Chapter 121

Qin Cheng felt as if he had dreamt a long, long dream. However, Qin Cheng was unable to see what dream it was, or who was in it. He could only feel a pain so extreme that it prevented him from finding his way. No matter how much he ran, or how loudly he yelled out loud, over and over again, without stopping, to try to find an answer…. In his heart, Qin Cheng sadly understood that there would be no one to answer him from now on…..

Qin Cheng wasn’t the type of person who would cry easily, but for some reason, when he realized that ‘no one’ would answer him, tears began to fall from his eyes without warning, sliding down his cheeks like a waterfall. In that instant, a feeling of despair hit Qin Cheng’s reason. It was like some kind of final mourning over an unexpected death, an intense emotional response that hit him with a tyrannical force.

Qin Cheng began to feel that his hands and feet were going numb, that his blood was beginning to solidify, that his heart was suffocating. Only a few last tears rolled down his cheeks, touching the corners of his lips and falling on his chest, until they ended up forgotten on the ground…..

Due to the intense sadness, Qin Cheng woke up from the dream with a start. As soon as he opened his eyes, Qin Cheng saw the incandescent light of a lamp dimly illuminating a dark room.

‘ It must be night…. ’

There was a curtain around his bed, separating him from the other patients, and an IV drip was attached to his hand…. No matter how he looked at it, this wasn’t his gloomy and sad dream….

However, the pain he felt in the dream was too intense. Maybe it was because he still felt sleepy, but when Qin Cheng opened his eyes momentarily, he couldn’t remember where he was. It was hard for him to tell the difference between dream and reality. Either way, whether in the dream or in reality, the tears wouldn’t stop falling from his eyes.

‘ What is it? What is it that makes me feel so miserable, desperate and extremely angry? To the point where even in my dream, I felt that living was some kind of punishment….? ’

“Are you finally awake?!”

The voice of a slightly surprised woman was heard from his right side. Qin Cheng slowly turned his head and tried to look around. However, since he wasn’t wearing his glasses, Qin Cheng couldn’t see clearly as everything was blurred in front of his eyes. In front of him, there wasn’t only one blurred figure, but four.

“Hey! Be careful!” This time, the person who spoke wasn’t the woman from the beginning, but rather it was someone Qin Cheng recognized. After all, they had been living in the same houses in Ninghua Village for the past few years. Although Qin Cheng doesn’t like to chat with people, and he had a few friends, he never intended to be a loner. No matter how ‘indifferent’ Qin Cheng may seem, it was impossible not to recognize Zhang Jun’s voice.

“You’re looking for your glasses, right? I really have no idea where they could be. When I went shopping with Yalan the day before yesterday, I bought you a cheap pair of glasses.  Otherwise, when you woke up you wouldn’t be able to see anything and you wouldn’t be able to recognize me with those eyes of yours.” As Zhang Jun spoke, he took out a glasses case from the bedside table and handed it to Qin Cheng. “I remember that because of your myopia, both of your eyes need lenses over 500 degrees, right? I could only get 500 degrees, so try them even if you can’t see that clearly with them. At least, it’s better than not being able to see at all.”

Looking at the glasses case that Zhang Jun handed over, Qin Cheng felt a bit stunned. Qin Cheng slowly placed his hands on the bed in an attempt to sit up, but in the process of doing so, he never showed any intention of reaching out to take the glasses case Zhang Jun had presented to him.

When Zhang Jun noticed that Qin Cheng did not seem to have any intention of taking the glasses case, and was also looking at him suspiciously, Zhang Jun could not help, but say: “Hey hey, even though I don’t really know what kind of glasses frame you like, still take it. I know it’s a cheap pair, but can you really afford to turn it down when you don’t have any other pair of glasses to wear?”

‘ Zhang Jun is doing this for my own good. ’ Although Qin Cheng was still a bit confused, and didn’t understand much of what was going on, he knew that Zhang Jun had good intentions. ‘ Perhaps he’s concerned about what happened to me, since I’m injured and have just woken up from an apparent coma. He just wants to help…. Besides, I don’t have glasses to wear, and that’s an inconvenience on its own. ’

With this in mind, Qin Cheng lowered his gaze, reached out to take the glasses case from Zhang Jun’s hand, and nodded his head while showing his appreciation: “Thank you.”

