After My Death, Everyone Repented (Transmigration) - Chapter 73.2 (THE END)

So, after the exams, Chi Yi left. Not because of those worthless people she could crush with a flick of her fingers.

But because Xie Shaojun was too young. Chi Yi feared that if she stayed, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from controlling her, from becoming a monstrous, possessive madwoman who’d strip Xie Shaojun of all her choices.

The girl had guarded her solitude, so Chi Yi would protect the girl’s innocence respect her choices.

And for the rest of their lives, she’d clear every obstacle in their path. Back then, Chi Yi had been too weak. So weak that even the simplest scheme could make Xie Shaojun rush around for her sake.

Xie Shaojun listened in silence for a long time.

Then she asked, “I never saw those people again. What did you do to them?”

Chi Yi replied lightly, “Nothing much.”

Just told the loan sharks the girl’s parents’ address.

“You became that guide dog… also because of her?”

Chi Yi said, “How could you say that? It was my research project. If you must find a connection well, her name was on the global banned purchase list.”

Xie Shaojun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Chi Yi changed the subject. “I heard you’re dating someone. Think you could break up sometime?”

Xie Shaojun froze. Her heartbeat thundered wildly in her chest, nearly drowning out the engine’s roar.

Slowly, she lifted her eyes. “You’ve got quite the imagination.”

“What?”

Xie Shaojun turned to look at Chi Yi, and after a long pause, she curled her lips and said, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

The car got a flat tire as they drove into the development zone.

Coincidentally, the rain had just stopped, and a vibrant rainbow appeared in the sky, illuminating half of the horizon.

Xie Shaojun pulled the car over to the side of the road. Ahead was a bend in the road, and further up, there was an abandoned railway.

Chi Yi said she wanted to go up and take a look.

Xie Shaojun glanced at her waist. “Can you manage?”

Chi Yi replied, “It doesn’t hurt too much.”

Then she commanded Xie Shaojun, “Lower your head.”

Xie Shaojun looked down at her and bent slightly.

Chi Yi looped her arm around Xie Shaojun’s neck and directed, “Help me up.”

“Oh…” Xie Shaojun carefully avoided Chi Yi’s injury, wrapping an arm around her waist to support her. Shedding the earlier heaviness in her tone, she lazily called her name, “Chi Yi.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve noticed you’re quite good at pushing your luck, always taking an inch and going for a mile.”

Chi Yi laughed and unapologetically leaned a little closer into Xie Shaojun’s embrace.

The two climbed up to the platform built along the elevated railway and sat down side by side.

The old district lay low in the terrain, and from the platform, they could see rows of tenement buildings stretching out like chimneys imprisoning swarms of ants.

It wasn’t picturesque, but under the rainbow after the rain, it framed a uniquely tranquil corner of the city.

They sat for a while, admiring the view and exchanging a few harmless jabs.

“Did you go to the U.S. to study at first?” Xie Shaojun swung her legs slightly before speaking after a long pause.

“After you left, I called you many times, but no one answered.”

“No signal in the area, and my phone got stolen. It was pretty chaotic there.”

Chi Yi didn’t lie to Xie Shaojun. She admitted that after losing her phone, she could have gotten the SIM card replaced, but back then, hearing Xie Shaojun’s voice would have made it unbearable, she would have wanted to come back immediately.

Three years ago, Chi Yi was still young and powerless, incapable of protecting what truly mattered.

Because Xie Shaojun had picked up this not-so-bright star, cradling it carefully in her hands, this star had also wanted to shine for the one who plucked it from the sky, to guard her freedom and innocence.

“I don’t need you to do that.” Xie Shaojun wasn’t sure what expression to wear. She cautiously took Chi Yi’s outstretched hand and held it in her palm.

Feeling the mood shouldn’t be so heavy, she changed her tone and said, “By the way, have you been taking eloquence classes all these years? You talk like you’re reciting poetry.”

“Oh, so that counts as poetry now?” Chi Yi arched her eyebrows in amusement.

Xie Shaojun didn’t respond. Her heartbeat didn’t stop abruptly but instead swelled slowly, growing deeper and more resonant.

Xie Shaojun realized she might have figured it out, ever since their reunion, Chi Yi had been deliberately trying to charm her.

