Chapter 307 - Too Cold in the Early Summer
Chapter 307 Too Cold in the Early Summer
Wang Yuetong’s voice was very low.
But she said it clearly and directly.
Everyone could feel the emotion in her words. In addition to some bitterness, there were also deep affection and persistence following her confusion.
She kept her head low and stole glances at Li Tianlan’s and Dongcheng Rushi’s arms, which intertwined together.
Wang Yuetong’s big eyes slowly dimmed down.
Li Tianlan suddenly felt heat on his arm.
He subconsciously pulled his arm away from Dongcheng Rushi’s hand.
The movement was very abrupt and stiff.
Dongcheng Rushi froze and looked at Li Tianlan with her watery eyes.
She looked so confused that it pained him.
It seemed that she hadn’t reacted at all. She still kept the position she had when holding Li Tianlan’s arm.
But Li Tianlan had pulled his arm away.
Dongcheng Rushi blinked her eyes. It seemed that she wanted to say something, but she just put down her hand quietly in the end.
Wang Yuetong still kept her head down.
Li Tianlan himself was surprised as well.
He looked at Wang Yuetong, who kept her head low, then looked at Dongcheng Rushi, who seemed a bit confused.
They both wore the same exquisite women’s watch on their pale wrists. The only difference was the name carved on the minute-hand.
At this moment, Li Tianlan suddenly felt disgusted at himself.
For the first time, he found that he was so indecisive in relationships.
He had figured out the future of himself and the future of the Wang family of Beihai, but he couldn’t let go of Wang Yuetong.
He didn’t want to owe the Dongcheng Clan too much, but he couldn’t let go of Dongcheng Rushi, either.
He had Qin Weibai, at least he used to have her, but he had been running away from the Samsara Palace.
And at this moment, the disconsolation of two people became the misery of three people as he pulled his arm away.
Li Tianlan suddenly realized that he was such an asshole in relationships.
He moved his hand.
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“I’m not fine!” Wang Yuetong repeated again, this time in a louder voice. She still kept her head low, but she seemed a bit more vibrant.
Three years had passed.
Separation was longer than being together.
Wang Yuetong never regretted meeting and knowing Li Tianlan.
She loved him.
But in the past three years when he went missing, Wang Yuetong, who held onto the relationship all by herself, felt really tired.
She hoped that Li Tianlan could show some love back.
Even just a few words, a hug, or even stroking her head.
Anything would make her persistence worthwhile.
More and more people gathered around.
Li Tianlan, Wang Shengxiao, Gu Hanshan, Jiang Shangyu, Song Ci, Dongcheng Rushi, Wang Yuetong…
This was the real peak summit of the young generation.
Right now, they stood together, and this scene could dictate the bond and enmity that could last for a whole era.
The atmosphere slowly became subtle.
The wild wind and heavy rain were swallowing the whole city. The neon lights afar shone on the river surface. The running water seemed twisted and dazed, the whole city felt like an illusion.
Only the yacht that they stood on was real. The wind and rain couldn’t break it, it was like the only pure land.
Dongcheng Rushi bit her red lips. She was innocent, but not stupid.
Standing beside Li Tianlan, she gently took a step back.
Whether she felt bitter inside or not, on such an occasion, she didn’t want to make it difficult for Li Tianlan.
A big warm hand held her tiny hand.
Li Tianlan took a deep breath.
His face slowly turned cold, he became indifferent and cruel.
He could feel the vibrant energy in Wang Yuetong, which was full of hope and anticipation, liveliness and longing.
These emotions were wonderful.
But wonderful things would all be shattered!
Just like whatever rose up would fall down in the end.
A bright future with too many fantasies and hopes would end up hopeless.
The Wang family of Beihai wanted to keep its legacy and be famous forever.
Wang Yuetong wanted to grow old with him.
The corner of Li Tianlan’s mouth was slightly twitching, but he managed to put on a smile. His movement was light, but as if he had exhausted all his strength, he looked extremely determined.
Wang Yuetong’s “I’m not fine” still echoed his ears.
But he didn’t want to answer that anymore.
He held Dongcheng Rushi’s hand and looked at Wang Shengxiao.
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“See you at the maneuver,” he said.
At this moment, silence was all that was left in Li Tianlan.
Wang Shengxiao’s and Song Ci’s pupils suddenly contracted.
At this moment, there was no emotion in Li Tianlan’s eyes.
There were only life and death!
Li Tianlan didn’t look at Wang Yuetong. He pulled Dongcheng Rushi and walked to the other corner.
