Volume One — Chapter 73: Yang Duo’s Secret

Cheng Tai stood outside the door, pushing a wheelchair in front of him, with Zhuang Zhizhi seated upon it.

Zhuang Zhizhi grew especially emotional upon seeing Hanyue. He raised his trembling hand, reaching out as if to touch her.

Cheng Tai immediately pushed the wheelchair inside.

Hanyue gazed at the man before her, his face now deeply etched with the traces of time.

Seventeen years had passed since their last meeting; both were now well into their fifties.

The emotions long buried in the depths of memory suddenly began to stir restlessly.

Clutching her chest, Hanyue opened her mouth several times before she finally managed to speak.

“Ah Zhi.”

This man who had loved her so deeply had tried to see her all these years, only to be refused every time.

Yet in her heart, she had missed him as well, every moment of every day.

Zhuang Zhizhi’s eyes brimmed with tears of excitement.

“Hanyue.”

Yu Mo turned and left with Douzi, quietly closing the door behind them.

Hanyue wheeled herself closer to Zhuang Zhizhi, her own eyes now glistening with tears.

Zhuang Zhizhi looked at the woman he had loved all his life, and spoke gently.

“Don’t be stubborn. Take care of your health. There is still a long road ahead of you. Don’t you want to see Yang Duo’s son get married, have children? Help Yang Duo witness these things. When you leave this world and meet her again, you can tell her all about it, can’t you?”

At the mention of Yang Duo’s name, a flicker of pain crossed Hanyue’s eyes.

“I should have stopped Yang Duo back then, not let her go to the capital alone. Then she wouldn’t have met that man, wouldn’t have suffered such a tragic fate, wouldn’t have been hurt by him. It’s all my fault. I was dating you at the time. If only I had paid a little more attention to her, she wouldn’t have ended up like this… sob…”

As she spoke, her tears overflowed, falling like broken pearls onto the blanket covering her legs.

Zhuang Zhizhi tried to lift his hand to wipe her tears, but could not reach. His hand hovered in the air, then slowly withdrew.

His eyes, too, were filled with guilt.

“I’m sorry, Hanyue. I’ve wanted to say those words to you for a long time.”

“There’s no need for apologies. It’s I who should be sorry. If I hadn’t asked you to come with me to pick up that testing instrument that day, your sister wouldn’t have been in that accident, and you wouldn’t have ended up like this. All these years, I’ve been blaming myself. I’m the one who owes you an apology, Ah Zhi.”

Every time the night grew quiet and deep, Hanyue would be overwhelmed with remorse. If not for her, Zhuang Zhizhi would not have become what he was.

When the accident happened, the radioactive material in the testing device leaked. Both she and Zhuang Zhizhi were exposed, which led to their rare illness.

That car accident was utterly devastating.

Zhuang Xiaoyan, trying to avoid an oncoming truck, crashed straight into the roadside barrier.

In that critical moment, she put herself in harm’s way; otherwise, had the passenger side struck the barrier, Hanyue would have died instantly.

At this thought, Hanyue could not control her emotions and broke down, covering her face and weeping.

Zhuang Zhizhi seemed, too, to be transported back to the day of the crash—the day his and Hanyue’s fates were forever altered.

His sister died in that accident, leaving behind an eleven-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter.

But he had always felt it was no accident, and for years he’d investigated the cause of the crash.

Alas, he found nothing. The truck driver had died at the scene, and his family was never located. Another SUV carrying four people was also mangled beyond recognition, everyone inside perishing. No survivors or witnesses to the inner truth of that accident had ever been found.

Drawing himself back from these memories, Zhuang Zhizhi spoke to comfort her.

“Hanyue, listen to me. Get well. You’re still young, there’s so much left for you to do.”

Hanyue lowered her long lashes, suppressing her sorrow, determined to appear less helpless.

She spoke softly.

“I won’t listen to you. Please leave. Let’s not meet again.”

“Don’t you want to know Yang Duo’s secret?”

At last, Zhuang Zhizhi could no longer hold back the words he had buried in his heart for so long. He’d thought this secret would be interred with him, never imagining he would meet Hanyue again.

Hanyue was stunned.

“What… what did you say? Yang Duo’s secret? What secret?”

How could she not know? She was Yang Duo’s best friend; there had never been secrets between them.

How could Zhuang Zhizhi know something about Yang Duo that she did not?

Zhuang Zhizhi composed himself. The most important thing now was to persuade Hanyue to accept treatment.

His tone was calm and gentle.

“Hanyue, if you promise to get well, I’ll tell you Yang Duo’s secret.”

He had promised Yang Duo never to reveal this to Hanyue.

But now, for Hanyue’s sake, he cared little for such promises.

Hanyue looked serious. After deep consideration, she answered.

“Very well. I promise you. But you’d better not have made this up just to get me to agree to treatment.”

“I wouldn’t. You haven’t known me for just a day. You know exactly what kind of person I am.”

Zhuang Zhizhi had been president of the chamber of commerce for many years, and with good reason.

On the outside, he was known as “Zhuang the Upright.”

He had never been one to deceive, much less to frame others.

Hanyue nodded slightly. She understood him, and so she chose to believe.

But what was that secret? What could Yang Duo have hidden from her?

She gripped the armrest of her wheelchair tightly, forcing down her desire to get to the bottom of it.

“All right.”

Yu Mo entered the room again; Zhuang Zhizhi was already preparing to leave.

Yu Mo bade her farewell.

The traces of tears were still plain on Hanyue’s face.

“Mo Mo, how long will it take for those medicinal herbs to cure my illness?”

Yu Mo parted her lips in surprise, not expecting her master to suddenly agree to treatment.

She had no idea what Mr. Zhuang had said to her master, that she would agree so quickly.

Douzi was elated. Though he didn’t know why Mr. Zhuang had given the herbs for his master’s treatment, he promised that if another wild purple lingzhi of a hundred years’ age was found, he would do everything in his power to cure Mr. Zhuang’s illness.

“Mr. Zhuang is truly a good man.”

Hanyue and Yu Mo said nothing, each understanding perfectly well why Zhuang Zhizhi had done what he did, but neither said a word to Douzi about it.

The next day, Yu Mo and Douzi accompanied Hanyue back to Magic City.

Lin Xing, who had originally said he had other matters, nonetheless boarded the plane to Magic City with them.

Several times during the flight, Yu Mo wanted to ask Lin Xing why he was coming along, but never found the right moment.

When the plane landed, Hu Gua came to meet them.

He was thin, but his bright, phoenix-like eyes were full of life.

Upon seeing Hanyue, he immediately stepped forward to take the wheelchair from Douzi and pushed her toward the parking lot.

Yu Mo recalled her farewell to Qi Yancheng before leaving the capital, and the phone call he had taken at that time.

Qi Yancheng’s phone had suddenly rung, and he answered.

“Yes, in Marseille? All right, I understand. Keep him safe.”

…

Yu Mo silently recited the name Marseille—a city in France.

Who was Qi Yancheng protecting?

Could it be her father?

She took out her phone and dialed a number from her contacts.

Soon, a man’s voice answered from the other end.

“Vivienne, darling, what brings you to call me?”