Though the account was not very detailed, it was enough for Qingmu. He was not sure whether he could help Xia Wenyuan stop this nightmare, either, because what a person dreamed depended on the person himself, and sometimes outside forces could not interfere. But regardless, Qingmu had to enter his dream and take a look.
"Mr. Xia, can you fall asleep now? If you can, why not take a short nap?" Qingmu said.
Xia Wenyuan froze for a moment, then understood. "Are you going to start treating me? Of course I can sleep. I just don't dare to."
"Oh, no!" Peter looked rather angry, even bursting out in English. "I'm Elder Xia's personal physician. You must tell me about any treatment plan first, and you can only carry it out with my approval. I'm responsible for Elder Xia's health. I have that authority!"
Wu Lixia also said, "Yes, Mr. Qingmu. We trust you, but you should at least tell us what you plan to do."
Xia Wenyuan said nothing, evidently agreeing with his wife. Only Hu Xing remained silent with a smile; she knew what Qingmu intended to do.
Working for rich people is such a hassle, Qingmu thought. He said, "Since it's a nightmare, I have to go in first and see what that shadow in Elder Xia's dream is before I can decide what to do."
"What did you say?" Peter almost laughed. "You mean you're going to enter Elder Xia's dream while he's dreaming? Good heavens! That's impossible! Unless you're God!"
Wu Lixia and Li Wei also found it inconceivable, but said nothing.
Xia Wenyuan looked at Qingmu, doubt showing in his eyes.
"It seems you don't agree with my plan," Qingmu said.
"Of course I don't," Peter said. "Who knows what you intend to do? I have to make sure your method won't harm Elder Xia."
Qingmu shook his head. He had not expected Peter to be so stubborn. "Then let's put it another way. I just want to sit beside Elder Xia and watch him sleep for a while. And I don't have to watch alone. You and the others can all stay beside him."
"Well..." Peter seemed unable to think of a reason to refuse. "That would be fine." Then he looked at Xia Wenyuan. "Where would you like to sleep? I'll get your oxygen and ventilator ready."
"No need. I'll just doze like this for a while. An old man like me lying in bed with all of you watching from the side-it would feel like you were viewing my remains," Xia Wenyuan said self-deprecatingly.
"Pah, pah, pah!" Wu Lixia said. "Just go to sleep. What's all this nonsense! I'll light some agarwood incense for you." She took a stick of incense from an incense box on the curio shelf, lit it, and placed it in a small-leaf red sandalwood incense holder.
Xia Wenyuan smiled, then took Wu Lixia's hand, leaned against the back of his wheelchair, and closed his eyes.
Everyone watched Qingmu, wanting to know what he would do. Even Hu Xing, who had guessed some of it, was still curious.
Xia Wenyuan soon fell asleep. He did indeed look very tired.
Peter kept his eyes on Qingmu, his expression a little tense. His behavior was understandable. After all, if anything happened to Xia Wenyuan, especially a health problem, it would mean not only losing his job, but very likely having his competence questioned as well.
Li Wei stood less than two meters from Xia Wenyuan, an appropriate distance for a bodyguard to keep from the books.
Qingmu sat there the whole time without doing anything, looking very patient. Peter could not help finding it a little strange. He had imagined Qingmu might perform some sort of witchcraft, capering wildly beside Xia Wenyuan like a shaman conducting a ritual.
Hu Xing saw Qingmu sitting quietly there, gazing somewhere in the distance. She followed his gaze and saw the agarwood incense burning on the incense table and books. The burned portion of the stick had bent sideways, and that length of ash teetered, about to fall.
She realized that Qingmu's eyes were actually vacant, his gaze focused on nothing.
Has this guy already gone in? Hu Xing wondered. What would he be doing in Grandpa's dream right now?
As she thought, Hu Xing watched intently, afraid of missing any detail. Although she had witnessed Qingmu's abilities many times, this was the first time she had been prepared to observe him using his special ability.
Perhaps because she had been staring for a little too long, Hu Xing's eyes began to feel sore and strained. Her surroundings started to blur, and her mind grew hazy. A film of air covered everything, like the shimmering asphalt in the distance on a scorching summer day.
Even so, her attention did not stray. She kept watching Qingmu's and her grandfather's every move. Then she saw her grandfather's eyeballs begin to move, and she knew the important moment had arrived.
As Xia Wenyuan's eyeballs began moving rapidly, Hu Xing noticed that the air, too, was violently warping and trembling. As though someone had thrown a stone into water, waves of air spread outward, rolling over everyone's heads in ring after ring.
The entire space was twisting.
The force of this distortion was irresistible. Hu Xing felt her body being compressed into a thin sheet of paper, twisting and twisting, with bewildering light all around her.
Then, as though someone had blown a breath into her paper-thin body, she swelled like a balloon before returning to her normal form.
Still, that moment had left her chest feeling a little uncomfortable, as though a large rock had pressed down on it. She did not know whether she had some illness, but fortunately, she recovered.
She saw that Xia Wenyuan was already awake, with a cup of tea that had appeared in his hand at some point. He blew on the tea twice, took a sip, and handed it to Aunt Xia. Aunt Xia took the cup and went out.
Without asking anyone for help, Xia Wenyuan pressed the electric control switch on his wheelchair's armrest and drove out of the room onto the balcony.
Hu Xing followed him.
The sunshine outside was brilliant, and the flowers in the garden were in full bloom. Hu Xing had visited this garden more than once, but she had never admired its beauty from the balcony of her grandfather's study. From this angle, the flowers looked different from before, as though they had been painted anew.
Xia Wenyuan seemed to enjoy this beauty very much and slowly rose from his wheelchair. Hu Xing was a little worried. She knew her grandfather was in poor health and could not stand for long.
Xia Wenyuan took two steps forward, his legs looking nimble, without the slightest sign of unsteadiness. He leaned against the railing, took cigarettes from his pocket, and lit one to smoke.
Ah, why was he smoking again! As far as Hu Xing knew, her grandfather had quit smoking two years ago.
Even if his health had improved a little, he still shouldn't smoke. Quitting had been so hard! But Hu Xing did not dare scold her grandfather directly. He held an unchallengeable authority within this family. She decided to tell Aunt Xia in a little while. Only Aunt Xia could persuade her grandfather.
While she was thinking, Xia Wenyuan suddenly clambered onto the railing in a single step, teetering precariously.
"Ah, that's too dangerous!" Hu Xing cried out, trying to reach for her grandfather.
Just then, Qingmu suddenly appeared beside her, held her back, and shook his head at her.
"Why are you stopping me? Don't you know how dangerous that is for an old man?" she demanded.
"A dream is a person's independent mental world," Qingmu said. "There is only one master in this world: the person's core consciousness. Everything else is created by that consciousness. When you're in someone else's dream, always remember not to disturb their core consciousness. If you disturb it or break the rules it has established, this space will collapse for lack of support. Unless your mental power is strong enough to change the rules of another person's dream space, or the master of this space is unaware of your existence, you can only be a voyeur."
Hu Xing listened in bewilderment. "What are you talking about? What observer..." A sudden flash of understanding crossed her mind. "You mean we're in my grandfather's dream?"
The instant she realized this, the sky collapsed. The garden, roof, balcony, and floor tiles all swept upward, and everything, including her, was sucked into a black vortex...