Ji Yushi rested for two days in Jiangcheng before heading back to Ningcheng.

This time, he didn’t let Song Qinglan take him to the station because he had to go straight to the Ji family’s home. Meeting the parents was always a troublesome affair, and neither of them wanted to rush it. Before leaving, they spent some time by the large window, with Song Qinglan holding him from behind, reluctant to let go.

The marks on Ji Yushi’s body had just started to fade, so he wasn’t about to let Song Qinglan mess things up. He didn’t want Song Qinglan to leave a bad impression on his father.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you?” Song Qinglan tried to persuade him.

“No need,” Ji Yushi replied calmly. “This time, you can stand here and watch the train take me away and then bring me back from Ningcheng. As your boyfriend, I should fulfill your wish.”

Song Qinglan: “…”

Who the hell wanted that wish?

Ji Yushi was a man of few words and firm actions. When he said he was leaving, he left without any hesitation.

Song Qinglan watched him enter the elevator. When the elevator’s number stopped at the first floor, he stood by the door for a while longer before returning to the apartment.

Once Ji Yushi left, the apartment suddenly felt very empty. Song Qinglan glanced around the living room and began planning the upcoming renovations. He had a reason for not insisting on going with Ji Yushi to Ningcheng—he needed to use these few days to remodel the apartment so that when Ji Yushi returned, he could surprise him.

When he had been waiting for Ji Yushi to respond to his confession, time had felt too slow.

Now that they were together, time felt too fast. Even if they had a whole lifetime together, it still didn’t seem like enough.

As he made calls to people he knew in the industry, he walked into the bedroom.

Two items on the nightstand caught his attention.

One was a small, square box, clean and unmarked.

It was Ji Yushi’s pillbox.

The other was a small, black-and-white handheld game console, with a retro design. The labels on the buttons were worn down from long use, making them difficult to read.

It was Ji Yushi’s game console.

He didn’t know when Ji Yushi had hidden the pillbox. Clearly, when Song Qinglan had confiscated it last time, Ji Yushi hadn’t handed over everything and had kept some pills to secretly take later. After they had returned and retrieved their personal belongings from the third command center, Ji Yushi had kept it with him.

The game console was something Ji Yushi never parted with.

Song Qinglan remembered how angry Ji Yushi had been when the game console was broken by the man with the black face on PU-31. The stab that pierced the black-faced man’s hand and lodged in the bottom of the car had hurt just thinking about it.

Song Qinglan smiled slightly.

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

The windows were clear, and the sky was blue.

The life he and Ji Yushi would share still had a long way to go.

Ji Yushi returned to Ningcheng.

Ji Minyue, knowing that his brother had finally decided to leave his boyfriend’s side, couldn’t wait to take three cats to the station to pick him up. The cat-and-dog war between the black cat and the corgi at home was driving him crazy.

“Xiao Ji, you’ve changed.” Ji Minyue said with great sorrow, “I always thought you were above worldly concerns, but now you’re not only involved in a relationship, but it’s all you think about! You don’t care about the cats anymore, and you don’t even come home!”

“What?” Ji Yushi was shocked. “You and your wife moved in together after three months, so why are you complaining about me?”

Ji Minyue: “So what?”

Ji Yushi got into the car and randomly pulled out one of the cats from the carrier: “So nothing. I just wanted to tell you that we’re moving in together too, and it only took a month and a half.”

Ji Minyue was thunderstruck.

Did they even need to compete over this?!

Seeing his brother focused on petting the cat and ignoring him completely, Ji Minyue roared, “Moving in together? Did you ask for my opinion? Did you ask for Dad’s opinion? Let me tell you, Dad definitely won’t agree!”

Ji Yushi stroked the black cat, its smooth fur slipping through his pale fingers.

The other two cats meowed from inside the carrier. Surrounded by the three cats, Ji Yushi remained calm: “It’s work-related.”

If you counted it, these three cats were actually seventeen years old.

Since that summer day of torrential rain when he started living alone, they had been his companions. Now it was time for them to go live with another owner.

It was said that cats had poor memories.

But Ji Yushi felt that on the day Song Qinglan first truly came to his home, the black cat had definitely recognized the person who had saved them.

Ji Minyue was taken aback: “Work-related?”

Ji Yushi looked up, his expression as calm as ever, but there was something in his eyes that Ji Minyue hadn’t seen before. It was a spark of interest in a new life, full of vitality. The Ji Yushi who had once carried the weight of everything on his shoulders seemed to have vanished.

“I’ve agreed to the transfer order to Jiangcheng to become an official Guardian,” Ji Yushi said. “Professor should already know.”

If Minister Lin knew, then their father would definitely know.

Ji Minyue hadn’t heard a word of this, so it seemed their father was waiting for Ji Yushi to come home and tell him himself.