“I miss you so much, all the time.” Wang Yuetong kept her head lower and lower, she didn’t look at Li Tianlan’s back. She just spoke with her voice trembling.
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Li Tianlan didn’t turn around.
He stopped walking for a second, then continued to move forward.
This time, he wouldn’t turn around.
Wang Yuetong said no more.
As she stood there with her head low, the vibrant energy in her completely disappeared and withered.
A drop of crystal-clear tears streamed down from the corner of her eyes and fell on the deck, then drop after drop, like a string of beads with a broken thread.
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After all the persistence, such cruelty was waiting for her in the end.
The future she imagined could be so cruel.
Wang Yuetong’s eyes became dazed and blurry through tears.
She still remembered how they met for the first time at the entrance maneuver on that sunny morning three years ago.
She still remembered how Li Tianlan passed his body temperature on her on that rainy night three years ago.
But her memory, her fantasy, and her persistence all went far away as he turned around in the heavy rain on this night.
As Wang Yuetong stood there quietly and covered her mouth with her hand, her whole body was shaking.
“Crack!”
Song Ci, standing next to Wang Shengxiao, directly crushed the wine glass in her hand.
The sharp glass pieces cut her hand, and the blood drops streamed down and intertwined with the wine.
Wang Shengxiao looked at Li Tianlan’s back in silence.
Sharpness flashed in his eyes, then he took a step forward and started to dash toward Li Tianlan.
But Song Ci pulled his body quietly.
She threw down the glass pieces in her hand and shook off the wine and blood on her hand. In a short while, the wounds on her hand that were caused by the shattered glass had started to heal.
Song Ci looked at Li Tianlan’s back, and a bit of softness and admiration appeared in her quiet eyes.
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“He was right,” Song Ci said softly, “although it was cruel.”
Wang Shengxiao took a deep breath.
He struggled to press down the anger inside of him that had gotten out of control as he walked toward Wang Yuetong stiffly.
Wang Yuetong didn’t lift her head, she just stood there quietly.
“Let’s go.”
Wang Shengxiao said softly, “That kind of man, he’s not worth it.”
Wang Yuetong didn’t say anything.
All she could think of was the time she spent with Li Tianlan.
The time they spent together was very short, but after the memories were shattered, they became so heavy and complicated, occupying every corner of her heart.
It was still hot in Huating in early summer, even though there was a storm.
The young experts who attended the banquet used their Martial Arts strength to evaporate the falling rain. The fire was not visible, but the temperature was rising rapidly, like in a furnace.
But Wang Yuetong felt cold.
It was too cold in the early summer.
The piercing coldness swallowed her body, as if she was in deep winter, in the polar region, or in an ice cave.
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Her body became stiff because of the coldness, like a statue.
The sound of the rain and wind kept whistling outside the yacht.
Wang Yuetong’s heart kept sinking with those shattered memories, as if she fell in the deep end for good.
.
…
Li Tianlan brought Dongcheng Rushi to the corner of the top floor.
The yacht was huge, so it was cold and quiet in the corner.
.
There wasn’t any rain here because the rain got evaporated into steam by the heat wave, rushed away from the yacht, and got mixed with the rain outside.
Colorful haloes appeared in Li Tianlan’s eyes one after another.
The haloes were dazzling.
Then the haloes started to disappear.
The heat in the corner slowly dissipated and backed off.
There still wasn’t any rain in the corner.
Li Tianlan let go of Dongcheng Rushi’s hand, and with a faraway, blank expression, watched the flourishing Huating in the rain under the night sky.
Dongcheng Rushi stood beside him obediently and hid her tiny hand behind her back.
Li Tianlan noticed her gesture, she had regained her composure.
“Did I hurt you?” he said softly.
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“No.”
Dongcheng Rushi shook her head subconsciously and said quickly, “It’s all right.”
She wasn’t good at lying. She blinked her big eyes and her tiny hand behind her kept shaking.
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“Are you upset?” Dongcheng Rushi stared at Li Tianlan’s eyes and asked, “Is it because of me? Or her?”
“Neither.”
Li Tianlan shook his head. He didn’t know the reason, either. Was it because of his standpoint? His destiny? His choice? Or was it because of the future?
These were all very serious questions, and Li Tianlan couldn’t give any answers.
He was just unhappy.
Dongcheng Rushi walked over and gently pulled Li Tianlan’s hand.
She didn’t know what to say, she could only be there for him.
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“I’m sorry.” Li Tianlan said softly, “Did I make you upset, too?”
“No, you didn’t.”
Dongchen Rushi stared at Li Tianlan seriously, her eyes were smiling slightly. “I’m happy, here with you.”
