At night, Li Yun reentered the dream realm, appearing in a mountain with steep rocky cliffs and light blue sky. The greenery was lush, but they resembled sap green and viridian brush strokes more than trees.

Like before, he seemed to be able to traverse the landscape with ease, jumping from one clifftop to the next. Aside from himself, there were no lifeforms or creatures on the mountain. Li Yun willed a tiger to appear, but instead of a tiger, the clouds changed its shape and molded itself into a four limbed creature.

Suddenly, the mountains and sky collapsed into a beach scenery. The light sandy beach and light blue sky covering in every direction. Li Yun walked down the beach toward an endless expanse of sand lining the ocean. By his side, a woman appeared.

"Rouxi?" he asked.

She craned her neck and glanced up at him, revealing a smile underneath her large sunhat. Instead of responding, she intertwined her fingers through his and nestled his arm between her chest. Even in dream form she was driving him crazy.

Li Yun lowered his head to kiss her, but she turned away toward the beach, looking at the setting sun disappearing below the horizon. At the moment the sun disappeared, a click signaled the lights off, and his toes sank into the sand. A flash of light appeared, and he looked up above to see himself, or a doppelganger, operating on him. His abdominal cavity was opened with the heart beating in the center. The anatomy was completely wrong, but the distorted figures in the room seemed to treat it like normal.

His doppelganger muffled something to the nurses, and they began the operation. Intestines were removed, dangling in front of him before it was placed in the tray. A hose was inserted and stitched to his stomach and heart. He felt no pain, just curious at the bizarre scene.

The next moment, he woke up, feeling rested. He knew an hour had passed by as the hourglass next to the bed had emptied out its last grain of sand. Although he couldn't see, he could still sense the movement of the falling sand. By using an hourglass, he was able to gauge the time within his qi circulation state.

Time flowed differently in the dream realm depending on the scene. Sometimes it was long, as though he was stuck in a 24 hours meeting with the department heads. Sometimes, it was short, like watching a movie at 10x speed. It was a strange contradiction, as though the concept of time did not exist.

Every night, he entered the dream realm and explored the sporadic and chaotic nature of the realm. He never appeared in the same place, which was recognizable like the clinic or hospital or completely bizarre like a wonderland of fragmented buildings, mountains and rivers.

Li Yun could only manipulate some portion of the dream, but not completely before the world collapsed and turned into something else. Other than being fascinating and surreal, it lacked stability and physical laws to maintain the structure.

****

"Meimei, are you also heading to Maple Country with little Yun?" Asked grandmother Nai in the large kitchen. Grandmother Lu Nai and Lu Suyin were both cooking dinner with Rouxi.

Rouxi nodded while she continued peeling the carrots. "Yun is heading there first."

Next week was spring break and a national holiday, so they had decided to travel to Maple Country to meet with a feng shui master that Master Yue had recommended to them.

"Are you nervous about graduating?" Lu Suyin asked.

"More excited than nervous,” Rouxi responded. College was only a formality. She could have dropped out and continue working.

"Are your parents coming?"

Rouxi knew Lu Suyin would ask her eventually. "Yes, they are coming. Auntie doesn't have to be nervous, they both like Yun a lot, more than me actually."

"Oh, I see, little Yun was telling me that they are both researchers," said Lu Suyin.

"They are both physicists, but since they sometimes dabble in the chemistry and biology field, they seem to have more interest talking to Yun."

Lu Suyin smiled in relief. She had learned that they were people from Imperial City, so she didn't know how the potential in-law would act around a family that was considered from the countryside. She was just the apartment caretaker and her husband was a factory worker.

She had asked Li Yun many times about his potential plans, but he seemed reluctant to share the information with her. She suspected it was because of the in-laws. If their position was too far apart, it would be difficult to settle the wedding arrangements.

In the meanwhile, Li Fan and Li Yun cleared out the room and set up the tables and chairs. It had been a while since his son visited, but he understood his son had a lot of work.

