Main Characters: Xie Tao, Wei Yun (Yanchen)
One Sentence Summary: Shocking! I’m in an online romance with an ancient boyfriend?!
Theme: Love transcends time and space, healing life’s unhappiness.
The weather gradually warmed up.
Willow branches by the stone bridge of the small town sprouted, their tender green leaves reflecting the clear and moving water beneath the bridge.
Xie Tao finished tidying up the molds at hand, donned gloves, and took out a fragrant cake from the oven. Turning around, she was momentarily blinded by the setting sun’s afterglow streaming in through the window.
She squinted her eyes.
“Xiao Tao, do you have any crumbly heart sugar left today?”
Suddenly, a middle-aged woman appeared at the doorway.
She was dressed simply and neatly, with deep laugh lines appearing at the corners of her eyes when she smiled.
She was a regular customer at the Fu Family Cake Shop.
“Auntie Qian, you’ve come too late, all the crumbly heart sugar has sold out today!”
Xie Tao placed the cake on the table, removed her gloves, and replied.
“Oh no! I got delayed by grocery shopping today!” The woman surnamed Qian patted her clothes.
Xie Tao smiled, “I’ll save a portion for you tomorrow, remember to come early to pick it up.”
“The peanut one, right?” Xie Tao reached for a notebook beside her, intending to jot it down.
“Yes, yes, yes!” The woman, who had been frowning, smiled again, “Thank you so much, Xiao Tao!”
Xie Tao smiled and noted it down.
Not long after Auntie Qian left, another middle-aged woman entered the shop, her small heels clicking. She wore flashy clothes and had curled hair, appeared slightly overweight but radiated with health and happiness.
Xie Tao was spreading chocolate hazelnut sauce on a baked cake when she heard the heels and looked up to see the familiar face.
She was the owner of the Fu Family Cake Shop—Mrs. Fu Miaolan.
“Auntie Fu, you’re back?”
Xie Tao was smiling, but her smile froze when she saw the tall middle-aged man following Mrs. Fu Miaolan. Astonishment filled her almond-shaped eyes, and even her movements halted.
“Tao Tao…”
It wasn’t until Mrs. Fu Miaolan called her that Xie Tao managed to snap back to reality.
Lifting her gaze, she met the man’s eyes.
The setting sun outside the door cast a few remaining rays on his shoulders, making his figure appear even taller and leaner.
While Xie Tao was distracted, the man had already approached her, standing in front of the counter and calling her name clearly and accurately, “Xie Tao.”
Hearing his voice, Xie Tao lowered her eyelids, her expression flickering, standing there somewhat at a loss, and not daring to meet his gaze.
“Tao Tao, Mr. Zheng is here to see you; you should speak to him properly,” Mrs. Fu Miaolan walked through a small gate on the other side of the counter, patting her shoulder.
Xie Tao pursed her lips, holding the glass jar of jam tightly, not showing the lively demeanor Mrs. Fu Miaolan was used to seeing.
After a moment, she finally moved her lips, “Uncle Zheng…”
Her voice was weak.
“Xie Tao, let’s go outside to talk,” Zheng Wenhong said.
Xie Tao, with her eyelids downcast, as if hesitating for a while, then put down what she was holding, removed her gloves and arm covers, quickly tidied up her sleeves, and then took her coat from the side and went outside.
The teahouse located at the east end of the town stands right by the moat. The willow trees by the river were just sprouting new shoots, their tender green leaves fluttering in the wind. If one were to sit by the window on the second floor of the teahouse, stretching out a hand, they could easily pluck a fresh willow branch.
Xie Tao and Zheng Wenhong were sitting opposite each other at a table on the second floor of the teahouse, both holding a cup of hot tea. However, initially, both were unusually silent.
Zheng Wenhong quietly observed the girl sitting across from him.
Perhaps due to the early spring season, the air in the town became cooler after dusk. The girl wore a thin sweater under a faded, lightweight coat. Her fair face still carried a bit of baby fat, and her almond-shaped eyes were clear and clean. She appeared petite, much like she did a year ago when she ran away.
Zheng Wenhong knew well that this seemingly gentle and soft girl had a stubborn heart.
Finally, Zheng Wenhong broke the silence, “This past year… have you been well?”
“Pretty good,” Xie Tao replied, taking a sip of her tea. The tea, slightly fragrant and warm, soothed her throat.
Zheng Wenhong seemed at a loss for what to say next, only nodding in response, “That’s good…”
Over a year ago, when she first arrived in the town, Su Linghua began worrying about her daughter being on her own from the day Xie Tao ran away, but her own fear and timidity made it difficult for her to face the situation. Thus, she sent Zheng Wenhong to find Xie Tao and bring her back.
But Xie Tao decisively refused.
Since then, Xie Tao refused to have any contact with them.
And a year of no contact made even speaking to each other difficult.
However, Xie Tao took the opportunity to observe the man sitting across from her, who was now lost in silence.