Li Tianlan looked at Dongcheng Rushi.
Her pretty face looked joyful, pure, and sincere.
Li Tianlan took a rapid step forward, held Dongcheng Rushi in his arms, and kissed her red lips roughly.
His kiss was wild and rude.
Dongcheng Rushi opened her eyes in shock.
As the two of them stared at each other at the closest distance, they could even see their reflections in each other’s eyes.
It was so clear.
Dongcheng Rushi’s face turned red and intoxicating.
She blinked her eyes, then gently closed them. She wrapped her arms around Li Tianlan’s neck as an inexperienced and yet gentle answer to his roughness.
The banquet had begun in the middle of the deck not far away.
Jiang Shangyu popped the champagne himself.
The smell of roasted meat slowly spread around in the air.
Wang Yuetong still stood there, looking lonely and desolate.
A laughing voice suddenly rang out behind Li Tianlan. “Yuetong lost her soul for you, and junior girl Rushi acts so obedient around you, you have gotten all the nice girls. There are deluxe suites downstairs, do you need me to arrange a suite for you?”
Dongcheng Rushi, who had been completely immersed, was shocked and pushed Li Tianlan’s chest with her tiny hands, then the two separated.
Dongchen Rushi’s face was red. This girl who looked pretty like a fairy on normal days now looked breathtakingly delicate and charming. She buried her face in Li Tianlan’s chest and held his waist tightly. It seemed that she didn’t dare to look around.
Li Tianlan looked at Jiang Shangyu, who had walked over.
This time he didn’t call him Your Highness.
But his casual joking tone brought them closer.
Li Tianlan was holding Dongcheng Rushi and looking at Jiang Shangyu, whom he almost killed three years ago, then he said blandly, “Are you jealous?”
“I envy you, but I’m not jealous.”
Jiang Shangyu smiled and said, “I don’t want what doesn’t belong to me, and nobody can take away what belongs to me.”
Li Tianlan raised his eyebrows and thought that there were other meanings in his words.
“What happened just now, you seemed cruel, but it is explainable.”
Jiang Shangyu passed Li Tianlan a cigarette and said with deep meaning, “You see, that princess is still standing there. If you can walk to her…”
“Is there any point?”
Li Tianlan said calmly, “If I explained it to her, she would feel even more pain in the future.”
“Of course there is a point.”
Jiang Shangyu said with a smile, “It’s good for us if you keep tangling with her because the Wang family of Beihai won’t compromise and neither will you, which will give us a chance.”
Li Tianlan shot him a glance. “You?”
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“Me and Hanshan,” Jiang Shangyu said blandly.
Li Tianlan lit the cigarette that Jiang Shangyu gave him. “It looks like you two had a nice cooperation. You gave away the dominance of the Three Thousand World, so you’re willing to get underneath Gu Hanshan?”
“It was all right.”
Jiang Shangyu kept smiling. He was very sly and deep-minded. Whatever was going on inside his mind, he always put on an honest, deceiving smiling face. “Hanshan is way more powerful than me. He’s willing to give me a helping hand, how can you call it getting underneath him? Maybe by following him, I can go higher and further. This is my chance, my best choice.”
“Not exactly.”
Li Tianlan shook his head. “The higher you go, the harder you’ll fall. When you actually climb on the peak, Gu Hanshan will push you down. Have you ever thought about what that would feel like?”
“No, I haven’t.”
Jiang Shangyu laughed and said calmly, “I will be his most important helper. Who would cut off a helping hand?”
“What if he has to cut you off?”
Li Tianlan let out a cold laugh. “For example, what if he finds out that you have been hiding your Heavenly King Heart… What do you think he would do to you?”
Jiang Shangyu was shocked, and the cigarette in his hand was instantly burnt to ashes.
He lifted up his head stiffly and looked at Li Tianlan in great disbelief.
It was not until this moment that he truly felt shocked and scared.
Heavenly King Heart!
This was his biggest secret, only he and his father knew about this.
“Li Tianlan, how could you know about this?!”
“You…”
As Jiang Shangyu opened his mouth, there was a bit of sharp killing intent flashing in his eyes.
Li Tianlan looked at him quietly.
Even Dongchen Rushi lifted her head up from Li Tianlan’s chest and looked at Jiang Shangyu with a strange expression.
“Don’t try to fight me.”
Li Tianlan said slowly, “That is stupid. And right now, you’re no match for me.”
Jiang Shangyu looked at Dongcheng Rushi, then looked at Li Tianlan. His eyes kept drifting, and his killing intent was getting stronger and stronger.
