Mu Xueshi could not remember how he had fallen asleep. When he awoke, he discovered that he was actually in a hospital.
What… What is going on…?
The moment Mother Chen saw Chen Youzai awaken, she burst into tears and said, “You’re finally awake! You nearly scared your mother to death.”
Chen Youzai was dumbfounded, his mind completely blank. Gripping Mother Chen’s arm, he asked, “Mom, what happened to me? Why am I here?”
“You still have the nerve to ask? Why did you run off to a nature reserve by yourself? When I couldn’t find you, I called the police. They searched with me for three days and three nights before we finally found you. Fortunately, you were lucky enough not to be eaten by the animals there. Otherwise, Mom would never have seen you again…”
After saying this, Mother Chen began sobbing once more.
Chen Youzai blinked, his thoughts in utter chaos. Had he not traveled to another world? Had he not already married the Third Prince? Why had he returned? Where was the silver coin?…
“Mom, what are you talking about? Why can’t I understand any of it?” Chen Youzai asked with trembling lips.
Mother Chen clutched Chen Youzai’s hand and said through her tears, “You became lost in the nature reserve. When we found you, you were already unconscious. You’ve been in a coma for nearly a week, and you only just woke up.”
No… That’s impossible…
The Third Prince and I had already known each other for months. We even married there. There was Qinyi Courtyard, Qingyun Palace, Master, Aunt…
It couldn’t have been my imagination. It couldn’t have been only a dream.
Chen Youzai looked at Mother Chen in panic and asked, “Mom, didn’t I come back once before? It was already time for the college entrance examinations then, and you said I wasn’t acting normally. You took me to a doctor, and the doctor said I had pre-exam syndrome. Even after the exams ended, I still wasn’t normal…”
Mother Chen listened to him with a baffled expression.
“What are you talking about? You’ve only just started your second year of high school. How could it already be time for your college entrance examinations? That was a dream. You were unconscious for so long that you’ve become confused.”
“No, that’s impossible. My silver coin—I have to find my silver coin.”
Seeing Chen Youzai trying to climb out of bed, Mother Chen hurried over to support him. Hearing him muttering incessantly, she asked anxiously, “What coin? Why are you causing trouble the moment you wake up? Can’t you stay still for a while?”
Chen Youzai had nearly gone mad. He could not accept that everything he had experienced over the past several months had merely been a dream fabricated by his mind. The person he loved so deeply was nothing more than an imaginary character. Their love had never existed at all…
“Mom, you’re playing a joke on me, aren’t you? You were afraid I would leave again, so you hid my silver coin. I’ve actually been gone for half a year. I… Mom, give the silver coin back to me. I’ll come home to see you often from now on.”
The moment Mother Chen heard this, she burst into loud sobs.
“Oh, what terrible sin have I committed? I had a perfectly good son who was only a little too clever, and now he’s gone mad. Youzai, Mom was too harsh on you before. Please don’t frighten me like this, all right?”
Chen Youzai paced around the room on the verge of collapse. Staring at the white walls, he could not resist punching one of them.
It hurt terribly… This was not a dream…
“That man—I have to go back to the lake and find him. He was the one who gave me the silver coin. None of you could see him. Only I could. That’s right, I have to return to the lake and find him.”
“What man? Youzai, sit down. Sit down and calm yourself.” Mother Chen went over and embraced him.
Chen Youzai could not calm down at all. He sobbed and demanded to return to the nature reserve. He refused to believe it. He refused to believe that he had been so happy only last night, yet everything had vanished into nothing by morning.
Because Chen Youzai continued struggling, Mother Chen had no choice but to shout for a doctor. The doctor was forced to inject Chen Youzai with a sedative. He could clearly feel the liquid in the syringe being slowly pushed into his body, and the sensation filled him with unbearable anguish.
How could this happen? Chen Youzai lay dazed on the bed, staring at the ceiling…
After the sedative wore off, Chen Youzai continued crying and causing a commotion. Left with no other choice, Mother Chen called in a psychologist. Chen Youzai told the psychologist that he had traveled back to ancient times, where he had encountered all kinds of people, and recounted the entire story. The psychologist repeatedly counseled him, but Chen Youzai simply could not accept reality. In the end, even the psychologist was helpless.
Mother Chen then found a psychiatrist. When the doctor first heard about Chen Youzai’s condition, he confidently declared that he had encountered similar cases before and that it was merely excessive fantasizing. Yet only a few days later, he advised Mother Chen not to bring Chen Youzai back again, or he feared that even he would be driven mad.
When Mother Chen had exhausted every other option, she found a spirit medium and brought him over to examine Chen Youzai’s pulse.
