In the dream, petals drifted down. Chu Lian stood before a peach tree, gazing at the endless sea of petals carried by the wind, and the crescent moon glowing faintly blue. A trace of confusion suddenly flashed in her eyes.
"Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?" She didn't know what she was supposed to do. It felt like she should return to some place—but where exactly was she meant to go?
"The peach blossoms... they bloom, they fall, and another spring has passed? Spring... that's the season full of life..." Chu Lian murmured softly. The stirring in her heart, and that strange impulse to let all her emotions scatter like falling petals—what was it, exactly?
"Yes, flowers blooming and fading is only natural. Just like people—being born and dying—it's all part of a normal cycle. No matter how fiercely one struggles, there's no way to resist it, right?"
As this thought turned in her mind, her figure suddenly blurred, like a distorted electronic image suffering from signal interference.
"After all, I have no attachments." There wasn't a single memory in her mind. No one was calling out to her. She couldn't even remember her own name. How long could she hold on like this?
Perhaps, after being abandoned by everyone, after losing all hope, she had forgotten everyone—that was why she had become like this. Just what kind of terrible person had she been before, to be so unwanted?
She gently shook her head. The petals that had originally drifted around her body now passed straight through her. At this moment, she was far more transparent than when she had first appeared here.
"Is this a sign of disappearing? So I'm going to die?" She reached out, trying to catch the petals, but as they passed through her as if she were nothing more than an illusion, she couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Ah... yes, that must be it. Without anyone who cared about her, she had no reason to continue living. But who exactly was she? Who was she? Who... was she?
Her memories in chaos, as though she had already lost everything, she couldn't recall her own identity at all. With no past, no present, and certainly no future, her memories seemed destined to shatter completely.
"But what is this stubbornness in my heart? Is it telling me not to disappear? What a joke. Having lost everything, wouldn't it be better for me to simply vanish? Why keep lingering here like this... isn't that right?"
She was fading, yet that trace of stubbornness in her heart told her she did not want to disappear.
The moonlight was cold, the wind fierce. She couldn't help but turn back, looking behind her, wondering what was there.
As she brushed aside her drifting hair, her eyes suddenly widened. It seemed as though a figure had just passed before her—but she had no way of knowing who it was.
"Memories... my memories... I want to find my memories." That stubborn resolve in her heart began to take root and grow. She wanted to know—she wanted to find her past.
Yes, she suddenly no longer believed she was such a person. Perhaps it was all just her imagination that made her think she was worthless.
"I need to find my memories. That way, even if I die, I won't have any regrets." As these thoughts settled, her figure became more solid.
The petals once again swirled around her. On the green grass, before the endless stretch of peach blossoms, beneath the cold, moonlit sky, the girl took her first step forward.
Here, she had no abilities. Apart from a white top and a short skirt, she wore nothing else. Even as she moved forward, the wind seemed to make things difficult, blowing directly against her. Yet petals still drifted toward her from unseen places.
Barefoot, she walked across the soft grass, heading toward the place where she had seen that figure. There must be someone there she wanted to find—memories she longed to recover.
"I am definitely not someone who was abandoned. Because the persistence in my heart, my pride, my stubbornness—they tell me that everything needs real, undeniable proof." She murmured softly, letting the wind tug at her clothes.
Through the chaos of her long hair, her eyes shone with unwavering determination.
Reaching out, gently pressing down the strands of hair beside her cheek, she didn't stop walking. Even if she knew that place was far—very far—she would never give up.
"Did it move farther away? But it's becoming clearer... I can reach it. I definitely can." As she advanced, the distant figure grew even farther away, yet its once-blurred features became clearer.
This change brought her no frustration, no despair—only a stronger resolve to move forward.
"Tell me... this must be the real me..." As if responding to her, or perhaps moved by her unwavering determination, a scene formed before her, woven from drifting peach blossom petals.
It was a house—not luxurious, yet not ordinary either. A basket sat in front of an iron gate.
The crisp cry of an infant pierced through the walls, reaching the people inside.
An elderly man, with white hair and beard, a ruddy complexion, and a somewhat thin body yet standing tall and straight, opened the door and saw the basket.
He bent down and looked inside, finding a crying baby boy. Though his heart ached, he also understood—the child had been abandoned.
Because this was an orphanage. Only unwanted babies and children were left here.
He looked around repeatedly, hoping the child's family would appear and take him back.
