“Father said you left early, and the hospital staff said you didn’t go to work… I guessed you’d be here.”
I wanted to speak, but my lips were numb.
“You’ve always run here when you’re in a bad mood…” His large palm held my hand, rubbing it. “Because of that man, right?”
I shook my head, my voice trembling from the cold. “He’s not worth it.”
“It’s not too late to understand now.”
“Love is a lie; even deep love is a lie…”
“Eternal vows and deep love are just momentary impulses… Passion comes quickly and goes quickly.”
I sighed: “So quickly…”
Yin Zhongtian said: “There’s one thing that is real – family love.”
I nodded; parents are the only ones who won’t deceive us.
“Love is not maintained by romance and passion…” Yin Zhongtian patted my shoulder: “Like our parents, they take care of each other as family; this feeling can be stable and lasting.”
His embrace was stable, unlike that person’s, which was suffocating.
Time passed slowly. After seeing many couples face life and death, I gradually understood Yin Zhongtian’s words.
A true family is maintained by familial love. Love can last only a year; after that, passion fades, but love transforms into familial love, growing deeper.
I thought this must be why Yu Yin was willing to indulge Ye Zhengchen – without passion, they still had familial love.
One morning two years later, outside a hospital room, Yin Zhongtian suddenly took my hand and said, “Let’s get married.”
Looking at him, I felt as if he were family. I took his hand, unable to refuse.
“Doesn’t a proposal need a ring?” I asked.
He pulled a ring from his pocket, sliding it onto my finger. “I’ve been preparing for a long time…”
I knew my heart was dead. No matter how much I tried, I could no longer fall in love with any man, but I cared for Yin Zhongtian like a close relative.
I thought this feeling would be endless.
I never expected Ye Zhengchen to return, and I was surprised that I still felt pain when he gripped my hand, just like before.
A knock interrupted my thoughts. I thought it was a housekeeper and quickly opened the door.
Unexpectedly, it was Yu Yin.
After three years, she was even more beautiful, with delicate makeup.
“Hi!” I greeted with a smile, surprised I could smile at such a moment.
“May I come in?” she asked.
“Of course.”
I stepped aside for her to enter, then closed the door, waiting for the inevitable accusation.
Yu Yin never disappointed me. As soon as she spoke, it cut to the bone.
“I heard you sought out Ye Zhengchen to save your fiancé…”
She left the sentence unfinished, but her icy gaze conveyed the rest.
In front of her, I had no need for pretenses. “Yes.”
“Is this fair to him?”
“What a good question. Miss Yu, didn’t you create many misunderstandings for me back then, leaving him speechless? Was that fair to him?”
Yu Yin’s expression didn’t change. “That was something I had to do, my duty.”
Her words made me take a cold breath in anger. She had manipulated both me and Ye Zhengchen and now claimed it was her duty.
I calmed my rage and smiled as coldly as she did. “What duty are you here to fulfill today?”
Her black eyes gazed into mine. “I want to ask you: Do you love Ye Zhengchen, or your fiancé?”
She skillfully struck where it hurt most, reminding me: I slept with one man to save another, betraying both.
Such a formidable woman—I truly wanted to know how she spent her days with Ye Zhengchen.
I could have chosen not to answer, but I didn’t want to lose to her again, to be rendered speechless.
“Who I love doesn’t matter!”
Yu Yin’s face changed, growing paler until she softened her tone. “I came to find you with no other intention. I just wanted to know what you were thinking. Ye Zhengchen truly loves you and would do anything for you… You hurt him once, don’t hurt him again.”
“As long as he doesn’t hurt me, I’m satisfied.”
Yu Yin gave a bitter smile and walked towards the door. “You don’t understand him at all.”
I couldn’t deny that just two hours earlier, I didn’t even know Ye Zhengchen was a military man. How could I possibly understand him!
After seeing Yu Yin off, I felt like I had emerged from a war, utterly exhausted. Women’s wars have no winners, only mutual destruction.
Just as I was about to rest, the phone rang again, showing my mother’s number.
I answered the call and heard intermittent sobs.
“Mom?”
“Your father has arrhythmia and is in the emergency room…”
Everything went black before my eyes.
“Your father’s friends at the prosecutor’s office said that Zhong Tian might go to prison for six or seven years… Your father suddenly…” The rest of the call was just crying.
I couldn’t break down. Mustering my strength, I comforted her: “Mom, don’t cry. It’s okay, Zhong Tian will be fine, Dad will be fine. I’m coming back right away.”
By plane and then by car, I arrived at the hospital just after 11 pm.
Dad had just fallen asleep, and Mom was beside him. When she saw me, her eyes reddened again.
Dad opened his eyes, trembling slightly, reaching out his hand.
I understood and held his hand. “Dad, don’t listen to rumors. My friends in Beijing said… Zhong Tian is innocent, he’ll be out soon.”
“Is that true?” Mom asked anxiously.
“True, true.” I sat down and whispered: “My friend is a colonel in the military region; he knows people in the commission. The higher-ups said this case has nothing to do with Zhong Tian…”
“A colonel from the Beijing Military Region? That’s quite a high position.”
“Yes, very high. He said it’ll be fine, so it definitely will be.”
Dad slept soundly, Mom lay on the accompanying bed, and I sat on a bench in the hospital corridor, waiting for dawn.
At two in the morning, I dialed Ye Zhengchen’s number. He didn’t speak, but I could hear his heavy breathing.
“What should I do?” I asked aimlessly.
He finally spoke. “What can I do for you?”
Overwhelmed by pain, I cried, realizing that crying could be blissful.
“Wait for me, I’m coming to find you!” he said.
I shook my head, though he couldn’t see. “I’m in Nanzhou.”
There was silence on the phone.
“Wait for me, I’m coming to find you!” he repeated.
The author has something to say: Does anyone know what Ye said to Yu Yin? On Yu Yin’s birthday, everyone said to express their desires. Ye leaned close to Yu Yin’s ear and laughed…
Yi Dai Song: “Wait for me, I’m coming to find you.”
These words burned in my ears.
Why, no matter where I am…
I almost blurted out: I’ll wait for you!
But a cold voice intruded in my mind: “Asking him to save your fiancé, are you being fair to him? He loves you and would do anything for you… You hurt him once, don’t hurt him again.”
The words caught in my throat as I replaced them with: “No need.”
After hanging up, I didn’t let myself regret. Yu Yin had won again.
Her accusation had embedded itself in my heart, becoming an inescapable curse.
In the cold night, I sat on the bench scrolling through my phone contacts, finding no one who could help. Helplessly, I decided to find a lawyer at dawn to discuss my situation.
As the first light of morning emerged, the sky was impossibly clear.
A man in a dark green military uniform stood before me, golden sunlight blurring his outline but illuminating a row of neat buttons.
I tilted my head up, unable to make out his face in the shadow, but my heart trembled.
Long fingers brushed away my cold tears, bringing warmth and familiarity.
At my desperate moment, the person I longed for appeared—two words: touched!
Just like that rainy night years ago, seeing him standing wounded in the rain.
“You?” I stood up in surprise, eyes wide. “How… are you here?!”
“GPS,” Ye Zhengchen answered casually. “Global Positioning System.”
The autumn sky was blue and transparent.
I looked at him, speechless.
