Chapter 544 - 469: He Understands Her
Chapter 544: Chapter 469: He Understands Her
Setting her past life aside, Yang Liu’er was fundamentally a sweet, open-hearted, and frank girl who was easy to talk to. Also, for Xiao Man’s sake, she held an inexplicable trust in Gu Shaojun’s character. So after he lavished her with a few compliments, she giggled and began telling him everything she could recall about the Gu and Tang families from her past life.
Their dim sum brunch lasted from nine in the morning until eleven-thirty.
Gu Shaojun had the restaurant manager pack up a few extra pastries for her to take to Lu Jianling and Weiwei. As she requested, he first dropped her off at her company before bidding farewell, rushing off to pick up Xiao Man from work for lunch at home.
After listening to Yang Liu’er’s account, Gu Shaojun’s expression remained as composed as ever, his gaze calm and detached, as if he had just listened to a story. Yang Liu’er had the mistaken impression that he had only been momentarily curious and wasn’t actually very concerned about the matter.
Yang Liu’er couldn’t help but grumble inwardly, ’Men really are strange, cold creatures. Once the wound heals, the pain is forgotten. After some time passes, it’s as if nothing ever had anything to do with them!’
’Bai Junfan was like that, and so was Gu Shaojun.’
She had selectively told Bai Junfan a few fragments of her past life, but he was skeptical and treated it as if she were dreaming. She never even had the chance to tell him about his later success and rapid rise through the political ranks before he got involved with Tang Yaxuan. She’d even caught them in bed, which had infuriated her to no end. It seemed she would never get the chance to tell him now.
And Gu Shaojun, this handsome and heroic man, was even more inscrutable. In her past life, he was a combat hero, a decorated role model with illustrious merits. If he had remained healthy and whole, he likely would have had a brighter, more dazzling future than Bai Junfan. But tragically, he was crippled. During the prime of his life in his twenties, he faded into obscurity and disappeared from the public eye, dying before he even turned forty... Yet upon learning all this, his reaction was so placid he didn’t even furrow his brow.
It could only be said that Gu Shaojun had too much self-control, leading Yang Liu’er to misjudge him.
As he drove alone, the facade he wore instantly crumbled. All traces of his calm and composure vanished. His expression was desolate, his eyes bloodshot. A film of tears glossed his vision, and he had to blink constantly just to keep the road ahead in focus.
He had maintained a noncommittal attitude in front of Yang Liu’er, but there was a tacit understanding between them. If he didn’t believe her, why would he insist on hearing her "story"? He wasn’t some naive, innocent schoolboy.
Gu Shaojun believed Yang Liu’er. He believed that he had existed in her past life, and he accepted what she said: that in the last life, he had been severely wounded and crippled in the war, and had died an early death.
This was beyond doubt. If he hadn’t met Xiao Man a few years ago, he would have absolutely repeated the trajectory of his past life in that great war. On the battlefield, he had faced death up close more than once, and it was always because of that Moyu Token that he had managed to escape disaster.
As a soldier, dying on the battlefield was a fate he could accept without regret. What he feared was not dying but becoming disabled. No matter how great a hero or how incredible their achievements, that was a reality difficult for anyone to accept. The agony and torment were too painful, too draining on a person’s willpower.
In his last life, he had experienced all of this.
Proactively calling off the engagement with the Tang family, refusing Tang Yaxuan’s pleas—whether real or fake—as she knelt and cried... that all sounded like his style. It was something he would do.
But for Bai Junfan to immediately pursue Tang Yaxuan after returning to the Bai Family, with the Bai and Tang families ultimately joining in a successful marriage alliance... that was intriguing.
In both his past life and this one, Gu Shaojun had always protected Tang Yaxuan, but it was limited to a sense of duty. There were no romantic feelings involved.
’If the switched-at-birth incident had never happened, if the one I had been protecting from the very beginning was the real Tang Family Girl, then things would have been different. Even if I were crippled and proposed to call off the engagement, my Xiao Man would never have turned and left me. I know her!’
