The rhythmic, mournful "Beep... beep... beep!" of the machines echoed through the Intensive Care Unit.
Li Qingchen lay on the hospital bed, his face a ghastly pallor, cheeks deeply sunken, eyes dull and lifeless. The thin line on the heart monitor flickered, a slow, agonizing curve that barely registered a beat. Every flicker, every labored breath, screamed of a life rapidly fading.
Yet, with the last vestiges of strength in his emaciated body, Li Qingchen strained his neck, his gray pupils fixed on the doorway, a desperate, silent vigil. But as the moments bled into eternity, the person he longed for never appeared. His wide, staring eyes, once filled with a faint hope, slowly dimmed.
Just then, a sharp "CRUNCH!" of a door opening shattered the silence, and a slender figure burst into the ward. Li Qingchen's eyes flickered with a brief, desperate spark, only to fall back into despair.
The visitor wore a cap pulled low, obscuring part of her face, but her features were undeniably pretty. It was Su Wangwang, his closest "buddy" for years. But even in his dying moments, she wasn't the one he had yearned to see.
"What, saw me and you're disappointed, aren't you?!" Su Wangwang scoffed, wiping a bead of sweat from her cheek, a testament to her hurried arrival. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but she raised her sharp, heroic eyebrows, her voice as unforgiving as ever. "Don't even think about it. I called before I came. Your precious Bai Yueya, the 'belle of Bai University,' has a new rich boyfriend. She's too busy on a date to bother with a dying, useless ghost like you!"
At her words, the last flicker of light in Li Qingchen's eyes extinguished completely.
Bai Yueya. The woman he had loved more than life itself. Twenty years he had chased her, twenty years he had groveled for her affection. For her, he'd sacrificed his chance at a prestigious university, following her instead to a mediocre college. Because she once casually mentioned, "Everyone else in the dorm has a new smartphone, but I don't," he'd worked day and night, skipping classes, just to earn enough. He'd failed his courses, lost his diploma, all for her fleeting desires.
After graduation, her vanity had driven him further into ruin. To keep up with her colleagues, she'd amassed mountains of online loans and credit card debt for cosmetics and designer bags. He'd then swindled his family, draining his parents' life savings under the guise of starting a business, just to clear her debts. That act had cost him everything: his mother had later died, unable to afford treatment, and his enraged father, along with all their relatives, had disowned him.
For two decades, he had lived frugally, every penny he earned poured into gifts for her, subsidizing her expenses. He had given her everything, even his very life.
And the result? While he lay dying, she was happily dating another man. Even his final, simple wish—to see her one last time—she wouldn't grant.
"Fool, aren't you? So disappointed? So unwilling?!" Su Wangwang's voice cracked, tears streaming down her face as she looked at Li Qingchen's ashen complexion. She bit her lip, her words choked with raw emotion. "You idiot! How many times did I warn you over the years? But you were possessed! Even when she treated you like a dog, coming and going at her whim, your eyes were only on her, blind to everything else!"
"What... what is this...? Look at me! How can you die?!" "You loved Bai Yueya for twenty years, but I waited for you for twenty years!" "My youth, my entire life, I gave it to you! But you just pretended to be oblivious, pretended not to know!" "And now you're dying, and still, all you can think about is Bai Yueya!" "What could be worse than this?!"
"W-w-woo...!" Su Wangwang buried her face in her hands, her body wracked with sobs. This woman, who had always been so carefree, so outwardly cheerful, never shedding a tear in front of him, was now crying with a heartbreaking, soul-wrenching agony.
Li Qingchen had loved Bai Yueya for twenty years. But Su Wangwang had suffered in silence for him for twenty years.
A tremor ran through Li Qingchen's heart. He slowly, painstakingly, turned his head to look at her. He truly hadn't known. He hadn't realized she had always loved him.
But as his gaze fell beneath the brim of Su Wangwang's cap, to her exposed temple, his entire body suddenly convulsed with a jolt of shock and excitement. Two words, raspy and difficult, escaped his throat:
"Your... hair..."
"Cut!" Su Wangwang wiped her snot and tears, then pulled off her cap, revealing a completely shaven head. Her voice was surprisingly calm, though still laced with pain. "You always said my long hair was beautiful, so I fought to keep it all these years. Now that you're dying, there's no point in keeping it!"
Long hair, down to her waist, kept only for him!
Two lines of cloudy tears, heavy with regret, streamed from Li Qingchen's eyes. At this moment, he regretted it. He truly, deeply regretted it. But it was too late. With his last ounce of strength, he uttered the final words in his heart:
"Right... sorry... next... life..."
In the next life, I will only see you, only love you!
"Li Qingchen, you said it!" Su Wangwang's face broke into a smile, heartbreakingly beautiful through her tears. She buried her head in Li Qingchen's chest and whispered, "Then I'll wait for you until the next life. And if you dare to lie to me then, I'll break your legs and kick your ass!"
Li Qingchen managed a faint, strained smile, and then, slowly, closed his eyes.
"Qingchen! Qingchen~!"
"Li Qingchen~!" "Li Qingchen!"
The noisy shouts jolted Li Qingchen awake. Wasn't he dead? How could he still hear someone calling him?
He slowly opened his eyes, blinking in confusion. A narrow alley, littered with cigarette butts. Mottled walls bearing faded, peeling slogans. And standing before him, surrounding him, were seven or eight idle teenagers in school uniforms, a gang.
This place... isn't this the alley next to Dengzhou No. 2 Middle School, his high school alma mater? The notorious hangout for delinquents?
And why did this scene feel so eerily familiar?
A tremor of realization ran through Li Qingchen's heart. He thought of a possibility.
The next moment, he held his breath and looked forward.
Sure enough, standing directly in front of him was the familiar figure: short, refreshing hair, delicate features, and a pair of strikingly heroic, sword-like eyebrows.
"Li, you deaf idiot! Didn't you hear me calling you?!" Su Wangwang craned her slender neck, leaning her face close to his, deliberately putting on a fierce expression. "I'm looking for Bai Yueya. Why are you following me here?"
"What? You wanna start something—?!" Su Wangwang's voice abruptly cut off.
Because her mouth was suddenly covered.
Covered by Li Qingchen's mouth.
The sudden "attack" left her stunned.
It was a long moment before Li Qingchen finally pulled away. Then, he pulled her into his arms and whispered, his voice trembling slightly:
"Agreed!" "This life, I'll fulfill the promise!"