At five o'clock in the morning, Su Nianmei was half asleep. She stretched her hand to the side, feeling empty. The string in her head tightened and her eyes opened immediately. She didn't sleep well last night, and her eyes were sore when she woke up.
The rain was still falling outside the window, making crackling sounds. The window was opened at some point and the wind blew in. Su Nianmei wrapped herself in the blanket.
The light was dim, and Gu Xichao walked out of the toilet, wearing only a white vest and a pair of large shorts, revealing his muscular body. People who have been in the army for many years have a lot of training and are sturdy and strong, but not like the big guys who come out of the gym with deformed bodies. His muscles are well-proportioned and beautiful, and his body is tall and slender. Coupled with his face, he is pleasing to the eye just by looking at him.
"Are you still feeling uncomfortable?" Su Nianmei half-supported herself and sat up. She didn't bring any spare clothes last night and was wearing Gu Xichao's shirt. When she moved, the top button opened, and the clothes half-covered her, revealing her delicate and beautiful collarbone in front of Gu Xichao.
Su Nianmei's face was pale to begin with, and the dim light in the room made her look even paler. Her hair was hanging down in a scattered manner, with the ends just touching her collarbone, and swaying in the wind.
Gu Xichao's Adam's apple rolled, "After a good sleep, I feel much better now." He cleared his throat, sat on the edge of the bed, and drank two sips of water.
Gu Xichao put his arm around Su Nianmei's shoulders, resting his hand naturally on her hair, and lifted up her drooping shoulders: "It's still raining now, don't rush to go to school, sleep a little longer."
Su Nianmei glanced at the sky outside. The sudden rain was pressing down the branches. She slipped and slid her head back into the quilt. She hugged Gu Xichao's arm and said, "You don't know. I was so scared when you suddenly fainted yesterday."
Gu Xichao put down the cup, turned over and lay on the bed. He deliberately lay down so that they were face to face. He could see all the subtle expressions of Su Nianmei. He deliberately wanted to tease Su Nianmei, "What are you afraid of? I'm fine, right?"
Gu Xichao's waist was pinched, and Su Nianmei said angrily: "What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that you will die suddenly and leave me alone to guard you."
Before Su Nianmei could finish her words, Gu Xichao put his arms around her waist and kissed her without saying a word, teasing her mouth with the tip of his tongue. The kiss was more intense than ever before. Gu Xichao's eyes seemed to be on fire, and the kiss was full of punishment.
After the kiss, Su Nianmei was still panting.
Gu Xichao held Su Nianmei's head and bit her lips gently, "Don't say such things again. In my life, there will only be you, the one who is dear to my heart."
Su Nianmei looked up at Gu Xichao with narrow eyes. There was a smile in his eyes, but there was always a faint feeling of loneliness. Su Nianmei closed her eyes and kissed those eyes, unable to bear to see his expression.
"If I were left alone in this world, I know you would feel sad." Su Nianmei snuggled into Gu Xichao's arms.
Gu Xichao patted her back gently.
"Good boy, be good and go to sleep." Gu Xichao's voice was magnetic. Su Nianmei slowly fell asleep as she listened.
Gu Xichao, however, was not sleepy at all. His chin rested on Su Nianmei's head. He was surrounded by her pleasant scent. He slowly closed his eyes and sniffed greedily. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but he couldn't tell whether it was happiness or bitterness.
In his previous life, he loved so cautiously, but he could only be a passer-by in Su Nianmei's youth.
He traveled for many years and lived in many places, but he always met that girl. He accompanied the little girl who gave him candy as she grew up and watched her grow up step by step. He also tried his best to help the little girl fulfill her wish.
Her youth is filled with memories of Gu Xichao.
He once secretly taught her to draw and sing, dressed her in doll costumes, danced with her in uncoordinated steps, and he even helped write the child's first love letter during her puberty.
He witnessed many important moments in the child's life, including his admission to university, his start of work, and his plans to start a family, get married, and have children. However, Gu Xichao suddenly realized that all his patience and tolerance for Su Nianmei actually came from love.
Love that grows over time is more difficult to detect than love at first sight. It is like boiling a frog in warm water. Love/desire grows in the bone marrow and then spreads throughout the body.
By the time he discovered it, he was already terminally ill and beyond cure.
But he couldn't confess to Su Nianmei. When Su Nianmei was five or six years old, Gu Xichao looked about 28 years old. When Su Nianmei was twenty-five or twenty-six years old, Gu Xichao still looked about 28 years old. He was shackled by time. He couldn't, and didn't have the heart to disrupt the girl's life like this.
After realizing his strange emotions, Gu Xichao left the girl completely. He slowly, slowly learned to adapt to an alien life, alone, free and helpless.
Before long, he got tired of such a life. He wanted to be himself again, the self he used to be, with flesh and blood, the self who dared to love and hate. He dressed like the old men around him, wearing old-age clothes, dyeing his hair gray, and drawing wrinkles on his skin that were not given by time. In the end, he moved into a nursing home.
He told himself that he was Gu Xichao, the Gu Xichao who should be in his fifties or sixties now. Perhaps when he opened his eyes next sleep, he would be lying in a coffin, accompanied by the earth. He should restrain his emotions and should not love.
But Gu Xichao never expected that on the second day after he entered the nursing home, Su Nianmei would appear in the nursing home as a volunteer.
The girl looked more mature than before, with delicate makeup on her face. Her hair was curled into big waves but tied casually behind her head. When the wind blew, there was a faint fragrance on the girl.
He sat in a wheelchair, unable to move his legs, and tried his best to conceal the light in his eyes, making himself look haggard and old.
The girl's hand was on the back of the wheelchair, and Gu Xichao slowly retracted his hand that was on the armrest.
