40 Chapter 48: True Feelings

Eight years ago, twelve-year-old Jiang Qingmeng met the nineteen-year-old Jiang Zhizhou. From that moment on, she harbored a timid affection for her, too afraid to confess or draw too close—terrified that Zhizhou might notice and come to despise her.

Eight years later, twenty-year-old Jiang Qingmeng encountered the reborn Jiang Zhizhou. This time, she approached her by any means necessary, scheming against her, exploiting her, possessing her.

In the end, after all the twists and turns, she realized that the one she loved was still that same person.

For a long time, Jiang Qingmeng became moody and unpredictable, gloomy and obsessive.

One day, He Jia asked, "Did you two fight again?"

Jiang Zhizhou smiled. "She's mad at me again. She once told me that her parents only ever had endless cold wars when she was little. So I figure she never saw what normal lovers look like, or how people in love are supposed to handle their problems. That's why she keeps provoking me, testing my limits to see if I'll walk away. What she doesn't realize is that even without all her ruthless schemes, I could never leave her. I'll stay by her side, waiting for her—waiting until she understands, until she learns how to love someone."

Just as she had in their youth, Zhizhou was willing to become the one ray of light in Qingmeng's dark world.

"This place lay barren, not a single blade of grass in sight.

Then you passed through once,

And miraculously, all things sprang to life.

This place is my heart."

—Zhou Jiang,"Desert"