Like a Dream, Yet Real

Why was I back here again? Shouldn't I have been in the provincial capital? I clearly remembered following a man named Xie Yi there, to Second Provincial Hospital.

There, I had seen Uncle Long and Xu Qiuyan. I had been talking with Xie Yi about the past, so how had I suddenly returned here?

"Where's Xie Yi?" I asked.

Eccentric Song smiled. "He left first. You fainted in Green Garden Residential Area just now, and he was the one who brought you back. He said he had something urgent to take care of and had to leave, but he'll come back. He hoped you'd be awake by then."

I raised a hand and lightly patted my head. It hurt badly, as though someone had struck me hard.

I said to Eccentric Song, "I want to see Duan Hongbin."

Eccentric Song rolled his eyes at me. "What do you want to see that idiot for?"

"I have something to ask him."

Eccentric Song said irritably, "You really have no conscience. When you needed someone most, I was the one who stayed by your side."

I frowned. "Enough nonsense. Go get him."

The moment I finished speaking, I heard Duan Hongbin's voice. "You wanted to see me?"

He was standing behind Eccentric Song. Eccentric Song turned to glance at him but said nothing.

I looked at Duan Hongbin. "What is the Soul Guiding Incantation?"

Duan Hongbin answered flatly, "Something that can control a person's soul. It's also the Jiangxi Lu Family's most closely guarded skill."

Soul Guiding Incantation, Jiangxi Lu Family—I had heard those words when Duan Hongbin and Xie Yi spoke at Second Provincial Hospital. That meant I truly had experienced that part at the hospital. But why did that bastard Eccentric Song say I had fainted in Green Garden Residential Area, and that Xie Yi and he had brought me back?

I stared coldly at Eccentric Song. "Tell me. What exactly is going on?"

Eccentric Song smiled awkwardly and reached up to stroke his chin as though smoothing a beard. But he had no beard at all. I often joked that his skin was too thick for one to grow.

"Don't blame him. He wasn't lying. You really did faint in Green Garden Residential Area, and then you were brought here. Everything you just experienced was only a dream. You know your dreams have always been very real. Everything you went through in them could be said to have truly happened. You know what? The way you are now scares me. In your Dreamscape, I could only act according to the settings you gave me. I'm curious—how do you control these dreams?"

Duan Hongbin's question left me stunned.

So I had never truly gone to the provincial capital, much less Second Provincial Hospital. It had all been a dream, yet it had felt so real.

Why had that happened? At the very least, I was certain I had never had a dream like this before.

My phone rang.

My phone was old, one of those ancient keypad models, not a smartphone. Grandpa had picked it up while collecting scrap and, after tinkering with it until it worked, gave it to me.

And this thing seemed to be of little use to me. The only person who could call me was Grandpa.

That thought startled me. Why did I keep thinking about Grandpa? Hadn't I lived with my parents all these years? We lived in Green Garden Residential Area!

"Enough. Stop lying to yourself," Eccentric Song said with a sigh.

Duan Hongbin nodded as well. "Xiaobai, it's not that I want to criticize you, but people have to face reality. You've deceived yourself for ten years. Do you know how much those ten years hurt Grandpa? Even we can't bear to watch anymore."

Eccentric Song added, "Think about it. In the past ten years, have you had even one friend besides us? No. And as Xie Yi put it, we're only figments of your imagination. In truth, we never existed from the beginning."

Duan Hongbin smacked Eccentric Song across the head. "What nonsense are you spouting? You're the one who doesn't exist. Xiaobai, don't listen to this idiot's bullshit. What does he know? But then again, this is an opportunity. Work with that Xie guy and find your parents. I'm with you!"

"I'm with you too!"

"How could you leave us out of something like this?" Someone suddenly appeared before me, smiling at me. It was Chu Ge.

I was deeply moved. Looking at them, I found myself unable to say anything.

Chu Ge said, "Answer the phone first. It should be Xie Yi calling."

It was an unfamiliar number. I answered, and it was indeed Xie Yi.

"Jiang Xiaobai, are you awake?" There was something strange in Xie Yi's tone.

