Chapter 325: Want to Witness
In the end, at Su Zhaozhao’s urging, Xie Huaizheng relented.
He decided to dance along with Su Zhaozhao.
He danced a few steps, and Su Zhaozhao immediately cried out, “You’re doing great! Honey.”
Xie Huaizheng: “…”
‘She was cheering so excitedly, it was as if she thought he were a simpleton.’
‘Who couldn’t do such simple dance moves?’
Xie Huaizheng practically scoffed at the notion.
He just couldn’t be bothered with this sort of thing before. It was only because Su Zhaozhao enjoyed it that he was willing to humor her and join in her fun.
“Come on, let’s dance with more energy! Look at everyone else, they’re all better than us!” Su Zhaozhao encouraged Xie Huaizheng as she started imitating the other dancers.
Not to be outdone, Xie Huaizheng had no choice but to follow Su Zhaozhao’s lead and copy the moves.
They danced for nearly an hour. By the time they finished, Su Zhaozhao was panting from exhaustion. ‘Sure enough,’ she thought, ‘even something that looks simple can be tiring if you do it long enough.’
As for Xie Huaizheng? He wasn’t tired. In fact, after dancing for a while, he felt his body had loosened up and become quite comfortable.
More than that, it was his mood. ‘It seems dancing really can help a person relax.’
In the past, whenever his friends had asked him to go dancing, he had always scoffed at the idea. But now that he’d tried it, he found it was actually quite fun.
‘Of course,’ he mused, ‘it’s mainly because I’m with the girl I like.’
“Do you have places like this where you’re from?” Xie Huaizheng asked Su Zhaozhao.
Su Zhaozhao shook her head. “Not really. By my time, these kinds of dance halls have long been phased out. We have bars, which are kind of similar, I guess. A lot of young people go there to dance and party.”
They have a kind of hedonistic, live-for-the-moment vibe.
“I can’t help but feel that your world is so far removed from mine.”
They walked on, hand in hand.
Xie Huaizheng knew Su Zhaozhao had said her era was more than forty years ahead of his.
‘A forty-year gap must be enormous, right?’
It was as unimaginable as him trying to look back forty years from his own time.
“Zhaozhao, can you tell me more about your world?”
“Of course.” Su Zhaozhao didn’t hesitate. As they continued to walk, she began telling Xie Huaizheng bits and pieces about her world.
“In my time, we don’t really use landlines anymore. You see those public phone booths? They’ll all disappear in the future. Most people don’t even have a phone in their house, just a cell phone.”
“A cell phone? What’s that?” The term was completely foreign to Xie Huaizheng.
“It’s kind of like the pagers you see now, but with way more features. For example, you can make calls, watch TV, listen to music, have video chats with people… and it has a camera function to take pictures…”
Listening to all this, Xie Huaizheng felt like he was hearing about something from a fantasy novel.
‘So these are the kinds of things that will appear in the next forty years?’
Right now, though, he found it a little hard to imagine.
But one thing was clear to him: life where Su Zhaozhao came from was definitely much better than life here.
‘Even so, she’s choosing to stay in this world?’
For some reason, Xie Huaizheng found it a little hard to believe.
“Zhaozhao, if your life was so good in that world, why would you choose to stay here?”
‘Is it just because of me?’
‘There must be plenty of men who like her, right?’
‘I’m not the most special one.’
Hearing his question, Su Zhaozhao frowned. “Hold on, Xie Huaizheng. Are you saying you don’t believe me? Do you think you’re not good enough for me, that there’s no way I’d choose to stay in this world just for you?”
“That’s not what I meant…” Xie Huaizheng said quickly. “Of course I know you like me. But your world is so obviously more interesting.”
“Of course that world is more interesting. But in this world, I met someone who’s even more interesting. I think all that other stuff is just external; you can have it or you can go without it. And look, I’m a huge tech addict, but I just feel that it’s an incredibly rare thing to find someone you love across time and space. So Xie Huaizheng, that’s the reason I don’t want to give you up.”
In her original world, Su Zhaozhao had never fallen in love with any man. The men there weren’t like Xie Huaizheng—a perfect, flawless specimen.
Only in the world of a novel could she find someone who met all her criteria.
She liked Xie Huaizheng, and she lusted after his body. Therefore, Su Zhaozhao did not want to be separated from him.
After hearing her words, Xie Huaizheng gripped Su Zhaozhao’s hand tightly.
“There’s only one day left, Zhaozhao. Once you make your decision, you can’t change it.”
Su Zhaozhao knew he was trying to urge her to think it through carefully.
Even though he loved her dearly, he didn’t want her to make a decision she would come to regret.
“I won’t have any regrets, Huai Zheng. Do you really have so little faith in me? I just feel that no matter what choice a person makes, there will always be some regrets in the end. But if I choose you, perhaps there will be fewer.”
‘After all, her parents just wanted her to be happy. If they knew she’d found such an outstanding man, they would definitely be happy for her.’
“Zhaozhao, as long as you’ve thought it through, that’s what matters. No matter what choice you make, I’ll support you.”
Xie Huaizheng thought about what he’d said the previous night—that he didn’t want to lose Su Zhaozhao and hoped she would choose him.
But now, in the clear light of day, he suddenly felt that he didn’t have to insist on her staying. As long as she was happy, he would support her, no matter which path she chose.
‘It’s just… if she did leave him, he’d probably spend the rest of his life waiting for her here, wouldn’t he?’
Xie Huaizheng’s tone was so gentle it made Su Zhaozhao want to cry.
‘This man… he’s just too good. From the moment we got together until now, he has never once done anything to disappoint me.’
‘And how could I ever bear to disappoint him?’
At this thought, Su Zhaozhao immediately said, “Huai Zheng, thank you. But I’ve already made my decision. Please, believe in my resolve!”
“Then tomorrow… around what time will things be set in stone?”
“It should be tomorrow night.” Although the body’s original owner hadn’t told her, Su Zhaozhao had a premonition.
By tomorrow night, she might lose her chance to return to her own world forever.
‘In that case, I wonder who will end up using my body back in my own world?’
‘Another transmigrator, perhaps?’
‘Since I could transmigrate into a book, then surely I’m not the only one in the world who can do it.’
‘There’s a high probability there are others, right?’
“Okay. When the time comes, I’ll be with you, Zhaozhao. Even if I can’t see anything that happens, I want to be by your side.” Xie Huaizheng reached out and pulled her into a hug.
That evening, they went to a karaoke lounge, where Xie Huaizheng introduced his friends to Su Zhaozhao.
Su Zhaozhao, of course, had already met Cheng Mo.
The two of them greeted each other politely. Jiang Manzhi was there as well, along with a few other girls who seemed to be good friends with her.
And when Jiang Manzhi saw Su Zhaozhao, her expression wasn’t stern anymore. She nodded at her and even offered a small smile.