Conan: The Man Behind the Romance

Chapter 80 The promise with Xiaolan may be a lifetime

"What you want is the core and foundation of everything, and all plans must be built on it." Yingsheng emphasized again: "If you act blindly without determining the strategic goals in advance, then what step do you have to achieve to be considered successful?
But will the result you get be what you want? Will you regret it later?
If you don’t think it through, you must not act blindly.”

Yingsheng's words made Xiaolan hesitate for a moment, and she said hesitantly: "I want my parents to reconcile. Isn't this a clear goal?"

"Of course not."

"why?"

"What's the purpose of reconciliation? What happens after that? Does time stop? Is this the end of the anime?"

"This……"

Xiaolan was stunned again, and was silent for a long while. Finally, she understood a little and asked tentatively: "Then I want my parents to live a happy life. Is this a clear goal?"

Yingsheng nodded: "It is a little clearer than the previous one, but I have to remind you that happiness is by no means the whole picture of life, and it is impossible to maintain it forever."

"So, Suigetsu-kun is saying that my goal should be to maintain their happiness for as long as possible?"

"Oh, I don't have such unrealistic fantasies. This is what you mean."

"..."

Xiaolan was speechless for a moment. After reviewing the situation in her mind for a long time, her eyes gradually became firm:

“Yes, that’s my goal.”

Yingsheng was noncommittal: "Then please elaborate a little more. Do you have to let them be together and be happy? Or does it not matter whether they are together or not, as long as they can be happy?"

"what???"

Xiaolan looked confused. Wasn’t her initial thought to make her parents reconcile?
How come after all this twists and turns, there is suddenly an option for them not to be together?

"OK, I understand. Your most important goal is for the two of them to reconcile and return to the happy family they had ten years ago, right?" Yingsheng asked.

Xiaolan nodded quickly. That was right. She...

The hopeful expression on her face suddenly paused.

It was because she suddenly noticed that there was a hint of strong mockery in Yingsheng's eyes, and that undisguised sarcasm instantly turned into countless sharp steel needles, piercing her heart!

Xiaolan quickly turned her head away. For some reason, she suddenly felt a strong fear in her heart.

But that fear was not directed at Yingsheng, but at...

Herself!
What exactly is she afraid of?
Why doesn't she know it herself?!
With a feeling of bewilderment and fear, Yingsheng's calm voice mixed with the cold night wind and floated into her ears:

"Is there such a possibility, Xiaolan?

You don’t actually care whether they are happy or not. What you expect is just a warm picture like ten years ago. You just want to have a complete family again.

What the family members actually think in their hearts or whether they like that kind of life is not important at all.

As long as they play the roles of father and mother well, under the warm lights, at the steaming dining table, they all say "I'm eating" in unison.

Will you feel happy because of this?

In places you can't see, in corners you have never noticed, no matter what kind of trivial matters happen, you actually don't care about them at all.

As long as you think your family is happy, then everything is enough.

Haha, it seems that I have been immersed in the memories of ten years ago. The one who doesn’t want to grow up is you.

You're just like a seven-year-old girl, you don't need anything, you just want a game of house.

Do not you think so? "

Time passed slowly, and the night became darker and darker.

The two people on the bench were immersed in the endless night. In a trance, they were some kind of lonely silhouettes, or some kind of imperceptible wandering souls.

Especially the one on the left.

Her face was so pale and fragile, like a faded paper-cut of the word "囍", without a trace of blood, and even most of the human vitality had disappeared.

Her fingers were equally pale, tightly twisting the corner of her clothes. A drop of colorless liquid suddenly fell from the sky, dripping onto the back of her hand, turning into an even deeper chill.

"Why……"

She murmured, her voice trembling. "I'm sorry, I was just rambling."

The voice that answered her was as calm as water.

"Why do I have such an idea?"

She had a crying tone.

This seemed to create ripples on the surface of the lake somewhere, making the man laugh softly.

"So you're just brooding over this. You know what Buddhism says, one snap of the fingers brings sixty instants, one instant brings nine hundred births and deaths, thoughts come and go, endlessly. What I said is just a wisp of your distracting thought, you don't need to pay too much attention to it."

The people around him were silent, so Yingsheng asked again:
"What do you smell now?"

"Nothing at all."

"No, take a deep breath, follow my rhythm, take it slow, inhale - exhale - do you feel it? In the garden at night, there is a faint scent of flowers, inhale - exhale - and the smell of moist soil, inhale - exhale -

The moonlight shines through the sparse clouds.

Inhale - exhale -

I raised my eyes and looked at the ground in front of me. There was a breeze blowing through the treetops and the moonlight was dancing.

Inhale - exhale -

Now, imagine them all shattered, and in an instant, the world is overturned."

"!!!!!!"

Xiaolan's blurred eyes suddenly trembled violently, and she turned abruptly to look at Yingsheng. Her eyes were red and tears were welling up in her eyes, but her eyes were full of astonishment and confusion.

Yingsheng smiled and said, "Don't look at me, look at the world, look at the night sky, look at the breeze."

Xiaolan turned her head blankly.

What caught her sight were unknown little flowers, gently swaying grass, the unreal winding Milky Way, and pebbles coated with a faint silver glow...

She seemed to see everything, yet also seemed to see nothing.

But for some unknown reason, she felt a little chilly.

A sudden warmth surged up from my back, isolating the chill of the night. Yingsheng's gentle voice echoed along with the warmth:
"Did you notice that the world is still the same?

Thoughts that arise and fall are nothing but a wisp of miscellaneous dust. As the saying goes, a gentleman judges by deeds, not by the heart. That’s all.

In fact, did you really have that thought before?

Perhaps most of them were guided by me.

There's nothing I can do. It's your fault that you are such a little fool that you can't recognize your own heart.

Ugh……

To be honest, you are so naive that I can't bear to look at you. I feel like I can lie to you for the rest of my life if I want to, and even if I sell you out, you will still help me count the money.

But at least this confirms something.

That is because of your childhood experiences, you do have a lot of insecurity, fear and inferiority hidden in your heart. They follow you like a shadow, preventing you from being truly free.

I want to help you get rid of them, okay?"

Xiaolan was silent for a long time and shook her head gently:

"not like this."

"what is that?"

"Yes, Shuiyue-kun, I beg you to help me."

The voice was so trembling, yet it seemed to contain a breath of rebirth and transformation.

Yingsheng smiled gently and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Okay, I agree."

(End of this chapter)