Chapter 1 Zheng Zheng Thinks of Yue?!

Lin Xian looked at the old woman before him. Her hair was streaked with gray, tied back in a neat ponytail. She was over a hundred years old but in good spirits, her movements and speech both fluid.

Zheng Xiangyue.

He had just parted ways with her in the reality of 2024, less than two days ago.

Back then, she was just a petite, heartbreaking girl, lonely and weak, inspiring pity in everyone who saw her.

She was always covered in electrodes, connected to various wires, making even free movement a problem.

But now, facing this old grandmother,

Lin Xian really found it hard to connect these two "Zheng Xiangyues" together.

However,

the small, laminated piece of paper he held was solid proof of Zheng Xiangyue's identity.

Because this little paper was written, stroke by stroke, by the teenage Zheng Xiangyue, right before Lin Xian's eyes.

Perhaps because she rarely wrote, the strokes were crooked and uneven, but that only made Lin Xian remember it more clearly.

At first, Zheng Xiangyue only wrote the first two things;

later, under the influence of his pep talks, she added the third:

Be a kind and loving person.

Just like what she was doing now, returning from advanced Mars to backward Earth to help the humans of Earth move towards modern life, learn farming and iron smelting, establish villages, and multiply.

Although it didn't seem like anything great,

in this special era, on this special Earth, Zheng Xiangyue's descent from Mars, bringing knowledge and hope, was akin to a fairy descending to earth.

For some reason,

Lin Xian remembered the words he had once said to Zheng Xiangyue:

"Be a kind person, be a loving person, extend a helping hand to those in need, offer love to those who crave care."

"If you have the ability, serve your country with great ambition; if you don't, then return to the East Sea and build your hometown."

"In short, if you can continue to extend this kindness and love, that will be the best repayment to me, to your brother, and to everyone in this world who has helped you."

Unexpectedly,

he had actually guessed it.

Zheng Xiangyue had successfully lived to the future, cured her congenital heart disease, and really returned to the East Sea to "build her hometown"!

In fact, Lin Xian understood.

Zheng Xiangyue definitely didn't remember what he had said. She even admitted that the amnesia from hibernation made her forget everything. Even standing face to face with him, she wouldn't recognize who he was.

The reason why the old grandmother Zheng Xiangyue was looking at him with such shock now was entirely because the name Lin Xian coincidentally appeared on the small piece of paper.

She must have been searching for this name for a long time.

She must have wanted to find the person whose name she wrote on her wish list, to find out what happened back then, or perhaps to really thank this former Brother Lin Xian, as she wished.

At this moment,

Lin Xian suddenly understood why Grandpa Wei Shengjin had repeatedly reminded him not to use honorifics and just call them by name.

Before, he couldn't understand this necessity at all, and even felt it was impolite.

But now he finally understood why everyone on Mars didn't use terms of address based on seniority.

Because it was too awkward!

Like now.

What should he call Zheng Xiangyue?

Was he supposed to touch her white-haired head and call her Little Sister tenderly, just like he did a few days ago?

Or should he have this hundred-year-old woman, who was about the same age as his grandma's grandma, call him Brother Lin Xian?

This feeling wasn't exactly terrifying, but it was certainly very uncomfortable.

Besides, they couldn't just go their separate ways. If he called her Grandma, and she called him Brother, it would be even more confusing.

After much thought,

Grandpa Wei Shengjin's suggestion was still the best. Since everyone's age and seniority were already messed up in the hibernation era, then just calling each other by name, except for direct relatives, would solve all the awkwardness.

Seeing that the current Zheng Xiangyue was healthy and had lived for over a hundred years, and had also realized her own value and dreams, Lin Xian was genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart.

Happy for Zheng Xiangyue, and also happy for his own good deeds and kindness.

All along,

although Lin Xian didn't really want to admit it,

his actions of changing the future always seemed to backfire and make many things go wrong.

But the appearance of Zheng Xiangyue in the Fifth Dream,

was like a bright moonlight, illuminating the backward Earth and also illuminating his gloomy dream.

Lin Xian was very curious.

Had Zheng Xiangyue's dream come true?

Had she been to the moon?

So he opened his mouth and asked:

"Then you" "Zheng, Zheng Xiangyue!!!"

As a result, Lin Xian hadn't even finished speaking when he was interrupted by Grandpa Wei Shengjin's loud shout.

Grandpa Wei Shengjin was extremely excited.

