Su Xi stared at the old phone—her last shred of hope was gone. On one hand, she felt miserable, knowing she would never see her little cub again. On the other hand, she thought that at least before she vanished, he had already regained his identity as a prince. From now on, he could marry, have children, fulfill his ambitions, and live a good life. Although he might be a little sad now just like her, with time he would surely forget her, someone who had only appeared in his world for two years. That wouldn’t be a bad ending…
But no matter how she comforted herself, her heart still felt empty and full of regret. The phone falling into water had been too sudden—so sudden that she couldn’t even keep her agreement to visit her little cub that night.
Su Xi was so frustrated she felt like banging her head against a wall, but there was nothing she could do. A broken phone was simply broken.
The next day, Su Xi got dressed, washed her face, applied sunscreen, feeling a little more refreshed before heading out to the hospital.
She had been gloomy these days, and neither Huo Jingchuan nor Gu Qin knew what was wrong with her. Since both of them were planning to get their checkups done during the summer break anyway, they simply moved their schedules up to accompany her to the hospital.
Su Xi felt she might have a mild heat cold; her head was indeed a little foggy. So she registered for a consultation and waited for a routine blood test.
Huo Jingchuan sat on her left playing Honor of Kings, and Gu Qin sat on her right reading a novel. In the middle of summer, the hospital was crowded, noisy, unbearably hot. She felt drowsy, her head nodding forward little by little as she waited for her results.
She didn’t know that at this moment, the broken phone lying inside the cabinet suddenly struggled and lit up for a second.
In that flash of light, the game—still open because it hadn’t shut down before crashing—popped up a new message:
【Congratulations on completing Task Fifteen (Advanced): Containing the Chengzhou flood breach. Points awarded +18. Your total accumulated points have reached 200. The second major gift package is now being officially unlocked——】
【Countdown, three——two——one——】
The phone stayed lit for only a few seconds before going dark again. But in those few seconds, on Lu Huan’s side—inside the Chengzhou government office—without the slightest warning, the curtain that had disappeared for fourteen days abruptly reappeared before his eyes.
His eyelashes trembled, his pupils shrank sharply, his breath quickened at once. Without waiting for several officials who were supposed to report in, he didn’t hesitate—just like that day—and lunged toward the curtain.
Last time, in the Ministry of War’s quarters, he had fallen through empty air.
But this time, a flash of white light crossed his vision, and in the blink of an eye, the scene before him shifted entirely.
He held his breath and looked around, only to see a familiar setting—Kumamon bedcover, glass windows. It was the very starting screen he saw every time he opened the curtain—Su Xi’s home.
Was this a dream?
Lu Huan tentatively crouched down, touched the floor, then reached out to the unfinished worksheet sitting on Su Xi’s desk.
Only when his fingertips felt the solid physical texture did he believe… he truly wasn’t dreaming. After reaching two hundred points, he had actually come to her world!
Lu Huan’s heart pounded wildly, his eyes gradually reddening—not with sorrow, but with overwhelming joy.
For these fourteen days, holding onto nothing but a “try and see” mindset, he had ridden to Chengzhou in haste. Before the flood breached, he had already pulled out the corrupt officials responsible for repairing the dam that day, and had ordered increased vigilance in advance, minimizing the coming damage. But even as he did all of this, he had felt completely uncertain—because even after finishing it, the curtain still hadn’t appeared as it had before.
At that time, Lu Huan had already realized something must have happened on Su Xi’s side. Otherwise, she would never have gone fourteen entire days without contacting him.
His urgency only grew deeper, his supervision growing more desperate.
The officials in Chengzhou would surely panic and start searching once they discovered he was gone, but at this moment Lu Huan couldn’t spare a single thought for that. His heart pounded fiercely, and all he wanted was to see her immediately.
He stood in Su Xi’s room for a moment, wearing his bright yellow prince’s robes, completely incongruous with the space. He didn’t dare move recklessly, afraid someone would mistake him for a thief. But the house was silent—her parents would be at work during the day, so no one was home. After hesitating for a while, Lu Huan finally walked to the door and opened it.
The living room—he already knew it well.
Once the initial joy settled, Lu Huan quickly realized an awkward problem: he had no idea where she had gone. If he stayed here waiting and her parents returned first, he wouldn’t be able to explain why he had suddenly appeared out of thin air inside their home. Scratching his head, he walked to the refrigerator. He knew her family well by now—whenever something was going on, they always stuck a memo on the fridge.
In one glance, he saw it:
Monday — Xixi goes to the hospital for a check-up.
Why see a doctor?
Lu Huan’s heart clenched. He immediately thought that her disappearance—along with the curtain—must have been because she had fallen ill. His eyelids twitched violently, and he forced himself not to imagine the worst. He yanked the door open and rushed outside.
He walked to the elevator and stared at the metal box for a long moment. Although he had studied it before, this was the first time he was actually using it, and he wasn’t very skilled.
After a while, two elderly neighbors walked up to the elevator as well, heading to the first floor. They glanced at him strangely, looked him up and down in his outfit, and asked:
“Young man, filming? There’s no film studio around here. Which crew are you from?”
Lu Huan cast the two elderly men a wary glance, pressed his lips together, and didn’t answer.
But he followed behind them into the elevator and successfully reached the first floor. Only then did he exhale in relief.
