Chapter Summaries

After learning that his stage IV cancer gave him only months to live, Zhang Youzhi planned to spend his remaining time protecting his family and girlfriend from the truth. Outside the hospital, a funeral-company salesman offered him a discreet funeral package, but Zhang Youzhi walked away when he heard the price.

• Zhang Youzhi read his diagnosis and decided to conceal it from his parents and girlfriend while dividing his savings among them and budgeting the rest for his final months.
• Zhang Youzhi left the hospital carrying morphine after confirming that the doctor could do nothing more for him.
• A man in a black trench coat approached Zhang Youzhi and identified himself as a funeral-services salesman.
• The salesman offered to stage Zhang Youzhi's continued life and later death so his loved ones would be spared the immediate shock of his illness.
• Zhang Youzhi asked the package price, rejected the 99,800-yuan offer as too expensive, and walked away.

Dying of terminal cancer, Zhang Youzhi negotiated a funeral service and considered how to help his girlfriend recover after his death. Unable to afford the career plan that could help her escape her hometown, he chose the romance plan and learned he could monitor the service in real time.

• Zhang Youzhi cut costly funeral options from the package until its price fell to 39,800 yuan.
• Number Two explained three ways the company could support Zhang Youzhi's girlfriend after his death: romance, friendship, or a career opportunity.
• Zhang Youzhi rejected the friendship plan's risks and wanted the career plan, but he could not afford its 200,000-yuan deposit.
• Zhang Youzhi chose the romance plan, and Number Two told him the company would let him monitor its services in real time.

Zhang Youzhi finalized a pared-down funeral plan and resigned from his job, pretending he was returning home to marry his girlfriend and teach. He left his cactus behind and departed without saying goodbye to Jiajia, who only realized he was gone afterward.

• Zhang Youzhi rejected most funeral services but kept online footprint removal, choosing cremation and scattering his ashes in a nearby stream; he signed the contract and the Supervision Regulations without reading them.
• Number Two finalized Zhang Youzhi's package at 12,888 yuan and gave him a business card before Zhang Youzhi left KFC.
• As the medication began wearing off, Zhang Youzhi packed his belongings and gave his seat and cactus to a new employee.
• Zhang Youzhi told his coworkers he was going home to marry his girlfriend and become a teacher, handed out wedding candy, and left the company amid their congratulations.
• A coworker asked why Jiajia had not seen Zhang Youzhi off, and Jiajia said she had been running a map and would message him.

Zhang Youzhi returned home while hiding his terminal liver cancer and planned to disappear gradually after his death. As his condition worsened, he prepared to take his girlfriend Li Douyu away and met a leather-jacketed young man outside her school.

• Zhang Youzhi told his childhood friend Zhou Mo about his terminal cancer and asked him to supervise the funeral services company’s arrangements after his death.
• Zhang Youzhi planned to fool his parents with processed videos, then gradually cut off contact so his eventual death would shock them less.
• A week later, Zhang Youzhi packed morphine and clothes, and his mother prepared pancakes for his trip with Li Douyu.
• Zhang Youzhi waited outside Lanquan Elementary School for the children to leave and struck up a conversation with a leather-jacketed young man who was watching the students.

Zhang Youzhi and Li Douyu traveled from Yimeng to Longnan, where his worsening illness and secret plans to leave her behind contrasted with their playful reunion. They spent the night in a cheap hotel, and Zhang Youzhi watched Li Douyu sleep while hiding that he was still awake.

• Zhang Youzhi teased a young man about approaching Li Douyu, then took her from the school crowd and kissed her cheek.
• Zhang Youzhi and Li Douyu traveled by train toward Longnan, and he secretly injected morphine when severe pain woke him.
• Li Douyu woke Zhang Youzhi at Longnan Station and joyfully led him down the mountain to bargain for a taxi.
• Zhang Youzhi privately planned to leave Li Douyu with her father after using his remaining painkillers and morphine.
• Li Douyu chose a shabby hotel for the night, and she and Zhang Youzhi kissed before agreeing to wait until marriage for sex.
• Li Douyu fell asleep in Zhang Youzhi's arms, while he stayed awake watching her and thinking of her as a little fish.

