Chapter 48. The final reunion.
In the end, Ning Yao did not agree to their suggestion to persuade Ning Yiwen on their behalf, as she felt it was inappropriate for her to do so.
The group couldn't persuade Ning Yao otherwise, so they kept their thoughts to themselves and told her to rest well. They would take her back to Shanghai to find Ning Yiwen early the next morning.
Ning Yao nodded in agreement and went back to her room alone.
Although it was late at night, how could Ning Yao possibly fall asleep?
Today has been a rollercoaster of emotions for her; whenever she closes her eyes, countless memories flood her mind.
The images of Ning taking her to Shanghai, cooking for her, insisting that she go to school, and teaching her all flashed through her mind.
At this moment, her longing surged wildly.
She really didn't know that a person could miss someone so much.
"A love so deep it's etched in my bones..." Ning Yao sighed.
Over the past few years, she had been intentionally keeping him out of her mind by keeping herself busy. She didn't even dare to think about Ning Yiwen.
Only when she comes to Beijing every September and sits at his grave can she allow herself to think of him.
Otherwise, she really didn't know how she could live a good life in this world until she died alone.
She also remembered one time when a shell exploded in front of her, and for a moment she felt not relief that the shell was some distance away, but regret.
She regretted that the shell hadn't exploded on her.
It was at that time that she realized she wasn't as strong or independent as she had imagined.
Tomorrow... I'll see Brother Ning tomorrow... Ning Yao covered her head with the quilt. His scent filled the entire bed, and the quilt was no exception.
She drifted off to sleep, inhaling his cool, pine scent.
The next day, just as the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, Ning Yao woke up.
She got up, folded the blankets, went to the yard, and stretched deeply. She hadn't slept so soundly and comfortably in a long time.
Someone was already sweeping up fallen leaves in the courtyard. It was a very cute girl. Seeing Ning Yao get up, she said gently, "Good morning, Miss Ning Yao. Did you sleep well last night?"
"Very good." Ning Yao smiled, looked at his face, and carefully recalled the people she had introduced last night. She said uncertainly, "Your name is Chen Ruoyu, right?"
The girl's eyes lit up, and she said happily, "Miss Ning Yao, do you remember me?"
Ning Yao smiled. There weren't many girls in the Jianghe Literary Society; they were mostly in small groups, so they were actually quite easy to remember.
After this little incident in the morning, the two quickly became acquainted.
Chen Ruoyu has been with the Jianghe Literary Society for quite some time, and I have told her many things about the society.
The Jianghe Literary Society was originally established by another person named Jiang Wen, with the aim of bringing together a group of knowledgeable and insightful young scholars. Later, after Ning Yiwen joined the society, Jiang Wen saw too many of his own shortcomings, so he gave the title of president of the society to Ning Yiwen and went abroad to study.
They have not returned to this day.
Later, under Ning Yiwen's guidance, they established the Jianghe Daily.
Unexpectedly, it was just that they were too lazy to come up with a new name in the early stages. Later, the people who were being hunted down associated with them. Not only was the printing office of Jianghe Daily raided, but even the people in the company had to be implicated by Yu Wang in order to escape.
Ning Yao heard this, but she felt that Ning-ge wasn't the kind of person who was too lazy to come up with a name; he must have had other ideas at the time.
But none of that matters. What matters is that she is going back to Shanghai today to see him.
Ning Yao's longing to return home made the journey from Beijing to Shanghai feel longer than ever before. The scenery along the way, which she had traveled many times before, had never seemed so monotonous.
Led by Zhao Yishi, she, Lin Wang, and the other two returned to Shanghai and arrived at... the small courtyard where she used to live.
Ning Yao: ? ? ?
"What's this?" She paused for a moment, watching Zhao Yishi step forward and knock on the door.
The familiar sound of the door opening, the familiar old man—but when the old man looked at Zhao Yishi, his cloudy eyes widened slightly, and a smile bloomed on his serious face. "Xiao Shi!"
"Uncle, I've brought Miss Ningyao back. Where's Yiwen?"
Ning Yao and the old man looked at each other, staring at each other in bewilderment.
The old man said dryly, "He searched outside all night and only came back this morning. He's resting in his room right now." As he spoke, he kept looking at Ning Yao with embarrassment, feeling guilty for not recognizing her.
Seeing the old man's appearance, Ning Yao was about to say something when Ning Yiwen's door behind her opened, and a figure dressed in a moon-white robe walked out, with a tall and upright posture and a gentle and refined demeanor.
Across the crowd, Ning Yao felt her heart clench suddenly. She fixed her eyes on him, not daring to blink, afraid that if she did, he would disappear from her sight again, just like in the dreams of the past three years and thousands of days and nights.
“Brother Ning…” Her voice trembled, with obvious sobs.
Before she could finish speaking, Ning Yiwen strode over, stretched out his arm, and pulled her into his embrace.
His embrace was warm and strong, his arms around her waist were tight, as if he wanted to merge her whole body into his.
"How have you been able to run so fast all these years!" His voice came from above, deep and hoarse, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.
Ning Yao's nose tingled, and tears streamed down her face. She burst into tears, "Brother Ning, I thought you were gone..." She hugged the person in front of her tightly, "I'm so sad. I really, I don't even dare to let myself think about you." Her voice was full of grievance and longing.
