"Ridiculous...it's truly laughable! How laughable! I loved you so much back then, I dreamed of having you! But I watched helplessly as you fell in love with someone else, into someone else's arms. When you suffered so much and finally gave your heart to me, I suddenly rejected you..."
I know you must have been desperate back then! You thought I was disgusted by you, disgusted that you were someone else's woman and had borne him a child... No, how could I be disgusted by you! Even if you grow old and your beauty fades, even if the world ends, I will still love you the same!
But... at that very moment, I had no choice but to refuse! Bright Moon... Bright Moon..."
Old Tian suddenly knelt on the ground, tears welling in his eyes, and plunged his hands fiercely into the soil.
"Why...why did you suddenly ask me to take you back to the Xiao family to visit your long-lost relatives that day! After we got back to the Xiao family, you asked me to help them when they were in trouble! And then I helped the Xiao family relocate to the south..."
But what I shouldn't have done, what I shouldn't have done, was to see that Xiao family genealogy!
It made me, it made me suddenly realize that despairing truth!
You, Xiao Mingyue... you're actually... actually a descendant of me, Tian! Hahahaha! Hahahaha!
Blame it on me! Blame it on me for living so long! So damn long!!!
From within the woods came the desperate wails and cries of a man...
Old Tian lived to be over four hundred years old. He had a wife many years ago, but because of his unusual lifespan, he continued to live even after his wife died of old age. This is the tragedy of people like him.
Even more tragically, several hundred years ago, he had a daughter who later married a member of the Xiao family, a noble family during the Qing Dynasty…
And that aristocratic family surnamed Xiao... was none other than... the Xiao family!
One fact that can never be changed...
Many, many years ago, when Xiao Mingyue was heartbroken, she finally returned to China from Europe with Lao Tian, and the two relied on each other for survival. After all, everyone has a heart, and after a period of relying on each other, Xiao Mingyue was moved by the deep affection "Brother Tian" had for her. When a woman is deeply wounded by love, she suddenly discovers that a man beside her has always cherished her. And at this moment… moved by his actions, a new and genuine affection finally began to blossom.
Originally, originally... originally, according to a beautiful fairy tale, it seems that lovers should be united in the end.
However, life is not a fairy tale, and life played a huge joke on Lao Tian and Xiao Mingyue!
Old Tian accompanied Xiao Mingyue back to China to travel around and relax. One day, Xiao Mingyue suddenly missed her family and returned to the Xiao family home with Old Tian's help.
It was during that time that Lao Tian inadvertently came across a family genealogy preserved by the Xiao family...
This family tree is a joke!!
She, Xiao Mingyue, is his descendant, Tian! And... a direct descendant!
Because of this terrible news...
When Xiao Mingyue was finally moved by the deep affection that "Brother Tian" had for her, she finally let go of the wounds in her heart and decided to start a new and genuine relationship.
She originally thought that even if the whole world left her, the affectionate man beside her would be the "only one" who would never hurt her and would never leave her.
But she was wrong!
Right here, next to this little cabin.
Many years ago, a beautiful woman who had finally found new hope looked at the man she trusted most with her deep, loving eyes and said, "Tian, I believe now that in this world, only you are the best to me, only you will never hurt me... If I told you now that I am willing to stay here with you, in this mountain, in this little wooden house, and spend the rest of my life with you, would you stay with me?"
At that moment, she seemed to see new happiness beckoning to her...
The man remained silent for a long time, and then his answer was:
"sorry……"
This sentence directly ruined what should have been a fairytale ending.
It even extinguished the last glimmer of hope and life in Xiao Mingyue's life.
Not long after that, Xiao Mingyue withered away like a sapling that had lost all its nutrients...
This is Lao Tian's secret...
Chapter 268 [Everyone's Here]
Old Tian cried for a long time—you could say that when a man like Old Tian wept bitterly, howling like a wounded wild beast, he was truly heartbroken to the extreme.
The sky had darkened, and Lao Tian had been kneeling there for more than two hours. Tears fell to the ground and quickly dissolved into the soil. His fingers were deeply embedded in the soil, his fingertips clenched tightly. He had originally held a handful of soil and a few pebbles in his hand, but now they were crushed into powder in his palm.
As the wailing subsided, Old Tian finally raised his head, gently wiping away his tears. He didn't seem to care that dirt was smeared on his face. He simply stood up and reached out to touch the wall of the small house again. His movements were slow and meticulous, giving the impression that he wasn't touching a dilapidated brick wall, but rather gently caressing his beloved.
Finally, with a soft sigh, Old Tian didn't turn around, but whispered, "You... saw everything?"
There seemed to be no one around, but as Lao Tian said that, a figure emerged from behind a large tree in the distance—it was Fenghuang.
“…I saw it all.” Phoenix’s voice was somewhat cold.
"How long have you been here?" Old Tian looked down at his hands, at the black mud between his fingers.
“Not too long.” Phoenix took a few steps forward and leaned against the big tree, gazing quietly at Lao Tian: “Just when you shed your first tear.”
Old Tian seemed to smile, but the smile, hidden beneath the tear stains, carried a hint of desolation: "You... must find it ridiculous... I was crying so miserably just now."
After a pause, he finally turned around, meeting Phoenix's gaze directly. His tone became somewhat strange and unfathomable: "Actually... I know you must hate me a lot in your heart."
A slight smile appeared on the phoenix's lips, but there was a hint of mockery in that smile: "Why do you say that?"
“Because…it’s always been this way.” Old Tian shook his head, looking up at the sky through the gaps in the leaves above him. “It’s always been this way! Back then, after Mingyue died, I took her daughter, Xiao Nianyue, and that’s how it was. She hated me a lot later, and then Nianyue died, and I took Nianyue’s child. Nianyue’s child also hated me…”
His fingers clenched again: "I know, although I hate that guy, hate him for hurting Mingyue back then... but actually, in the end, I was the one who killed Mingyue. If I had agreed to Mingyue back then, agreed to be with her, she would have been reborn. But after I rejected her, she really lost all hope, and then... withered and died."
“I’ve heard many of your stories.” Phoenix shook her head. “That’s why I’ve never understood… why you rejected her back then? Shouldn’t you have loved her very much?”
Old Tian remained silent; he did not answer the question, for it was a secret he kept to himself.