Chapter 66

  He Sheng didn't have any other distractions, and with a single-minded determination, he rushed forward. His desperate appearance made Yuan Zhi temporarily unable to catch up.

  Intense exercise made her left arm slightly numb and aching, she gritted her teeth and used her right hand to steady herself as she quickly crossed the road amidst the continuous flow of cars.

  The sudden loudspeaker sound made Yuan Zhi's heartbeat stop, his face turned white, and he roared with a splitting headache: "He Sheng, you damn well better stop it, did you hear me?!"

  The furious voice was soon drowned out by the city's din. He Sheng stood on the opposite side of the street, panting and flustered, glanced at him, and then ran off with quick steps.

  Yuan Zhi almost fainted.

  On this warm afternoon, they kept shuttling through the intricate streets of this small town until He Sheng unwisely fell into a dead end, and the absurdly ridiculous chase finally came to an end.

  The alley is very narrow, and the walls of the houses on both sides have become mottled under the erosion of countless years of wind.

  He Shuang leaned against the wall, her left hand hanging naturally, her right hand propping up her knee, her chest heaving violently. She didn't dare look at Yuan Zhi, her expression flustered and uneasy, her eyes staring blankly at the ground, her face flushed from running, with fine beads of sweat on the tip of her nose.

  Compared to her dishevelment, Yuan Zhi wasn't much better off either. He grasped a handful of his messy hair and irritably took off his jacket, throwing it to the ground before walking over.

  As he approached, He Song's unease became more apparent. She turned her head to glance inside, then shrunk her neck and tried to slip past him again.

  Yuan Zhi panted and said, "You dare to move again and try it!"

  He Sheng suddenly shuddered, lowered his head, and almost buried it in his clothes.

  Yuan Zhi finally stood in front of her, and the girl who was curled up into a ball, still trembling slightly, wasn't it He Sheng?

  Still the familiar outline in memory, just a little taller and thinner, everything else remains the same.

  He raised his hand to touch her face, but the girl dodged and slid down against the wall, her rosy complexion giving way to an unsightly pallor.

  Yuan Zhi's fingers trembled slightly as he crouched down to her level, looking at her eyes that were clearly avoiding his gaze.

  "Whispered: 'What are you running for?'"

  He Sheng hugged his knees and didn't speak weakly.

  After a while, Yuan Zhi suddenly lost control and roared with red eyes: "I'm asking you what the hell are you running for? Speak!"

  The past is gone, and in Yuan Zhi's life, she has disappeared for three years. In these three years, they have found their own balance points in two different worlds, adjusting to the present. The feeling of being led by fate makes He Sheng feel afraid.

  She didn't want to hear from Yuan Zhi's mouth the things she had heard but never experienced. It was one thing for her to understand the distance between them on her own, and another thing entirely to have it confirmed in person.

  She was never a brave person, on the contrary, she was particularly weak at times. He Xiao still didn't make a sound, she just tightly pursed her lips, then with tears welling up in her eyes, slowly pressed her forehead against her knees, her rejection and resistance were so obvious.

  This sulking made Yuan Zhi feel uncomfortable to the point of being speechless, he couldn't understand why He Sheng would react this way, to the extent that he didn't even want to talk to himself.

  He raised his hand and covered her head, soft hair, warm touch, and vigorous vital signs made him excited to the point of almost shedding tears.

  "Haosheng!" His voice trembled, "Don't...you miss me?"

  "Don't you want to see me? I'm Yuan Zhi, is it because I yelled at you that you're angry? Then I won't yell at you from now on, okay?" He slowly knelt down in front of He Song, hugged her, and put his mouth next to her ear. "Say something, okay? Look up at me, just take a glance, can you do that for me? I'm begging you, baby, make a sound."

  "How did you lose so much weight?" He pinched He Sheng's arm, his throat was sour and astringent, "Have you been doing well these few years? Where have you gone to play? Did you buy anything for me? He Sheng, do you still think of me? You haven't forgotten about me, have you? You didn't forget, did you?"

  "We agreed, didn't we? We still want to travel together. You've always been thinking about traveling, haven't you? Now that we can go, no one can stop us anymore. He Shuang, I'm not afraid of Yuan Zhongyang now. I have the ability now, I finally have the ability to protect you."

  He whispered softly: "He Song, say something to me, I want to hear your voice!"

  The noble man, at this moment, was humbled by his girlfriend's gentle merging into the air.

  In the alleys with a strong sense of age, the midday sunlight spilled all over the ground, covering two people's bodies, but this heart-warming warmth did not dispel the gloomy atmosphere between them.

  Yuan Zhi didn't say another word, he just tightly hugged He Sheng, the force of which almost crushed her into his body.

  After a long time, He Sheng began to feel that his neck was a little wet, and then there were low, extremely restrained sobs, the sound becoming more and more uncontrollable, finally becoming hoarse.

  Who would have thought that a person's tears could be so plentiful, who would have thought that Yuan Zhi would also cry with such unrelenting sorrow.

  How great can one person's sorrow be?

  Yuan Zhi's wailing was filled with sorrow that seemed to be ripped apart layer by layer from the bottom of his heart, and in the last moment when he saw the light of day, it exploded in the air, and the whole world wept.

  The two people who had been standing at the entrance of the alley for a long time also shifted their gaze away, unable to bear it. Yuan Zhi had endured for three years, and at this moment, he finally shed tears. The despair that arose from the deepest part of his heart made onlookers almost collapse.

  He Guanshu covered his face and squatted on the ground, unable to empathize, but also feeling unbearable.

