In the original plot, the woman who exposed Guo Yu for cheating on Shangguan Chong wasn’t supposed to appear until the wedding banquet three months later. If the goal was to completely crush Guo Yu’s arrogance, the wedding would have undoubtedly been a more fatal occasion.
However, Guo Yu also suffered a miscarriage because of that turmoil, and the blame was instantly shifted to Shen Wei.
Looking at it this way, exposing the affair at the family recognition banquet achieved the goal while being relatively safer.
But Shen Wei couldn’t have thought of this. The future she foresaw hadn’t pointed out this fact; it could only be described as a stroke of dumb luck.
Did that mean the day she and Shangguan Xianxian would part ways might be a little further off?
Who knew.
Ye Yuhuan propped her chin on her right hand, flipping through her textbook in time with the teacher’s lecture. After being called up to solve a problem on the board as usual, she walked back to her seat and glanced at Song Zhiqing’s face, which was bored to tears by the torment of knowledge. Ever since that morning, when she had inexplicably resolved that she couldn’t let Song Zhiqing remain infatuated with Shangguan Xianxian, and coupled with Shen Wei’s covert scheme against her at the Shangguan family banquet, Ye Yuhuan decided to temporarily cross off the part of her plan where she would remind Shen Wei to watch out for the Guo mother-daughter duo’s counterattack.
Her principles only included not achieving her goals at the cost of harming others; they did not include having to act like a diligent Cupid, protecting the heroines’ love from hardship.
Besides, Ye Yuhuan’s lips curved into a smile, isn’t a love worthy of being a story built upon a foundation of tribulations?
Three days later, an unfamiliar number called Ye Yuhuan’s phone. It was the weekend, and Ye Yuhuan was curled up in a beanbag chair reading a book. She glanced at the caller ID, finished the page she was on, then put the book down and answered the call.
“I thought you’d be a little more patient,” Ye Yuhuan said. She had a good idea of who was on the other end.
Sure enough, Shen Wei’s voice came through the receiver. Reconstructed by electronic components, it lacked some of the softness she had in person, but it was undoubtedly closer to her true personality. “I thought you would at least call first.”
“I’ve said it before. You need me, not the other way around. Me contacting you is, at most, like buying insurance. But you talking to me is like hitting the brakes.”
“Are you saying my car crash is coming soon?” Although the words were a warning, Shen Wei’s tone was leisurely. Of course, having achieved a great success at the Shangguan family banquet, she had every right to display such leisure.
Ye Yuhuan tapped the page of the book beside her and said with a smile, “Miss Shen, you really do love to test people.”
Both of them knew full well that this “test” referred to the matter with Xiang Wanyu. The fact that Ye Yuhuan didn’t know Xiang Wanyu’s identity, or even recognize her, had disproven her earlier claim of having been reborn from a reality that followed Shen Wei’s rebirth.
After all, if Ye Yuhuan had truly been involved in Shen Wei’s life to the extent that she knew everything about her, it would be impossible for her not to know that Xiang Wanyu was Chi Yuan’s mother.
“However, I need to explain something about that matter. I didn’t expect Auntie Xiang to say those things, either. I apologize for the offense she caused you.”
“I know you didn’t put her up to it. She was very natural when she said those things to me, with no trace of being instigated. Given Ms. Xiang’s reputation in the entertainment industry back in the day, her acting skills probably aren’t that good.”
“But I wasn’t angry, either. I’ve heard words like that before. There are quite a few people at Qinglin who love to put on high-society airs.”
“Of course, you still have to apologize to me. After all, you did scheme against me.”
Shen Wei chuckled at her words and gently rubbed her temple. She had also heard about Song Zhiqing’s famous comment, and hearing Ye Yuhuan’s words now, she felt it wasn’t so hard to understand why they got along so well. Both of them possessed a talent for being openly and brutally sharp-tongued.
“Alright, enough with the pleasantries. You know why I’m calling you. To be honest, the two of us can finally be completely open with each other now, right?”
Ye Yuhuan didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she asked, “Are you sure you really want to know?”
“I’m sure. You might say something like ‘the truth is more than you can handle,’ but for me, there’s nothing I can’t handle.”
