Chapter 13 The Answer at Sunset [Romance Theme]
The two queued to take the sunset cable car to the top of Yunxiao Peak. There were a lot of people going up the mountain at this time, so they waited for a while.
After boarding the cable car, Xu Nianyi felt a little nervous.
Why isn't this cable car a closed cabin? The fully open seats are connected to the overhead steel cable by an iron pillar, slowly carrying two people upwards.
However, without the obstruction of the traditional gray glass of the sedan chair, the vast forest and snowfield lie directly beneath your feet, and your eyes can directly appreciate the continuous snow-capped mountains in the distance.
When we arrived at the summit platform, many skiers had already gathered there, waiting for the sunset.
They found a relatively safe spot with few people and stood there.
The view from the mountaintop was incredibly expansive. They watched as the "salted egg yolk" slowly sank in the west, the light becoming increasingly soft and warm.
The snow-capped mountains were bathed in a warm orange glow under the setting sun, and the nearby snow slopes were also tinged with a pinkish-orange hue.
Occasionally, someone would slide down, splashing orange snowflakes that looked like a flame, or like the tail-drift effect in the game KartRider.
Xu Nianyi was stunned by the scenery. After she had seen enough, she turned her gaze away and quietly turned to Tan Chen, who was also staring into the distance.
His profile was much clearer than it had been when he was drunk last night.
Memories of last night's bonfire party are slowly returning.
The question that slipped out of my mouth, emboldened by my drunken courage, and the hesitant look in his eyes at the time.
She took a deep breath of the cold, pure air, with a do-or-die determination!
"Tan Chen," she called softly.
He turned his head and his gaze fell on her face.
Xu Nian kept looking into his eyes, her tone calm but carrying an undeniable seriousness.
“I get drunk and fall asleep when I drink too much, but I don’t black out.” She paused, then asked clearly, “So, what’s your answer?”
Xu Nianyi knew he understood what she was asking.
Last night, after asking that question, Xu Nianyi seemed to have exhausted all her courage. With hazy eyes, she fell asleep on his shoulder. In the end, he carried her all the way back to the guesthouse.
He thought she was too drunk to remember anything.
He didn't know that Xu Nianyi was pretending to be asleep at first.
After asking the question that had been weighing on her mind while she was drunk, a huge panic overwhelmed her.
She was afraid to hear the answer, afraid that this seemingly harmonious travel partnership would not last, afraid that she would not be able to face him naturally the next day, and afraid that she would never have the chance to see him skiing.
So, she closed her eyes like an ostrich and pretended to be drunk.
But later, in the warmth of his steady embrace and his rhythmic gait, sleepiness truly overcame her, and she fell into a deep sleep.
But Tan Chen was unaware of her initial pretense.
Last night, after she fell asleep, he looked at her peaceful sleeping face resting on his shoulder and sighed deeply.
He knew this problem would eventually come.
He originally thought he could put it off, and that he might only have to face it after the trip to Hemu ended and he returned to Urumqi. He didn't expect that she would bring it up prematurely under the influence of alcohol and the stimulation of being cyberbullied.
He didn't know if she would remember when she woke up, but he knew he had to start preparing answers.
Therefore, although he was somewhat surprised by her clear and direct questioning, he did not panic.
Last night's thoughts had helped him sort out his answers.
He didn't answer immediately, but gently took her wrist and led her away from the noisy crowd to a quieter, safer spot by the railing, gesturing for her to sit down with him.
“I didn’t come with you this time because I was skiing and it was on my way,” Tan Chen finally spoke, his voice low.
The first sentence was exactly what Xu Nianyi expected.
This excuse has long been riddled with flaws.
But his second sentence completely surprised her.
"It's because I'm worried about you."
Xu Nian turned her head in surprise and looked at him.
Worried? She never expected that to be the answer. They hadn't crossed paths for seven years.
Seeing the undisguised confusion on her face, Tan Chen turned his gaze to the snow-capped mountains in the distance, their golden edges slowly receding and gradually sinking into the twilight, as if retracing a long period of time, and continued to explain slowly.
“Because I don’t have your WeChat, I’ve been keeping an eye on your QQ space.” He paused. “Back in college, I could see your posts and participate in your life. But you stopped updating after graduation. I still habitually check it every day, just in case you start using it again someday.”
Xu Nianyi's heart clenched upon hearing these words. She had gradually abandoned her QQ account after starting work, and her social media space had become a graveyard for her youthful memories. She never expected that someone would still be eagerly awaiting updates.
"Then, I saw your post looking for travel companions to travel around China." Tan Chen's voice was soft, but every word struck Xu Nianyi's heart.
“I don’t know what your purpose was in suddenly starting this journey, or whether you already have other people traveling with you, but just thinking about the difficulties and challenges along the way, and the possible situations that may arise, I…” He paused, as if choosing his words carefully, “I am very worried.”
He turned to look at her, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "Besides, this is the only time I can reasonably and without seeming abruptly reconnect with you."
Xu Nianyi became more and more confused as she listened.
This sounds so unlike "Tan Chen," so unlike the popular, heartthrob campus heartthrob from his student days.
