Chapter 539 - Important Protectee (3)
The car drove through the cold and pass the silent roads. Soon, it stopped slowly by the roadside magnolias.
After Ji Zitong parked the car, she softly called out to Xi Xiaye who sat in the back seat with a solemn expression as if there was a lot on her mind, “Director Xi, we’ve reached Qingshan Cemetery!”
After she heard Ji Zitong, Xi Xiaye was stunned for a moment. She eased herself from her trance and then turned to look out the window. What greeted her were the silent tombstones up ahead.
“Okay, wait for me here. I’ll go up myself.”
Xi Xiaye carried a bouquet of daisies as she pushed the car door open to get down.
Because she could observe the situation at the tombstones up there from her position, after some thought, Ji Zitong nodded. “Okay, be careful, Director Xi.”
Xi Xiaye replied her with a smile, and then made her way upwards. Ji Zitong got down from the car and stood beside it, her gaze following Xi Xiaye’s every movement.
The grave keeper of this cemetery frequently cleaned the place. As she walked over, she noticed that apart from some fallen leaves, the ground was like the tombstones, practically spotless.
Xi Xiaye walked slowly up the flight of stairs, following the route based on her memory and made a turn. When she looked over, the figure that greeted her took her by surprise!
Han Yifeng?
Why was he here?
Dressed in a dark tailor-made tuxedo, he stood there all alone silently in front of Xi Jiyang’s tombstone. From the side, his expression seemed a little lonely and bleak. He stood there unmoving. By the looks of it, he seemed to have been there for quite a while!
She did not expect him to come. Even if someone were to visit, it should be Xi Xinyi…
When Xi Xiaye stopped to examine him, Han Yifeng seemed to have realized her presence. He subconsciously turned around and indeed, he saw her.
She was dressed in a black dress, and her hair was casually tied into a neat bun. She looked frail and slender while her fair complexion was cold and graceful. She seemed to look the same as before, yet as he studied her, he seemed to have realized that a lot of things had changed.
Han Yifeng was obviously surprised to see her too. It was only when he drove past those little alleys and saw people selling paper cutouts and mock ingots that he found out it was the Zhongyuan Festival today. He thought about how Xi Mushan was abroad, and Xi Jiyang had been nice to him before, so he came.
Xi Xiaye only hesitated for a moment before she walked over.
“Xiaye, I’m surprised to see you here.” Han Yifeng looked at Xi Xiaye beside him. It was hard to hide the hint of happiness in his deep tone. He did not know why his gloomy mood for the past few days instantly lifted at the sight of her. The gloomy clouds rolled away, letting the sunshine in.
Xi Xiaye did not answer him as she just silently bowed and put the white daisies on Xi Jiyang’s tombstone. She stared at that familiar face on that tombstone, and after a while, she suddenly got up and gently closed her eyes. Her expression was calm as she silently said a prayer.
Han Yifeng did not bother her either. He just silently watched her from the side.
It was at this moment that he could see the tranquility and distance between her brows. She did not seem as cold as usual, yet it made him feel a faint a heartache at this sight. In his daze, he suddenly realized that it felt like they were on two ends of a straight line. Apart from what held them together in the middle, they were actually becoming more and more distant, and they would never meet in the middle again.
Han Yifeng thought about many things, including the past, the present, and the future. He then realized that he had been wrong right from the start. Even though Xiaye did not like to speak back then, she did not know how to defend herself and was quite reclusive, yet she was very kind and gentle!
He had seen her buy all the flowers from those sellers many times because she could not bear to see them work so hard, and wanted them to rest earlier. In fact, she would always visit places like orphanages.
How could someone like her have the heart to frame Xi Xinyi?
And why did he time and time again ignore all her kind intentions?
Why had he been so heartless back then?
She had done so much, so he should at least be moved, yet back then he felt nothing at all. Even right now, every time he thought about those things, he would feel happy yet heartbroken.
He was happy because she had actually been so good to him, and heartbroken because he knew that he would never have that again.
Every time he reminisced these things, he would feel more and more guilt towards her. At the same time, among these beautiful memories, she began to take more and more space in his heart.
He was very depressed, but he would not tell her because from the looks of it, he knew that she was doing well, and that was enough for him.
Mu Yuchen could bring her far more happiness than he could ever. Even Han Yifeng admired a man like that.
When he saw the sadness gradually surface between her brows, he suddenly could not help but console her. “Grandfather is doing better on the other side, Xiaye. Don’t feel too sad.”
Then, Xi Xiaye slowly opened her eyes and looked calmly at the tombstone before her, her tone slightly apathetic. “On the other side? We still don’t know whether there’s really reincarnation in this world. Perhaps humans are like this. Even if we lived gloriously before, or went through many hardships, once we leave this world, everything vanished into thin air. In the end, we take nothing with us.”
Listening to her say all this, Han Yifeng paused and then sighed softly. “Yes, once we leave, we’ll be gone forever. I hope that all of this unhappiness can finally be settled too,” he said sadly.
However, he knew well that this was only his hope. Xi Xinyi had already…
As Xi Xiaye listened, a sneer curled on her lips. She did not answer. Instead, she leaned down and looked at Xi Jiyang’s photo.
“It’s already been three months, but it feels like it was just yesterday. Xiaye, sometimes I really hope that there is a so-called exchange. I would use my next 10 or 20 years of life to change for a chance to return to the past. Maybe we… we could…”
Han Yifeng fixed her eyes on her. Then, he saw that a light shifted in her twinkling eyes which were as clear as autumn waters.
“There is no maybe. There are many unhappy things in the past. If it were back then, I might have thought the same things as you, but now, I’m not willing to anymore. Instead of evading all these facts from the past and limiting ourselves, it’d be better to face it bravely. When you are left with nothing, you’ll realize that there’s not much to lose.”