A Chan – CH 095

Chapter 95: Covering Me (2)

Li Weiyi carried her bag and went downstairs to her car, a small car worth about 40,000 to 50,000 yuan. In this life, she still studied painting, but because she spent a lot of time taking care of Zhang Jingchan, her fame and income were much lower than in her previous life; however, she had enough to live on, and she had also learned to drive. After graduating from university, Li Yunmo worked as a marketing specialist at a company. It was a busy and tiring job, and he didn’t earn much.

Besides their living expenses, the two friends used all their extra money to pay for Zhang Jingchan’s nursing home.

The sun was shining brightly today. Li Weiyi drove along a road in the suburbs, with winding rivers and verdant farmland on either side. At a certain moment, she habitually picked up the pendant around her neck, rubbing it between her fingers. Looking down, she saw it was the old gold Buddha that Zhang Moyun had given her eight years ago, before his death.

Li Weiyi gazed at the gold Buddha, brought it to her lips, and gently kissed it.

The nursing home wasn’t large, but it was clean and tidy, and the caregivers were quite attentive. Li Weiyi and Li Yunmo visited frequently, so Zhang Jingchan received excellent care and rehabilitation exercises.

Soon they arrived at her room. The caregiver was just coming out with a basin, smiling at her.

Li Weiyi asked, “Is he… alright?”

The nurse looked at her strangely. “Same as always, fine.”

Li Weiyi said, “Oh,” and tried to push open the door, but her hand went limp, and she slowly pushed it open.

The room looked exactly like she remembered. South-facing, simple and narrow, warm sunlight, clean curtains.

The white sheets covered his waist. He was wearing the sweater she had bought him, his arms outside the covers, as if he were simply asleep.

Li Weiyi first placed her backpack on the table, turned her back to him, stood there for a while, then smiled and walked over. But the moment she saw the face on the bed, her smile vanished, and tears blurred her vision.

Zhang Jingchan really was the same as before: short black hair, a fair face, prominent brow bones, and a straight nose. Even with his eyes closed, she could see his aloofness. Only his face looked thinner than before—just like hers.

Li Weiyi sat down beside the bed, took his hand, and gently stroked his fingers, her voice so soft only the two of them could hear: “Zhang Jingchan, why aren’t you awake yet? I’m back.”

In every life, even his first, burdened with a billion in debt, he was a superior being, exuding an air of grandeur and extraordinary nobility.

But this time, he lay weakly in bed, having relied on others for even basic survival for the past eight years. As Li Weiyi looked at him, she suddenly felt she couldn’t bear it anymore. Tears welled in her eyes as she asked him, “How could you be so foolish? Why did you shield me from the crane? Back then… back then… I was the real man! And aren’t you a big CEO? How could you not do the math? Even if I’m bedridden for eight years, what does it matter? I’m just a nobody anyway. But you’re destined to be the richest man in the world! You still owe me a hundred million! And you’ve been bedridden for eight years, in this dilapidated place for eight years. You’ll have nothing left in this life… It’s all my fault. I’m so useless, I can’t earn any big money, leaving you living in a place like this…”

She cried for a while, gradually calming down, but more and more memories, with the outburst of emotion, vividly flooded her mind.

She saw herself and Li Yunmo every year on Zhang Jingchan’s birthday, holding a small cake, singing “Happy Birthday” to him; she also saw herself leaving her acceptance letter on his bedside table overnight after being admitted to her ideal art academy; she also saw herself crying in front of him because of work troubles, threatening that if he didn’t wake up and comfort her, she would cheat on him.

In the end, she still washed the two pieces of clothing he had changed out of and went home crying again; she saw how, upon discovering that a caregiver had been lazy and hadn’t given him rehabilitation and massages, she had been so angry that she had kept watch in his room for three days and three nights, her gloomy face silencing every caregiver; she saw how, in the dead of night, she would climb into his bed, take his arm, and sleep in his arms, gazing at the stars outside the window, their fingers intertwined.

…

Tears fell again like threads. So many memories, every little detail of the past eight years, as if Li Weiyi had personally experienced them, vivid and unforgettable.

At the same time, a strange yet familiar, incredibly profound, silent emotion that could only accumulate over the years slowly welled up deep within Li Weiyi’s chest.

Li Weiyi was stunned.

This experience seemed familiar.

In her previous life, she too had harbored deep feelings for Xu Yi and had also tried to erode her heart time and again in this way. But Li Weiyi ultimately chose to resist, to ignore. She completely erased “her,” the person Xu Yi deeply loved, disappearing from the timeline. That feeling, with each iteration of time, had long since faded beyond recognition.

But at this moment, Li Weiyi felt the struggle and turmoil of emotions within her chest, as if she heard the “her” of this life silently asking, “Could you preserve my feelings for Zhang Jingchan? Let my love for him continue in you?”

Li Weiyi lowered her head, a bittersweet smile spreading across her face.

So that’s how it is.

So, loving someone for eight years, desperately yet hopefully, was…

Such feelings.

Zhang Jingchan, this time, you’ve really gotten a great deal.

I can’t bear to part with it.

These eight years, day and night, so deep and meaningful—I don’t even need to think about it; I can’t bear to discard a single one. I only want to cherish every dusk and dawn spent with you, to carefully preserve them in my heart.

So, do I have any other choice?

No, I won’t.

She closed her eyes, thinking that she had been wrong before.

She hadn’t completely overshadowed the “her” in this timeline.

The only Li Weiyi, the Li Weiyi who travels through countless timelines, only in this life, willingly allowed herself to be covered by “her” emotions.

She was completely unable to resist; those feelings seemed to have grown into her bones and flesh. She could even feel that enduring affection constantly merging with her original goodwill and infatuation with Zhang Jingchan, like a vast ocean and a rushing stream, gradually becoming one.

From this moment on, she was “her,” and “she” was always her.

…

When Li Weiyi looked up again, her gaze towards Zhang Jingchan had changed.

Suddenly, a flash of white light seemed to pass through her mind, followed by a profound and enlightening realization.

So…so…

Was he the same back then?

In her previous life, Zhang Jingchan woke up on January 13, 2022. Faced with “his” complex and unwavering feelings for Li Weiyi over the past eight years, what choice would she make?

Would Zhang Jingchan, with his stubborn nature, have any other choice?

No, he wouldn’t.

Only at this moment did Li Weiyi understand why, on that day in her previous life, when she became Xu Yi’s girlfriend and ran to his office, he looked at her with those eyes—silent, restrained, untouchable. Why he asked her how she had been all these years. Why he kissed her so fiercely, as if he were collecting a debt. Because he was there to collect a debt, to collect a debt for the younger version of himself who had waited from boyhood to adulthood.

Because on the day he woke up, he too couldn’t bear to part with those eight years of feelings, willingly letting “himself” be covered by them. From that day on, his feelings for her were different.

Li Weiyi covered her mouth and cried out.

She had always thought that time travel was just a fleeting moment.

Now she knew he had waited for a full eight years.

Li Weiyi lay by the bed, burying her face in his hands, not knowing how much time had passed.

Until someone knocked on the door.

She sat up straight, wiped her face with a wet wipe, and turned to say, “Come in.”

Xu Yi, dressed in a black overcoat, pushed open the door, his eyes bright and clear as he looked at her.