Parallel Universe (平行時空)


01

Do you believe that “parallel universes” truly exist? After reading my story, you will either no longer be half-believing and half-doubting, or you will think that I have “run into something supernatural” or that “my whole head has gone completely haywire.”

For half an afternoon, I pushed a lawn mower around the school, tidying up the grass, and trimming the flowers, plants, and branches in the flower beds. Although I, this “old gray-haired guy” nearing fifty, was physically exhausted, seeing the results of my labor filled my heart with satisfaction. There were several male teachers at school who were young and physically strong, but they all kept their distance from this kind of physical work. “Afraid of hardship, afraid of difficulties, preferring comfort and avoiding labor” had long been my impression of them.

Covered in sweat, I returned to my apartment, took a cold shower, and shaved my beard in front of the dressing mirror. Suddenly, the “me” inside the mirror actually went against me. He first made a funny face at me, and before I could recover from my surprise, he reached out and snatched away my razor.

“Bro, don’t rush. I want to discuss something with you.”

“Why are you playing tricks on me? Give me back my razor!” I was startled by his sudden action, and then anger immediately surged up inside me.

“Alright! But you have to help me first.” He handed the razor back to me.

“How can I help you? You live in the world inside the mirror.”

“I want to exchange identities with you and experience a different kind of life.”

“That won’t do. You don’t have any teaching experience.”

“I can do it. Teaching elementary school children—surely that would be very interesting.” He spoke with absolute confidence.

“So what is your current job?”

“I’m a practicing lawyer. But business has been slow these years. At most, I only take on two or three cases a week.”

“You make it sound so easy, but I don’t know how to write those legal documents!”

“You can do it. You’ve written complaints and petitions for relatives and friends before.”

I asked in surprise, “How do you know? How do you know these things?”

“Don’t forget, you are me, and I am you. I know everything about you. It’s just that in the year we graduated from university, when we reached a turning point, we each made different choices.”

“The year we graduated from university, when we reached a turning point? You—explain yourself clearly!” His words immediately reminded me of something from the past.

“Do you still remember that day when you talked with junior schoolmate Yijun about breaking up in the dormitory at the back of Yangmingshan?”

Sure enough, what he brought up was exactly the thing I had always regretted deep in my heart.

“At that time, you were too stubborn. You refused to agree to Yijun’s three conditions. Yijun left with an umbrella, but you immediately regretted it and chased after her. Then you were struck by lightning and briefly lost consciousness.”

“I remember! After I woke up, I was already lying on a hospital bed.”

“It was Yijun who turned back to look for you. She found you lying beside the road, stopped a passing taxi, and took you to the hospital. The moment you were knocked unconscious by lightning was the point where you and I diverged.”

The more I listened, the more confused I became. Curiously, I asked him, “What kind of divergence point?”

“At that time, a parallel universe appeared. Yijun came back and saw me lying on the ground. She helped me up, but then she discovered that there was another you lying nearby. So she first slapped me to wake me up, but she couldn’t wake you up right away. Therefore, Yijun asked me to accompany her to take you to the hospital.”

“You mean, after I was struck by lightning, there were two versions of me?” I seemed to understand, yet I felt that this matter was both fantastical and bizarre.

“Yes! Yijun had the same reaction at the time. Her first instinct was that it was unbelievable. I agreed to the three conditions she proposed. Three years later, I passed the lawyer’s examination and built a family with her.”

“No wonder! After that, Yijun never called me back or paid any attention to me.” I suddenly understood. So this was the true reality behind everything.

He slowly explained:

“But after I became a practicing lawyer, my life didn’t really change much. On workdays, I was either staying at the law firm or running to court. The legal documents every day drained my mental and physical energy. I gave up literary writing. Although I earned several buckets of gold, my days became more and more dull. Aside from brief overseas trips to relax and refresh myself, I was basically nothing more than a working machine.”

“Could it be that Yijun isn’t good to you?”

“Yijun has always treated me very well! She is a capable working woman who successfully balances family and career.”

