seizing dreams

Newspaper office.

Lin Ze and Situ Ye dragged their luggage into the office. Lin Ze said to Jin Weicheng who was the editor on duty, “Jin Laoshi, we’ll have to trouble you for being on duty.”

“Have fun.” Jin Weicheng said.

March, Australia, Hardy Reef.

During midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere, the Great Barrier Reef’s waters that were almost transparent looked just like jelly. Houses dotted the water in great numbers, and the coral reef was dyed a beautiful bluish-green as it spread out on the offshore seabed. The sun shone brilliantly; the seabed could be seen with just a glance. Yachts with glass bases sailed by one after another, as if they were floating in mid air — the blue skies, white clouds, and sea waters had merged into one colour.

Yu Hao slept until it was dark out because he was still suffering from his jet lag. When he arrived the night before, it was pitch dark outside, and he couldn’t see anything. When he woke up in the morning, the water house facing the sea was enveloped by muslin curtains, while the radiant sunlight streamed in from outside.

“Get up!” Chen Yekai said, “Look at the time!”

Beside Yu Hao on the bed, Zhou Sheng had gone missing, his warmth still lingering under the blanket.

As soon as Yu Hao looked at the time, he was startled. Ou Qihang followed in as well, saying, “Get up and change your clothes! It’s about to start!”

Yu Hao, “……”

“Why is it that you guys aren’t wearing anything, but I have to wear a shirt!” Yu Hao lamented, “I want to go snorkelling too!”

“How are we not wearing anything!” Chen Yekai said.

Ou Qihang, “Exactly, we’re obviously wearing beach shorts.”

Ou Qihang and Chen Yekai were both half naked and were obviously very aware of their status as tourists. They were even barefoot as they pushed Yu Hao to the wash basin. Ou Qihang smeared sunscreen on Yu Hao, Chen Yekai helped him wax his hair, and after being embroiled in chaos for a while, Chen Yekai looked at the diving watch on his wrist and said, “Okay, when the time comes you just need to walk along the route.”

Ou Qihang said, “We’ll go off first!”

Yu Hao scrutinised himself in the mirror. He took a deep breath, stood there for awhile, then pushed the door open and left.

Lin Ze was half naked and wore a pair of beach shorts as he waited at the entrance to the water house. He placed an ocarina next to his mouth, and once the door opened, the music began to play.

Yu Hao laughed. That was the Douyin divine melody that they had been practicing diligently for months.

“You walked with me into a cicada summer, walking through the hustle and bustle of a city; songs still in the air, in your eyes like pomegranate blossoms, I can’t see your tenderness…”

Yu Hao sang along with the music as he walked out of the long corridor. Lin Ze blew his ocarina with a cadence as he followed him from behind. At the end of the corridor, Chen Yekai appeared and began blowing on an ocarina and followed up.

“I miss you so much, every rainy season; what you choose to forget, is what I am attached to the most—”

Situ Ye waited in the garden and smiled at Yu Hao. That smile was as brilliant as the sun, and he sang with Yu Hao,

“This letter is too short for my feelings; there are too many ripples that I cannot finish telling of, every aspect of my story is about you.”

On the stony path, Cen Shan blew an ocarina with a gentle hint of a smile in her gaze, accompanying Yu Hao to walk towards the dock.

Ou Qihang waited at the dock. He started playing his ocarina and joined them. Yu Hao stepped onto the yacht with a glass base; the boatman paddled the water, and the gondola-like boat swayed as it was rowed onto the transparent sea.

Skies were clear, the breeze was still, and the waves were quiet. Yu Hao stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the coral island in the middle of the sea. There was an arch there built with white roses; Fu Liqun and Huang Ting both wore shirts as they waited with Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng casually yanked a few times at the rose petals used for decoration.

Five boats that were decorated as gondolas drifted in slowly on that transparent sea as it approached the island.

Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng, who was waiting for him on that island. Situ Ye sang to one side,

“How did I fall in love with him, and decide to go home with him; giving up my all, my everything, it doesn’t matter…”

“This letter is too short for my feelings; my youth of yester-year is a long story, my story is still about you.”

The gondola reached the shore. Yu Hao disembarked. Adorned in a white shirt and a pair of black suit pants, he walked towards Zhou Sheng, who was drenched in sweat from the sweltering heat. Zhou Sheng looked very handsome today but also seemed really hot. He would loosen the tie around his neck from time to time, and sweat could be seen dripping from his hair.

“You’re here?” Zhou Sheng said.

“Overslept.” Yu Hao said with a little embarrassment.

“Without anyone going into your dream to wake you, you can’t get up.” Zhou Sheng’s slight smile was intoxicating. He bowed his head and kissed Yu Hao, held his hand, and they walked to the arch decorated with white roses. Situ Ye immediately took his camera out and froze this moment.

A year and a half later.

“…there’s still another project here, they actually took us into a waterfall with an inflatable boat! Zhou Sheng was insistent on pulling me over to play with him, and we ended up getting drenched.”

The photo Chen Yekai received was of a half naked Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng wearing life jackets, cutting a sorry figure as they were soaked all over. As well as another photo they took together in front of a waterfall.

“Chichén Itzá’s really hot, they’re quite tan now…” Chen Yekai said as he held the photos.

In the photo was Zhou Sheng, who was wearing a shirt and a pair of black shorts as he played football on the Cuju court. Yu Hao captured the moment of Zhou Sheng kicking out handsomely, kicking the football used for practice out in a path that drew an arc in the air.

“We’re following an expedition team.” Cen Shan read the letter from Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng under the sunlight by the window of her home in Vienna. Fu Liqun looked at the photo — in it were the two of them and several other expedition team members at a camp set up in the desert, and they were making a ‘yeah’ gesture.

Fu Liqun said, “They actually went?”

Cen Shan asked, “Why are they so insistent on Loulan?”

Fu Liqun smiled and hugged Cen Shan from behind, touching Cen Shan’s bulging stomach with both hands.

“Will they be able to make it for our wedding in time?” Cen Shan said, “They have to get their asses here next month.”

Fu Liqun said, “They’ll make it, don’t worry. They’ve already bought their tickets. Let me take a look?”

Fu Liqun looked through the photos, saying, “The Loulan in the dream ah. Do you remember that the movie we watched when we first met was about it?”

Cen Shan said, “Of course I remember, and I kept getting bitten by mosquitoes…after passing the Devil City of Yardang was a vast no man’s land. I didn’t see Lop Nor, and wolves were howling all night, it reminded me of the legendary ‘scheming white wolves’.”

Fu Liqun laughed. Cen Shan flipped to the last photo; in it were Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng with their faces covered as they withstood the sandstorm and scorching sun with only their eyes showing, and they were sitting cross-legged in front of the ruins of the ancient city.

“Hailed a cab in Ramla Square…to head to the Lighthouse of Alexandria.”

In Los Angeles, Shi Ni sat on a swing in her courtyard, reading the letter with her head down.

“…the earliest lighthouse has already sunk to the bottom of the sea, and Egypt rebuilt it in 2015.” Shi Ni looked at the photo; Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng were sitting under the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Zhou Sheng sat on the railings while Yu Hao stood, smiling at the camera, and she seemed to vaguely recall something.

“The Hanging Gardens of Babylon have not been found yet.” Huang Ting flipped over the front of the photo, “But we’ve visited the ancient Babylonian ruins in southern Baghdad…Damn it, aren’t you guys a bit too bold? Isn’t Iraq still in the midst of war?”

In the photo were Yu Hao, Zhou Sheng and a sentry.

“Then, Zhou Sheng almost hit the one dressed up as a zombie…”

Ou Qihang flipped through the photos that Yu Hao mailed over; it was a photo they took together in front of ‘The Walking Dead’ attraction in Universal Studios.

“Luckily I pulled him back in time.” Ou Qihang didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, “I want to travel around the world too! It’s so exciting!”

