The Mid-autumn Festival was coming.
The East Emperor Palace which was desolate in normal days became even more desolate.
When Li Tianlan opened his eyes, it had gotten dark outside the window, it was quiet all around. The was a lamp in the corner of the room, under the dim light, the Golden Retriever with smooth hair was lying there quietly, flicking its tail out of boredom.
Li Tianlan sat up from the bed and rubbed his swollen and painful head. He picked up the gla.s.s of water and drank it all up but still felt thirsty. He shook his head and felt dizzy, suddenly he didn’t know what to do.
He heard light footsteps outside the door.
w.a.n.g Yuetong pushed open the unlocked door and walked in. Looking at Li Tianlan, who was zoning out, she froze for a second, then said with a soft voice, “You’re awake. Do you need some water?”
“Eh…”
Li Tianlan slowly took a look at w.a.n.g Yuetong, then said in a self-mocking way, “I’ve had enough. Have they left yet?”
“Yes.”
w.a.n.g Yuetong didn’t turn on the light, just lightened the lamp at the corner quietly. She refilled gla.s.s of water and handed to Li Tianlan, then said softly, “Li Baitian and Ye Huayu left with Xu Chu in the afternoon, Du Hanyin left while you were still awake, Qiancheng and the rest just left not long ago.”
Li Tianlan drank some water, nodded and didn’t say much.
Tomorrow was the Mid-autumn Festival.
Sky Academy didn’t have a holiday for the students, but the young men from East Emperor Palace had the right to celebrate the festival.
Li Baitian and Ye Huayu got back to Mount Shu.
Xu Chu went to the Bai family of Youzhou.
Du Hanyin originally had no home to go back, but after her Wind Vein variation and strength awakening, she wanted to improve her strength more than anything in the world, so she didn’t need to celebrate the festival. Thus, she went straight to Sky Academy and continued to attend cla.s.ses.
Ning Qiancheng originally planned to stay, but he got a call from the Commander of Eastern Theater of Operations Ning Zhiyuan, who asked him to go back for the festival. Ning Qiancheng wanted to say no, but Yu Donglai said it would be nice to go back.
Right now, the relationship between Yu Qingyan and Ning Qiancheng had utterly settled down. The elder was pleased to see they had made up their mind, so he took Yu Qingyan and went to Jinling, Wuyue with Ning Qiancheng.
Before they left Li Baitian put together and small gathering dinner, it turned out that he and Ning Qiancheng, the two a.s.sholes made Li Tianlan drink three whole bottles of Chinese spirits, and he was in a poor state of health, so he threw up a lot. When he woke up, the day before the Mid-autumn Festival was about to end.
“These two a.s.sholes.”
Li Tianlan cursed while laughing. It was just the Mid-autumn Festival. They would be apart for two or three days, so they shouldn’t have made him drink that much.
“I made some soup, got the recipe from Senior Yu, do you want some?” w.a.n.g Yuetong asked softly.
…
“Not hungry.”
Li Tianlan shook his head and looked at w.a.n.g Yuetong. He found out that the little princess from the w.a.n.g family of Beihai looked a lot different.
It seemed that she just took a shower, and her hair looked a bit moist. She was wearing a white conjoined fishtail dress with gold lining, elegant and lively. The white high heels made her body look tall and slim. She put on light makeup and some perfume, and the faint fragrance kept stimulating Li Tianlan’s sense of smell that was slowly recovering. Under the dim, yellow lamplight at the corner, w.a.n.g Yuetong stood there, looking enchanting and charming like a dream.
“You look beautiful today.” Li Tianlan looked at her and said.
…
“Do you like it?”
w.a.n.g Yuetong stared at Li Tianlan with a grim expression. Her stare was subtle, but also a bit wild, with the strength called bravery.
Li Tianlan fell silent.
As time pa.s.sed, silence became awkwardness.
The light from the corner seemed to be dimmer.
w.a.n.g Yuetong’s pretty face looked a bit pale; the bright colors in her were fading slowly.
“I’ll take a walk outside.” Li Tianlan stood up and said in a calm tone.
