103

Resplendent Times

Chapter 103

Ji Yushi rested in Jiang City for two days before leaving for Ning City.

He wasn’t dropped off by Song Qinglan this time because he had to go directly to the Ji residence and seeing the parents would be too troublesome. In fact, neither of them wanted to push that matter ahead. The two of them took their time taking in each other’s warmth before he left. Song Qinglan hugged him from behind, reluctant to part with him.

The marks on Ji Yushi’s body had mostly faded. Ji Yushi naturally didn’t let him mess around. He didn’t want Song Qinglan to leave Old Ji with a bad impression.

“Really don’t need me to send you there?” Song Qinglan tried to make him change his mind.

“No need.” Ji Yushi spoke calmly, “This time you can just stand and watch the train take me away and then watch it bring me back from Ning City. As your boyfriend, I should fulfil your wish.”

Song Qinglan, “………”

Who the hell wants this kind of wish.

Ji Yushi didn’t say much. He didn’t show any hesitation when he left.

Song Qinglan watched him enter the elevator and only went back inside when he saw the elevator number reach the first floor.

The place suddenly seemed very empty without Ji Yushi. Song Qinglan circled the living room and began to think about how to change up the place. There was a reason why he didn’t insist on going to Ning City with Ji Yushi. He had to remodel all the rooms over the next few days while Ji Yushi is gone and give him a nice surprise.

When he waited for Ji Yushi’s reply after his confession, he felt that time was too slow.

Now that they were together, he conversely felt that time went by too quickly. He felt that even if they spend their entire life together, it still wasn’t enough.

While calling someone he knew who worked in the relevant field, he entered his room.

Two things at the bedside table caught his attention.

One was a small square box with a clean surface.

It was Ji Yushi’s box of medicine.

The other was a small black and white handheld game console. It was very retro in design and the symbols on the buttons had long worn off.

It was Ji Yushi’s game console.

It was unknown when Ji Yushi had hid that box of medicine. When Song Qinglan confiscated his medicine last time, it was clear that he hadn’t honestly handed all of it in and secretly kept some stashed away. After they returned to get their personal belongings from the third command centre, Ji Yushi had brought it with him.

As for the game console. That was something that Ji Yushi would never part with.

Song Qinglan remembered how angry Ji Yushi was after the dark-skinned man smashed his game console in PU-31. Even Song Qinglan felt the pain when the knife penetrated through the back of that man’s hand.

Song Qinglan’s lips bent upwards.

Ji Yushi had left these two things because he would be back.

The windows were clean and bright. The sky was clear blue.

In fact, his life with Ji Yushi was still very long.

*

Ji Yushi returned to Ning City.

When Ji Minyue heard that he was finally willing to come back from his partners side, he couldn’t wait to bring the three cats over to the station to pick him up. The cat-dog battle between Middle Black and the corgi at home was about to drive him crazy.

“Little classmate Ji, you’ve changed.” Ji Minyue said ruefully, “I have always thought that you wouldn’t fuss over mundane things but who knew that not only did your mortal heart get moved, but your mind has also become filled with love! You don’t want your cats or your family anymore?!”

“What?” Ji Yushi was shocked, “You and sister-in-law moved in together after being together for three months. Why are you complaining about me?”

Ji Minyue, “So what about it?!”

Ji Yushi got in the car and randomly took out a cat from the cat carrier, “Nothing much. I just wanted to tell you that we will be moving in together too. It only took one and a half months.”

Ji Minyue felt like his head was about to explode.

Even something like this had to be a competition?!

Seeing that his younger brother was treating him like air and focusing on petting the cat, Ji Minyue roared, “Cohabitation? Have you asked for my opinion? Have you asked for Old Ji’s opinion? Let me tell you, Old Ji will definitely not agree!”

Ji Yushi petted Big Black. His fingers slid across its silky black fur.

The other two cats were meowing in the cat carrier. Surrounded by the three cats, his expression was calm, “Work requirement.”

These three cats are in fact already seventeen years old.