“The letter is too short for my feelings, I don’t have enough to describe everything in detail…”

Yu Hao sat in front of the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii; there was a board spread out on his knees, and he had his head bowed as he wrote a letter. He placed the photos that they had taken in the envelope, then put it in the mailbox. Zhou Sheng looked up at Pompeii’s ruins and said, “It’s the last one?”

“Un, for Liang Laoshi.” Yu Hao said, “There aren’t any left.”

Zhou Sheng said, “Then let’s go to my dream?”

“Let’s go.” Yu Hao laughed.

The next day, both of them got up very early. After visiting the last place of interest, they would take a plane at noon to Vienna to attend Fu Liqun’s and Cen Shan’s wedding.

Colosseum, the marble white colour before dawn cast some light down. Summer’s morning was the coldest period in Rome. Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao wore long-sleeved jackets as they entered the arena.

Zhou Sheng stood in the darkness before dawn, looked around, then looked up at the grandstand. Yu Hao’s camera was hung around his neck. He sat down in the grandstand and looked at Zhou Sheng, who was in the arena.

“Hey, boy!” Yu Hao shouted down.

“Hey!” Zhou Sheng answered.

Yu Hao asked, “Who do you want to challenge this time?”

Zhou Sheng, “I don’t want to challenge anyone! Just here for an inspection tour.”

Yu Hao said, “Come up?”

Zhou Sheng said, “You come down.”

“You come up.”

“You come down. Behave.”

So Yu Hao could only walk down the stairs to stand next to Zhou Sheng. He said, “I still want to take a picture of you from a higher place.”

“Shh.” Zhou Sheng pulled Yu Hao’s hand, “The sun’s coming out, watch it from here.”

Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng held hands, like two travellers who had walked over from a long river of time.

The sun rose, illuminating this world that was sound asleep and awakened all living beings. Its light surrounded them, its rays shining in through the many doorways of the ancient Roman arena. Each opening in the wall was like a door— a door that led to the billions of dream worlds that shone resplendently like brilliant stars.

——Seizing Dreams·The End——

【Dogs actually aren’t that terrifying. Dogs are mankind’s friends ah.】A bunch of messy words were written on the postcard.

Lin Ze held the postcard and said, “Why did that kid suddenly send me such a postcard? And it’s of Monet’s painting?”

Situ Ye was bored stiff. “He should’ve gone to Paris again ba?! When is Yu Hao Didi coming back! Hasn’t he been away from home for too long!”

“He’s still writing his manuscripts. Don’t you worry about him.” Lin Ze said, “Why is it an impression of a sunrise?”

Situ Ye, “Why are you caring about that impression of his? I’m bored! I want to play too! I want to go to Australia too! I want to go to Antarctica! I want to go to Croatia to see King’s Landing City…”

Lin Ze, “I’ll definitely take you during the National Day holidays! Stop shouting! I got it!”

The author has something to say:

Every time I finish telling the stories of the protagonists, I’ll feel like I’ve just lived through a grand and magnificent life.

Hopefully, everyone has their own dreams, in which the sun would always rise.

《Seizing Dreams》extras will be released in the simplified version first, please pay attention to the information of the publication of the simplified version.

The simplified edition will be published in Jinjiang three months later.

Okay, that’s it, see you guys in the next book.

—

Juurensha: Annnnd we’re done! Omg this was such a good series, and I hope all of you enjoyed it too! Such a sweet ending!

Zryuu: Omg… I’m finally done with the mass update haha. I’ve had all this done quite awhile back actually. Translating this series has been such a ride, and I honestly don’t regret it because it is such, a good, novel!! There are actually a lot more extras (I’ve gotten the first part of the extras), but I’m not sure when I’ll ever get around to translating them lol cause they’re only available in the physical copies (the smut too hahaha) and I’m kinda lazy… we’ll see~ Hope you guys enjoyed this novel as much as I did, and as Feitian said, see you guys in the next book! (Dinghai Fusheng Records LOL)

Newspaper office.

