Chapter 197

Chapter 197

The Perfect Ending: I’ll Still Love You in the Next Life

Every summer after they were married, Xie Qiyan would take Xia Wanzhi on a romantic summer trip.

They listened to the wind and watched the rain.

Admired flowers and gazed at the sea.

They traveled all over the world, taking in the beauty of rivers and mountains.

Until the year Xia Wanzhi became pregnant. Their summer trips, which had gone on for three years, came to a pause when Xia Wanzhi entered the later stages of pregnancy.

That year, Xia Wanzhi was twenty-nine.

And Xie Qiyan became a father at thirty.

Xia Wanzhi had been born prematurely, all because Ms. Ross had failed to control herself during pregnancy and secretly slipped out alone, only to get into an accident and go into early labor.

So throughout Xia Wanzhi’s pregnancy, Xia Yongqing and Rose, as well as Richard and his wife, were always present.

Xia Wanzhi had tried no fewer than ten times to persuade her parents to stay in the UK and focus on work, but Xia Yongqing and Rose never listened. They were constantly crossing the ocean, moving back and forth between work and her.

“My baby is going to have a baby of her own. Of course Mommy and Daddy are nervous too.” Rose’s gaze was gentle as she stroked Xia Wanzhi’s head, which was resting against her shoulder. Her voice was full of emotion. “Time passes so quickly. We’re going to be grandparents now.”

Xia Wanzhi had a difficult pregnancy, but her family took care of every detail for her.

Clearly, she was the only one being tormented by the little thing in her belly, and yet it felt as if the entire family were pregnant along with her.

When she was sensitive, the whole family became sensitive.

When she was anxious, the whole family became anxious with her.

This was especially obvious with Xie Qiyan.

Though Xie Qiyan thought he was hiding it very well.

Whose expectant father held his expectant mother and cried in the dead of night?

Xia Wanzhi knew it was because his heart ached for her.

At the end of that summer, little Xia Weiyang was born amid the anticipation of every member of the family.

Six pounds and three ounces, with a bright, ringing cry.

The doctor said this child would grow up to be a lively little beauty.

By the time that little beauty was three, she already knew she was very pretty. One day, when she came home from kindergarten, she brought back two little boys and introduced them with an innocent, sincere expression, saying that they both liked her and asking Xie Qiyan to help her choose one to be her boyfriend.

Xie Qiyan nearly exploded from anger.

He picked up tiny Xia Weiyang with one hand, tossed her onto the sofa, and teamed up with Xia Wanzhi to educate her.

“You belong to Mommy and Daddy. Mommy and Daddy do not allow you to have a boyfriend. Do you hear me?” Xie Qiyan said fiercely.

Little Xia Weiyang gave two obedient little “ohs,” then immediately raised her chubby hand and pointed at Xia Wanzhi. “But didn’t Mommy say I belong to Brother Jiang Ji?”

Jiang Ji was the son of Jiang Baichuan and Yun Li, only three months older than Xia Weiyang.

At that, Xia Wanzhi’s brain instantly crashed. She could distinctly feel Xie Qiyan’s murderous gaze fall on her.

“Jiang Ji’s?” Xie Qiyan ground out through clenched teeth.

Xia Wanzhi forced out a dry smile. “Listen, let me… make a tiny little defense for myself.”

“That’s right! Auntie Xiao Lizhi talked it over with Mommy. When I grow up, I’ll marry Brother Jiang Ji, so doesn’t that mean I’m Brother Jiang Ji’s?” Little Xia Weiyang kicked off her shoes and stood on the sofa, laying out her argument with perfect logic.

A layer of ice seemed to glaze over Xie Qiyan’s eyes. He looked utterly devastated, as if the entire world had turned against him. “You agreed?”

Xia Wanzhi blinked innocently. “Best to keep good things within the family.”

Xia Weiyang might not have understood, but adhering to the principle that “everything Mommy says is right,” she nodded and chimed in, “Yeah, yeah. Uncle Chuan also told me Brother Jiang Ji has no one who wants him. Sigh, no choice. I can only take him.”

As she spoke, she flopped over the back of the sofa and sighed in distress.

