"The Captain has agreed, and I’m going to serve my military duty now, and then study hard in the army to get into the military academy. When I grow up, I also want to be a soldier."
Jin Zhu’s breathing paused for a moment.
Her eyelashes fluttered slightly.
After hearing all he had said, she slowly lowered her head, and no one knew what she was thinking at that moment.
Then she spoke again, her voice slow, "And then...?"
In fact, his decision was a correct one, very good for his future.
She had once thought he would always work here, and she would go to university in the provincial city. During vacations, she could come back to see her mother and to see... him.
But he said he would leave for the army, a place where once you go, you can’t return for many years. It meant she might not see him for many years.
Little Jin Zhu suddenly felt a sourness at the tip of her nose.
Sang Nian’s voice, serious, rang out: "Jin Zhu, I want to become outstanding, and I also want to work hard to give the girl I like a lifetime of happiness."
Upon these words, Little Jin Zhu’s body stiffened slightly.
To give the girl he liked, a lifetime of happiness...
In the distance, people were gathered around a bonfire, still bustling with activity.
Yet here, it was peacefully quiet.
In the sky, the moonlight stretched long and flowing like water.
The hand of the boy holding her wrist was slowly, gradually sliding down.
Her small hand seemed to struggle a bit, but it was just a brief moment.
His hand slid down bit by bit, until he held her slender fingers... at last, their fingers interlocked.
"Jin Zhu, I like you."
The boy had finally mustered the courage and was honest with her.
Because he too was leaving, pursuing a greater future, hoping to offer a good future to the girl he liked.
So he gambled it all, no longer able to conceal his feelings for her.
Those words dissipated in the wind, but echoed in her ears, in her mind, over and over again.
They softened her heart, and tears nearly fell.
He was leaving, and only now he told her.
"Jin Zhu, I want to give you a good future, but... I don’t want to ask you to wait for me..."
The future would involve military service, studying, and many years.
Even impossible to meet, such a relationship would be unfair to her; she could choose better, she could choose a man who could always be by her side.
Yet Jin Zhu finally turned to look back at him, but her large eyes were brimming with tears, and she choked out:
"You say you like me, but don’t give me a promise. Are you deceiving my feelings..."
"No, no, Jin Zhu, I want to be with you in the future, you are the first girl I’ve ever liked, but I don’t want to hold you back..."
Sang Nian saw the tears in her eyes, saw her aggrieved expression, and felt a tremendous pain in his heart, as if it were being torn apart.
Jin Zhu was the first girl he had fallen for.
All the ways he liked her, she had.
But Jin Zhu pulled her hand from his grasp, raised the back of her hand to wipe her tears, and sobbed angrily:
"I’m also going to school, and it will be four years before I graduate from university. After graduation, I might even consider graduate school, which would be six years. After graduate school, I might still go for a doctorate...
Who would deliberately wait for you? They just genuinely enjoy studying."
With that said, Sang Nian’s heart completely softened.
He couldn’t hold back any longer and pulled her into his arms for a direct embrace.
He hugged her tightly—