A young man in a black hoodie, one hand in his pocket, leaned against the door frame, “Auntie, you should leave.”
Su Linghua stopped in her tracks.
Xie Tao looked up at Xie Lan, through a layer of misty moisture, she saw his slightly blurred figure.
“You should be aware in your heart that Xie Tao will not forgive you.”
Xie Lan looked at Su Linghua and said, “You were unwilling to make sacrifices when you should have, and now you’re eagerly trying to make amends. Where in the world do you find such easy affairs? Speaking of which, you probably find it unlikely yourself, don’t you?”
“You’re thinking of making amends now, but have you thought about whether Xie Tao still needs it? A mistake is a mistake. Even if she is willing to forgive you, can you truly forgive yourself?”
Each of Xie Lan’s words was especially straightforward, like a sharp blade fiercely stabbing into Su Linghua’s heart, causing her face to turn deathly pale in an instant.
She stood there, her body trembling slightly.
“Rest assured, Xie Tao is not as miserable as you think. Without you, she still lives well. Perhaps it is because she left you that she can live so well. You don’t need to worry anymore. After all, she has me, a brother who is not her biological brother but is more than that, and an old man outside who cares about her. You, just go back!”
Xie Lan suddenly stood up straight, pointed to the door, and looked steadily at Su Linghua with a very calm expression, a rare moment of seriousness.
At that moment, the two people sleeping in another bed were also awakened by the conversation. Perhaps after hearing Xie Lan’s words, they cast speculative glances at Su Linghua.
It was ultimately an uncomfortable gaze.
Being watched by them, Su Linghua’s face changed colors several times, suddenly feeling somewhat embarrassed. She turned back to glance at Xie Tao, seeing her still sitting on the bed, looking frail and thin, her eyes lowered without looking at her. Su Linghua covered her mouth and shed tears again, walking over to the bedside table to grab her bag.
As she was about to reach the door, Su Linghua paused, then turned around and said to Xie Tao, “Tao Tao, I still hope you come back, I…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, but it was as if she didn’t know what else to say.
When she got to the door, she glanced at Xie Lan standing there, her expression somewhat unpleasant, as if she wanted to say something, but she held back and left.
After she left, Xie Tao’s previously rigid back finally relaxed, the bowl of porridge in her hands no longer steaming, having cooled down.
Old Xi came in, wanting to take the porridge from her hands, but Xie Tao held it tightly.
“Tao Tao, it’s cooled down, you’re sick, you shouldn’t eat something cold.” Old Xi touched her head, looking so gentle, his voice full of concern.
In that moment, seeing Old Xi’s face, Xie Tao’s tears came down instantly.
Who in this world is truly unfortunate?
Xie Tao once thought herself very unfortunate, thinking that she would have to live her life alone.
But she still chose to live earnestly.
Perhaps it was life seeing her effort, so in the hardest two years, it let her meet Zhou Xinyue, and in this year, meet Wei Yun, and even meet Xie Lan and Old Xi.
Some people left her, like her father who turned away because she chose her mother in her childhood, never to return, like she once longed to be valued and loved as before, but ultimately got a new stepmother.
But there were also people who approached her.
Like Wei Yun, across time and space, even with such a vast distance, she and he still finally met.
Just like Xie Lan and Old Xi, they guarded a small tavern, punished the wicked and promoted the good, and they also saved her.
This might just be the essence of it, to give is to gain.
She need not remember what she has lost; she should remember everything she has gained.
“Tao Tao, don’t cry. I’ve just spoken with Old Xi, and from now on, you don’t need to work those messy jobs anymore. Come to the tavern, I, the acting boss, specially hire you as, as…”
Xie Lan sat by the bed, stuffed a tissue into her hand, and then grabbed his own hair, thought for a moment, and said, “The manager of the hall! High salary and good treatment! Absolutely worth it!”
Xie Tao was crying, but she was stunned when she heard his words.
