Faced with Meng Lichun’s sudden enthusiasm, Xie Tao could only offer a dry laugh.
She seemed to finally understand why Meng Lichun suddenly started to please her.
It turns out it was because of Xi Shu.
This made Xie Tao even more certain that there must be more than just an old acquaintance between Xi Shu and Meng Lichun.
After Meng Lichun left in high spirits, Xie Tao sat in the living room, which felt exceptionally unfamiliar to her, and couldn’t help but turn her head to look around.
As she looked around, her gaze landed on Wei Yun.
He was still making tea.
Through the swirling mist of the tea steam, his profile appeared slightly blurred.
Xie Tao saw him stretch out his well-defined right hand to casually pick up the remote control and turn on the TV mounted on the wall.
The screen was several times larger than the small TV in the room she rented.
The TV broadcast lively sounds, and Wei Yun, with his legs crossed, had a more leisurely look in his eyes. He slightly turned his wrist and poured the tea into a jade-colored small cup, then handed it to Xie Tao.
Xie Tao put down the cup of plain water she was holding and took the tea from him.
After just one sip, she knew it was his usual favorite, Sichuan cloud mist tea.
He had brought his tea set and favorite tea leaves.
“Do you like it here?” Wei Yun leaned against the back of the sofa, his gaze on the TV screen, but suddenly he asked her.
Xie Tao took a sip of tea, her almond-shaped eyes resting on the small garden visible through the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows.
She even saw a swing.
To say she didn’t like it would be a lie.
Wei Yun then turned his gaze from the TV screen to her, his eyebrows seemed to soak up the softest colors of spring light.
He said, “There’s so much more I want to give you.”
“Xie Tao, you don’t have to think too much, nor feel uneasy,”
He reached out, gently stroked her hair, his expression and tone were very serious, “because you’re worth it.”
In this world, she alone was worth it.
He couldn’t bear to see her struggling to make ends meet, nor could he bear to see her hustle every day for a living at such an age.
She had prematurely taken on everything she shouldn’t have had to bear.
She had tasted the bitterness and warmth of the world too soon.
Because she knew she had no one to rely on, just like him, alone in this world.
What used to separate them was what seemed to be an insurmountable chasm of time and space, so there were many things he always wanted to do but felt powerless to accomplish.
But now it was different.
As Meng Lichun said, he could now freely travel between two time spaces.
So, there were many things he wanted to solve for her.
“Tao Tao,”
Wei Yun suddenly called her softly, his eyes always on her, his expression gentle and tender, “You and I, we’re not alone anymore.”
Neither she nor he was alone in this world anymore.
So, he wanted her to no longer tense up the string in her heart.
He wanted her to no longer live so hard.
Wei Yun has never been one to easily reveal the emotions pressed at the bottom of his heart; these words, he would normally never utter.
But at this moment, he patiently told them to her.
Hoping that she would understand his feelings.
After hearing his words, Xie Tao might have been dazzled by the sunlight coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, or perhaps it was the steam rising from the teapot on the stove that reddened her eyes.
Her fingers subconsciously clenched the hem of her school uniform, and a faint mist began to form in her eyes.
No one had ever spoken to her like this before.
From the time she left the Zheng family and chose to distance herself from her despair-inducing mother to start living on her own, reality had always dealt her one heavy blow after another.
With no source of income, life was unsustainable.
In Qizhen, there were hardly many who would employ an underage girl with no skills.
Many people lived by their craftsmanship.
But Xie Tao, who had resolutely stopped attending school and returned to Qizhen, hardly had any skills.
And there were few who were willing to hire someone who knew nothing, as it would also take time to teach her.
For a while, Xie Tao often couldn’t even afford meals.
But when Zheng Wenhong came to find her, she still kept the door shut, unwilling to see him, much less return.
The old house in Qizhen held many beautiful memories for Xie Tao.
It was a testament to the complete family she once had, her only home.
Su Linghua could move on from the past, but she could not.
It was under such extreme difficulties that Xie Tao met Fu Miaolan.
This woman, who had suffered for most of her life, braved the storms outside for many years, eventually divorced, and returned to Qizhen alone with her daughter to open a cake shop.
