"Since you know I'm from Tianji Pavilion, why didn't you come looking for me?"
Because I never met you, I didn't know what Tian Suanzi looked like, nor did I know that Tian Suanzi was Wang Fugui.
"Why should I look for you? Who are you? Do I know you?"
"I am Wang Fugui..."
"My Young Master Wang died the moment he stepped through the Qi family's gate. Tie Niu also died at that moment. From that day on, the world only knew Yun Mengzi, who cultivated stillness and sought the Dao. The past is buried. From that day forward, you are you, I am me, strangers on the path of life, forgetting each other in the vast world."
"I was deceived back then..."
"Take away your ugly face." The young Taoist nun sneered, "Let me guess what you're thinking. Back then, you were a playboy, a liar. Having seen countless alluring women outside, you chanced upon a demure young Taoist nun, and couldn't control yourself. With a few sweet words, you won her over. When you had your fill, you naturally intended to return to marry your equally matched lady from a respectable family, living a happy and blissful life, completely disregarding whether the one you abandoned suffered or felt pain. Later, you had a great opportunity and entered Tianji Pavilion, becoming its sole third-generation disciple. Heh, listen to that, such a distinguished identity. Who knows how you deceived the people of Tianji Pavilion? In any case, you're a liar, deceiving people is your specialty. Today, you've met that young Taoist nun from back then again, and your old feelings have been rekindled, stirring within you. So you thought, leveraging that past affection, to deceive her again, play with her for a while, and then find an excuse to discard her when you got bored. What a carefree and uninhibited life! You only care about your own pleasure, how could you possibly care about others? I said before, you are a selfish bastard. After being deceived by you once, I was coaxed by you again, and the result? I was deceived by you again. Now, I am no longer the innocent me from back then, how could I possibly fall for your tricks a third time?"
"I didn't expect Tian Suanzi to be such a scumbag back then. Pfft, what a player." Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu whispered quietly in the distance. "Exactly, too much of a player. Let's kill him." "Okay, we'll kill him in a bit."
"I didn't think that way. I was deceived back then. I originally planned to find you that evening, but I was drugged, knocked out, and only woke up the next day. By the time I went to find you, you were already gone."
"How could I possibly believe your nonsense?"
"I swear to the heavens, if there is a single false word..."
"Then why did you send people to kill me back then!!!" The young Taoist nun suddenly became furious, her tone turning sharp. Crystal tears welled up in her eyes. That incident was still the deepest pain in her heart.
"Wh... what?" Tian Suanzi was dumbfounded. He had no idea what she was talking about.
"Back then, on the fifth day, I got ready early in the morning, waiting for you to pick me up. But all I got was an assault from assassins: one cultivator at the Core Formation stage, three at the Foundation Establishment stage, and twenty assassins at the initial strength realm. Look at that lineup! To kill me, to clear the path for you and that Qi family's eldest daughter, you were truly ruthless and unscrupulous, resorting to such brutal methods against a delicate woman. If I hadn't already been a Core Formation cultivator back then, and had some means of survival, I would have surely become a soul under the sword. Years later, you, with your wife, came to that mountaintop, stepping on the land where my bones were buried. Would you even remember there was a woman waiting for you there? You must have long forgotten it all. Pity, I was still worried about your safety back then, dragging my heavily injured body to find you. But what did I see? The ten miles of red dowry, the handsome groom riding a white horse, your joyous smile as you entered the Qi family. Do you know how much my heart ached then? At that moment, I thought, I might as well have died by the assassins' blades, so I wouldn't have to witness this heart-wrenching scene. Why would I... be so foolishly devoted!!! But I was too naive, I still hadn't given up. Even though you had already entered their home with the bridal sedan chair, I still held onto a sliver of hope. I thought you would definitely come looking for me; you said you would, you said you'd pick me up on the fifth day. I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find me, so I dared to risk being chased by assassins again just to return to the mountain. But what? I waited until the sun was high, until the sunset clouds appeared, until the moon rose, until the sky was filled with stars, but I never waited for you. When the sun rose the next day, my last glimmer of hope vanished with the morning rays."
"Back then... back then..." Tian Suanzi was speechless. He had no idea what the young Taoist nun had gone through back then.
"I should have killed you with my sword back then, saving myself... saving me from these futile hopes for so many years."
"I'm sorry. But after that, I came to Lan Ning Kingdom. I didn't know where you went. All I knew was that your home was in Lan Ning Kingdom. I searched for you all along, for a hundred years. I traveled all over Lan Ning Kingdom, inquiring everywhere. I found many Feng families, but I couldn't find you. Later, I went to the Central Region, but I couldn't find you there either."
"Is that so? Do you believe the words you yourself have spoken? If you were truly looking for me, how could you have never even gone back to the most important place? I left the Taoist temple back then because it was filled with painful memories. I needed to travel to heal the wounds in my heart. After traveling for several years, I found that I couldn't let go of you. So, I returned to that Taoist temple. For the past hundred years, I spent most of my time in that Taoist temple because I... I was still fantasizing that you might come looking for me. I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find me, afraid you wouldn't know where I was. The only place we had ever been together was that small Taoist temple. I returned there, waiting for you. Even when I went out traveling sometimes, I would leave a wooden tablet in the bamboo house, with words written on it: 'If you come, wait here for me. I will return.' But... But... I waited for you for a hundred years, and you never came. You broke your promise, not for a day, but for a hundred years!!! Now, you say you've been looking for me. Tell me, why should I believe you?!"
"You... you were there all along?" Tian Suanzi stood frozen. He couldn't find any reason to explain why he hadn't returned to that Taoist temple. Perhaps it was the cliché of familiarity breeding contempt, or perhaps subconsciously, he felt the young Taoist nun would never return to the temple, and thus he never went back.
"The wise do not fall in love. Fools repeat their mistakes. The past was merely a dream of a deluded person. After the dream ended, I fell, shattered to pieces, leaving no trace. Young Master Wang, you... you will never deceive me again!" The young Taoist nun snatched the reins and rode south. The hooves kicked up snowflakes, which landed on his face and melted with his tears.