When Zhang Jun saw Qin Cheng looking at him like that, Zhang Jun felt there was something strange about Qin Cheng, but he couldn’t really understand what was strange. Zhang Jun opened his mouth to say something, but regretted it and said nothing. After a long while, Zhang Jun finally spat out: “….No need to fucking thank me…..”

Qin Cheng didn’t care what Zhang Jun was thinking, and simply put on his glasses. Although the glasses weren’t enough for Qin Cheng to see clearly, these 500 degrees allowed him to make out who the people standing in front of him were.

Apart from Zhang Jun, there were two girls in the room and another man. Qin Cheng thought for a moment before remembering that one of the girls was Zhang Jun’s girlfriend, who, if he remembered correctly, was named He Yalan. She should have been the girl who spoke first a moment ago. As for the other girl, Qin Cheng tried to remember who she might be, but no matter what, she was unknown to him. As for the other man in the room…..

‘ Wu Hai? Why is he here? He obviously…. ’

“How are you feeling?”

However, without giving Qin Cheng time to think carefully, Wu Hai asked, while motioning for the girls to take a seat. Since there were only two chairs in the room, only the girls sat down, while Zhang Jun and Wu Hai sat on the side of the hospital bed that Qin Cheng was lying down on.

This actually made Qin Cheng frown slightly.

“What is it? Are you still feeling unwell? Look how you’re furrowing your eyebrows.” Zhang Jun took an apple out of his pocket, cleaned it with a wipe, and chomped on it. “If you keep doing that, I’m afraid you’ll have wrinkles on your forehead before you turn 30.”

As soon as Zhang Jun finished speaking, He Yan intervened by kicking his leg: “But look how careless you are! The pesticides will kill you before you even get wrinkles!”

“Hey, it’s alright. I just took one bite….”

Wu Hai watched helplessly as the couple fought each other, and shook his head. Then, he asked Qin Cheng: “Are you really not feeling well? If you feel sick, I’ll call the Doctor over to check on you.”

Wu Hai’s words surprised Qin Cheng a little, who sneered: “You rarely say these things to me.”

Thinking that Qin Cheng was joking with him, Wu Hai laughed: “What’s wrong with me caring about your health? After all, that sort of thing happened to you….”

When Wu Hai said this, Qin Cheng frowned even more tightly. After a moment of silence, Qin Cheng breathed a sigh of relief: “I thought I was going to die…..”

It’s just that, Qin Cheng’s words made Wu Hai look at Qin Cheng strangely: ‘ How can I say it….? Qin Cheng’s words gave me the feeling that he said it with some relief, as if he was celebrating being alive…. ’

‘ Although it’s normal to feel relief of being alive, he….. ’

Wu Hai observed Qin Cheng for a long while before he could tentatively say: “Yes,….is good not to be dead.”

“Certainly,” Qin Cheng smiled. “This is the first time I have ever faced death, and it made me realize just how scary death really is….. Fortunately, nothing happened to me.”

“……”

Qin Cheng hadn’t taken notice of the complex expression on Wu Hai’s face, as he found himself thinking about what had happened to him the ‘night before’. Therefore, Qin Cheng hurried to ask: “By the way, how is Lin Hongxing doing? He made me go with him to look for Jiang Bo last night, but we ended up finding Jiang Bo’s corpse!”

“Lin Hongxing? Jiang Bo? Last night?!!!” Hearing these two names all of a sudden, Zhang Jun looked at Qin Cheng in astonishment. “Qin Cheng, what are you talking about?! Lin Hongxing has been dead for a long time now! All of that happened in May, and we’re already at the end of December, just a few days after-….”

Zhang Jun was ready to continue, but Wu Hai was quick to pat Zhang Jun on the shoulder, signaling Zhang Jun to step out of the room for a moment with him. Naturally, Zhang Jun realized at that point that something was wrong with Qin Cheng. When Zhang Jun turned to look at Qin Cheng, who looked astonished after hearing his words, Zhang Jin nodded and left the room with Wu Hai.

