Chapter 15: The Gentle Breeze Carries the Remaining Years (Seeking Continued Reading)

Page 1 of 3

Tang Wan was terrified.

First, there had been the fear she felt while speaking with Tang Tianxing before Xia An arrived. At that moment, she was certain her mother must be anxiously spinning in circles up in heaven.

Then came those few moments just now, when her mind had been filled with only one thought: This is bad. What should I do?

She knew perfectly well what Tang Tianxing had done in the past.

If Xia An were targeted by her uncle because of her, she would never forgive herself for the rest of her life.

Xia An looked at her and inexplicably felt like laughing.

There was a special charm to a beautiful woman in tears, especially Tang Wan in that moment.

Her tears hovered on the verge of falling, her face full of panic.

Her entire presence seemed broken into tiny pieces, like a little sheet of seaweed.

He dismissed the matter of the men waiting downstairs. “It doesn’t matter. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to kidnap or murder anyone. If he were, he would have used you for that long ago.”

After hearing this, Tang Wan leaned forward until her chest touched the edge of the table.

“Do you know how relieved I am that I made this decision? I don’t want to drag you into this.”

The decision she meant was to give up five percent of the company’s shares, and with them the elegant, prosperous future that awaited her.

To give up the keepsakes her parents had left her.

Xia An was momentarily speechless.

Did this count as a confession?

If the boys from the several graduating classes of No. 6 High School who had known Tang Wan ever found out about this, their entire romantic faith would probably collapse.

Xia An patted the back of her hand and raised an eyebrow. “What? You’ve become hopelessly infatuated with me after only a few days?

“If nothing unexpected happens, judging by Tang Tianxing’s attitude toward you when he left, you’re free now.

“Do you still need love to fill the emptiness?”

His words could hardly have been harsher.

But Xia An had to say them.

He knew that the questions of age and identity were churning inside Tang Wan’s heart.

But was age really a problem?

That night, while watching *The Return of the Condor Heroes*, Xia An had already made his attitude clear.

Strictly speaking, he was more than ten years older than her.

In truth, in any relationship between a man and a woman, there was only one real issue: equality.

One had to treat the other as a person, not as a god.

Xia An understood all too well that, over the past week, Tang Wan had endured whiplash between life and death, decisions about her future, and a sudden assault of emotion...

An ordinary person would have gone mad, or at least been left half-crippled.

The fact that she had been able to handle her meeting with Tang Tianxing rationally and remain emotionally composed had already made Xia An look at her with new respect.

Now, Tang Wan had nothing left.

If love began from a distorted need to use it as an emotional refuge, the ending would be ugly.

Sure enough, Xia An’s blunt words left Tang Wan stunned.

Yes. It had happened so quickly.

She asked herself again and again: Was she merely trying to fill an emptiness?

Was she?

Their hands remained joined. Xia An picked up Tang Wan’s bottle of Perrier and took a sip.

Five percent of a subsidiary was not an enormous share, but in a few years it would be worth tens of millions.

“You’ve seen the ostriches at the zoo, right? They’re actually powerful creatures, but whenever danger appears, they like to bury their heads in the sand.

“You’ve been very brave to face the problem directly.

“From here on, love should be put on the agenda—especially for a woman as beautiful as you, beautiful enough to make heaven itself jealous.

“But you should think it over carefully. I’m just a pretentious little brat pretending to be profound. Are you sure?”

Beautiful enough to make heaven jealous?

It was the first time Tang Wan had ever heard anyone use that phrase to describe someone’s appearance.

The answer was no. She was not trying to fill an emptiness.

Coming back to herself, Tang Wan withdrew her hand, twisted her hair into a bun, and pulled two loose strands down beside her cheeks.

“I’m free?”

She tilted her head and smiled sweetly at Xia An.

Xia An nodded. “Let’s go. To celebrate your liberation, I’ll take you out today.”

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

Tang Wan smiled and nodded.

Xia An spread his hands and told her she would have to pay. “I’m broke.”

Tang Wan took the initiative to call the server over and settle the bill for both tables.

The staff told them that Tang Tianxing had instructed them to pay for both tables before leaving.

Xia An said, “I’ve taken advantage of him for a hundred or two. I’ll pay him back if I get the chance.”

Tang Wan slung her small purse over her arm and picked up a large plastic bag as well.

Xia An reached out, but Tang Wan stepped back and hugged it tightly.

Seeing his own pillow inside, Xia An laughed. “I’ll carry it for you. I’m not trying to take it back.”

Only after wrinkling her nose did Tang Wan hand it over, then follow close behind him with light, tapping steps.

When they reached the entrance, the sunlight was dazzling.

Xia An stretched lazily.

Quietly, Tang Wan said behind him, “My house is in Building 6 of Donghua Estate. I don’t want that place either. Under the agreement, it was exchanged for its cash value.”

Xia An was not surprised. The villa development had been Tang Tianxing’s first project after entering the real-estate business, and his own family lived there as well.

There was no way Tang Wan could have felt at ease living there.

“You’re the only piece of luggage I couldn’t take with me,” Tang Wan said, “so I secretly stole your pillow.”

Well now. Miss Tang certainly knew how to deliver a line.

Xia An asked, “What do you want today? Where do you want to go?”

Tang Wan smiled. “I don’t know where I want to go. I want candy and sunflowers.”

Xia An took her hand and said, “Let’s go.”

...

...

“Don’t lose your way, don’t panic. When the sun goes down, there will still be moonlight...”

On the rooftop, Xia An hummed softly.

