Jiang Nanshu held her palm tightly, her eyes sour and swollen.
She had spent eight years feeling like she was finally alive.
He had only bestowed a bit of favor on her, which she remembered for over a decade, while those who had died could just walk away without looking back, yet they still haunted her.
The first time she met Zhou Yanxu, she was only four years old, nearly freezing to death in the winter.
He was dressed in a white turtleneck sweater with a thick padded jacket on top.
His face was as bright as the winter sun, clean and warm.
His warm palm took her frozen little hand, his eyes filled with pity, "Why are you outside?"
Back then, Jiang Nanshu had never seen such a good-looking person; she looked up with her frozen face, her eyes moist, stuttering from the cold, "Who are you? Are you an immortal?"
It was a warmth she had never felt before.
Zhou Yanxu smiled at her, took off his scarf, and wrapped it around her small face, "Yes, I am an immortal. I’m going to grant you a wish now. What would you like?"
Her dark eyes widened, her small face frozen red, showing her best smile, "I want to eat crispy meat, the kind my brother eats."
Zhou Yanxu helped her up, bending down to gently pat the snow off her pants.
But no matter how much he patted, the pants remained wet, and she was too frozen to feel the cold.
His warm large palm held her cracked little hand, knocking on the tightly closed big door.
Her mother’s impatience at the beginning turned into a happy smile after receiving the money.
She quickly made a bowl of crispy meat.
Jiang Nanshu finally got to eat the crispy meat she wanted, but found the taste nothing special; clumsily, she picked up a piece with chopsticks and offered it to him.
Zhou Yanxu, with a smile on his lips, "Brother is sick, I can’t eat it. You eat."
At that time, Jiang Nanshu only felt regret.
Later, Zhou Yanxu stayed in the small village for only two hours before leaving.
The plate of crispy meat she had barely started eating was quickly confiscated, becoming her brother’s ration again.
Her mother just pointed at her head firmly, muttering, "Silly girl, really lucky, to have met such a nobleman."
In her childhood, because of Zhou Yanxu’s unintended help, she was able to grow up safely.
Because of her greedy mother, she firmly believed that the nobleman would come back to find her so that she could extort a hefty sum again.
She waited another four years.
Footsteps approached.
Jiang Nanshu came back to her senses, quickly stuffed the paper back, closed the storage box, and returned to her seat, looking out of the car window.
Lu Qingyan got into the car, heading towards Emperor’s Garden.
Jiang Nanshu turned her head, her eyes landing on his beautifully boned hands on the steering wheel.
"Brother Qingyan," Jiang Nanshu called out.
Lu Qingyan glanced sideward, "Hmm? What is it?"
"I need to go to Port City in a while."
Lu Qingyan’s hand on the steering wheel tightened, his demeanor casual, "What for?"
"Last time, Director Wen recruited me to join his crew as a martial arts advisor. They are already preparing to start shooting."
[Of course, I’m going to make big money, what else would I do? After I said I disliked Golden Sister, she hasn’t dared to contact me these last few days.]
"Do you want me to accompany you?"
Jiang Nanshu’s eyes widened in surprise, "Can you? I don’t want to be there alone."
Seeing Lu Qingyan remain silent, she lowered her gaze, "It’s okay if you’re busy. I might only stay for half a month before coming back."
"Let’s talk about it later."
Jiang Nanshu beamed a bright smile, "Mm-hmm."
[It’s all because you’re too good to me; I don’t want to be apart from you, I’m already used to you, what should I do? Sigh, should I even be thinking this? Will it make me seem cheap?]
Lu Qingyan’s cool demeanor paused.
Were these the thoughts of Jiang Nanshu?
One day, he could actually hear content unrelated to their tasks.
It wasn’t about seducing him and then harshly ditching him anymore.
Jiang Nanshu, seeing Lu Qingyan glance at her from the corner of his eye, tilted her head in confusion, her smile bright, "What’s wrong?"
"No worries," he said, withdrawing his gaze.
But his heart uncontrollably quickened.
His ears felt slightly warm, and his heart ached and swelled.
The two returned to the villa.
Lu Qingyan went to cook.
Because of their arrival, the villa had a touch of liveliness.
Taking advantage of Lu Qingyan’s busyness in the kitchen, Jiang Nanshu started to search for information on "Zhou Yanxu."
Then she realized things weren’t the same.
In this world, Zhou Yanxu didn’t have her by his side.
He hadn’t saved many destitute children like her, as he had in the original world.
Instead, he had opened many orphanages and invested money in pharmaceutical companies, focusing on heart disease research.
There was much news about Zhou Yanxu.
He was Port City’s kindest, warmest businessman.
He was charitable, had congenital heart disease, actively undertook public welfare for children in impoverished mountainous areas, helped poor families cover some of their medical expenses, and provided jobs for disabled individuals who had difficulty finding work, ensuring they had basic life security.
But he wasn’t long-lived.
Jiang Nanshu’s fingertips scrolled down.
There were few photos of him.
But his face was familiar to her bones.
Her memory hazily stopped at the summer when she was fourteen.
Zhou Yanxu was doing business in Beijing, where he had bought a mansion.
There was an old housekeeper inside, along with an elderly cat named Xiao Xiao.
And then there was her and Zhou Yanxu.
That year, the rain in Beijing was heavy, and the villages around Beijing suffered crop and housing damage due to the flood, causing casualties as well.
Jiang Nanshu saw him browsing the news, his brows furrowed, and a layer of sorrow clouding his usually smiling eyes; she knew he was pained by the families scattered and broken by the flood.
His sadness made her unhappy as well.
She watched the endless rain outside the window, began to blame heaven for its blindness, making him worried.
She hoped for rainless days ahead so that his smile could always shine.
The next summer was indeed without rain.
It kept sunny until the day he died in a fire.
The wind was strong, very strong.
It fuelled the fire, spreading continuously beside him.
She received the news and ran back from school, tripping several times, her knees all scraped. Through the windows, she watched him trapped in the villa, unable to escape.
Many people outside stopped her from entering, and he also didn’t want her to go inside.
The raging fire was like a chasm.
He sent her one last message.
"Nannan, people come and go, this is where this road ends. Don’t forget what I taught you. The world is beautiful, keep a bit of kindness in your heart, and you will reap warmth beyond your expectations."
Jiang Nanshu’s body shuddered violently.
The wind brought a heatwave to her face, and the flying glass scratched her face.
The mansion exploded.
She struggled to enter, wanting to run inside, but to prevent a secondary explosion, she was still dragged away by the firefighters.
She lost her home once again.
In that moment, when her tears broke free, she harbored yet another unfulfilled wish.
She wished the rain from that summer when she was fourteen could continue to today.
She hoped Zhou Yanxu could have lived well.