Lin Ze and Situ Ye dragged their luggage into the office. Lin Ze said to Jin Weicheng who was the editor on duty, “Jin Laoshi, we’ll have to trouble you for being on duty.”

“Have fun.” Jin Weicheng said.

March, Australia, Hardy Reef.

During midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere, the Great Barrier Reef’s waters that were almost transparent looked just like jelly. Houses dotted the water in great numbers, and the coral reef was dyed a beautiful bluish-green as it spread out on the offshore seabed. The sun shone brilliantly; the seabed could be seen with just a glance. Yachts with glass bases sailed by one after another, as if they were floating in mid air — the blue skies, white clouds, and sea waters had merged into one colour.

Yu Hao slept until it was dark out because he was still suffering from his jet lag. When he arrived the night before, it was pitch dark outside, and he couldn’t see anything. When he woke up in the morning, the water house facing the sea was enveloped by muslin curtains, while the radiant sunlight streamed in from outside.

“Get up!” Chen Yekai said, “Look at the time!”

Beside Yu Hao on the bed, Zhou Sheng had gone missing, his warmth still lingering under the blanket.

As soon as Yu Hao looked at the time, he was startled. Ou Qihang followed in as well, saying, “Get up and change your clothes! It’s about to start!”

Yu Hao, “……”

“Why is it that you guys aren’t wearing anything, but I have to wear a shirt!” Yu Hao lamented, “I want to go snorkelling too!”

“How are we not wearing anything!” Chen Yekai said.

Ou Qihang, “Exactly, we’re obviously wearing beach shorts.”

Ou Qihang and Chen Yekai were both half naked and were obviously very aware of their status as tourists. They were even barefoot as they pushed Yu Hao to the wash basin. Ou Qihang smeared sunscreen on Yu Hao, Chen Yekai helped him wax his hair, and after being embroiled in chaos for a while, Chen Yekai looked at the diving watch on his wrist and said, “Okay, when the time comes you just need to walk along the route.”

Ou Qihang said, “We’ll go off first!”

Yu Hao scrutinised himself in the mirror. He took a deep breath, stood there for awhile, then pushed the door open and left.

Lin Ze was half naked and wore a pair of beach shorts as he waited at the entrance to the water house. He placed an ocarina next to his mouth, and once the door opened, the music began to play.

Yu Hao laughed. That was the Douyin divine melody that they had been practicing diligently for months.

“You walked with me into a cicada summer, walking through the hustle and bustle of a city; songs still in the air, in your eyes like pomegranate blossoms, I can’t see your tenderness…”

Yu Hao sang along with the music as he walked out of the long corridor. Lin Ze blew his ocarina with a cadence as he followed him from behind. At the end of the corridor, Chen Yekai appeared and began blowing on an ocarina and followed up.

“I miss you so much, every rainy season; what you choose to forget, is what I am attached to the most—”

Situ Ye waited in the garden and smiled at Yu Hao. That smile was as brilliant as the sun, and he sang with Yu Hao,

“This letter is too short for my feelings; there are too many ripples that I cannot finish telling of, every aspect of my story is about you.”

On the stony path, Cen Shan blew an ocarina with a gentle hint of a smile in her gaze, accompanying Yu Hao to walk towards the dock.

Ou Qihang waited at the dock. He started playing his ocarina and joined them. Yu Hao stepped onto the yacht with a glass base; the boatman paddled the water, and the gondola-like boat swayed as it was rowed onto the transparent sea.

Skies were clear, the breeze was still, and the waves were quiet. Yu Hao stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the coral island in the middle of the sea. There was an arch there built with white roses; Fu Liqun and Huang Ting both wore shirts as they waited with Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng casually yanked a few times at the rose petals used for decoration.

Five boats that were decorated as gondolas drifted in slowly on that transparent sea as it approached the island.

Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng, who was waiting for him on that island. Situ Ye sang to one side,

“How did I fall in love with him, and decide to go home with him; giving up my all, my everything, it doesn’t matter…”

“This letter is too short for my feelings; my youth of yester-year is a long story, my story is still about you.”

