Everything We Meet Is a Substitute

He always dreams about the same rain, meeting different people in the dream, always passing the umbrella to others, and the fire always goes out before it warms him. Fate seemed to have deliberately bypassed him, leaving only a trace of regret. Those who had hurt him were stung by strange indifference in another place; those who loved him deeply also received a gentle response elsewhere. And he is just the star watching the rain quietly. --- But the stars will also get tired sometimes - until he discovers that the rain has never stopped, and all the things that rub shoulders with him in the rain are his fragments scattered in time and space. Welcome to Shen Qingrang's "self-puzzle game". The rules are simple: every time you travel is to find a lost piece of yourself, and every "stand-in" is a reunion with a certain aspect of yourself. But no one told him - when you start to collect yourself, the world protagonists who have been "trained" by you will collectively awaken and apply to become your "puzzle assistants". The first fragment Shen Qingrang was a substitute wife for a business marriage, and the contract stated that "it will be terminated when Bai Yueguang returns to China." He was gentle, decent, and measured. On every rainy night, he handed Mr. Gu a towel when he returned from socializing, and then quietly retreated into the shadows. When Bai Yueguang returned to the state banquet, everyone was waiting to see him make an embarrassing exit. Gu Yanshen tore up the agreement in public, grabbed his hand in the heavy rain, and said in a hoarse voice: "I have been looking for thirteen years - that fool who always gives people umbrellas in the rain, but gets soaked himself." "Every time I dream about you, I only see your back. But I know that the warmth you gave me was never because of who you looked like." "But because... You are the source of all warmth." Shen Qing made the system on his wrist suddenly become hot: [Resonance of soul fragments detected - Overlord Gu Yanshen, carrying your personality fragment of "giving warmth without asking for anything in return". Second fragment In the world of cultivating immortals, Shen Qingrang is the substitute for the medicine that the Immortal Lord took to save Bai Yueguang. He practiced quietly, carefully prepared the medicine, stood in front of his master when the elixir fire backfired, and then said with a smile, "It doesn't hurt." On the day Bai Yueguang recovered, the Immortal Lord crushed his natal sword and cut open the spiritual platform in public—— There was no sign of anyone else there, only thousands of sword marks engraved with the same name: Qingrang. "Three hundred years ago you endured the catastrophe for me, two hundred years ago you sealed me as a demon, and a hundred years ago you gave up your soul to restore my Taoist heart." "In this life, I will not cultivate immortality for the sake of immortality..." "Just to cultivate a heart that is complete enough to return to you every inch of the warmth you gave me back then." The system prompts softly: [The second fragment is recovered—Xianzun Yunji, which carries your personality trait of "sacrifice yourself to help others." The third fragment In the entertainment industry, Shen Qingrang is the "voice substitute" for top singers looking for Bai Yueguang. He writes songs, he composes music, and he hides in the recording studio and sings about his inner thoughts that no one knows. Until the night of the audition live broadcast, the program team deliberately compared: "Qing Rang's voice is very similar to the old friend that Teacher Chu misses, right?" The top leader Chu Ci suddenly stood up, walked to the piano and played the song "The Sound of Rain": "Seven years ago, a young man listened to me playing the piano all night outside a piano store in the rain." "I chased him out and only found the sheet music he had left behind. It said 'given to everyone who is lonely on a rainy night'." "Every song in the past seven years is me saying to him——" "The tenderness you give to the world, the world will eventually give back to you twice as much." The spotlight shone on Shen Qingrang's astonished face, and the system light screen flashed: [The third fragment - the musician Chu Ci, carries your innate instinct of "healing others with art". Final puzzle The system finally revealed everything: [You are not playing a stand-in, but you are recycling the self that has been shattered by over-paying. The protagonist of each world is an independent individual projected from a fragment of your personality. They have grown up nourished by your qualities, and now their souls are complete and they begin to spontaneously... Find and warm their "origins." Shen Qingrang: "So they treat me well because I am their 'creator'?" System: [No, it's because they learned the lesson you least learned - love yourself. And the process of loving you is how they practice this lesson. It's still raining. But this time, Shen Qingrang discovered—— Gu Yanshen held an umbrella for him, Yunji used spiritual power to dry the corners of his clothes, and Chu Ci softly hummed a song to avoid the rain under the umbrella. The warmth he had given away was returning with a thousand times greater concentration. This is a gentle revolution about "completeness" You are no one's shadow. You are the source of all light. Those fates that you think have "bypassed you" are actually teaching you in the most roundabout way how to accept every ray of light that is parted from you. The pain is real, but pain teaches you to recognize those temperatures that are worth cherishing. Love is real, and that love will eventually lead you to recognize the self that is most worthy of being loved. Shen Qingrang stood in the rain, looking at the familiar and unfamiliar faces around him. He finally stretched out his hand, not for the first time to hand out an umbrella, but to— Take the warm hands that reach out to him. So, are you ready to witness this gentle "self-reunion"? When everything you meet is a substitute—— That's because what you meet are all scattered in the world, worthy of being deeply loved. And true completeness begins when you are finally willing to say to yourself: "Welcome home, all my looks." The rain will stop. When all of you learn to hold an umbrella for yourself. --- Gradually he understood: pain makes people learn to dodge, while love makes the soul grow towards the light. Every hurt heart will be healed, and every heart soaked in love will continue to pass on love. Destiny is not a repeated reincarnation, but the soul stretches inch by inch during the journey. Intention: To be "the sun that shines itself and embraces the light of others", right?