Chapter 22: I Regret It Part 2

So, she did not want something like that to happen again—Li Wuhui abandoning her own life to keep from owing her a debt, in that moment.

Of course, Qiu Yiran hoped she was just overthinking it.

“I won’t let that happen.” Li Wuhui’s response to her worries was direct.

After saying that, she saw Qiu Yiran’s expression still looked uneasy, so she added, “But if it does…”

“I respect your third condition.”

With all three conditions laid out clearly, Qiu Yiran breathed a sigh of relief. “Then we—”

“But these are all demands on me.” Li Wuhui interrupted her. “Isn’t that a bit unfair?”

Qiu Yiran froze. “What are your conditions, then?”

“Simple.” Li Wuhui said, “No matter what happens—whether we fight or fall out—we can’t quit halfway. Not unless death do us part. We have to reach the end.”

This did indeed fit Li Wuhui’s thinking. Qiu Yiran pondered for a moment and was about to nod—

“No.”

Li Wuhui overturned her own words. “Even if you die, I’ll take you to the end.”

She said it bluntly, without dodging anything. “Ah—and…”

Her tone was relaxed. “Or if I die, you have to take me back to Paris.”

The words sounded a bit frightening.

But Qiu Yiran felt that Li Wuhui might really do it. Still, she hoped—

That they could arrive in Paris intact and divorce cleanly and decisively.

“Alright.” Qiu Yiran agreed, then continued, “So when do we leave?”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Li Wuhui gave no firm answer and instead asked her back, “Are you that eager to divorce me?”

The question landed.

Li Wuhui could see Qiu Yiran panic briefly, her lips parting as if to reply, only to hesitate and drift away, ultimately choosing silence.

The old Qiu Yiran never reacted like this. It was as if she were trapped in a bell jar, her emotions and thoughts dulled to an extreme.

Li Wuhui did not want to see Qiu Yiran like this. More than anyone, she hoped Qiu Yiran could return to her former self. But years of experience showed she was powerless to make it happen.

They were like people who had wandered into a maze, becoming lost and helpless inside it. The maze transformed them completely, turning their once-close bond into dissatisfaction, self-blame, even mutual hatred… They drowned in it, yet could never find the exit.

Li Wuhui looked at Qiu Yiran. She was angry at her for not striving, yet resented her cruelty too—but every time she met Qiu Yiran’s desolate, ashen eyes, her anger and resentment faltered.

So she closed her eyes briefly. “You still have a lot of paperwork to handle. I’ll come find you before we leave.”

“You’re leaving already?”

Qiu Yiran recovered from her fluster. She remembered Li Wuhui had just arrived from the high-speed rail station.

“Didn’t you just get to the high-speed rail station?”

Li Wuhui hummed in affirmation.

Then she stood up in the sunlight, her shadow falling over Qiu Yiran’s.

“I have a lot to prepare too.”

Qiu Yiran understood—

To carve out a month or more for this journey, Li Wuhui had even more to handle than she did.

She knew it was just as hard for Li Wuhui. So she said nothing more, just silently escorted her back into the high-speed rail station.

That was when she realized again: from here, Li Wuhui faced over an hour on the high-speed rail, then two plane changes, before returning to Paris.

After seeing Li Wuhui off, she opened the car door but received a text—

【I left my wine flask at the hotel. Can you grab it for me if you have time?】

Wine flask?

So Li Wuhui had come specifically for the wine flask?

Then why hadn’t she mentioned going to the hotel just now?

Qiu Yiran thought sluggishly—

If Li Wuhui had brought it up earlier, she could have driven her there again.

But the next second, her phone buzzed again with another text—

【We’ll see each other again anyway】

–

They did not meet again after that.

Qiu Yiran picked up Li Wuhui’s wine flask from the hotel, then began preparing for this absurd road trip.

