Chapter 56: The Person I Want to Protect

Chapter 56: The Person I Want to Protect

In Sacred Tree Park, Fang Xiaoling sat with her back leaning against the trunk of a giant tree, her head tilted up to gaze at the countless wishing cards fluttering on the branches in the wind. She murmured to herself, "Roland, you must have started executing your mission by now... Following your plan step by step, getting everything you desire just like before."

With that, she lowered her head and buried her face in her knees, searching her mind for her own mission target—Zheng Zhe. There was only his back, sitting right in the middle of the front row. Almost all the memories were of him taking notes diligently in class. No matter how deeply she searched Li Mengling's memories, she could not find a single happy scene between the two of them, nor was there ever any real communication.

In Fang Xiaoling's eyes, the boy was just a high school freshman, and her heart remained completely undisturbed. She could not comprehend what Li Mengling actually liked about Zheng Zhe.

She was not as adept at understanding human nature as Roland, nor was she as skilled at charm as Jiang Tongtong. A profound sense of powerlessness washed over her, making her feel the despair of a dead end. Trying to compete with Roland on the speed of mission completion was nothing short of a fairy tale.

"We really do have a connection, don't we?"

A familiar voice rang in her ear. Fang Xiaoling raised her head and looked over. The man sitting beside her was wearing a white shirt, gazing at the drifting clouds in the distant sky.

Thinking she was hallucinating, she rubbed her eyes hard, but the man was still there.

"Shen Yi? Why are you here?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself. I just wandered here before I knew it," Shen Yi said, rolling up his sleeves to his arms. "And you?"

"I..." Fang Xiaoling lowered her head. "I can't really explain it either."

"Then it must be destined by fate, right?" Shen Yi smiled and said, "Perhaps the heavens brought us here to comfort each other."

"Comfort?"

"Mhm." Shen Yi smiled faintly. "You must have something troubling you, right? Why don't you talk about it? Maybe someone my age has more experience and can help you figure out a way?"

Fang Xiaoling did not know what to think. After a moment, she actually felt a slight urge to laugh. "You playboy, don't tell me you're trying to hit on me too? I'm just a kid who started high school."

Shen Yi was stunned, looking somewhat displeased. Unwilling to offer excessive explanations, he made to stand up and leave, but Fang Xiaoling pulled him back. "What? Can't take a joke, mister?"

Although Shen Yi sat back down in his original spot, he turned his head away and remained silent.

"Alright, I'll go first." Fang Xiaoling rested her head against the tree trunk. "As for me, I'm forced to make a boy I don't even like fall in love with me, so I'm feeling rather annoyed."

Shen Yi looked at her in surprise, paused for a few seconds, and said, "Actually, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. I always feel like I'm in a relationship, but I have no idea who I love..."

"Tch, Jiang Tongtong, obviously. Who else could it be, the artificial intelligence downstairs?"

"Jiang Tongtong?" Shen Yi furrowed his brow slightly, muttering, "That name sounds so familiar..."

Hearing this, Fang Xiaoling seemed to recall something. "Don't you remember the woman who was at your place yesterday morning?"

"Yesterday morning?" Shen Yi blinked in bewilderment. "At my place? Wasn't it you at my place yesterday?"

"Aside from me, there was another woman, Jiang Tongtong. You really don't remember?"

Shen Yi shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about. You left yesterday morning after recovering from your illness, and after that, it felt like I fell asleep and had a dream. In the dream, I kept planning who to invite out the next day. Clearly, while I was in the dream, I knew, but once I woke up, I couldn't remember it no matter what."

After finishing, seeing Fang Xiaoling staring straight at him, Shen Yi immediately explained, "Don't misunderstand, alright? Definitely not you. In my eyes, you're just a kid."

"If I weren't a kid in your eyes, once I return to the real world, I'd dig your eyeballs out!" With that, Fang Xiaoling threw an arm over Shen Yi's shoulder. "Mister, didn't we agree to comfort each other? Hurry up and think of a way for me. I'm even more impatient to go home now."

"If you want to go home, just go home... Do you not have money for a cab?"

"Not that home." Fang Xiaoling pointed her arm toward the sky. "I mean that home, the one that truly belongs to the little ants."

Shen Yi followed the direction of her finger to look at the azure sky for a moment, then suddenly turned serious. "Don't do anything foolish. You're so young, and your future holds infinite possibilities. No matter what kind of difficulty you encounter, remember this: as long as you are willing to resolve it, you will definitely find a way."

"Hey—" Fang Xiaoling sighed. "Actually, you're quite pathetic too. You don't know anything, yet you think you know everything. Even when your memories are stripped away and your life is manipulated, you still live on as if it's only natural..."

"My memories haven't been stripped away. I simply had a dream," Shen Yi said with conviction. "People only have hope if they stay alive. When I first decided to enter the stock market, my entire family opposed it, except for my wife, who remained steadfast as alv—"

At this point, Shen Yi suddenly froze. Sitting beside him, Fang Xiaoling was equally startled.

However, after letting out a self-deprecating laugh, Shen Yi explained it away himself. "What wife would I have? How pathetic. I must be constantly fantasizing and mistaking it for something that actually happened... Anyway, look at me now, moving from the Qing Apartment on Pinshan Street to Canglan International. You must realize how massive a leap that is, right?"

"You... why didn't you keep thinking just now?" Fang Xiaoling gently grabbed the sleeve of Shen Yi's arm. "Maybe you really did have a wife before?"

Shen Yi seemed to ponder for a moment before speaking frankly, "Oh, come on! Such a thing doesn't exist, so why split hairs over it? Little girl, human life really has to be lived this way: if you can't figure something out temporarily, just stop thinking about it for now. Living well in the present moment is what matters most."

"But I feel like not thinking about it doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist." Fang Xiaoling slowly loosened her grip on his sleeve. "Evasion only makes those who cause your trouble even more rampant. In the past, I resigned myself to fate simply because I trusted the arrangements of destiny too much, but now..." Fang Xiaoling looked at Shen Yi and continued, "Now, not only do I have people I want to protect, but I also have weapons with which to fight back. I must go to war! I will not allow the important people around me to be toyed with and manipulated by them like this, to the extent that even the right to know who they truly are is stripped away!"

"Ah... kids these days are all so dramatic." Shen Yi stretched lazily, not taking Fang Xiaoling's words to heart at all. "Perhaps there's some truth to what you say. Then why not temporarily set aside the problems you can't figure out and first do what is within your power? Maybe the answers will dawn on you before you even realize it?"

"What you're saying makes sense too. How about this, let's both take each other's advice?" Fang Xiaoling stood up and dusted off her pants. "I'll think a little less from now on, and you'll think a little more."