  After several people's emotions had stabilized, they sat down in a suite at a nearby hotel. They were not familiar with the place and did not know where it was suitable to sit quietly and talk, so as to prevent everyone from losing their composure again in public, or chose here instead.

  Gu Wei and He Shouci sat outside watching TV, while the other two stayed in the inner room separated by a wall. Since there was no door, their soft conversation could still be vaguely heard.

  He Sheng sat on a rattan chair, holding a hot towel to apply to Yuan Zhi's swollen eyes. Although his face was puffy like a goldfish, it did not conceal his delicate beauty. The other person sat cross-legged on the ground, with both hands wrapped around her waist, looking up at He Sheng's face carefully.

  "Why didn't you call me when no one was home?"

  "The number wasn't remembered." From the time Yuan Zhi started using her mobile phone, she hadn't dialed it even once, so naturally she didn't remember it. Yan Bai's number also wasn't remembered clearly, and the only landline that was remembered had no one answering it.

  But it's all in the past now, although regrettable, Yuan Zhi didn't dwell on this issue anymore.

  "Are you hungry? I'll go order some food." It's already afternoon and they haven't had lunch yet.

  He Shang held him back, turned his head to look out the window, "No need, I...I have to go back to the medical institution."

  When he came out, he didn't leave a word, and the people in the clinic were anxious, and they would be busy in the afternoon.

  Yuan Zhi sat back in front of her and asked, "What were you doing there?"

  "Many things, I will try to help with as much as I can."

  "Are you running errands? Just like how you went out to buy food today."

  He Sheng looked a bit embarrassed and smiled wryly, "Only I have nothing to do there, it's only right."

  Yuan Zhi held her hand, smiled after a while, "Yeah, do a good job when you're there, we'll be back home in a few days, let your leaders arrange the work properly."

  He Sheng's face stiffened, wanting to withdraw his hand, but Yuan Zhi's grip was too tight and he could only give up. She lowered her head, furrowed her brow, and remained silent.

  The room was very quiet, so quiet that it almost felt oppressive.

  "What's wrong?" Yuan Zhi tilted his head and looked at her, forcing a smile, "After we go back, we can still return to our old place, Wu Shu will be happy to see you too, she must have been heartbroken, and now we don't have to be afraid of Yuan Chongyang either, he won't be able to do anything to us anymore."

  He Sheng remained silent as usual, and he shook her, "He Sheng?"

  "She glanced at Yuan Zhi quickly, tightly grasping the towel and said with difficulty: 'I can't leave.'"

  "Are you not going?" Yuan Zhi repeated incredulously, his face immediately turning extremely ugly. He said in a low voice, "Do you know what you're saying? You're telling me you're not going back? He Shuang, are you joking with me?"

  An angry Yuan Zhi made her feel distressed, she said softly: "There is someone here who is very important to me, I can't abandon him at will."

  Thinking of the people I've met over the years, the passionate and sharp-tongued but caring medical staff at the hospital, the patients with gratitude written all over their faces who we met while accompanying Liao on his visits, the neighbors who have become familiar and exchange smiles and greetings, Master Chef Hu with his exceptional culinary skills, and Chen Jia-yin who has transformed into a mother.

  And Liao Shi, who had invested a lot in her and reached out to help her when she was struggling the most, never letting go again.

  How desperate it is to be abandoned by others. They all understand that she can't be so cruel to Liao Shi, he's too good.

  Yuan Zhi Mu Ran stared at her, his face cold and stiff. "Am I no longer important to you?"

  What's the difference?

  But such importance does not mean that she can abandon everything here and hurt Liao Shi, who is innocent and has given her great kindness.

  He Shuang lived for twenty years, and too many people owed her. She was strong in despair time and again, but this process was too painful and could not be inflicted on Liao Shi.

  He Sheng choked back tears and fell silent, a silence that was especially cruel for Yuan Zhi.

  It was a long time before she spoke again, her tone unusually calm. "That year when I went back, I couldn't find you. When I came out, I saw a newsstand at the old intersection and read a piece of news."

  She paused for a moment, and her hands stirring the towel became more forceful. "The one on top is a photo of you with another woman."

  She pursed her lips and glanced at Yuan Zhi, "Because... because you all looked very happy, then I found out that even without me, you can still live a good life, no, it's actually better."

  She smiled and slid down in tears, saying a sentence that made Yuan Zhi feel like he had fallen into hell instantly. "I didn't think I'd see you again, but I'm still happy to have seen you today."

  Yuan Zhi's gaze fell on He Sheng's faintly smiling face, but it filled him with overwhelming sorrow. This He Sheng seemed like a stranger to him, and he felt exhausted, closing his eyes for a moment before raising his hand to press down hard on the left side of his chest, where his heart was racing in agony, as if he were about to die at any moment.

  "After a long while, he said in a low and heavy voice, 'So you've already excluded me from your life and didn't plan on seeing me again.'"

  So she couldn't find him and stayed here safely, nor did she think of having any involvement with him in the second half of her life.

  It turned out that He Sheng had been thinking this way all along.

  I actually thought so.

  "I have nothing to do with that person, and you can't just believe what's written in magazines and newspapers." Yuan Zhi explained, could he blame He Song? The only one he could blame was himself.

  "I can give you time to prepare, but you must come with me."

  "But..."

  "There's no 'but'." Yuan Zhi interrupted her without hesitation, his tone very firm. "This matter is not up for discussion. It was my fault for not knowing earlier, but now it's impossible to let you continue making a mess of things."

  The words had been blocked, He Sheng wanted to speak but stopped and looked at him, in the end he didn't open his mouth again.

  Also, praise me for today's abundant word count!

  New pit: l3l4