"I know you're busy with research and work, but remember to eat regularly," said Li Fan. His son used to eat a lot as a child, but once he started calligraphy, he simply forgot about eating and had to be reminded.

"Dad, don't worry, Rouxi reminds me as well," Li Yun replied.

Li Fan couldn’t help but frown, deepening his wrinkled forehead. Many of his son's habit had not changed, but he had become more secretive. It was part of growing up, adult children kept their life separate from their family and parents. It was different from the past, where the extended family knew everything about the children's marriage and career choices.

"Little Yun, are you going to discuss marriage with little Meilin?" Li Fan asked his son. He knew his son had past relationships, but Meilin was the only one he had formally introduced to them. It was enough for them to know that she mattered a lot to him.

Li Yun paused his work and pulled his dad to set down. His mother had also asked him, but he told her after Rouxi's graduation. However, graduation was only within two months.

"Her stepparents are coming for graduation," Li Yun finally replied. "I'll set up dinner plans for the two families to meet at a restaurant?"

Li Fan patted Li Yun in the back, his son didn't seem like the type to care, but he was always deliberate in his actions. He had likely already planned out everything.

"Did you talk to her parents about the engagement?" Li Fan inquired.

Li Yun nodded. He had spoken to them on the phone. Song Gaode and Ke An were both ecstatic by the news, but also asked him if he knew that Song Taiji was also planning to attend the graduation.

After meeting Song Taiji the first time, there hadn't been any other communication with Song Taiji. It wasn't like a typical drama where he actively interfered with their relationship. Rather, he was genuinely curious about Li Yun's ability, and had a sit and watch strategy.

If Li Yun was to guess, Song Taiji was calculating how useful Li Yun would be for the Song family. It annoyed him that in order to prove his own worth, he was falling into Song Taiji's scheme.

For Li Yun, he didn’t care about Song Taiji, but he didn't want to distract Rouxi from her studies. It also didn't mean he had nothing to do until then. Wedding required a lot of planning and parents' involvement.

"Where do they live? I'll send over gifts for them before they leave," Li Fan needed time to prepare the groom's side gifts.

"Dad, you don't have to, I'll take care of it," Li Yun knew how much his parents had saved up, and he didn't want them to spend too much on his wedding.

"I know you make a lot of money, but your mom and I have saved enough for your wedding."

Gifts from the groom's side were typically a house to the bride. Although it wasn't comparable to what Rouxi owned, he planned to add Rouxi's name to the clinic.

"All right, can you and mom handle the engagement? However, after that, I don't want you to spend a dime."

He didn't need his parent's money, but his parents had been saving up for his wedding for a while, most parents did. It would hurt them if he didn't involve them.

There was only one problem, the ring. Should he go with the classical diamond ring, or buy something more unique? Ruby was expensive, or should he get jade? But wasn't jade for old people?

Out of all life's major questions, he didn't expect buying a ring to cause him so much trouble. He decided to ask Wu Ling for help.

LiYun: Hey, what sort of ring do you think Meilin will like?

WuLing: Hmm… Tough question, I'm not sure… *adds Zhu Ah Nin* What sort of ring do you think Meimei will like?

ZhuAhNin: Her? Why would I know, her taste is s***. *adds JuDe* Honey, what ring do think Meilin likes?

Jude: Sister-in-law? I think sis @Xuxu would know.

Xuxu: Just buy her a fricken diamond, make sure it's from a conflict-free area. The real question is how many carats are you getting her or how much do you make in 2 months?

LiYun: Why is that a requirement?

Xuxu: Of course, are you an idiot? Are you just planning this now? @bufu what are you teaching your friend?

Bufu: What's with the chainlink? Just ask it in groupchat.

*adds everyone.*

"Screw you!" Li Yun threw his phone out of his hands. Why was it so difficult to decide on a ring?

chocomug

End of Volume 4!!! It is supposed to be longer, but I prefer how this ends and have pushed some chapters to vol.5. I have 15% of volume 5, but it's a bit of a mess as I haven't been writing much lately.

I'll be back on January 1st, 2022, but if I can squeeze out some time, I'll release around the end of December.