Before meeting Wen Xi, she was just Meng Ke.
She wanted to return everything he had given her.
He gave her the immortal bone, arranged for her to take the director’s position through Hengyun Xianjun, including… the name he once gave her.
Meng Lichun’s hand emitted a ghostly blue light, like a sharp sword blade, about to pierce into her spine to extract the half immortal bone given to her by the immortal elder years ago.
But in that instant, her entire body was bound by ropes formed from pale golden light, rendering her completely immobile, unable even to speak.
Thus, she could only stand there stiffly, staring at Lao Xi with tearful eyes.
Lao Xi sighed softly.
He finally walked up to Meng Lichun, helped the immobile her to sit down on the flower bed beside them.
Crouching in front of Meng Lichun, when he looked up at her, his gentle eyes seemed to hide a deep sense of helplessness.
He reached out to grasp her ankle, his movements gentle yet careful, albeit slightly awkward and stiff.
In the deep night, on this deserted street, a young man crouched in front of a woman with reddened eyes, helping her put on a pair of high-heeled shoes.
“Lichun, you’ve really suffered over these years.”
He didn’t stand up, just looked at the woman in front of him, his heart filled with mixed emotions and indescribable feelings.
“I had things I needed to do then, and it’s the same now.”
The divine lord has yet to awaken; he must stay in the small tavern, accumulating merits and virtues for the divine lord until his awakening.
Only then would he have fulfilled his mission.
And only then could he truly choose his own life.
“My mission leaves me no other choice.”
Lao Xi stood up, took off his coat, and draped it over Meng Lichun. Then, without looking at her again, he gazed past her to the distant neon lights, “Therefore, I can’t tell the girl who once defied life and death for me, who was unhesitatingly loyal…”
“I actually, love her very much.”
These words had been hidden in his heart for hundreds of years.
But he couldn’t say them.
To defy his mission would incur the punishment of the heavenly way, not to mention the divine lord had shown him kindness, whom he had sworn to serve loyally all his life.
Yet Meng Lichun was the only woman he had ever loved deeply in his life.
Thus, he did not hesitate to break off half of his immortal bone and destroy hundreds of years of cultivation, just to save her life and ensure her survival in the Third Time-Space Administration Bureau.
He couldn’t bear to see her suffer or to see anyone bully her.
So, when the director at the time locked her up, he went to the divine realm, had Hengyun relieve the former director of his duties, and gave her the director’s position.
All these years, he had been silently watching over her.
He seemed to have gotten used to doing everything for her in the shadows.
The cool night breeze brushed against Meng Lichun’s tear-streaked face, slightly stinging.
Yet, hot tears streamed down from her eyes, her lips trembling, unable to make any sound.
All the love and hatred, after hundreds of years, still felt so profound.
As if deeply ingrained in their bones, never to be erased.
The young master Xi, after hundreds of years, finally said the words that should have been said to his beloved girl. Maybe it’s too late, or perhaps it’s not too late, who knows?
After that night, Lao Xi was still the middle-aged uncle in the small tavern.
Meng Lichun remained the director of the Time-Space Administration who loved drinking milk tea and was quite neurotic.
It seemed as if they were still two parallel lines that could never intersect.
But could these two, who once loved each other so deeply yet could never be together, really let go?
Xie Tao only found out later that Meng Lichun and Lao Xi had made a pact.
He was accumulating merit in the tavern, waiting for the deity to awaken.
While Meng Lichun continued her role as the director at the Time-Space Administration.
Perhaps, one day in the future, when the deity awakens and Lao Xi regains his freedom, if they have not yet let go of each other, they might come together.
And Xie Tao, having listened to Wei Yun’s words, never took off the ring on her hand.
Thanks to Wei Yun’s stunning looks, everyone in the university knew Xie Tao, a girl from the Chinese department who married young, and whose husband was incredibly handsome, boasting divine looks.
Countless netizens scrolled through photos of the couple on the internet daily, shedding tears of envy, swallowing one lemon after another.
In the year Xie Tao graduated from university, she successfully qualified for an internship at the Time-Space Administration.
It was also around this time that Zhou Xinyue, who had been studying abroad, finally returned.
When Xie Tao was getting her marriage certificate, she had called Zhou Xinyue.
At the time, Zhou Xinyue could hardly believe it, questioning how Xie Tao, only twenty, could be getting married, worried she might have fallen for a scam, persistently advising Xie Tao to calm down and not be deceived.
However, when she saw Wei Yun’s face during a video call, Zhou Xinyue fell silent.
She later changed her tune, saying, “He’s so rich and incredibly handsome, what could he possibly scam from you, a penniless girl? Go ahead and marry him, quickly, before another girl snatches him away!”
Unfortunately, due to her studies, she couldn’t make it back in time.
Zhou Xinyue seemed to have become better over time.
Now slightly overweight, she no longer cared about such things.
She became like the sunflower that had supported Xie Tao through the challenging years of primary school.
