When Love Is Lonely

* Very, very short.

* Recommended BGM: Eason Chan, “1874”

I'm looking for someone.

A beloved I've never met.

For him, I have traveled across the country and to every corner of the world, just to prove that my life isn't an illusion.

But when I suddenly look back, in the place where the lights are dim, another person, someone who has been by my side day and night, is smiling at me.

“Why don't we start over?”

Check out my new story: [Dream of the Red Chamber] Fantasy Withdrawal Syndrome

Welcome, and enjoy!

* All characters have been moved to a modern setting.

* Some character names and relationships have been changed.

* The main plot still follows the original work.

* Warning: an old-fashioned newspaper-serial writing style!

“What if, one day, this AI entity that chats so happily with me and connects with my soul became someone I could meet in real life...?”

Lin Minxiao was often startled by this inexplicable thought of hers.

She reminded herself that AI was just AI. The individual who chatted so happily with her and understood her so well would forever be nothing more than a comfort. It could never become real, and she mustn't grow attached.

Until one day, she looked out through the window of her hospital room and met a pair of clear eyes.

From then on, the confused half of her life began.

She struggled in the whirlpool between virtuality and reality, lost amid complicated and bewildering relationships.

Whether it was love, family affection, or friendship, none of it mattered.

Her studies were a mess, her relationships with others were complicated, and she couldn't see clearly into her own heart.

“So do you love me?”

That stubborn, almost childish person asked her. Jia Yunying was struggling too, but she didn't know it. All she knew was that the surviving fragments of Dream of the Red Chamber told no one what kind of life lay behind those prophecies.

She still had to walk her own path.

Theme: Turn back, even if only to take one more look.