"No, to be exact, you’ve only lived into your twenties. It’s just that your appearance will age to what someone over a hundred years old looks like."
Twenty-something years old but with the appearance of someone over a hundred.
If it hadn’t actually happened to her, she would never believe such an oddity could exist, even if she were beaten to death.
Indeed, she had become a monster.
Lin Xinlan closed her eyes in pain, took a deep breath, and then slowly opened them.
"Tao Hua, thank you for your help... Please, don’t tell Rong Shaoze about this, okay? And don’t let anyone else know either, I beg you..."
Tao Hua’s eyes flickered with sympathy.
"Don’t despair. During this time, I will do my best to help you develop the antidote. But as your appearance ages day by day, what do you plan to do? Even if you hide it from Rong Shaoze, you’ll eventually give yourself away."
Lin Xinlan nodded: "I know. I will find a way to leave him, so he doesn’t learn the truth. I don’t want him to see me age, I don’t want to ruin the beautiful image I have in his heart..."
The deeper the love, the greater the fear of being despised by the other party.
And the greater the fear of loss.
As for her now, she’s not afraid of being apart from Rong Shaoze anymore, only afraid of him seeing her ugly appearance; with time passing by, he would probably quickly forget about her.
She would rather have him hate her forever than despise her and forget about her...
Tao Hua shook his head. The deeper the love, the more muddled the mind.
He tried to persuade her: "Perhaps Rong Shaoze won’t care about what you look like in the future. If you tell him, he can stay with you all the time. You should cherish the time you have left, not waste it."
"I understand what you mean, but my time is already short, why care about these short two months? Even if Rong Shaoze does not despise me, letting him watch me age day by day, while he’s powerless, do you think he can bear such pain? Truthfully, I am also afraid that after I die, he will end his own life. It’s fine if I die alone, but I can’t drag him down... To let him live well, I have no choice but to leave him, making him believe that I’m still alive. That way, he’ll hate me but keep on living... Doctor Tao, do you understand what I mean?"
Based on his understanding of Rong Shaoze, if he were to see Lin Xinlan aging day by day, his life ticking away, he would definitely go insane.
If Lin Xinlan died, he would surely choose suicide.
The only way to keep him alive was to hide everything from him and not tell him anything.
Suddenly, Tao Hua felt an immense pressure.
About Lin Xinlan’s condition, telling Rong Shaoze was wrong and not telling him was also wrong; either way, it was all wrong.
For the first time, he regretted becoming a doctor.
Not only could he not save Lin Xinlan, but now he also had to grapple with this agonizing dilemma.
"Doctor Tao, you haven’t promised me yet, to never reveal this matter to a third person," Lin Xinlan insisted he make a promise to her.
"Are you sure you don’t want Rong Shaoze to know?" Tao Hua asked with a persisting hope.
She nodded firmly, without a hint of hesitation: "If he finds out, even in death, I wouldn’t be at peace."
"Alright, I promise you," Tao Hua said, resigned.
"Thank you." Lin Xinlan gave him a sincere smile, without too much sorrow in her eyes.