Even a fleeting dream had to end

The final week flew by, and the show drew to a close.

Everyone gathered to prepare their last lunch.

Wen Yanyu lowered his head and touched the new softness on his belly, sinking into thought. He had actually gained weight.

He lifted his head and ate the sausage Jiang Wanrou offered him.

"Baby!" Jiang Keyan and Duan Mufeng returned from outside, each carrying a box of strawberries. The moment she came in, Jiang Keyan rushed straight over to him. "Baby! Look! Stinky Radish and I brought you strawberries!"

Wen Yanyu took the box of strawberries, then reached out to hug the girl.

Jiang Keyan froze, then hugged the boy back, her eyes brimming with a sweet smile. "Baby, be happy."

Wen Yanyu answered softly, "Mm."

Duan Mufeng: "?"

"What about me?!!" (ノ｀⊿´)ノ

Wen Yanyu smiled, turned, and hugged him too.

Duan Mufeng: "Hehe."

Jiang Keyan: (o｀ε´o) Ptooey!

[Ahhhh, it's ending, sob sob. I still want to watch everyone pamper Bunny Baby some more, sob sob.]

[Sob sob, everyone is so nice. This is the warmest season of a variety show I've ever watched, sob sob. And Wen Yanyu was so tiny and skinny when he first arrived, his face was deathly pale. Now Aunt Jiang has fed him plump, and his cheeks are rosy and have some flesh on them, sob sob.]

[Lol, with someone making sure he takes his medicine and goes to bed early every day, and feeding him something every so often, it'd be hard for his health not to improve.]

[Watching Wen Yanyu curl up there every day while Aunt Jiang rubs his head, or sleep with his head on her lap, feels like watching a bunny and his human caretaker. I'm dying, hahaha.]

[Proof that being nourished with love really does change you.]

[I'm genuinely worried about how Baby lives alone. I watched him run a fever thirteen times and faint six times on this show. Him living alone really... it's hard not to worry.]

[Bunny Baby signed a contract for two seasons, so we'll see him again next winter, but I'm not sure about the others.]

The aroma of food filled the air around the table.

A crowd had gathered in the little courtyard. The children and the village elders had all come.

Wen Yanyu sat down on a chair, chatting and laughing with the people around him.

His body, which showed few outward abnormalities but was steadily weakening within, had already begun its countdown. How many years did he have left? He didn't know.

In the end, would this body give out first, or would he meet the ending from the book a few years later?

He wasn't afraid.

But at this very moment.

Wen Yanyu accepted the orange juice and raised his glass with everyone else. As the glasses clinked, laughter spread around him, and everyone chatted merrily.

"Baby." Jiang Wanrou's voice brought him back.

Wen Yanyu looked up at the woman. "What is it?"

Jiang Wanrou looked at him gently. "Come visit me at home after the show ends, all right? There's an older boy at my house too. You two should have plenty to talk about."

Duan Mufeng chimed in too. "Don't forget me! If you ever want to go somewhere for fun, just give me a shout. I'll take you."

Lu Mingxu smiled at him and said warmly, "If you have time, I'd like to build snowmen with you again."

Jiang Keyan grinned. "You promised to come to my house for New Year! Baby, don't you forget!"

Wen Yanyu was silent for a few seconds before smiling and nodding in agreement.

Threads of aching sorrow wound around his heart.

Suddenly, he felt reluctant to let go.

Reluctant to let go of this warmth.

But he had always understood one truth, and everything he had experienced had told him that truth countless times.

Even a fleeting dream had to end.

[Sob sob, see you next season!]

[I still want to see everyone pamper Bunny Baby, sob sob.]

[Confirmed! Bunny Baby signed for two seasons! Bro Lu, Xiao Yu, and Duan Radish signed too. Aunt Jiang and Ke Yan haven't confirmed yet! We'll see them again in winter!]

[By the way, Aunt Jiang decided to sponsor the children here. And that little girl who can't see-Aunt Jiang is going to discuss it with her family when she gets home, then bring the girl to live with her once the paperwork is ready.]

[Wow wow wow! That's wonderful! I love Li Qianhua so much!]

The show was completely over. The production team arranged for people to leave in groups. Wen Yanyu, who had been assigned an afternoon departure, rubbed his hands together and said goodbye to everyone in turn.

The staff left one after another.

The world grew quiet again.

Wen Yanyu walked beneath the tree at the entrance to the village and quietly basked in the sun.

"Big brother!"

Hearing the call, Wen Yanyu turned around.

Several children stood behind him, their faces full of worry.

Wang Youdao said, "The children heard you were leaving and all insisted on seeing you."

Wen Yanyu turned and walked over to the children.

"Are you leaving now, big brother?" the little ones, who still didn't know what had happened, asked in unison.

"Aren't you going to stay here forever?"

Wen Yanyu looked apologetic. "I'm sorry. I have a lot of things to take care of now, so I can't stay."

The children lowered their heads in disappointment.

"Will you come back, then?" one child asked.

Wen Yanyu paused, then fell silent. "Maybe."

Just then, Wang Little Tiger suddenly approached from beyond the other children.

Wen Yanyu looked surprised to see Little Tiger too. "Little Tiger? Why aren't you resting at home?"

