Chapter 88

My little girl is back.

There was a European-style bench under the Bodhi tree. Cheng Jiamo and He Qingzhao sat at opposite ends of the bench, side by side.

"These years..."

"These years..."

The two spoke in unison, then stopped talking at the same time, and then laughed together.

Cheng Jiamo smiled rather subtly, silently pursing her lips, her peach blossom eyes slightly curved.

He Qingzhao burst out laughing, a hearty laugh that brought fine wrinkles to the corners of his eyes.

Cheng Jiamo looked at the wrinkles around his eyes, and at his face, which, although still handsome, clearly bore the marks of time, and the smile on her face began to falter.

Her eyes reddened as she laughed, and her tightly pursed lips trembled slightly.

He Qingzhao took the opportunity to move next to her, hugged her with one arm and gently stroked her face with the other, his voice a little hoarse: "Don't cry."

Cheng Jiamo turned her face away and pursed her lips tightly.

He Qingzhao pulled her into his arms and patted her back gently: "I've been doing well these past few years because I know you're waiting for me."

Cheng Jiamo rested her head on his shoulder, looking at the lush green Bodhi leaves, and said softly, "If you hadn't come to keep our appointment today, I wouldn't have kept waiting."

He Qingzhao tightened his grip on her shoulder suddenly, then quickly released it, his large hand enveloping her shoulder and gently massaging it, his voice husky with a hint of suppressed emotion: "It's good that I came."

Cheng Jiamo lifted her head from his shoulder, looked at him tenderly, and smiled at him: "He Qingzhao, I never deliberately waited for you. After graduating from university and leaving Beijing, I never thought I would come back to you. The reason I'm still single is because I haven't met anyone more suitable."

He Qingzhao curled her lips into a smile: "I know, otherwise you wouldn't have left."

Cheng Jiamo looked down at her feet and whispered, "I still loved you the year I left, but later..."

After five years of not seeing each other, even the deepest feelings faded.

Five years after they parted ways, He Qingzhao reappeared in front of her, pursuing her in a high-profile and flamboyant manner for a year. However, she never agreed to be with him. On the one hand, the five years had worn away her feelings for He Qingzhao, and on the other hand, she couldn't swallow her pride, so she deliberately left He Qingzhao hanging to test his arrogance.

On the night of the earthquake, He Qingzhao's desperate cry softened her heart. Just as she was about to give in, He Qingzhao had an accident.

After He Qingzhao had his accident, he left Quanshui Town. She thought he had given up because he was tired of chasing him. At that time, she thought, "Since that's how it is, let it go. A broken mirror can never be mended."

Later, she received a call from Zhong Qi and learned the whole story. Overwhelmed with mixed feelings, she finally made a helpless compromise and agreed to a two-year agreement.

At that moment, she herself found it difficult to articulate her true feelings. If she wanted to say she loved him, then she didn't really love him that much anymore. If she didn't love him, then she had taken the initiative to propose a two-year wait for him.

This is probably what she said about He Qingzhao—an obsession.

She said that He Qingzhao's feelings for her were not love, but an obsession, but wasn't she the same way?

People will eventually be trapped by things they cannot obtain in their youth for the rest of their lives.

She met He Qingzhao when she was fifteen or sixteen years old. She fell in love with him at first sight under the Bodhi tree and secretly loved him for three years. After that, she dated him for three years, having a magnificent yet tragic dream.

After waking up from the dream, she left Beijing and went south, where she spent five years healing her wounds.

Even though her injuries healed and her love faded, she couldn't escape that youthful dream.

Fourteen years later, she returned to where her dream began to meet He Qingzhao. It wasn't that she couldn't let go of him, nor that she loved him so deeply. She probably just wanted to bring that beautiful dream to a perfect end.

Even though this period is drawn, it still carries a sense of regret, because the years they missed are a regret in themselves.

Cheng Jiamo stopped mid-sentence.

At their age, many things don't need to be said aloud, but even if they aren't explicitly stated, she believes He Qingzhao will understand.

He Qingzhao naturally understood. He knew that Cheng Jiamo had not deliberately waited for him, nor could she not let go of him. However, even though he understood, he could only pretend not to, because he couldn't let go and he was determined to win her back.

He didn't expose her, but just smiled gently and asked, "Would you like to eat out or at home for lunch?"

Cheng Jiamo was stunned; she hadn't expected He Qingzhao to say something like that.

She couldn't help but recall her twentieth birthday ten years ago.

At the time, she didn't want to have a big celebration; she just wanted to have a meal at home with He Qingzhao.

However, He Qingzhao insisted on throwing a grand party for her, booking the entire Jingbei Grand Hotel for her and inviting people from his circle. It was a lavish and extravagant affair.

That evening, as she unwrapped her gifts in the room, He Qingzhao sat beside her, smiling indulgently and tenderly.