Qin Cheng, on the other hand, didn’t even realize that Zhang Jun and Wu Hai had left the room. After all, he had been a bit startled by Zhang Jun’s words: ‘ The end of December? How can it be the end of December when I just woke up? The only thing I remember is that last night I went with Lin Hongxing to look for Jiang Bo, and when I saw Jiang Bo’s violent death….. I saw Lin Hongxing acting strange, as if he seemed to have been possessed by a ghost. Besides, I also….. ’

Qin Cheng also remembered that he was being strangled by some kind of invisible force that had the intention of killing him…… That suffocating feeling still remained fresh in his memory.

Qin Cheng froze….realizing that everything was wrong. He was so confused when he first woke up that he didn’t pay much attention to his surroundings, but now he realized the details. Even though it was supposed to be May, late Spring to early Summer, Zhang Jun and the rest were wearing thick clothes typical of Winter…..

With that thought in mind, Qin Cheng leaned over to the side to look at the scenery outside the window, then he wanted to turn on the TV to look at the current date. However, by making such a sudden move, he ended up accidentally pulling the IV stuck in the back of his hand, hurting himself and drawing a little blood.

“Ah! Qin Cheng, your hand!” Although the girl Qin Cheng still didn’t recognize had cried out alarmed, this didn’t make Qin Cheng change his mind. Unconcerned about his bleeding  hand, Qin Cheng only cared about confirming the current date, to see if Zhang Jun had just pulled a prank on him.

But when Qin Cheng turned on the hospital TV, and watched the news broadcast, Qin Cheng’s heart seemed to be squeezed by ice. Even if the girl, who jumped out to assist him in stopping the bleeding on the back of his hand, said something to him, Qin Cheng couldn’t seem to hear her.

‘ The year is correct, but the date and the month…. It would be almost eight months of missing memories…. ’

‘ December 28th, 2014…. ’

‘ Have….. have I been in a coma for so long…..? ’

After waiting two hours for Zhang Jun and Wu Hai to come back, Qin Cheng remained sitting on the edge of the bed, feeling stupefied. At first, He Yalan thought that Zhang Jun and Wu Hai had gone to find a Doctor, but when they both came back into the patient’s room, no Doctor was following them.

It was uncertain what Qin Cheng was thinking about, so He Yalan didn’t dare to disturb him. She could only ask Xia Tong to stay and accompany him. He Yalan then quietly pulled aside the curtain, and went out.

“What took you so long?! Where’s the Doctor?” He Yalan was obviously extremely worried. Although her intention was to speak quietly, she was so distressed that she couldn’t help, but speak louder: “Why haven’t you called a Doctor? Qin Cheng is obviously….”

Zhang Jun hurriedly covered He Yalan’s mouth. At the same time, he motioned her to be silent: “Shh!!! Don’t say it!” Zhang Jun looked towards the room Qin Cheng was in, somehow still being able to see Qin Cheng’s expressionless face in the distance: “We weren’t in the hospital just now. You didn’t say anything to Qin Cheng, did you?”

He Yalan shook her head: “I didn’t dare to tell him anything. The way Qin Cheng is feeling right now, I was afraid of giving him any more information…..”

“It’s good that you didn’t tell him anything.” At that moment, Wu Hai recalled the phone call he and Zhang Jun made to Qu Zhiwen a while ago. Qu Zhiwen obviously knew that Qin Cheng would wake up in this state, without any memories from the past few months. But Qu Zhiwen didn’t tell them the reason why this would happen.

Qu Zhiwen merely told them: “It’s better for him to believe that he has been in a coma for the past few months.”

Zhang Jun was also thinking about Qu Zhiwen’s words, and when he saw that Wu Hai was as thoughtful as he was, Zhang Jun said: “No wonder I thought there was something wrong with Qin Cheng. It’s only now that I’ve discovered what was wrong with him.”

Speaking of this, Zhang Jun took a deep breath and continued: “He was behaving oddly polite towards me. In fact, if it weren’t for these past few months where Qin Cheng and I treated each other like buddies, in the past we have always been nothing else than ordinary friends.”

“Yes,” Wu Hai recalled Qin Cheng’s attitude towards himself a moment ago and said: “In the past he was never friendly to me.”

“That’s right! You and Qin Cheng never got along in the past.”

“Hahaha, it’s just that that personality of his….really doesn’t match me.”