The gondola reached the shore. Yu Hao disembarked. Adorned in a white shirt and a pair of black suit pants, he walked towards Zhou Sheng, who was drenched in sweat from the sweltering heat. Zhou Sheng looked very handsome today but also seemed really hot. He would loosen the tie around his neck from time to time, and sweat could be seen dripping from his hair.

“You’re here?” Zhou Sheng said.

“Overslept.” Yu Hao said with a little embarrassment.

“Without anyone going into your dream to wake you, you can’t get up.” Zhou Sheng’s slight smile was intoxicating. He bowed his head and kissed Yu Hao, held his hand, and they walked to the arch decorated with white roses. Situ Ye immediately took his camera out and froze this moment.

A year and a half later.

“…there’s still another project here, they actually took us into a waterfall with an inflatable boat! Zhou Sheng was insistent on pulling me over to play with him, and we ended up getting drenched.”

The photo Chen Yekai received was of a half naked Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng wearing life jackets, cutting a sorry figure as they were soaked all over. As well as another photo they took together in front of a waterfall.

“Chichén Itzá’s really hot, they’re quite tan now…” Chen Yekai said as he held the photos.

In the photo was Zhou Sheng, who was wearing a shirt and a pair of black shorts as he played football on the Cuju court. Yu Hao captured the moment of Zhou Sheng kicking out handsomely, kicking the football used for practice out in a path that drew an arc in the air.

“We’re following an expedition team.” Cen Shan read the letter from Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng under the sunlight by the window of her home in Vienna. Fu Liqun looked at the photo — in it were the two of them and several other expedition team members at a camp set up in the desert, and they were making a ‘yeah’ gesture.

Fu Liqun said, “They actually went?”

Cen Shan asked, “Why are they so insistent on Loulan?”

Fu Liqun smiled and hugged Cen Shan from behind, touching Cen Shan’s bulging stomach with both hands.

“Will they be able to make it for our wedding in time?” Cen Shan said, “They have to get their asses here next month.”

Fu Liqun said, “They’ll make it, don’t worry. They’ve already bought their tickets. Let me take a look?”

Fu Liqun looked through the photos, saying, “The Loulan in the dream ah. Do you remember that the movie we watched when we first met was about it?”

Cen Shan said, “Of course I remember, and I kept getting bitten by mosquitoes…after passing the Devil City of Yardang was a vast no man’s land. I didn’t see Lop Nor, and wolves were howling all night, it reminded me of the legendary ‘scheming white wolves’.”

Fu Liqun laughed. Cen Shan flipped to the last photo; in it were Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng with their faces covered as they withstood the sandstorm and scorching sun with only their eyes showing, and they were sitting cross-legged in front of the ruins of the ancient city.

“Hailed a cab in Ramla Square…to head to the Lighthouse of Alexandria.”

In Los Angeles, Shi Ni sat on a swing in her courtyard, reading the letter with her head down.

“…the earliest lighthouse has already sunk to the bottom of the sea, and Egypt rebuilt it in 2015.” Shi Ni looked at the photo; Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng were sitting under the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Zhou Sheng sat on the railings while Yu Hao stood, smiling at the camera, and she seemed to vaguely recall something.

“The Hanging Gardens of Babylon have not been found yet.” Huang Ting flipped over the front of the photo, “But we’ve visited the ancient Babylonian ruins in southern Baghdad…Damn it, aren’t you guys a bit too bold? Isn’t Iraq still in the midst of war?”

In the photo were Yu Hao, Zhou Sheng and a sentry.

“Then, Zhou Sheng almost hit the one dressed up as a zombie…”

Ou Qihang flipped through the photos that Yu Hao mailed over; it was a photo they took together in front of ‘The Walking Dead’ attraction in Universal Studios.

“Luckily I pulled him back in time.” Ou Qihang didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, “I want to travel around the world too! It’s so exciting!”