She sniffled, “How could I…”
“How could you not? Old Xi agrees!” Xie Lan said, looking towards Old Xi, “Right, Old Xi?”
Xie Tao looked towards Old Xi standing by the bed, seeing him smile with his eyes and nod at her.
Xie Tao clutched the blanket, “But what can I do? I’m just an ordinary mortal…”
She looked at Old Xi.
“I’m also a mortal, yet didn’t I become the boss?” Xie Lan poked her elbow.
Old Xi timely said, “Tao Tao, our tavern, the two of us can’t quite manage it all. Come help us out.”
“And you owe your stepfather money, right?” Xie Lan patted his chest, “Brother Lan doesn’t have much, but I do have money. I’ll lend it to you, so you can pay him back first!”
“This way, you won’t have to have too much involvement with them anymore.”
Xie Tao was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly asked, “How did you know…”
Xie Lan spread his hands, then pointed at Old Xi.
Facing Xie Tao’s gaze, Old Xi’s smile was still gentle and harmless.
“Right… Uncle Xi, you’re an immortal.”
Xie Tao realized.
It was not difficult for Old Xi to know something, after all, he is an immortal who has lived for over a thousand years.
Suddenly, she paused, sharply turning to Old Xi, opening her mouth to ask if he also knew about Wei Yun’s situation, but hesitated and before she could speak, Old Xi seemed to have already understood her inner thoughts.
She heard him say, “Tao Tao, some things, let’s talk about them later.”
Xie Tao was somewhat stunned.
In the end, all she could say softly was, “Thank you…”
A simple thank you seemed insufficient to express the gratitude she felt in her heart at the moment, but, at this time, that was all she could repeat over and over again.
After being sent home by Old Xi and Xie Lan, Xie Tao lay on her bed, pulling out her phone which had run out of battery and automatically turned off from underneath her pillow.
She charged it and turned it on.
Eagerly, Xie Tao opened WeChat, and she saw many messages from Wei Yun:
“Are you feeling better?”
“Are you still sleeping?”
“If it’s nothing serious, just reply to me.”
“Tao Tao?”
…
There were a dozen or twenty messages, enough to show his concern.
When had Wei Yun ever sent her so many messages in one go? Xie Tao hurriedly opened the video call.
It seemed he was deliberately waiting, as the call was almost instantly connected as soon as she sent the video.
The young master on the phone screen, lightly clad in a fur coat, was sitting in the pavilion in the courtyard, seemingly examining her face, his brows slightly furrowed, a hint of displeasure in his eyes:
“Why haven’t you replied to my letters?”
Xie Tao quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I had a severe headache this morning and was taken to the hospital… I didn’t bring my phone.”
“How are you feeling now?” Wei Yun asked, pausing his hand on the teacup, his concern for her health still apparent.
“I’m much better now, the fever has gone down, just a slight headache left…” She looked at him on the screen, obediently answering.
“Have you taken any medicine?” Wei Yun inquired.
Xie Tao hummed an affirmation, then stared intently at him.
“What is it?” Seeing her look at him that way, Wei Yun’s lips curved slightly, his voice softening a bit more.
Xie Tao wrapped herself tighter in the blanket, suddenly curving her eyes, smiling.
Her laugh sounded a bit silly.
“I feel like after meeting you, my life has been getting better and better…”
She suddenly said.
“I was a bit unhappy today, but also very happy…” She frowned, pursed her lips for a while, then added, “I feel so lucky, to have met you, Xie Lan, and Old Xi.”
Wei Yun’s smile slightly faded upon hearing the other two names.
“Xie Lan?”
He raised an eyebrow.
He knew of Old Xi, the so-called immortal she mentioned, but still had no clear idea about who he really was.
“It was him who took me to the hospital today… When I woke up this morning, I was on his back, he’s really a good person!”
After today’s events, she gained a new understanding of Xie Lan.