However, after more than ten minutes had passed, even after the baby had long since stopped crying, he saw no one—nor any sign that anyone had ever been there. He knew then that the child would grow up here.
"Child, from now on, you'll live with Grandpa..." As the old man spoke and carried the baby boy back inside, the scene suddenly scattered into petals.
At the same time, a memory appeared in the girl's mind—one belonging to a past self? She couldn't be certain. But she knew that as she continued forward, all the answers would be revealed.
After walking for a long time, another scene appeared before her.
It was a school. A handsome little boy and a delicate, pretty little girl were playing hide-and-seek. Their joyful laughter seemed to travel through time and space, echoing in her ears, making her feel as though she had become part of the scene.
But was she the boy... or the girl? Without her memories, she didn't know.
As her thoughts shifted, the scene advanced along its timeline in a strange, subtle instant.
The boy had grown up, now as beautiful as a young girl, standing before a girl in a school uniform. He hesitated, stumbling over his words, before finally sighing as he looked into her eyes.
"Yu... maybe we shouldn't get so close anymore. My being near you is only causing you more trouble, isn't it?"
"..." The girl looked into his eyes. There was pain in them, relief, and also confusion. She knew that if this continued, she would only end up hurting him. After all, she was already engaged, wasn't she?
"Mm... from now on, we'll just be friends." Yes, just friends. The ending of childhood sweethearts was usually the same—interrupted by a third party. That was how it was for others, and for them, it was no different.
"Friends..." He forced a smile. After saying those words, he turned and left, leaving the girl standing alone, silently crying as she watched his departing figure. "So... I've finally lost you."
Though the two parted ways, their thoughts were astonishingly the same. After ten years together, the gap in identity and status ultimately made it impossible for them to stay together.
"Su Wan'er... take good care of him." In the girl's heart, that thought seemed to mark the end of their relationship.
"Leave her. Otherwise, both you and she will die." A handsome man grabbed his chin, pressing him down onto the sofa, leaning close to his face as he spoke.
"Okay..." He didn't refuse. He didn't even say anything more—he simply agreed.
Was it cowardice? Perhaps it was. Or perhaps it wasn't.
He was just an ordinary person—no background, no connections, and aside from some talent in acting, nothing particularly remarkable.
Meeting, getting to know, and even falling in love with girls from powerful families—this had always been a mistake of fate. It was never meant to have an ending. Letting go... wasn't that for the best?
"As long as she's safe... that's enough..." Sitting on the ground, leaning against the sofa, he tilted his head back as tears streamed down. After the girl, yet another person had left him.
And yet, he had absolutely no ability to stop any of it.
The scene shattered, everything returning to nothingness not long after the girl resumed walking.
Peach blossoms once again filled the sky. This time, "she" wore a red dress, sitting before a mirror, carefully drawing her long, delicate eyebrows.
What a breathtaking beauty she was. Yet why was there so much sorrow in her eyes? Who had made you so heartbroken?
After finishing her brows, "she" picked up a lipstick and applied a fiery red layer over her already soft, cherry-pink lips.
Standing up, she adjusted her long, flowing hair. She wanted to smile, but couldn't. A person like her... would surely captivate many hearts, wouldn't she?
"But I belong only to myself... because only I like myself."
This was her final performance—her last performance. After this show, "she" fell from a building to her death.
"The past...?" This memory was clearly important, yet she felt as though something was missing. What exactly was missing? She didn't know. She didn't know. She didn't know...
"That must be something very important. Maybe... I just can't find it right now?" She tried to see, to think—but all she found was emptiness.
"So everything disappears along with the memories...?" She kept walking, step by step. Since she had already found these, then what came next... she would surely find that too, right?
In the night sky, a dark cloud suddenly drifted over, blocking the crescent moon. The wind grew violent, the temperature dropped sharply, and a torrential rain fell with thunder, drenching her clothes and long hair.
"Trying to stop me?" Now just a powerless girl, it was already difficult to move forward against the strange, raging wind. With the added downpour, the path ahead would only become even more difficult.
"I know—you want me to give up. And I know that every step I take from here on will be hard. But until I find the memories I want, the past I seek—you won't be able to stop me."
She raised her head and shouted at the dark clouds, as if declaring her resolve.
Boom—! As if angered by her defiance, a bolt of lightning struck down in front of her, blasting a deep crater into the ground. Yet she was not afraid—because she knew she could do it.
Holding onto that belief, the girl stepped forward once more with unwavering determination. Her true self... was waiting just ahead...