She silently looked at him for a few seconds, withdrew her hand, and said indifferently, "Ah Chen, I won’t go with you."
"I have my responsibilities and mission."
"What if I ask you to abandon your mission and insist that you come with me?"
"...In my heart, the mission always comes first." Lan Keren stated firmly, her words deeply hurt him.
Tang Yuchen took a deep breath and asked her in a serious tone, "I’m asking you one last time, will you choose to come with me, or will you continue with your mission?"
Lan Keren was silent for a long time, and finally, she turned around, leaving him with a decisive back.
"Ah Chen, no one can make me abandon my mission."
She said this to him, and he knew that no matter what, he could not persuade her to turn back.
It was a road of no return. Knowing the likelihood of imminent death, she still chose to continue. He couldn’t bear to see her die, begging her to come with him, but she disagreed.
Did she really like him, love him? Otherwise, why disregard his feelings, and even if it meant separation by life and death, not choose him?
Her decisiveness left him heartbroken, angry, and even hateful.
Hateful that she was always so heartless, hateful that she always put him in second place. No matter how hard he tried, in her heart, her responsibilities always weighed heavier than him.
Perhaps it was youthful impulsiveness, or maybe he truly hated her.
He stopped trying to prevent her, chose to leave alone, and thus also lost contact with her forever. Later he regretted it, searched everywhere for her, but could never find a person named Lan Keren again.
One year, two years, three years, he waited for her, but she never appeared.
He thought that she must be dead by now. After all, no one could complete that mission; if she went, her end must have been tragic.
Thinking that she might already be dead, his heart ached, ached so bad he couldn’t breathe. On her birthday, years of pent-up emotions erupted, and he uncontrollably got into fights, taking down more than a dozen people by himself.
He was also seriously injured that day, and it took a month to recover.
A month later, he chose to get married. If what the fortune teller said was true, then he had to begin preparing for the future.
Perhaps, after he "killed" six wives, she would come back, and then he would marry her, giving her a safe life.
He had always hoped she was still alive; that’s why he had waited until now.
Heaven indeed did not let him down. She really came back, but the love in the depths of his heart had become even heavier, making him reluctant to pick it up again.
Maybe that’s destiny, always so theatrical, so fond of toying with people.
Tang Yuchen opened his eyes from the dream, thought about everything in the dream, and scoffed with mockery.
Lan Keren, when I waited for you to come back, you didn’t, and what does it matter now that you come back?
Everything is too late, too late.
Life still goes on as usual.
Even though Tang Yuchen had told An Ruo that he and Lan Keren were just friends, a woman’s intuition told her that the appearance of Lan Keren still affected his mood.
When he watched TV with her, he would get distracted.
He talked less, always being silent as if he was thinking about something else.
All these subtle changes were not lost on An Ruo. Although it pained her inside, she did not show it.
Everyone has their own past. She wouldn’t force him to do anything. She would give him time to gradually forget Lan Keren, to make his choice.