After Wu Hai said this, they both stopped talking. At that moment, the Inpatient ward, which was already quiet at night, became even quieter. He Yalan also didn’t know what to say, so she simply returned to Qin Cheng’s room.

Then, Zhang Jun took out a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and offered one to Wu Hai.

After lighting the cigarette and taking two strong puffs, Zhang Jun asked: “You really think this is a good thing?”

“I don’t know…..” Wu Hai leaned against the cold wall of the hospital and thought for a moment. He thought about Qu Zhiwen’s words, about the strange things they had been experiencing these past few months, and about Qin Cheng’s obsession with that tomb. But most of all…..he thought of the ghost that Qin Cheng was in love with…..

Although Wu Hai knew nothing about the secrets of the tomb, he could more or less understand what was going on from having gone to Pingyao’s tomb. ‘ With the collapse of the tomb in Ninghua Village, the ghost inside should have disappeared as well….. ’

Wu Hai didn’t know what Qin Cheng would choose if he still had his memories with him, but in any case, the Qin Cheng at present doesn’t remember anything. Those memories, the mere fact of living to recall those feelings ever existed…. At the end of the day, Wu Hai doesn’t know how important those memories were to Qin Cheng, so Wu Hai can’t really make a decision for him.

“Actually, I was thinking that, um, that I don’t know much about what’s been happening to Qin Cheng these past few months.” Zhang Jun puffed out a smoke ring and continued: “But I do know Qin Cheng, and if you tell him about these things, he will worry about them to the point of becoming obsessed. I think it’s better to follow Qu Zhiwen’s advice and treat him like he has been in a-…..”

“Hey, those two in the front! You aren’t allowed to smoke in the hospital! Don’t you two have any common sense?!”

Before Zhang Jun could finish speaking, a nurse shouted at them in the hallway. Zhang Jun hurried to put out the cigarette butt and apologized with a smile: “Pardon me, I am so sorry. I really didn’t think about it, we both didn’t realize.”

“Tsk, for real. Your family members aren’t the only ones hospitalized here. There are many patients with respiratory diseases who aren’t allowed to be around cigarette smoke!”

“I’m really sorry.”

After the nurse finished scolding them and left, Zhang Jun wanted to continue what he was saying. He wanted to say that this was a good thing for Qin Cheng. But in the end, Zhang Jun was no longer capable of saying those words…… No one, besides Qin Cheng, knew what was good for him. Even if these past months have been dangerous, at least as an archaeologist, Qin Cheng must have found out a lot about this unknown Dynasty….

“Forget it, just forget it….” Zhang Jun sighed. “Let’s go in and see what Qin Cheng has to say….”

“What if….he asks?”

“Picking up on what’s more important?”

“……”

Nevertheless, when the two went back to the room where Qin Cheng was, they found that Qin Cheng was no longer as stiff as he was a few moments ago.

When Qin Cheng noticed that Zhang Jun and Wu Hai had returned, Qin Cheng hesitantly asked them: “Have I been in a coma…..ever since I got injured that night?”

Zhang Jun and Wu Hai looked at each other, thinking at the same time: ‘ So Qin Cheng still believes he has been in a coma all this time? ’

“Yes….” It took Wu Hai a long time to hesitantly reply. “You just woke up.”

“Then what happened to Jiang Bo and Lin Hongxing? What the hell is going on?”

To tell the truth, the Qin Cheng without memories doesn’t believe in ghosts or other fantastical things….. But when he considered that probability, Qin Cheng suddenly felt rapid heart palpitations that made him tremble from head to toe, causing him to stagger as he stood up.

Xia Tong, who was closest to Qin Cheng, rushed forward to him and took Qin Cheng’s hand: “Are you alright?!”

Qin Cheng looked at the young woman with a worried and flushed complexion and shook his head: “I’m fine, thank you. Continue.”

“The deaths of Jiang Bo and Lin Hongxing….. are related to Li Guoxian. The murder case that the Police investigated more than 10 years ago at Ninghua Villa also seems to be related to him.”

“What?!”

Ko-fi goal for extra chapters~~(´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

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How is this leading to a happy ending you may ask? Well…. you’ll have to wait to find out (ノ*°▽°*)🤣