She gave Xie Tao a job, taught her the unique craft of making crispy heart candies, and truly treated her well.
It was then that Xie Tao finally felt like life had started to offer her a breather.
For so long, Xie Tao had gotten used to living alone and relying on herself. All the bitterness was pressed into the bottom of her heart.
She never spoke of it to others, nor did she ultimately have anyone to speak to.
Whether it was Fu Miaolan or Zhou Xinyue, they had their own troubles, their own difficulties.
So Xie Tao had long gotten used to saying nothing.
But at this moment, Wei Yun said to her, “You and I, we’re not alone anymore.”
Xie Tao couldn’t help but be moved by his words.
Yes, she wasn’t alone anymore.
Wei Yun, undeterred by Xie Tao’s reddening eyes, immediately set down the teacup in his hand, reached out to pull her into his arms, his chin resting on her forehead, and his voice carrying a hint of a helpless sigh, “No crying.”
“Tao Tao,”
His voice seemed even gentler, “You haven’t finished your studies, and now you have to take care of other things as well. This is ultimately too hard for you.”
He said, “I always hope that you can have a better life.”
As he said,
Life was much harder for Xie Tao before she met Xie Lan and Old Xi.
During her time at Tiancheng High School, Xie Tao had to work part-time at a dessert shop besides attending school, and take up flyer distribution jobs during holidays, making her schedule full almost every day.
Besides studying, she was working.
There were many times when she couldn’t finish her homework because of work and had to stay up late to rush it in the limited time she had.
But every day she was in school, she listened carefully to the lectures, not daring to fall behind even a bit.
Not many people could perfectly balance their life and studies under such circumstances. Xie Tao was just an ordinary person without any extraordinary talents.
But she never thought of giving up.
Just as Wei Yun said, she understood the importance of her studies.
“I know…”
Xie Tao lay in Wei Yun’s arms, only softly speaking after a while.
On that day’s dusk, the two of them leaned on the sofa together, watching TV until nightfall.
Although Xie Tao didn’t quite understand why Wei Yun always liked to watch “Animal World”…
She still enthusiastically accompanied him to watch the entire program.
It seemed that as long as she was with him, no matter what they did, she would feel an uncontrollable joy.
But when she couldn’t find a wardrobe in the room Wei Yun had pointed out to her that night, she tentatively pushed open a wooden door made of yellow pear wood.
She was stunned for a moment.
In this slightly spacious room, various wooden partitions were embedded in the wall. The wooden partition on the right was almost filled with clothes of all kinds, neatly organized by season.
On the left, there were many pairs of girls’ shoes of various styles and designs.
Inside the glass cabinet, there were various small accessories that exuded a full sense of girlhood. Even hats and scarves were hung in abundance.
Xie Tao took a sharp breath and widened her eyes.
It wasn’t until Wei Yun pushed the door open and saw her standing motionless in front of the cloakroom that he walked over.
He casually looked inside and then asked her, “Don’t you like it?”
He frowned slightly, beginning to doubt whether it was right to entrust this task to Meng Lichun.
Xie Tao was speechless for a long time.
She had never felt more profoundly than at this moment what it means to have one’s imagination limited by poverty.
Suddenly, her phone in her pocket started vibrating.
Barely snapping back to reality, Xie Tao hurriedly took it out to see it was Xie Lan calling.
In front of Wei Yun, she slid to answer the call.
Before she could even bring it to her ear, she heard Xie Lan’s loud voice shouting on the other side, “Tao Tao, I’m at your doorstep, hurry up and open the door for me, or I’ll come in myself! I’m hungry, cook me a bowl of noodles. I still have to deliver takeout after eating!”
Before Xie Tao could say anything, the phone was snatched from her hand by Wei Yun standing beside her.
At this moment, standing in the corridor of the old residential area where Xie Tao used to rent, Xie Lan heard a cold and distant voice come through:
“Scram.”
After saying that, he hung up the call.
Standing in the flickering light of the corridor, Xie Lan, holding the phone, was completely dumbfounded.
What the hell? Did he just hear a man’s voice???
And he told him to scram??