…
“I’ll go with you.”
w.a.n.g Yuetong didn’t wait for any answer, walked over, and held Li Tianlan’s arm tight.
There were so many kinds of fragrance in the world.
But this kind of natural body fragrance that no perfume could cover was the most special.
The two of them snuggled together and walked down the stairs in silence.
The lake water was still streaming in the artificial lake in front of East Emperor Palace. The moon looked clear and bright on the eve of the Mid-autumn Festival. The night breeze blew the fallen leaves up in the air and shuttled back and forth under the moonlight. The heavy autumn flavor floated around in the night. Everything looked bleak.
The man and woman were taking a walk in East Emperor Palace.
A Golden Retriever was following them.
They walked in gentle pace, and the whole scene looked gentle.
“This is nice.”
w.a.n.g Yuetong, who had been silent all along, suddenly opened her mouth, she said softly, “I like how this feels as if we are the only two people left in the world. We don’t have to think about anything, and this is so nice.”
“Anything unrealistic feels nice.” Li Tianlan said in a bland tone. His voice sounded very calm, which was completely opposite of w.a.n.g Yuetong’s dreamy voice.
…
w.a.n.g Yuetong held Li Tianlan tighter and tighter.
She lifted up her tiny face and looked at Li Tianlan, then suddenly put on a smile. Under the sad and beautiful moonlight, her smile looked sweet but hopeless. “So, Senior Brother, you want to tell me, the reason why you are so perfect in my eyes, is because we are in an unrealistic relationship, right?”
Li Tianlan frowned quickly, but didn’t say anything.
w.a.n.g Yuetong’s gaze gradually became crystal clear; the anxiety stacking in her heart for days started to show in her tone; her voice sounded a bit shaky. “We won’t have any future together, right?”
The crystal clear tears fell down from her eyes.
The moment the teardrop fell, it got penetrated by the moonlight and fell into the gra.s.s.
Li Tianlan kept silent.
His face looked stern, and a bit cold.
“I already know this. Since I found out about your ident.i.ty and since you met my father, I knew it, we won’t have a future together.”
“So I call Qin Weibai as a sister, and I don’t mind your marriage contract with Dongcheng Rushi, because we don’t have a future. You’re out of my league. I have thought that it will be enough if I can be with you for once.”
In the desolate and cold night, the young girl was sobbing intermittently.
“But I’m greedy. Senior Brother, I like you a lot, I want to be with you forever, even if I have to share you with her. Senior Brother, can you do this for me?”
“I can’t do this.” Li Tianlan said softly after a long silence.
…
Even to this day, he also wanted to give w.a.n.g Yuetong the future that she wanted, but he couldn’t
If he chose to take responsibility for w.a.n.g Yuetong’s future, then how could he be responsible for the Li family in the future?
He used to be naive.
But the battle of Changdao, the cruel reality had told him that, maybe it was a mistake that they met each other.
“I know this.”
w.a.n.g Yuetong sobbed and said softly, “And you won’t join the w.a.n.g family of Beihai, will you?”
With Li Tianlan’s current reputation in the Dark World, nothing could stop him if he wanted to join the w.a.n.g family of Beihai. The w.a.n.g family of Beihai would be willing to let w.a.n.g Yuetong be with Li Tianlan.
Right now apart from Kunlun City, perhaps no other power group would turn down Li Tianlan.
But it was impossible for Li Tianlan to join the w.a.n.g family of Beihai.
After all, the w.a.n.g family of Beihai had wronged the Li family back then.
They did nothing to save them, for the Li family, that was a betrayal.
How could he join the w.a.n.g family of Beihai? How could the Li family deal with themselves in the future? Maybe the Li family wouldn’t exist anymore. Without the Li family, there wouldn’t be any conflict between him and the w.a.n.g family of Beihai.
Li Tianlan took a deep breath.
Maybe everyone, including him could understand that kind of betrayal, but after all, the Li family and the w.a.n.g family of Beihai belonged to different paths.
Different paths meant different fates.
“No, I won’t.” Li Tianlan finally gave her an answer, short but determined.