The child had still had a breath left in him at the time, which was the only reason Wen Yanyu had barely managed to save his life. But his energy had been limited, and after being saved, the child's health was nowhere near what it had been.

He had kept running a fever and had hardly gone outside these past few days. Wen Yanyu hadn't expected him to come here today.

Wang Little Tiger rubbed his head sheepishly and stammered, "I, I came to, to apologize. I'm, I'm sorry."

"I apologized to Li Qianhua, but I haven't apologized to you yet..." Wang Little Tiger lowered his head and said weakly, "I shouldn't have thrown a tantrum that day. It was my fault."

"I'd never had candy that good before, s-so I took that bag of candy that day. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have thrown a tantrum or snapped at you." Wang Little Tiger kept his head down, his words stumbling.

Wen Yanyu smiled helplessly. "It's all right, as long as Li Qianhua forgave you."

Suddenly, Wang Little Tiger tugged at the hem of his clothes, signaling for him to lean closer.

Wen Yanyu bent down.

"I remember what happened that night. A monster swallowed me, and you saved me. I won't forget. Thank you."

Wen Yanyu froze and looked into the child's eyes, but Wang Little Tiger had already turned his head away shyly and slipped back behind the other children.

"Big brother." Li Qianhua's voice suddenly rang out again.

Wen Yanyu looked up.

The little girl walked up to him and gently took his wrist.

"What is it?" Wen Yanyu asked softly.

Li Qianhua pressed her lips together, then suddenly asked, "Can you crouch down?"

"Of course." Wen Yanyu crouched, thinking the child wanted to touch him, and was just about to take her hand.

Suddenly, accompanied by the rustle of plastic wrappers, a large handful of colorful candies appeared before him.

"You don't have to be strong all the time. If you're sad..." Li Qianhua paused. Remembering that he was about to leave, she changed what would have been "tell me" to "tell your other friends."

"The village chief bought me these candies. You can have them." Li Qianhua held out her hand.

Her palm opened, revealing several candies that had already melted a little.

The candies were wrapped in clear plastic, the heavy, cloying scent of saccharin seeping out through the wrappers. The one on top had even lost its shape from the warmth of the child's palm.

Wen Yanyu remained stunned for a long while before taking these cheap candies, this priceless "sweetness," from the girl.

"Have one when you're sad. It's sweet, and then you won't feel bad anymore," Li Qianhua instructed solemnly.

"All right." Wen Yanyu looked down at the candies in his hand and rubbed the little girl's head, hiding every emotion in his eyes.

"We'll wait for you here!" The little one smiled adorably.

The other children nodded like chicks pecking grain. "When you come next time, tell us more stories!"

Wen Yanyu silently held the candies as the children before him chimed in one after another, already eagerly planning their next meeting.

"If I don't come, don't keep waiting," he suddenly said.

The little ones all froze.

"You'll meet lots of other people in the future. If I don't come, don't wait for me."

"Study hard, live well, meet more people, see more places..."

Wen Yanyu kept his head lowered, the loose hair over his forehead hiding his eyes.

His voice was unexpectedly calm and indifferent. Apart from a slight rasp, there was no hint of emotion in it.

"Don't keep waiting for me."

"We'll always wait for you."

Wen Yanyu's breathing faltered for a moment.

"Why?"

Wen Yanyu's fingertips trembled slightly, and he instinctively asked the question he had wanted to ask countless times. "What if I never come?"

The little girl before him blinked. "Because waiting is a very happy thing in itself."

"When we're waiting, we imagine what it'll be like to see you. That moment of looking forward to it is actually super happy. Just thinking that we'll meet again makes us happy."

The little girl spread her arms, miming an explosion. "Until you show up again! Then we'll explode with happiness!"

The other children all nodded in unison.

Another child laughed. "Even if you don't come, we can go find you when we grow up!"

"Right! If you're busy, we'll go find you."

"Right! We can go find you too!"

The little ones gazed at him eagerly, as though a little afraid of being refused. The pleading they unwittingly revealed softened his heart.

Something seemed to wind around his chest, trapping his breath in his throat, and waves of dull, aching sorrow spread to his fingertips.

Wen Yanyu raised his head, a tender smile spreading across his brow. In his pale gray eyes, a nearly shattered shimmer of tears trembled.

"I see."

He closed his eyes briefly and smiled. "Then it's a promise. Next spring, I'll come see you..."

"Okay!"

Wen Yanyu watched the children leave, lost in thought for a long time, oblivious to everything around him.

Until his trembling fingertips were clasped in a warm palm.

The bitter scent of agarwood filled his nose, silently and forcefully encroaching on the peach scent around him.

Wen Yanyu stiffened and turned his head in disbelief. The tear at the corner of his eye fell at the same time as the coat on his shoulders.

Fu Hanchuan bent to catch the oversized coat and wiped away that bitter tear as he draped it over him again.

Wen Yanyu's pupils trembled. Looking up, he met the suffocating obsession deep in the man's eyes, his legs instinctively shifting backward.

In the wash of light, gray and blue mingled in the man's eyes, like Arctic ice, radiating a bone-piercing chill.

Fu Hanchuan's tone was calm. "I told you I'd come catch you myself."

Wan Haihui, who had been dragged out early that morning to fly a helicopter here, watched Wen Yanyu being forcibly carried over without the slightest surprise and rolled his eyes hard.

This guy...