Seventy-seven, wanting but unable to get

  Seventy-seven, wanting to ask but can't bring himself to

  Like He Yanjing, Chu Xueran was also lying in bed but couldn't sleep.

  He couldn't help but think of Yan Jing, to the point where Chu Xueyan closed his eyes, and the entire scene was filled with Yan Jing - smiling Yan Jing, tearful Yan Jing, Yan Jing pouting at him, Yan Jing willing to reveal his scars to heal others, and Yan Jing resolutely leaving him.

  All the scenery eventually converged into a scenery that no longer belonged to Chu Xueyan.

  Every time Chu Xueran thought of this, there was a kind of pain that spread throughout his body, more heart-wrenching than when he first lost Yan Se. It was as if all the cells in his body were screaming: We need Yan Jing.

  But the person lying beside Chu Xueyan was no longer Yan Jing, what a disheartening reality.

  Chu Xueyan glanced at Lan Jixian who was sleeping soundly, her innocent face seemed to say that she had never been hurt before.

  However, Chu Xueyan remembered that when she brought Lan Jixian back that day, her emotions were so collapsed. If it wasn't for Yan Jing, Lan Jixian might not be able to communicate normally with Chu Xueyan until now.

  The night Yan Jing left and didn't come back, Chu Xueran waited for Yan Jing at Su Zizi's doorstep for a long time, but returned empty-handed.

  When Chu Xueyan returned home, she found Lan Jixian had somehow run onto her bed.

  These past few nights have been the same, Chu Xueyan initially felt that it wasn't quite right, after all Lan Jixian was still a girl, and sleeping in the same bed as a grown man wasn't proper.

  Every time Chu Xueyan showed the idea of letting Lan Jixing sleep in another room, Lan Jixing would cry and ask Chu Xueyan: "Xueyan brother, Yanjing doesn't think I'm dirty, do you think I'm dirty?"

  Lan Jixi just used this one sentence to shut up Chu Xueran, and even had to comfort Lan Jixi: "Brother Xueran doesn't think you're dirty, you can sleep wherever you want!"

  Anyway, Yang Jing has already left, hasn't he? Chu Xueyan is keeping half of the bed empty, as if Yang Jing will come back.

  Chu Xueran quietly got out of bed, took his mobile phone and walked outside, suddenly wanting to give Yan Jing a call.

  Moreover, Chu Xueran knew that Yan Jing had the habit of dropping his phone when he slept at night, so he chose to call at this time. Even if Yan Jing couldn't answer, he could still leave a message for him.

  I didn't expect it, but the call actually went through.

  Chu Xueran reflexively hung up the phone and then glanced at the time on his mobile phone, 2 o'clock in the morning! Had Yan Jing forgotten to turn off his phone?

  What made Zhu Xue Yan's heart beat faster was that Yan Jing had actually called back very quickly.

  What to do, Chu Xueran looked at the signal light on her phone flashing back and forth, but really didn't know whether she should answer this call.

  However, Chu Xueran's heart was unsettled, his hand had already moved, and he pressed the call button.

  "Hey, uncle, is that you?" Yan Jing's voice sounded very spirited and didn't seem like he had just been woken up.

  Chu Xueran's left hand was holding her phone, while her right hand was pressed against her heart, which was almost jumping out.

  "It's me!" Chu Xueyan really couldn't think of what to say that would be considered normal.

  Yan Jing on the other end of the phone was also silent for a long time, completely unlike his usual eloquent self: "Uncle, why are you still not asleep? You've been running around all day, aren't you tired?"

  "Tired but can't sleep, ah! How did you know I ran all day!" Chu Xueran guessed, could it be that Yan Jing really has a thousand-mile eye, so he's called "Yan Jing"?

  Yan Jing laughed: "Uncle, your reaction is really getting slower and slower. The news that you want to return to Chu Huai Group and buy stocks everywhere has already spread, how could I not know!"

  "Is that so? Then you must think I'm useless, running around all day and only managing to acquire 5% of the shares!" Chu Xueran knew that once news of the stock acquisition got out, it would be even harder to do business tomorrow.

  "Who said that? I didn't say that, Uncle! Don't wrong me!" Yan Jing comforted Chu Xueran: "Uncle, with your strength, there will definitely be heroes who recognize you and take the initiative to find you. Don't worry, I'm always accurate in what I say!"

  "I don't believe you, didn't you say before that you wanted to be with me? What happened in the end? Didn't you still leave?" Chu Xueran said jokingly, wanting to see how Yan Jing would respond.

  "So I'm destined to never become a hero in this lifetime!" Yan Jing could only respond with: "Uncle, if there's nothing else..."

  "Let's talk a bit more, okay? If you really want to sleep, I can call you another day!"

  "No need, I don't mean to sleep. Say whatever you want!" Yan Jing thought that he would like to keep in touch with Chu Xiran more often in the future, but Yan Jing disliked this kind of complicated and messy relationship. It's better to have a thorough talk tonight, maybe then Chu Xiran won't have any regrets in the future.

  Chu Xueran walked into the room that was originally prepared for Yan Jing, lay down on the bed, and started chatting with Yan Jing in a casual tone, as if nothing had changed.

  "Yan Jing, have you ever thought of me?" Chu Xueran finally asked the question she most wanted to know the answer to after some small talk.

  Yan Jing replied without hesitation: "Yes!"

  Chu Xueran was thrilled, with a smile on his face: "How I've wanted this!"

  "With every heartbeat, with every breath, with every move, every second, every minute, every moment, every hour, every day, I am thinking of you!"

  "Can't you tell the truth!"

  "Look, I'm telling you the truth and you don't believe me!" Yan Jing was puzzled: "Isn't what I said not the answer you want to hear? Wait a minute, let me think of another one!"

  Chu Xueran knew that Yan Jing was fooling around with her: "Yan Jing, you know what I want to hear isn't this!"

  Yan Jing laughed on the other end of the phone: "But uncle, I don't have what you want to hear either! What can we do!"

  "I didn't plan to bother you, I just want to know if you've been thinking of me. If you say one word of disgust, I can disappear from your life from now on; if your answer is that you miss me, even if you don't need me now, it's okay with me!" Chu Xueran had never thought she'd be so humble and low-key to someone of the same sex in her entire life.

  Yan Jing's tears flowed uncontrollably again, Yan Jing really couldn't bear Chu Xueran being like this, as if in an instant he had returned to the moment when Chu Xueran said "we have nothing to do with each other". If only Yan Jing could say a sentence "I miss you", perhaps they could continue on.

  All the right to choose is in Yan Jing's hands.

  "Uncle, I... " Yan Jing wiped away tears, his voice choked: Uncle, I miss you so much, I really miss you, but uncle! Some roads, once you make a choice, you can never go back.

  "What!" Chu Xueran had been waiting for Yan Jing to finish this sentence.

  "Uncle, you're absolutely right, I don't need you now!" Yan Jing said and hung up the phone, then hugged her quilt and burst into loud sobs.

  Chu Xueyan finally understood that her fate with Yan Jing had come to an end.