Us Beyond Time [Reborn]

[Small-town story + melodrama + slow burn + starting a business. Read with care if that's not your thing. Content warnings at the end.]

[In 1998, young women set out to conquer the world! In 2023, a hopeless traveler finally comes home~]

[Coming soon: "In the Tenth Year," a small-town melodrama, pseudo-stepmother story. No men involved; the character has an ex-girlfriend. See the blurb below.]

*

Eight-year-old Yue Chengqi was very fond of Aunt Su Ye, who often visited their home. Su Ye was decisive and brisk, and her long, ink-black hair streamed behind her as she walked. She wore a well-tailored black suit every day, and her lonely, aloof eyes held the weight of years gone by, along with an air of distance.

But every so often, Su Ye brought her lots of delicious treats and fun things. She would tease her and laugh with her.

At twenty-two, Yue Chengqi met twenty-year-old Su Ye. Su Ye had a baby-faced look, not quite free of her last bit of baby fat, and she was still immature too. To put it simply, she was a crybaby.

The first time they met, she bawled her eyes out, covering a tiny cut she had accidentally given Yue Chengqi, less than three centimeters long, and crying for half an hour.

Yue Chengqi: ...Are you trying to disinfect me with your tears?

Su Ye: I'm not, but I can't help it, waaah!

Damn it! Who could possibly connect this crybaby with the stunning, mature beauty she would become later?

When Yue Chengqi was twenty-five, she met forty-five-year-old Su Ye. Wrapped in a quilt, she asked timidly, "A Ye, are you still... afraid of thunder?"

*

Twenty-year-old Su Ye met Yue Huan, who had fallen from the sky when she was twenty-two. Yue Huan laughed a lot, encouraged her to read more, introduced her to friends, taught her how to do business, told her to cry less, and urged her to cherish her beautiful eyes.

At twenty-three, Su Ye lost Yue Huan. Those who fall from the sky will always disappear. Before Yue Huan left, she smiled and told her: Eat properly. Your older self keeps getting stomach problems, and it's heartbreaking. Don't stay up so late. It's so sad that you're so young and already dyeing your hair to keep it black. And remember, if you meet someone who loves you, think about giving them a chance. Don't foolishly spend decades alone.

But she never told Su Ye where to find Yue Huan.

At forty, Su Ye looked at her niece and watched her face grow more and more like someone in the depths of her memory.

She thought she was losing her mind, more than ever.

At forty-five, it seemed she had seen Yue Huan again. Though this person's head was wrapped in bandages, those familiar eyes could not lie. Her voice trembled. "Are you Qiqi, or A Huan?"

*

In 1998, on nights when thunder roared, Su Ye would take her quilts and hide in Yue Huan's room, clutching the hem of her clothes. "Sis, don't go. I'm scared."

In 2023, on a rainy afternoon, Yue Chengqi would carefully rub ointment on Su Ye's knees. She'd gone to several traditional medicine clinics to get it, and she nagged endlessly. "I told you to take care of yourself. How did you end up with chronic knee pain after neglecting it for just a few years?"

Then she'd get kicked out.

*

It was all coincidence, but my love for you wasn't.

*

A slow burn, small-town life, taking things easy, with a business-startup storyline!

Six thousand words a day, with an extremely stable update schedule~

So if you're waiting for a backlog to build up, remember to come water it now and then, waaah!

The author dislikes men. If that will upset you, don't read this.

The main cast is all women. The female lead's father has very, very little page time.

The female side character's child was conceived through IVF. The so-called purchase was just buying a backstory. I didn't make it clear enough at first, thinking the hints were enough, but I've now clarified it.

The age gap is both very big and very small.

No ethical issues.

The transmigration premise has no scientific basis; it's all coincidence.

Written with my face on the keyboard. My writing is trash. No need to tell me if you drop it.

Guaranteed happy ending! Guaranteed happy ending! Guaranteed happy ending!

Coming soon

"Shui Qing x Lin Qi"

"An aloof, unloved younger woman x a voluptuous, alluring, self-destructive older woman"

"A sanctimonious teacher x an artist bent on ruining herself"

"1"

In Shui Qing's life, there was a woman who was selfish and yet pushed her toward the future, free and noble and yet willing to stay in a small town for months for her sake, cold-hearted and yet mindful of her for years, so much so that she recognized Shui Qing at once when they met again.

She was as beautiful as ever, as composed as ever, and as ever, she made Shui Qing feel that the hysterical one was herself, the one acting like a lunatic was herself.

"2"

When Shui Qing was eighteen, her mother passed away. It happened at just the right time not to disrupt her college entrance exams, leaving her and her stepmother to "depend on each other."

So Shui Qing took all the money she had and ran away.

She fled from the south all the way to the northwest, eventually settling down in a small city called Chuncheng.

In Chuncheng, she met a woman with long, curly brown hair and smeared lipstick the color of something sweet and bloody.

The woman wanted to fall into depravity, and Shui Qing gave her pleasure without end, leading her deeper into ruin.

The woman wanted money, so Shui Qing gave it to her. That money was useless in Shui Qing's hands anyway, so she might as well give it to someone who really needed it.

They agreed to spend the whole summer together, then part ways for good.

They should have parted ways, but the woman left without a word first, leaving Shui Qing all alone.

"3"

At twenty-eight, Shui Qing was teaching in Chuncheng.

Her stepmother finally found her, bringing along her new family, including someone who, by the family relationship, was also her mother.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar woman, Shui Qing murmured her name:

Lin Qi.

Shui Qing smiled. "So should I call you my stepstepmother, or..."

Late at night, she buried her face in the woman's shoulder and watched her shiver, her shoulders drawing in. In a husky voice, she said, "...or my lover?"

"4"

"She can give you everything I can."

"And she can give you everything I can't."

"Why choose her instead of me?"

"If you choose me, I'll give it to you."

Even after ten years, her hands hadn't grown clumsy. She worked the woman into biting her shoulder, her voice trembling. "I choose... you..."

Shui Qing smiled. "Say it again, sis. Who do you choose?"

Theme: Grow into positive, sunny young people of the new era!