Seeing her even more confused expression, Tan Chen knew that he had to trace back to an even earlier source.
He took a deep breath and revealed the secret that had been buried for nearly ten years.
“After the winter break of your third year of junior high, we suddenly lost contact,” his voice was tinged with bitterness. “It was because Teacher Zhu found out that we had become very close at that time, and your grades had dropped. The teacher was worried about your high school entrance exam. So after school started, she invited my dad and your dad to the school separately.”
Xu Nianyi's eyes widened instantly.
Ask her parents? She had no idea about this!
“I was going to invite you too,” Tan Chen said, seeing her shocked expression. “But your father said that girls are sensitive about their image and that it’s better to talk to you about this at home, so he didn’t ask you to come.”
Xu Nianyi's mind went blank, but she had never heard her parents mention it at all back then.
“I was afraid that your father would scold you, embarrass you, or make you rebellious and lose interest in your studies,” Tan Chen’s voice lowered. “So, I took the initiative to promise your father that I would not contact you again and hoped that he would not let you know about the parent-teacher meeting and would not say anything to you about it.”
So that's how it is.
Xu Nian stared at him blankly.
That year, there was an inexplicable estrangement, cold stares, and a deep sense of grievance and confusion.
It turns out that there was a deal behind the scenes that she was completely unaware of?
He used a decisive break in contact to gain her peace and safety without her knowledge.
"What about your girlfriends from junior high and high school?" Xu Nian asked, her voice slightly hoarse, voicing the question that had troubled her for many years.
“Because I noticed that you always seem to want to find me, always looking at me, hesitant to speak. I was afraid that if you got any closer to me, the teachers and parents would find out, and you would get into trouble again. So I wanted to pretend to be in a relationship, to have a girlfriend, so that you would be disappointed in me and give up on me completely.” Tan Chen lowered her eyelashes. “Actually, I just sent them some gifts and asked them to help me with this, to put on a show.”
Xu Nianyi was completely stunned.
Those girlfriends who once broke her heart and made her feel like a joke were just putting on an act for her?
Just to make her give up completely?
"After graduating from high school," Tan Chen continued, as if trying to pour out all the words that had been pent up for years, "I went to the vicinity of your neighborhood, hoping to pretend to bump into you, but I never saw you again."
Yes, after the college entrance examination, in order to completely let go of Tan Chen, she went to her hometown in the countryside to relax.
"I don't know what other reason I can give to contact you." His tone was tinged with helplessness.
"As time drags on, I'm finding it harder and harder to know how to bring it up with you."
Xu Nianyi listened to all of this in utter shock.
These behind-the-scenes stories, which she had never known before and which she had misunderstood for many years, were shocking her perception.
It wasn't that she was narcissistic, but everything he said—all the attention, worry, and even the almost foolish protection—clearly pointed to one answer—
"You like me?" she blurted out, with an incredulous certainty.
However, Tan Chen slowly and firmly shook his head.
“No,” he said, looking into her eyes with utmost seriousness, “I just want to protect you.”
Xu Nianyi couldn't understand at all. How was this any different from what she had said? If this wasn't liking someone, then what was?
"If you don't like me, then what are you protecting?" she couldn't help but ask, her voice filled with confusion and stubbornness. "If you don't like me, why have you done so much? Why have you silently watched over me for so many years? Why have you appeared immediately when you felt I was in danger?"
Tan Chen looked at her, his eyes as deep as the darkening sky, filled with complex and unfathomable emotions.
But he stubbornly repeated the same answer:
"I just want to protect you."
He did not explain the difference between "like" and "protect" in his heart, nor did he give any further response.
It was as if this was a belief that had been deeply rooted in his heart for a long time and was beyond question.
The sheer volume of information and Tan Chen's stubborn and perplexing answers left Xu Nianyi's mind in a complete mess, making it impossible for her to continue thinking or asking further questions.
Without the sun, the temperature dropped sharply. The wind on the mountaintop also picked up, stinging one's cheeks.
“Let’s go,” Xu Nianyi stood up, her voice sounding tired. “It’s getting dark, let’s go down the mountain.”
"Hmm." Tan Chen also stood up.
The two boarded the cable car in silence.
They drove in silence until they reached the parking lot, found their tank, and Tan Chen skillfully started the car, turned on the heater, and drove back to the guesthouse.
The car was completely silent, with only the low rumble of the engine and the sound of the air conditioning.
Xu Nian leaned back in her chair, watching the snow walls and blurry tree shadows flash by outside the window, illuminated by the car headlights. Tan Chen's words and his last stubborn "protection" echoed repeatedly in her mind.
She got the answer, but seemed to be caught in an even deeper mystery.
The man she had a crush on throughout her adolescence was far more complex and, more... stupid, than she had imagined.
Tan Chen, focused on driving, could sense the confusion and silence of the person beside him out of the corner of his eye.
He knew that some knots in one's heart could not be untied with just a few words.
But he has already taken the most important step.
He let her know that he had always been there for her.
Regardless of their identity, they silently protect each other.
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