Rewinding the Years

My name is Lin Rong. When I was thirty-two, I found a ring in the flower bed downstairs. It wouldn't blacken in a fire or break under a hammer. I listed it online, and the very next day someone traveled a long way with a million yuan in cash to complete the deal in person at the police station. I bought a house and moved, thinking that chapter of my life was over. Later, I met a woman who helped out at a bookstore. When she smiled, her eyes curved into two crescents. We married, had children, and lived a peaceful life. Until she confessed that approaching me had been part of a mission from the start. The ring was taken away, but my aging stopped forever at the age of ninety. I watched my wife go, then my children, then everyone I had ever known. I endured alone for a trillion years, drifting through the vast sea of stars, until I finally came to rest on a gray planet, quietly awaiting the end. Lin Yue said that if there were another life, she hoped we could meet in an ordinary way. Lin Rong said, “There’s no need for another life. This one has been enough.”