Despite Zheng Wenhong having reached middle age, with signs of hardship evident in his features, it was still possible to see the handsome and upright appearance of his youth.
But with just a glance, Xie Tao noticed that he seemed even more worn and haggard than she remembered from a year ago, when she last saw Uncle Zheng.
Memories of a year ago flooded her mind, with her mother’s face never fading from her thoughts.
“Xie Tao, come back with me,” Zheng Wenhong finally said.
At that moment, a breeze passed outside the window, making the rustling sound of the willow leaves even clearer amidst the surrounding quiet.
“Uncle Zheng, I’m doing very well here,” Xie Tao said, holding her tea cup.
“Do you really plan to stay here forever?” Zheng Wenhong tried to persuade her. “You’re still at an age to be in school… There’s no high school in this town, you have to plan for your own life.”
Xie Tao nodded, “Uncle Zheng, I know what you’re trying to say, and I haven’t given up on going back to school. I will return to school, just not right now.”
The bank card in her drawer didn’t yet have enough money saved up for three years of tuition fees.
As for the money that Zheng Wenhong and Su Linghua intermittently deposited into her account, she hadn’t spent a cent of it.
“Xie Tao, you’re still a minor, worrying about tuition shouldn’t be your concern. Your mother and I will take care of everything for you…”
“Uncle Zheng, I don’t want to go back to Nan City.”
Zheng Wenhong hadn’t finished speaking when Xie Tao interrupted him.
From the night a year ago, when she packed her backpack and boarded the train back to the town, Xie Tao had no intentions of returning to Nan City.
It was a place where she never had any pleasant memories.
She never longed for it.
“It seems you’re still blaming your mother…”
Zheng Wenhong fell silent for a while before heaving a sigh.
He knew somewhat about the issues between Xie Tao and her mother, Su Linghua.
Zheng Wenhong remembered the times his wife would hide in the room, secretly wiping away her tears, and he said, “Over the past year, she has been unable to sleep peacefully at night. Sometimes, she would call out your name in her dreams and repeat that she shouldn’t have hit you…”
Indeed, Su Linghua had hit Xie Tao, not just once.
After Xie Tao had made a difficult choice between her parents and following her father Xie Zhengyuan’s silent departure, Su Linghua took Xie Tao to Nan City.
During that time, Su Linghua became very irritable.
Xie Tao was beaten more than once for various reasons.
Sometimes it was because of her academic performance, and other times it was over minor matters.
She became a stranger to Xie Tao.
A woman obsessed with the failure of her marriage, self-pitying, and even hysterical.
There was a time when Xie Tao even felt that when her mother looked at her, those often swollen eyes held love but also concealed hatred.
That hatred was directed at that man.
When her mother liked her, she would comb her hair and buy her pretty dresses. When her mother didn’t, she would harshly scold her, insult her father, and leave her arms bruised and purple.
Sometimes, when her mother was drunk, a slap would split her lip and cause it to bleed, and sometimes, she would experience sharp tinnitus.
Afterward, her mother would hold her and cry.
Apologizing countless times, saying she was wrong countless times.
Xie Tao lived like this for two years.
And after two years, Su Linghua finally began to slowly accept the reality of her failed marriage and the messiness of her life, finally becoming calm.
She even sought out a psychologist on her own.
A year of psychotherapy finally restored Su Linghua back to the gentle and peaceful mother Xie Tao was most familiar with from her childhood.
Xie Tao thought that at this point, everything should start to get better.
But one day, her mother took her hand to meet a surgeon named Zheng Wenhong at a hospital they happened upon by chance.
It was the first time Xie Tao met Zheng Wenhong.
Her mother told her that she wanted to marry this Uncle Zheng.
Xie Tao still remembers the smile on her mother’s face at that time, as if this woman, who had been stuck in the mire years ago, had finally seen hope.
So she had no reason to stop Su Linghua from marrying Zheng Wenhong.
But their union plunged Xie Tao into a new panic.
Because of her mother’s deliberate attempts to please her stepson, her mother’s obvious favoritism, and also because of academic grades, her mother, after several years, once again raised her hand to Xie Tao’s cheek on the eve of the Chinese New Year.
Amid the familiar and sharp ringing in her ears, Xie Tao looked at Zheng Wenhong, Su Linghua, and Zheng Wenhong’s son, Zheng Hejia, sitting at the dining table.
As if those three were the closest family in the world.
And she was always superfluous.
On that New Year’s Eve, she ran away from her mother’s deliberately threatening harsh words, escaping the city that made her panic and confused, and returned to Qizhen.
It has been more than a year since then.
“Uncle Zheng, I have forgiven everything that should be forgiven, but there are some things I just can’t do.”
Perhaps it was because she remembered too much of the past, Xie Tao’s eyes inevitably became a bit heated.
Because of Su Linghua’s deliberate flattery towards Zheng Hejia, because of Su Linghua’s partiality towards Zheng Hejia, because of all the neglect Su Linghua showed her, even the demanding expectations in her studies.
Because Zheng Hejia’s grades were excellent, she couldn’t afford to be any less than him, otherwise, it would be embarrassing.
