Married the Abandoned Puppy Alpha - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: The Empty Flowerpot

He Xinglou looked at that name in disbelief, turning to ask, “Where did you find this book? And on this page”

He stopped abruptly, suddenly realizing that Shi Qingze could not understand the text written there.

Because that name was written in Chinese characters.

Characters that only existed on the Earth where he had once lived.

Shi Qingze, still not understanding the reason, rested his chin on He Xinglou’s shoulder. “I heard it’s a relic brought out from the Solar System. When the space nomads of that time passed away, these personal effects were either sealed in museums or put into auctions.”

“Because the illustrations in this picture book are well-preserved and the content is simple and easy to understand, the original collector was always reluctant to put it up for auction. Fortunately, I caught it this time.”

While he spoke, He Xinglou kept flipping through the picture book. Because of its great age, even the thickest, hardest white cardstock had become extremely fragile; a slight lapse in care would cause bits of paper to flutter down like dust.

He lightened his movements. Turning to the next page, he saw annotations written beneath a few lines of text.

The annotations, written with oil-based crayons, had long since faded until the shapes of the characters were nearly illegible. He Xinglou leaned in close, exerting great effort to identify them, before finally guessing the sentence.

“When I grow up, I want to go into the universe to plant flowers.”

Xinglou’s hands began to shake.

He asked softly, “The original collector… where did they get this book from?”

“Also from an auction. The age of the picture book can be traced back a thousand years; it changed owners many times in between, so the source can no longer be tracked.”

Shi Qingze paused, tilting his head to observe He Xinglou’s expression. “Brother can understand the writing on it?”

He then felt it was logical. “That makes sense. My brother could understand the ancient script on the stone tablets before. When did Brother learn these things?”

Xinglou’s mind was in chaos. He shook his head dazedly and stammered, “I… I need to look at it some more…”

He was prepared to take the book back to his room when he suddenly realized something. He turned back to grab Shi Qingze’s hand.

“Don’t worry.” He Xinglou tried his best to suppress his emotions, explaining slowly and clearly, “I just have some things I haven’t thought through and need some quiet. I’m sorry, I might not have the energy to celebrate with you tonight.”

Shi Qingze stroked his hair reassuringly. “I know. Brother shouldn’t worry about me either.”

“I will give Brother time. But…” Shi Qingze hugged him gently, “If there are any difficulties, or if Brother wants to talk or needs help, please feel free to come to me.”

His wavering and bewildered emotions were soothed by this embrace. Xinglou gave a grateful smile before returning to his room.

Once the surroundings became quiet, he was able to immerse himself deeper into studying this picture book.

The annotations, the sketches, even the traces of accidentally spilled hot cocoa they were exactly the same as the book in his memory.

If the identical name was just a coincidence, was it possible for even the annotations inside to be identical to the ones he made back then?

Or was it that in a parallel world, another “He Xinglou” who was like a doppelganger had appeared?

Or was it possible… that this wasn’t a parallel world at all?

A massive sense of panic rose in He Xinglou’s heart.

For a picture book to be preserved for a thousand years, it was clear that someone had used special and expensive methods to keep it. But who would want to protect a child’s picture book that held no intrinsic collection value?

Xinglou’s heart rate quickened as he slowly turned a few more pages.

In the story, the King distributed flowerpots to the children of the kingdom, saying he would choose the “child who grows the most beautiful flower” as his heir. On the day of the selection, the children all arrived with vibrant, dazzling flowers except for one child, who brought an empty flowerpot.

The King’s flower seeds were a nebulous lie; he had given everyone boiled seeds which were impossible to sprout. Only the child who could not grow a flower was closest to the truth.

And in the empty flowerpot in the picture book, someone had extra-drawn a lush bouquet of sunflowers for that child.

Although the words next to it were faded, He Xinglou recognized that elegant, small handwriting at a glance.

It was his mother.

He Xinglou’s tears flowed instantly.

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t see the flowers now. Xinglou will surely be able to grow flowers in the universe.”

