Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen — Words of Farewell

The missing pieces of memory would, at some unexpected moment in the future, be filled in one by one. Your breath, your heartbeat, your every move—all carried a familiar trace. Yet, after that fleeting familiarity, nothing remained but a floor littered with shattered fragments.

Tang Dai's arrival in Yun City had been because of Xu Shixi; her departure now was for him as well.

The Joy City project was like a dead game of chess, completely deadlocked. The only person capable of shifting the board was Tang Jingguo—a man who would readily sacrifice anyone else to achieve his own ends.

Before coming to Yun City, Tang Dai had been pressured by Tang Jingguo to marry on more than one occasion. After all, she was already twenty-nine. Even with her natural beauty, she could not withstand the ruthless ravages of time. Thus, he had to maximize her utility before she lost her value entirely.

This assignment was her last hope. She had no choice but to burn her bridges and fight to the end.

She never had the right to say no. In the name of love, he held her freedom and her right to choose hostage.

"If you don't want to marry, then secure the Joy City project!"

The opportunity she had fought so hard to secure turned out to be nothing more than a transaction of mutual interests.

Yet, she had no choice.

For eight years, she could not let him go; for eight years, she had loved him deeply; for eight years, she wished with all her heart that time could flow backward.

When Tang Dai called Tang Jingguo, he was in the middle of a meeting.

He always had an endless stream of meetings to attend.

It was only two hours later that his secretary returned the call.

"So, you failed at last."

Tang Jingguo could barely conceal his smug satisfaction. Perhaps it wasn't outright malice, but rather the gratification of seeing a seed planted long ago finally bear its predicted fruit.

Yes, she had failed. But why did he say "at last"? Had he known the outcome from the start, or had he simply never harbored any hope to begin with?

"As long as you accept my previous arrangement, I will take care of your difficulties for you."

She knew how formidable her father was. If there was something he set his mind to, he never failed.

She had been foolish, too. Knowing full well that an ant could never shake a great tree, she had still overreached, desperate to stake everything on a final gamble.

The result was a dismal defeat. It was as if the ending had been written from the very beginning; no matter how many twists and turns she took, she could never escape the grip of fate.

In truth, she had almost let go. Her experiences over the past six months had provided the most fitting answer to those eight blank years. They had both had their grief, their helplessness, and their struggles—neither owed the other anything.

Her departure was not entirely for Xu Shixi's sake. At this point, he was no longer worth her making a total sacrifice. Perhaps, after her futile resistance, she was simply seeking peace of mind, choosing to finally let go.

Xu Shixi did not ask Tang Dai why she was leaving, preferring to let various conjectures and speculations run wild in his mind. He felt that once such a question was voiced, the rot harbored within it would only fester and grow.

Tang Dai was relieved that he did not ask on her way out. For some questions, there were simply no excuses that could serve as substitutes.

Upon returning to the office, Qiao Siming was just coming out of the human resources department.

"I'm leaving," he said, walking over with a vacant look in his eyes, staring at the spot where Xu Shixi stood.

"You resigned?" Xu Shixi asked, already certain of the answer. "Why so sudden?"

"It's not sudden." The high-spirited pride had vanished from Qiao Siming's face. "I decided on this long ago."

Ten minutes later, he was carrying a square cardboard box filled with a few inconsequential belongings. Having given away whatever he could to his colleagues, the rest, along with the box, ended up in the trash bin next to the flowerbed downstairs.

Was this the end of it all, or just the beginning?

Had it not been for his reunion with Tang Dai after her eight-year disappearance, he might have continued working at Xunyuan. Though it wouldn't have been for a lifetime, it would certainly have been longer than this.

Could one call it cruel?

Unintentional cruelty, after all, was still cruelty.

Some people appeared out of nowhere, destined only to spark hopes in others that would wither away without a trace. Clinging to such ephemeral delusions, those left behind would spend the countless years ahead wandering like lost souls, with nowhere to call home.