She even became greedier than before, hassling Xie Tao to make her various flavors of crispy sugar candies just a few days after returning.
“Xinyue, I’m so happy you’re doing well…”
That day, Xie Tao cried without reason.
And Zhou Xinyue, holding her, laughed heartily as she always did, “Thank you, Tao Tao, for giving me a new lease on life!”
In places Xie Tao couldn’t see, she too shed tears.
For both Xie Tao and Zhou Xinyue, they had redeemed each other’s difficult years.
In this life, they were forever friends.
As for Su Linghua, when the story of Xie Tao and Wei Yun was widely shared online, she also came to see Xie Tao.
But by then, Su Linghua seemed to have finally understood that she no longer had any right to question why Xie Tao married so young or why she wasn’t informed.
Because deep guilt always haunted her, never leaving her side.
That day, Xie Tao returned to Su Linghua the card that had been used to send her money.
“Mom, I’m doing well now,” Xie Tao even smiled at her.
“I hope you are doing well too.”
These were the words that Xie Tao had always kept in her heart.
Neither she nor Su Linghua needed to dwell on the painful past anymore, lost in those dark days.
Su Linghua had given her the deepest love but also the most indelible hurt.
Therefore, towards her mother, with whom she was forever connected by blood, Xie Tao could never fully hate.
But that was all there could be between her and Su Linghua.
Keeping the necessary distance, knowing each other was doing well was enough.
Just after graduation, Xie Tao discovered she was pregnant during a hospital visit.
Fu Miaolan knew and even said she would come to take care of her, but Xie Tao persuaded her several times on the phone before Fu Miaolan decided not to come.
Fuhua needed Fu Miaolan’s care, and the cake shop in Qizhen needed her attention too. Xie Tao didn’t want Fu Miaolan to neglect her own matters for her sake.
As an intern at the Time-Space Administration Bureau, Xie Tao had already obtained the permission to travel between two time-spaces.
She could already move freely between the two time-spaces without using gold powder.
Lou Xian had grown into a round and chubby giant panda, and every time Xie Tao saw Lou Xian, she wanted to bury herself in its embrace.
Because she had always had a dream.
A dream of burying herself in the embrace of a panda.
This scared Shao Liyin and Wei Bo a lot because Lou Xian was very happy to see Xie Tao. It was so big, what if it accidentally hurt Xie Tao?
She was carrying a little one in her belly now.
Xie Tao’s pregnancy was a joyful matter in itself.
When Wei Yun first learned about it, the servants in the Imperial Advisor’s mansion got to see the Imperial Advisor’s rare dazed expression.
That night, he couldn’t sleep and walked back and forth in the courtyard until dawn under the watch of Wei Shiyi on the roof, unable to hide his joy.
Wei Shiyi had no idea that that night, their Imperial Advisor had already thought of countless names for the child without even knowing if it was a boy or a girl.
He didn’t want Xie Tao to have children for him too early.
Because in her time-space, getting married at twenty was already considered too early.
Xie Tao grew up with such notions, and Wei Yun respected the order of that time-space and cherished Xie Tao even more.
Moreover, she hadn’t finished her studies yet.
So Wei Yun put the matter of offspring aside.
But who would have thought, just after Xie Tao graduated, she got pregnant.
It would be false to say Wei Yun was unhappy.
That night, the Imperial Advisor’s mansion was quiet, Wei Yun and Xie Tao lay on the same bed, under the dim light, his hand gently touched her belly, lightly stroking it.
Xie Tao yawned, her eyes a bit moist.
“Being a mother now, how can you still be so reckless today? What if Lou Xian accidentally hurts you?” Wei Yun thought of her rushing into the arms of the big white bear earlier that day, his expression slightly stern, he reached out and pinched her cheek.
Xie Tao felt wronged being pinched on the cheek, “Lou Xian wouldn’t…”
Perhaps because she was pregnant, she became a bit sensitive. Now, seeing him being so cautious and his gaze always lingering on her abdomen, her previous happiness was instantly dampened, “Do you like him a lot?”
She pointed to her belly.
“My child, of course, I like.” Wei Yun’s gaze became even softer.
“Then, how about compared to me?”
Xie Tao looked at him like a child, stubbornly wanting an answer.
Wei Yun paused.
After a moment, he suddenly chuckled, seeming a bit helpless but eventually with a hint of indulgence, he embraced her in his arms, kissing her cheek, “What are you thinking about, all muddled up?”
Perhaps the night was too quiet, or perhaps the light in the almond eyes of the girl in his arms was too moving.
Wei Yun, smiling, suddenly restrained the smile on his lips.
After a moment, he tightened his arms, hugging her closely.
His cheek pressed against hers, at that moment, he closed his eyes, and then sighed.
“Tao Tao, because of you, I just feel that living is such a good thing, such a wonderful thing.”
He kissed her eyelashes, at that moment, his heart was wrapped in warmth.
“You are the most important person in my life.”
He said, “No one will ever be more important than you.”
