CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER 33: THE IRRETRIEVABLE PAST

Tonight, Gu Jiayin doesn’t want to return to the Qin Mansion.

Although the Qin Family is in chaos now, which gives her a sense of revenge, Sheng Qianchi’s pressure also makes her uneasy. So, avoiding those she dislikes is still best for peace of mind.

Pei Nianchen drives the car, taking Gu Jiayin, meandering through the streets of Licheng City purely to enjoy the scenic views along the way.

It can be said that every street in this city holds their shared memories.

In their childhood, the four of them often played together—Gu Yachen, Pei Nianchen, Gu Jiayin, and Lu Xiya.

Gu Yachen was groomed from a young age to be the heir of the Gu Family. His grandfather had high expectations for him. He was an excellent and obedient child, with outstanding academic performance, a gentleman, steady and graceful.

Pei Nianchen, two years older than them, had a strong interest in the military due to his family environment. From a young age, he developed a forceful and domineering manner typical of those influenced by a military family.

As for Lu Xiya, who was the same age as Gu Jiayin, she was a typical wealthy heiress, domineering and flamboyant, yet loyal to friends.

Gu Jiayin, under her mother’s tutelage, was nurtured to be gentle and elegant with commendable academic achievements, earning the reputation of Licheng City’s top socialite.

Her romantic relationship with Pei Nianchen began early, so early in fact that she was only three years old.

Then, Pei Nianchen was five and would come to her house daily to amuse her, always bringing candies, luring her to the back garden alone to avoid Gu Yachen and Lu Xiya.

One day, he took out a particularly peculiar candy, teasingly waving it in front of her eyes but not letting her catch it, which made her a bit anxious and she accused, "Brother Nianchen is bad."

The five-year-old Pei Nianchen smiled deeply and coaxed gently, "Promise me one thing, and I’ll give it to you. Plus, I’ll bring you beautiful candies every day."

"What thing?" she asked in her childish voice.

"To be my wife when you grow up."

"What is a wife?"

"It means..." Pei Nianchen rolled his eyes and then very seriously said, "being together with me forever, eating together, sleeping together, and having babies."

Back then, she was quite naive about having babies but understood the concept of eating and sleeping together well—happy to be with Brother Nianchen every day, she agreed without hesitation, "Okay."

Pei Nianchen’s laughter was dazzling as he immediately extended a little finger, "Pinky swear."

At just three, she didn’t understand the concept of a pinky swear, only knew that after hooking fingers, Brother Nianchen would give her candy. So, she cheerfully extended her chubby little hand and hooked pinkies with him.

Thus, her entire youthful years were booked for Pei Nianchen, always bearing the label from a young age: Pei Nianchen’s girlfriend.

As a boyfriend, he was very qualified from a young age. In kindergarten, while she was in the small class and he in the big class, he would always hold her hand, delivering her to the teacher before running into his own class, and after school, he would always pick her up to go home together.

In primary school, he was two grades ahead. Everyone knew that Gu Jiayin couldn’t be bullied. Not only did she have a brother in the same class, but also a little boyfriend, who was extremely powerful and would get into fights easily.

In those days, if it rained, he would never let her shoes get wet, always carrying her all the way home.

In middle school, as love began to blossom, she felt too embarrassed to let him carry her but he would naturally hold her hand every time they walked together.

Back then, she and Lu Xiya were best friends, her bond with Gu Yachen also strong like siblings. They often went out as a group of four, going to and from school together every day with Pei Nianchen riding a bike to carry her, and Gu Yachen carrying Lu Xiya.

Actually, she knew Lu Xiya liked Pei Nianchen too. Between best friends, some secrets can’t be hidden.

But she never resented Lu Xiya. Firstly, because Lu Xiya only secretly liked Pei Nianchen and never did anything to damage their relationship, and secondly, because Gu Yachen liked Lu Xiya.

The days passed subtly yet happily. At their elite middle school, both junior and senior high were at the same school, so those happy days lasted several years.

Until she was sixteen, everything came to an end.

Memories are beautiful, but reality holds much melancholy and helplessness.

Gu Jiayin was not the only one reminiscing sorrowfully on this rainy night; Pei Nianchen was also filled with sadness.

So the car was very quiet.

If not for the faint sound of the rain outside, it would feel as though the car was traveling through an uninhabited time tunnel into an unknown space.

Unknowingly, Pei Nianchen drove the car to the gate of their former elite middle school.

For them, the sweetest times were during their schooling years, as that was when they gradually understood love, it was the age of youthful crushes and passions, making this campus the most memorable.

Pei Nianchen parked the car smoothly by the roadside and suddenly smiled, "Do you want to go in and take a look?"

Gu Jiayin looked at the silent school gate in the rain, waves of emotion surged in her heart, her eyes welling up with tears, "Yes."

Pei Nianchen took out an umbrella, opened the door, walked around to the passenger seat, and helped Gu Jiayin out. The two shared an umbrella, and after greeting the security guard, they entered the campus.

The security guard naturally recognized Pei Nianchen, so he didn’t stop them. After they walked into the campus, the elderly guard with graying hair couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head, "Such a pity."

Indeed, such a pity.

As a decades-long guard here, he watched Pei Nianchen and Gu Jiayin grow up, now embroiled in scandals as they are, it is such a lamentable situation.

With one hand holding the umbrella, the other wrapped around Gu Jiayin’s shoulder, just like in their youth, Pei Nianchen led her through several school buildings, across the playground, to the back garden.

There was an artificial lake here, with many pear trees planted along the shore, the pear blossoms currently blooming quietly in the rain.

Gu Jiayin naturally walked to that particular pear tree.

She used to wait for Pei Nianchen under this tree often.

Of course, she never knew that it was under this very tree that Sheng Qianchi saw her, captivating the heart of a lonely boy.

The gentle drizzle, the world was very quiet, only she and he stood quietly.

This atmosphere purified Pei Nianchen’s restless heart. He quietly looked at the woman in front of him, with images of her at sixteen years of age surfacing in his mind.

That year, under this very pear tree, he kissed her for the first time.

But he didn’t kiss her lips, only her cheek.

Not because she didn’t allow it, but because at that time, he didn’t want to tarnish her purity at all.

When she was sixteen, he was already eighteen. He had stronger desires for intimacy but restrained himself, wanting to wait until she turned eighteen.

But he didn’t foresee that what awaited was a separation by life and death.