From that summer rainstorm where he first started living alone, he had them accompanying him until now. It was about time for them to find a new owner to be with.

It is said that cats don’t have good memories.

But Ji Yushi felt that Big Black must have recognised the person who had rescued them that day when Song Qinglan properly came to his place for the first time.

Ji Minyue was stunned, “Work?”

Ji Yushi raised his head. His expression was as cold and calm as ever, but his eyes contained something Ji Minyue had never seen before. It was an interest towards his new life, filled with vitality. That Ji Yushi from before who used to carry all his burdens alone seemed to have disappeared.

“I have already agreed to be transferred to Jiang City to be an official Guardian.” Ji Yushi said, “Teacher should already know about it.”

Anything Chief Lin knew; Old Ji would also know.

Ji Minyue hadn’t heard anything about that. It seems that Old Ji was still waiting for Ji Yushi to return and tell him about it himself.

Probably because Ji Yushi appeared serious and behaved too naturally, Ji Minyue found that he couldn’t find words to refute him. Only after driving for several more kilometres, he belatedly realised, “Wait a minute.”

Ji Yushi turned his head and looked out the window.

He was in fact laughing.

“What work requirement?” Ji Minyue slammed his fist against the steering wheel, “You’re clearly transferring there just so that you can cohabit with your man!”

The two returned to Ji Yushi’s place first. They released the cats, helped fill their bowls and add water and even gave them a few pieces of dried fish along the way before heading off to the Ji residence together.

Today was a very important day to the Ji family.

Since the day Ji Yushi officially became a member of the Ji family, the shadow belonging to 1439 had continued to hang over their heads. Over the years, it had not only made it difficult for Ji Yushi to sleep, but it also became a source of heartache for the rest of the Ji family.

The small Ji Yushi was taken care of and protected as he grew. There were traces of him left everywhere in this big house.

To him, he didn’t go back to 1439 to seek his roots. After all, this place was his real home.

Everyone in the Ji family was waiting for him to reveal the answer to the mystery. They waited for him to tell them everything about that year.

When Ji Yushi arrived at the Ji residence, Aunt Su said that Professor Ji had a guest.

There usually wouldn’t be many guests over, and the occasional ones were mostly Professor Ji’s students or a few good friends like Chief Lin.

Ji Yushi didn’t disturb them and went back to his room first.

A certain captain surnamed Song was upset about how he had ‘kissed Han Han for three minutes’ when he was a child and insisted that the person who was kissed had remembered wrongly. He wanted to look at photos of Han Han when he was a child in search for that subconscious ‘three-minute kiss’ memory buried in the depths of his mind and even righteously complained that a certain someone with hyperthymesia cannot deprive him of the right to remember it.

“How did I kiss you?”

The kisses that fell one after another were sometimes light, sometimes heavy. From the back of his neck to the end of his spine, that person asked mischievously while breathing heavily, “Tell me, Han Han. How do you remember it so clearly?”

Ji Yushi stood before the table. The ringing of his phone returned him to his senses.

Some inappropriate scenes flashed across his mind. It made his face red and he even sweated a little.

Fortunately, something like this happened to him often. At least this time it was a pleasant memory.

He took out his phone. It was just the person he was thinking about.

Song Qinglan was calling him.

“Have you arrived home?” Song Qinglan’s tone was light, “Picking up so quickly, were you missing me?”

He hit the right mark.

Ji Yushi didn’t panic. He just said, “I sent the cats home first and just got here. What’s that sound on your end?”

“Café?” Song Qinglan’s end seemed a little noisy. He just had to tease him, “I’m on a blind date.”

Ji Yushi was speechless.

Song Qinglan no longer continued the act, “I’m accompanying Old Duan to his blind date.”

Someone cleared their throat next to him, “Advisor Ji, can you rein him in?! Who would need someone like him to accompany them? Someone like me is enough!”

That voice was Li Chun’s.

The other end was rowdy. Ji Yushi also heard the voices of other people; the Tang Qi and Tang Le brothers, Zhou Mingxuan and Duan Wen.

Everyone had gathered together. It was very lively.

Song Qinglan cursed at them and drove them away. Once it quietened down slightly, Ji Yushi asked, “Old Duan really needs a blind date?”

“He’s after all not that much of a scum like Li Chun. A single old man in his thirties with only men around him, apart from going on a blind date, he can only come out of the closet.” Song Qinglan laughed, “Just kidding, the lady already left. We’re just having a meal since we’re here. When you’re back, we can all go out for another meal.”

Ji Yushi agreed.

“Oh right.” Song Qinglan continued, “A good news and a bad news. Which one do you want to hear.”

“Good news.” He didn’t hesitate.

Song Qinglan laughed, “The command centre received a distress call from an unknown coordinate. It likely came from another time and space. I read the contents of it after Chief Wang sent it through and those strange characters were something I’m certain about. They’re definitely from Big Beard’s time and space. That is to say, their time and space may be in trouble.”

Ji Yushi, “?”

Song Qinglan, “The good news is that our squad is currently on leave so the ninth squad received the mission.”

Ji Yushi lit a candle for Lin Xinlan, “What about the bad news?”

Song Qinglan said, “The bad news is that you will need to take out some of your time to make some language references for those brats in the ninth squad to refer to.”

Ji Yushi felt that this really wasn’t that bad. He wouldn’t need much time to do that.

Song Qinglan then asked him about the food and snacks the cats often ate and even remembered to remind him, “Remember to bring photos back.”

After hanging up, Ji Yushi briefly thought about how he should go about writing that reference.

Then, he found a photo album that seemed like a relic in this time and age and began to flip through the photos of his younger self.

Turning page after page, he went through those distant memories that were still clear in his memories and went through those old times.

Ji Yushi didn’t have many photos of himself when he was young. He was from a single-parent household and because his father had to take the photos, he was alone in these photos. After he was brought into the Ji household, there was a gap. In order to care for his illness, the Ji family at the time were too preoccupied and didn’t have the time or energy to take photos. Only after two or three years later, after he gradually got better, did the records of him and his family increase.

When he reached one of the photos, he stopped.

The child in the photo was about four or five years old, with fair skin and dark and bright eyes. He held a small duck in his hand as he smiled brightly at the camera.

Nothing had happened that year.

That was the most carefree time.

This was the photo Song Qinglan wanted.

Ji Yushi was reluctant to take it out of the photo album, so he took a photo using his phone and sent it to Song Qinglan to complete his task.

After doing this, he casually flipped through the rest of the album but abruptly came to a stop.

There was an extra photo in the album.

A young man with glasses holding a small baby in his arms and a beautiful woman standing beside him.

The two stood very close, the two wedding rings shining brightly on their fingers. They faced the camera, smiling happily.

Ji Yushi remembered very clearly that this photo wasn’t in the album before!

His hands trembled slightly. Although he was young at the time, he still remembered that this photo was accidentally torn apart by his heartbroken father after his mother’s car accident. Those photo fragments were long gone, so how could it cross over twenty or so years and appear inside this album?!

The only reasonable explanation—–

Ji Yushi closed the album and quickly hurried to Professor Ji’s study.

He walked very quickly, his hasty footsteps attracting the attention of Ji Minyue and Aunt Su downstairs. He however had no time to take care of that. Ji Yushi who had never been so reckless in his life ran for the first time to the study and pushed open the door. There was however only Professor Ji alone inside.

“What’s wrong?” Professor Ji was standing in front of the window using a magnifying glass to examine the patterns on a rock.

“I….” Ji Yushi panted, “Where’s the guest?!”

Professor Ji said, “Already left.”

The wooden fan in the study creaked softly. The wind from it rustled the pages on the desk.

It was a very ordinary summer day.

Ji Yushi’s tense body suddenly relaxed and his expression turned blank, but when his eyes inadvertently saw the cup on the table, his pupils suddenly dilated,

There were two ceramic cups on the table.

Professor Ji loved to drink tea, a light jasmine tea.

Only half of it was drunk and the water was still hot. It meant that the guest was only recently here.

But the handle of one of the cups was perpendicular to the edge of the table.

On the day he returned to 1439 and noticed the blood spilling out from the study, Sheng Yun had brought over a cup of water for him. When he saw this, he had placed the cup on the table.

The cup handle and the edge of the table were perpendicular.

His father had always disliked cups with handles, so every time he used them, he would turn the handles so that they were perpendicular to the edge of the table. This habit was something he had maintained for many years. It was unknown how many times he had done this in Ji Yushi’s memory.

The large hand that placed the cup down countless times during breakfast, dinner, and at work….All those scenes overlapped perfectly with the cup in front of him.

Ji Yushi’s lips trembled. He asked with a part of him in disbelief and a part of him certain, “He was here, wasn’t he?”

Professor Ji also looked at the cup. He could only give up hiding it. He placed down the magnifying glass and said, “Yes.”

Was it a good thing when a child is too smart?

Ji Yushi didn’t speak.

He seemed to be in daze.

“Jian Jian.” Professor Ji spoke earnestly, “It’s time to let it go.”

Ji Yushi thought he had already let it go.

But at this moment, he didn’t know how to answer.

Was this the first time or had it happened many times already?

Has his teacher seen his father many times without his knowledge? When he asked his teacher about the portrait he drew of the other person he met in Rubik’s Cube last time, did his teacher tell him the truth?

For a while, he had some difficulty sorting out his thoughts.

He just heard Professor Ji ask, “Do you know why I am so against you joining Tianqiong to become a Recorder?”

Ji Yushi stood stunned in place.

“It was because, as soon as humans gain the ability to look back in time, they will become obsessed with it. They become unable to distinguish between the past and present, and there is no longer a clear boundary between right and wrong.” Professor Ji said, “Because you can’t let go, the more you try to correct the mistakes, the deeper you sink in. You become a prisoner of time.”

“After seeing that you have let go, he was able to truly let go.”

“After so many years, he has learnt to let go of you.”

Scene after scene returned to him.

The stranger who had kindly carried him away from an oncoming car when he was crossing the road as a child.

The stranger who helped him up and put ointment on his knee after tripping over a rock and scraping his knee.

The stranger who gave him a bottle of iced water when he walked out of the examination room after his college entrance examination.

……

Those different faces weren’t memorable at all, but they all had the same body type. It all overlapped in an instant and changed into a lone figure.

It was the back figure from deep in his memories.

It was his father’s back figure.

Turns out, he had always been loved.

Ji Yushi’s tears fell.

The phone in his hand vibrated. He subconsciously looked at it. It was a reply from Song Qinglan.

Song Qinglan: [Waiting for you at home.]

The trees outside the window were lush.

The sun was bright.

The mist will eventually be dispelled by the bright sun. (KKnotes: SQL’s name: 宋晴岚 (Song Qinglan) – Sunny haze/mist/fog)

Time continues on, but love was everlasting.

He had never felt this blessed before.

From possessing nothing to possessing everything.

He was Ji Yushi, and he was also Sheng Han.

[END]

KK has something to say:

The end! Phew, I hope I did alright with my translations. This one was definitely a complicated novel that requires some thinking and rereading to understand 😅 Hopefully my translations were clear enough and you guys weren’t too confused….(Honestly there are still things I’m a little confused about, especially about Tianqiong of all eras and also about JYS’s father…..I look forward to reading everyone’s theories and discussions!)

In all honesty, writing a story about time travel and parallel universes and all that without plot holes/ paradoxes/obvious mistakes is actually really, really hard. I personally think Mist did a pretty good job with it especially with something this complex (but something this complex is also something that can turn people off so it’s perfectly understandable if this wasn’t your cup of tea haha). I can’t say that there weren’t any issues, but it was pretty nice to see that the entire novel was planned out by the author from the very beginning and that most things made somewhat sense.

Anyway, it’s not over yet! We’ve still got three extras to go~

Happy reading!