Ning Fan and Huo Qiuran were once a couple whose love even the immortals would envy.
But even such a pair of lovebirds were ultimately harshly forced apart, beaten by a stick that breaks apart a pair of lovebirds.
In the face of pressure from both the Huo Family and the Shangguan Family, Ning Fan had never been cowardly. For Huo Qiuran, Ning Fan once exuded a spirit as if he could march against thousands of men alone, but with Huo Qiuran's phrase 'let it be,' his belief completely collapsed.
When facing the obstacles of others, Ning Fan never wavered, but the words from Huo Qiuran at that time were like a fatal blow to him.
"Ah, Ning Fan, Huo Qiuran is just a passerby in your life. Since you can't give her happiness, why bother with her affairs?"
Looking up at the night sky, Ning Fan laughed at himself, his eyes filled with thick mockery.
Moreover, maybe Huo Qiuran marrying Shangguan Yunyang wasn't such a bad thing after all?
The first impression Shangguan Yunyang gave was that of a dragon among men. Marrying such a man shouldn't be too bad...
It was not about feeling inferior, it was just that Ning Fan really didn't know where to go from here, and this wedding invitation was a headache for him to decide whether to put down or not.
"Ning Fan, you're here!"
Suddenly, a pleasantly lively figure appeared under the streetlight. Lan Kexin looked at Ning Fan with surprise and slowly walked towards him.
"I thought you had left already!"
Lan Kexin let out a sigh of relief as she spoke, not noticing the odd expression on Ning Fan's face, because by that time, Ning Fan had already put on a smile, albeit a rigid one, which hardly revealed anything was amiss.
The wedding invitation was also quickly stuffed into his pocket by Ning Fan, unseen by Lan Kexin.
"Did you need me for something?" Ning Fan asked with a smile, showing no sign of his earlier struggle.
Lan Kexin's face suddenly flushed, and she asked in a coy and shy voice, "Do you want to have dinner together tonight?"
In recent days, Ning Fan had been at the company, and Lan Kexin couldn't suppress her feelings for Ning Fan anymore, irresistibly fantasizing about spending time alone with him.
After work, Lan Kexin went to the security department, but didn't find him. However, she learned that someone had come to see Ning Fan.
After going downstairs and asking around, she found out the direction in which Ning Fan and the person had left, and Lan Kexin followed their trail.
After searching for nearly half an hour, just as Lan Kexin was about to give up, she saw Ning Fan standing motionless at the back of the park, seemingly lost in thought.
With a mix of surprise and confusion, Lan Kexin ran towards him, and at that moment, she forgot to ask why Ning Fan was standing there. Instead, she eagerly hoped that Ning Fan would agree to dine with her.
Ning Fan looked up, pondered for a moment, and did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked at Lan Kexin with a complicated gaze and asked in a somewhat low tone, "I remembered a story. Would you like to hear it?"
"What story? You're not teasing me again, are you?" Lan Kexin eyed Ning Fan suspiciously. Suddenly, she froze because she saw a hint of bewilderment in Ning Fan's eyes.
Before Ning Fan could continue speaking, Lan Kexin added, "Go ahead, I'm listening."
Without minding why Lan Kexin had suddenly changed her tune, Ning Fan pondered for a moment before he began recounting his story with Huo Qiuran.
"The story's main characters are a foolish young man and a princess from a prominent family, two people who should have had no crossing paths met, and at first, their time together was filled with many comedic moments, but eventually, for various reasons, they fell in love..."
"For them at that time, love was the deadliest poison; they were helplessly in love, as long as they had each other, nothing else mattered, but just as they held hands and fell in love together, the people around them began to disapprove. The prominent family's members were not satisfied with the foolish young man, in their eyes, it was only right for the princess to marry the heir of another prominent family!"
At this point in the story, Ning Fan's voice began to change.
"They didn't want to separate and resisted, especially the foolish young man, who vowed to protect the princess. They wanted to be together for a lifetime. In the process of struggle, the foolish young man suffered many injuries, but as long as the princess was by his side, he was content. For her, what were these injuries?"
Right, his thoughts were pure then; to protect Huo Qiuran, even if it meant death, how did it matter? No one could tear them apart unless he died!
But was that really all there was to it?
However, this story was not a happy tale, and Ning Fan's expression became somewhat puzzled.
"Even with countless scars, the foolish young man thought it was nothing. The princess was sad, but with the foolish young man by her side, she too could smile. But in the end, why did the princess ask the foolish young man to leave, saying it was over, that it was better to part ways..."
Separation was better for the both of them, or so Huo Qiuran seemed to say to him at the time. Back then, Ning Fan remembered her crying very sadly.
"No matter how the foolish young man begged, she still left without looking back, leaving with all her wounds. And the foolish young man walked away; he tried to forget that princess, but years later, they met again."
"The foolish young man didn't want to remember the past, nor did he want to have any connection with that princess. But the princess approached him again, like a moth to a flame, getting close to the foolish young man. He rejected her. Their story had already ended, and since the ending was already destined, they had no connection anymore."
"But is that truly okay?" Lan Kexin, gazing at Ning Fan, who was forcing a smile, finally couldn't help but ask.
Ning Fan shook his head, not answering, but instead looked perplexedly into the distance, murmuring, "The princess is getting married, the man she's marrying sent the foolish young man an invitation. He is very bewildered, unsure of what to do. Perhaps this is destined to be a heart-wrenching story after all!"
"Steal her back, you must steal the heroine back. The foolish young man is the protagonist after all, who says that this must be a heartbreaking story? Since he's bewildered, doesn't that prove he isn't reconciled, that he still has her in his heart? Then he shouldn't hesitate. As a man, take bold action!"
Lan Kexin shouted at Ning Fan, rubbing her reddened eyes.
Ning Fan stared blankly at Lan Kexin, observing her reddened eyes and instinctively reached out his hand, wanting to caress her cheek.
"Don't see me as her..."
"What are you talking about, fool? I would never see you as anyone else; you are you, one of a kind."
"So, have you figured it out now, foolish young man?"
"Yes, I know what to do now. This story isn't over yet!" Ning Fan nodded, feeling a profound bitterness in his heart.