During that time, she first saw a doctor and confirmed that, with enough rest and care along the way, and prompt treatment for any issues, her condition could hold up for such a long self-driving journey…

She felt relieved.

After that, she checked her account balance with great worry. In two years, she hadn’t saved much. With her body, driving a taxi barely earned anything, and medical expenses already ate up so much.

In these two years here, she had saved almost nothing. This balance, even split with Li Wuhui, probably wouldn’t suffice.

After hesitating,

She had to pull out another card—one she’d never used.

It was the one Lin Manyi had secretly slipped her before leaving the country. It held living expenses her parents had sent monthly since she’d started living at Lin Manyi’s house. That was when she learned Lin Manyi had never touched a single cent of it, despite all those years.

Later, once Qiu Yiran could earn her own money, she had fully repaid the amount used in the early days abroad.

But now…

Qiu Yiran stared blankly at the balance.

Her thoughts heavy, she withdrew the bank card.

Then she began prepping the car’s maintenance, reporting to the company, and gathering all sorts of border-crossing documents.

They planned to exit via Horgos Port in Xinjiang, then through Kazakhstan to Russia, passing several European countries along the way, before finally reaching France.

There was a lot of paperwork involved for all the border crossings.

So before departure, Qiu Yiran even spent New Year’s Eve in Mang City.

On New Year’s Eve, Wei Zike invited her for the family reunion dinner.

This was something Wei Zike did every year, but Qiu Yiran had only accepted this time.

Wei Zike lived with her aunt in a self-built house on the city outskirts. Qiu Yiran arrived with dried fruits, eight-treasure porridge, and red ginseng, only to be sent home by Wei Zike’s aunt with a crate of milk and candied oranges.

For the first time since arriving in Mang City, she ate a warm, lively reunion dinner here.

After the meal, while Wei Zike’s aunt watched the Spring Festival Gala, they headed to the riverbank to wait for the New Year’s fireworks.

“I might be going on a long trip.” After much hesitation, Qiu Yiran finally said it.

“A long trip?” Wei Zike was shelling peanuts. She mulled it over, then grinned. “I knew there was a reason you suddenly wanted to join us for dinner this year. You’re leaving, huh?”

“Not entirely.” Qiu Yiran explained.

“Whatever.” Wei Zike waved it off. “So where to?”

“To get divorced.” Qiu Yiran put it bluntly.

She had expected Wei Zike to be shocked. But Wei Zike just nodded. “Knew it.”

She popped the shelled peanuts into her mouth, crunching away as the wind shook her hood. “I thought something was off when you asked me last time.”

“It was that woman I saw downstairs at your place that day, right?”

Wei Zike hit the nail on the head.

Qiu Yiran was the confused one. “You knew?”

“Your recent vibe says it all.” Wei Zike’s tone was light.

The river wind was strong, rustling her hood. She turned her face and saw the gloom in Qiu Yiran’s eyes—

Getting to know Qiu Yiran had been pure chance, really.

At first, she thought this person was too reclusive—showing up alone in this place, moping around lifelessly, avoiding all contact, like a drifting leaf that had landed here.

Later, she spotted Qiu Yiran’s prosthetic leg by chance and pitied her—leg amputated, yet coming here anyway. It was like she’d been abandoned, or abandoned someone else, ending up in this small town as if it were the only place in the world that could tolerate her.

A few months back, Wei Zike had dropped off a passenger and parked downstairs from Qiu Yiran’s place. She meant to go up and say hi, maybe check if Qiu Yiran was ghosting around in the dark again.

But as soon as she got out—

She saw Qiu Yiran helping a woman sit by a tree, wiping the taxi inside and out spotless, then picking up the woman’s high heels and bag before loading the groggy woman into the cab.

When she asked who it was,

Qiu Yiran limped through puddles, chuckling casually as she said—sort of a friend. The kind she’d broken up with.

From then on, Wei Zike knew—

Qiu Yiran was probably about to leave this place.