The girl's lips curved, and she held his arm with her hand, her eyes soft, "You look very much like someone I knew when I was a child."
Gu Xichao looked at the wrinkles on the back of his hand and the loose skin. He smiled bitterly: "Really? It's really my honor."
The girl laughed, and her laughter disappeared into the wind.
Gu Xichao didn't give up, and pretended to be casual, and asked nonchalantly: "Is that person important to you?"
The girl smiled and nodded, her eyes meeting his. "He saved me. He's my hero."
Just this one sentence made Gu Xichao lose all his previous defenses, but he couldn't pursue the girl. With his identity and strange life, he could only endure, restrain and let go. He couldn't give the girl a bright future, he could only wish her the best silently.
This letting go was for his whole life, but what he didn't expect was that in the end all he got was the sad news of the girl's death.
The more one restrains oneself, the more unbridled one will become in the end. He kissed the girl's forehead, thinking that what he failed to hold in his last life, he must hold firmly in this life.
At seven o'clock, Su Nianmei returned to school with a guilty conscience. When Su Nianmei left, Gu Xichao was still sleeping. His beautiful eyes were closed, the corners of his lips were slightly upturned, and he was still holding Su Nianmei's wrist in his hand.
Su Nianmei tucked the quilt in for him, leaned over and kissed the corners of his lips a few times, and Gu Xichao reluctantly let go.
Back in the dormitory, everyone was tidying up their rooms.
Qi Man saw her let out a long sigh, and pulled her arm and dragged her to the corridor, "Where did you go last night? Instructor Jiang came to look for you just now, but luckily I was smart and said you went to the toilet and hadn't come back yet."
Su Nianmei buckled her belt and asked, "Why did Instructor Jiang come to see me?"
Qi Man put her arm on Su Nianmei's shoulder and said, "I secretly heard the counselor and the instructor say that your brother and uncle are here and want to see you."
Su Nianmei was confused. "I'm the eldest in my family, so where does the term brother come from?"
Qi Man waved her hand, and Su Nianmei still went to the school building to find the counselor.
Before Su Nianmei entered the door, she heard a woman crying in the corridor.
The atmosphere in the room seemed particularly depressing because of the crying, and even Jiang Quan's hand that handed him the tissue was shaking a little. He was just a small soldier and had never seen such a big scene. Everyone in this room was either rich or noble. When they gathered together, he couldn't afford to offend any of them.
Su Nianmei stood at the door and hesitated for a few seconds before knocking.
Ji Yu'an stood at the door, his hands shaking slightly as he opened the door.
Old Madam Ji was over 80 years old and still walked briskly. She walked up to Su Nianmei, held Su Nianmei's hand, and stopped crying immediately, "Xiao Yun'er, look at me, I'm your grandma."
As Mrs. Ji spoke, tears kept falling. The disappearance of their child Xiao Yuner was largely related to the old lady.
At that time, the Ji family had not yet become wealthy. The eldest son and his daughter-in-law were both serving in the military camp, so Old Madam Ji followed the army to look after the children. Ji Yu'an was five years old and went to school during the day, so the old madam did not have to worry about him. Xiao Yun'er was only two years old and needed the old madam to look after him all the time. The old lady was old, and she couldn't wait to take a nap at noon. The two-year-old child ran out to play by himself. When the child woke up, the old lady went out to look for him, but the child was gone.
They were still skeptical about Su Nianmei's identity last night, but Su Jianguo arrived at Ji's house early this morning and told them the whole story.
Sixteen years ago, Su Jianguo was still serving in the army in the northwest. After he married Lin Aiqiu, they had no children. Old Mrs. Su was superstitious and said that adopting a girl would help to attract a son or a daughter. On the day Su Jianguo returned home after retiring from the army, Old Mrs. Su secretly took a little girl home.
Old Mrs. Su left on an earlier train than Su Jianguo and his friends. When Su Jianguo and his friends returned home, they discovered that there was a little girl, but it was too late.
At first Su Jianguo thought that since the child was his comrade's, he had to send it back no matter what. But when he asked about the little girl, he didn't know where the girl came from. Old Mrs. Su was making a fuss and refused to let the little girl go. It takes two days by train to get from Sujia Village to the military camp, and the round-trip fare is quite expensive.
After dragging it on for too long, Su Jianguo no longer wanted to send the child back. What could a two-year-old child know? If he raised the child, he would be his Su family's child in the future.
Coincidentally, after raising Su Nianmei for half a year, Lin Ai Qiu's belly started to move. Now no one mentioned sending Su Nianmei back. After all, Zhaodi, Zhaodi, already had a cub, and there would be more in the future. Plus, raising a little girl was almost the same as raising a cat or a dog. You just had to feed her and make some clothes for her, and the child would grow up.
When Old Mrs. Ji heard this, she almost fainted from anger. The little princess who was treated as the apple of the Ji family's eye was like a cat or dog in the eyes of others.
Standing behind Old Mrs. Ji was a middle-aged man—Ji Guizhong. The man has always been in a superior position, and every move he makes is quite majestic, with an aura of two meters and eighty centimeters around him. The man also had a good figure. A man in his fifties looked like he was in his forties. He stood there with a stern face, looking intimidating without even getting angry.
Su Nianmei hadn't figured out the situation yet, so she looked at Ji Yu'an, wanting to ask him for help.
Ji Guizhong walked to Su Nianmei's side, trying hard to put on a kind smile, and patted Su Nianmei's shoulder: "Yun'er, I'm your father."
Su Nianmei stood there, still a little dazed.
Ji Guizhong's smile widened even further, "Yun'er, do you still remember? I'm your father, the father you rode around with when you were a child!"
Su Nianmei blinked a few times.
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