Yuan Lei’s wedding day finally arrived. The white wedding dress not only highlighted a beautiful bride but also showcased a bridesmaid who, just by standing there, could capture the attention of every man in the room.
Wang Zheng also attended the wedding, but he didn’t plan to stay long. He quietly sat in a corner, silently watching the couple on stage being guided by the host to display their affection.
These past days, Wang Zheng had been tirelessly searching for Ye Xi Yan, but his efforts had yielded no results.
Just as the banquet was beginning, and the performances were still ongoing on stage, Wang Zheng received a phone call.
The caller introduced himself as a friend of Ye Xi Yan, informing him that she might be living in a certain neighborhood, sharing an apartment with a friend. Wang Zheng immediately stood up and, under his father Wang Cheng Han’s puzzled gaze, rushed out toward the parking lot.
The address was quite far, and the car was already heading toward the outskirts.
Wang Zheng found the building listed on the address, an old five-story structure in a rural county. He knocked on the door urgently.
A woman’s voice called out from inside, “Why are you knocking so hard? Can’t even get some sleep!”
When the door opened, a woman in pajamas, with disheveled hair and an annoyed expression, looked at Wang Zheng. “Who are you looking for?”
Wang Zheng took a step back to show he meant no harm. “I’m looking for Yezi, Ye Xi Yan. I’m her husband.”
The woman sized him up and down. “Yezi left. You’re too late.”
Hearing this, Wang Zheng felt a deep sense of disappointment.
The woman couldn’t help but add, “Yezi is really lucky. You care so much about her.”
“Do you know where she went?” Wang Zheng asked.
She scratched her head. “She didn’t say. Why don’t you call her?”
Wang Zheng shook his head. “She’s blocked me. Please, help me. Call her for me. I’ve been looking for her for a long time.”
The woman’s expression turned wary, and she shook her head. “Sorry, Yezi is very stubborn, and she’s good to her friends. I don’t want to go against her wishes.”
Pain flashed across Wang Zheng’s eyes as he slowly turned to walk down the stairs, his steps unsteady.
The woman watched him from the doorway as he got into his car and drove off. She sighed. Returning inside, she couldn’t resist taking out her phone to call Ye Xi Yan. “Yezi, your husband came looking for you.”
Ye Xi Yan’s voice trembled on the other end of the line. “A Hong, you didn’t tell him my address, did you?”
“Of course not, you told me not to. But Yezi, why are you being so heartless? He looked really miserable. You know, it’s not easy for us to find a man who truly cares about us.”
Ye Xi Yan quickly replied, “Let’s not talk about this. I have to go eat now.”
She hung up, and her friend beside her hailed a taxi. “Come on, let’s go.”
Ye Xi Yan quickly got into the back seat, covering her face with her hands as she silently wept.
Inside, Ye Xi Yan was conflicted. She had known for a while that Wang Zheng was searching for her. But even if they got back together, what about the future? All she had left was a bit of self-respect. If she lost that too, how could she go on living? Who could guarantee that one day in the future, the Wang family wouldn’t bring up her past?
Breaking up was painful, but Ye Xi Yan believed that it was better to endure short-term pain than long-term agony. Forgetting him might bring a new tomorrow.
At the entrance of the neighborhood, Wang Zheng could no longer hold on.
He parked the car by the roadside, bought a pack of cigarettes from a small shop nearby, and squatted by the car, muttering to himself, “Yezi, you didn’t like me smoking. I promised you I’d quit, but now it doesn’t matter anymore.”
His hands trembled as he lit a cigarette, closing his eyes in an attempt to ease the pain.
After living together for so long, Wang Zheng knew Ye Xi Yan well. He had a feeling that she was aware he was looking for her, but she had likely made up her mind not to see him again.
From a nearby shop with a “Closing Down Sale” sign, a song played, “I finally lost you, in the crowd…”
At that moment, Wang Zheng truly felt that he had lost Yezi.
The Yezi who always waited quietly for him, who would smile and come forward whenever he gave her a look, to hold his arm and walk together, was gone.
Wang Zheng took out his phone, his tearful eyes blurring as he posted a message on Weibo: “When I finally understood what love is, she had already left me.”
He didn’t know how much time had passed. When A Hong returned from lunch, she saw Wang Zheng still squatting by the roadside and shook her head with a wry smile.
A mother pushing a baby stroller passed by, and the child smiled at Wang Zheng. Slowly, Wang Zheng stood up, ready to leave.