“The letter is too short for my feelings, I don’t have enough to describe everything in detail…”

Yu Hao sat in front of the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii; there was a board spread out on his knees, and he had his head bowed as he wrote a letter. He placed the photos that they had taken in the envelope, then put it in the mailbox. Zhou Sheng looked up at Pompeii’s ruins and said, “It’s the last one?”

“Un, for Liang Laoshi.” Yu Hao said, “There aren’t any left.”

Zhou Sheng said, “Then let’s go to my dream?”

“Let’s go.” Yu Hao laughed.

The next day, both of them got up very early. After visiting the last place of interest, they would take a plane at noon to Vienna to attend Fu Liqun’s and Cen Shan’s wedding.

Colosseum, the marble white colour before dawn cast some light down. Summer’s morning was the coldest period in Rome. Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao wore long-sleeved jackets as they entered the arena.

Zhou Sheng stood in the darkness before dawn, looked around, then looked up at the grandstand. Yu Hao’s camera was hung around his neck. He sat down in the grandstand and looked at Zhou Sheng, who was in the arena.

“Hey, boy!” Yu Hao shouted down.

“Hey!” Zhou Sheng answered.

Yu Hao asked, “Who do you want to challenge this time?”

Zhou Sheng, “I don’t want to challenge anyone! Just here for an inspection tour.”

Yu Hao said, “Come up?”

Zhou Sheng said, “You come down.”

“You come up.”

“You come down. Behave.”

So Yu Hao could only walk down the stairs to stand next to Zhou Sheng. He said, “I still want to take a picture of you from a higher place.”

“Shh.” Zhou Sheng pulled Yu Hao’s hand, “The sun’s coming out, watch it from here.”

Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng held hands, like two travellers who had walked over from a long river of time.

The sun rose, illuminating this world that was sound asleep and awakened all living beings. Its light surrounded them, its rays shining in through the many doorways of the ancient Roman arena. Each opening in the wall was like a door— a door that led to the billions of dream worlds that shone resplendently like brilliant stars.

——Seizing Dreams·The End——

【Dogs actually aren’t that terrifying. Dogs are mankind’s friends ah.】A bunch of messy words were written on the postcard.

Lin Ze held the postcard and said, “Why did that kid suddenly send me such a postcard? And it’s of Monet’s painting?”

Situ Ye was bored stiff. “He should’ve gone to Paris again ba?! When is Yu Hao Didi coming back! Hasn’t he been away from home for too long!”

“He’s still writing his manuscripts. Don’t you worry about him.” Lin Ze said, “Why is it an impression of a sunrise?”

Situ Ye, “Why are you caring about that impression of his? I’m bored! I want to play too! I want to go to Australia too! I want to go to Antarctica! I want to go to Croatia to see King’s Landing City…”

Lin Ze, “I’ll definitely take you during the National Day holidays! Stop shouting! I got it!”

The author has something to say:

Every time I finish telling the stories of the protagonists, I’ll feel like I’ve just lived through a grand and magnificent life.

Hopefully, everyone has their own dreams, in which the sun would always rise.

《Seizing Dreams》extras will be released in the simplified version first, please pay attention to the information of the publication of the simplified version.

The simplified edition will be published in Jinjiang three months later.

Okay, that’s it, see you guys in the next book.

—

Juurensha: Annnnd we’re done! Omg this was such a good series, and I hope all of you enjoyed it too! Such a sweet ending!

Zryuu: Omg… I’m finally done with the mass update haha. I’ve had all this done quite awhile back actually. Translating this series has been such a ride, and I honestly don’t regret it because it is such, a good, novel!! There are actually a lot more extras (I’ve gotten the first part of the extras), but I’m not sure when I’ll ever get around to translating them lol cause they’re only available in the physical copies (the smut too hahaha) and I’m kinda lazy… we’ll see~ Hope you guys enjoyed this novel as much as I did, and as Feitian said, see you guys in the next book! (Dinghai Fusheng Records LOL)