In He Xinglou’s distant childhood, he had absolutely no memory of this sentence. Therefore, it was only possible that his mother had written it in this picture book after he had disappeared.

What was his mother thinking at that time? Was she worried about his disappearance? Was she missing him?

Sobbing, He Xinglou turned to another page and saw, to his surprise, dense lines of text.

Several long letters were written at the end of the picture book, sealed with plastic film for preservation, as if someone was determined to let these words flow down through time and be handed to a specific person in the future.

As if determined to convey a clearly visible longing to a specific person in the future.

…

Shi Qingze was putting the birthday cake he had prepared in advance back into the refrigerator, intending to tidy up the room, when he heard the bedroom door suddenly swing open. Xinglou rushed out, his face covered in tears.

“Brother?!” Shi Qingze was startled and hurriedly went to meet him, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“What happened?”

He Xinglou could no longer control himself; his tears quickly soaked a patch of Shi Qingze’s chest.

He shook his head, saying incoherently, “I was wrong. There was never a parallel world. I can’t go back… I have no way to go back…”

Hearing this long-lost term, Shi Qingze was dazed for a moment. He simply sat down on the sofa holding He Xinglou, placing him comfortably on his lap.

“Did Brother see something in the picture book?” Shi Qingze pressed his forehead against his, seeing clearly the bloodshot streaks in He Xinglou’s tear-soaked eyes.

His heart ached terribly. He used his thumb to wipe away the tears clinging to He Xinglou’s eyelashes. “Tell me, Brother. Don’t be afraid.”

Every belief He Xinglou had held since his transmigration had been completely overturned. He choked for a long time, unable to speak. The dream of “returning to the original world” had shattered completely, leaving him momentarily bewildered about how to handle the future.

“I can’t go back. I’ll never see Mom and Dad again.” He Xinglou barely managed to finish before crying again, clutching Shi Qingze’s neck with all his might, trying to find a support point.

This was the first time Shi Qingze had heard him mention his parents.

“Where are Brother’s parents now?”

He Xinglou did not answer, but more and more tears flowed onto Shi Qingze’s neck.

Shi Qingze did not dare to ask further.

He felt somewhat frustrated with himself for taking the initiative again and doing the wrong thing—it must have been that picture book that triggered Brother. Yet, he couldn’t understand the text in that book at all; even the most professional archaeologists today could only vaguely decipher a few scattered words.

His Brother must know what was written in the book. But how did he learn those characters?

While gently patting He Xinglou’s back and softly comforting him, a doubt that had never occurred to him suddenly rose in his heart.

Where exactly did his Brother come from?

After reading the letters in the picture book, He Xinglou remained in a state of shock. After crying for a long time, he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep.

Shi Qingze carefully placed him back on the bed before picking up the picture book again.

He Xinglou had flipped the book to the very end. The page was filled with unfamiliar characters. Shi Qingze pondered for a moment and finally took a photo of this page, intending to send it to the investor who had sought him out to collaborate on the ancient stone tablet project.

But the second before sending it, he thought of the words He Xinglou had said to him:

“Give me a little more time. I will tell you everything.”

So, Shi Qingze gently set the picture book down and deleted the photo.

He trusted his Brother, so this time, no matter what, he would respect all of Brother’s choices.

As for He Xinglou, with the explanation provided by the letters, he finally remembered everything that had happened before his transmigration.

[To my most beloved son, Xinglou.]

In his dream, he finally saw that experimental base again, and finally remembered why the human space race had begun.

[The end of the world is approaching, but humanity’s progress in time travel has been a total failure.]

[When I saw you disappear in the experimental pod, Mom’s heart instantly went empty. I had a premonition then that I might never see you again in this lifetime. But if the experiment was truly a success as the researchers said, perhaps a thousand years from now, there is a slim possibility you might see this letter.]

[Regarding the time travel experiments, you were the first success, and the last. The successful first experiment was actually a miracle; no one else survived the subsequent experiments.]

Even in the dream, He Xinglou’s tears flowed incessantly, soaking a large part of the pillow.

Because he had dreamed of being an astronaut since childhood, He Xinglou had participated in the selection for time travel and became the first person to pass the assessment and prepare for the experiment.