Next——
Lu Huan strode rapidly toward the entrance of the residential complex.
As he walked, he drew the attention of every passing auntie and granny in the area. Two aunties who loved watching TV dramas were utterly stunned and whispered to each other:
“Look, look! Isn’t that an actor? Wearing a drama costume? He’s playing a prince, right?! The costume looks so realistic! Young actors these days are really handsome—my god, look at him, so good-looking! Could he be living here?!”
Lu Huan was anxious and heard none of it. He ran toward the bus stop outside the community.
He had carefully studied how to board a bus, but soon discovered a major headache—he didn’t possess any currency from this world. He patted his chest and found only a few silver notes.
To travel lightly, he hadn’t even brought silver coins. And since this happened so suddenly, he hadn’t prepared anything.
After hesitating for a moment, when the bus stopped he boarded along with the others and handed a silver note to the driver, politely asking, “May I use this as payment?”
Everyone on the bus stared at him in amazement, instantly erupting:
“An actor?!”
The bus driver glanced at the silver note he handed over and was completely baffled, wondering if there were hidden cameras nearby. After scanning the area and finding nothing, he waved his hand and said, “Filming and didn’t bring money, huh? Trying to use props as fare? You really think well of yourself. Don’t hold up my driving.”
It seemed to be a local dialect—Lu Huan didn’t quite understand, but erring on the side of caution, he stepped back and got off the bus.
The bus sped away, and everyone inside turned to look, many excitedly taking out their phones to photograph him.
Lu Huan estimated the route to the hospital in his mind—and began to… run.
───♡───
Meanwhile, Su Xi was still waiting in line for her results, completely unaware that the street outside the hospital had already exploded with commotion. Word had even reached the hospital entrance that a young actor dressed in a prince’s golden robe, handsome enough to make people faint with indignation, was running a marathon down the street (…in the summer heat), with a whole crowd filming him and cheering him on.
Suppressing the irritation in his heart, Lu Huan burst into the hospital.
Su Xi, hearing the loud chatter and clamor from the corridor, woke from her drowsiness just as a nurse called her name. She rubbed her face, intending to stand up and get her results.
The nurse’s voice, not particularly loud, ignited the whole corridor like boiling water—but the only person who honed in on it instantly was Lu Huan.
“Su Xi.”
His breath stopped for a second. He froze mid-step, his heart pounding, holding his breath as he slowly turned toward the sound.
He saw Su Xi yawning as she walked through the crowd, step by step heading toward the window.
It was her.
In that instant, Lu Huan felt his heart leap into his throat. Everything around him disappeared into silence. Blood rushed to his head, the corners of his eyes reddening—all overflowing with fierce joy.
It felt like a dream, but he knew clearly it wasn’t.
Steadying himself, he pushed through the crowd, striding toward Su Xi.
Faster and faster.
───♡───
Su Xi took her report from the window, stepped aside, and glanced down listlessly. Her white blood cell count was indeed a little elevated—probably a seasonal flu. No wonder she hadn’t had a fever but still felt weak these days.
She planned to pick up a bit of medicine at the clinic, then go home, crawl under the covers, and sleep for a few days. That should fix it.
Thinking this, Su Xi heard a young woman behind her let out an exclamation, but she didn’t pay attention. Holding her report, she turned to leave.
But suddenly, the crowd in front of her seemed to part significantly—and the next moment, her forehead collided abruptly with a chest. Su Xi was just about to say sorry when the fabric that entered her field of vision made her freeze:
Bright yellow silk robes, gold-thread embroidery, vermilion tassels at the waist, familiar black boots—an exquisite dragon swirling across his robes, noble to an overwhelming degree…
Su Xi’s breath gradually quickened: …
The boy above her had clearly run here, his breathing slightly uneven. Su Xi caught the faint, cool, and crisp scent she knew too well—
Wait.
Her heart jammed into her throat. She snapped her head up in disbelief.
And crashed straight into a face of cold brows and starry eyes, skin pale as jade.
A face appearing here so impossibly that she wondered if she was hallucinating.
The next second, right there in front of everyone, Lu Huan pulled her tightly into his arms. His eyes were red, and he whispered, low and trembling: “It’s me. I’ve come.”
Su Xi’s brain completely malfunctioned—blank, white noise. Around them, people all sucked in a breath.
Huo Jingchuan and Gu Qin watched in shock as a teenager in ancient prince’s robes suddenly materialized and wrapped Su Xi in a desperate embrace. They shot to their feet, rushing over to yank him off her.
“WTF?!”
Lu Huan’s eyes reddened even more. It was as if he had finally found his long-lost treasure, he refused to let go no matter what.
Su Xi snapped back to herself and immediately shouted at her two friends: “Don’t pull him!”
Her stunned expression slowly dissolved, replaced by shock and overwhelming delight—was she dreaming? No… it didn’t feel like a dream. Oh god. How could her little cub possibly appear in front of her?! Her phone was broken! Even if it weren’t, he shouldn’t be able to—
Her mind buzzed, lagging like a frozen computer. She decided not to think for the moment.
Seeing her two friends still trying to pry him off—pulling hard enough to nearly tear his royal robe—Su Xi panicked, grabbed Lu Huan back protectively, and even scolded the dumbfounded Gu Qin and Huo Jingchuan:
