Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

A few days later, Ling Yu received a long message from the "intelligence officer" on her phone. There was no usual report, only a voice message.

He clicked the play button, and a tired and obviously suppressed female voice came over. The usual gossip-filled levity was gone, leaving only the heavy introspection:

"Ling Yu... I think this is the last time I'll send you a message. It's about Liu Rusi."

Ling Yu's heart sank slightly, and he had a premonition of something.

"I can't continue to be your 'intelligence agent'. It's not just because of the money... Actually, my family is well off, so I don't need that little money." Her voice was a little hoarse. "When I agreed to this, it was probably... out of curiosity, and a little desire to pry into other people's lives. After all, Liu Rusi is so special, so cold, so... like a mystery. Plus, the compensation you offer is really good, so I... enjoy it."

She paused for a long time, as if she was organizing her words, or calming her surging emotions.

"Until that day... in the hallway." Her voice trembled. "Every word Liu Rusi said to Ke Jinfeng hit me like a hammer. She said, 'My purpose in coming here is to become a world-class heart surgeon! I don't have time to play boring courtship games with you!' ...Then, she turned her head and looked at me... and then at my phone... Maybe she'd already noticed! She realized that I'd been spying on her... but she hoped I'd wake up on my own!"

A suppressed gasp came from the other end of the line.

"Ling Yu, did you see that? That look... wasn't anger, but disappointment and sadness. It was like he was looking at something... a pitiful animal that had lost itself." The intelligence officer's voice was heavily nasal. "At that moment, I suddenly felt... so ridiculous, so despicable."

"I clearly live under the same roof with her! I clearly saw her rushing between classes and part-time jobs every day, exhausted, yet still forcing herself to read in the last moments before lights out! I clearly saw her resistance and struggle with food! I clearly saw her running and exercising on the playground, step by step getting rid of her physical weakness! I clearly saw her even shocked by her desensitization treatment... She worked so hard, so desperately, to forge ahead on the road to her ideal!"

"But what about me?" She was already crying out loud. "What were I looking at? What was my 'job' reporting? Was she smiling today? Did she accept Ke Jinfeng's gift? Was she being hit on by anyone? I treated her as... an 'entertainment object' for people to watch and bet on! I treated her as the jackpot in your gambling game! I might even... treat her as a plaything to satisfy my own prying desires!"

"I forgot that I too once pulled all-nighters preparing for the college entrance exam! I once gave my all to a goal! Liu Rusi's declaration, and that look of hers, were like a mirror, revealing my true colors! What am I doing?!"

She was emotionally agitated, her voice tinged with tears, but more so with determination:

"I can't go on this despicable path! I should also continue to move towards my goal! So, I can't help you anymore, Ling Yu. I have deleted all the photos and videos I secretly took of her, and tomorrow, I will also delete our contact information."

Finally, her tone calmed down a bit, with the exhortation of someone who had experienced it, or perhaps a belated awakening:

"Ling Yu, listen to my advice. Stop staring at Liu Rusi like this. She doesn't need our twisted attention. We... are all wrong. We all use her, in our own way, as a tool to satisfy our own desires, whether it's the desire to conquer, curiosity, or... a self-righteous desire to protect her."

"Perhaps true respect is...letting go. Letting her run quietly and undisturbed on her own track."

"Maybe one day..." Her voice was as soft as a sigh, carrying a faint but pure hope, "If we all work hard enough and excel enough, on the road to our dreams, perhaps in an operating room that requires collaboration... we'll truly meet and connect with each other as equals and peacefully, instead of hiding in the shadows or bashing down doors with self-righteous roses like we do now."

"That's all I have to say. Take care. And please... let her go."

The voice stopped suddenly.

Ling Yu held the phone in his hand and stood there for a long time. The humming of the computer chassis in the laboratory seemed to be amplified countless times, filling the dead silence.

He recalled the look Liu Rusi gave the camera - it turned out to be a silent but deafening accusation and judgment of all their acts of prying.