“He is not ill.”
Those words nearly made Chen Youzai burst into tears of joy. He had finally found someone who understood him.
“He is merely possessed by a ghost.”
The faint glimmer of light that had just appeared in Chen Youzai’s eyes instantly dimmed, plunging him back into boundless darkness.
“Let me ask you: did you encounter a middle-aged man beside the lake?”
Chen Youzai nodded.
“Then that explains it. That man drowned in the lake three years ago. Someone passed by at the time but did not save him, so his resentful spirit has continued wandering around the lake ever since. When you went there, you happened to see his soul and kindly tried to save him. But his resentment could not be dispersed, so he attempted to seize your body and drive your soul out. Although your soul has now returned, his has not yet left. I must help you drive it away.”
After saying this, the spirit medium began muttering incantations and performing a ritual around Chen Youzai.
Less than a minute later, the spirit medium released a long breath. “It is done.”
Chen Youzai then heard him telling Mother Chen outside the room, “There is nothing seriously wrong. The child was merely under an evil influence and experienced a few nightmares.”
No matter what the previous doctors had said, Chen Youzai had always insisted that he was right. Yet after hearing the spirit medium’s explanation, he suddenly felt as though all hope had been extinguished. The man’s explanation fit his circumstances far too well. Precisely because it made so much sense, it cast Chen Youzai into an abyss from which there was no escape.
I still hadn’t told the Third Prince who the true murderer was. Our happy life had only just begun. Who played such an enormous joke on me?
How could he have been something imagined by my mind? I could clearly see him, touch him, and feel him…
Could there be any pain in this world more unbearable than falling in love with someone who had never existed?
If it truly was a dream, I would rather sleep forever and never awaken.
…
“Your Majesty the Empress, it is time to wake up.”
“Young Master Xue? Young Master Xue?”
“Why has he slept for so long?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps he was too exhausted last night…”
The voices beside Mu Xueshi’s ears gradually sharpened from indistinct murmurs into clear speech. Suddenly, his eyes flew open, and he saw the warm, familiar faces of Qingya and Qingzhu.
“Thank goodness. That was only a dream. It was only a dream.”
Still badly shaken, Mu Xueshi patted his chest. Almost unable to believe it, he climbed out of bed and placed both feet firmly on the floor. He was so overwhelmed with excitement that he did not know what to do. For the first time, he felt that simply being able to stand in this room was an indescribable happiness.
When he saw that the Third Prince was not in the room, Mu Xueshi rushed outside, only to collide with someone at the doorway. He raised his head and saw the Third Prince.
“Linxi.” Mu Xueshi abruptly threw his arms around him.
The Third Prince was surprised. Why was Mu Xueshi so agitated immediately after waking?
“What happened?”
Seeing the Third Prince questioning them, Qingya and Qingzhu hurriedly knelt and cautiously answered, “In reply to Your Majesty, these servants do not know either. Young Master Xue… the Empress rushed outside the moment he awoke.”
Mu Xueshi ignored all of that and clung tightly to the Third Prince, refusing to release him no matter what. He vigorously rubbed the Third Prince’s cheeks, feeling the rough stubble beneath his palms and the unmistakable reality conveyed by those profound eyes.
“It’s real. It’s real. You exist. What happened just now was the dream. Linxi, Linxi…”
Mu Xueshi called his name over and over without tiring of it. He was so overwhelmed that he could not restrain himself, kissing and touching the Third Prince with extraordinary enthusiasm.
“You may withdraw,” the Third Prince said to Qingya and Qingzhu.
“Yes.”
Once only the two of them remained in the room, Mu Xueshi told the Third Prince about the dream he had just experienced. As he spoke, he held the Third Prince’s hand tightly, still badly frightened and afraid that he might suddenly awaken in the other world before he could finish.
After listening to Mu Xueshi’s account, the Third Prince could not help smiling. He indulgently stroked Mu Xueshi’s head and said, “That happened because you slept for too long. It is already afternoon. You have been asleep since this morning.”
“Perhaps deep down, I’m afraid of losing the life I have now. And you too—when you saw me sleeping for so long, why didn’t you wake me? Had you awakened me earlier, I wouldn’t have suffered so much in that dream.”
“Enough. Do not think about it. It was only a dream.” The Third Prince kissed Mu Xueshi’s cheek.
Mu Xueshi still looked frightened as he said, “You have no idea how badly it terrified me. I even wanted to kill myself. Linxi, you have to be real. If you’re not real, I don’t want to live anymore. Boohoo…”
“There, there. Do not be afraid.” The Third Prince gathered Mu Xueshi into his arms and carefully comforted him.
Futile Devices Scans 
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