She was genuinely afraid that she would break down and lose the will to live.
Ning Yao's tearful voice reached Ning Yiwen's ears, and his chest felt heavy, so heavy that he could hardly breathe. He could only hold her even tighter.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I didn't explain things clearly to you. I'm sorry." His voice was full of remorse. "I thought I could handle everything and bring you back."
He searched all night yesterday, regretting every single moment why he hadn't given Ning Yao's photo to Uncle Zhao, selfishly thinking they would recognize her... He even thought back to the past few years, constantly regretting not teaching Ning Yao how to contact her if they were separated, where she might be, what she might be doing...
Every sleepless night, his heart was gnawed by regret, and he would stay awake until dawn.
Ning Yao shook her head violently, her head buried in his chest. In her eyes, being alive was the most important thing; everything else was secondary.
The two embraced as if no one else was around, and the others saw it but said nothing. Instead, they went to the kitchen together, leaving the courtyard to the unfortunate couple who hadn't seen each other for three years.
As soon as Uncle Zhao entered the kitchen, he began to beat his chest violently, tears streaming down his face. "It's my fault. I didn't recognize Miss Ning Yao."
But he still controlled his volume when he spoke, afraid that he would disturb them.
Zhao Yishi quickly shook his head and whispered, "Uncle, don't be like that. We all know you didn't mean it." As he spoke, he gave Lin Wang a wink.
Lin Wang instantly understood and quickly joined in persuading Uncle Zhao.
The small kitchen was bustling with activity, but the two people outside remained silent, gazing at each other intently.
Ning Yiwen pulled Ning Yao to sit at the stone table in the center of the courtyard, brushed aside the stray hairs on her forehead, and looked at the scar on her forehead. "You... all these years..." He paused, knowing that she had become a war correspondent and gone to the battlefield, but thinking of the scene three years ago when the two of them would argue whenever the topic was mentioned, he still avoided the main point and asked, "Does it hurt?" Every word was filled with heavy longing.
She had lost a lot of weight, even her hair... Ning Yiwen's hand brushed across the ends of her shoulder-length hair, his eyes filled with heartache.
Ning Yao shook her head, "It doesn't hurt anymore." She pulled down Ning Yiwen's hand that was playing with her hair, and clasped his hands in hers, "Brother Ning, have you been looking for me all these years...?"
Ning Yiwen nodded. "Yes." He slid his other hand across Ning Yao's face, his fingers gently caressing her cheek. "Over the years, I've traveled between Beijing and Shanghai, asking many people."
In his low voice, every word carried a heavy weight of longing.
“I asked someone from the newspaper to leave you a message, and I also went to see Sun He’an. I even went to the battlefield you might be on. I was terrified that you were somewhere I didn’t know, enduring loneliness and pain alone. But what I didn’t expect was,” Ning Yiwen said, laughing, “that you really can run. And my Ning Yao is so amazing, and her articles are so famous.”
He never imagined that fate would be so cruel, that the two of them would repeatedly brush past each other.
“Brother Ning, I…” Ning Yao lowered her head, pursing her lips. It was unclear whether the last sentence was a compliment or… a complaint that she hadn’t put her mind to him.
Ning Yiwen understood her. He took out a paper crane from his pocket. "I took this from your desk. I saw the words inside. Ning Yao, I like you too. Ning Yao, let's get married." He didn't want to wait a moment longer. "Don't be afraid, Ning Yao. I won't let you be alone anymore."
Ning Yao looked up and met his deep eyes. A thousand words were left unsaid, but in the end, they all boiled down to this one sentence: "Okay."
"Yay!"
"Great! Let's have the wedding!"
The group in the kitchen, after comforting Uncle Zhao, had been crouching and eavesdropping against the wall. They couldn't contain themselves when they heard Ning Yiwen's proposal, but they waited until Ning Yao nodded before jumping out.
"Good, good, good! We should have a wedding to bring good luck!" Uncle Zhao said, tears streaming down his face as he looked at the two people in front of him.
Ning Yao hadn't expected that the others had been eavesdropping. Her cheeks were flushed, and even the tips of her ears were bright red. However, the trials she had endured over the years allowed her to maintain her composure and say, "How could you eavesdrop?" Her voice was steady and calm, but only the blush that spread from her cheeks to her neck betrayed the turmoil in her heart.
But she was still easy to talk to.
Ning Yiwen released her, only holding her hand, glanced at Zhao Yishi and the others, and said indifferently, "Thank you for bringing Ning Yao back. Take care, no need to see me off." This was a blatant act of abandoning her after using her, not even planning to offer her a cup of wedding wine.
The group was stunned for a moment. Even Zhao Yishi, the most mature of them all, did not expect Ning Yiwen to react this way. "Yiwen, we helped you find Miss Ning Yao. You not only don't repay us, but you also want to drive us away?"
Lin Wang also looked aggrieved; he felt sad at the thought of not being able to attend Brother Wen's wedding.
Ning Yiwen slightly lowered his chin and nodded, saying, "Of course I'm grateful. If there's anything I can help you with, please feel free to ask."
Ning Yao turned to look at Ning Yiwen, her calm eyes and delicate, aloof profile revealing only the familiar warmth of his hand.
He seems so unfamiliar now.
Is it because of the three-year relationship, or... is Ning Ge just that kind of person?
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