She dropped the gift box and threw herself into He Qingzhao's arms, hugging his neck and pouting, "There are too many gifts, I can't open them all by myself, come open them with me."

"good."

He Qingzhao said okay, but then picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, pulling her hand to his chest: "Take me apart first."

Cheng Jiamo laughed and pushed him away, saying, "You're not a gift, why would I unwrap you?"

He Qingzhao held her hand and gently rubbed it: "Baby, today is your twentieth birthday. I'll give myself to you, okay?"

Cheng Jiamo pulled her hand away from his: "You're already my boyfriend, what else could I possibly give you?"

He Qingzhao leaned down and kissed her earlobe, breathing hot air as he said, "Give me your heart, my whole life, and have my name and your name printed on the same household registration book. Do you want it?"

Cheng Jiamo didn't say yes. That night, He Qingzhao was silent and fierce, taking her seven times intermittently. He changed the sheets twice, constantly asking her "Do you want it?" until dawn before letting her go.

Coming to her senses, Cheng Jiaming smiled gently: "Whatever you prefer." Then she asked, "Do you still have your house here?"

He Qingzhao smiled gently: "Yes."

Cheng Jiamo asked again, "Is it still Pattaya Manor?"

He Qingzhao smiled and replied, "Yes."

Then came silence.

Cheng Jiamo looked at He Qingzhao and suddenly didn't know what to say.

She actually had a lot to say, but looking at He Qingzhao's eyes, which couldn't hide his vicissitudes, she knew clearly that there was a barrier between them called time.

He Qingzhao was also looking at her. The thirty-year-old woman in front of him had completely shed her naivety and was as beautiful as a jasmine flower in full bloom. The pure white flower was in full bloom, very alluring and seductive.

However, in his memory, she was still that shy young girl who blushed easily, and that delicate little jasmine flower.

"Let's go."

In the end, He Qingzhao broke the silence first. He took Cheng Jiamo's hand and said with a smile, "Let's eat at home."

Cheng Jiamo stood up: "Okay."

A white Pagani Huayra was parked outside Yunfo Temple. He Qingzhao gentlemanly opened the passenger door.

Cheng Jiamo looked at the understated yet luxurious top-of-the-line sports car, paused slightly, and asked, "When did you start liking sports cars?"

During the three years she was with He Qingzhao, she never saw him drive a sports car, not even in his garage.

He Qingzhao replied with a smile: "Before I turned twenty-four, I owned three sports cars and five modified race cars. I participated in my first rally at the age of twenty and won first place nationwide."

Cheng Jiamo asked in surprise, "You've participated in rally racing?"

He Qingzhao reached out and gently pushed her waist: "Get in the car first, and I'll tell you slowly."

Cheng Jiamo bent down and sat in the car, while He Qingzhao leaned over and climbed into the passenger seat to fasten her seatbelt.

"Thank you." She smiled at him.

He Qingzhao smiled and said, "You're welcome."

He Qingzhao closed the passenger door and went around to the driver's side to open the door.

He got into the driver's seat, but didn't rush to drive. He raised one hand and rested it on the steering wheel, his slender fingers lightly tapping the wheel.

Cheng Jiamo turned her head to look at him: "Why aren't you opening it?"

He Qingzhao lowered his eyes: "Actually, you're right."

Cheng Jiamo: "What do you mean, 'right'?"

He Qingzhao lifted his eyelids and turned to look at her: "You said I am obsessed with you, and it is indeed an obsession. It is not an obsession of 'not being able to get you,' nor an obsession of 'it has to be you,' but an obsession of 'it just happens to be you.'"

Cheng Jiamo moved her lips, but didn't speak.

He Qingzhao: "The year you first met me, I was twenty-four years old and had a car accident during an off-road race. After being discharged from the hospital, I came to Thailand and recuperated at a manor in Pattaya. Not long after, my grandmother came to Thailand to visit me. The day you met me, I happened to be accompanying my grandmother to offer incense at the Yunfo Temple."

Cheng Jiamo opened her mouth, wanting to ask him, "Are you badly injured?", but in the end she didn't ask anything, because later He Qingzhao got into another car accident while trying to pursue her.

She couldn't ask that question; it was too heavy a topic, and it would hurt to even think about it.

He Qingzhao looked at her slightly moist eyes, raised his hand to gently stroke her face, wiped away the wetness at the corners of her eyes with his fingertips, and looked at her tenderly and affectionately.

"Both of my car accidents were caused by others. The one during the off-road race was because someone tampered with my car. After that, I left the team, and all I cared about was power."

"Three years later, we met again in Beijing. I didn't recognize you. I admit, I really don't remember what you look like. After all, when we first met, you were just a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. It's impossible for me to have any desire for you. Besides, the year we first met, I was covered in mud and not as dazzling as you saw me. At that time, I had no desire for romantic love."