“You have a career and a beautiful wife. You’re a member of life’s winning group! So what else do you have to complain about?”

“Ah, bro! People always complain about whatever path they choose. Actually, I would rather be you—the single you who still exists now, living comfortably without worrying about retirement, and able to immerse yourself in the world of literature after work every day.”

“You really are someone who dislikes whatever you have. Actually, over these past thirty years, although I’ve written dozens of novels and screenplays, my dream of making movies has never been realized.”

“I know your situation, bro. If you are willing to exchange identities with me, I will find a way to help you achieve your dream. I know how to find investors and get your screenplay successfully made into a film.”

“Really? You can help me?” A glimmer of hope ignited inside me.

With a completely serious expression, he said:

“You become me, and I become you. We will each experience a different way of life.”

“But I’m not mentally prepared at all. Can you let me think about it for a few days?” I pondered that I should not make such a decision hastily.

“Alright. On the night of the 13th of this month, Friday night, at the same time, I’ll wait for you.”

After saying that, he waved goodbye to me. The mirror surface returned to normal. I finished shaving, went back to my study, sat down at my desk, opened the calendar, and marked a red star on the 13th.

The 13th arrived quickly. In fact, I still had not made a decision by then. After finishing my busy work at school repairing classroom lights, I returned home. When I walked into the bathroom and had just turned on the faucet to wash my face, the “me” inside the mirror appeared again and said in a urging tone:

“Bro, are you ready?”

I asked somewhat guiltily:

“If I regret it, can I exchange back with you anytime?”

He let out a long “hmmmmm” sound and said:

“Before you want to switch back, you must give me at least a few days to wrap up the matters around me. That way, I won’t create any trouble for you.”

I said, “This request is reasonable enough. Alright then! How do we exchange?”

“Just follow my movements and do exactly what I do. It’s very simple.” As he spoke, he raised both hands and pressed his palms against the surface of the mirror. I followed his movements, raised my hands, and pressed my palms against his.

In an instant, I felt an electric current flow into my body through both palms. My body formed a circuit of electricity. Then I realized that I had actually exchanged bodies with him.

I looked around the bathroom and exclaimed:

“Wow! Your bathroom is even more spacious than my bedroom, and it’s so grand and luxurious.”

He smiled and said:

“The documents for tomorrow morning’s appearance at the prosecutor’s office have all been organized. They are on my study desk. After the hearing ends, go to my law firm to work. My assistant will arrange the case files for the upcoming lawsuits and deliver them to your small office in chronological order.”

I thought to myself:

“Wow, seriously! We just exchanged bodies, and you’re already arranging work for me.”

He seemed to hear my complaint and comforted me:

“Don’t worry! If you have any legal questions, you can send me a message directly through your mind. I’ll receive the signal immediately and tell you how to answer. Likewise, if I encounter any difficult problems on my side, I’ll contact you immediately and ask you for solutions.”

Just as I was half-believing and half-doubting, I suddenly heard his “inner thoughts” clearly:

“The life of a bachelor is actually this carefree. Tsk, tsk! The entire bathroom looks like a recycling center…”

After that, he continued explaining:

“Last week, Yijun and her close friend went traveling in Japan. She left a message on Line saying that she would take the 5 p.m. Japan Asia Airways flight back. Drive my sedan. Remember to go to the arrival hall of Taoyuan Airport tomorrow evening at seven to pick her and her friend up. The car is parked in the underground garage of the law firm building.”

Before I had time to recover, he breathed onto the mirror surface, waved his hand, and wiped it twice. The image of him inside the mirror disappeared, leaving only my own reflection, standing there stiffly like a wooden statue.

I spent about ten minutes giving this new home a “brief and concise” tour of the living room and every room.

The villa of a wealthy person truly had a different style. The elegant and simple interior decoration was matched with plain yet tasteful solid wood furniture. The living room and study both had excellent lighting and ventilation. The master bedroom contained two single beds, which immediately aroused my suspicion:

“Could it be that this couple only appears harmonious on the surface but has actually been emotionally distant and living in conflict for a long time…?”

