Wu Pengpeng stared at He Qianshan in disbelief. It took her a good while to hesitate and confirm, "What did you say?"
He Qianshan looked at her dazed appearance, and the smile in his eyes deepened involuntarily.
He reached out and ruffled her hair, repeating with a smile, "I said I know you're from a parallel world, and Kangcheng is your hometown."
"How do you know?" Wu Pengpeng's expression was even more incredulous than when she first realized she was from another world.
He Qianshan said with a smile, "You told me yourself when you got drunk at the club before."
Hearing this, Wu Pengpeng's heart suddenly tightened. She asked nervously, "I didn't say anything else I shouldn't have, did I?"
He Qianshan guessed that what she meant by "shouldn't have said" was probably that deal. He didn't want to make her uneasy, so he pretended not to know anything.
"No. You only said that you grew up in an orphanage and had a promise with a boy named 'Xiaoshan'. You've been looking for him for many years."
After hearing this, Wu Pengpeng let out a long sigh of relief. She had already caused Jiang He's death because of that secret. If He Qianshan found out about it too, she couldn't even imagine the consequences.
She quickly smiled and changed the subject, "That was just drunken talk. You actually took it seriously."
"I know it's you." He Qianshan looked at her tenderly. The feelings that had been suppressed for many years welled up in his eyes, almost drowning Wu Pengpeng. "I've been looking for you all these years. I once tried to go back to that world, but I failed... Later, I always thought that it must be God who heard my wish and sent you to me."
Even if Wu Pengpeng was slow, she could hear the unusual meaning in his words.
She froze involuntarily. "What did you say?"
This secret had been hidden in his heart for eighteen years and had become too heavy. Now that it was suddenly going to be exposed to the sun again, He Qianshan was a bit at a loss.
He took a deep breath, looked into Wu Pengpeng's eyes, and said seriously and piously, "I'm the Xiaoshan you've been looking for. I've been looking for you all these years too."
Although Wu Pengpeng's experiences had been very strange, this result was really too much of a coincidence. It sounded like a well - crafted story.
"Are you lying to me?" she asked with a smile. "Did I tell you this when I was drunk too?"
He Qianshan didn't defend that he was the little boy in the orphanage. He took out his phone and showed her some data pictures from his photo album.
The designer named "Yuan Shan" was actually He Qianshan. Moreover, the boss of "Yuan Shan" Coffee, "Yuan Shan" Finance, and "Yuan Shan" Real Estate Company was all He Qianshan.
Wu Pengpeng was stunned. "So it was you."
She always thought that only she remembered that innocent and ridiculous promise from her childhood and stubbornly adhered to a promise that might have been long forgotten, like a fool.
But it was only at this moment, seeing what He Qianshan had done, that she realized how insignificant her efforts were.
He had returned to his original world and knew that they would never see each other again in this lifetime. Yet, he still deluded himself into making that promise the grandest thing.
Thinking of how he had waited hopelessly for an unreachable person in despair all these years, Wu Pengpeng felt extremely heart - broken.
She sniffed and looked at He Qianshan somewhat helplessly. "What should we do now? I wasn't prepared for our reunion."
In her original world, she thought he had forgotten that promise, so she didn't have much hope for their reunion.
After coming to this world, she was even more convinced that they would never meet again in this lifetime, so she never imagined what a reunion would be like.
Who would have thought that fate would suddenly throw such a big surprise at her, making her feel at a loss.
She tentatively reached out her hand to He Qianshan and asked seriously, "Should we hug and cry now?"
He Qianshan held her hand, stood up slightly, and gave her a kiss without any lust. "Long time no see, Sister Xiaoyuan."
Long time no see.
There were eighteen long years between them, spanning the vastness of the universe. It was not easy for them to stand in front of each other.
Wu Pengpeng suddenly understood that all the misfortunes she had encountered in her past life were not punishments from fate but gifts from time.
Every hardship she had endured was to walk up to him and say "long time no see".
Since both of them had experienced the strange event of traveling through time and space, this rather fantasy - like story became reasonable.
Wu Pengpeng told him how she had been killed by Huo Jingting and Qin Ledi and how she had made a deal with the Heavenly Dao.