He almost jumped up.

He stared dumbfounded at the village chief grandmother, his voice trembling:

"The Moon Girl Zheng Xiangyue! So you're still alive! Ah, no, no, I'm sorry. I'm just shocked. I never thought I would see a character from the textbooks on Earth!"

A character from the textbooks?

Lin Xian looked at Wei Shengjin in confusion:

"What does that mean?"

Wei Shengjin swallowed and said, stabilizing his emotions:

"The Moon Girl article is a text in the middle school textbook. Wasn't I only a teenager when I was hibernating, just entering middle school? I forgot everything after waking up from hibernation, my mind was blank. Except for the language function, I didn't know anything. Because in the brain structure, language and memory are not managed by the same area, the language ability will not disappear with long-term hibernation."

"Sorry, I'm digressing. This is all a teacher's aftereffect. I always want to elaborate. Later, after receiving common sense education and historical education, I continued to study in middle school on Mars. The most famous text at that time was The Moon Girl."

"This text tells the story of the spacet company and a little girl's agreement spanning hundreds of years, fulfilling the promise, with Jask himself accompanying the little girl on a trip to the moon. It really is a romantic text, although it must have the spacet company's publicity component in it, in order to enhance the company's image and influence. But this is, after all, the fact. The Moon Girl Zheng Xiangyue is real."

"Once this article was published, it caused a sensation throughout Mars. Spacet and Jask's prestige were also pushed to the highest point. The name of the Moon Girl Zheng Xiangyue also became a household name on Mars. Naturally, this article was also selected into the middle school textbook. We were required to recite the whole text back then!"

Lin Xian became interested:

"Can you recite the whole text on the spot? I'd like to hear it."

Wei Shengjin waved his hand and chuckled twice:

"I definitely can't recite it now. But when my son and grandson were in school, I tutored them with their homework. The Moon Girl article was still required to be recited in their middle school textbooks."

"You have to know, I woke up from hibernation in 2574. At that time, Zheng Xiangyue had already returned from the moon for decades. Until my grandson went to middle school, they were still learning this text. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was Mars's most well-known literary work."

"I definitely can't recite it for you, but I still remember the content. It mainly praises Zheng Xiangyue's spirit of perseverance, persistence, fighting against the disease, optimism, and boldly pursuing her dreams; then it praises the quality of the spacet company and Jask's word of honor, keeping promises; it embodies the relationship between people"

"Teacher Wei, your occupational disease as a teacher has relapsed." Lin Xian narrowed his eyes, interrupted Wei Shengjin, and urged:

"Don't do any reading comprehension or language appreciation now. Just tell me what the content of the text is."

"Cough cough, sorry."

Wei Shengjin coughed lightly twice:

"It's mainly because this text is well-known on Mars, and the content rarely needs to be retold by anyone. In fact, this text is not long. It starts from Zheng Xiangyue waking up from hibernation. After experiencing common sense education and historical education, Jask of the spacet company personally came to Zheng Xiangyue's side and asked her if she still wanted to go to the moon?"

"Then, the spacet company fulfilled the promise of going to the moon for this little girl who spanned hundreds of years. It's not a short distance from Mars to the moon, but the busy Jask still took half a year to accompany Zheng Xiangyue on a trip to the moon."

"But in order to protect Zheng Xiangyue's privacy, why she went to the moon and what she did there were not written in the text. Everyone was very curious about these reasons in the future, and many historians have studied them, but they haven't been able to figure out why."

"At that time, many people thought that the Moon Girl Zheng Xiangyue would become popular because of this, becoming a celebrity or a well-known person; or use her popularity to enter politics; she inherently had advantages that many people would not have even after working hard their whole lives. However, the Moon Girl was more low-key than everyone imagined, never showing her face or using her fame."

"Everyone only knew that she worked at the spacet company. Later, no one knew where she went, when she retired, and what her state was after that. The reason why I was so excited just now was because I didn't expect that the former Moon Girl would come to Earth! And become the Village Chief Grandmother!"

Listening to Wei Shengjin's excited retelling, Zheng Xiangyue, who had become an old grandmother, smiled kindly and looked at Lin Xian:

"Mr. Lin Xian, do you remember me?"

Lin Xian raised his head.

Zheng Xiangyue's address to him had changed, and had become more respectful.