Looking at the family portrait on the dressing table, I suddenly remembered that while touring the house just now, I had noticed two rooms whose interior arrangements looked like children’s bedrooms. The beds were covered with sheets, and they seemed to have been unused for quite some time.

02

In the corridor outside the investigation room of the prosecutor’s office, I met up with my client, the plaintiff, Mr. Chen. Sitting on a long bench, we conducted a pre-hearing rehearsal.

“Make it look three parts like the real thing,” I reminded Mr. Chen of several key points for answering questions. Mr. Chen listened very carefully and took out a palm-sized notebook, writing down these important points one by one.

At 9:10 a.m., I accompanied Mr. Chen into the investigation room. I sat in the seat behind him. After the prosecutor verified both parties’ identities, addresses, and other basic information, he began questioning the plaintiff, Mr. Chen:

“Plaintiff, in your complaint, you claimed that the defendant, Ms. Yang, used two Facebook accounts to communicate with you at the same time. One account pretended to be your student, while the other guided you into placing stock trading orders. You reasonably suspect that the defendant was part of a fraud group with a highly organized division of labor, and that defendant Ms. Yang was merely the person who came forward to make contact with you on behalf of this group…”

At that moment, a clear voice suddenly sounded inside my mind:

“Bro, things are getting serious. Your little boss, Director Luo Jiaojiao from the General Affairs Office, told me to hurry up and repair the damaged floor tiles in two corridors before Monday. What should I do? This kind of heavy physical labor… I’m afraid I…”

I secretly laughed proudly inside:

“If you don’t have that kind of butt, don’t take that kind of laxative. You should know that my skills as the head of the General Affairs Section were also learned through years of hard work.”

“Plaintiff’s attorney, regarding the plaintiff’s statement just now, do you have anything to add?”

“Go find Brother Zhong, the old school maintenance worker, and buy him a cup of iced coffee. He’ll take you through the work. During my first year after becoming head of the General Affairs Section, he was the one who guided me for the first three months in repairing campus equipment. All my skills were learned from him.”

“You mean Brother Zhong? The director said he took bereavement leave and returned to his hometown in Pingtung for three weeks. How could I have your skills? Looks like I’m going to suffer badly this time…”

“Plaintiff’s attorney, what exactly are you talking about?” The prosecutor raised his voice and said:

“Please answer the question I just asked!”

When I noticed the prosecutor’s expression had become somewhat displeased, I finally snapped back to reality.

“Oh! Sorry, I was distracted just now. Prosecutor, could you please repeat the question for me?”

“The Court is asking you whether you have anything to add to the plaintiff’s statement just now.”

I loosened my tie a little, rolled my neck a couple of times, and answered calmly:

“The key point the plaintiff’s attorney wishes to add is this: the defendant, Ms. Yang, actually posted publicly on Chang ╳-Chen’s Facebook account, pretending to be Ms. Yang’s boyfriend. He turned the facts upside down by claiming that when the plaintiff privately arranged to meet Ms. Yang, he took advantage of her going to the restroom to steal her First Bank ╳╳ Branch ATM card from her handbag. He further alleged that the plaintiff subsequently made several withdrawals from her account, stealing a total of NT$680,000, and threatened to sue the plaintiff for theft. This was a public defamation of the plaintiff’s reputation. However, during the previous investigative hearing, the defendant admitted that she alone had played all three roles. The accounts of Chang ╳-Chen and Chu ╳-De were both alternate accounts operated by the defendant, Ms. Yang. Unless the defendant has a documented history of dissociative identity disorder, it would be impossible to explain such contradictory testimony. Therefore, I reasonably infer that there is actually an organized group behind Ms. Yang, carrying out online fraud through a clear division of labor. The accomplice who played the role of Chang ╳-Chen saw that his girlfriend—the defendant, Ms. Yang—had been accused of fraud by the plaintiff on Facebook. Unable to suppress his anger after seeing her humiliated, he falsely accused the plaintiff of stealing the ATM card and withdrawing money from the account, turning the tables by threatening to prosecute the plaintiff for theft first. This is sufficient to prove that Ms. Yang and Chang ╳-Chen are clearly two different individuals and that they are in a romantic relationship.”