Xie Qiyan: “…”

Xia Wanzhi gave a light cough. “That part, I really didn’t know about.”

With a heavy heart, Xie Qiyan adjusted his breathing. “Fine. Since you’ve already taken your Brother Jiang Ji, then what was going on with those two boys you brought home just now?”

Xia Weiyang blinked her adorable eyes, her face full of innocence. “But I haven’t grown up yet. I don’t like Brother Jiang Ji right now. I’ll like other people first, and then when I grow up, I’ll like him.”

Xie Qiyan: “…”

Where exactly had they gone wrong to produce this little creature…?

Adults had adult reasoning, and children had their own twisted logic. While Xie Qiyan was still agonizing over how to correct little Xia Weiyang’s thinking, Xia Wanzhi was already laughing so hard she could barely straighten up. Then she picked up her phone and shared the story with Yun Li.

“But the people I like the most are Mommy and Daddy!” Xia Weiyang skillfully climbed onto Xie Qiyan’s neck, then flipped down and squeezed herself between him and Xia Wanzhi. Her short little arms wrapped around them both at once, and she said proudly, “No one can beat you!”

In an instant, the last bit of Xie Qiyan’s anger vanished like smoke.

Back then, Xia Weiyang’s name had been chosen by Xia Wanzhi.

Xie Qiyan had insisted that their child not take his surname, so the child took the surname Xia.

When the child was born, it was already the end of summer, just two days before the beginning of autumn.

And so Xia Wanzhi named her Weiyang.

Xia Weiyang.

Summer had never ended.

Her summer with Xie Qiyan would come around again and again, never drawing to a close.

Summer was endless summer, and love was endless love.

Ten years later, Xie Qiyan, who had once worried himself sick that his daughter might start dating too young, was finally able to rest easy.

Xia Weiyang was already thirteen and in middle school, shouting every day that she was all grown up.

She was grown up, yes, but she and the Brother Jiang next door had become best buddies. Together, they had gloriously made it onto the school honor roll and claimed the title of the two top tyrants of Beicheng No.1 High School’s middle school division.
The “top” in top student.

And the “boss” in school boss.

For all three years of middle school, Xia Weiyang held on to first place in the grade, while Jiang Ji stayed right behind her forever, trailing by only two or three points.

Three years later, the two of them advanced directly from the middle school division to the high school division. And because it was time to choose their academic tracks, No. 1 High’s two overlords faced their first separation in sixteen years.

Xia Weiyang chose politics, history, and geography-an all-humanities track.

Jiang Ji chose physics, chemistry, and biology-an all-sciences track.

That year, Xie Qiyan was forty-six. Among his black hair, a patch of white had become impossible to miss.

Xia Wanzhi was dyeing his hair for him as she listened to him grumble like an old father. “Xia Weiyang ran off to Jiang Baichuan’s place for dinner again tonight. Truly, once a daughter grows up, her father can’t control her anymore… I heard that Jiang Ji boy chose the all-sciences track. Isn’t he always chasing after our Weiyang? Why did he suddenly come to his senses this time?”

Pressing the back of his neck to make him lower his head, Xia Wanzhi let out a soft laugh. “How does that count as coming to his senses?”

“How does it not? A boy should have his own ideas and goals. He can’t just keep clinging to our Weiyang.” It wasn’t that Xie Qiyan had anything against Jiang Ji. He had simply noticed, very clearly, that his precious daughter was nothing like that fickle little flirt she had been as a child.

The Xia Weiyang of now only treated Jiang Ji as a good buddy.

The Xia Weiyang who had found her dream had eyes only for her yearning to study law.

Xie Qiyan was thinking this way for Jiang Baichuan’s son’s sake too.

After all, a melon forced off the vine was never sweet.

“That idea you and Yun Li used to talk about, keeping the good things within the family-I think it’s a long shot.” Xie Qiyan spoke with absolute certainty, secretly delighted.

He blamed himself for setting too perfect an example of a good man in front of his daughter. He had once probed for her thoughts, and Xia Weiyang had declared that she wanted to find a man just like him.