She also understood that three years ago, Chi Yi had many reasons for leaving, but the cause might not have been a lack of love.

“Your mom mentioned last time that you have someone you like”

“It’s you.” Chi Yi cut her off, pulling a pack of women’s cigarettes from her bag. Then, as if remembering something, she turned to Xie Shaojun, their eyes meeting.

Xie Shaojun raised an eyebrow. “Why are you looking at me?”

“Can I smoke?”

Xie Shaojun felt both a pang of sorrow and the urge to laugh.

She pointed at the cigarette box in Chi Yi’s hand. “Would my opinion even matter?”

“Won’t know until I try.”

“Then don’t smoke.” Xie Shaojun tried to keep her expression relaxed.

Chi Yi stubbed out the cigarette and leaned closer to Xie Shaojun, resting her head near her ear. She said, “During those years abroad, I came out to my family, and it caused quite a stir. At first, my dad froze all my allowance.”

When the stress got too much, she’d smoke a couple of slim cigarettes.

“No addiction. If you don’t like it, I can quit.”

Some words might sound casual, but when whispered close, they suddenly paint vivid pictures in the mind.

Xie Shaoyun clenched her fingers, a flicker of emotion betraying her expression. Though she genuinely disliked smoking, if it was Chi Yi who wanted to smoke, she could tolerate it. So she said, “If you want to smoke, go ahead. No need to force yourself like this.”

Chi Yi slowly lifted her gaze, her eyes lingering on a certain point before she suddenly turned and carefully embraced Xie Shaoyun, pressing her nose against the side of Xie’s face.

Gazing tenderly into her eyes, Chi Yi said, “Maybe it’s because I like you too much.”

“Let me indulge in this little suffering with you.”

Xie Shaoyun pressed a hand against Chi Yi’s waist, pulling her closer. Their eyes met, and Xie kissed her.

In the brief pause between breaths, Xie asked, “Was it like this?”

“What?”

“The other day when you kissed me so forcefully, did I kiss you back like this?”

Chi Yi laughed, her eyes crinkling with amusement as she teased, “Oh, so you remember now.”

Her gaze drifted lower, her tone playful as she added, “Not only did you kiss me back, you also…”

Her eyes flicked toward Xie’s chest. “Rubbed against me.”

Xie Shaoyun had known since she was a toddler that Chi Yi was a shameless one, but this lunatic was even more unrestrained now.

Still, as fellow vixens who had seen it all Xie had spent a year or two frequenting Tao Man’s bar, she arched a brow and asked, “So, how did it feel?”

Chi Yi assessed coolly, “Pretty big.”

After starting university, Xie Shaoyun and Chi Yi officially became a couple.

Their relationship faced no obstacles. Chi Yi’s reputation among the elders was impeccable, and Xie Shaoyun being with her was seen as a match made in heaven.

Xie Cheng sulked for a while but eventually relented. After all, Chi Yi was the only daughter of the Chi family, and even Chi Guangbo had been persuaded to support his daughter’s relationship. Who was he to stand in the way? The only consequence was that he stopped endorsing Xie Qingcheng’s singlehood advocacy from then on.

Once they were openly together, Xie Shaoyun resumed taking the Chi family’s car to university.

Chi Yi occasionally appeared at the various drinking venues Xie frequented.

When Xie Shaoyun turned twenty, she went abroad for an art exhibition.

After three months of hectic preparations, one evening, a fellow artist, an older sister knocked on her door.

She brought Xie a burger and coffee, saying she had something to ask. “Can I come in?”

Xie Shaoyun reluctantly accepted the food but remained at the doorway. “What is it?”

The woman, who resembled a little yellow chick, stared unabashedly at Xie’s lips, complimenting their color and asking if she could borrow Xie’s lipstick the next day.

Xie refused outright. “I share my lipstick with my wife, but I can give you the shade number.”

The foreign woman at the door sighed in disappointment. “After all these days together, I’ve never seen you on a date not even a single clingy phone call. I had no idea you had a girlfriend.”

“Not a girlfriend,” Xie Shaoyun said frankly. “A fiancée. We’re getting married and staying together forever.”

The little yellow chick said, “Congratulations. Now I envy her even more.”

After seeing her off, Xie closed the door and sank into the sofa, pulling out her phone.

