Chapter 12 — Ha Ha, You're All I Want

I was even more shocked: "Oh no, oh no, so early?"

"So, how much money did you transfer to her during that time?"

"Why are you asking about this, Xia Xia?"

"I have to get it back! It was supposed to—hic—it was supposed to be for me!"

He burst into laughter: "Ah, that's right, Xia Xia, go look at your other gift."

"I started designing it before I even met you. Every single gemstone was hand-picked by me, and now it is finally completed."

Inside a large black velvet jewelry box tucked away in the drawer lay a matching set of sunflower-themed gemstone jewelry, consisting of a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet. On the back was his familiar, sweeping signature: 【Winter】 I forcefully wiped away my tears, and as if remembering something, I suddenly grew furious.

"Xu Dongcang!"

"We are even now!"

Xu Dongcang looked utterly baffled: "What?"

"You hid your identity and tricked me too! It must have felt amazing listening to me blindly fangirling and praising you every single day, right?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha, it did feel pretty amazing, actually."

Sitting in his wheelchair, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face greedily against my chest.

"We are not even. I am indebted to you."

"To be able to drag someone like me out of the depths of hell, Xia Xia, I owe you my life."

In the summer of the second year, thanks to his persistent physical therapy, Xu Dongcang was finally able to stand up. I returned to campus to attend my graduation ceremony. As an outstanding alumnus and a successful entrepreneur, he was invited back to give a speech.

"Is this the youngest alumnus ever invited back to give a keynote speech?"

"Totally! He's only five years older than us, yet he built such a massive company. It's so admirable; I really want to work at his company."

"Speaking of which, do you guys remember Bai Yingying from class one? She went to intern at his company."

"I know, I know! She stole something very valuable and was sentenced a long time ago."

"Oh, everyone knows about it?"

"It was a huge scandal. She's probably been in there for about a year now, right? She still has another seven or eight years left before she can get out, doesn't she?"

"Around that, tsk tsk, you really can't judge a book by its cover."

"Stop talking, the senior is coming out now. Damn, he is so handsome! Those legs go on forever, he looks so much better in person than in his photos!"

"I don't know if I should say this, but the senior definitely gives off massive red flag energy..."

I was sitting right in front of them, my face flushing instantly. They could even tell just by looking? That hateful man, my lower back was still aching from last night. Back when he was still in the wheelchair, he mostly catered to my whims, which I rather enjoyed. Now that he no longer needed the chair, he had transitioned to playing both the first and second halves of the match. The moment the first half ended, he would start all over again in the second half. That old live-stream comment really hadn't lied to me. However, after Bai Yingying was sent to prison, I stopped seeing those floating barrage comments altogether. Around that time, I fell gravely ill, hovering on the brink of life and death. My ears were constantly filled with a hazy, chaotic noise, as if countless people were talking at once. Things like, "Oh no, the system is about to force the female supporting character to log out," or "It feels like the world is collapsing, do the main characters really possess such immense power?" and so on. Until one day, those noisy voices completely vanished. In their place was a warm embrace. It felt so much like Xu Dongcang. When I finally opened my eyes again, I was astonished to discover that Xu Dongcang could walk with absolute steadiness. I clearly remembered that before I lost consciousness, he had only been able to walk just a little bit. After the ceremony, Xu Dongcang and I strolled down the tree-lined paths of the campus. I raised my hands to frame a rectangle in front of my eyes.

"Xu Dongcang, you definitely wouldn't believe that I used to be able to see words floating right here."

He took my hand: "Words? Like words in the sky?"

"You could say that, but I haven't seen them for a very long time."

"Sigh, just consider it my rambling. How could there possibly be words in the sky?"

A very soft snap of fingers echoed through the air.