Of course, the content of the deal was still a secret that couldn't be told.
"Yanshen, you just need to know that as long as you're here, my home is here. Even for you, I will definitely strive to take root in this world."
She looked at He Qianshan, with pleading and deep uneasiness in her eyes. "Don't ask about the rest, and don't guess. Leave it to me to handle, okay?"
He Qianshan was extremely intelligent. From what she had said about how no matter how early he came, he couldn't save Jiang He, and her plea for him not to guess the secret of the deal, he fully understood that it was a secret that couldn't be spoken.
Moreover, that secret might cost Wu Pengpeng her life.
"Don't worry!" He reached out to smooth the uneasiness between Wu Pengpeng's eyebrows. "I won't make wild guesses until you tell me everything yourself."
Wu Pengpeng understood from He Qianshan's eyes that he had read her unspoken words.
Her eyes welled up with tears, and she suddenly couldn't help crying.
She couldn't imagine what she would do if He Qianshan, like Jiang He, suffered misfortune because of her.
He Qianshan knew the fear and worry in her heart. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, soothing her gently. "Don't worry. I'll always be by your side and will never leave you. But you have to promise me that you'll try to get better... He definitely wouldn't want you to torture yourself like this because of him."
Wu Pengpeng buried her head in his chest and cried loudly. It was not until she was short of breath that she reluctantly stopped and replied in a muffled voice, "Okay."
Perhaps because that cry had untied the knot in her heart, Wu Pengpeng's body really began to improve slowly. First, her fever subsided, and her spirit began to get better. She could eat and sleep well every day.
Soon, she became the energetic Wu Pengpeng again.
By the eighth day of the first lunar month, Wu Pengpeng had fully recovered. She started to worry about her "spending spree" business again.
Although she had been ill for more than a month, fortunately, He Qianshan and Zhao Bufan had been focusing on her recently and didn't have much mind to make money. Her energy meter basically remained the same.
Now that there was no longer Jiang He, the king of "spending sprees", to support her, Wu Pengpeng had to start all over again by herself.
Now she was not only doing this for herself and He Qianshan but also to ensure that Jiang He's sacrifice was not in vain. She had to complete the task of spending money.
He Qianshan originally wanted her to rest for a few more days, but since he couldn't persuade her, he had to send her to the company.
The two of them walked and chatted all the way to the company. When they got there, they saw Lu Jingran standing in front of her office, looking solemn.
Wu Pengpeng and He Qianshan exchanged a look. They had no idea why he was there.
When Lu Jingran saw her, he wanted to step forward and come to her side. But then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he took a step and then stopped. He looked at her nervously.
Wu Pengpeng was confused by his look. She stepped forward to greet him. "Xiaolu, why are you here? Is there something wrong with your company..."
"I'm sorry." Lu Jingran suddenly interrupted her softly. His eyes were full of self - blame and guilt when he looked at her. "It's all because of me. I almost got you..."
The words he didn't finish were drowned out by his sobs. It seemed as if he would cry in public the next second.
The Wu family had blocked the news, so he had known nothing about Wu Pengpeng's experience in the past month.
It was only this morning that he accidentally learned from the conversation between Shen Qianqian and Zhao Bufan that on the night the team disbanded, Wu Pengpeng had been kidnapped after getting drunk and had almost lost her life.
And he had even been angry with her, thinking that if she didn't contact him actively, he would never take the initiative to talk to her again in this lifetime.
Looking at his red - rimmed eyes, Wu Pengpeng understood his thoughts.
He must have thought that it was because he had gotten her drunk that the gangsters had had a chance.
"Xiaolu, it's not your fault." The other party had come prepared, and the cause was no longer important.
Lu Jingran hung his head silently. Guilt and self - blame were almost crushing him.
Seeing that she couldn't persuade him, Wu Pengpeng had to change the subject. "I'm fine. You should go back quickly! You're one of the hottest top - stream stars now. If you come here and some scandal spreads, it won't be good for you."
"I'm not afraid!" Lu Jingran suddenly raised his head and stared straight into her eyes. There was a kind of desperate courage in his eyes. "Wu Pengpeng, I like you."