Reborn in 1977, I will no longer be my brother's blood bag.

When Lin Xiuhe returned to her dormitory, it was already dark.

Gu Xiaolan was lying on the bed reciting English when, halfway through, she put the book face down and declared, "I declare that English and I are incompatible."

Liu Xue chimed in from the side, "You said yesterday that calculus and you are incompatible."

"That means my birth chart indicates I'm quite busy."

The dormitory erupted in laughter.

Lin Xiuhe put the book on the table and smiled slightly. But the smile quickly faded.

She opened the drawer and took out her diary. The pen lingered on the paper for a long time.

[Past life.]

After finishing writing, I stopped again.

She stared at those two words.

Many things have finally taken shape.

Winter at the supply and marketing cooperative.

The beef noodle shop outside the East Gate that hasn't opened yet.

The bag of hot chestnuts was placed at the back door of the warehouse.

And then there's Zhou Zhiyuan's line—"In my past life, you left too late."

He finally spoke of his past life. But he wasn't finished yet.

Lin Xiuhe wrote another line.

I know two Zhou Zhiyuans.

One stands in the present. The other remembers a long time from now.

After she finished writing, she didn't close the notebook.

A breeze blew in through the window, and the sounds of students talking drifted from downstairs in the dormitory. Gu Xiaolan poked her head out of bed: "Xiuhe, why are you writing in your diary again?"

"Make a note of something."

"The project?"

Lin Xiuhe looked at the words on the paper and gently closed the notebook: "Human."

Gu Xiaolan blinked: "Who is it?"

Lin Xiuhe put the notebook back in the drawer: "I can't say for now."

"Oh—" Gu Xiaolan drawled out.

Liu Xue immediately replied, "I understand."

Su Qing didn't even look up: "Don't make a fuss, she has a preliminary hearing tomorrow."

Gu Xiaolan immediately pulled the blanket up: "Okay, okay, Manager Lin is the boss."

Lin Xiuhe smiled.

The lights went out quickly. The dormitory went dark.

She lay in bed, eyes open. The sound of her roommate's even breathing filled her ears. But in her mind, Zhou Zhiyuan's last words kept echoing.

You'll find out soon enough.

She rolled over.

It's not that she'll find out soon. She already knows half of it. It's his turn to tell her the other half.

-

The following evening, the final preparations before the preliminary hearing were completed.

It was already dark when Lin Xiuhe came out of the automation building.

There was a person standing downstairs. Zhou Zhiyuan.

He was wearing a dark coat and carrying a brown paper bag. Steam was rising from the bag.

Lin Xiuhe walked down the steps: "Chestnuts again?"

"Um."

"You've been buying things too frequently lately."

"I'm afraid it will be harder to buy them later."

Lin Xiuhe looked at him: "In the future?"

Zhou Zhiyuan handed her the paper bag: "There will be lots of delicious food outside the East Gate in the future."

"Like beef noodles?"

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "For example, beef noodles."

Lin Xiuhe took the paper bag. The heat of the chestnuts burned her palms through the paper. This time, she didn't open it to eat.

The two walked slowly along the edge of the lotus pond. In winter, the pond was devoid of lotus blossoms, and a thin layer of ice covered the surface. The streetlights came on, their light reflecting off the ice like scattered gold.

After walking for a while, Lin Xiuhe spoke first: "Zhou Zhiyuan."

"Um."

You weren't like this before.

Zhou Zhiyuan turned his head to the side: "How?"

"I wouldn't prepare so much in advance." She looked at the road ahead. "I wouldn't know what I want to eat. I wouldn't know what I'm afraid of. I wouldn't know that Morning Star failed."

Zhou Zhiyuan did not interrupt her.

Lin Xiuhe continued walking. A fallen leaf crunched softly under her feet. "The Zhou Zhiyuan I know is steady and considerate. But he wouldn't leave things unsaid. He wouldn't use 'wait a minute' to stop me. And he certainly wouldn't seem to know everything like this."

