NH chapter 052

Chapter 52 Parallel Ending HE (4)

The man was pinned down by Huo Ye without making a single sound. His posture was awkward yet calm as he turned his face slightly to glance at him.

“You’re not…” Huo Ye felt as if struck by lightning; it was that moment of shock in their eye contact that allowed the man to twist and take control of the position.

Huo Ye didn’t resist, lying there as he stared blankly. Shen Tingyu propped himself up above him, his expression serene as if he had just played a game with Huo Ye.

His neck was being gripped by five fingers, slowly rubbing.

Shen Tingyu felt the pulse clearly throbbing beneath his hand.

“…You’re not Shen Tingyu.” Huo Ye’s nerves tensed. Fearing he might provoke the other, he dared not show too much vigilance. “Who are you?”

The man lowered his gaze and stared deep into him; there was nothing in those eyes, a terrifying emptiness, yet it seemed to peer through Huo Ye and look at someone else.

Huo Ye felt a chill run down his spine. Despite having the exact face and features of Shen Tingyu, there were differences everywhere.

His complexion was cold and pale from excessive blood loss; his emaciation added chilling pressure to his already astonishingly handsome face, with thin red lips reminiscent of a beautiful ghost hidden from the sun.

“Huo Ye, we’re married.”

He smiled while stating this, “I’m your husband.”

Huo Ye’s scalp threatened to burst; his mouth twitched as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. Let alone the scientific improbability of his similar face—there have been identical twins before—but the man’s current state was indeed scary, making Huo Ye think of some patients from a psychiatric ward.

In his third year of middle school, Huo Ye suffered from severe depression. Although he had never mentioned this part of his history to anyone, he still vividly recalled being forcibly treated while strapped to a hospital bed.

At that time, there were three people in the ward. Compared to the other two patients, he even felt he was normal enough to be discharged directly.

To his left was a boy, twenty years old, whose first love had tragically died in a car accident. After losing his beloved, he fell into a mental breakdown, often waking up at night to disturb Huo Ye, insisting that he accompany him to the underworld to find his wife.

To his right was a middle-aged man, forty years old, who firmly believed he could communicate with spirits, engaging in serious conversation with himself, and often suddenly tapping Huo Ye, saying a woman in a red dress was behind him.

Huo Ye closed his eyes and chose to ignore that remark.

Yet the boy trusted the uncle’s words, and the two of them conversed as if they had found like-minded souls, wishing they had met earlier.

“Xiao Huo, that’s great! Lin Lin really isn’t dead! Our uncle said she just came to see me; I’m going to marry her!”

In the middle of the night, the boy woke Huo Ye again, excitedly stating.

This back and forth was enough to push anyone to the brink of insanity. Huo Ye originally thought he was fine, and after lying there for a week, when the doctor asked him how he felt, he hesitated and said he should be better now.

And this person in front of him gave Huo Ye the same disoriented feeling of returning to those times, very much resembling that boy.

Faced with this situation, Huo Ye excelled at using a gentle approach, gradually asking, “You just said we’re married, so where are our wedding rings? Where’s your wedding ring?”

Shen Tingyu stretched out his hand to show his ring finger, and behold, there was indeed a silver wedding ring embedded with small diamonds.

No way, this is too surreal.

Huo Ye was stunned, “You, how is that possible…”

“I’ve never taken it off; what about yours?” Shen Tingyu seemed quite pleased to be asked this, displaying it before grabbing Huo Ye’s hand.

Huo Ye was alarmed by that. He attempted to evade.

Come on, what ring did he have?!

Unfortunately, it was useless to dodge. Shen Tingyu gripped his hand tightly and, seeing Huo Ye’s fingers were all bare, immediately darkened his expression.

“Where’s your ring?” Shen Tingyu demanded.

Huo Ye had dug a hole for himself, speechless, “My ring? Uh… my, I…”

Shen Tingyu coldly stated, “You lost it again, didn’t you?”

Knowing a storm was brewing, Huo Ye had no choice but to follow along, stammering, “I didn’t do it on purpose—”

But he couldn’t help but think, what on earth was going on?!

Huo Ye was about to call the police.