Zhang Youzhi and Li Douyu traveled to her family home in Maziping Village, where Zhang Youzhi struggled with the journey and concealed his worsening condition from her grandmother. He believed he would not survive the month and planned to leave after using his last painkillers, leaving Li Douyu with her family.

• Zhang Youzhi and Li Douyu rode a bus and then a van through the mountain roads to Kuba Town and Maziping Village, with Li Douyu suffering from motion sickness.
• Zhang Youzhi carried their bags to Li Douyu's home and helped her recover before she went up the mountain to call her father.
• Zhang Youzhi explored the house and met Li Douyu's grandmother, who noticed his swelling and questioned him about his health.
• Zhang Youzhi pretended to be healthy by jumping and throwing punches, and Li Douyu's grandmother told him to eat properly and tell the family if anything was wrong.
• Zhang Youzhi collapsed from exhaustion and decided he would use his remaining painkillers, leave Li Douyu with her father, and go farther away.

Zhang Youzhi hid his terminal illness from Li Douyu while spending a final visit with her in her mountain village. He asked her father to care for her after he left, then returned to bed beside her as dawn came.

• At dinner, Zhang Youzhi used a pill to suppress his nausea and ate the lamb Li Douyu's family had prepared.
• Li Douyu and Zhang Youzhi tried to offer dog food to Black Lump, who sniffed it and refused.
• After Li Douyu fell asleep, Zhang Youzhi told her father his illness was incurable and asked him to keep the truth from her while he stayed three more days.
• Zhang Youzhi and Li Douyu's father discussed her future, and Zhang Youzhi called him Dad as they spoke about his coming death.
• At dawn, Li Douyu's father covered the blood and cigarette butts from the courtyard and went up the mountain to pick Sichuan peppercorns while the couple slept.

Zhang Youzhi told Li Douyu he had to visit a dying high school classmate alone, and she reluctantly agreed to see him off. At Longnan Station, he said goodbye with an intense kiss, called her father “Dad,” and shouted that he loved her before disappearing into the crowd.

• Li Douyu and Zhang Youzhi played in the stream until Zhang Youzhi told her he planned to visit a terminally ill high school classmate alone.
• Li Douyu accepted that Zhang Youzhi had to leave and packed his backpack, then traveled with him and her father to Longnan Station.
• Li Douyu reminded Zhang Youzhi to look after himself and asked him to return soon while her father watched from the elevated platform.
• Zhang Youzhi kissed Li Douyu fiercely, then teased her about her father watching and called him “Dad.”
• Zhang Youzhi shouted that he loved Li Douyu and walked into the station, leaving her embarrassed in her father's arms.

Zhang Youzhi arranged for romance experts to approach Li Douyu after his death, but she rejected both men when they tried to meet her. He accepted Si Weizhe’s explanation that Li Douyu was still focused on him and asked how to make news of his death hurt her less.

• Zhang Youzhi learned he had about thirteen days left and confirmed the company’s specialists would retrieve and cremate him wherever he died.
• Zhang Youzhi rejected Kailin as a match for Li Douyu, and Kailin’s parachute landing near her car led her to call the police.
• Zhang Youzhi sent Si Weizhe’s profile to Li Douyu, who called the lawyer a moron, so Zhang asked the company to withdraw him too.
• Number Two told Zhang Youzhi that Si Weizhe believed Li Douyu was romantically invincible while Zhang was alive and would wait until after his death.
• Zhang Youzhi told Si Weizhe to stay on standby and asked Number Two how to make his death less painful for Li Douyu.

Zhang Youzhi agreed to a plan to use hypnotherapy to keep Li Douyu from remembering his death, then traveled to a distant city to spend his final days. He left the story collapsed in a pool of blood on a crowded bus after suddenly coughing up blood.

• Number Two proposed implanting false memories and subconscious suggestions in Li Douyu, and Zhang Youzhi authorized the hypnotherapy plan.
• Zhang Youzhi bought Li Douyu a new phone so he could hide her old one and remove reminders of their life together.
• Zhang Youzhi traveled from Longnan to an unfamiliar city, planning to survive for ten days before seeking a secluded place to die.
• On a crowded bus, Zhang Youzhi stood to give his seat to an old man and began vomiting blood, terrifying the passengers.
• The driver stopped the bus, and Zhang Youzhi fell to the floor in the pool of blood.

