Fleeting Dream Across Three Lifetimes - Chapter 1

Just past Minor Heat, the summer sun already carried a trace of heat. It wasn’t unbearable yet, but it had grown rather strong. The streets bustled with cars and people, the fast pace of city life making everything seem a little hurried. The bright sunlight poured down, illuminating every corner of the city, though young women who loved beauty did not want too much of its gift. Most carried parasols, walking along the streets laughing and chatting.

From Jinyang Tower, a slender girl stepped out at a measured pace. She wore a simple, thin white blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, showing a stretch of pale, elegant arm. Her lower half was dressed in black cropped slim pants, paired with white mid-heeled sandals. She squinted slightly at the dazzling sun. Standing there in the light, even the fine down on her delicate face seemed to glow. The girl was very beautiful. With only a touch of light makeup, her skin was fair and smooth, her nose straight, and her dark eyes carried a calm aloofness far beyond her years. Her lips pressed lightly together, her gaze tranquil and without ripples, making her air of coolness unmistakable even under the sun. She walked straight on, unhurried, her pace steady, in stark contrast to the parasol-holding girls around her.

A tall, long-legged beauty with such a cool, striking temperament naturally drew eyes in the somewhat stifling summer heat, catching glances all along the way. But the person herself seemed unaware, keeping her steady pace until she reached a bus stop. She waited quietly, and finally boarded the bus along with the others.

When she got off the bus, Qin Mohan straightened the wrinkles pressed into her blouse, then walked toward a nearby residential complex. Just as she was about to enter the corridor, she paused, turned, and stopped by a small shop beside it to pack up a serving of wontons before heading upstairs. 

She pulled out her keys, unlocked the door, and changed shoes at the entryway. The apartment was only about seventy square meters, two bedrooms and one living room, a little small but neatly kept.

After putting on her slippers, she placed the steaming wontons on the coffee table. Hearing the running water in the bathroom, she gave a slight shake of her head.

Soon, a delicate girl with messy hair and a face still damp from water came out. She looked as if she had just washed her face, but was still yawning, shuffling into the living room half-asleep.

“It’s already late, still sleepy?” Stepping forward, Qin Mohan handed her a towel. Her clear, pleasant voice poured out, waking the drowsy girl instantly.

Jiang Si widened her eyes in shock. “Did I sleep until the evening?” Otherwise why would Qin Mohan, who should be at work, be home now?

With a faint laugh, Qin Mohan shook her head, tossed her the towel, then walked to the water dispenser to pour herself a glass. She glanced at her watch and said coolly, “If my watch isn’t wrong, it’s ten forty-five and thirty seconds. Clearly not evening.”

“Then… then you’re not working today? Leaving early on your first day?” Jiang Si’s muddled mind finally cleared. Today was Qin Mohan’s official first day as a regular employee. She had excelled at university, secured an internship at the Xia Group, and earned praise from colleagues and supervisors alike. Today she was supposed to sign her official contract. How could she be wasting time at home like this, the same as her?

Qin Mohan lowered her eyes slightly, then gestured at the wontons on the table. “Breakfast for you. Wontons from Aunt Zhang’s downstairs. Eat while they’re hot.”

At her reminder, Jiang Si’s sense of smell seemed to revive. She followed the aroma with delight, inhaled deeply, and exclaimed in joy, “Wontons! Mohan, I love you to death!”

Watching her forget her earlier question entirely, burying her head in the food while crying out from the heat and gulping down soup, the coolness on Qin Mohan’s face softened into the trace of a smile.

“Wake up earlier from now on. Skipping breakfast isn’t good.” She opened her laptop and began sorting her graduation thesis. The defense was over, and in a few days she had to submit it to her advisor.

Mouth full of wontons, Jiang Si mumbled, “I’m busy with cultivation all night. How could I wake up early?”

Qin Mohan paused, thought briefly over the odd phrase, and more or less understood she was talking about staying up reading. Her fingers resumed tapping on the keyboard. Without turning her head, she said, “So is it you who want to ascend, or your phone?”