I told him I was awake. He said, "Can you come to the provincial capital right away? Xu Qiuyan wants to see you. She said you promised her you'd be back soon. I don't know why she said that, but she's emotionally unstable. You'd better come quickly!"

I immediately remembered that, in the dream, before Xie Yi and I went off to talk alone, I had indeed told Xu Qiuyan I would be back soon. But that had only been a dream. Xie Yi seemed unaffected by my dream, so how could she know about it?

I couldn't help thinking of how she had said she had seen Xie Yi and me, but only in dreams. And weren't her dreams very real too?

I got out of bed. "I'm going back to the provincial capital."

I had originally attended college in the provincial capital, so saying I was going back wasn't wrong.

At that moment, Eccentric Song and the others had all vanished.

I walked out of the room and saw Grandpa busy at work. He was bent over as he tidied things up. My nose stung, and I softly called, "Grandpa!"

I saw his body tremble. Then he slowly straightened up, turned around, and looked at me.

There were tears in his eyes. I couldn't remember the last time I had called him that, because he had not existed in the world I constructed for myself. I had forgotten him completely.

"You're awake? You must be hungry. Grandpa will make you something to eat."

I shook my head. "No need. Xie Yi told me to go to the provincial capital right away. Grandpa, it's time for me to go back to school too."

He nodded after hearing that, then fumbled in his pocket for a long time before taking out a red plastic bag. He pulled several red banknotes from it. "Take this money with you. Buy whatever you want to eat."

As he spoke, he stuffed the money into my hand. I wanted to say it wasn't necessary, that I had a scholarship, but the words reached my lips and I swallowed them back. I couldn't hurt him again. I put the money away and said, "Grandpa, take good care of yourself."

Then I left. I didn't look back. I didn't dare to. I owed him far too much.

It was already past six in the evening when I reached the provincial capital. Xie Yi drove to the bus station to pick me up.

"You'd better prepare yourself before seeing her," Xie Yi warned me.

"Something is wrong with her mind. She barely remembers anything from the past ten years. She stares blankly into space all the time and occasionally says crazy things. I find it strange too. Why would she suddenly ask to see you? I've never seen her this lucid before."

I glanced at Xie Yi. "I've never been this lucid before either."

Xie Yi laughed. "Then shouldn't you thank me properly?"

I sighed. "I've seen her. She's become prettier."

Xie Yi's eyes widened. He thought I was confused again.

"Don't look at me like that. Not long ago, I saw her in a dream. I dreamed that you took me to Second Provincial Hospital. On the thirteenth floor, I saw her and Uncle Long. Only the three of them lived on that entire floor, and your people were guarding them. Uncle Long was still the same as before, almost unchanged. I didn't go see Aunt Qin, but I figured she probably hadn't changed much either, so I went to see her. She recognized me at once. Even though we hadn't seen each other for a full ten years, she still recognized me immediately. Oh, and when I arrived, she was singing and dancing."

As I said this, I softly hummed that familiar song, "Little Bug Flies."

I heard Xie Yi sharply suck in a breath. "What else did you dream about?"

After thinking for a moment, I said, "Uncle Long and Aunt Qin lost their souls. To get them back, we need the Jiangxi Lu Family's Soul Guiding Incantation. In the dream, you said you had gone to the Lu Family before, but their Soul Guiding Incantation had happened to disappear. Lu Laoda was nearly beaten half to death by the old man of his family over it."

"Jiang Xiaobai, do you know what kind of feeling you're giving me right now?" Xie Yi asked.

I shook my head. He said, "Fear."

I said, "There's something even more frightening, but I didn't say it—Xu Qiuyan did. In the dream, you asked whether she knew you. She said she didn't, but that she had seen you on Qixia Mountain in Jinling. You looked much younger than you do now. You wore a Daoist robe and told fortunes for the worshippers. Even dream-you was frightened. You said that twenty years ago, you really had done that, and it had been on Qixia Mountain."

Then I heard the piercing screech of brakes. It seemed Xie Yi really had been frightened by my words.