Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Jiang Zhuoheng smiled and shook his head gently. “I’m willing to because you are Wen Xuxu.”
Xuxu stared at him intently. “Ah Heng, this might sound a little conceited, but you’re too good for me. I’m not worthy of your love.”
Her eyes started to well up with tears, her expression full of sorrow and melancholy.
“Give me a chance, and give yourself a chance.” Jiang Zhuoheng gripped her hand and placed it on his chest. He was sincere and firm as he pressed on. “I’m not going to force you to make a decision. I’ve waited for three years, and I don’t mind continuing to wait.”
Sigh. Xuxu sighed lightly. “Ah Heng, if I can give you a complete… perhaps I’ll be able to live with a clear conscience. But I…”
But her current self was unworthy of his love.
Hearing this, Jiang Zhuoheng’s expression froze. “Xuxu…”
He looked at her sorrowful face, and he was at a complete loss.
He had always wanted to ask her: why did she give up the chance to study abroad in Country Y? Why wasn’t there any news of her in school in the three years that he was away?
He wanted to probe further; to ask if there was another reason.
This question had been bugging him for three years, and he finally seemed to have found the answer tonight.
As he reorganized his thoughts, Xuxu’s exhausted voice sounded once more. “You’re the one person in my life that I never want to lose. Even more than him.”
If they had crossed the line and gone beyond their friendship, everything would no longer be the same.
She added, “I won’t be able to stay with him until he’s old, but that person can’t be you either.”
These few days she had been playing with the notion of wearing the white princess dress on her 25th birthday. But every time she delved deeper into her thoughts, she hesitated and gave up.
The relationship between them should remain pure.
There was very little that she could afford to lose anymore.
Jiang Zhuoheng squeezed her hand. “Xuxu, don’t pressure yourself.”
Others might not understand her but he could. They’d both been playing a role for the other.
Because this person is Xuxu, so I won’t give up, he thought to himself.
…
Before the sun rose the next day, Xuxu had already reached the hospital.
She was holding some breakfast in her hands as she walked to her grandfather’s ward.
The door of the ward was ajar. She glanced inside, but to her surprise, her grandfather was nowhere in sight.
A cleaner was tidying the ward, and Xuxu walked towards her. “Auntie, may I know where is the patient in this ward?”
Grandfather had just undergone surgery yesterday, and he couldn’t move around. So he couldn’t have gone to the toilet or taken a stroll.
Where did the old man go? She got more anxious at the thought.
The cleaner replied, “They transferred him to a deluxe suite last night.”
Transferred? Deluxe suite? Who transferred him?
Xuxu quickly called Qi Lei.
Qi Lei informed her about the new ward, and she rushed there without delay.
Before she reached the ward, she could hear the old man’s resounding and loud voice.
“I’m not playing with you anymore. What’s the point if you keep giving in to me?”
When Xuxu heard her grandfather’s voice, she heaved a sigh of relief.
Then she heard another familiar voice coming from the ward.
“Grandfather, when did I give in to you?”
His jovial voice was mixed with a subtle trace of exhaustion.
Xuxu widened her eyes in surprise and hastened her footsteps. The suite was clean and spacious, and her grandfather was lying on a huge and comfortable bed. He was lying sideways with a chess set in front of him. Apparently, the outcome of the chess game was clear.