"You still think so?" JOKER's tone turned cold. "Old Tian, after all these years, you still think so? You selfish, despicable coward!!"
JOKER had already stood up, the flute in his hand broken in two and thrown onto the roof. He held up his right hand, looking at the handprint on Lao Tian's face, took a deep breath, and finally slowly lowered his hand.
Old Tian gently touched his cheek, then suddenly smiled. His smile was filled with deep bitterness and desolation. The anger in his eyes suddenly dissipated, and then he sat down cross-legged on the roof tiles.
JOKER and Lao Tian looked at each other for a while, and the excitement in their eyes gradually faded.
“Indeed, as you said, I am a coward, a selfish coward.” Old Tian sat there, his voice filled with frustration and guilt.
"For so many years, you've been deceiving yourself." JOKER's tone was sharp, like a needle easily piercing Lao Tian's defenses: "Lao Tian, I did hurt Mingyue back then. I was obsessed with my sense of mission, and I poured all my energy into that so-called experiment on the path to the future... I was wrong... But how exactly did Mingyue die? You can pin all the blame on me, you can do that, you can hate me... But..."
At this point, JOKER's voice became somewhat cruel: "But when it's the dead of night and no one is around, when you're questioning yourself in your own heart, can you hide from your own heart? Can you escape from your own heart? You know the answer in your heart! But you're afraid, you're afraid that you'll be tormented by guilt and go crazy, so for so many years, you've desperately placed your hatred on me, to numb yourself and alleviate the torment and self-blame deep in your heart!"
Bang!
As he finished speaking, JOKER clenched his fist and punched Lao Tian in the face. Lao Tian did not dodge the punch, letting the punch make him stagger and his body sway—he not only did not dodge, but he did not even put any effort into resisting.
"If we're talking about hatred, then I have even more reason to hate you, Mr. Tian!"
"..." Old Tian's face swelled up. He looked up and stared at JOKER. After a while, he laughed silently.
"Ten years!" JOKER's eyes were sharp. "After Mingyue left me, you stayed by her side for a full ten years! Ten years after she left me, she died of grief... Tian! Ask your own heart, was her death because of me?! Ten years! Ten years! If Mingyue really died because of the hurt I caused her, why would she have waited ten years?! If it was because of me, she would have died long ago! And you wouldn't have had ten years to stay with her!! In ten years, the hurt I caused her had gradually healed, she had forgotten! But why did she die of grief in the end? Tian, even if you dare not answer this question with your mouth, can you escape your heart?! Can you escape the torment in your own heart?"
JOKER's voice gradually grew louder.
Under the questioning gaze of the other party, Lao Tian touched the corner of his mouth, tasting a slightly salty and bitter flavor. JOKER's punch had broken Lao Tian's lip. He wiped away the blood, gave a bitter laugh, lowered his head, and closed his eyes.
"You're right, I can't escape the torment in my heart! You're right... I've been blaming you for Mingyue's death, but it's just me running away from the truth! Only through such despicable means can I alleviate my guilt and torment. In the end, the blame for Mingyue's death should be placed on me!"
Bang!!
As he spoke, he received another swipe from JOKER on his face, this time on his right cheek. Again, Lao Tian neither dodged nor resisted.
Both cheeks were swollen high. Old Tian touched his chin and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
“I hate you!” JOKER’s tone turned cold. “There have been many times when I really wanted to kill you, you bastard! I must admit, the reason I hate you is not just because of your stupidity and selfishness, nor just because you made Mingyue die of grief… I…”
He stared silently at Lao Tian for a moment before slowly uttering a bitter sentence: "Even more so because... I'm jealous of you!! You, Tian!"
Old Tian remained silent.
“Mingyue once loved me, and we even had a daughter together. But then she fell in love with you! I hurt her, and she was heartbroken and depressed, but she pulled through in the end. But you hurt her, and she died for you… Do you know what that means? It means… she loved you more than she loved me! You bastard!! I hurt her, and she was sad. But you hurt her, and she died for you!”
Old Tian's body stiffened, and he silently raised his eyelids...
"Does she...love me more, more deeply...?"
It seems that a thought, an answer, that I've dared not touch or confront for so many years has suddenly been forcibly placed in my heart! A fact that I've never dared to face has suddenly been forced upon me...
"That's why I hate you," JOKER sneered. "Because I'm jealous! Because in Mingyue's heart, you're the one she loves more!"
Old Tian's face was ashen. He raised his head and said, "Want to kill me? You're welcome to do so anytime."
"Ha!" JOKER laughed wildly, pointing at Lao Tian: "Kill you! You surnamed Tian, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it decades ago!! But what good would killing you do? Ending your suffering would be too easy for you! You surnamed Tian, I will wish you a long and healthy life, a hundred years, no, I will wish you to live for hundreds more years!! Making you afraid to face the torment and guilt in your heart, that is the greatest punishment for you!"
JOKER was panting, his chest heaving with emotion. The two men stared at each other for a long, long time before JOKER finally sat down next to Lao Tian. The two were even shoulder to shoulder. From a distance, they looked like two close friends. Who would have thought that they were enemies who had hated each other for nearly a hundred years?
After a long, long time, the two men sighed almost simultaneously.
“Actually… we’re all ridiculous.” JOKER’s voice finally returned to calm, with a hint of self-mockery in his tone: “We’re all old now, and clinging to the past only shows that our hearts have grown old. Only old people dwell on memories of the past.”
"Don't forget, I'm several hundred years older than you," Old Tian said calmly.
"That's why it's ridiculous. Two old men arguing about who loved that woman more back then... Almost a hundred years have passed, and we're still arguing about these things. Isn't that ridiculous?"
Old Tian turned to look at JOKER and stared at him quietly for a while: "Actually... I've always been curious. Our personalities are so different. How did we become good friends back then?"
JOKER didn't say anything, but suddenly took out a bottle from under his black robe and handed it to Lao Tian. Lao Tian took it, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and then handed it to JOKER, who also took a sip.
Will our hatred continue?
"Yes, until one of us dies first."
...
...
Chen Xiao still gently held Phoenix in his arms. Phoenix nestled in Chen Xiao's embrace, her head resting on his shoulder, seemingly fast asleep. Phoenix, having lost her supernatural powers, was just a delicate girl. After a long and arduous day, she was exhausted and finally fell asleep in Chen Xiao's warm embrace.
Holding Phoenix in his arms, Chen Xiao felt a strange mix of emotions, a subtle sense of satisfaction that gradually overshadowed his other anxieties. He even wished the night would stay dark forever, that it would never end.
Just then, Chen Xiao suddenly heard a faint sound, as if some dry branch on the ground in the distance had been broken by footsteps, making a slight snapping sound.
Chen Xiao turned his head and saw the hazy moonlight shining through the woods under the night sky.
A pretty girl stood there, her eyes clean and clear, her innocent gaze even making one feel a little sorry for her.
The girl stood there quietly, looking at herself.
Chen Xiao shouldn't remember the girl's name, much less the fact that this girl's sudden entry into his life changed everything.
In fact, if Ya Ya hadn't been standing in front of him, he wouldn't have remembered that such a person existed at all.
But at that moment, looking at the girl in the distance, Chen Xiao suddenly felt a stirring in his heart...
Then he suddenly laughed, as if it were just a habitual action, an unconscious expression, and then he naturally smiled and whispered something.
"Yaya, what brings you here?"