When Gu Youran read these lines, his fingers unconsciously exerted force.
His nails were almost digging into the notebook, as if he wanted to crush this cruel truth.
She forced herself to read on.
But when he saw all the contents clearly, he froze in place as if struck by lightning.
“Snap—”
The notebook fell to the ground.
"How could... this happen..." Her voice was so trembling that it was almost inaudible.
Shi Heng immediately noticed her abnormality and stretched out his long arms to embrace her in his arms.
He could clearly feel that the body in his arms was shaking uncontrollably.
"My parents' meeting... my birth... were all arranged by Ali?"
Each word seemed to be squeezed out of the throat, with bloody pain.
Fragments of memory flashed through her mind:
In his mother's warm embrace, his father always liked to secretly give her a piece of candy and then wink at her.
The faint herbal scent on my father's body is always mixed with the fragrance of the sachets embroidered for him by my mother.
"Xiao Youran is so lucky to have such good parents..." The aunts in the village always like to touch her head and say this.
She remembered that when her father came back from a medical consultation, her mother held her in her arms and stood at the village entrance, looking forward to it.
I remember when my father was grinding medicine, my mother was gently wiping his sweat.
These tiny bits of warmth were once her most precious treasures.
But now, the words in the notebook told her cruelly.
Those beautiful things are nothing but carefully designed illusions.
From her parents' first meeting to her birth.
It was all arranged by Ali.
Renault and Lei Shuangcheng looked at each other.
Uncle Xu spoke slowly, "I remember that Mr. Xiao first met Miss Yuehua during the sacrificial ceremony in Gujia Village."
The old man fell into reminiscence, "Xiao Yunjian, that kid, a medical genius from the city, couldn't move his feet the first time he saw Yuehua."
"He stayed in the village for half a year, visiting the Gu family every day, insisting on marrying Yuehua... He even left his family and married into the Gu family for Yuehua."
Shi Heng bent down to pick up the fallen notebook and quickly flipped through the yellowed pages.
As he read further, his brows furrowed more and more.
It turns out that five hundred years ago, after the ancestor of the Gu family, Jiuchen, was murdered, his junior brother and lover, Ali, became possessed by his obsession and spent a full five centuries planning this shocking conspiracy.
Every time when the nine planets align, which happens only once every hundred years, Ali would attempt the resurrection ritual, but the previous four attempts had all ended in failure.
And this time, he carefully cultivated Gu Youran, the "most perfect container".
"So... my whole life is a scam?" Gu Youran's tears finally burst out.
Shi Heng gently wiped away her tears and pointed to the last line of words.
"Look, my father wrote: 'When you learn to love and be loved, that's when the eagle spreads its wings.' He always believed that you can change your destiny."
Gu Youran raised her tearful eyes and said, "If I am destined to be a vessel, will you still..."
"Shh-"
Shi Heng gently pressed her lips with his slender fingers, his eyes firm.
"Your birth may have been a design, but my love is genuine. This feeling cannot be controlled by anyone."
He held Gu Youran's cold hand tightly and said word by word:
"No matter what we face, we will bear it together. Remember, there is no fate in this world that cannot be overcome..."
"I love you."
These three words were resounding and particularly clear in the quiet night.
Shi Heng knelt on one knee, his fingers gently stroking the eagle pendant around her neck.
"If fate insists that you be my container, then I will be the one that can never be full of you. Because loving you will never end."
Gu Youran could no longer control her emotions and threw herself into Shi Heng's arms.
The man's strong arms wrapped around her tightly, as if he wanted to knead her into his bones and blood.
After a long time, the two reluctantly parted.
"Look, Miss!"
Xu Bo suddenly raised his voice, his excitement barely concealed.
Gu Youran looked down and saw that the flying eagle pendant on her chest was glowing faintly, flickering sometimes bright and sometimes dim.
At the same time, Renault suddenly groaned, and a faint golden light shone from under the clothes on his back.
It was the flying eagle tattoo on his back that echoed the light of the pendant.
"The twin eagles are resonating... the seal is beginning to loosen..."
Tears welled up in Xu Bo's cloudy eyes. "I see... Miss Yuehua sealed her power in the pendant because she hoped you could grow up like a normal child..."
This discovery shocked Gu Youran.
She suddenly understood that her mother had silently endured the pain of donating blood every year over the years and never complained, all for the sake of protecting her and her father.
Those unspeakable difficulties and those hesitant eyes now have answers.
She took out an envelope from her notebook. It was from her father and addressed to Renault.
Gu Youran handed the envelope and notebook to Renault.
Renault's fingers trembled as he took the letter.
He first quickly browsed the contents of the notebook, and Xu Bo and Lei Shuangcheng also came closer to take a look.
After reading it, the three of them had expressions of shock on their faces.
Renault unfolded the letter, took a look at it, and was stunned for a moment.
But he quickly regained his composure, carefully folded the letter and put it away.
"What did father write?" Gu Youran asked softly.
"He asked me to take good care of you." His tone was so calm that nothing unusual could be heard.
Gu Youran nodded, believing in this answer without a doubt.
However, Shi Heng, who was sitting next to him, narrowed his eyes.
He keenly noticed that Renault and Xu Bo looked at each other.
Although both of them tried their best to conceal it, the flash of solemnity still did not escape his eyes.
There must be some unknown secret hidden in this letter.
Gu Youran looked at Grandpa Feng and his family's dilapidated house. The mottled earthen walls looked particularly desolate at night.
She couldn't help but speak: "Uncle Xu, I want to take Grandpa Feng and the others back to Yuncheng, arrange the best accommodation for them, and ask someone to take care of them."
Xu Bo's hand, which was adding firewood to the fire, suddenly stopped, and his dry fingers trembled slightly.
"I understand Miss's intentions, but..."
He looked toward the cemetery on the distant hillside.
"Their souls remain here. After the fire 22 years ago, they chose to stay and guard the tomb, and they won't leave now."
“But it’s too hard here.”
Gu Youran said anxiously, "Grandpa Feng has difficulty walking, and Granny Li has poor eyesight..."
"Their relatives are lying in the back hills."
Uncle Xu threw a piece of pine wood into the fire, and sparks crackled. "My wife is buried under the old locust tree at the east end. She was most afraid of being alone..."
The old man smiled and said, "I will stay here and talk to her from now on."
"Uncle Xu!"
Renault stood up suddenly, "You promised to come back with me..."
He choked in the middle of his words.
Uncle Xu patted him on the shoulder heavily, just like when he taught him martial arts when he was a child.
"Silly boy, I can't accompany you forever. My mission is completed, and the road ahead is..."
The old man paused and said, "You have to rely on yourself."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
