Eventually, Zhao Meng could only gently cover Qiao Anhao with the duvets. “I’ll go get you some dinner. Get some rest.”

Qiao Anhao responded with a quiet grunt.

With Zhao Meng out, the room was terrifyingly silent. Qiao Anhao could hear the faint sound of her own breathing. She laid there for a long time before slowly curling her body into itself. Then, with her head buried under the covers, she quietly called out, “Lu Jinnian.”

Her response was a silent room.

A single tear seeped out from Qiao Anhao’s eyes, but the corner of her lips was still gently curved up.

You, who I love the most… I’ll continue to work hard to find you.

Perhaps, I’ll never be able to see you in my life, but looking for you is the only thing that keeps us connected.

And so, I’ll never give up.

Perhaps, we really will meet one day, and we may already have white hair and no teeth.

But, that’s all right. I still want to find you.

You took regret and despair away with you, and left me with the courage and endurance to wait.

When Zhao Meng returned, Qiao Anhao had already fallen asleep. She didn’t wake her up and put her dinner in the thermal container.

The temporary rooms that had been built for the set were far from a hotel. They didn’t even have television. Zhao Meng always liked to sleep late and sit in bed browsing websites on her own, but eventually, she’d get bored, then turn off the lights and fall asleep.

In the middle of the night, whilst Qiao Anhao was asleep, she suddenly felt someone move her duvet. She a.s.sumed it was Zhao Meng, so she kept her eyes shut and murmured, “Stop messing around”.

Then she reached her arm out and slapped the hand that moved her duvet. The hand felt extremely thick and the knuckles were big. It was completely different from Zhao Meng’s delicate and soft small hands. In that instant, Qiao Anhao’s eyes suddenly shot wide open and she was completely awake.

The room was pitch-black, but with the faint moonlight from the windows, she could see a figure next to her bed. Because it was dim, she couldn’t clearly make out the person’s face, but she could definitely tell it was a man.

Qiao Anhao’s body quivered, and she quickly sat up in her bed. “Who are you?”

That man didn’t think that she would suddenly wake up. His hand, which was searching by her pillow for something, suddenly paused. He then reached his arm out in a panic, covering her mouth with a palm, and pushed her whole body back under the covers.

Qiao Anhao only just about made in time to let out a short shriek, before it turned into a weak whining sound.

The man had covered her mouth with an enormous amount of strength. He pressed so hard on her nose that she couldn’t breathe. With a will to cry for help, she reached her hand out to grab his arm, and with all her might, she pinched him hard.

When Qiao Anhao pinched with great force, the man groaned in pain and slightly loosened his hand on her mouth for a moment. She immediately tried to call Zhao Meng, who was dead asleep next to them, but in the end, she could only cry a single word, “Zhao” before the man ruthlessly pressed his hand against her face. He then pulled the pillow from under her head in a swoop and savagely pressed it hard on top of her face.

The pillow was exceptionally soft, and so under the man’s forceful press, Qiao Anhao was completely smothered until she couldn’t breathe. Her hands stretched out in a struggle, when suddenly, she heard a m.u.f.fled sound. Then, the pressure from her face disappeared.