After midnight

Lin Nuan opened the curtains, and the bright sunlight came in accurately and naturally, filling the dim single room with bright light. Lin Nuan looked out, across the road, the low eaves and a few bare trees, and the familiar scene appeared before her eyes again.

Today is really a good weather that we didn’t expect yesterday.

After sighing for only a second, Lin Nuan turned back and walked back into the house. She pulled Lu Li's hand out from under the not-so-thin blanket and held it. After Lu Li was rescued, he passed the critical period, but he never woke up. The doctor didn't know when he would wake up, maybe soon, maybe for a lifetime.

A pair of tender hands poured a cup of warm water and placed it in front of Lin Nuan. Lin Nuan took it readily and thanked him, "Thank you, Ah Bei."

Lin Bei watched her finish her drink, put the cup on the cabinet and then sat aside. During the time when Lu Li was sick, he would accompany Lin Nuan to the hospital every morning to sit for a while, and then go home alone after Lin Nuan went to work. He returned to the quiet and warm little house to wait for Lin Nuan to get off work.

He didn't understand what going to and from get off work meant. His more accurate understanding was that going to work meant he wouldn't be able to see Lin Nuan, and going off work meant that after dark, Lin Nuan would return home to accompany him.

After Lin Bei sat down, he turned to look at her again. His eyes slid from her black hair to her belly, and then stayed there. Maybe because Lin Nuan was sitting there, he could see a tiny curve on her belly. Although it was not obvious when Lin Nuan stood up, Lin Bei knew what it meant, and he had to start learning to protect her.

There should be no difference between today and the past. After a while, Lin Bei thought that Lin Nuan should go to work. Just as he stood up with Lin Nuan, the door of the ward suddenly opened.

The man who came was a strange man. He couldn't explain why. But the first time he saw him, his heart skipped a beat. Indescribable complex emotions immediately surged up and drowned him.

He stared at him intently, watching him walk in and stand in front of Lu Li's bed. He looked very handsome and heroic.

Apart from Lin Nuan, this was the first time he had experienced such intense emotions. But this emotion was so fleeting that he couldn't tell for a moment whether this gushing emotion was more of love or hatred.

He still looked at him.

"An Yan?" Lin Nuan stood up.

The two of them talked about something. Lin Nuan turned around and said to Lin Bei, "Ah Bei, wait here for me to come back."

Lin Bei nodded obediently, and under Lin Bei's gaze, An Yan followed Lin Nuan to the door. After An Yan's figure disappeared, Lin Bei touched his heart and cast his eyes blankly at a random place in the ward.

The hospital's corridors and stairwells were covered with cold white tiles. An Yan stood on the steps connected to the tiles and explained to Lin Nuan, "I'm sorry, I wanted to come here as soon as I got back yesterday, but when Su Ziling and I looked out the window, we saw Xiao Su waiting for us."

"Did Xiao Su go to pick you up alone?"

"Ah."

"You really should go home first. Xiao Su must miss you."

"Yes, she pestered me all day yesterday."

Lin Nuan smiled and said, "An Yan, thank you. If it weren't for you, I think Lu Li would have left me a long time ago."

Lin Nuan suddenly thanked her with a smile that seemed forced but not necessarily obligatory, leaving An Yan at a loss for words and he could only awkwardly avoid looking at her.

"What I said is true. I am really happy that he managed to get through it and didn't abandon me and the child. I believe that he will wake up in the near future. He can't bear to leave us."

Lin Nuan lowered her head and gently stroked her belly. The curves that should have appeared after pregnancy were not obvious yet.

"You're right, he won't be willing to let you go."

"What about you?"

"us?"

"You, Xiao Su, and Su Ziling, when do you plan to go back? In a few days, you can go back through the spirit stone that connects the two worlds. Jiu Xiang will issue a decree tomorrow morning."

"I'm not sure yet. I think we'll have to wait a while. Lin Nuan, who is the child in the ward?"

"His name is Lin Bei, and he is the child I brought back from there." Lin Nuan looked at An Yan and added a few words hesitantly, "He is the last child in the world with the same abilities as you."

An Yan looked back in surprise but then calmed down, "I feel relieved to have you accompany him."

"An Yan, believe me. I will give him a different ending. Wu Si and Qi Qi, don't regret it anymore."

An Yan stared at her in a daze, unable to speak. He turned away and tried to hold back the tears in his eyes so as not to be seen through. He quickly put his mood back, and when he turned back again, he found Lin Nuan lowering her head and reading a letter very seriously.

The letter was very short, but Lin Nuan frowned.

An Yan took the letter from her hand and asked her, "What happened?"

"Nothing, the scheduled meeting was postponed."

"With Uncle Fang?"

"Not only that, Jiu Xiang came over these few days. There are other people as well, in a large group."

"Since it's been postponed, then don't go." An Yan interrupted her, otherwise Lin Nuan's brows would have been furrowed as she kept nagging.

"what?"

"I said don't go. Lin Bei, I don't know him very well yet. Let's go around together. Have you ever taken him to Xindu to play? Xindu opened an amusement park before the New Year. You must have never been there."

"No." Indeed, she hadn't. It was fine in Jiudu, but since Lu Li had been in trouble and had to go to Xindu for treatment, she hadn't been with him for a long time. Thinking of this, Lin Nuan couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

"Then let's go, let's go now, I'll accompany you, you won't have this opportunity again in the future."

