Epilogue
【Friend, are you trying to kill me?】
【I stayed up all night crying, and my heart still aches with every beat.】
【Can I go kneel in Guanyin Temple and beg for this family of three to reunite?】
【Wuwuwu, I don't care. I refuse a bad ending. Give me a happy one.】
【If she doesn't come back in the extra, I'll sue the author. No one gets a smile from me ever again!】
……
Those strange comments appeared again.
I had seen them at several major turning points in my life, warning me about what was coming.
Like the year after the college entrance exam.
They said Shen Tingwan was going to drug me.
I glanced quietly at Shen Tingwan not far away. She was chatting with friends, her ponytail bouncing.
She noticed my gaze and threw me a flirty wink.
She was always like that—as if shame didn't exist. Everyone knew how much she liked me.
Free, bold, fearless.
So I ignored the comments.
And sure enough, I got taken.
I wanted to see what she would do, but my mouth cursed her against my will.
As though my soul and body were split apart.
In college I found myself searching for her everywhere, curious about every move she made.
She was different from other girls. She flirted openly, delighted when I got flustered or angry.
The comments called her disgusting.
I didn't think so. She was vivid. Bright.
I started to like her a little.
On the day I went bankrupt, Shen Tingwan came to find me.
The comments appeared again. They said she was about to force me.
I felt surprised. These comments seemed to predict events with terrifying accuracy.
Just like the voice in my head that kept insisting my destined female lead was Shen Chuxue.
So I followed the script. We got married.
The first time was disappointing, obviously.
But I had no experience either. Wasn't that normal?
We unlocked each other's bodies in the most intimate way.
My heart slowly filled up.
I was grateful to her. Without her, I didn't know how my parents lying in hospital beds would have survived.
I didn't know how I would have gotten through those dark days.
It was her. At night she held me gently, thinking I couldn't hear, whispering, "Xie Siyan, don't be sad. I'll love you. I'll protect you. Even if the whole world abandons you, I won't."
Shen Tingwan was willful and spoiled.
But she only ever liked me.
How could there be a girl like her?
But what could I do? I still liked her so much.
It sounded like she forced me.
But hadn't I gotten exactly what I wanted?
Only those annoying comments kept coming back.
I refused to listen.
Yet it felt like something punished me—making me say things I didn't mean, do things I couldn't understand.
They kept insisting Shen Chuxue was the one I would inevitably fall for. She was the female lead.
I didn't care about any female lead.
I didn't care whether she was a young miss or the True Heiress.
I only liked the person named Shen Tingwan.
That person was my wife.
But life was so unfair.
She was the first to say she loved me.
She was also the one who left me.
After she disappeared, I went mad searching for her.
Finally I found her again.
I learned her straightforwardness and told her everything in my heart.
Turns out a mouth could actually be used.
I smiled. It felt so good. I seemed to have broken free of whatever controlled me and reclaimed her.
Shen Weian showed me her old phone. It was full of drawings of me.
I knew—if her feelings used to be controlled by the plot.
The fact that she never deleted them proved she had broken free too. She truly loved me.
But why did the world refuse to let us be happy?
I had just gotten her back, and then lost her again.
That day I knelt and begged desperately.
I silently wiped my son's tears.
Then I suddenly heard a voice:
"Shen Weian, your snot fell into your mouth and you ate it. That's so gross~"
Both father and son froze.
"Dad, I think I heard Mom talking."
When Shen Tingwan tried to sit up, she was pulled into a warm embrace.
Hot tears slid down her neck.
She heard my choked, hoarse voice filled with the joy of something lost and found.
"You're back."
She smiled. "Xie Siyan, your son cries so much just like you. So delicate."
The first ray of morning sunlight entered the room.
It fell on the family of three holding each other tightly.
The sunlight warmed the paper cranes scattered across the bed.
(The entire story ends)