The words kept echoing in Gu Jiangyue's mind. Her heart started pounding. It seemed that, before she realized it, she had come to rely on Xie Jiuan.
"Miss, you're finally awake! You've really scared me these days."
Gu Jiangyue had been in a coma for two days and finally woke up. Zhi Yuan patted her chest, her eyes filled with relief. To avoid worrying Zhi Yuan, Gu Jiangyue didn't tell her in detail about robbing Xie Chengrui's disaster - relief grain. However, it seemed that Zhi Yuan had already heard about it from Xi Yun.
"I'm fine, aren't I?"
Gu Jiangyue looked at Zhi Yuan with a gentle smile. Then, as if she remembered something, the smile on her face faded and was replaced by worry. She looked at Zhi Yuan and hesitated before speaking.
"Did Xi Yun say anything?"
Gu Jiangyue lowered her head and asked softly. Her question caught Zhi Yuan off - guard. Zhi Yuan stopped what she was doing, which was tidying up things for Gu Jiangyue, and looked at her in confusion. She asked puzzledly,
"What does the miss mean?"
Gu Jiangyue heaved a long sigh. She no longer tried to hide anything and said,
"Didn't she say anything? Like she doesn't want to follow me anymore? I can give her some silver and let her leave."
Zhi Yuan looked at Gu Jiangyue. Gu Jiangyue was holding a teacup and her head was lowered, so it was hard to tell her expression. But Zhi Yuan felt that the usually decisive miss seemed like a child at this moment. She reached out her hand lovingly and stroked Gu Jiangyue's head.
"Sister Xi Yun said something."
Gu Jiangyue instantly raised her head, and the loneliness in her eyes was hard to hide. She saw Zhi Yuan smiling slightly and saying,
"Sister Xi Yun said she regretted not meeting such a good person like the miss earlier. She also asked me to thank the miss for her."
Hearing this, Gu Jiangyue was stunned for a moment, and then she broke into a smile through her tears. Her eyes were full of joy. Since her rebirth, she had been fighting alone and had no extra time to consider the feelings of those around her. This incident of He Zhou's accident really rang an alarm for Gu Jiangyue.
Gu Jiangyue originally thought that this incident would make Xi Yun have second thoughts. She had even prepared for the situation where Xi Yun didn't want to follow her anymore and was ready to leave.
If Xi Yun really did that, Gu Jiangyue wouldn't hold her back. Instead, she understood Xi Yun very well. If Xi Yun insisted on leaving, she would give her a sum of money and let her take He Zhou away.
Gu Jiangyue originally thought that Xi Yun would prefer a relatively more stable life. But she didn't know that she also meant a great deal to Xi Yun. Just as Xi Yun said, it was Gu Jiangyue who gave Xi Yun and He Zhou the hope and opportunity to live. Xi Yun would never betray Gu Jiangyue, just like in the previous life and this life.
Thinking of this, Gu Jiangyue felt touched. The events of the previous life had given her too much stimulation. She originally thought this life would be similar to the previous one, but now she found that this time she was no longer alone. She had Xie Jiuan, Zhi Yuan, and Xi Yun around her, people she loved and who loved her.
A wave of sourness welled up in her heart. Gu Jiangyue's eyes felt swollen. She wanted to cry, but she had shed too many tears these days and couldn't cry anymore. She turned her head and met Zhi Yuan's worried look, then she broke into a smile again.
After the moment of being touched, Gu Jiangyue began to think again. The figure of Xie Jiuan flashed through her mind, from the moment they first met to the present. Gu Jiangyue then realized that the relationship between her and Xie Jiuan had changed from cooperation to something more.
Every time Xie Jiuan helped her, she felt extremely at ease. Every contact with Xie Jiuan made different emotions surge in her heart. Gu Jiangyue realized belatedly that she seemed to have fallen in love with Xie Jiuan.
Actually, Gu Jiangyue had realized this before, but she had subconsciously tried to avoid it.
Gu Jiangyue recalled Xie Jiuan's smiling face. She encouraged herself in her heart. This time, she didn't want to run away anymore. Her rebirth was to change all the unpleasant things in the past. She didn't want to be troubled by Xie Chengrui for a lifetime. She had to learn to change and accept.
Her life was not just about revenge. This time, she wanted to live for herself, not be someone else's pawn. She wanted to accept others' love openly.
Gu Jiangyue had been living carefully for half of her life. She was like a floating cloud with no place to return. Countless people had passed by her life, some casually and some sincerely, but no one could embrace her. She could protect all sentient beings, but she couldn't watch the tides of the four seas with the one she loved. Gu Jiangyue felt extremely lucky to have met Xie Jiuan. She hoped to be with him for the rest of her life.
Gu Jiangyue felt a warm feeling in her heart. She had struggled for a lifetime, and finally she was about to get what she wanted. She looked around the room and prepared to get out of bed.
Looking at the familiar furnishings in the room in both this life and the previous one, she felt that something was missing. As if she remembered something, she looked at Zhi Yuan and asked the question in her heart.
"Zhi Yuan, have you seen my painting?"
Her question made Zhi Yuan a little dazed. Gu Jiangyue usually painted some pictures for practice, and those paintings had been put away by Zhi Yuan. There were only two paintings that Zhi Yuan didn't put away.
One was a portrait of Gu Zhuying. Since the Lin family was raided for taking bribes, that painting might have been lost. The other was the painting of Xie Jiuan that Gu Jiangyue had painted that day. Zhi Yuan realized that Gu Jiangyue was referring to the painting of Xie Jiuan. She looked up at the place where the painting used to hang and found that it was indeed gone.
Gu Jiangyue had been really busy these days and had no time to pay attention to these things. Zhi Yuan thought that Gu Jiangyue had put the painting away to prevent it from getting dirty.
"Didn't you put it away, miss?"
Zhi Yuan scratched her head and forgot when the painting had disappeared.
"Forget it. If it's lost, it's lost."
Gu Jiangyue waved her hand casually. She and Xie Jiuan were already engaged, so painting a picture of Xie Jiuan was not something to be ashamed of.
Gu Jiangyue didn't know that the person in the painting was now in Bishui Yunju. His heart was still pounding and couldn't calm down for a long time. The wisp of her black hair that he had cut off when they first met was still being played with in his hand.
Xie Jiuan always liked a quiet environment. His bedroom was very tidy with no clutter. The only decoration in the whole bedroom was probably a painting hanging beside the chessboard on the table.
The painting was very detailed, and one could tell at a glance that the painter had extraordinary skills. Hanging in this simple room, it added a special charm to the room and made it even more beautiful.
Song Zhong couldn't understand either. Xie Jiuan was not a narcissistic person, so why did he hang his own portrait in the room and look at it every day, never allowing anyone to touch it casually?
But as soon as Gu Jiangyue came, she would be able to tell at a glance that this was the painting she had painted herself, and it was the one that had gone missing.