Because she was very clear that she had written the words "must repay Brother Lin Xian well" when she was a teenager, which naturally meant that Brother Lin Xian had helped her a lot and their relationship was very close.

It was just the aftereffects of the hibernation pod that made her forget everything.

Lin Xian thought for a moment.

He nodded gently:

"I remember you."

He smiled:

"But you probably don't remember me anymore, right?"

Zheng Xiangyue's expression was very complicated.

A little confused, a little moved, and a little at a loss:

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lin Xian. How much I wish I could remember you, but unfortunately, I've thought about it all my life, recalled it for a hundred years, but I haven't been able to recall any bits and pieces about you."

"Not just you"

Saying that, Zheng Xiangyue stretched out her wrinkled finger and pointed to the laminated piece of paper in Lin Xian's hand, pointing to the place where the first wish was written:

"I don't even remember anything about my brother. Although there is a photo on his urn, I looked at it for a long time, but I couldn't remember anything, like a stranger, a complete stranger."

Lin Xian looked at the desolate Grandma Zheng Xiangyue

In the dim light of the oil lamp in the room, he still couldn't help but superimpose the little girl covered with wires and electrodes on the hospital bed with her shadow.

As if she was still sitting on the hospital bed on the 17th floor of the Donghai University Affiliated Hospital,

still leaning on that big Rhine Cat doll,

lowering her head,

holding Zheng Chenghao's urn,

wiping and wiping, wiping it spotless.

Time flies.

Now Lin Xian was still living in the past, but hundreds of years had passed on Zheng Xiangyue.

At this moment, it was a twist of fate.

Lin Xian didn't know what to say.

"So"

He swallowed:

"You buried your brother's urn on the moon?"

Grandma Zheng Xiangyue smiled gently and began to tell about her past

"When I woke up from the hibernation pod, it was 2523, exactly 101 years from now. At that time, my mind was blank, I didn't know anything, I didn't know where I was, I didn't know who I was."

"Later, after a series of educations, I realized that I had previously fallen asleep in a hibernation pod on Earth, but when Mr. Jask launched the Mars immigration plan, he seemed to know in advance that a super disaster would occur on Earth in 2400, so he transported many people's hibernation pods, including mine, to distant Mars, where they continued to hibernate."

"The super disaster in 2400 destroyed everything on Earth, making the natural environment uninhabitable. I therefore escaped the disaster on Mars. When I woke up from the hibernation pod in 2523, my congenital heart disease had been completely cured, my body was healthy and full of vitality. Mr. Jask appeared at this time and gave me the four items I had left behind"

"A Rhine Cat doll that had been completely deformed, broken, faded, and re-sewn; an urn; a laminated piece of notebook paper; and a ticket to the moon that had also been laminated."

"He apologized to me, saying that this Rhine Cat doll had been completely broken and could not be repaired after 600 years of preservation. He had also found many professional repairers to barely repair it to this state. Although it was very ugly, he thought that it was still possible to preserve as much of the original appearance as possible, he smiled and called this cat the Cat of Theseus."

"At that time, I didn't know what the Cat of Theseus meant. Later I realized that it was just a cold joke from Mr. Jask."

Zheng Xiangyue, supporting her old body, got up again, came to the wooden bed in the stone house, and carefully took out a patched-up doll from the closet.

It was a Rhine Cat doll that could not be called a Rhine Cat.

It had long lost its original appearance.

It was more like a pieced-together bootleg product.

The Cat of Theseus.

What an apt metaphor.

In fact, in the earliest philosophical questions, the original name was "The Ship of Theseus," also known as the Theseus Paradox.

This was a question raised by the philosopher Plutarch in the 1st century AD:

Suppose there is a ship that can sail on the sea for hundreds of years.

Thanks to continuous maintenance and replacement of parts, as long as a plank rots, it will be replaced.

And so on, until all the functional parts are no longer the original ones, every piece of wood is brand new wood.

Then, the question comes, is the final ship, with all its parts and wood brand new, still the original Ship of Theseus?

Or is it already a completely different ship? If it is not the original ship, then when does it cease to be the original ship?

Just like the patched-up and replaced Rhine Cat doll in front of her.

Even Zheng Xiangyue, who had become an old grandmother, still seemed to cherish this "slightly ugly" Rhine Cat very much, not passing it to Lin Xian to look at, but just putting it in the corner of the bed, allowing Lin Xian to observe it from a distance.