The prosecutor immediately asked,

“You must produce convincing evidence proving that Ms. Yang and Chang ╳-Chen are indeed two different people.”

“Help! Bro, what tools do I need to repair floor tiles? I’m standing in the tool room right now. Hurry up and tell me!”

My double’s voice suddenly rang out again, interrupting my train of thought. I answered,

“There’s a handheld electric angle grinder on the left side of the tool rack. Replace the grinding disc with a cutting disc, and you can use it to cut through the cement between the tiles. Then remove the damaged tiles one by one…”

“Counsel for the plaintiff, Attorney Luo, what is wrong with you again?” the prosecutor interrupted. “This case has nothing whatsoever to do with an angle grinder. Please show this Court some respect when answering my questions.”

The female prosecutor’s fair face gradually turned red. I had the distinct feeling that if I did not come up with an explanation immediately, I might anger her so badly that she would throw me out of the hearing on the spot.

“Prosecutor... I—I’m sorry. I may have been overworked these past few days. I’ve suddenly started experiencing auditory hallucinations, and I can’t help talking to myself. I’ll seek medical treatment as soon as possible.”

At that moment, the defense attorney unexpectedly chimed in with a teasing remark:

“Well now, Attorney Luo, if you ask me, your symptoms aren’t hallucinations—they’re spirit possession. Around here we call it ka-dao-yin.” He grinned. “After today’s hearing, you’d better find a Taoist master to perform a blessing ritual for you, then go home and get some proper rest!”

“Counsel for the defense, I did not grant you permission to speak. Please conduct yourself appropriately.”

The female prosecutor turned toward him with a warning. The defense attorney immediately wiped the grin off his face.

Gradually, I figured out what was happening.

Whenever I “switched channels” in my mind to deal with the questions from the other me in the parallel universe, the me in this world would unconsciously speak to him aloud. To everyone else, it sounded as though I were either talking to myself or deliberately giving completely irrelevant answers, making the person speaking with me look ridiculous. No wonder the female prosecutor had reacted so strongly the second time.

“Prosecutor,” I continued, “my client has provided me with a screenshot of a private Facebook conversation between Chang ╳-Chen and my client, Mr. Chen. In that conversation, Chang ╳-Chen denied my client's doubts about his identity by saying, ‘I’m not the Yang ╳-Yi you’re talking about. I’m her boyfriend. If you don’t believe me, then when we appear at the District Prosecutors Office, I’ll accompany my girlfriend, Yang ╳-Yi, and we’ll face you together.’ I have that screenshot with me, and I respectfully ask the Prosecutor to examine it.”

After speaking, I handed the screenshot to the court clerk, who then passed it to the prosecutor.

After reading it, the prosecutor immediately questioned the defendant.

“Defendant, please step forward and verify whether this screenshot is indeed a private Facebook conversation between you and the plaintiff.”

Ms. Yang stepped forward, accepted the screenshot, looked at it briefly, and replied,

“Yes. The contents of this screenshot are from my conversation with the plaintiff.”

The prosecutor immediately followed up.

“But the person speaking in the conversation is clearly using the tone and identity of your boyfriend, Chang ╳-Chen. How do you explain that?”

For the first time, Ms. Yang appeared slightly nervous. She turned and looked at her defense attorney.

The prosecutor asked again,

“Defendant, please answer the Court’s question truthfully.”

Recovering herself, Ms. Yang replied,

“The plaintiff kept pressing me to repay the money, so I deliberately pretended to be my boyfriend to scare him. The screenshot is indeed from my conversation with the plaintiff.”

Good grief, I thought to myself. Being a lawyer is really mentally exhausting. This whole case feels like a spy-versus-spy thriller. She looks so young, yet she's so calculating and remains so composed under pressure. It seems that people running online fraud schemes these days really do need extraordinary nerve—and impressive acting skills.