Facing the screen where Chi Yi, wearing glasses, was intently coding, Xie asked, “You didn’t hear that, right?”

Chi Yi set aside her work and looked up, a faint smirk playing on her lips. “Hear what?”

Xie Shaoyun thought, Good, she didn’t hear.

But then Chi Yi added, “Does this happen often? Someone knocking on your door in the middle of the night?”

Xie replied, “Just this once, and you caught it.”

“Hmm.” Chi Yi gave her a cool glance and said, “My fault for not calling you incessantly.”

She then asked which hotel in Florida she was staying at, mentioning that the weather would be nice tomorrow and she’d come over.

Xie Shaojun grew increasingly flustered by her tone and pleaded, “Please, spare me.”

“The exhibition will wrap up in a couple of days, and I’ll come back right after.”

Chi Yi sighed, complaining that Xie Shaojun was always busy either with exhibitions or sketching trips disappearing for months at a time, leaving her uneasy.

Before returning home this time, Xie Shaojun made a stopover in Paris, France.

Earlier in the year, she had hand-painted two engagement ring designs. The custom-made pieces were meant for a proposal.

Though it might seem modest by Chi Yi’s standards, fate had other plans on the day of her return, Chi Yi surprised her with a proposal of her own.

In the end, both rings ended up on their fingers, one on each hand.

Chi Yi said, “If I can’t bear to lock you up, then I’ll just put another ring on you. So you don’t fly away by accident.”

Xie Shaojun deliberately teased, “Chi Yi, you’re so twisted.”

“But I love it.” Xie Shaojun kissed Chi Yi’s eyes, the tip of her nose, her lips, and her slender neck.

It seemed she truly adored her the star that had fallen from the sky in her youth, the towering iron wall built in Xie Shaojun’s heart after their separation, and now, the promise of a lifetime together. No matter the era, Chi Yi always had a way of captivating her.

In 2020, after graduating from university, same-sex marriage wasn’t legal in their home country, so Xie Shaojun and Chi Yi registered their union in Switzerland.

December 26, 2021, Guang City.

Xie Shaojun returned from a long business trip, and Chi Yi picked her up at the airport.

Though she grumbled about Xie Shaojun’s busy schedule, Xie Shaojun promised not to travel next year and to spend New Year’s together on a vacation in Sri Lanka.

On the way home, Chi Yi took a work call, so Xie Shaojun took the driver’s seat.

As the car smoothly entered the viaduct, a truck loaded with raw timber suddenly lost its brakes, crashing through the guardrail and colliding head-on with Xie Shaojun’s steadily moving car.

Xie Shaojun was knocked unconscious on impact, her heart ruptured.

During the heart transplant surgery, Chi Yi, who had promised to stay by her side forever—lay closest to Xie Shaojun’s left side, where her heart was.

Her consciousness was clear as she watched the doctors open her chest, giving her beating heart to Xie Shaojun. She had even prepared a lie about falling out of love to soften the blow of her own departure.

On December 26, 2022, Xie Shaojun briefly woke from her coma and saw through Chi Yi’s poorly crafted lie. Because there was no Chi Yi left in the world, Xie Shaojun chose to slip back into unconsciousness.

She had no desire to revive herself the pain of losing Chi Yi was something she had tasted once in her youth, and once was enough. The system tempted her, saying that after completing the mission, she could make any wish come true.

So Xie Shaojun thought for a moment and told it: “In the next life, Chi Yi must be happy.”

Chi Yi’s Perspective

On this night, as spring finally overcame winter, at the Dami wedding banquet, Chi Yi draped a coat over Xie Shaojun’s shoulders, no longer letting her fuss over the low neckline of her dress.

Xie Shaojun asked her, “Did you remember?”

Chi Yi didn’t answer immediately. That night, back at home, she flipped through a photo album and pointed at Xie Shaojun’s graduation photos from each stage of school, asking if someone was missing from these pictures.

Xie Shaojun glanced sideways.

Missing was Chi Yi.

Except for those three years of separation, Chi Yi realized that she had been by Xie Shaoyun’s side through every significant stage of growth in her life.

Chi Yi remembered, their story didn’t end on that heart-transplant night.

Xie Shaoyun had fought with all her might to step into a world where she existed, standing in her present and future, waiting for her belated arrival.