It seems,

Zheng Xiangyue had long forgotten that this Rhine Cat doll was actually given to her by Lin Xian.

Lin Xian carefully observed the Rhine Cat in the dim light of the oil lamp.

Compared with the Rhine Cat doll he had given her, it could be said to be completely mismatched, and it was estimated that not a single piece of cloth or cotton thread came from 600 years ago.

First of all, in terms of size.

The one he gave to Zheng Xiangyue was an oversized doll, which Zheng Xiangyue couldn't even hold at first, and Zheng Chenghao helped her carry it to the bed.

Later, Zheng Chenghao was gone, and Zheng Xiangyue's strength became greater and greater, so she could naturally hold the oversized Rhine Cat.

But now, this "Cat of Theseus" was obviously much smaller, only about the size of two basketballs.

Then, in terms of style.

Compared with the appearance 600 years ago, it could only be said that it had nothing to do with it.

But this could not be blamed on Jask.

Any doll or toy cannot survive hundreds of years unscathed.

It will definitely break.

And it is not a traditional sense of broken, it is completely broken - all the threads will break, all the fabrics will age, discolor, and become as brittle as seaweed, turning into ash at a touch. Not to mention the cotton inside, which will definitely have turned into a puddle of mud after hundreds of years.

So it was already very good to be able to repair it to this state.

"It's also strange."

Zheng Xiangyue looked at the doll placed on the bed and said with a smile:

"Mr. Jask said that he originally wanted to buy an identical new one, or even remake a new one for me. But no matter how he looked for it, he couldn't find the original style. Not to mention the same style of doll, he searched all the pictures, photos, and promotional drawings, but he couldn't find this one."

Lin Xian listened to Zheng Xiangyue's narration, and a picture of Jask frowning appeared in his mind.

Of course he couldn't find this one.

This Rhine Cat doll only produced two samples, and was shelved and scrapped for various reasons.

The only two samples, one was drawn away by Chu Anqing at the MX celebration banquet; the other was taken by himself from the company warehouse and given to her as a gift when Zheng Xiangyue had her birthday.

Products that have not entered the market for sales and promotion, of course, cannot find picture styles.

"Then, Mr. Jask asked me if I wanted to redeem this ticket to the moon. He could take a flight for me at any time."

"At that time, I was quite confused. I didn't really want to go to the moon, and I didn't know why I had this ticket. Until I saw this little piece of paper, which wrote what I must do after waking up from hibernation!"

"When I saw that the first thing written on it was to bury my brother on the moon. Of course, I didn't remember that I had a brother, but when I saw the urn, I understood that the so-called brother should refer to this."

"At that time, I looked at this urn and felt very scary, very strange, and even dared not approach it. It wasn't until two years later, as a middle school student, that I took that ticket to find Mr. Jask, saying that I wanted to go to the moon to see if I could regain my former memories."

"Mr. Jask happily agreed, and said that the flight had been prepared for me long ago. Then I took my brother's urn and went to the moon with that laminated piece of paper. After arriving on the moon, I wore a spacesuit and dug a hole on the surface of the moon and buried my brother's urn in it."

"The moment I completed this task, I didn't have any satisfaction, and I didn't have any feelings. It was like mechanically doing something that had nothing to do with me. At that moment, I truly realized how precious memory is."

"Memory, to us, is not just a piece of information, a sentence, or a piece of footage. The reason why memory is different from movie clips is that memory contains emotions."

"Just like what is recorded on this little piece of paper, I have a brother. I know his name is Zheng Chenghao through the name on the urn. I also know that my wish is to bury him on the moon. But what then? What does this represent? What does it mean? I don't know at all, and I have no feelings at all."

"I stood on the moon as I wished, looking at the dark universe, looking at the huge Earth in front of me that seemed to be pressing down, at that moment, I was really lonely and wanted to go back to Mars. At least I had a home and classmates on Mars."

"I picked up that small piece of paper with three wishes written on it. I told Mr. Jask that the first wish had now been completed. The second wish was to repay Brother Lin Xian well. But who is Brother Lin Xian? Do you know Brother Lin Xian?"

"Mr. Jask didn't speak. Looking at his expression, he should know who Brother Lin Xian was, but he didn't seem willing to tell me. I continued to ask him, can I still see Brother Lin Xian?"

"Mr. Jask still didn't speak, just remained silent, turned his head, and looked at the blue Earth. I thought this should be a default, probably Brother Lin Xian, like my own brother Zheng Chenghao, had already passed away?"