Little did he expect Shen Tingyu to not get angry after hearing it. Instead, he lowered his head and removed the ring from his own hand, then took Huo Ye’s hand and slipped it on him, speaking in a gentle tone, “It’s okay, I know you have a bad memory. If you lose one, I’ll just put another one on for you.”

Huo Ye felt goosebumps rise instantly. From those words, he could conclude this person absolutely—was not Shen Tingyu.

If Shen Tingyu knew he had lost the wedding ring, he would probably hang him up and beat him, crying as he did, “Huo Ye, you heartless guy, you must have someone else outside!”

At that moment, fate would have it, his phone rang and vibrated. Both of them stopped to look, and the screen clearly displayed “Shen Tingyu.”

Shen Tingyu: “……”

Huo Ye completely lost his composure, “Who are you?!”

Shen Tingyu rolled off him and sat at the edge of the bed, taking the phone and glancing at it dismissively before hanging up.

…He hung up?

Huo Ye looked at him with a blank expression, blinking.

Shen Tingyu lifted his head again, still seemingly unconcerned, and repeated patiently, “Didn’t I say? I’m your husband.”

This man wasn’t quite right in the head.

Huo Ye thought, he needed to contact the real Shen Tingyu to clarify, or he might as well shoot an eight-part science fiction series.

After three seconds of silence, Huo Ye suddenly widened his eyes and asked, “Whose clothes are you wearing? Mine?”

Shen Tingyu glanced down, and he too was perplexed as none of his previous dreams had lasted this long; he didn’t even know how to wake up, and it had been several days with such vividness.

He remained expressionless: “What’s yours is mine.”

The second phone call chimed again, causing Huo Ye’s heart to skip a beat. Shen Tingyu had just warned him that if he hung up on him again, there would be dire consequences.

So Huo Ye tried to negotiate with the man, “How about this? Let me answer the phone first, okay? This call is important.”

He had a vague intuition that although this man couldn’t possibly be Shen Tingyu—after all, the phone call from the real Shen Tingyu was still ringing—there were aspects of his personality and those little habits, like the way he squeezed his neck while rubbing his fingers, that were hard for anyone else to replicate.

Upon examining the differences in their faces and features, he merely seemed like an older Shen Tingyu by seven or eight years, with a more mature bone structure and a tenfold increase in male hormones. Regarding some statements on idealism, Huo Ye had heard such things before; it was possible.

The other party held the phone, seemingly unwilling to hand it over, preparing to hang up again when Huo Ye called out, “Shen Tingyu.”

Shen Tingyu responded with a “Hmm,” instinctively halting his action, and provided a questioning glance.

In the backdrop of the phone ringing, Huo Ye was stirred by this speculation, and his heart raced as he asked, “How old are you this year?”

Shen Tingyu fell silent, seemingly reluctant to answer.

He frowned, pausing for a while before saying, “Twenty-nine.”

Time flows like water, leaving no mercy. The boy was no longer a boy; in the blink of an eye, those eighteen-year-old Lanjing school uniforms had been pressed in the box for twelve years, too reluctant to toss away. Now he was approaching thirty.

“Twenty-nine, huh…” Huo Ye murmured in shock, unable to resist asking, “Since you can come back, what about the other me?”

Shen Tingyu pursed his lips, remaining silent.

Then Huo Ye watched as tears welled up in Shen Tingyu’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” Huo Ye swallowed hard, sensing an uneasy premonition in his heart, and hurriedly approached to caress his face.

Shen Tingyu turned his face away, trying to conceal something from view but leaned his head down into Huo Ye’s arms, his entire being feeling surprisingly large.

The adorable ragdoll cat had grown into an enormous wolfdog, and Huo Ye narrowly avoided being shoved into the bedside cabinet. Stretching his hand, he awkwardly hugged Shen Tingyu’s shoulders, stammering, “It’s okay, it’s okay…”

The third phone call rang, and Huo Ye, unable to do anything, held onto him with one arm while hurriedly answering the phone with the other.

Once he connected, he quickly pulled the phone away a bit; the eighteen-year-old Shen Tingyu was practically frantic on the other end: “Huo Ye!!”

Huo Ye felt somewhat hopeless, “I’m here, it’s okay, I’m here…”

“I see you’ve been getting restless lately,” the eighteen-year-old Shen Tingyu said coldly. “Don’t hang up; open the door in three minutes.”

“Ah?”