Maybe it was because Ji Yushi was so serious and looked so natural that Ji Minyue was caught off guard and couldn’t find words to refute him. They had driven a few more kilometers before it hit him: “Wait.”

Ji Yushi turned his head to look out the window.

He was actually smiling.

“What do you mean by ‘work-related’?” Ji Minyue smacked the steering wheel. “You’re transferring there just to live with a man, aren’t you?!”

The two of them first returned to Ji Yushi’s home, where they released the cats, gave them food and water, and even added a few extra treats. Then they drove to their family home.

That day was an important one for the Ji family.

Since the day Ji Yushi officially became a member of the Ji family, the shadow of 1439 had hung over them. Over the years, it had not only caused Ji Yushi sleepless nights but had also become a scar that the entire family struggled to heal.

Little Ji Yushi had grown up sheltered in this home, leaving his footprints all over the large house.

For him, returning to 1439 had no significance in terms of finding his roots because this was his real home.

Every member of the Ji family was waiting for him to reveal the truth, waiting for him to recount everything that had happened back then.

When Ji Yushi returned to the Ji family’s home, Aunt Su told him that his father was in a meeting with a guest.

It was rare for guests to visit their home, and those who did were mostly Professor Ji’s students or a few close friends like Minister Lin.

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

Captain Song was fixated on the idea of how he had supposedly kissed “Han Han” for three minutes when they were kids, insisting that Ji Yushi must have remembered it wrong. He wanted to see photos from Ji Yushi’s childhood to trigger any subconscious memories of the “three-minute kiss” and righteously claimed he couldn’t let someone with hyperthymesia deprive him of his memories.

“How did you kiss?”

Those kisses, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, trailed down from his back to his tailbone, as the other person teasingly asked amidst their heavy breathing.

“Tell me, Han Han. How do you remember so clearly?”

Ji Yushi stood at his desk, a phone ringing snapped him back to reality.

Certain images flashed in his mind at an inopportune moment, making him blush and even break out in a light sweat.

Fortunately, he had experienced such moments many times growing up, so at least this time, the images flooding his mind were pleasant.

He took out his phone. Speak of the devil—there was a call from Song Qinglan.

“Are you home yet?” Song Qinglan’s voice carried a hint of amusement. “You answered so quickly. Were you just thinking about me?”

He hit the nail on the head.

Ji Yushi wasn’t flustered at all and simply said, “I dropped the cats off first and just got home. What’s that noise on your end?”

“Checking up on me?” Song Qinglan’s side was noisy, but he still teased him. “I’m on a blind date.”

Ji Yushi was speechless: “…”

Song Qinglan stopped joking: “I’m accompanying Lao Duan on his blind date.”

Someone nearby shouted, “Consultant Ji, you need to do something about this! Does he really need this kind of support for a blind date? I’m more than enough!”

The voice was unmistakably Li Chun’s.

After hearing the loud voice, Ji Yushi also heard other familiar voices—Tang Qi, Tang Le, Zhou Mingxuan, and Duan Wen.

Whenever they gathered, it was always noisy. This was typical of Team Seven.

Song Qinglan cursed and shooed them away. Once it quieted down, Ji Yushi asked, “Does Lao Duan really need a blind date?”

“Not everyone can be as much of a scumbag as Li Chun. A single man in his thirties, surrounded by other guys—if he doesn’t go on dates, his only other option is to come out of the closet.” Song Qinglan said, “Just kidding. The girl left a while ago, and we’re just having a meal. I’ll treat them again when you’re back.”

Ji Yushi readily agreed.

“By the way,” Song Qinglan continued, “I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”

“The good news.” He didn’t hesitate.

Song Qinglan chuckled, “The command center received a distress signal from an unknown coordinate, likely from another timeline. I looked at the content of the signal just sent by Minister Wang. I wouldn’t mistake those scribbles even if they were turned to ashes. It’s definitely from the timeline of the bearded man, which means they might be in trouble.”

Ji Yushi: “?”

Song Qinglan: “The good news is, our team is still on vacation, and this time, they’re sending Team Nine on the mission.”

In his heart, Ji Yushi lit a candle for Lin Xinyan: “And the bad news?”

Song Qinglan said, “The bad news is, you need to find time to provide some written references for those brats in Team Nine.”

Ji Yushi didn’t consider that bad news; it wouldn’t take him much time to prepare the materials.

Song Qinglan then asked him about the cats’ favorite food and snacks before reminding him, “Don’t forget to look for the photos.”

After hanging up, Ji Yushi thought briefly about the angle he should take for writing the decoding plan for the bearded man’s language.

Then, he retrieved a photo album, a ritualistic object in this digital age, and began flipping through his childhood photos.

He flipped through the pages, through those distant yet vividly clear memories, through those old times.