Jiang Si pouted. “I have no choice. The old man won’t let me work in my own field and insists I join his company. Like a rice weevil, if I don’t want to rot away doing nothing, I need some spiritual food. The thing is, the novels are just too good. From the start I couldn’t control myself. Why don’t you try? Isn’t burying yourself in textbooks and dry English originals exhausting? Light novels that don’t require much thought are much better.” Jiang Si hadn’t studied the same major as her. Qin Mohan majored in engineering management, while Jiang Si had chosen architecture out of spite. She had never liked it, but with a wealthy family and no financial pressure, she simply went along. Instead, she poured effort into anime, drawing, and music—an archetypal homebody.

Qin Mohan shook her head. She had always been a dull person, never interested in anything. Reading, studying, working hard; none of it appealed to her. She only did it because that was what the world valued, so she went along. Gaining brought no joy, losing caused no pain. Just like today, losing her job didn’t sting. From childhood to now, she had never had a friend. As for family, it was said she had been abandoned at birth, found on the street, and sent to an orphanage. There was nothing to speak of there.

Jiang Si’s presence was almost comedic. A homebody obsessed with anime and beautiful faces, most of the time with no motive or reason for her fascination. Even faced with the utterly boring Qin Mohan back then, she had still been warm and enthusiastic. After four years of university, she had finally melted that block of soft ice and even managed to rope her into co-renting an apartment.

After finishing the wontons, Jiang Si saw her drifting off again, and couldn’t help but worry. This Qin Mohan always seemed to float outside the world itself. She remembered her earlier question and asked carefully, “Mohan, tell me honestly, did something happen today? Why did you come back so soon?”

Qin Mohan lowered her head and smiled faintly. “Nothing much, just that the signing didn’t go through.”

“Didn’t go through?” Jiang Si was stunned, then frowned. “Impossible. The Xia Group may be a top company, but you’re so outstanding, how could they not want you? Did they make some unreasonable demand?”

Qin Mohan didn’t answer immediately. She thought for a moment, then said evenly, “I acted on impulse and kicked Manager Zhu.”

Jiang Si was no fool, her face darkened. “That old pervert! Was he trying to take advantage of you? With that pathetic look of his, he actually dared to… Doesn’t he ever look at himself? Pig-headed, pig-brained, with that lecherous stare— Ugh, so ugly I could vomit. I don’t even know if the president of Xia Group is blind to tolerate him!” As a face-obsessed girl, that time she had gone to the company to pick up Qin Mohan in the rain, her eyes had been severely assaulted. His sleazy, vulgar aura couldn’t be hidden even under a suit of designer brands. If not for Qin Mohan helping her “wash her eyes,” she might really have gone blind.

After cursing, she grew worried. Qin Mohan was an orphan, and after graduation she still had loans to repay. If she lost this job, what would she do?

“Mohan, now that this job is gone, what will you do next? My company may not be much, but at least it could tide you over, do you want…”

“Thank you, I’m not in a rush yet. My major is too different from your company’s main business. Aside from small administrative things, I’d be of no use. I took an online translation job before, and I’ve saved some money from university. It should be enough to hold me until I find a new job.” Qin Mohan declined her kindness politely. Jiang Si had helped her a lot; she didn’t want to trouble her further.

“Mm, you’re so capable, you’ll definitely find a good job soon!”

***

At night, lying in bed, Qin Mohan felt a little lost. She thought her life was too meaningless. She always felt no sense of belonging in this world. Whatever she did, she could never invest passion into it. Not even in love.

Ever since school, many people had pursued her, but she had never been able to feel even a spark of interest. Others said she was pretending to be aloof, but she knew very well she truly didn’t like them.