The final examinations at Dongshan No. 6 High School had ended only yesterday, and the parent-teacher meeting was scheduled for three days later.

The first- and second-year students were already considered to be on summer vacation.

Tang Wan had once taught here, and Xia An had once studied here. The elderly gatekeeper recognized them and did not stop them.

Tang Wan asked nothing and said nothing. She silently followed him, holding the bag of gummy candies and Chacha sunflower seeds Xia An had bought for her.

When they reached the second floor, she glanced several times down the empty corridor.

At the fourth floor, she looked again.

Once upon a time, the physical distance between her and Xia An had been only one floor, while six years separated them in time.

Now he was holding her hand.

When they reached the rooftop, the glaring sunlight and two wild sunflowers appeared in Tang Wan’s eyes at the same time.

She laughed with delight.

She had never been here before and looked around with keen curiosity.

Xia An told her that, when he had been a student, he often skipped class to come up here and draw. When he grew drowsy from drawing, he would sleep on the battered sofa in the corner.

He left out the fact that Le Ning had quietly kept him company many times.

The two of them climbed onto the water tower and sat shoulder to shoulder on the concrete steps, looking down at the city below.

The ground had been baked scorching hot. Xia An said that sitting there was good for menstrual cramps.

Tang Wan said she did not suffer from cramps, but that the warmth felt very comfortable on her backside all the same.

“My two conditions were converting the house and using one of his connections. I’ve already thought about my next step. Do you want to know?”

She had lost her family and her background...

But once one saw through everything, having less could feel more secure than having more.

Wasn’t that so?

The gummy candy was grape-flavored. Tang Wan held it in her mouth as though she could not bear to finish it.

Leaning against the wall, Xia An said, “The fact that you’re asking means you don’t want to tell me for now, doesn’t it?”

He was far too clever. Tang Wan puffed out her cheeks. “I may have to leave for a while in a few days. Will you look forward to seeing me again?”

“Very much,” Xia An answered without the slightest hesitation.

The moment he had stepped onto the rooftop and seen the still-old half of the city, Xia An had suddenly understood something.

Skyscrapers would rise here over the next few years.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

As Lin Jiajia had said, someone with no sense of direction would be unable to find the address again after some time.

The times were moving forward. Nothing would remain unchanged.

What about himself, reborn into this world?

Tang Wan was very pleased with his answer and rewarded him with a handful of sunflower seeds.

“A sunflower costs only one and a half yuan, making it the cheapest flower in the shop. Why do you like them?”

Tang Wan answered, “I don’t tan. I like basking in the sun. When I’m happy, I bask. When I’m unhappy, I just lower my head and crack sunflower seeds.”

Excellent. Xia An wholeheartedly agreed.

Tang Wan said, “May I answer your earlier question now?”

“Of course.”

“I’m sure.”

Xia An turned his head and smiled into her eyes.

“There’s no particular reason,” Tang Wan said. “I understand all the logic, but emotions don’t follow logic. This is something decided by the heart. My mouth can’t explain it.”

Xia An nodded again.

Tang Wan gazed deeply at him.

“You said I’m free now. But Xia An, aren’t stray cats free too?

“I’ll tell you the next part after I’ve settled down.”

Xia An looked at the two sunflowers swaying at the edge of the rooftop and said, “A flower that survives can bloom in ten thousand different ways. Do whatever makes you happy.”

“I’m happy,” Tang Wan said. “It’s wonderful. We met each other.”

Xia An savored the words for a moment.

He agreed with them completely.

He nodded. “Yes. It’s wonderful.”

According to his expectations, Tang Wan should not have been the kind of person who charged straight ahead in matters of the heart.

But the future could not be predicted. Rather than harbor regrets later, why not be brave now?

He could even guess that, at that moment, Tang Wan was acting recklessly because she did not want to waste a single bit of love or one second of life that the future might offer.

It was the stress response of someone who had been repressed for too long and had suddenly found herself free.

In this vast sea of humanity, it was difficult to meet the right person. When would they meet again?

When there is a flower worth plucking, pluck it without delay.

A butterfly hovered above the sunflowers, wavering uncertainly before finally settling down. The sunflower seeds were as sweet as honey.

Taking advantage of Tang Wan’s distraction, Xia An played a little scoundrel.

“May the gentle breeze carry me through the years to come,” he said, licking the lipstick from his lips.

Tang Wan remained stunned for a full three seconds before bursting into laughter. She cast him an affectionate, reproachful glance.

“My Chinese isn’t very good. I don’t understand.”

She bit the corner of her lip as she spoke and tilted her head toward him, her eyes glistening with tears.

What a shameless little brat. He was truly wicked.

She felt both bashful and delighted.

Xia An scratched his head. He had become overly poetic, and now he felt a little embarrassed.

Covering her mouth, Tang Wan giggled. “But I understand the spirit of it.”

Xia An’s face had gone red beneath the sun. “That’s good, then.”

“Can you drive?”

The experienced driver nodded.

“What kind of car do you like?”

“Bentley.”

He had said it casually.

The poor played with cars, the rich played with watches. Xia An played with neither. In his former life, he had simply driven a Bentley.

-----------------

Long after Xia An and Tang Wan had left the hotel, Tang Tianxing’s Bentley Eight carried on from the street behind them.

He entered through the rear entrance of the Marriott. As soon as he stepped into the lobby, he saw two luxury-watch counters.

Sitting in the car, Tang Tianxing waited until his bodyguard shook his head and handed him the Nautilus watch. Then he nodded toward the driver, signaling him to return to the company.

Page 3 of 3