Wu Pengpeng didn't hesitate and blurted out, "I like him!"
He Qianshan's eyes suddenly lit up. There seemed to be two small flames burning in the depths of his eyes, shining so brightly that it was almost blinding.
However, before he could express his inner joy, he heard Wu Pengpeng say, "He's like a younger brother to me."
The small flames in He Qianshan's eyes seemed to be suddenly hit by a strong gust of wind and were on the verge of being extinguished.
His gaze met Wu Pengpeng's in the rear - view mirror, with a persistent and entangled look: "I'm not talking about the kind of liking for relatives and friends."
Wu Pengpeng was stunned for a moment, as if just understanding the meaning of his words.
Then she was amused by his question: "When we parted, he was eight and I was twelve. In real life, kids at that age were still watching *Boonie Bears*. How could they know about love between a man and a woman?"
At first, she did fantasize that one day they would meet again and perhaps rekindle their relationship.
But year after year passed, and she never waited for him.
Life had to move forward. She couldn't live in the past forever.
At the age of twenty, she finally accepted the fact that their fates had ended eight years ago.
Life was too tough. One always needed someone to support them to get through. So she got a boyfriend and started a new life.
Later, her new life was turned upside down. She came to this world, and it was impossible for her to meet him again in this lifetime.
Hearing her rational and somewhat cold words, He Qianshan felt a slight sense of loss in his heart.
After a long while, he finally spoke again: "If, and I mean if, you meet him again, would you like him?"
Wu Pengpeng saw the cautious prayer in his eyes. The words "maybe" on the tip of her tongue circled around and were swallowed back.
Even when drunk, she couldn't bear to make He Qianshan sad.
She gave him a gentle smile and coaxed him in a tone like soothing a child: "Don't worry. I won't."
Hearing this, He Qianshan's heart suddenly sank to the bottom of the sea, floating emptily without a landing point.
He was in a daze for a long while, then smiled self - deprecatingly. What was he expecting?
Did he hope that she would wait for an impossible person for decades like he did?
If that was the case, if that was really the case...
Actually, he wouldn't be happy either.
She was the only person he could trust in that world. Even if they couldn't meet again in this lifetime, he hoped she would be happy. Even if the person who gave her happiness wasn't him.
If she spent her long life waiting for him alone, it would be so pitiful for her.
Since he had experienced that kind of torture, he didn't want her to go through it.
Fifteen years after he came back, he finally had to admit that he couldn't fight against the laws of nature.
There was an insurmountable universe between them. No matter how much he wanted to see her again, he finally had to accept the cruel reality that man couldn't defeat nature.
He was forced to give up the light in his life. Now he was able to meet this light again.
After all these years of going around in circles, he was already content with such an outcome.
He Qianshan gave her a relieved smile: "So what do you want to do most in the future? Do you have any unfulfilled wishes?"
If, as he guessed, she had made some deal with the gods, he could also help her complete the task.
Wu Pengpeng said dizzily, "I want to squan—"
Before she could finish her words, the car suddenly passed over a speed bump. Wu Pengpeng was jolted, and her mind briefly cleared for a moment: "I want to earn a lot of money and continue to make the Wu family more prosperous."
He Qianshan was amused by her ambitious look: "I hope your wish will come true."
He silently thought in his heart that he must help Wu Pengpeng achieve this wish.
As He Qianshan expected, Wu Pengpeng really had a blackout.
When she woke up in the morning, she only felt a splitting headache. She held her head and thought for a long time but couldn't remember how she got home.
Her last memory stopped at the moment when she was being forced to drink by a group of handsome boys. They were playing a game at that time. If anyone could make her drink a glass of wine, she would give them 100,000 yuan.
The prize was so tempting that the boys tried their best to get her drunk.
She originally wanted an excuse to waste money, so she obediently drank after they said a few words.
Although it was a small glass, with the continuous attacks, she was really drunk later.
Wu Pengpeng looked at her right wrist. Sure enough, the green light on the energy meter was a bit brighter.
It seemed that yesterday's money - wasting had been quite effective!
