Returning to the private room, Ye Ming felt his guilt deepen as he saw Nangong Qianyu staring blankly out the window.
"I'm back!"
Ye Ming gently hugged the dazed girl from behind.
"Mmm!"
Nangong Qianyu turned, a faint smile gracing her lips. "Let's go back!"
She hadn't asked anything!
Not a word!
But that didn't mean she didn't care!
Ye Ming wasn't a complete insensitive brute; he understood this.
"Qianyu! Shall I tell you a story?"
Ye Ming sat down, pulled her into his embrace, and gently stroked her cheek as he spoke softly.
He didn't want to hide anything from this foolish girl.
"Okay! You talk! I'll listen!"
Nangong Qianyu was quiet, resting her head against Ye Ming's chest, listening to the ebb and flow of his heartbeat.
It seemed Ye Ming wasn't as calm as he appeared.
"The story begins with a child raised by wolves..."
A wolf-tribe boy, by a twist of fate, inherited immortal cultivation. After eight years of secluded training, he stepped into human society, intending to fulfill his teacher's dying wish.
However, for the wolf-tribe boy, this was undoubtedly stepping into an alien world! After wandering for days, he gradually felt that he didn't belong in human settlements.
Everything he did seemed extremely odd!
Slowly, the wolf-tribe boy's personality became indifferent and reclusive, and he no longer cared about what others thought of him.
Yet, to fulfill his teacher's behest, he had no choice but to remain in human society, continuing to seek a way to take the first step.
During this process, although he met some people, it didn't change his personality!
Until, the appearance of a woman changed everything!
Upon first meeting her, the wolf-tribe boy sensed an aura of compassion and mercy from the woman.
But to his surprise, the woman's fate didn't seem as fair as he'd imagined.
From the day she was born, her suffering had begun.
Throughout her growth, not a single day passed without her being tormented by illness. As a child, it was the common cold; as an adult, she was plagued by severe ailments.
Yet, despite all this, the woman's beautiful eyes were always filled with starlight, shining brilliantly, capable of instilling strength to move forward and dispelling all confusion.
From that day on, the wolf-tribe boy was drawn to the woman.
He learned gentleness and shed his indifference.
He experienced joy and sorrow and distinguished good from evil.
However, this was only for the woman alone.
And the wolf-tribe boy healed the woman's illnesses with his wondrous powers.
If there were no unforeseen circumstances, the two would have walked towards a happy union.
But when the woman learned of the wolf-tribe boy's mission, she resolutely chose to let go, pushing him onto the path he was meant to tread.
She understood that the boy was not meant to stop here.
Time flew, and years passed.
By the time they met again, the boy had become a young man, with another woman by his side.
The young man's mission began to unfold because of this other woman.
Everything was moving forward.
All that remained were regrets deep in memory, waiting to be mended.
...
"That woman must have loved the wolf-tribe boy very much!"
Nangong Qianyu listened quietly to the story, her eyes unexpectedly red.
She felt an inexplicable heartache and sympathy for the woman.
At the same time, she understood why the woman dared not meet the wolf-tribe boy.
The woman feared her appearance would disrupt the wolf-tribe boy's relationship with his other woman, thereby hindering the first step he had finally taken.
This was something she absolutely did not want to see.
Therefore, when the wolf-tribe boy first appeared in the livestream, the woman didn't choose to seek him out. But now that she was in the capital, who knew what great resolve she had made to choose to meet the wolf-tribe boy.
In the end, she only listened to the voice she had missed for so long, not throwing herself into his arms.
How cruel and agonizing must this have been for the woman.
Whenever she thought of this, Nangong Qianyu dared not imagine herself in that situation.
She feared she would break down.
*Bang!*
"That wolf-tribe boy is a big scoundrel!"
Nangong Qianyu punched Ye Ming in the chest, full of indignation.
She put considerable force into that punch.
"You're right, he is indeed a damned scoundrel!" Ye Ming felt a sense of dejection and heaviness in his heart.
At this moment, Nangong Qianyu suddenly broke free from Ye Ming's embrace, stood up directly, and walked towards the private room's exit without looking back.
"Qianyu! You..."
Her unusual behavior left Ye Ming somewhat bewildered.
In his eyes, Nangong Qianyu was definitely angry.
Anyone who encountered such a situation couldn't possibly act as if nothing had happened.
As Nangong Qianyu opened the door, she coldly left behind a single sentence: "If the wolf-tribe boy doesn't bring that woman back, then his other woman might leave him too."
With that said!
*Bang!*
A resounding slam of the door echoed as Nangong Qianyu departed.
It seemed she was truly angry.
Ye Ming sat there, stunned, gazing in the direction of the exit, his thoughts in turmoil.
After a long period of contemplation.
"Damn it! I'm truly an idiot!"
Ye Ming cursed himself directly.
Only now did he understand something.
Shangguan Xi'er dared not meet him because she feared her appearance would disrupt his relationship with Nangong Qianyu.
And consequently, derail his plans.
But now, thinking back, were the women around him few?
If his relationship with Nangong Qianyu could be ruined because of this, would he have reached this point today?
Nangong Qianyu was not foolish. After so much time spent together, how could she not know about his relationship with Fang Junxue? And how could she not see Bai Qiushui's feelings for him?
The reason she hadn't made a scene wasn't because she didn't care, but because she had made a choice.
She had chosen a man destined for an extraordinary life and an extraordinary path.
Since that was the case, what was wrong with a few more people on this path?
...
Stepping out of the private room, the dark clouds in Ye Ming's heart vanished.
What he needed to do now was to go and see Shangguan Xi'er.
Some people were destined not to be let down.
As Ye Ming was about to leave Dream Moon Pavilion, he once again encountered the somewhat cute emcee.
They exchanged a glance, both feeling a degree of awkwardness.
Ye Ming still vividly remembered the emcee's earlier label of "scoundrel."
"Well... um! Goodbye!"
Finally, Ye Ming said awkwardly and left.
He didn't even wait for the emcee to respond.
Watching his retreating back, the emcee's feelings were complex. Finally, in a voice only she could hear, she murmured:
"Goodbye, Mr. Scoundrel!"