

"Yeah," Chen Lei acknowledged.

"Later, when you went abroad, there was no address."

"I still wrote."

He continued,

"Just... had nowhere to send them."

He had kept all those letters.

A thick stack in a drawer.

"That girl... she's very important to you, isn't she?"

Chen Lei asked suddenly.

Ji Wushuang was taken aback.

"What?"

"The person you're protecting."

Chen Lei looked at her.

"Last time, at your uncle's place, I saw you on the phone."

She hadn't expected Chen Lei to ask this.

"She..."

Ji Wushuang didn't know how to explain.

What was her relationship with Lu Qianqian?

Employer and bodyguard?

Comrades-in-arms?

Friends?

Or perhaps, they were the dream and its guardian?

These grand narratives felt impossible to articulate to others.

Even to her parents, even to this Chen Lei who made her feel like he was always there.

Or perhaps, in that moment, Ji Wushuang didn't think Chen Lei could understand such things.

"She is a very special person."

In the end, that was all Ji Wushuang could say.

"She wants to do something truly great."

"I promised to help her."

Chen Lei listened quietly and didn't press further.

"Be careful."

He raised his glass.

"I'll be waiting for you to come back."

Ji Wushuang looked at him.

At his sincere face under the dim, yellowish light of the barbecue shop.

She also raised her glass and gently clinked it against his.

"Okay."

The days of leave passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it was time to leave.

On this day, Ji Wushuang's satellite phone rang.

It was Lu Qianqian.

"Wushuang-jie!"

Lu Qianqian's voice on the other end was brimming with excitement.

"The first round of funding for 'Distant Horizon' is secured!"

"Big Brother invested personally—five hundred million!"

"Our first project is about to launch!"

"In Country T."

"Seawater desalination and mobile clinics."

"When are you coming back? I need you!"

Listening to that vibrant voice on the phone,

Ji Wushuang glanced out the window.

Outside was Tangzhou's quiet night sky, dotted with a few sparse stars.

On one side, a grand battlefield was about to have its curtain raised.

On the other, the tangible stability of home.

Once again, she stood at a crossroads.

But this time, she didn't hesitate.

"I'll be back tomorrow."

She said clearly into the phone.