Wu Pengpeng excitedly sat up. Sitting up too suddenly, her headache was so bad that she almost fell to the ground.
She lay back down holding her head and groaned, thinking that she would never drink again.
At this time, there was a knock on the door. Wu Pengpeng was too headache to move and said listlessly, "Aunt Tang, I won't have breakfast. You guys eat. Don't worry about me."
The knocking continued. She had no choice but to get up and open the door.
Yawning continuously, she opened the door. To her surprise, it was He Qianshan standing outside. He was holding a cup in his hand and smiling: "You're awake. Drink some hangover soup first."
Wu Pengpeng took the cup absent - mindedly and started to drink. Fragmentary memories gradually came back to her mind. She seemed to have seen He Qianshan in the club last night.
At that time, she thought she was too drunk and having hallucinations.
Could it not be a hallucination?
Wu Pengpeng was startled and accidentally choked herself. She coughed violently.
He Qianshan took the cup from her hand and gently patted her on the back to help her catch her breath.
Wu Pengpeng was wearing a thin pajamas. Feeling the warmth of his palm on her back, she suddenly felt even more out of breath.
She quickly took two steps back to keep a distance from him. She barely suppressed the itch in her throat and looked at He Qianshan in surprise, stammering, "Um, you, last night, I..."
He Qianshan smiled and took over her words: "Yes, I brought you back."
Wu Pengpeng was even more surprised: "How did you know I was at Lan Ting?"
He Qianshan said frankly, "You called me to pick you up."
Wu Pengpeng walked back to the bed doubtfully and picked up her phone. There was no call record to him last night.
She waved the call record in front of him: "I didn't call you!"
He Qianshan lied calmly: "You deleted the call record and said you couldn't let me know."
Well...
Okay, this was really something she could do.
Why did she always make a fool of herself in front of He Qianshan?
Wu Pengpeng was so embarrassed that she wanted to dig a hole and hide in it. She looked around everywhere but just didn't dare to look at He Qianshan.
He Qianshan saw her shyness and didn't continue to tease her: "Hurry up and wash up and come down for breakfast!"
After Wu Pengpeng finished washing up, she became the thick - skinned Wu Pengpeng again. Adhering to the principle of "as long as I'm not embarrassed, it's others who will be embarrassed", she generously went downstairs for breakfast.
After breakfast, He Qianshan said that in order to thank Wu Pengpeng for helping him buy a house, he had a gift for her.
Wu Pengpeng originally thought that with He Qianshan's income level, it would at most be a small thing worth one or two thousand yuan. But unexpectedly, he took out a set of priceless tea sets.
"Last time I saw you break that set of tea sets and look so sad. I just wanted to give you a new set."
He still remembered such a long - time ago incident. Wu Pengpeng didn't know whether to be happy or sad for a moment.
But she wasn't sad. She was happy, extremely happy!
Seeing that Wu Pengpeng didn't move, He Qianshan pushed the tea set in front of her and gently explained, "Your tea set was a unique piece. I couldn't find the same one. But this set of mine is a unique piece from the period of Louis XII. It's no worse than yours."
The subtext was that his set was even more expensive than hers.
Wu Pengpeng wanted to cry but had no tears: "Where did you get the money to buy such an expensive gift?"
He Qianshan averted his eyes and said vaguely, "I attended an event yesterday and met a collector. We hit it off immediately, and he gave it to me."
Such an expensive thing was given away just like that. Could it be that the collector also had a hidden task of wasting money?
"I don't want it!" Wu Pengpeng pushed the tea set back. "You should return it to him quickly!"
Seeing that she didn't want it, He Qianshan drooped his eyebrows and showed a look of loss.
Wu Pengpeng couldn't bear to see him sad and immediately surrendered: "Okay. If you really want to give me a gift, give me this!"
She stretched out her small hand and took off a cufflink from his suit cuff. There was a small jade - carved fox on it, which was extremely cute.
He Qianshan looked at her smiling face and suddenly felt in a great mood.
Since she liked it, he would give it to her.
Anyway, this cufflink was carved from the finest mutton - fat jade and should be much more expensive than this set of tea sets.