Chapter 1205: Chapter 1177: The Journey to Happiness Chapter 1205: Chapter 1177: The Journey to Happiness Glory and wealth pass by like fleeting clouds; for over five thousand years, the rise and fall of great clans has been a common tale. And what about those emperors and kings of old? Not even they could ensure their descendants’ prosperity for a hundred generations. As the stars shift and turn, the world changes hands. Considering this, it all seems inconsequential.
Such reflections from Jojo’s father left his cousin utterly speechless.
“Oh my god, whatever did Dr. Clark do to you to wash your brain like this? Uncle, what you’re saying is so profound! It doesn’t sound like sothing a nouveau riche would say at all!”
Kiara had been subtly planting these thoughts in Jojo’s father’s mind all along. He would stubbornly claim that he wasn’t listening, but he rembered every word in his heart. Today’s events were rely a catalyst. With just a little effort, Kiara ignited the ideas she had long been instilling in him. Even the parrot raised by Jojo’s father had been taught poetry and songs by Kiara. Brainwashing is often imperceptible.
“This child, I haven’t given him much from childhood till now. My days are numbered, it’s ti to give him a gift. Go, fetch a pen.”
Jojo and Kiara went to a tea house. They should’ve been drinking alcohol, but Kiara was pregnant and had to settle for tea instead.
Even though it was only tea, it was more intoxicating than wine. Jojo gulped down several cups without caring much about the taste.
“Lately, I don’t know why, but I feel so tired. I can’t sleep, and I don’t have an appetite. Mrs. Kiara, what do you think is happening to ?”
“Hmm, it sounds a bit like anxiety. You’ve suddenly taken over the family business, and on top of that, there’s an emotional repression and dissatisfaction that’s causing emotional anxiety.”
“How do I cure it?”
“Find a girl, blow off so steam, and you’ll be fine.”
“Pfft!” Jojo spat out his tea, while Kiara dodged it with a look of disgust.
“You’re pregnant, how can you say such things without care?”
“What about being pregnant? Pregnant won are also human, and humans have emotions and desires. Suppressing these can lead to psychological disorders. I’m not that foolish.”
Jojo shook his head. He would like to find soone, but the person he was interested in was still overseas, and he had no idea when they would et.
With that thought, Jojo poured himself another cup of tea and felt his head growing heavier with each sip.
“They say that drinking wine fuels the sorrow, but why does tea also make feel dizzy…” He didn’t know if it was psychological, but Jojo felt his head getting heavier, his eyelids starting to fight each other, only to see Mrs. Kiara smiling more and more eagerly.
“Sleep, sleep~”
When Jojo woke up again, he felt as though his body was filled with lead. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful face up close, startling him enough to recoil. Holy cat ghosts!
“Sir, you’ve woken up!” A uniford woman bent over to him, politely smiling, “May I get you sothing to drink? We have coffee, milk, juice…”
A flight attendant?
Jojo turned his head to look outside—the sky was dotted with clouds, indicating they’d been flying for quite a while.
“How did I get here?”
Wasn’t he just having tea with Mrs. Kiara? How did he end up on an airplane upon waking?
Jojo rubbed his stiff neck and sat up. The flight attendant politely handed him an envelope.
“Sir, your family has asked to give this to you.”
Jojo waved her off and opened the envelope to find two pieces of paper inside. One had unsophisticated handwriting that he recognized instantly as his uneducated dad’s.
Bring the person back.
Who?
Jojo hadn’t quite grasped the situation yet, but when he reached into his pocket and saw the overseas plane ticket, he understood.
This trip’s destination was the place he had long wanted to visit but never dared to go to!
There she was, the woman of his yearning.
But with no contact in these months, he didn’t know if she was still doing well, or if there was already soone else by her side?
Jojo suddenly felt a surge of anxiety that grows as he drew nearer ho, his heart now a jumble of emotions—the abrupt change in his father’s attitude must be Mrs. Kiara’s doing. The thing he had longed for and anticipated for so long was coming true suddenly, and Jojo’s heart felt like the clouds outside the window, drifting in the air and dispersing with a puff of wind. This dream co true was so sudden, it overwheld him.
He feared waking up to find everything gone.
In such a conflicted state of mind, Jojo unfolded the second note.
Calling it a letter would be a stretch—it was more a printout of a Penguin chat screenshot.
One glance at those two avatars and it was clear whom they belonged to—the top one was Kiara, and the one replying below made Jojo’s eyes stick.
That’s Jenny Bailey’s Penguin account!
Ever since they parted ways, Jojo had not dared to open his own account, for fear that seeing her avatar would trigger an emotional deluge and he would lose control of himself.
He took a mont to steady his emotions before looking at their conversation. And there, Kiara had written a poem about the willow by the Chángtái pavilion, asking if the tree that was once lush is still there, and if its long branches hung as they used to, or if they were now plucked by soone else’s hand.
This poem expressed Jojo’s very feelings!
Although Jojo was a sports student, he too had delved into these things. The willow poem, while seemingly about a tree, was actually a reverent query by a poet to his beloved, who had been separated from him in the midst of war and chaos, tenderly inquiring if she was still well, and if she, even if still as lovely as before, had perhaps been claid by another.
Wasn’t this exactly what Jojo had just been thinking?
Having been separated from Jenny Bailey for several months, she was in a relatively more liberal overseas environnt, and might not have lacked suitors. Mrs. Kiara, in a literary fashion, had voiced out Jojo’s inner thoughts, and Jojo quickly turned to see Jenny Bailey’s response to Mrs. Kiara.
By chance, Jenny’s response was the very poem that the poet’s beloved returned to him—the “Willow Branch” poem!
The poem, rendered for a festival, lanted how each year only added to their separation. A single leaf carried by the wind heralds autumn, and even if he should return, how could she withstand being plucked.
The aning was even more subtly conveyed—it suggested she had not been with anyone else at all, she was still waiting for him, except that her beauty may no longer be as it once was, and he might no longer desire her even if he did return.
This exchange of questions and answers was so intelligently veiled and subtle, so skillfully crafted, that Jojo trembled as he held the paper.
Mrs. Kiara knew him so well it was as though she had worms in his stomach.
He hated how slow ti was moving, detested that he couldn’t embrace his love.
After an agonizing nearly ten hours on the airplane, the mont he landed, Jojo was the first to rush out. But upon exiting the airport, he felt lost.
Where could he find her?
The ever-capable Mrs. Kiara, why did you stop at being so thoughtful? You’ve only given a screenshot—why no address?
Jojo reached for his phone, intending to call, but discovered his phone had no roaming service; once overseas, there was no signal. To make matters worse, he didn’t have a single di on him…
What in the world was this all about! As Jojo racked his brain wondering if he should beg to scrounge up so phone credit, he felt it would be embarrassing, and while hesitating, he suddenly heard a delightful voice from behind him.
“I have a job opening here, are you interested in applying? Room and board included, and the duration is permanent.”
Upon hearing this, Jojo’s heart fluttered. Could this be…
“Won’t you turn around and look at , or are you worried I’ll gobble you up?”
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