Or maybe it was because of that heavy slap on New Year’s Eve, which completely destroyed the belief that had supported her for so many years.
Xie Tao took a deep breath, suppressing the bitterness in her heart, and then said, “Actually, she wasn’t like this before.”
“I remember she used to tell me that she had a job she liked, many hobbies, and a lot of good friends… Even though she was tired every day, she felt very happy.”
“Until she got married and had me, everything changed. To take good care of me, she quit her favorite job, followed my father back to Qizhen, gradually lost contact with her friends, and put all her focus on my father and me…”
“That long marriage made her accustomed to my father’s patriarchal ways, turning her into a person without a self. And a person without a self, suddenly losing the most important family, what could she do?”
Zheng Wenhong never expected that Xie Tao, still a child in his eyes, could say such words.
For a moment, he stood there, not knowing what to say.
“Uncle Zheng, you have seen her at her most wretched, but you still chose to marry her,” Xie Tao looked up and smiled at Zheng Wenhong, “Although I’ve only stayed in your home for less than a year, I can still feel that you truly like her.”
Zheng Wenhong and her father Xie Zhengyuan are different people.
Xie Zhengyuan was a good enough father for Xie Tao, but not a very good husband for Su Linghua.
Xie Zhengyuan could do his best to fulfill all of Xie Tao’s wishes, but as their marriage grew longer, he became less and less caring towards Su Linghua.
Not to mention supporting Su Linghua’s desire to return to work.
And from the day Xie Tao saw Su Linghua’s name in a fashion magazine, she knew Zheng Wenhong was different.
He would be the one to encourage Su Linghua to return to her work in fashion design and find herself again.
But his love for Su Linghua does not mean he would naturally care for Xie Tao, who has no blood relation to him.
So in front of Xie Tao, this man often appears overly calm, as if an outsider.
Remembering the things Su Linghua gently told her about before getting married, Xie Tao pursed her lips, seemingly with a hint of a smile, her voice a bit soft, “She likes to wear beautiful dresses, likes to eat mint candies, likes to wake up in the middle of the night to cook snacks, she also likes to go out singing with friends…”
Suddenly standing up, Xie Tao bowed to Zheng Wenhong, “Uncle Zheng, I hope, you can make her happy every day.”
No longer remembering that past marriage that made her lose herself, her friends, her happiness, no longer focusing her life on others.
Even if life is more than halfway over, it’s not too late to start over.
Outside the window, there occasionally were clear chirps of birds, Zheng Wenhong looked at the girl standing opposite him, silent for a long time.
After a while, he finally spoke, his voice inexplicably dry, “I definitely… will.”
When Xie Tao returned to the Fu family cake shop, it had started to drizzle.
“Back already?” Fu Miaolan came out from the inside, saw Xie Tao, and came over to ask her, “Did you see your mom?”
Xie Tao was stunned, “My mom?”
Seeing her like this, Fu Miaolan got a bit anxious, “You didn’t see your mom? That can’t be, I saw her coming over with Mr. Zheng at the bridge earlier, I thought you went out with Mr. Zheng to see her.”
Xie Tao stood still, her mind filled with a roaring noise.
“Tao Tao, there are some things I can no longer keep from you. Half of the money you’ve earned this year working for me was actually sent by Mr. Zheng at your mother’s request… They didn’t want me to tell you, but Tao Tao, staying in Qizhen forever is not a solution. You need to go to school, you need to go to college, that’s your way out.”
Fu Miaolan finally poured out the thoughts she had been holding in for so long, then patted Xie Tao on the shoulder, “Tao Tao, go back home.”
However, Xie Tao was lost in her own thoughts, barely able to hear Fu Miaolan’s words. The next moment, she suddenly rushed out of the door, mounted her bicycle, and started heading towards the Qizhen station.
The roads in Qizhen were cobblestone, always somewhat uneven.
She didn’t notice a missing corner from a blue stone slab ahead; as her bicycle wheel rolled over it, it jolted slightly, and she suddenly came back to her senses, but it was too late. She fell to the ground, bicycle and all, dropping her cellphone into a puddle.
Her elbows and knees were scraped, and the back of her hand was bleeding, but Xie Tao could hardly care about that as she endured the pain to get up.
But as she looked up, she couldn’t understand what was happening, as she saw a stream of light with a faint glow emerging in mid-air.
As the stream tumbled, it formed a semi-transparent light curtain.
And within the curtain, it was as if a hand crushed something; she only had time to see a fragment flying out from the curtain, as if breaking through some insurmountable divide, and in the blink of an eye, the curtain turned into a line-like light.
In the blur, she seemed to see a tall and straight figure, the hem of a dark red brocade robe shining with a lustrous glow.
The ring of light suddenly became more dazzling, and as she involuntarily blinked, the fragment that appeared out of nowhere grazed her left eyelid, leaving a trail of blood, fell onto her cellphone in the puddle on the ground, and instantly dissolved without a trace.
