Claude truly hadn’t expected Xu Ke to buy a ticket to go ho so quickly. For a mont, he didn’t know what to say. He blinked rapidly a couple of tis before composing himself, "Since you’ve already bought your plane ticket, I can only wish you a safe trip. Please rember to keep in touch with often," Claude said.
"I will," Xu Ke nodded, and the two of them said their goodbyes.
The drone of the plane echoed, leaving a white trail in the sky. Ely, who was helping her parents at the inn, suddenly ran outside, stuck her head out the window, and stared absentmindedly at the empty sky, her mind lost in thought. It felt as if a large piece of her heart had just gone missing.
"Ely, what’s wrong?" The innkeeper’s wife ran after her daughter and saw her looking up at the sky with tears streaming down her face, a sight that filled her with worry.
"I don’t know what’s wrong with . I just suddenly felt a pain here," Ely said, clutching her chest with a vacant expression.
The innkeeper’s wife looked at her daughter, who had beco thinner and more haggard, her whole deanor like a living corpse, barely human. Unable to control her tears, she cried.
"My dear daughter, how did you beco like this for a man? If you really like him that much, your father and I won’t stop you. Go find him if it makes you happy. Your happiness is all that matters, and if you’re happy, we will be too." Seeing Ely’s forr vibrant self reduced to this, the innkeeper’s wife’s heart ached to the point of breaking.
Yet Ely remained in her dazed state, looking as though she had lost her soul.
"I won’t look for him. What’s the point of getting rejected again? I’ll just leave it be. With ti, I’ll forget about him. I can forget him, can’t I?" Ely asked, looking at her mother’s tear-streaked face.
"I believe you, I do," the innkeeper’s wife said tearfully.
"Then please stop crying, let’s go back inside." Ely wiped the tears from her mother’s cheeks and, holding her hand, went back into the inn.
anwhile, Xu Ke slept soundly on the plane. Upon reaching the airport, he t with the contact, confird their identity, handed over the gem he brought, and headed ho.
His days in Holland had left him longing intensely for the taste of ho, missing everything about it.
Xu Ke rushed ho with all due speed and walked in to find the two won of the house having a al.
"Have you not been eating well while I was gone? Why have you lost so much weight?" Xu Ke asked, approaching and gently touching Lin ngyao’s now sharper chin.
Lin ngyao had never expected the man she thought about day and night to return so suddenly. She stared wide-eyed as Xu Ke approached her, and it wasn’t until his warm fingers touched her face that she realized this was not a dream — Xu Ke had truly returned.
"Why did you co back only now? Do you know how worried I was these days? You left without a word. If soone hadn’t given a ssage, I almost reported you missing. Do you understand that?" Lin ngyao reached out to hit Xu Ke’s chest, tears welling up uncontrollably and streaming down her face.
"It’s all my fault, I’m so sorry, please don’t cry." Xu Ke, sowhat at a loss, tried to comfort Lin ngyao, but sotis people are strange; even if they hadn’t planned to cry, once others comfort them, the tears can’t be held back, spilling out like beads on a broken string, leaving Xu Ke heartbroken and not knowing what to do.
When Lin ngyao finished crying and lifted her head from Xu Ke’s embrace, her eyes were swollen and red, her normally large eyes much smaller. Xu Ke, feeling both sorry and loving, kissed her eyes.
"Alright, no more crying, Xiaxia is watching. She might laugh at you," Xu Ke said, glancing at Yu Xia who was watching them.
Lin ngyao peeked at Yu Xia, saw her indeed looking, and imdiately hid her head in embarrassnt.
Xu Ke released Lin ngyao and stood in front of Yu Xia, asuring her height with his hand. "You’ve not grown taller, but you’ve gotten thinner. Haven’t you been eating properly?" Xu Ke asked.
At this ntion, Lin ngyao’s tears, which she had just held back, started to flow again. Fortunately, she stood behind Xu Ke so he couldn’t see her expression.
"I haven’t had much appetite lately, not that interested in eating," Yu Xia said with a pale smile.
Xu Ke, seeing her pale, thin face, frowned deeply.
Yu Xia was already petite, standing at only 1.62 ters tall and weighing just over 80 pounds, but now Xu Ke saw her even slimr waist, thinking she must weigh less than 80 pounds now.
"Is it that you don’t like eating, or can’t eat at all?" Xu Ke asked, frowning.
"What are you saying? How could I not eat? I just lose my appetite around this ti each year. Every year, I lose so weight, but it’s not much. It’s just that you haven’t seen in a long ti, so you think I’ve lost a lot," Yu Xia said, her head lowered, afraid to et Xu Ke’s eyes, a clear sign of guilt that made Xu Ke’s heart skip a beat.
"What’s really going on? Are you hiding sothing from ?" Xu Ke looked at the two standing before him, both with heads bowed, feeling a growing sense of panic.
"I’m really fine," Yu Xia murmured quietly.
"I’m not blind. I can tell if you’re okay or not. Look at how skinny you are now. Your arm feels like it’ll snap with a touch. Look at your current state; do you seem alright?" Xu Ke picked up Yu Xia’s arm, touched her cold face, and spoke.
"And you’re so cold. Are you telling you’re fine? What are you hiding from ?" Xu Ke directed this last question at Lin ngyao.
"If you won’t tell , I’ll ask Grandpa Zhao," Xu Ke gave the two won an ultimatum.
"It’s really nothing," Yu Xia said softly again, while Lin ngyao stayed silent, her hands gripping her clothes tightly.
"If you won’t tell , I’ll ask and investigate myself," Xu Ke said angrily, seeing that they still wouldn’t tell him the truth even now.
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