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“You can trust Rushi, she’ll keep your secret,” Li Tianlan said.
Dongcheng Rushi suddenly laughed and rubbed her head on his chest.
Li Tianlan’s glance quietly became deep.
Dongcheng Rushi indeed could be trusted.
But he was aware that Dongcheng Yueshen was also watching everything.
Jiang Shangyu had the Heavenly King Heart. If this information were to be handled properly, Li Tianlan could gain inconceivable benefits from it.
But compared to the benefits, he valued Dongcheng Yueshen more.
If he did marry Dongcheng Rushi, how would Dongcheng Yueshen feel about it?
At this moment, Li Tianlan suddenly thought about a mysterious person—the Heavenly Son that indeed existed but few people knew about.
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Dongcheng Huangtu!
Li Tianlan knew the cause of Dongcheng Huangtu’s death. Qin Weibai told him back then that Dongcheng Huangtu was killed by the woman he loved the most with a sword when he was being encircled.
If he married Dongcheng Rushi…
Someday in the future, would Dongcheng Yueshen put a sword in his chest just like that woman did?
Did the woman who killed Dongcheng Huangtu back then also have a multiple personality disorder?
He had to test Dongcheng Yueshen’s real attitude.
If the Liu family from Huating was the first decoy, then Jiang Shangyu’s secret of having the Heavenly King Heart was the second decoy.
Jiang Shangyu was still looking at Li Tianlan.
Li Tianlan said Dongcheng Rushi could keep his secret, which meant that Li Tianlan could also keep his secret.
“What do you want?” Jiang Shangyu narrowed his eyes and asked blandly, then his heart calmed down quickly.
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“Cooperation.”
Li Tianlan smiled. “At least right now our standpoints are not against each other. Don’t deny it, you don’t really want to work for Gu Hanshan. And I want to destroy Kunlun City. From this perspective, you are a pawn in my hand, I can also be a pawn in your hand. No one will lose.”
He paused, then continued, “And this is the reason you came to me for a chat tonight, right?”
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“I…” Jiang Shangyu opened his mouth and said with a bitter smile, “But it didn’t go well as I expected.”
At this moment, he suddenly felt relieved.
The secret of the Heavenly King Heart could indeed ruin him.
But in Li Tianlan’s eyes, he must have more important value.
This was the foundation of cooperation.
And when Li Tianlan thought he had no value anymore, Jiang Shangyu was confident that by then, he wouldn’t be afraid of Kunlun City or Li Tianlan.
“I prefer telling the truth.”
Li Tianlan said blandly, “And that is good for both of us.”
“Good.”
Jiang Shangyu laughed. “If you can survive the final maneuver, I’ll work with you. We’ll talk about it then, tonight is not the right time.”
“Are you questioning my strength?”
Li Tianlan’s voice sounded a bit weird.
“Now you’re very powerful. I have watched the footage of you fighting. But if I guessed right, your current health state is not very good.”
Jiang Shangyu said calmly, “Your Martial Arts has reached the extreme, way further than your body can take. When in battle, your body was very tight and stiff, which said a lot. According to my assumption, in pure damaging power, you can even beat Wang Shengxiao, but your health state is worse than any of us. Even Song Ci can cause you serious injury or even kill you if she hits you right, let along Wang Shengxiao.”
Li Tianlan looked at Jiang Shangyu and seemed to be thinking about something. “But I don’t think she can hit me.”
“You will eventually make a mistake. And even if you don’t, what about encirclement?”
Jiang Shangyu shook his head and wanted to say something more, but suddenly realized that the yacht had quieted down.
As Jiang Shangyu turned around subconsciously, his expression seemed a bit weird.
In his vision, Wang Yuetong, who had been standing still, made a move.
She took a look at Li Tianlan, then walked over step by step without any hesitation.
Her footsteps were light and yet so brave.
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At this moment, Wang Yuetong had lost all her dignity and pride, but she carried a kind of bravery and determination that no one had seen in her before.
She was treated so coldly and yet was still able to move forward.
This was bravery.
Suddenly, everyone was touched inside, including Li Tianlan.
Wang Yuetong walked straight up to Li Tianlan.
Her eyes were red and swollen, but she looked determined.
Dongcheng Rushi hesitated, then walked away from Li Tianlan over to the side.
Li Tianlan took a deep breath.
He looked at Wang Yuetong with calm and even cold eyes.
Wang Yuetong walked over, hesitated for a second, then reached out her hand and grabbed Li Tianlan’s arm.
She lowered her head again and said softly, “Can we talk?”