Chapter 49 is a vow, a confirmation, and the most direct connection between souls...

Shen Xingjian said that a lot has happened in the past ten years.

When he woke up, the overlapping of time and space disappeared, and the bullet holes on his and Xu Jiakai's bodies disappeared as well. It was as if nothing had happened. The only trace left was that he and Xu Jiakai both had that memory.

After his death, Xu Jiakai seemed like a changed man. He voluntarily turned himself in to the police for purchasing the nerve agent and embezzling public funds, and was brought to justice. However, because he had surrendered himself and confessed his guilt with a positive attitude, he was quickly released.

After that, he parted ways with Shi Yunran and focused on helping his parents run the snack bar. Now he has turned "Xu's Morning Tea" into a chain brand, which has opened stores all over the country.

As for Shi Yunran, given her status as the eldest daughter, even without Xu Jiakai as her bootlicker, she would have others around her. However, the Shi family's good times didn't last long. Within a few years, Shi's father was investigated for serious violations of discipline and law, and Shi Yunran was sent abroad by him, unable to return to China for the rest of her life.

Shen Xingjian had inquired with others, and Shi Yunran's life abroad was not going well. A proud person like her, she simply couldn't endure such a life of humiliation. She desperately tried to maintain her former high-class lifestyle, moving in the circles of the powerful, but ended up squandering the money left to her by Shi's father, and was ultimately forced to find a nouveau riche to support her.

But what good is a man who comes for profit or lust? She is quickly discarded like a piece of trash, forced to look for the next one, and the cycle repeats itself.

"What about you? These past ten years...how have you been?" In the living room, Gao Xingjian looked at Shen Xingjian who was standing in front of the refrigerator, holding a box of drinks and filling it with Coke and asked.

"Me?" Shen Xingjian's hands kept moving. "As you can see, I had spinal nerve surgery, combined with exoskeleton-assisted technology, and then rehabilitated day after day. Finally, I stood up and appeared in front of you."

Shen Xingjian said it lightly, but Gao Xing knew how dangerous it was and how much hardship it would take.

Her heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand, and she felt an indescribable bitterness. Her eyes quickly turned red uncontrollably, and a layer of mist blurred her vision.

After Shen Xingjian finished speaking, he habitually glanced at Gao Xing out of the corner of his eye. When he caught sight of the clear heartache and tearful eyes on her face, he froze instantly.

He seemed a little at a loss, searching for tissues among the pile of belongings he was going to move into in the living room, but he found nothing. He could only carefully reach out his hand and wipe away the moisture from the corners of her eyes with his fingertips.

"Don't cry..." His movements were stiff and clumsy, with some caution and tentativeness, and his voice was tense and mixed with some pleading hoarseness.

For Gao Xing, parting with him was just yesterday, but for Shen Xingjian, it was ten years.

During these ten years, he watched Gao Xing grow from a little girl into an adult, watched her leave her hometown to come to Jingnan to study, watched her live in Villa No. 1, and get to know her self from another time and space.

He watched everything but could do nothing.

The overlap of time and space is like the bifurcation on a hair, dividing into two completely different time and space lines somewhere. Due to the change of historical nodes, the time and space where he died was gradually covered up. He was afraid that he and Gao Xing would miss each other, so he dared not do anything.

He didn't dare to appear in front of her, didn't dare to participate in her life, just like now, he didn't dare to confirm whether she still liked him, this self who was ten years older.

Time has left traces on Shen Xingjian's face, but his panicked eyes have not changed.

Finally, Gao Xing could no longer control herself and threw herself into his arms and burst into tears. Her tears contained the grievance of reunion, the joy of regaining what she had lost, and a new kind of happiness she had experienced called "steadiness".

Her tears quickly soaked the fabric of his shirt on his shoulders, the warm moisture penetrating the fibers and ironing his skin.

Shen Xingjian paused slightly at her sudden, complete dependence, but his previous hesitation and uneasiness were instantly dispelled by her scorching tears and strong embrace. His hands, which had been suspended in the air due to his helplessness, finally slowly and firmly fell down, hugging the trembling body in his arms.

His arms tightened inch by inch, as if he wanted to embed her deeply into his bones and blood to fill the huge void left by the ten years of separation.

At this moment, the real, warm touch of his embrace finally brought peace to his soul, which had wandered for ten years. Ten years of suppressed longing, worry, and desire, all the surging emotions, like a flood that broke through the dam of reason, transformed into this silent but all-consuming embrace.

Shen Xingjian's Adam's apple rolled up and down several times, and finally only a low and hoarse sigh escaped, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

Sometimes, love just needs a little reassurance, reassurance that the other person's feelings haven't changed, reassurance that time hasn't broken the bond. And tears of joy and hugs are the best response, the most reassuring answer, to his ten years of waiting.

Gao Xing cried in his arms for a long time until her excitement slowly subsided. Then she felt embarrassed and moved slightly, trying to get out of his arms.

However, Shen Xingjian’s arms tightened a little, with some roguery and coquettishness.