Time is like an unceasing river; once it flows forward, it can never return to the past. Therefore, before the experiment, all of He Xinglou’s relatives and friends came to the site to bid him a final farewell.

Perhaps it was a temporary parting, or perhaps a final goodbye.

He Xinglou saw his mother secretly wiping tears, but when she looked up, she waved to him with a smile. His father leaned on his mother’s shoulder, his eyes locked onto him as if to remember him perfectly.

A few close friends were grinning, insisting on stuffing some of his favorite snacks into the experimental pod, saying “just in case you can bring them to the future to eat,” only to be harshly scolded by the researchers.

And at the very end, when he lay down in the experimental pod, he finally remembered that he hadn’t said the most important sentence.

“Mom, Dad, I love you.”

As he urgently opened his lips, he also saw his parents outside the lab seemingly saying something to him. His friends began to cry, shouting something, but He Xinglou could no longer hear anything at all.

His body had long since been torn apart and dissipated by tidal forces during the time jump; only his consciousness arrived in this Galactic Era, cast into this dying body that was compatible with him.

He became the current He Xinglou, but he was no longer his original self, and he could never return to his original timeline.

The wish to go home was like the flower seeds handed over by the King there would never be a day when they sprouted and bloomed.

[But Xinglou, you have also brought hope to all of humanity. The success of the experiment proves that a thousand years later, humans still exist, allowing your consciousness to match with the most similar genes and be cast into a suitable body.]

[Knowing that humanity has not perished and that human civilization continues, the whole world was overjoyed. Therefore, we are still thinking of other ways for humans or at least some of them to escape this global catastrophe. Perhaps interstellar travel is a good answer.]

“Yes, Mom. Humanity survived,” He Xinglou murmured in his sleep, choking back sobs.

Although time travel failed, the space race made huge progress. Now, humans live prosperously in various star systems, able to see many sights never before seen on Earth.

Although the sun and the moon have disappeared, countless stars still endure. Stars rise and set, and tides remain as they were.

[So, this letter is written to you a thousand years later. Xinglou, are you living well over there by yourself? Are you lonely? Do you cry because you miss Mom and Dad?]

“I do, Mom. The early days were so hard to endure. I kept wanting to go home.” Xinglou curled into a ball in his dream.

[But I believe in Xinglou. Xinglou is a strong child, so he will definitely get through the difficulties. You will meet great friends in the future, and you will meet someone you can love. So, keep moving forward. After all, on the road of a child’s growth, parents can only accompany you halfway. But please believe that we will always be blessing you, even if we have long since disappeared.]

[Xinglou, Mom and Dad love you very much.]

He Xinglou woke up crying.

The soft light reflected layers of shimmering water before his eyes. He turned his head somewhat dazed, only to see Shi Qingze sitting by the bed, holding his hand tightly in his palm.

“Don’t be afraid, Brother. I’m here.” Shi Qingze hadn’t slept at all. Seeing him wake up, he immediately spoke in a soft voice.

He Xinglou was about to raise his hand to cover his face, but Shi Qingze was faster, leaning down to kiss away the tears.

He pulled He Xinglou up, asking in a low voice like he was coaxing a child, “Does Brother want some water? Are you hungry?”

Xinglou’s tears kept flowing as he shook his head, shrinking into his embrace.

He suddenly really wanted to write letters to reply to his mother’s questions one by one, and every answer would be “yes.”

So he raised his head and said softly to Shi Qingze, “I want to go on an interstellar journey.”

Shi Qingze nodded quickly. He stood up to get the keys to the starship and placed them directly into his hand.

“The commands for the starship are the ones I taught you last time. I will prepare enough fuel and food for Brother, and then… Brother can set off at any time.”

He Xinglou was stunned. “Why are you…”

He had thought Shi Qingze would also suggest going with him.

“This is a puzzle Brother has to solve personally, isn’t it?” Shi Qingze smiled quietly, placing a restrained kiss on his forehead.

“Keep moving forward. When you look back, I will be waiting right where I am.”