“I’m glad.” Finishing the memory, Wei Zike said sincerely, “That you can leave here.”

“Leave?” Qiu Yiran shook her head. “You misunderstand. I’m not leaving for good. At most three months, and I’ll be back.”

“You’re coming back?” Wei Zike did not get it. “What’s so great here? Bad living, bad food, freezing winters, muggy summers. Folks born and dying here like us, fine. But why are you so set on it?”

“I think it’s great here.” Hearing Wei Zike badmouth her own hometown, Qiu Yiran smiled, though the river wind paled her face, making the smile look ghostly too. “Life is peaceful. No pressure.”

“What’s good about that kind of peace?”

“This peace is already the least painful way for me to live.” Qiu Yiran said softly.

Then, like a warning or a promise, she emphasized, “Anyway, I’ll come back.”

“If you want peace, why take a long trip to divorce her?” Wei Zike asked, puzzled.

Qiu Yiran thought Wei Zike was sharp.

Truth be told, she felt things between her and Li Wuhui were a mess too.

And that mess stemmed not from their breakup, but from that accident back then—

The accident cost Qiu Yiran her leg but plunged Li Wuhui into irreversible doom.

It changed too much, adding tangled, impossible-to-unravel knots to what should have been a pure bond between them.

Before parting, Qiu Yiran had tried countless times to untangle it all, to go back to how things were. But she failed every time.

Even now, three years apart with oceans and countries between them, they were still bound by the accident’s aftermath.

“She always feels like she owes me.” After a long pause, Qiu Yiran finally answered Wei Zike. “That guilt torments her, whether we’re together or apart.”

She stared at the dark river, her pupils just as black, as if she could see everything yet remained utterly powerless.

That was why she was in such pain.

“And she’s never been good at or willing to accept separation. To her, parting is betrayal—but she can’t help feeling indebted to me.”

“So she’s conflicted. That’s why she’s not doing well now.”

Then Qiu Yiran smiled, her tone light yet calmer than ever. “My goal is to help her move past it, stop feeling indebted to me, and fully accept that I’ve betrayed her.”

Just like the name she’d given her back then—walk your own path without regrets, without turning back because of me.

As she said this, the riverside fireworks went off, crackling and bursting in the sky, lighting up Mang City in a kaleidoscope of colors.

Wei Zike stared in shock.

She had thought even Qiu Yiran herself was unclear on it all, which was why the divorce news had hit her so hard on New Year’s Eve.

Only now did she realize—

Qiu Yiran knew everything. She knew too much, and that was why she suffered so.

“You two must have been great friends before.” After a beat, Wei Zike probed. “Willing to travel across continents for a divorce after breaking up.”

“And go that far for each other.”

“Yeah?”

Qiu Yiran hesitated, as if pondering, before settling on the conclusion.

Fireworks exploded in the sky at that moment.

Colorful lights fell on her face, adding a touch of brilliance to her dejected brows and eyes. Only then did she truly seem to raise the corners of her mouth sincerely, laughing very genuinely.

“Actually, I’ve always thought that before fully acknowledging each other as lovers, we first became friends to each other.”

“You’re saying all this is too complicated. I haven’t been in love before, so I don’t get it. Anyway, no matter if you end up coming back or not…”

Time was up. Wei Zike said this while running to the riverbank. She lit all the fireworks and firecrackers she had brought to usher in wealth, then ran back while shouting to her,

“Happy New Year!”

Even more brilliant fireworks burst in the sky, like pigments exploding from a palette.

In that second, Qiu Yiran touched the wine flask in her pocket. She looked at the sky, gripping the wine flask tightly with sincere and devout fervor, and made three wishes to this new year.

“Happy New Year.”

They were all the same wish, all for the same person.

–

Paris’s New Year’s Eve was very quiet. Li Wuhui withdrew her gaze from the sky and heard Feng Yu say,

“Back home, they should’ve already started setting off fireworks by now, right?”