He seemed like a carefree young man, but in reality, he also had a very meticulous side, a genuinely kind and honest person.
Wei Yun rubbed his forehead, pausing upon hearing her words, then suddenly let out a cold laugh, “He dared to carry you?”
His voice carried a bone-chilling coldness.
Seeing his change in expression, Xie Tao started to stutter, “That, that’s because I was sick…”
Her voice sounded frail and soft, like a pitiful little thing.
At that moment, all the emotions in Wei Yun’s heart were completely soothed by her words.
As if in the chill of the night, doused with a bucket of cold water, chilling him to the bone.
He looked at the still somewhat pale face of the girl in the light screen of the copper pendant, and after a long while, he sighed softly, “After all, I am not by your side.”
With a hint of inexplicable melancholy and regret.
Even when she was ill, he could only sit restless as he did today, utterly helpless, waiting only for her reply, waiting for her to tell him that she was alright.
“Wei Yun, did I say something last night,”
Xie Tao looked at the young nobleman on her phone screen, lowering his gaze, not knowing what was on her mind. She pursed her lips, then smiled at him, “I believe in you, I believe you can find a way…”
After a moment, her smile seemed a bit forced, her eyelashes trembling, “If, if you can’t find a way… didn’t you also say that you would keep me company in this manner?”
Even though that was what was said.
But both of them were well aware that this kind of connection, where they can see but never touch each other, would ultimately only lead them towards an increasingly painful situation.
But at this time, neither she nor he had any intention of backing down.
What awaited them on the long road ahead, a wasteland or an oasis?
That they had to try to find out.
Wei Yun was never one to retreat easily, nor was he the kind to choose to escape. Over the years, no matter what it was, he always faced it head-on.
And so did Xie Tao.
In a certain sense, they were similar.
“I understand.”
In the end, Wei Yun said.
His voice was inexplicably hoarse, looking at her, his gaze was as gentle as the rippling spring water, “You are still sick, you should sleep early, wrap yourself well in the blanket, don’t catch a cold again.”
His advice, gentle as a spring breeze and light rain, lingered in Xie Tao’s ears, making her start to smile foolishly again.
“Okay…”
Holding a corner of the blanket, looking at the young nobleman on her phone screen, his profile under the dim yellow light still as clear and striking as a painting, still so heart-stirring, she was somewhat reluctant to hang up.
How could he… be so handsome?
How could someone like him exist in this world?
“Go to sleep, Tao Tao.” Wei Yun curved his lips, patiently saying once more.
Xie Tao tightened her grip on the blanket, “I still have one more thing to say,”
“Hmm?”
“You today… still look very handsome.”
After saying that, she immediately hung up, then tightly wrapped herself in the blanket, holding her phone tightly, her cheeks flushing red again.
“……”
Without any warning, Wei Yun’s ears once again grew hot from such a sudden statement from Xie Tao.
After a moment, he lowered his eyelids and chuckled softly.
But at that moment, a sudden breeze brushed his cheek, his smile at the corner of his lips quickly faded, his expression sharpened, and he swiftly leaned back, dodging a glowing long sword’s thrust.
In the flash of movement, he leaped up quickly, his wide sleeves fluttering, his wrist flipping, and his palm wind swiftly landed on the attacker’s shoulder blade as the sword’s edge came at him again.
The person stepped back twice, touched their shoulder, and then threw the long sword in their hand.
The long sword clattered to the ground.
Wei Jing hurried over, standing in the corridor and anxiously called out: “My lord! Are you alright?”
The person glanced at Wei Jing rushing from the corridor, then looked back at Wei Yun standing not far away, suddenly smiled, and sighed, “My lord’s martial arts have indeed not regressed.”
“I do not always leave room for you.”
Wei Yun looked at the man standing before him, dressed in a dark green robe, with a relaxed expression. The light in his eyes flickered, unclear and dim.
“Sheng Yueqi.”