Zhou Zhiyuan stopped. Lin Xiuhe also stopped.

Two people stood under a streetlamp. The wind blew the paper bag, releasing the aroma of chestnuts.

Lin Xiuhe looked up at him: "So sometimes, I feel like I know two of you."

Zhou Zhiyuan looked at her. The streetlight stretched his shadow to the edge of the snow. After a moment, he asked, "Which is better?"

Lin Xiuhe hadn't expected him to ask that. She looked down at the chestnuts in her hand; the brown paper bag had softened at one corner from the steam. She suddenly laughed: "You're all pretty silly."

Zhou Zhiyuan's eyebrows twitched slightly: "Is that considered a compliment?"

"Not really."

"What does that count for?"

"truth."

Zhou Zhiyuan finally burst out laughing. It wasn't his usual restrained laugh; he was genuinely amused by her.

Lin Xiuhe looked at him and her lips curved into a smile.

At that moment, the questions that had been weighing on her mind suddenly felt less heavy. It turned out that after a secret was revealed, it didn't necessarily leave only burdens. There could also be a touch of lightness, a touch of warmth, like the chestnuts in her hand.

-

The two continued walking forward.

When they reached the fork in the road, Lin Xiuhe stopped and said, "I have a question for you."

"Go ahead and ask."

"What should a person do if one day discovers that they know more than just the person in front of them?"

Zhou Zhiyuan looked at her. A student pushed a bicycle past in the distance, its bell ringing once. He put his hands in his pockets, and after a moment said, "Then let's get to know each other again."

Lin Xiuhe looked up.

Zhou Zhiyuan looked at her: "Whether it's the one from the past or the one now, they're all standing in front of you. You can take your time to look at them."

The paper bag in Lin Xiuhe's hand made a soft rustling sound. She bent down and peeled a chestnut; the shell cracked open, revealing the warm flesh inside. She put the chestnut in her mouth; the sweetness was faint, but the warmth was very noticeable.

"And what about you?"

"What?"

"What if the person I know isn't Zhou Zhiyuan?" she looked at him. "Would you be afraid?"

Zhou Zhiyuan shook his head: "What I'm afraid of isn't what you know."

"What is that?"

He looked towards the automation building in the distance, where lights were still on: "I'm afraid that once you know, you'll feel that the past is too heavy a burden."

Lin Xiuhe didn't answer immediately. She put the chestnut shells back into the paper bag. A breeze blew from the lake, carrying a slight chill.

After a while, she said, "What matters is the past, not you."

Zhou Zhiyuan's gaze fell back on her.

Lin Xiuhe looked at him: "If those things are true, then I should thank you. But I won't hand myself over to you just because I'm thanking you."

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled slightly: "I know."

"You'd better know."

After she finished speaking, she turned and walked towards the dormitory building. After taking two steps, she stopped again: "Zhou Zhiyuan."

"Um?"

"Next time, don't make me guess."

Zhou Zhiyuan stood under the streetlight. This time, he answered quickly: "Okay."

-

Back in the dorm, Gu Xiaolan was already asleep. Liu Xue was still memorizing vocabulary, her pen leaving a row of small black dots on the paper as she recited. Su Qing sat at the table copying notes.

Lin Xiuhe didn't disturb them. She sat down at her desk and reopened her diary.

The line from the previous page is still there: "I know two Zhou Zhiyuans."

She picked up her pen and added two lines below.

[A person standing in the present.]

[Something I'll remember a long time from now.]

She paused here, then added another sentence.

But none of them were too bad.

After she finished writing, she laughed first.

Outside the window, the Beijing night grew deeper. Lights were still on in the direction of the Automation Building. Tomorrow was the preliminary review. The documents for the second phase of the Qimingxing project hadn't been opened yet. Zhou Zhiyuan hadn't finished his answer either.

But Lin Xiuhe suddenly stopped being in a hurry.

She had already pushed open the door. The rest of the way, she would walk through on her own.