"Before I met you, I had never been attracted to anyone. Even when I met you in Beijing, I wasn't immediately attracted to you, I was just somewhat interested. It was only after we were together that I unknowingly fell in love with you."

"Before you came into my life, I was at the age when I should have been falling in love, but I had never liked anyone. I was truly indifferent to matters of love back then. After you, I already have you, so it's impossible for me to like anyone else."

"When I fell in love with you, I was already a mature man in my late twenties, both physically and mentally, and I had reached the peak of my career. So I was calm and confident in front of you because I firmly believed that I had the ability to love someone and to make the girl I loved live a better life."

"But you were young when you fell in love with me, only a teenager, the age when love is just beginning to blossom. You fell in love with me very easily, but you also gave up on me very easily because of some setbacks."

"You said you weren't deliberately waiting for me, that you've just stayed single because you haven't met someone more suitable. Actually, even if you didn't say it, I knew it wasn't that I wasn't sad, it's just that I had no choice. Who told me to only love you? Cheng Jiamo, I only love you, do you understand?"

“When you suggested meeting me under the Bodhi tree at Yunfo Temple two years from now, I knew what you meant. You might not still love me then, but you'd just be a little unwilling to accept it. You'd feel a little unwilling about your youth and about me.”

“But I didn’t have a youth, Cheng Jiamo. When I was with you, I had already weathered the storms alone and gained the status and power I wanted.”

"What I haven't been able to let go of all these years isn't the obsession with 'not being able to have' but the obsession with 'it just so happens to be you.' You appeared in my life right after I had just finished a battle, when I felt empty and wanted a woman. Not too early, not too late, you appeared at just the right time, as if you were specially sent to me by God."

"If you had appeared six months earlier or later, or if you weren't my type, we wouldn't be together. But you appeared in my life when I needed you the most, and your looks and personality just happened to hit the spot in my heart."

"That winter, you said, 'You were born before I was born, and I was born after you were old.' I was angry not because you thought I was old, but because I was afraid you would find me boring and want to leave me. You wanted a boyfriend who was unrestrained and flamboyant, but I was at the most unrestrained and flamboyant age. I wouldn't like you, and then we wouldn't be together."

"Is it really impossible for me to have anyone else? Is it really so hard to accept someone else? After thinking about it carefully, I realized that it's not that I can't have anyone else, it's just that you happened to appear at that time."

"If I hadn't met you that year, if I had met another girl, if she had happened to appear by my side when I needed her most, and if she had also stumbled into my heart by chance, just like you did. Then, I would still love her as much as I love you, and I would have waited eight years for her to turn back, to keep a promise to her that has no answer."

Cheng Jiamo's tears streamed down her face, and she cried uncontrollably.

He Qingzhao didn't wipe away her tears or comfort her. Instead, he started the car and sped off.

He was driving very fast, his hands gripping the steering wheel, his eyes sharply fixed on the road ahead.

Cheng Jiamo was so frightened that she stopped crying and shouted in a trembling voice, "He Qingzhao, slow down!"

He Qingzhao sped all the way to the top of the mountain and stopped under the dense sal trees.

He calmly unbuckled his seatbelt, turned his head to hold Cheng Jiamo's nape, and eagerly kissed her lips.

Cheng Jiamo was panting heavily when he suddenly kissed her. Just as she was about to speak, he forcefully took the air from her mouth.

He Qingzhao withdrew from her mouth, panting as he unbuckled her seatbelt, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.

Cheng Jiamo sat across his lap, her ears already bright red. She glanced at him, then hurriedly turned her head away, presenting the back of her head to him.

He Qingzhao rubbed her waist and chuckled in a deep, husky voice, "My little girl is back."

Cheng Jiamo turned to look at him: "I'm already thirty years old."

He Qingzhao raised his hand, bent his index finger, and lightly touched her moist, rosy lips with the back of his finger, and said with a smile, "No matter if you are in your teens or twenties, in my heart, you will always be my little girl."

Cheng Jiamo involuntarily pouted: "You're still as frivolous as ever."

He Qingzhao didn't say anything more indecent like before. Instead, he pressed her head into his arms and let her ear touch his chest.

Cheng Jiamo heard his rapid and powerful heartbeat, thump-thump-thump, through his taut chest, beating loudly and forcefully, as if it were about to leap out of his chest cavity.

Her ears burned from the pounding of his heartbeat, burning hot and red as if on fire.

He Qingzhao looked down and saw her blushing ears. He pinched her soft, pink earlobe with two fingers and gently twisted it, asking in a hoarse voice, "Can you feel it?"

Cheng Jiamo sensed it; his heart was racing, but she didn't say anything.

He Qingzhao kissed her ear, his thin lips close to hers as he said, "My heart was already racing just seeing you standing under the Bodhi tree from afar, even before I got close to you. Do you know how I've been all these years?"

[Author's Note]

It's not finished yet; there's one more chapter.