"I remember the picture very clearly at that time"

Zheng Xiangyue closed her eyes, as if returning to the scene 100 years ago, when she and Jask stood on the moon looking at the Earth.

She said softly:

"Mr. Jask told me that the people you want to see are hidden in your heart, that means you have already seen them. Besides, the second wish on the paper only says to repay Lin Xian well, it doesn't necessarily have to be in person. Why not start working hard on the third wish first?"

"He said that perhaps the second wish and the third wish are connected. As long as you are a kind person and do loving things, that is the best repayment to Lin Xian."

Speaking of this, Zheng Xiangyue smiled, opened her eyes, and looked at Lin Xian:

"This is the beginning of my second life."

"After returning to Mars, I started to study hard and then entered the spacet company to work. I spent my whole life looking for what I could do, but I found that I was not so great, not so talented, and couldn't bring much contribution to this world"

"I have to say, my life on Mars was very happy. I got married and had children. I had two children, a brother and a sister, and they had a good relationship. My son gave me two granddaughters, and my daughter gave birth to a grandson. After I retired, I enjoyed a long time of family happiness."

"Now, before I came to Earth, my son and daughter have both passed away, and only one grandson is left out of the three grandchildren, and his health is not very good. It seems that children born and raised on Mars generally don't live as long as humans who came from Earth by hibernation. The old hibernating humans I know generally live to be over 100 years old."

Grandpa Wei Shengjin nodded in agreement when he heard this sentence.

That was indeed the case.

Humans who hibernated on Earth and woke up on Mars generally lived to be over 100 years old. Scientists speculate that this situation should be related to the gravity environment and embryo development, but the specific reason is unknown.

Zheng Xiangyue looked at the laminated piece of paper in her hand and continued:

"Later, when I was almost 100 years old, I often looked at this piece of paper and felt that I, as Zheng Xiangyue, had not fulfilled the wishes of my childhood self. She wrote three wishes for me, and I only completed the first one in a confused manner. I had no clue about the remaining two."

"When people get old, they will naturally become worried. I have no memory of my previous life on Earth, but I miss Earth more and more. I know Earth is very backward and life is very hard, but I often think, what kind of person is a kind and loving person?"

"If Earth is really my hometown, shouldn't I go back with knowledge and love to build it well?"

"So, I came here, came to Earth, and never thought about going back. I just want to dedicate a share of kindness and love here to make Earth better. This can be regarded as worthy of Zheng Xiangyue, who wrote such great dreams stroke by stroke when she was a teenager. I can't let her down."

Zheng Xiangyue, who was over a hundred years old, shook her head and showed a gratified smile.

She put the laminated piece of paper on the table.

Looking up at Lin Xian again:

"I really like Earth, because the moon here is really beautiful. This is a beautiful scenery that you can never see on Mars."

The moon?

Suddenly, Lin Xian recalled the black hand spanning the North and South Poles on the moon.

Can that kind of moon be called beautiful?

Could it be

He immediately got up, came outside the stone house, and looked up at the starry sky.

Only to see.

Among the black night stars directly above, a dazzling and bright full moon hung in the sky!

Bright.

Clean.

Round like a jade plate.

It was the most beautiful moon that had never been seen in several future dreams.

Lin Xian felt a sense of peace for no reason.

That's more like it.

This is the real moon.

Behind him, the two old men, Wei Shengjin and Zheng Xiangyue, also walked out of the house, stood beside Lin Xian, and looked at the full moon in the sky.

"I also really like the moon on Earth."

Wei Shengjin said with emotion:

"Although Mars also has two satellites, Phobos and Deimos, their volume is too small and they cannot reflect sunlight, so you can never see such a beautiful scenery like the moon on Mars."

"I have been watching the moon for a long time every night for the two months I have been on Earth. It is really beautiful and intoxicating."

Lin Xian chuckled and looked back at Zheng Xiangyue:

"Actually, even if you don't come to Earth, the humans on Earth will always be grateful to you. They received your kindness and love hundreds of years ago."

The old Zheng Xiangyue didn't understand what Lin Xian said and asked in confusion:

"Why do you say that? I haven't done anything for Earth, I haven't made any contribution."

"No"

Lin Xian raised his head again, bathed in the white moonlight, with the inverted bright moon reflected in his eyes:

"This piece of clean moonlight is the best gift you have given to Earth."