I can even accept being reborn, Shen Wei thought, what else is there that I can’t accept?
“Oh, if that’s the case, then I’ll tell you.”
Ye Yuhuan took a sip of water to wet her throat, then said, “This world is a novel, and you are all characters in the book. The reason I say ‘you’ and not ‘we’ is because I don’t appear in the book, which is also why you have no impression of me. Of course, you don’t need to ask me where I came from; I don’t know myself. Anyway, in the early morning of September 1st, the day you transferred here, I dreamed of the entire book’s contents. I saw your whole life, and perhaps Shangguan Xianxian’s as well. That’s how I know everything about you.”
“How about it, satisfied?”
“This is something you can handle, right?” Ye Yuhuan asked kindly.
Shen Wei, as was her habit, hung up the phone.
Ye Yuhuan placed her phone back on the table and picked up her book again. It was a book about the dimensions of spacetime. Ever since discovering this world was a book, Ye Yuhuan had bought many books on the subject.
Whenever she read, Ye Yuhuan couldn’t help but think that perhaps there was a world inside the book as well.
But it must be a very monotonous world, she figured, since it was a popular science book.
These books were rather difficult to understand, and Ye Yuhuan was very busy. All in all, she hadn’t read many of them, and what she had read hadn’t been of much help in understanding her situation.
However, Ye Yuhuan had accepted it.
She accepted that there might be higher-order lifeforms peering into their world. She accepted that there might really be a God, and that God was an ordinary yuri novel author.
Ye Yuhuan didn’t know if Shen Wei could accept it. After all, her life’s trajectory was a happy one. In the author’s writing, she was destined to have a perfect life. But from now on, when she hugged and kissed Shangguan Xianxian, would Shen Wei wonder, Is this what I want to do?
Or is this the author’s intention?
Or perhaps, is Shangguan Xianxian willing to hug and kiss me?
Or is this also the author’s intention?
Going deeper: Do I exist?
Does Shangguan Xianxian exist?
Are we truly ourselves, or just a small corner of the author’s imagination?
Shen Wei would still have a perfect and happy life, but these self-doubts in the middle of the night would undoubtedly tarnish her happiness.
Ye Yuhuan hadn’t said it before entirely out of goodwill.
Unfortunately, of her good intentions, only Song Zhiqing had received them completely and wholly so far.
In that case, Song Zhiqing should be able to live happily, just as she wished.
Ye Yuhuan didn’t pay much mind to Shen Wei’s psychological state. She continued reading and made a note under a line of text.
The line was: Once inflation begins, it never completely ends; it will continue to spawn an infinite number of bubble universes, each with different vacuum energies and physical properties.
And her note was: If this world is fake, then I hope this bubble never bursts. Then this false life will also have meaning.
Shen Wei took ten days to recover. During those ten days, she didn’t come to school. According to Shangguan Xianxian, she had returned alone to the place where she grew up.
It seemed that, compared to her future happiness, Shen Wei was more resentful of the suffering she had already endured. Although it was only briefly mentioned as background in the story, merely serving to explain the protagonist’s personality, for Shen Wei, it was suffering she had truly, physically endured.
People are probably like that. Once they have a choice, they begin to feel resentful—that kind of resentment that says, “Since I could have had a better life, why was this garbage thrown at me?” Most people’s resentment is directed at their parents or lovers, but Shen Wei had to resent the entire world.
Although Shen Wei had considered the possibility of transmigration when she first discovered Ye Yuhuan’s existence, it was, after all, just a possibility. Once it became the truth, shaking the very foundations of her world, its power was fully revealed.
Just as Ye Yuhuan was starting to wonder if she had gone too far, Shen Wei showed up at her classroom door looking for her. It was early morning, and the late autumn chill was biting. Shen Wei’s thin figure stood by the corridor, puffs of white mist escaping her lips from time to time. She still had that look that made you want to hand her a cup of hot water.
When Ye Yuhuan saw Shen Wei, she sighed, walked over to her, and asked, “Feeling better?”
Shen Wei gave a bitter smile. “Not at all. It’s precisely because I can’t get better that I came to find you.”
Ye Yuhuan turned to face her and said seriously, “It’s no use looking for me. My life hasn’t been written down. I can easily convince myself that I’m free.”