After collapsing on a bus, Zhang Youzhi refused hospital treatment and fled the doctors with help from a student. He settled beneath the Old Crane River Bridge for his remaining days and wrote a poem on the hollow’s wall.

• Zhang Youzhi swallowed a pill, thanked the passengers who had helped him, and left the bus with Hao Shanzhi supporting him.
• Zhang Youzhi told Hao Shanzhi he had terminal cancer and only ten-odd days left, then refused to enter the hospital.
• Zhang Youzhi ran from Hao Shanzhi and three pursuing doctors, escaping them after a chase.
• Zhang Youzhi made a shelter beneath the Old Crane River Bridge and arranged his supplies inside it.
• Zhang Youzhi used a broken piece of red brick to write a lyric poem on the hollow’s wall.

Zhang Youzhi climbed out from beneath the bridge to stop He Min from jumping into the river, then learned she was distraught because her boyfriend had slept with her best friend. He left her alive but scolded her for considering suicide.

• Zhang Youzhi destroyed his ID card and heard a woman crying above his shelter beneath the bridge.
• He Min threw her belongings toward the river and struggled to climb over the railing as Zhang Youzhi climbed up to stop her.
• Zhang Youzhi startled He Min with his bloody appearance, then convinced her he had been fishing beneath the bridge.
• Zhang Youzhi gave He Min food and drink, returned her ID card, and asked why she wanted to jump.
• He Min told Zhang Youzhi that her boyfriend had slept with her best friend, and he berated her for wanting to die over them.

Zhang Youzhi stopped He Min from attempting suicide by drinking with her, frightening her with fabricated stories about drowning, and celebrating her birthday. He walked her toward her home, learning that she was a wealthy, highly educated only child who planned to quit her job and return to her mother.

• Zhang Youzhi gave He Min a cigarette and shared liquor with her, then injected himself with morphine while explaining that it was a painkiller.
• Zhang Youzhi scared He Min with exaggerated claims about drowning until she promised not to kill herself, then gave her an egg-yolk cake for her birthday.
• He Min told Zhang Youzhi that she lived in Lotus Hill Community, and he offered to walk her home because neither of them had a phone.
• Zhang Youzhi and He Min walked through Crane City, where she explained that she planned to quit her job and go home to her mother after her boyfriend betrayed her.
• Zhang Youzhi learned that He Min earned over twenty thousand yuan a month, had a master's degree from Nanjing University, and owned two apartments and a car; he urged her not to quit or depend on a man.

Zhang Youzhi arranged for Number Two’s company to find He Min a boyfriend, hoping to keep her from attempting suicide again. After He Min drove him back to his spot under the bridge, he agreed to see her the next morning, while Number Two’s company prepared to contact her.

• Zhang Youzhi refused He Min’s offers to take him home, telling her that what mattered most to him was under the bridge.
• He Min drove back to find Zhang Youzhi, gave him a quilt, and promised to pick him up the next morning.
• Zhang Youzhi called Number Two and asked the company to arrange its romance expert service for He Min.
• Number Two agreed to take the job and assured Zhang Youzhi that the company would verify He Min’s information and contact her.
• Zhang Youzhi asked the company to use a gentle tone when calling his girlfriend, then hung up as He Min’s headlights approached.

With ten days left to live, Zhang Youzhi hid in an abandoned recycling yard with the injured Gray Kitten and prepared a place for his body. An older tramp returned to the yard and, unaware the kitten was nearby, wondered where it had gone.

• Zhang Youzhi left He Min, carved a message into the bridge, threw her house key into the river, and set off with his belongings.
• After his health worsened, Zhang Youzhi sheltered in an abandoned recycling yard, found an injured kitten, and named it Gray Kitten.
• Zhang Youzhi cared for Gray Kitten, repaired his tent, and made a concrete pipe into a makeshift coffin with a marker for his body.
• Zhang Youzhi wrote instructions for the funeral company about Gray Kitten while he and the kitten sheltered from the rain.
• A tramp entered the recycling yard, settled into a hidden sleeping spot, and later wondered where his missing limping kitten had gone.

With only eight days left to live, Zhang Youzhi woke sick and weak after the rain and found a homeless man's shelter, where he ate instant noodles before being told to leave. The homeless man realized Zhang Youzhi had cared for his kitten and regretted sending him away, but Zhang Youzhi had already disappeared.

