Chapter 22

This was the first time Qiao Laosi had been complimented by a woman he didn’t know—especially about the scarred face he carried. His emotions were… complicated.

Ever since he had returned from that place, people avoided him like the plague. If not for that, he wouldn’t have struggled to find work and eventually turned to the black market trade.

“Hahaha—”

After a moment of silence, Qiao Laosi suddenly burst into laughter. This time, it was a genuine, heartfelt laugh.

His subordinates watched their boss, who was radiating joy from head to toe, and all turned their eyes toward Lan Xiruo with admiration.

This woman was incredible!

They had never seen their boss laugh like this before.

“My surname is Qiao, and I’m the fourth in my family. Everyone calls me Qiao Laosi.

You sure know how to talk, girl, and I like your personality. How about I recognize you as my little sister?”

Qiao Laosi spoke playfully, but behind his back, his hands were tightly clenched.

Lan Xiruo’s smile deepened. “Sure! My name is Lan Xiruo. From now on, I’ll call you Fourth Brother.”

“Hey, hey! I finally have a sister! My family is full of rough men—I never thought I’d actually have a sister one day.”

Qiao Laosi felt a lump in his throat. To hide his emotions, he glared at his subordinates.

“What are you all standing around like blocks of wood for? Hurry up and greet her! From now on, my little sister is your ‘Grand Mistress’! If she ever comes to the commune, you all better ensure her safety.”

His subordinates stiffened at the glare and immediately responded in unison, “Greetings, Grand Mistress!”

The scene was so reminiscent of a gangster initiation that Lan Xiruo instinctively took a step back.

“Don’t be like that—I’m just here to sell things.

Oh, right, Fourth Brother, I brought some goods today. I’ve hidden them in a safe place. Wait here—I’ll go fetch them.”

With that, Lan Xiruo put on her straw hat and hurried away.

Qiao Laosi watched her nimble figure disappear into the distance and murmured with a smile, “As expected of my sister! Just look at her running—she’s just like me!”

His subordinates: “……”

One was burly and broad-shouldered; the other was slender and graceful. How exactly were they alike?

After exiting the black market, Lan Xiruo ducked into a secluded alley, retrieved two sacks of fish from her storage space, and carried them with a shoulder pole back to the black market.

As soon as she left, Gu Xizhi emerged from the other end of the alley. Watching her disappearing figure, his gaze turned contemplative before he quickly followed her.

Something’s different.

The course of events had completely changed from the past life.

Xiruo… has reincarnated just like me.

Lan Xiruo struggled with the weight of the shoulder pole, walking step by step with difficulty.

Suddenly, the weight on her shoulders lightened. Someone had taken the pole from her.

“Who—”

Startled, she turned around. The moment she saw that familiar face, tears welled up and fell uncontrollably.

Gu Xizhi hadn’t expected her to cry. He panicked, completely at a loss. He quickly set the pole down and carefully wiped her tears with his sleeve.

“You—why are you crying? I just saw that your load was too heavy and wanted to help.”

Lan Xiruo didn’t respond. She just stared at his face and cried even harder.

Gu Xizhi glanced around. Seeing no one, he sighed and pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Xiruo, don’t cry anymore, okay? I’m back. I came back to find you.

You once said… that if there was another life, you’d chase after me instead.

So, do your words still count?”

The moment those words left his mouth, Lan Xiruo’s tears stopped in shock.

“You—what do you mean?”

She remembered that afternoon vividly. The man had returned from the research institute, dressed in a black shirt, walking toward her against the sunlight. The dappled light filtering through the trees made him look even more mysterious and handsome.

Her mind had gone blank, and before she knew it, she blurted out,

“You’re really good-looking. Too bad I’m crippled now—otherwise, I’d definitely chase you.”

The man had opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could, she had laughed and added,

“Well, if not in this life, then in the next! If I get another life, I’ll definitely pursue you!”

—-

Gu Xizhi gently pulled her away from his embrace. His usually smiling face was now unusually serious.

“Xiruo, I spent decades for those words of yours, exhausting everything I had just to send myself back.

You can’t go back on your words now.”

Lan Xiruo’s heart clenched. Her voice trembled.

“What do you mean?”

Why did each word make sense individually, but together, they didn’t?

Her dazed expression amused Gu Xizhi. He chuckled and flicked her forehead.

“Silly girl, it’s exactly as it sounds.

After you died in that car accident, I spent twenty years researching that bracelet on your wrist.

Eventually, I found a way to return to the past.”

Lan Xiruo’s eyes widened in shock. She opened and closed her mouth several times before finally stammering,

“But—but weren’t you always researching aerospace technology?”

His project was extremely important—he had always been dedicated to it.

As if reading her thoughts, Gu Xizhi explained,

“I used my spare time to study the bracelet.”

It was because his rest time was too short that he had died young. But he hadn’t expected to be reborn.

It must have been the bracelet’s spirit—pitying him for losing his love—that had given him this second chance.

As he spoke, Gu Xizhi gently rubbed the simple wooden bracelet on Lan Xiruo’s wrist and murmured,

“We really ought to thank your ancestors for leaving behind this bracelet.”

Lan Xiruo’s gaze fell on the seemingly ordinary wooden bracelet, her expression complicated.

“I never thought you’d spend so much time studying it…

But when you asked me if my words still counted, what exactly did you mean?”

As she spoke, her eyes darted around evasively, unwilling to meet Gu Xizhi’s gaze.

Seeing her timid expression, Gu Xizhi lifted her chin and forced her to look at him. His voice was firm and resolute.

“Silly girl, what else could it mean?

I like you.

I’ve long been drawn to your unwavering spirit, falling for you little by little.”

It was just that he had realized it too late—too late to stop her from leaving, too late to save her life.

Thump, thump—

Her heart pounded wildly.

Lan Xiruo still couldn’t believe it. She shook her head vigorously.

“No way. You’re just saying that to make me happy, right?”

She had never dared to imagine that he would love her.

She had always thought she was deluding herself—like a toad yearning for a swan.

That was why, in the end, she had resolutely left him, choosing to teach in a remote mountain village.

“Xiruo, you know there are cameras in my villa, right?

Every day, I would watch them to see what you were up to.

At first, it was just because I was worried about you. But then, it became a habit.

And after that… my heart was no longer mine to control.”

Lan Xiruo could no longer hold back her tears. They streamed down like a broken dam.

“Xiruo… after your accident, I realized that everything I had been striving for lost its meaning.

I didn’t want to be some ‘once-in-a-century genius’ or a ‘scientific prodigy.’

I just wanted to be an ordinary man—so that whenever I wanted to see you, I could.”

And not just watch you through a screen, longing for you day after day.