The children who had entered the orphanage with her had all been adopted, except for her. Though she was cute and pretty, she was always overlooked or taken in only to be returned. Even the one couple who truly loved her died in a car accident as they were preparing to register her in their household. Anyone who grew too close to her seemed to suffer misfortune. As for Jiang Si… Besides that person, she was the first to stay safely by her side, and the one who had been with her the longest. But she was still afraid. Maybe there really were such things as cursed stars in the world.

And that person, the one who had accompanied her so long through her twenty-one years, had also been gone for so long now. How long had it been? Qin Mohan looked into the darkness, silently sighing in her heart. Six years, three months, and five days. Ever since her fifteenth birthday, after that person celebrated with her, she had never appeared again. Just as she had appeared suddenly, she had disappeared just as suddenly. And Qin Mohan could only endure it, because she couldn’t find her. Where could she look for someone who appeared only in dreams?

Being harassed, being slandered or insulted, none of that truly upset her. But each time she experienced such things, she would think of that person. Her absence was the real source of her sadness.

Lost in these scattered thoughts, she drifted off to sleep. In her dream, she walked aimlessly, surrounded by hazy mist. Other than a few vague hints of green, she could see nothing clearly. Yet she felt calm, following the faint pull in her heart, parting layers of fog until at last she glimpsed a streak of red.

Her face stayed composed, but Qin Mohan’s heart gave a tremor. In her indifferent dark eyes flickered the faintest trace of joy.

That streak of red grew clearer, slowly revealing a graceful, enchanting silhouette. From the cascade of black hair, a single red ribbon bound a strand, hanging down among the tresses. A red sash tied the wide sleeves of her scarlet gown, outlining a slender waist. Even from behind, one could guess how alluring she must be.

Qin Mohan stared at her blankly. The moment that person turned, all the mist scattered, leaving only her. So clear, so real.

On the woman’s forehead bloomed a crimson iris flower, vivid and seductive. Her face was as radiant and captivating as ever.

When she saw Qin Mohan, her eyes held a faint ache as she gazed at her, but soon a gentle smile replaced it. “Mohan.”

Qin Mohan softly responded and slowly walked over. Her eyes wavered slightly, fixing on her intently, yet she said nothing.

The woman was clearly not as calm as she was. Her peach blossom eyes locked onto Qin Mohan’s face, both sad and joyful. After a long while, she said in a trembling whisper, “You’ve grown up. You’re just the same as before.”

Qin Mohan’s brows drew together lightly. What did she mean, the same as before?

Seeing her silent for so long, the woman in red grew flustered. “Mohan… D-don’t you remember me?”

Qin Mohan sighed. “You’ve been gone for more than six years. I really thought I’d dreamed an absurd dream when I was a child.”

The woman’s face showed sorrow. “I… I’m sorry.”

Qin Mohan smiled faintly and shook her head, then said seriously, “Can you tell me now why you appear in my dreams, and why you suddenly disappeared for so long?”

The woman lifted her eyes to her, but only gave a soft smile. She leaned in and whispered, “Because I like you.”

Qin Mohan was stunned, a thin flush spreading over her face. She lowered her head slightly without speaking. She still liked to tease her, as always. After a moment she said softly, “If that were true, you wouldn’t have left.”

The woman froze and fell silent for a long time before murmuring, “I can’t stay here with you all the time.”

Qin Mohan felt a hollowness in her chest but had long expected this. She had lived an ordinary life, and apart from this secret she had never shared with anyone, she was nothing more than an ordinary person. How could she expect to keep such a fantastical, intoxicating dream forever? Yet the woman before her, the one who had grown up with her in dreams, was the only person in this world who made her feel a sense of belonging. She didn’t know why, but from her earliest memories, she had felt this woman was familiar. Only with her did she feel truly alive.

She slowly raised her head, calmly looking at the woman before her. “So, Zhi Mo, you’re leaving?”

At being called Zhi Mo, the woman’s body trembled. Her elegant brows knit slightly, and she nodded. When she saw Qin Mohan’s face go blank, she softly said again, “If I wanted to take you with me, would you be willing?”