• Zhang Youzhi woke with a fever, fed himself and the gray kitten, and found the recycling yard flooded after the rain.
• Zhang Youzhi discovered a well-kept shelter belonging to a homeless man, including a bed, supplies, an electric kettle, and instant noodles.
• Zhang Youzhi left two hundred yuan and cooked noodles, but the returning homeless man accused him of trying to steal his place and ordered him to leave.
• Zhang Youzhi gathered his belongings and left, refusing the homeless man's softened offer to stay another day.
• The homeless man found his bandaged kitten in the tent, realized Zhang Youzhi had treated its wound, and went after him, but Zhang Youzhi was gone.

After finding Zhang Youzhi’s suicide note about Gray Kitten, a homeless man set out to find him. With six days left to live, Zhang Youzhi endured the rain and cold until a little girl named Duoduo repeatedly shared steamed buns with him.

• The homeless man read Zhang Youzhi’s suicide note, blamed himself, and rode off with Gray Kitten to find Zhang Youzhi.
• Zhang Youzhi wandered through the rain, shivering and swollen, and reminded himself not to involve anyone else in his death.
• A little girl offered Zhang Youzhi several hot buns, and he gratefully ate them.
• Zhang Youzhi followed Duoduo to her mother’s steamed bun shop and saw her take another bun with her mother’s permission.
• Duoduo offered Zhang Youzhi two more buns, and he accepted one and ate it.

Zhang Youzhi helped himself to food after Duoduo gave him buns and water, then spent the night at an outdoor furniture market. After getting caught up in a staged robbery and taken to the police station, he was left facing detention until after his life countdown ran out.

• Duoduo gave Zhang Youzhi twelve buns and stole him a jug of water, and he paid her mother before leaving.
• Zhang Youzhi called Number Two, who explained that the painkillers were keeping his body functional while warning that he would suffer more before dying.
• Two rival company employees chased each other through the furniture market, and the short, fat man grabbed Zhang Youzhi as a hostage.
• The skinny man threatened to call the police, and Zhang Youzhi was arrested alongside both men.
• Zhang Youzhi told Yang Donglin he was terminally ill, but he could not prove his identity and was kept at the station.
• An officer told Zhang Youzhi he could contact his family after seven days, though his life countdown showed only four days remained.

He Min searched for Zhang Youzhi while dealing with her ex-boyfriend, her former friend, and a corrupt company vice chairman. With only two days left to live, Zhang Youzhi escaped detention with Zhang Shuke’s help, but ran straight into Yang Donglin.

• He Min found Zhang Youzhi’s message beneath the bridge, punished her cheating ex-boyfriend, and fought back against the vice chairman who harassed her.
• He Min gathered evidence of the vice chairman’s crimes, but a traitor stole her briefcase, and she prepared to resign while continuing to search for Zhang Youzhi.
• Yang Donglin questioned Zhang Youzhi about the Crane River Group, while Zhang Youzhi realized the funeral company had left him to die in detention.
• Zhang Youzhi befriended petty thief Zhang Shuke and asked him to help break out when he had only forty-eight hours left to live.
• Zhang Shuke picked the cell lock and helped Zhang Youzhi escape, but Zhang Youzhi collided with Yang Donglin as he ran.

After his release from the police station, Zhang Youzhi learned that Zhang Shuke’s burglary had helped complete evidence against a corrupt official. With only a day left to live, Zhang Youzhi tried to enjoy himself, but a gang cornered him in an alley.

• Yang Donglin released Zhang Youzhi after the White Jade Capital Group’s regional manager bailed him out, and explained that Zhang Shuke’s theft had helped expose a corruption case.
• Yang Donglin warned Zhang Shuke that he could face ten years in prison, then privately told Zhang Youzhi he had only been trying to scare the young thief.
• Hao Shanzhi found Wu Fuzhang’s note saying he had gone to repay a debt to a terminally ill man who had saved his cat, and began training with a sack of pebbles.
• With his life countdown at 24 hours, Zhang Youzhi ate a lavish meal, accepted that he would likely die the next night, and went out to enjoy the evening.
• A gang of more than a dozen armed men trapped Zhang Youzhi in a dead-end alley, and he challenged them to kill him.