Just then, my double spoke into my mind once again.

“Bro, I don't know how to take apart or use the angle grinder. You'll have to teach me patiently. Otherwise I'll botch the repair work, and Director Luo Jiaojiao will chew me out until my head is covered with bumps.”

This time I had finally learned my lesson.

I forced myself to stay calm and firmly decided to ignore the “me” from the other universe for the time being.

At last, the investigative hearing came to an end. The prosecutor instructed my client, Mr. Chen, to bring new evidence at the next hearing.

After giving Mr. Chen a few reminders in the corridor, I picked up my briefcase and headed for the men's restroom.

Standing in front of the urinal, just as I unzipped my suit trousers and was about to relieve myself, the “me” from the parallel universe once again sent his voice directly into my mind.

“Bro, why didn't you answer my questions just now?”

That other me had finally pushed this me beyond my limit.

“Come on, brother! Give me a break!” I shouted. “Did you forget I was in the middle of an official hearing?”

“Of course I knew you were in court,” he replied. “But that case was just a small case. I trusted that someone as smart as you could handle it easily. My situation was much more urgent. I was standing there in the tool room, completely frozen, with no idea where to begin.”

Someone as smart as me? I thought. Yeah, right!

“You're talking nonsense! You're the professional lawyer—I’m only filling in for you, making a temporary guest appearance. If you don't know how to use an angle grinder or replace floor tiles, go search on YouTube. There are instructional videos that show every step of the process. Don't rely on me for everything. When you run into problems, figure them out yourself!”

The more I spoke, the angrier I became.

Only then did I realize that every pair of eyes in the men's restroom was staring straight at me.

Lowering my head, I hurriedly stuffed a pair of wireless earbuds into my ears, pretending I had been talking on them the whole time, and then quietly finished relieving myself while holding onto the plumbing fixture.

03

After getting into the sedan, I switched on the GPS and entered my destination: “Law Office.”

With the air conditioner blowing cool air, my mind still refused to settle.

“The wise labor with their minds; the foolish labor with their bodies.” The ancients certainly hadn’t deceived me. That defendant, Ms. Yang, had obviously been telling lie after lie in the investigation hearing, her story full of holes. Yet she constantly presented herself as the victim, pretending to be pitiful in order to win sympathy. Humanity’s instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm really is enough to distort the truth.

Even if this kind of life of deception and intrigue could bring in money by the bucketful, it simply wasn't suited to someone as simple-minded as me, who spent every day surrounded by elementary school children...

Why on earth had I let my head get so hot last night that I agreed to exchange bodies with the “me” from another parallel world?

Could it really have been simply because I wanted to see Yijun again?

"Twenty years have become but a dream; though this body still remains, it fills me with awe."

At the very moment I was struck by lightning twenty years ago, since Yijun never woke me up, our destinies had already been set on separate paths.

The hand of fate had given me an entirely different world and an entirely different life. It had made me a comedian on a school campus, making children laugh in the classroom, teaching them and answering their questions. Mine had become a simple, peaceful, yet relatively free teaching career. After work, I immersed myself in the world of literature, playing the omniscient and omnipotent "God" within my novels—the author.

When I arrived at the law office, I shut myself inside the other me's private office.

Facing the stacks of litigation files piled across the desk, my chaotic thoughts completely melted together into one sticky, gooey mass, exactly like the slimy "snot putty" that children loved to play with. It felt as though they were the very same substance, and it left me utterly, utterly frustrated.

Patiently, I went through every file on the desk one by one.

All the legal documents inside had been drafted by assistant attorneys. I read them sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph until my eyes blurred and my head spun. It felt as though my brain had turned into jelly, my thoughts completely solidified.

How could anyone willingly live like this—spending every single day squeezing every last drop out of their brain? This endless paperwork and legal wrangling... scheming against one another... There's absolutely no joy or quality of life in it. Good grief...