But never in his wildest dreams did he expect that three years later, in her fourth year after that-during the winter break at the end of her first semester of college-Xia Weiyang, then a freshman, would bring a boyfriend home.

The boyfriend was Jiang Ji.

Xie Qiyan practically had steam coming out of both ears. “Didn’t you say you didn’t like him?”

Xia Weiyang answered with perfect confidence, “I never said that.”

Xie Qiyan gritted his teeth. “You said you wanted to find someone as outstanding as me!”

Xia Weiyang blinked innocently. “That’s right. Jiang Ji is ranked first in Beicheng University’s medical school. In the future, he’ll definitely be even more outstanding than you.”

Xie Qiyan opened his mouth to scold her, then stopped. “…”

Xia Wanzhi was already happily inviting Jiang Ji to sit down and have tea.

Only when the two children were out did Xia Wanzhi mention it to Xie Qiyan. “Why do you think Jiang Ji chose sciences back then? Wasn’t it because your precious daughter said she liked people who became doctors, and swore up and down that she was going to marry a doctor in the future?”

And so Jiang Ji chose sciences and tested into Beicheng University’s medical school.

If Xia Weiyang had never said that, perhaps Jiang Ji would have chosen humanities too, and gone with Xia Weiyang into law.

Xie Qiyan fell silent. Xia Wanzhi laughed at him. “Your daughter was slow to catch on, and you, her father, were slow to catch on too. All right, just be secretly happy. Your daughter has had a husband since she was little.”

Xie Qiyan laughed helplessly. The cabbage he had guarded for more than ten years had only just grown up, and before he could even defend it properly, it had still been rooted up by a pig.

“Fine. Since she has a husband to go off and live in her own little world with, we’ll live in ours too.” When Xie Qiyan smiled now, wrinkles already showed at the corners of his eyes. He lifted his gaze toward the blanket of white snow beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The snow was white. His hair was white.

From black hair to white, it was only a matter of a few dozen summers.

How could one lifetime ever be enough?

From the moment his first white hair appeared, Xie Qiyan had silently prayed that in the next life, and the life after that, he would be able to meet Xia Wanzhi again.

The year Xie Qiyan turned sixty, he was delighted with a fair, chubby grandson.

Perhaps grandparents really did dote more. The little grandson’s brows and eyes looked very much like Xie Qiyan’s.

The pair of peach-blossom eyes Xie Qiyan had failed to pass on to his own daughter ended up being inherited by his grandson.

Jiang Baichuan was furious.

In their old age, one maternal grandfather and one paternal grandfather launched a full-blown war over their grandson.

Xia Wanzhi and Yun Li stood on the terrace enjoying the breeze. Hearing the baby’s babbling in the living room and their respective husbands’ childish bickering, Xia Wanzhi couldn’t help sighing. “It still feels so miraculous. We became in-laws.”

Yun Li smiled until her eyes grew a little damp. “Yes. My child and your child gave birth to a baby who carries the blood of both our families.”

Thirty years later, at ninety years old, Xie Qiyan was delighted with a great-granddaughter.

That year, Xia Wanzhi was bedridden often, and Xie Qiyan, his legs no longer steady, had taken to a wheelchair.

That year, when summer ended, Xia Wanzhi passed away peacefully of old age.

“Ayan, in the next life… I’ll still love you.” The moment Xia Wanzhi drifted into eternal sleep, the tears at the corners of her eyes wet Xie Qiyan’s hand, where his wedding ring still rested.

“All right. In the next life, I’ll go find you again.” He kissed his wife’s eyes, his tears mingling with hers.

At the end of the following spring, his descendants, according to his wishes, filled his bedside with Gardenia flowers.

After Xia Wanzhi left the previous summer, he had planted his courtyard full of Gardenia in remembrance. Beicheng was cold, but the Gardenia in his greenhouse had been tended by him with exceptional care.

That year, Xie Qiyan passed away peacefully of old age at ninety-one.

He wanted to set out before summer arrived, to keep a long-summer promise with Xia Wanzhi.

They had promised each other that they would walk through countless midsummers together.

Year after year.

Again and again.

–

At this point in the story, thank you for meeting them.