Halfway Across the World to Sleep with You

He died in 2019. (Chapter 1)

On the last day of 2019, Qi Yi'an, as usual, carried her laptop to the library to work on her thesis. University finals are always said to be tough once you get through them. But she couldn't keep going after just one line. She felt unwell when she woke up that morning, and now she was chilled and her muscles ached. Accompanied by waves of headache and dizziness, she fell asleep on a chair in the library.

Cold…so cold…the chill seeped into her very blood, making her feel as if she were back in her southern hometown winter, even in the warmth of the northern heating. Her memories after that were hazy. She vaguely remembered struggling to get up, staggering to the school hospital, shivering as she waited in line against the doorframe of the examination room for blood tests.

The doctor said she didn't have any major problems and didn't have a fever, only 37.3°C. He didn't understand why she was feeling so unwell.

Zou Yibei rushed to the hospital and helped her to the senior year's end-of-year meeting... Finally, she seemed to get back to her dorm and covered herself with all her clothes and blankets...

Still cold... Even though she was sweating, she was still bone-chillingly cold. The fever wouldn't go down, she coughed, and then she started having difficulty breathing. She would often gasp for air and then feel suffocated, her throat tearing with pain, and she would involuntarily cough up gas.

Fortunately, her survival instincts kept her waking up from time to time; she would sit up, gasp for breath, drink water, and then collapse again… The night felt like an eternity. Qi Yi'an thought, "I'll probably just die like this…"

"Qi Yi'an, 20 years old, died of a cold in 2019." Qi Yi'an imagined it with his remaining consciousness.

That would be hilarious; to think they wouldn't even live to 2020 is pathetic.

…And then…the world is fantastical, nothing is real…

"Little one, what are you thinking about?" The woman laughed through the wind, her long, soft, black hair slightly ruffled. Qi Yi'an, delirious with fever, wanted to reach out and tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He was too weak to lift his hand; the blanket was too thick… It was just a hallucination…

…

The next day, Qi Yi'an still lived to 2020.

But these points in time seemed meaningless; in the days that followed, she remained severely ill. During the day, when she was lucid, she suffered from severe diarrhea and could barely ingest anything other than water. Her mouth was also severely inflamed and swollen, making eating difficult. The illness was draining her body; her consciousness oscillated between reality and hallucinations, often plunging her into alternating hot and cold darkness.

A month later, the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in China. Qi Yi'an was so ill that she couldn't remember what was happening in the world, nor how she recovered. She learned from Weibo that tens of thousands of people had been infected with the unknown virus, and everyone was on edge, but she miraculously recovered slowly, feeling a sense of relief as if she had survived a catastrophe. Many days later, she got out of bed, lifted the hem of her pajamas, and looked at her pale face and protruding ribs in the mirror. At least she was still alive.

Many years later, when she looked back on 2020, she only felt that she was too young at the time and was glad that she had made her decision too early and too easily.

…

On the last day of 2019, Qin Ruoshui finished her work and went to a business-themed New Year's Eve party. Amidst the clinking of glasses and laughter, people waited for the New Year's fireworks on the terrace. Suddenly, a guest's wine glass shattered, and shards flew and embedded themselves in her ankle. The wound was deep, and blood flowed rapidly. Although it hurt, she didn't think it was a big deal; she was just unlucky.

Everyone present panicked, shouting, "Oh no, get Miss Qin to the hospital right away, quick, quick, quick!"

She was helped into the back seat of the car. Looking down, she saw that her ankle was still bleeding profusely. She had drunk quite a bit that evening while meeting with clients and was starting to feel dizzy. An English announcement was playing in the car: "...the coronavirus outbreak in China..."

Outside the car window, New Year's fireworks had already begun, a riot of colors bursting across the night sky, flickering and fading. The city had just been cleaned from rain, the air still humid, and the smoke from the fireworks filled the night. The blurry, flickering light shone through the car window onto Qin Ruoshui's face; leaning against the window, she drifted into a deep sleep amidst the shaking and swaying…

She didn't know how much time had passed, but it seemed she was in a hospital room, surrounded by white sheets, nurses and doctors in their white and blue uniforms, and swaying lights. Someone was hurriedly explaining the treatment procedures, as if surgery was about to begin. The doctor asked her questions to confirm her consciousness, and her girlfriend, Lin Miao'er, held her hand, her voice trembling slightly, and said, "It's okay, it'll just be a minor surgery. I'll wait for you outside..."

Qin Ruoshui closed her eyes again, feeling drowsy. In her weak consciousness, she thought, "Is it really that big of a deal? It's just a minor injury."

"Qin Ruoshui, 32 years old, died in 2019...from a wine glass explosion." This sentence popped into her remaining consciousness, and she found it funny.

But so be it, since being alive doesn't really feel real anyway. For example, right now, she fell asleep again before she could even feel the pain.

…and then later…she seemed to…

In the dappled light of the crowd, a pretty young girl smiled brightly at her. Though somewhat bewildered, she found herself unconsciously smiling back. The girl wore glasses, and Qin Ruoshui reached out to remove them so she could see the girl's features clearly through the lenses.

I raised my hand, but felt a sharp pain on the back of it… a needle? An IV drip? …Was it all a dream…?

…

Qin Ruoshui seemed to have slept for a long time, and somehow it all ended up in 2020. She didn't remember how she woke up or how she got home from the hospital. The TV was broadcasting news about the global outbreak of the coronavirus, and everyone was self-isolating at home. Unfortunately, her injuries hadn't fully healed, so she couldn't move around.

Life continued in its dull and uneventful way, except that her stocks had plummeted by forty percent. Was she on the verge of bankruptcy?

She was quite excited, finally feeling like she was living in the present. She felt satisfied with this sudden sense of historical participation, haha, isn't that a bit antisocial, getting excited about a major disaster…

Even many years later, when she looks back, she still feels an indescribable sense of nostalgia and longing for that time.

Perhaps it was from that time that she began to truly feel alive. It's strange.

…

A light rain had just passed, and L City remained overcast as usual, with distinct layers of gray clouds drifting in the wind. Qi Yi'an had been on exchange at this university for almost a month, and finally, Zou Yibei dragged him out for a stroll around the city.

Qi Yi'an's long-term anxiety about his thesis, coupled with L City's typical rainy weather, made living alone in a foreign country a little depressing. "Alright, forget about your thesis, it's academic garbage whether you write it or not," Zou Yibei yelled, "Instead of struggling so desperately with it, let's check out a bar together!"

Qi Yi'an raised an eyebrow and looked at the person beside her. She was the one who said to live in the moment, and she was also the one who stubbornly grappled with abstract concepts and logic. Every now and then, she felt like Zou Yibei was leading her down the path of paranoia and borderline personality disorder—how dangerous…

Right now, Zou Yibei is taking her to inspect the lesbia

……