"What do you mean there is no chance?" Lin Nuan laughed, which was considered as her agreement.

The two of them were out for only about ten minutes before Lin Bei saw them coming back. He looked at Lin Nuan instead of An Yan. Lin Nuan seemed to be in a better state, and he also felt a little more relaxed.

"Abei, the weather is so nice today, let's go out and play." After hearing this, Lin Bei turned to look at An Yan and then turned back and nodded slightly to Lin Nuan.

Lin Bei walked on the side of the road. The sun at around nine o'clock in the morning shone on his face, casting a gentle golden glow on his forehead. He squinted his eyes comfortably, and heard a burst of chirping sounds in his ears. It was so lively. He knew that they would be in the dense and noisy crowd in half a street.

"Abei." Lin Bei opened his eyes and let Lin Nuan take his hand and lead him into another world.

At ten o'clock, the gate slowly opened. Lin Bei followed the crowd into the huge amusement park. With just one glance, he confirmed that he had never been here before, and he liked it here.

Entering the amusement park is like entering a strange world. Lin Bei has never seen anything and every color here. In the nearly one month since he came out of there, he always thought that he knew this world well enough. He blinked his eyes and decided that if Lin Nuan was in a bad mood in the future, he would bring her here.

Thinking of this, he looked at the man sitting next to him. He actually knew him. As soon as Lin Nuan called out his name, he knew who he was.

"An Yan?" He tried to call out his name.

"Yeah." An Yan responded to him, "Are you scared? If you're scared, hold on to me."

"I'm not afraid."

When Lin Bei answered, the roller coaster was accelerating down from the highest point. It was Lin Bei's first time riding one, and he closed his eyes unexpectedly. He was so scared that he screamed along with everyone else in the car. An Yan smiled silently.

Five minutes later, Lin Bei sat on a yellow-painted chair to calm his heartbeat. An Yan was still sitting next to him. Most of the projects in this newly built amusement park were thrilling, and Lin Nuan just accompanied them without participating too much. At this moment, she went to buy them some water.

"Lin Bei, do you like it here?"

Perhaps it was because he had just taken the initiative to talk to An Yan, so An Yan also took the initiative to ask him now. Lin Bei nodded.

"Xiao Su likes it here, so I guess you do too."

Lin Bei nodded again, and didn't ask who Xiao Su was. He saw Lin Nuan walking back with a drink and a pink in her hand.

"You must accompany her well in the future." An Yan also looked over, "She will face many difficult things in the future, but with you here, everything will be fine."

Lin Bei didn't quite understand, and when he hesitated for two seconds to ask, Lin Nuan had already walked back. Lin Nuan stuffed him a can of fruity drink, and he took two sips before Lin Nuan pulled him to ride the merry-go-round that only little girls like.

The carousel was just diagonally opposite them, playing cheerful music and spinning non-stop.

Lin Bei kept thinking about what An Yan said, but when he and Lin Nuan came back, An Yan looked normal and never mentioned what he had just said. Later, not long after, before Lin Bei could find the right opportunity, An Yan was hurriedly called away by a letter.

It was noon when An Yan got home. He opened the door and walked into the living room, instantly attracting the attention of everyone in the room. The dining table was filled with hot dishes of all kinds. At the moment, Wuying, Ye, He, Qing and Wu surrounded the dining table, sandwiching Su Ziling and Xiao Su in the middle.

"Hurry up and sit down to eat." Wuying called him.

An Yan looked at Su Ziling in a daze, and Su Ziling turned his head away, as if he was not the one who wrote the letter to tell him about the extremely urgent matter at home.

An Yan walked over, pulled out the only empty chair and sat down.

"An Yan, this dinner is, firstly, to welcome you, and secondly, it is our farewell dinner as we are planning to leave." Wuying said without any ambiguity.

Leave? Where to? An Yan looked at Wu Ying in surprise and then turned to look at Su Ziling. Su Ziling buried his head and was quiet. Even Xiao Su was the same. It seemed that they had known about it for a long time.

Wuying seemed to know An Yan's reaction, so she just blurted it out, "Qing and I plan to take He to live in seclusion in the south, where the weather is warmer. Wu doesn't plan to stay, as he's worried about Jiu. Of course, Jiu doesn't know about this yet, but I think it's a good thing for Wu to take care of Jiu, you'll agree, right? Oh, and there's Ji, he's used to being free, and when Yin was here, he seldom came back. Now, we don't know where he's gone..."

"Wuying, there's me too."

"Yes, and Ye. Ye will stay for a while to take care of some things, and will meet up with us after he's done."

After Wuying finished speaking, An Yan still didn't speak. Finally, she pursed her lips and concluded: "We have already discussed it."

Yes, they have already discussed it, and they are waiting for you to come back and tell you. An Yan understood, An Yan understood that after Yin's death, this day was inevitable. Even if they didn't leave, he would say goodbye. But it was too early, really too early.

An Yan stood up suddenly, and when his chair moved back, it made a sharp sound. He bowed deeply to everyone present, and then sat down to eat.

He picked up his chopsticks and started eating. Wuying and the others looked around and started eating as well.

The food didn't taste the same as before. This meal was An Yan's most peaceful farewell.