Gu Shaojun took a deep breath, finally blinking away the tears welling in his eyes. A comforting smile touched the corners of his tightly pressed lips. At this moment, all he wanted was to see his adorable, sprite-like little fiancée as soon as possible.
He had replayed the scene of his first meeting with Xiao Man countless times, just to capture and relive a certain special feeling that had come over him so suddenly—when Xiao Man took his hand of her own accord and obediently followed close by his side, his heart had softened. It was as if a long-shut window deep inside him had been thrown open, letting the warm morning light stream in, bringing an unparalleled sense of comfort and ease.
And when the little girl called him directly by his name, he didn’t find her rude or abrupt at all. Instead, it felt familiar, as if this girl, so much younger than him, was supposed to call him by his name.
He even felt a pang of regret, because the adorable Xiao Man had already been claimed by Zheng Shaolian as his sworn little sister. He worried that if he paid her too much attention, Zheng Shaolian would fly off the handle, which would be a huge hassle.
As for what happened later—the little girl’s bold and domineering actions—anyone else might have been annoyed or angry. But strangely, he couldn’t muster even a spark of anger toward her. On the contrary, a thought had already begun to form in his mind back then—’No matter what Zheng Shaolian thinks, I have to make the first move. From now on, Xiao Man is my responsibility!’
As it turned out, his decision had been absolutely correct.
It was also thanks to his sharp eye and keen intuition. Although Xiao Man was endearingly naive and cute at the time, it wasn’t hard to tell from her words and actions that she was different from other girls her age.
Neither Tang Yaxuan nor Gu Shaoling possessed her enigmatic presence. Those two girls, raised in wealthy families, might have been shrewder or more accomplished, but they definitely couldn’t compare to Xiao Man’s cleverness, sharp wit, and inherent goodness.
She could give people a healing warmth. Zheng Shaolian felt it, and Gu Shaojun felt it too.
Moreover, he guessed that the unique Xiao Man had come specifically for him! Later events proved that this wasn’t just his wishful thinking. Xiao Man was his!
Today, after learning about Yang Liu’er’s "past life," Gu Shaojun was even more certain: his Xiao Man had memories of a past life as well! In their previous lives, he and Xiao Man must have met and fallen deeply in love. That was why, in this life, Xiao Man had come to find him—before that war began!
Gu Shaojun parked the car in front of the main building of De Ren Hospital. He took another deep breath, then checked his appearance in the rearview mirror. His heart was pounding faster and faster in his chest. He gave himself a smile, but it was a bit stiff. He couldn’t help it; he was too agitated. His entire heart was still being battered by tumultuous waves, unable to calm down.
But he couldn’t wait another minute. He had to go up right now, take Xiao Man by the hand, and lead her away to a place that had room only for the two of them. There were too many things to talk about with her in detail, too many questions... though in truth, it didn’t matter if there were no answers. He had already guessed most of it.
In Yang Liu’er’s past life, there was no Xiao Man! Tang Yaxuan’s false identity was never exposed. She continued to occupy the position of the eldest legitimate daughter of the Tang family, enjoying everything that should have belonged to Xiao Man. Meanwhile, Xiao Man... there wasn’t even a shadow of her.
But Xiao Man couldn’t have just vanished into thin air. She existed. It was just that... she had been conspired against by Tang Yaxuan and her biological parents, and they had destroyed her face!
Wu Xiaowen was vain, and Tang Qingyun was a hypocrite. That heartless couple... it was one thing for them to refuse to accept their own disfigured flesh and blood, but they dared to deceive everyone, completely cutting off Xiao Man’s path back to the Tang family. They would rather prop up the venomous Tang Yaxuan while abandoning the true Tang Family Girl in a foreign land to fend for herself!
So that was why Xiao Man had asked him that question: ’If I became ugly, would you still want me?’
This was the knot in her heart, one that couldn’t be untied across two lifetimes!
Tears welled up in Gu Shaojun’s eyes again as a towering rage surged in his heart. He wished he could run out and kill someone.
The first he wanted to kill was Wu Xiaowen, followed by Tang Yaxuan and Tang Qingyun. That’s right. At this moment, on Gu Shaojun’s personal tribunal, Tang Qingyun could not be absolved. He deserved to die!