…
This was the irreconcilable conflict between the Li family and the w.a.n.g family of Beihai. He didn’t compromise for a reason, although he was aware of the consequence of not compromising.
He continued to step forward.
But w.a.n.g Yuetong stopped and stood there.
Li Tianlan turned back and faced her.
w.a.n.g Yuetong stared at him for a while, then she reached her arms and held Li Tianlan’s waist, her whole body clinging to him.
“Senior Brother…”
w.a.n.g Yuetong said in a shaky voice, like a dream talk, “Take me, take me tonight. I’m all yours tonight, here, or back in the room, or the lake or on the rooftop, It’s all fine by me. You are the first man that I ever fall in love with, so I don’t want to leave any regret. Please take me.”
Li Tianlan’s body became stiff.
w.a.n.g Yuetong’s precious body was shaking in his arms, he could almost feel the tenderness and heat in her clearly.
If I couldn’t have you forever, at lease I needed to have you for once.
She didn’t ask for everlasting, only once owned.
But…
A bitter smile appeared on the corner of Li Tianlan’s mouth.
He looked at w.a.n.g Yuetong and said softly, “It has no point.”
It had no point whether to have him or not.
Because either way, it would only end in regret.
The regret wasn’t about to have him or not, but about the standpoint.
The opposite standpoints could only generate grievances and hatred, even if they used to be in love.
w.a.n.g Yuetong shook her head hard in Li Tianlan’s arms.
“I don’t care.”
Her cry sounded upset and aggrieved.
“Walk with me, the view is beautiful tonight.” Li Tianlan said blandly.
…
If they didn’t see the world from the highest spot of Martial Arts, the eve of the Mid-autumn Festival was indeed very beautiful.
It was beautiful even if it was a void.
“Let’s go back.”
w.a.n.g Yuetong lifted her head in Li Tianlan’s arms, looked at him and insisted. “Let’s go back to the room, Senior Brother, don’t you like me? I don’t believe that you don’t want me.”
“I do want you.”
Li Tianlan took a firm step forward and said blandly, “But I just don’t want you to hate me that much in the future.”
w.a.n.g Yuetong bit her red lips, holding Li Tianlan’s arm tight with both of her hands.
They walk slowly in the dark.
They slowly reached the gate.
“Senior Brother…”
w.a.n.g Yuetong said with her soft voice, “When you become powerful enough to ignore everything in the future, will you come find me?”
Li Tianlan took a look at w.a.n.g Yuetong quietly.
He wanted to tell her so bad that, in this world, no one could be powerful enough to ignore everything, not him, not w.a.n.g Tianzong, not even the ancestor of the w.a.n.g family of Beihai or the Patriarch of the Li family.
Because being powerful didn’t equal ignoring everything.
w.a.n.g Yuetong’s eyes looked soft but determined.
Li Tianlan squinted his eyes, then took a deep breath, turned around and said coldly, “No.”
They slowly reached the gate.
w.a.n.g Yuetong dragged Li Tianlan’s arm and let out a bitter laugh. “What a heartless man.”
Li Tianlan didn’t say anything.
In his sight, two senior security guards, a fat one and a thin one, were guarding the gate.
A black car was parked outside the gate.
Two men got off the car.
Li Tianlan narrowed his eyes.
At this moment, he finally realized why w.a.n.g Yuetong was acting weird tonight.
w.a.n.g Yuetong also saw the two men outside the gate, her pretty face suddenly turned pale, her hands which were holding Li Tianlan’s arm became powerless.
Inside and outside the gate, the two parties found each other.
Li Tianlan knew one of the two men, but it was enough.
Because that was w.a.n.g Tianzong.
Dozens of meters apart, the four people stared at each other.
Li Tianlan sighed softly. He let go of w.a.n.g Yuetong and said in a cold tone, “Go ahead.”
w.a.n.g Yuetong bit her lips hard and shook her head with tears streaming down her face.
She knew exactly what would happen after she left.
It was just a distance of dozens of meters.
But this distance was called farewell.
This distance was the difference between two enemies.
How could she let go of him?