Compared to Pei Yining, the little girl today who wasn’t afraid of pain made him see her in a new light. She seemed so young, yet he hadn’t expected that she could treat her injury as if it were nothing.
"If you’re missing Xiaoning, I can call her for you," Du Chang said, looking lovingly at his grandson. Once upon a time, he had been so outstanding, but now...
Du Chang suppressed the regret in his heart.
"No, Grandpa," Pei Yicheng interrupted, "Xiaoning has to take her college entrance exams next year. It’s time for her to study hard, don’t disturb her."
As soon as Du Chang began to speak, Pei Yicheng poured him a glass of wine, "Drink, I’m fine."
The aroma of the wine filled the glass. Normally, Pei Yicheng would restrain him from drinking too much, but today he was pouring it voluntarily.
With a long sigh in his heart, Du Chang sipped his drink and said, "Yicheng, it’s not that Grandpa dislikes you, but you’re already twenty-three years old. Have you really not considered your lifelong happiness?"
It was 1979, and according to the marriage law, men could marry at the age of 20 and women at 18. Now that Pei Yicheng was already 23, he still showed no intention of getting married.
Before his leg injury, Pei Yicheng was busy managing the many businesses of the Pei Family, but after his injury, he became listless for a while and then absorbed himself in work once again.
The only difference was that Pei Yicheng seemed to be doing his own business, not managing the Pei family’s as before.
"Grandpa, I’ll make sure you get to hold a great-grandson," Pei Yicheng promised.
Pei Yicheng’s words earned him a stern look from Du Chang, who said, "You rascal, don’t change the subject. Tell me, how can I hold a great-grandson if you don’t even have a girl by your side?"
Pei Yicheng silently continued pouring wine for Du Chang.
Looking at the wine, Du Chang said, "Don’t think that pouring me wine will stop me from urging you. A man should marry when it’s time, and so should a woman."
At the Xu family residence, Xu Nianhua, having been reborn, typically slept straight through until morning, but tonight she was awakened by a nightmare.
Dazzling flames, billowing smoke, and indescribable pain took Xu Nianhua back many years, back to the midst of the Sea of Fire.
When she opened her eyes, the room was pitch black, lit only by the bright moonlight streaming in through the half-closed window.
Outside, the frogs sang an incomprehensible song.
There was no trace of sleepiness in Xu Nianhua’s eyes. She reached out and touched her bandaged hand. Did it not hurt?
It hurt, but such pain was like a drizzle to Xu Nianhua.
When she had leapt into the Sea of Fire, her heart cold and grey, she had done so with the intention to die. She had lost the family member she was closest to, and though she had hoped for even a sliver of paternal love from her blood father, it turned out...
Xu Nianhua’s eyes drooped, and even in the warmth of June, she felt a chill throughout her body. The Gu Family, it was nothing but a pit that killed without drawing blood!
In this lifetime, she would rather die than return to the Gu Family. She would not become a daughter of the Gu Family!
Xu Nianhua’s fist clenched quietly. Surviving the Sea of Fire was indeed a miracle.
Thinking back to that day, despite the years, despite a lifetime in between, she could remember clearly. When she jumped into the Sea of Fire, in an instant, her hair, her clothes, caught fire. The smoke was thick, suffocatingly so, and the pain of being burned alive was something that even now sent chills down her spine.