He felt a strong dizziness mixed with shame, embarrassment and a huge emptiness.

The agent resigned and left with her confession and self-redemption.

And what about him?

He lost his prying eyes, but it was as if he truly "saw" the ugly nature of his behavior for the first time.

The words "work hard on your own paths, and perhaps one day your paths will intersect on the road to your dreams" ... echoed like a distant and ethereal motto in the laboratory that had been slack for many days, mocking his current embarrassment and confusion.

Could he ever return to his own "path"? The path without Liu Rusi as the only reference point? The path that led him to the pinnacle of "biomechanical warriors," but which was beginning to bore him?

Outside the window, dusk is falling.

Ling Yu's figure appeared unprecedentedly thin and... at a loss in the shadows cast by various instruments.

The intelligence officer's resolute departure was like a bucket of ice water poured over Ling Yu's head, waking him from his self-deceiving dreams. His pointed self-analysis and admonitions stripped away all the pretense of his behavior, leaving behind only bloody shame and emptiness.

He stopped all stalking.

The black car never appeared again downstairs of Liu Rusi’s dormitory, near the teaching building, or on the road leading to "Time Cottage".

He was like a man suddenly blinded, forced to retreat into his own territory. The sense of security he had found comfort in the eyes of others was completely stripped away, replaced by an unprecedented panic and... guilt.

He couldn't stop thinking about her.

Thus, writing a letter every day became his only "legitimate," non-aggressive outlet. It was still the same plain white paper, the same expensive pen, but the handwriting was more restrained and concise than before, even carrying a hint of cautious tentativeness and... a humble plea:

Liu Rusi:

The weather is getting cooler, so please keep warm.

Ling Yu

Liu Rusi:

I heard you did very well in anatomy class. Congratulations.

Ling Yu

Liu Rusi:

When I passed by the playground, I saw you running, and your steps were much steadier.

Ling Yu

These love letters, destined to go directly into the recycling bin, are his one-sided, silent confessions.

They carried his unspoken concern, and also seemed like a ritual of self-redemption—at least, he no longer disturbed her real space. However, when he put the envelopes into the school's mail room, a lingering, thief-like sense of guilt always remained on his fingertips.

Another space where he allows himself to exist is the corner by the window in the "Time Cottage" restaurant.

He no longer brought work with him, nor did he stay long. He was just like any other student who occasionally came to eat. He ordered a simple meal and ate it quietly.

His eyes would be cast towards the door leading to the office, or when she occasionally appeared in the lobby to help, he would catch a glimpse of her cold but busy figure. Each brief glimpse was like a stone dropped into the lake of his heart, creating ripples that were difficult to calm down, and then quickly returning to silence.

He thought he had lost the eyes to "see" her.

However, he was wrong.

A chance encounter led him to a world he had never noticed, yet one already teeming with undercurrents: an anonymous forum on the campus network. Within it, there was a special section dedicated to Liu Rusi. The title was glaringly blunt: "[Deep Dive] The Evolution of the Iceberg Goddess Liu Rusi."

This forum had appeared when Liu Rusi was a freshman, due to Ke Jinfeng's high-profile pursuit. However, back then, Ling Yu had more "direct" channels and never bothered to pay attention to such "cheap" gossip. Now, having lost his informant, he clicked on it like a drowning man grasping at driftwood, feeling a sense of depravity he knew was filthy but couldn't resist.

Instantly, he was overwhelmed by a perspective that was vaster, yet more intrusive and distorting.

There is no meticulous and thoughtful observation by an intelligence officer, no speculation about inner struggles, only fragments captured by countless pairs of eyes from different corners and with various purposes:

[Early Morning Playground] A blurry photo, clearly taken with a phone's telephoto lens. In the center of the frame is Liu Rusi running. The caption reads: "Family, who understands! She's been getting up early and working hard for a week! The goddess is truly transforming! Look at the curves of her waist and hips! She's still skinny, but she feels more fleshed out! She feels more powerful! I admire your perseverance in getting up early and running!" Comments below: "+1! She used to fall over in the wind, but now she runs with the wind!" "I need to go back and find my high school uniform! She looks so classy in this old one..."