Shen Wei’s expression stiffened. “Can’t you just comfort me a little?”
Ye Yuhuan thought for a moment, her heart softening. She organized her thoughts and said, “Descartes said, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ That should be of some comfort to you. No matter what, if you, as the subject of your experience, can consistently feel and receive logical feedback, then what the world itself is like doesn’t matter. After all, the reason the world appears to us as we perceive it is due to our physiological conditions. The world in a dog’s eyes is different from the world in a human’s. As for what God is, unless you have firm religious beliefs, it probably isn’t a very difficult thing to overcome.”
Shen Wei lowered her head in thought, and a relieved smile soon appeared on her face. Of course, Ye Yuhuan’s words weren’t profound enough to be an epiphany, but they were just enough to comfort her. “You’re right. Even if the world isn’t quite real, it doesn’t make a difference to me. My desires and pursuits are already set. They are my meaningful reality.”
Ye Yuhuan pursed her lips, saying thoughtfully, “Listening to you, it’s obvious you’ve already figured it out. You said you came for comfort, but you were really just looking for a final confirmation, weren’t you?”
Shen Wei spread her hands helplessly. “Confirmation is important too. After all, you’re my senior in this regard.”
“So, do you need me to tell you the future plot? Consider it a perk from your senior,” Ye Yuhuan teased.
Shen Wei frowned in pain. “No, thanks. From now on, don’t you ever say the word ‘plot’ in front of me again.”
“I shouldn’t have asked you.”
Ye Yuhuan shrugged. “I did warn you.”
“But,” Shen Wei raised her eyes to scrutinize Ye Yuhuan, “you did it on purpose, didn’t you? You could have stopped me more forcefully, or even just made up a lie. Were you getting revenge on me for scheming against you last time?”
Ye Yuhuan broke into a smile. “You could just treat this explanation as a lie, you know.”
Shen Wei glanced at her, resting her hands on the corridor railing and slumping slightly. “You think I haven’t tried that?” she said wearily. “But your explanation perfectly explains everything, forcing me to believe it. Actually, I came to you today hoping you’d declare that what you said before was a lie. But from the looks of it, you’re determined to nail me to this cross.”
Ye Yuhuan was taken aback for a moment, then said sincerely, “I honestly didn’t realize that part. After all, I was dead set on getting my revenge on you, and it was a good way to stop you from testing me. Two birds with one stone.”
Shen Wei silently gritted her teeth. “So now you’re just admitting it openly, is that it!”
“Mm, was I not supposed to say it?”
“Oh, don’t forget you’re in this world of yours too. What are you so smug about?”
“But I’m not a character.”
“But the people around you are.”
“But I’m not a character.”
“Ye Yuhuan, be a decent human being.”
“Oh,” Ye Yuhuan replied with a smile, then quietly added, “You’re the one who asked first.”
They stood there on the corridor. Both were tall and campus celebrities. Even though they deliberately kept their voices low, anyone paying close attention could catch snippets of their conversation. These snippets were, of course, not enough to piece together the truth of the matter, but they were enough to weave a rather shocking rumor.
Song Zhiqing, who had just gotten out of her car, gripped her phone tightly as she read the post on the school forum: “Shocking! The school belle and the Shangguan family’s illegitimate daughter were spotted outside a classroom, discussing everything from poetry to the philosophy of life.” What was especially infuriating was the accompanying photo of Shen Wei and Ye Yuhuan having a pleasant chat.
Two beautiful girls conversing in the morning light. They were both wearing unadorned school uniforms. Shen Wei was listening intently to Ye Yuhuan, who had a gentle expression and a smile on her lips. The harmonious atmosphere between them was visible to the naked eye. Not to mention, the very fact that Shen Wei had sought out Ye Yuhuan on her first day back at school after more than ten days seemed to say something in itself.
Song Zhiqing sprinted toward the classroom.
Ha, Shen Wei, long time no see. Looks like you’re asking for a beating again, are you?
I haven’t even settled the score with you for shoving your PDA in my face multiple times, and now you dare to flirt with my Ye Yuhuan?
You damn vixen, today I’m going to show you why the flowers are so red!
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