The conversation between Tang Dai and Tang Jingguo that day had been overheard, word for word, by Qiao Siming as he stood hidden behind the wall.

"Have you really decided?" He had walked into her office, making no effort to hide the fact that he had eavesdropped. "Have you thought about whether this is actually worth it?"

Tang Dai did not mind his eavesdropping. She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not doing this for him." Moving away from the window, she sat down in her leather chair. "Don't be foolish. I am long past the age of playing the tragic lover. I would never be so pathetic as to throw away my own happiness just to accommodate someone who looks right through me."

"Then why are you leaving?" He stepped closer to her desk.

"What a ridiculous question," she scoffed. "I see that even after all these years, your self-righteousness hasn't changed a bit." Back in college, Qiao Siming had always projected his own thoughts onto her, treating his assumptions as her needs until it became an ingrained habit for them both. "I was never an employee of Xunyuan to begin with. My involvement was strictly on a project basis. Now that the Joy City project is wrapped up, what reason do I have to stay?"

Indeed, she had no reason to stay. But by leaving, she took his reason along with her.

Perhaps Tang Dai had truly let go of Xu Shixi, but Qiao Siming still could not let go of Tang Dai. He had given up once before, reluctantly and helplessly resigning himself to reality. How cruel fate was, repeatedly tearing open a healed wound until it bled raw and ghastly, refusing to stop until the damage was absolute.

"Wait!" Xu Shixi rushed downstairs, catching sight of Qiao Siming waiting for a cab at the intersection in front of the building. An empty taxi was idling on the other side of the red light. "Must you go?"

Qiao Siming rubbed the space beneath his nose with his index finger. "Did you think I was joking?"

The thought had crossed his mind. After all, Qiao Siming had rarely shown a serious side. When a person has only one way of expressing their emotions, deciphering their inner world requires the expertise of a psychologist.

Time seemed to slow. Under the pale grey sky, the two former youths stood looking at one another.

"Precisely because I know you aren't joking this time, I..." The usually eloquent Xu Shixi found himself tongue-tied.

"So you came to see me off?" Qiao Siming finished the sentence for him.

"Seeing off." Those words, though simple, felt like a dozen sharp blades, carrying the crushing force of a tidal wave, plunging straight into his chest.

He had said goodbye to Tang Dai that morning. Strictly speaking, their conversation the night before had already been their final farewell.

"Shixi, in the end, we were destined to cross paths, but not to be together."

Tang Dai had stood beneath the dark street lamp. Lately, she had grown to love the quiet of the night, where she could weep or laugh without pretense.

Xu Shixi had opened his mouth, but not a single word, not even a sound, would come out.

"Don't say anything. Especially don't say things like we can still be friends. Those kinds of platitudes only cause greater pain and insult."

Xu Shixi had watched her silhouette dissolve into the darkness, and he had remained utterly silent.

Now, at noon, another close friend was stepping out of his life.

Without warning. With no time to prepare.

He remembered Qiao Siming once telling him, "Wherever you go, I'll follow. I'm sticking with you for life."

Was eight years all a lifetime amounted to?

Such childish promises carried no legal weight; they could be torn up and discarded at a whim.

Was that how it worked?

Or was it not?

"..." Everything Xu Shixi wanted to say welled up in his eyes instead.

"I'm off," Qiao Siming said, clapping him on the shoulder, letting the gesture convey all that remained unsaid.

Life was a cycle of departures and reunions, much like the cycle of life and death itself. Sometimes, it was easier to accept the finality of life and death than to reconcile oneself to the pain of parting.

Qiao Siming left Yun City that very afternoon. He had no real luggage to pack—just a few changes of clothes tossed carelessly into a suitcase. Shutting the lid and snapping the latches shut was all it took.

Since departure was inevitable, slipping away in solitude was far better than lingering amidst tears and choked goodbyes.

He was loath to part with a friend like Xu Shixi, even if Tang Dai's presence had cast a brief, unhappy shadow over their friendship. Now that the storm clouds had cleared, not a trace of the haze remained between them.