Four days later.
"Is it done?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Hm. I will co by later."
Jun hung up the call and rested his head on the back of the couch. As he closed his eyes, the last image with which Zhan Yahui ended her life flashed in his mind. He felt satisfied to see that the perpetrator behind all the wrongdoings was gone. But sothing about the beaten expression of hers didn't feel so appealing to him either.
Jun felt the gentle pressure of two soft palms on his forehead and he smiled. "Ai."
"What are you thinking?"
He made an expression as if he wasn't sure how to explain it. "I should be rejoicing that Zhan Yahui is out of our lives. I should feel happy that she is dead."
"Yes."
"But I am not. Which is strange. I cannot and will not ever forgive her for sure but it is like…Three ought to be responsible adults who should have taken care of her, betrayed her. Whether it was Ouyang Haitao, Zhan Kai-Ming or Shi Shuren, I feel that she was just tossed around like a sack until she was thrown away for good. Shi Shuren abandoned her, Ouyang Haitao wanted to sell her and Zhan Kai-Ming killed herself. I don't know whether to feel angry at her or sorry for her."
"You can feel both," she pressed his forehead with her fingertips and softly smiled. "We have the right to not forgive her for her cruelty, but we can also be human enough to empathize with her. We cannot say for sure that if we were put in her situation then we would have been noble enough to let go of the pain and injustice we would have felt. It's fine Jun. It's fine not to celebrate her death."
Jun released a soft sigh. "You always know to say the right things."
Ai proudly smiled. "Because I am a naturally lovable and warm person."
His brow twitched. "It's been a while since I have heard that."
"It's been a while since I have said that."
Jun chuckled and pulled her on his lap. He kissed her forehead. "I love you, Ai."
"I love you too, Jun. Though I still see a question mark on your face."
He sighed again. "I am wracking my brains over what happened to Zhan Yahui at the last mont to suddenly change like that. But it happened so fast that I don't know what to think about it. Or did sothing even happen to her? I strongly feel that she must have seen the golden clock but…I don't know."
"Even if she did see the golden clock, what are you curious about?"
"Why would she have witnessed that if she wasn't reborn?"
"We don't completely understand the golden clock phenonon. We are assuming that it only showed us who are reborn but didn't it happen with Xing Bi too? She isn't reborn either. Nature works in mysterious ways."
"That…is true. I was also curious what she would have seen? The past life?"
"I guess so. Maybe that's what changed her."
He tilted his head. "So in her last monts…did she know that we are reborn?"
"I think so. Otherwise there wouldn't have been a past life in the first place. There is a past life because we got a second chance."
He kissed her lips. "I couldn't be more thankful for that. I don't know how fate decided to give us a second chance, but I cannot express my gratitude enough."
She pinched his cheeks. " too."
A serious question struck her as she asked, "How is Hou Lin? What have you decided to do with him?"
Jun paused for a mont. "To your first question, as you can expect, he is not doing well. He hasn't left his old house since the incident. He is still at the place where she died…To your second question, I don't really know..."
He pulled her closer and said, "He betrayed Sky. I do feel hurt because I treated him as my family. I cannot forgive him either. But he also ca to his senses and tried to talk Zhan Yahui out of it by standing on our side after he learned the truth. Also…It was Zhan Yahui's last request to spare her only friend. I cannot really explain it but for so reason, I want to respect that wish. Bro Zixin said the sa thing to .
But he was involved with the judge's murder from the Summit. Bro Zixin and I won't press any charges, but we cannot help him with the punishnt he ought to face. I asked Yijun to spare him so days and then make an arrest."
She nodded. "I see."
Ai then asked, "How long will Hou Lin be at his old ho? I know he is devastated over her loss but…"
"It will take ti for him to heal. But I have a way to make him step out of that place.
—
Hou Lin stared at a certain grave as he stood inside the cetery. Before, it was as if he had taken an oath to never co out of his shell. But the mont he heard the news, his feet automatically moved out of his house for the first ti in four days.
The news of Zhan Yahui's funeral.
When her body was taken away, a question arose of what to do with it. She had no family to take care of her last rites. She only had Hou Lin, but he wasn't in the state to arrange anything.
Jun gave so thought and decided to prepare a funeral for Zhan Yahui. To the Liu family, it didn't co as a shock to know that Jun took responsibility for his enemy's last rites. They already knew that after everything that happened, Jun was just that kind of a person to do that.
At present, Hou Lin was the only man who stood before her grave and that was enough for Jun because he was the only person Zhan Yahui needed.
Jun and Ai stood afar, simply watching Hou Lin in silence.
Hou Lin gently bent on his knees and gazed at the na engraved on the stone. It was a harsh reality to feel again that Zhan Yahui would only be present in the form of a na engraved on a stone from now on. He wasn't sure what he was thinking but compared to his old ho, he strangely felt at peace here.
As Ai stared at Hou Lin's lonely back, she asked, "Do you know, Jun? I know you will think that I am crazy."
Jun couldn't help but raise a soft smile. "I already know you are crazy. But I love all that craziness. Tell what you feel."
She slowly said, "I feel that Zhan Yahui deserved a second chance more than anybody else."
There was a beat of silence.
"Even if she hadn't ddled in our lives in the past, we would have been happy nevertheless. We would have found our way to it. Even though you couldn't accept Shui's rejection, I know you would have moved on eventually. I wouldn't have given up on my writing. We don't know what the future held for us beyond those five years. You have a good family. I have a good family. I think we could have held it together. We had so many people to lean on. But Zhan Yahui had none. Her loneliness and her grief wouldn't have changed no matter how many years would have passed."
Jun rembered Zhan Yahui's last words.
'I envy you two so much. You are so lucky to be born to the parents you did. I wish…I could have gotten a family like yours…'
"Yes. You are right, Ai."
"That's why Jun, I hope she doesn't go to hell for her sins. I sincerely wish that in her next life, she gets the family she always wanted to have."
Jun's dark brown irises reflected the sa emotions as hers. He gently intertwined his hand with hers as he wished from the bottom of his heart. "I wish so too."
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