At that moment, an out-of-control truck came barreling down the road. Wang Zheng instinctively pushed the mother and child out of the way, but his own body was struck, flung aside, and landed heavily on the ground. The truck skidded for over ten meters before stopping.
The mother, clutching her child, screamed, “Somebody help!” She tried to comfort her crying child while saying to Wang Zheng, “Big brother, thank you so much. If it weren’t for you… Ah! Your leg is bleeding.”
Wang Zheng looked down. His pants had a large tear, and there was a gash on his leg, with flesh exposed and blood oozing out.
The mother pulled out some tissues and handed them to him. “Hold this on the wound. I’ve called an ambulance.”
A Hong, who had witnessed the entire incident, stopped in her tracks and slapped herself hard. Just as she was about to call Ye Xi Yan, her phone rang.
She answered, stunned.
She stared at Wang Zheng in disbelief, muttering to herself, “What’s with these two? Even accidents happen at the same time.”
A Hong rushed to Wang Zheng and grabbed his hand. “Come with me.”
Wang Zheng was confused and instinctively resisted.
“Hurry! Where’s your car? Yezi was in an accident!”
Wang Zheng’s mind went blank as A Hong dragged him along. At the car, Wang Zheng fumbled for the keys, but A Hong snatched them, shoved him into the back seat, and sped off toward the hospital.
At the emergency room entrance, Ye Xi Yan was being bandaged.
She had been out job hunting with a friend when they rear-ended a truck carrying steel rods. Sitting in the back seat, Ye Xi Yan had been hit by shattered glass, suffering cuts on her head and multiple wounds on her body. Although it was a complicated process, she was fortunately not seriously injured.
However, her friend who was with her had no heartbeat by the time they reached the hospital.
When Wang Zheng arrived at the hospital, he jumped out of the car and ran all the way. He stopped a nurse. “Excuse me, where’s the emergency room?”
The nurse pointed the way, but before she could finish, Wang Zheng had already dashed off. Watching his retreating figure, the nurse called out, “Hey, you’re bleeding!”
But Wang Zheng didn’t hear. He kept running, heading for the emergency room.
“Nurse, where’s the car accident victim who was just brought in?” Wang Zheng asked, stopping another nurse at the emergency room door.
The nurse gave him a sympathetic look and whispered, “She didn’t make it. She was taken straight to the morgue. Another one is still in…”
Wang Zheng only heard the first half of the sentence.
“She didn’t make it.” That phrase echoed in Wang Zheng’s mind.
He stumbled forward a few steps before coming to a halt, his eyes vacant. “Where’s the morgue? I want to see my wife one last time.”
The nurse, accustomed to seeing life and death, was still moved by the despairing smile on this handsome man’s face. She softly said, “I’ll take you there. But it’s too awful—she was impaled by a steel rod. Seeing her will only make you feel worse.”
The nurse led Wang Zheng to the morgue. When he saw the body covered with a white sheet, Wang Zheng’s legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.
A Hong, after parking the car and hurrying inside, followed a trail of blood drops that led her to the morgue.
There she saw Wang Zheng’s back. He was kneeling, silently, his shoulders shaking with sobs. To A Hong, he didn’t look like a living person anymore, but a withered tree, devoid of life. Overcome with emotion, she almost collapsed herself, leaning against the wall for support.
The nurse shook her head and sighed before leaving. A Hong slowly approached, placing a hand on Wang Zheng’s shoulder. “Cry it out. You’ll feel better.”
She then turned to get a nurse to bandage Wang Zheng, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Ye Xi Yan approaching.
Freshly bandaged, Ye Xi Yan had suffered only minor injuries. But with her friend Xiao Qing gone, the emotional blow was severe.
“I wanted to come to see her one last time.” she had insisted.
“A Hong?” Ye Xi Yan asked, surprised.
A Hong nodded, wiping away tears before stepping aside to reveal Wang Zheng kneeling there. She said softly, “I’ll go get a nurse to bandage him. You two… just keep hurting each other.” Then she left in a hurry.
Ye Xi Yan was stunned, her heart aching as she saw the blood pooling at Wang Zheng’s feet.
She walked over to Wang Zheng, gently placing her hand on his head, and said tenderly, “You’re such a fool.”
Wang Zheng’s stiff body shook violently as if struck by lightning.
A tear fell onto Wang Zheng’s neck, and he slowly turned around to see a tearful Ye Xi Yan, real and heartbreakingly close.
Wang Zheng raised his hand, rubbing his eyes hard. It was her. It was Yezi.
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