"Happy, cry if you want, cry for a while, I won't tell anyone."

I was glad to hear him being clever again, but remembering the nonsense he said before he died, I felt a surge of anger and wanted to kick him. But I was afraid of breaking his legs, which had finally managed to stand upright, so I pinched his waist instead.

Shen Xingjian cried out in pain, "Ouch," and bent over uncontrollably as if his shrimp thread was pulled. Even so, his two claws refused to let go, holding Gao Xing tightly.

"Were you this tall before?" Gao Xing angrily raised her head in his arms and asked him.

Before, when Shen Xingjian sat in his wheelchair, even when he sat upright, he only reached Gao Xing's shoulders. Whenever she saw him, she'd just look down at him. She'd guessed he was a conservative 1.70 meters, maybe 1.80 at best, but she hadn't expected him to stand up so tall! She had to tilt her head back to see his nose.

It really fits the saying that everything below the waist is legs, right?

The sudden change of perspective made Gao Xing slightly unhappy, but Shen Xingjian hadn’t reacted yet and was still asking, “What’s wrong?”

Gao Xing curled her lips, "With your height, I can't kiss you even if I stand on tiptoe."

When Shen Xingjian heard her complaint, he was startled for a moment, then an indescribable ecstasy erupted from his heart like magma. He almost without hesitation hugged Gao Xing's waist, and with a little force, he lifted her off the ground.

Her feet suddenly lifted off the ground, she cried out in joy, and subconsciously threw her arms around his neck.

Shen Xingjian placed her steadily on the island in the middle of the kitchen. The touch of the cold stone countertop came through the thin fabric, but compared with her hot cheeks and boiling heartbeat at the moment, it was insignificant.

The altitude suddenly changed, and now it was Shen Xingjian's turn to look up at her.

His eyes shone startlingly, as if filled with crushed starlight. The calmness accumulating over ten years of experience was now replaced by the fiery passion of youth. He raised the corners of his lips, his voice a little hoarse with emotion: "What about this?"

Gladly looking down at the handsome face so close to her, she felt a sense of triumph, a small wish instantly satisfied and solemnly responded to. She reached out her hands and gently cupped his face, her fingertips trembling with the slightest touch as she meticulously traced his current outline.

His face had lost the youthfulness of ten years ago, its lines becoming clearer and sharper. His skin tone was a healthy shade of dark, and his eyebrows were still thick and dark, with strong brow bones, which made the eyes he looked at her look even deeper.

Time has left the mark of maturity on him, but it has never taken away the handsomeness and loveliness in his bones. Instead, it has added a bit of calmness and perseverance, just like a pine tree that has been polished by wind and rain, becoming more upright and charming.

This is her Shen Xingjian. No matter he was sitting in a wheelchair or standing in front of her now, his soul is always the one she loves.

She stared into his eyes and said word by word, clearly and firmly: "Alan Shen, I love you."

She finally uttered these words, transcending time and space and soothing all her anxieties.

Shen Xingjian's heart seemed to be hit hard by something, and it felt sore and limp. His Adam's apple rolled, and he suppressed the heat in his eyes and responded in the same solemn tone: "Glad, I love you too."

He paused, as if to give her all the best wishes in the world: "Not only me, there will be many people in this world who love you, and you will receive a lot of love."

Tears finally couldn't be restrained and fell from my eyes. It was not sadness, but the inevitable result of overflowing joy.

The sunlight outside the window lengthened the figures of the two people, and all the waiting and anxiety found their ultimate meaning at this moment.

Shen Xingjian raised his head, like a puppy waiting for a reward, and said pitifully: “So, when are you going to kiss me?”

Gao Xing couldn't help laughing at his appearance, and the sentimental atmosphere in her heart was instantly dispelled. She held his face and gently kissed his lips.

It was an extremely gentle kiss, like a butterfly fluttering across newly opened petals, light and precious, yet clearly conveying her unwavering love.

However, this brief touch was like a spark that ignited dry wood for Shen Xingjian, who had been waiting and longing for it for ten years. As their lips met, the hand that had been resting on her waist slowly moved away and instead reached up to clasp the back of her neck.

His fingertips sank lightly into the hair at the back of her neck, with a barely perceptible tremor. It wasn't hesitation, but the emotions that had been pent up for too long finally found an outlet.

He didn't rush to conquer her, but pressed his lips even more tightly against hers, rubbing them against each other, as if silently confirming the reality of what he had lost and found. The loneliness of the long wait, the tormenting longing that lasted day and night, all melted into his heavy, burning breaths, spraying on her skin and stirring a delicate shudder.

During the test, her teeth were gently pried open, and her fingertips tightened on his solid back. She followed happily and obediently, welcoming everything.

Amidst the rapid breathing and the ambiguity between lips and teeth, the sunlight outside the window seemed ashamed to disturb this intimacy that had been delayed for too long, and quietly disappeared with the last ray of afterglow.

This long night is a vow, a confirmation, and also the most direct and hottest fusion of souls after crossing the long river of time.