Just after five o'clock, a Line message from Yijun appeared on my phone:

Honey, my flight will arrive at Taoyuan Airport at seven. It should take about thirty or forty minutes before I come out through Customs with my luggage. Remember to wait for me at the arrivals exit. I brought you some stomach medicine, and I also bought you the Canon DSLR camera you've always wanted. Yesterday was your birthday, so this is my belated birthday celebration for you.
—Your wife, Yijun

I immediately left the office and told one of the assistants that I was going to Taoyuan Airport to pick up my wife.

After waiting in the arrivals hall for half an hour, at 7:40 p.m. a crowd of passengers began coming out.

One "man" with a neatly combed gentleman's hairstyle, dressed in a men's business shirt, trousers, and a suit vest, was pushing a luggage cart while waving at me.

I looked carefully.

Good grief... Since when had Yijun become so masculine?

In that family portrait she had long hair. How had she turned into such a tough-looking tomboy?

Walking beside Yijun was a woman wearing a business suit, who was presumably her close friend.

Without looking carefully, anyone would have thought they were a married couple returning from a vacation together.

After I placed their luggage into the trunk, the two women settled into the back seat and immediately began taking turns complaining about the wet, freezing weather during the trip.

One of them said,

“I never imagined the snow in Akita would fall so heavily. If I had to stay there another week, I'd probably turn into one of those legendary snow women with two long streams of runny nose hanging down.”

The other replied,

“Exactly! That ski resort—whatever it was called—was so crowded it was no different from Raohe Night Market. The food in the restaurants was expensive and tasted terrible. We practically paid money just to suffer.”

The two women seemed to be deliberately complaining for my benefit.

Not until the sedan had left the airport access road and merged onto the Sun Yat-sen Freeway toward Taipei did Yijun notice, through the rearview mirror, that something about "me" was different.

“Honey, I've only been in Japan for ten days, and you've already turned into something like a homeless drifter. You haven't shaved, your hair is as greasy as oily noodles, and that smell of sweat... Just how many days has it been since you took a shower or changed your clothes?”

Yijun suddenly unleashed a full barrage, rattling off one complaint after another without stopping.

Holding the steering wheel, I felt as though I had just awakened from a nightmare.

So it turns out that one's living environment is the most honest sculptor of all.

The Yijun I had missed for twenty years had already become a capable, tough career woman.

Thank the God of Fate for giving me a life of being single and free all those years ago...

After we got home, Yijun gave me no chance to object.

She pushed me straight into the bathroom and ordered me to “tidy yourself up” and become the “gentleman” I was supposed to be again.

Standing before that mirror, I reached out and knocked on the glass.

The other "me" immediately appeared.

I fired off a rapid series of complaints.

“Brother, I don't want to play this game anymore. To be honest, I can't keep it up. Your lawyer's world is nothing but racking your brains all day long, and when you finally get home, you still have to follow your wife's every instruction. You're practically no different from a pet dog wearing a collar. This wealthy lifestyle is nothing more than a beautiful shell. It's simply not a life I can adapt to.”

The me inside the mirror immediately began complaining as well.

“Bro, I've got it a thousand times worse than you, alright? This weekend I've got to work overtime at school replacing floor tiles. I honestly can't imagine it, nor can I understand how you can keep putting yourself through this kind of life—covered in sweat, filthy from head to toe every few days. It's exhausting both mentally and physically. How have you managed to endure it so calmly all these years?”

After exchanging our complaints, we quickly reached the same conclusion:

“We should each go back to being ourselves.”

But then the other me suddenly remembered something.

“We'll have to wait until the next Black Swan Day—Friday the 13th. On that night, when the Earth's magnetic field rotates one hundred and eighty degrees and the time wormhole opens, only then can we exchange back.”

The moment I heard that, I dashed out of the bathroom, rushed into the bedroom, grabbed my phone, and checked the calendar.

I quickly found the next Black Swan Day.

My Black Swan...

I have to wait another six months!

If I can survive these next six months without completely losing my mind, the very first thing I'll do is tear down that terrifying mirror in the bathroom.