[Classroom Candid] A profile shot taken secretly in the back row of a lecture hall. Liu Rusi's head is slightly lowered, looking at a book, with a faint, almost imperceptible smile at the corner of her mouth. The poster excitedly commented: "Breaking the ice! Breaking the ice, everyone! The iceberg has melted 0.01 degrees! She's actually smiling at the book?! Maybe she just solved a puzzle... but it's still a smile!" Commenters: "Really? Photoshopped?" "The sour chicken above! I saw it too! It was fleeting, but it was absolutely stunning!"

[Canteen Encounter] A text description: "Today in the second cafeteria, I saw Goddess Liu eating at the same table with a girl! And they were chatting! I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the girl was smiling happily. Goddess Liu's expression... well, still no expression, but she didn't walk away immediately! It's considered socializing, right?" The following discussion: "Who is so lucky?" "Maybe they are study partners?" "Major breakthrough!"

[Time House Workplace] A photo clearly taken from a restaurant customer's perspective. Liu Rusi, dressed in a waitress's uniform, is taking orders from a table. She stands tall and straight, her profile softened by the restaurant's soft lighting. The poster highlighted this: "Look! The way she holds the pen! So steady! She's a future scalpel wielder!" Someone else added: "And have you noticed how much nicer she is with the female customers? She's still quiet, but she nods and responds. And with those greasy male customers... that look, wow, has a chilling effect."

Ling Yu scrolled the screen, her heart feeling like it was being clenched and released by an invisible hand, over and over again.

What he saw was a fragmented Liu Rusi, a Liu Rusi cut and magnified by countless eyes, judged and commented upon. The perspectives here were crude, subjective, even tinged with curiosity and sensuality. Some of the explicit comments about her changing figure instantly made him furious, almost wanting to track down the posters online. But it was undeniable that they pieced together a more "public" version of her.

He saw the changes that the intelligence officers had described, presented in a more intuitive and impactful way:

In those blurry photos, she was no longer as skinny as she had been at the beginning of the school year. The same T-shirt accentuated her feminine curves, a graceful and healthy silhouette. Running, jumping, walking, every move was full of vitality. The pale blue under her eyes gradually faded, and her pale cheeks took on a hint of pink.

And the discussions about her excellent academic performance, the "anatomy goddess", her "viral notes" and her "high scores in midterm exams" all repeatedly confirm the core of her declaration - the rock-solid goal of "becoming the world's top heart surgeon".

He even saw subversive events:

One post excitedly broke the news: "Latest news! Goddess Liu introduced a junior from the same department to work at 'Time Cottage'! I heard that the junior also wanted to work and study, so Goddess Liu directly recommended her! Isn't Goddess Liu in charge of HR, so the manager agreed on the spot to let the junior try out! Oh my god! She actually took the initiative to help others?!"

Ling Yu stared at the message, his fingertips resting on the cold screen.

Taking the initiative to help others... introducing jobs... what does this mean? It means that she is starting to build trust, trying to output a little bit of kindness, and starting to use her own hard-earned foothold to help those who are also climbing.

This shows that her heart has begun to open up to the outside world and start to accept and care about others...

Ling Yu closed the forum page, leaned back in his chair, and took a deep breath. The cold air of the laboratory rushed into his lungs.

He felt a complex dull pain.

I feel angry and unworthy that she is exposed to such unbearable public scrutiny; I feel a secret, guilty comfort in witnessing her tenacious growth; at the same time, I feel even deeper shame and powerlessness that I still need to go through such an unbearable channel to "see" her.

He looked out the window. The city lights twinkled in the distance, like countless pairs of prying eyes.

He lost an intelligence officer, but it felt like he was trapped in an even larger cage, made up of countless pairs of eyes. And Liu Rusi, at the center of this cage, silently and stubbornly, was undergoing her lonely and magnificent transformation.

And he still had never met her.