Xiao Yan looked at Zhou Kunran: "Where have you been for the past two or three years?"

Zhou Kunran smiled wryly: "I've been stuck at home the whole time. They've kept me trapped here. I haven't gone anywhere!"

Xiao Yan and Yao Tongjia were both taken aback: "What are you doing keeping a grown man like you locked up at home?"

"What else can I do? They just want me to be manipulated by them. The country has been established for so many years, and they still follow the same old ways, wanting me to marry into other families."

"So you're just going to stay trapped? Can't you run away?" He's a former soldier, even if his fighting skills are weak, he should be able to escape.

"The clan elders are keeping my household registration book and other documents, and they won't give them back to me!"

Yao Tongjia was speechless: "You just told my Aunt Xiao to make a scene, but what about you? Why didn't you dare to make a scene yourself?"

Zhou Kunran opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He could make a scene, but his parents still had to live under their control. If he really left, his parents would suffer!

His parents had been successfully brainwashed by the clan elders, and they definitely wouldn't go with him. He had always been reluctant to leave his parents, but he didn't want them to have their way.

The stalemate continued until Zhou Kunran shook his head: "I came here today to say goodbye!"

"Where are you going?" Xiao Yan sensed that it must be quite far, otherwise Zhou Kunran wouldn't have come specifically to say goodbye.

Zhou Kunran looked at Xiao Yan's belly: "I want to go abroad!"

"You're going abroad?" Xiao Yan was taken aback. Why would this guy be thinking of going abroad? This is so unlike him!

"Well, I probably won't come back!" For a family like the Zhou family, coming back would be a suffocating bondage. He would rather go far away and struggle to survive outside than come back and be trapped for a few more years.

Zhou Kunran pulled a notebook out of his clothes: "It's good to see that you're doing well. Tongjia, here's this handwritten copy for you. I've heard about your reputation back home. You're doing very well!"

"This notebook is the icing on the cake for you, but you can only keep it to yourself and don't let anyone else see it!"

Yao Tongjia looked at Xiao Yan, who nodded. Yao Tongjia took the notebook from her and said, "Thank you, Dean Zhou!"

Seeing Yao Tongjia take the notebook, Zhou Kunran stood up to leave, but Xiao Yan suddenly remembered: "Contact Director Yue, he's been very worried about you!"

Zhou Kunran nodded: "I'll contact him. Goodbye!"

After saying that, Zhou Kunran turned around and walked forward without looking back, thinking to himself, "Never again!"

His eyes were a little hot, but no tears fell. He went straight to the train station after leaving the hospital. He still had half a month. He said he would contact Yue Ling, which meant he would take the train directly to see him.

Yue Ling saw Zhou Kunran fall from the sky as if he had suddenly disappeared. He ran over, clenched his fist, and punched Zhou Kunran in the chest: "Where the hell have you been? You didn't even send a message!"

Zhou Kunran reached out and put his arm around Yue Ling: "It's inconvenient, and I don't know how to say it!"

"So, why are you here now?"

"I've come to say goodbye and deliver a letter!"

"What letter?" Yue Ling reached out and took the letter. He opened it and was stunned. It was a letter of appointment, inviting him to work in the Yangcheng Military Region, the place he had always dreamed of returning to.

"How...how did you do that?" This is such a huge surprise!

"Don't worry about how I did it. We've worked together for so many years, this is my gift to you!"

"Brother, thank you! Where are you going? Leave me an address!" Yue Ling happily put his arm around Zhou Kunran's shoulder.

Zhou Kunran's next words stunned Yue Ling: "I'm going abroad and won't be coming back. I don't know how the country will develop in the future, so we won't keep in touch!"

Because of his previous contact with people abroad, which implicated many others, Zhou Kunran didn't want Yue Ling to lose the job she had worked so hard for, so he took the initiative to cut off contact.

"Why are you going abroad? Didn't you say you had someone you wanted to protect? How can you protect them if you go so far away?" Yue Ling had always known Zhou Kunran's thoughts.

“She’s very happy now. It doesn’t matter whether I’m with her or not.” Zhou Kunran recalled the bits and pieces of his previous encounters with Xiao Yan.

"They say that those who are near the water get the moon first, but we were together day and night back then, so why were you so stubborn and refused to pursue her?"

"Given the Zhou family's situation, how can I pursue her? Should I make her like my previous wife? My previous wife had her family backing her up, yet they still dared to do this."

If Xiao Yan were in charge, they would be even more unscrupulous. It is estimated that even Xiao Gengwu and Yao Tongjia would not be spared. Why would he want to harm people?

"Besides, Xiao Yan has already suffered from her mother-in-law's treatment once. How can I bear to let her go back to being imprisoned?" This was the first time he had ever liked someone, but he also knew from the beginning that there was no future for them.

Even if they forced themselves to stay together, their future would be filled with trivialities. He would rather keep that feeling in his heart forever than try it.

Feelings fade over time. If it were just the two of them, he would definitely live a good life with Xiao Yan. Even if it was just ordinary days, it would still be a kind of happiness.

But with his confused parents and the Zhou family members who only wanted to control their clansmen in between, he knew that he couldn't continue living together based on feelings alone.

He had given up long ago, hoping that the two of them could support each other as friends. When Xiao Yan's spring came, he felt extremely bitter.

But he still helped Xiao Yan find a job in Beijing and even helped her improve her previously incomplete resume. It was just a matter of signing and stamping it at the end.

He hesitated, picking it up and putting it down again, feeling that if he really signed and stamped it, Xiao Yan would fly away like a kite that had broken free of its string.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up. His hesitation led to his return. While he was trapped, he kept thinking about that man, wondering if he would help Xiao Yan get the signature and stamp.

Looking at Xiao Yan's bright smile now, he knew that he had made the right decision. If Xiao Yan had married him, she would probably be in a terrible mess right now!

Yue Ling patted Zhou Kunran reassuringly: "What are you going abroad for? You don't know anyone there!"

"I'm going to get married!"

"What marriage?" Yue Ling pushed his mouth back. The news Zhou Kunran brought today was more and more explosive than the last, and his jaw was about to drop!

"Yes, some people from other families came back from abroad before. They took a liking to me and wanted me to go abroad with them to marry their daughter!"

Why did I choose you?

"It's said that their daughter had been obsessed with me, and they could get a lot of money by marrying me off, so of course they wanted to sell me!"

"So you're just going to give in like this?"

"That woman came back a while ago and told me that I would be very free after we got married, so I agreed!"