Memories of the past slowly became clear.
Xu Musen looked at the little rabbit ornament An Nuannuan handed to him and lowered his head to gaze upon An Nuannuan's legs, which had now regained their luster.
His heart was filled with infinite sighs.
That day's events resulted in rebirth for some, while others departed forever, and their destinies had since undergone tremendous changes.
The events of that day would forever become an indelible memory in their hearts.
Xu Musen accepted the little rabbit ornament; after all these years, it was still perfectly preserved, even the plate that had held the cake had been cleanly washed and kept.
"Then, after your legs got better, why didn't you come and tell me?"
Xu Musen looked at her, feeling a sense of fate intertwining within him.
It turned out that their destinies had touched each other long ago.
"Because after the surgery was successful, I was sent back to Hu Hai for continued treatment and recovery. I wasn't able to start school again until high school, and also..."
As An Nuannuan spoke, there seemed to be many words she wanted to say in her large eyes, but in the end, they all turned into soft, complicated murmurs, "And at that time... you were always with her, I didn't want to disturb you."
"What disturbance? We could have become friends earlier."
"... Because at that time, my legs were still not healed, and it seemed like she didn't like other girls getting close to you; it would have made you unhappy."
When An Nuannuan spoke these words, her peach blossom eyes flickered with feelings of... inferiority and fear.
Her legs were, after all, a flaw that couldn't be ignored, even though nobody in class had ever said it to her face.
But those mocking or pitying glances had always made An Nuannuan uncomfortable.
She worried that being friends with Xu Musen in this state might cause others to laugh at him...
This was the first time Xu Musen had read a sense of fear from her eyes.
Indeed, during high school, he had truly started to pursue Yao Mingyue.
Although the two were never together, under the influence of Yao Mingyue's possessiveness, Xu Musen quite cooperatively maintained a "boyfriend's" stance, holding himself to strict standards.
He never gave a second glance to other girls, even intentionally keeping his distance.
Many girls labeled him as a straight-laced man, a dog that slavishly followed its master.
And with an outstanding girl like Yao Mingyue around, ordinary girls didn't take the initiative to talk to Xu Musen.
Still, within that crowd, there might have been a gaze that continued to watch him...
"Weren't you always recuperating in Hu Hai? How did you know I went to the Fourth Middle School?"
"It was Nannan; she was playing with her phone and stumbled upon a post on a school forum, saying someone had publicly failed at a love confession. I saw your name..."
An Nuannuan began, recalling how she saw his name again after three years.
So later, as soon as she was discharged from the hospital, she immediately applied to go back to Zheng City and transferred to the Fourth Middle School.
Xu Musen likely knew the rest.
He was wholly devoted to Yao Mingyue, with no attention left to spare for anyone else.
Even many of his female classmates, he hadn't spoken to for three full years, not to mention the girl from another class in a wheelchair every day.
"You should have told me earlier; I might not have been the butt of jokes for three years."
Xu Musen looked at An Nuannuan, a hint of self-deprecating humor in his smile.
Back then, indeed, he was quite unreasonable, a lovestruck fool beyond awakening by others' scorn.
It wasn't that no one had told him such a pursuit was wrong—He Qiang had advised him many times.
But at that time, he was stubborn to the extreme, immediately rebutting anyone who spoke ill of Yao Mingyue.
In part, it was because Yao Mingyue, the little delicate one, had always been secretly employing PUA tactics on him.
Like how she'd say, "In the future, we can be together," "Other girls are all deceivers except me," "Only we are truly sincere..."
Soft and hard tactics combined, poor Xu Musen was manipulated with ease.
Thus, having been reborn, even though he was determined to break free from Yao Mingyue's control,
he was a bit lost inside. Aside from the desire to earn money, when it came to emotions, he felt as if, once bitten by a snake, he was afraid of the well rope for a decade.
Furthermore, his previous life had been controlled by a delicate one for ten years, making him instinctively wary of relationships.
But after meeting An Nuannuan, this girl with her exceptionally unique thought processes, he experienced a feeling of extraordinary sincerity.
Especially when she sometimes looked so simple and naive, Xu Musen felt as if he had found a kindred spirit, and an affinity naturally emerged.
A person caught in the rain wouldn't first think of offering an umbrella to others, but rather, they would hope to see another figure also getting drenched.
It's not about dragging others down, but about encountering someone just like oneself, and suddenly feeling that being caught in the rain isn't all that unpleasant.
This leads to another topic.
Is it the one who shelters you from the rain, or the one willing to get wet alongside you, who loves you more?
Xu Musen didn't know, but he had certainly felt an exceptional ease since An Nuannuan came along.
Thinking about it now, could it be that Nuannuan had always been trying to match his mood?
Xu Musen gazed at An Nuannuan's pretty face that was close at hand: "Nuannuan, have you been happy being with me these days?"
An Nuannuan nodded without a moment's hesitation: "Of course. You're the only person who is not my relative but is willing to be good to me without asking for anything in return. The time I've spent with you these years has been the happiest of my life."