Chapter 6

“My brother and I have been looking for you around this town for days. We never expected you to actually go somewhere this remote and stay for three whole months.”

“You’ve lost so much weight. What happened before was my fault. I’m sorry. Can we go home?”

8

My brother heard the commotion and hurried over from the other end of the street.

His eyes locked onto me, heartbreak almost spilling out of them.

“Xiao Xin, what kind of life are you living out here? Mom and Dad sent me to bring you home.”

I held my package and stood two meters away from them, my gaze calm.

“I’m doing just fine.”

Fu Sinian’s voice sounded as if it were about to break.

“You’re lying. If you were really doing well, you wouldn’t have lost so much weight.”

“Xiao Xin, let’s stop fighting, okay? Come home.”

My brother beside him was choked up too. He nodded again and again.

Perhaps the months apart had made them miss me too much.

They had prepared apologies and pleas before coming here, but the moment they saw me, neither of them could get a word out.

I said flatly, “That place isn’t my home. The Northwest wind is fierce. You should leave soon.”

I turned to go after saying that.

But Fu Sinian and my brother wouldn’t give way. They followed me, refusing to let me return to my work.

“The house passcode and administrator access have been changed back. I found a wedding planner to arrange our ceremony again.”

“Once you come back, I’ll make up for everything I owe you.”

As if to prove he meant it, Fu Sinian showed me the fresh wedding invitation.

“Look, the decorations are just like the original wedding. It’s all the things you like.”

My brother’s eyes were glistening with tears.

“Mom, Dad, and I all know we were wrong. We found your piano and family photo and brought them back home.”

Listening to these supposedly heartfelt words, I could only find them ridiculous.

They thought they could make amends by returning the things they had taken from me.

But the scenery might remain; the people had changed.

Perhaps I truly had let go. Facing them, I no longer felt any resentment. I was completely calm.

I shook my head. “But I don’t want any of those things anymore.”

They still seemed to want to say something.

Xiao Lin, who had come to town with me, called my name from ahead.

“Jian! There’s a car over here! Hurry, hurry—we can catch a ride back to the company!”

I smiled and ran over with my package, leaving them behind.

Fu Sinian took a few steps after me, but when he saw the genuine happiness on my face as I walked away from them, he finally stopped.

She was happier away from me than she had ever been before.

Our five-year relationship had seemed more like a burden.

The words “Give me another chance” and “Let’s start over” stuck in his throat like a thorn.

He couldn’t spit them out, but he couldn’t swallow them either.

At last, it seemed he understood how I had felt on our wedding day.

My brother still wanted to chase after me, but Fu Sinian stopped him.

“Don’t. Xiao Xin… doesn’t want to see us.”

“Then what should we do? Just leave her here? Didn’t you see how thin she’s gotten?”

My brother was nearly breaking down.

Fu Sinian remembered how I had looked when he first saw me. He watched my retreating figure, his voice choked.

“What we did was wrong. One apology can’t make Xiao Xin forget the pain we caused her.”

“Let’s stay here. We’ll make it up to her little by little through our actions, until she’s willing to come with us.”

My brother looked ahead again and nodded sadly.

“All right. We’ll stay. Xiao Xin will see how sorry we are.”

9

Fu Sinian and my brother didn’t leave. They stayed in the Northwest.

The road from the company to the worksite had been muddy and steep, full of dirt and rocks.

They paid for its repairs themselves and had streetlights installed along the whole route.

They even arranged for a Jeep to be delivered below the company building, saying I could use it to drive into town.

The road repairs alone took a full six months.

All my colleagues saw them gradually adapt to life in the Northwest, getting sunburned and developing calluses on their hands from the cold.

Everyone knew they were doing it for me.

Once, Xiao Lin asked me, “What do you think? They’re staying here in the middle of winter to fix the road so you can have a slightly better life. One is the CEO of the Fu Group, the other is your own brother. Are you really not even a little moved?”

I didn’t even look up. “Nothing they do can make up for the hurt they caused me.”

My parents came to the Northwest several times too,

bringing a scarf my mother had knitted for me and cooking many of my favorite dishes from the past.

In less than a year, they seemed to have aged a great deal.