There were few photos of Ji Yushi as a child because he grew up with a single parent, and in the few photos he had, he was always alone, as his father was the one taking the pictures. After coming to the Ji family, there was a period of time when the album had a gap—those years when the Ji family was exhausted from taking care of his illness, leaving them with no energy to take photos. It wasn’t until two or three years later, when he gradually recovered, that they started documenting many family moments together.

When he reached one of the photos, he paused on that page.

In the photo, a child of about four or five years old, with fair skin and bright black eyes, was holding a small duck and smiling brilliantly at the camera.

That was the year before everything happened.

It was the most carefree time.

This was the photo Song Qinglan had been looking for.

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

After doing that, he casually flipped through the album, only to suddenly stop.

There was an extra photo in the album.

In it, a young man wearing glasses held a small baby in his arms, with a beautiful woman with fair skin standing beside him.

The two stood close together, and their wedding rings gleamed on their fingers. They smiled happily at the camera.

Ji Yushi remembered very clearly that this photo had never been in the album before!

His hands trembled slightly because, although he had been very young at the time, he remembered that this photo had been accidentally torn up by his heartbroken father after his mother’s car accident. The pieces had long disappeared—how could it have traveled through more than twenty years to end up in this album?!

There was only one reasonable explanation—

Ji Yushi closed the album and quickly walked out of his room, heading toward Professor Ji’s study.

He walked quickly, his footsteps pounding on the wooden floor, catching the attention of Ji Minyue and Aunt Su downstairs, but he didn’t have time to pay them any mind. As an adult, Ji Yushi had never been this impulsive, but even as he rushed to the study and pushed open the door, he only saw Professor Ji inside.

“What’s the matter?” Professor Ji was standing by the window, using a magnifying glass to examine the patterns on a stone.

“I…” Ji Yushi was out of breath. “Where’s the guest?!”

Professor Ji said, “He left a while ago.”

The wooden fan in the study creaked as it turned, the breeze rustling the pages of the books on the desk.

Outside, the trees cast dappled shadows.

The sunlight was just right.

It was a very ordinary summer day.

Ji Yushi suddenly felt all the tension leave his body, and his expression turned to one of confusion. But when his gaze inadvertently fell on the cups on the desk, his pupils dilated.

There were two ceramic cups on the desk.

The tea was Professor Ji’s favorite—a light jasmine blend.

One cup was half-empty, and the water was still warm, indicating that a guest had indeed been there recently.

However, the handle of one of the cups was aligned vertically with the edge of the desk.

That day, when he had returned to 1439, he had seen blood seeping from the study.

Sheng Yun had gone to pour water for the guest, and upon returning from the kitchen, he had seen the scene and placed the cup on the desk.

The handle was aligned vertically with the edge of the desk.

His father had always disliked cups with handles, finding them inelegant, so whenever he used one, he would align the handle vertically with the desk. This habit had been maintained for many years, repeated countless times in Ji Yushi’s memory.

In his memory, those large hands had set down the cup countless times—at breakfast, at midnight, during work…each time overlapping perfectly with the current moment.

Ji Yushi’s lips trembled as he asked, both incredulous and certain, “He was here, wasn’t he?”

Professor Ji looked at the cup as well and, realizing there was no point in hiding it, put down the magnifying glass. “Yes.”

Is it a blessing or a curse for a child to be this intelligent?

Ji Yushi didn’t say anything.

He seemed lost in thought.

“Han Han.” Professor Ji said earnestly, “It’s time to let go.”

Ji Yushi thought he had already let go.

But now, he didn’t know how to respond.

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

Had his teacher already met his father many times without him noticing? When he had asked his teacher to look at the image of another person in the Rubik’s Cube last time, had the teacher not told the truth?

He suddenly found it difficult to untangle his thoughts.

He heard Professor Ji ask, “Do you know why I was so opposed to you becoming a Recorder in Sky Vault?”

Ji Yushi stood there, stunned.

“It’s because once humans have the ability to look back in time, they become obsessed with it, unable to distinguish between the past and reality, and the lines between right and wrong become blurred.” Professor Ji said, “The more they try to correct mistakes, the deeper they fall into the trap, becoming prisoners of time.”

“Once you let go, he can truly let go too.”

“After all these years, he’s learned to let you go.”

In an instant, memories flooded back.

The stranger who had kindly picked him up from the road when he was a child.

The stranger who had helped him up and taken him to get some red medicine after he tripped on a stone and scraped his knee on the way home.

The stranger who handed him a bottle of iced mineral water after his college entrance exams.

…

Those unfamiliar faces, which had left no significant impression on him, yet had the same build, suddenly overlapped in his mind.

They became a figure deeply etched in his memory.

His father’s figure.

It turned out he had always been loved.

Tears welled up in Ji Yushi’s eyes.

His phone vibrated lightly in his hand, and he instinctively glanced at it. It was a message from Song Qinglan.

Song Qinglan: [I’m waiting for you at home.]

Time passes, but love endures.

He had never felt so happy as he did at that moment.

From having nothing to having everything.

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