[Pretender] Makoto Honya

Mingtai finally discovered the smuggling activities of the military under the hint of Mingcheng.

He was angry that Guo Qiyun and Yu Manli were hiding it from him, and he was sad that the lives of frontline soldiers were not worth mentioning in the eyes of high-level officials.

He was angry with Guo Qiyun and Yu Manli, but he knew that they were hiding it from him to protect him.

He still feels sad.He trusted his life and death partner so much, but she still lied to him without telling him.

Mingtai himself can't explain how it feels like the person he trusts the most has failed him.Not anger, not disappointment, but a secret expectation.

This kind of expectation turned into a voice in his heart, which kept persuading him that her deception was in good faith.

He finally chose to obey the voice in his heart, forgave her deception, and acted as if nothing had happened.

After this trouble, the three partners who were born and died together finally recognized the reality that they are really small, drunk like mud, and returned to their new stronghold, the flour mill.

*****

In the morning, Cheng Jinyun received news from his superiors, and was ordered to visit Mingtai, to encourage him to cheer up, and to subtly instigate him against him.

She said he was a warrior who lost his way for a while, but always found his way.

Mingtai rubbed his aching head after hangover, and gave her an understanding smile.

Yu Manli stood at the door with her breakfast, watched him allow Cheng Jinyun to approach him, and even did not avoid her touch, and laughed at herself.

She gently put the breakfast at the door, and when she turned around, she saw a familiar person standing downstairs.

*****

"How did you come?"

Yu Manli and Qiao Baizhou walked side by side on the grass not far from the flour mill.

"The photo studio is closed. I heard that the young master took over the flour mill, so I came to see you."

Qiao Baizhou said it lightly, as if it was a very trivial matter for him to come to see her.

"What do I look good on?"

Manli smiled bitterly, "No matter how beautiful the skin is, it can't hide the dirty inside."

Qiao Baizhou frowned and stopped.

"Why? Don't you want to hear it?"

Manli turned to look at him, and smiled sarcastically, "What you're looking at is just the appearance. Do you know who I am? Do you understand me?"

"I don't understand you." Qiao Baizhou shook his head, with hatred in his eyes, "But one Cheng Jinyun will make you mess up. If you really love him, why don't you go and fight for him?"

"What am I going to fight for!"

Manli cried out in despair, her tears were already bursting, "She is the fiancée that the family has set for him, her family background is clean, but what about me? I am a prostitute, a murderer! How can I argue with her!"

Manli yelled out the truth uncontrollably. She thought she would see the shock and disappointment of the other party, and maybe a little disgust, but she didn't.

Qiao Baizhou just stood there quietly, looking at her with his usual deep and penetrating eyes.

"If you are willing to tell your story, I am willing to be your audience."

Manli wiped her tears carelessly, then raised her head and asked him, "Don't you think I'm dirty?"

"Manli, no one has the right to despise you except yourself."

Qiao Baizhou took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears with his usual considerate gesture, "It doesn't matter if the body is dirty, as long as the heart is clean, that's enough."

*****

Manli didn't know what tone she used to tell her own story.

She was a little confused, and some words didn't express her meaning, but Qiao Baizhou just listened quietly and looked at her deeply.

Qiao Baizhou sighed and finally understood her despair.

He touched the top of her hair, his movements full of comfort.

"Manli, how much do you love him?"

"He is the only meaning of my life."

Manli smiled, there was sadness in the smile, but more of it was satisfaction. "I am grateful to God for allowing me to meet Mingtai and make me his partner in life and death. I can follow him and go wherever he wants to go."

Qiao Baizhou looked at this silly girl and envied Mingtai for a moment.

"I know what kind of person I am, and I never expected to get him."

Manli finally shed her tears, "I knew it would end like this from the very beginning."

"Yu Manli, do you think you lost to Cheng Jinyun?"

Manli looked at him blankly.

"You lost to time."

Qiao Baizhou took a deep breath, "Manli, many men have loved such a woman when they were young.

She is clean, kind, and simple, representing all light, and she is so white that there is no room for gloom.Cheng Jinyun is the light of Mingtai. "

Manli smiled wryly, Mingtai was never her light, and how could she not understand Mingtai's love for Cheng Jinyun with what kind of heart?

Qiao Baizhou didn't look at her anymore, but looked into the distance, as if recalling some distant memory.

"But after experiencing more, we will find that we yearn for the light because we are not the light. As time goes by, when we ourselves are stained gray by this society, we will be incompatible with the whiteness.

There are two endings.

Or, we all fall into darkness together, and she no longer looks like we used to like.

Or, the two go further and further apart, and the contradiction makes us painful, so that we can no longer join hands. "

Manli was taken aback for a moment, she looked at him obsessively, confused and at a loss.

Qiao Baizhou recovered from the memories, looked at Manli's confusion, and smiled.

"Manli, if you want to get Mingtai, I can help you."

Manli's eyes widened, she couldn't believe what she heard.

Her surprise pleased him, Qiao Baizhou's eyes were finally filled with fireworks, instead of the ecstatic look just now.

"Mingtai is still too young. He still doesn't understand that what a man really needs is not the light that represents faith, but the real company, the real dedication, like air, everywhere, until death stop."

Following his words, Manli's eyes were stained with hope.

Qiao Baizhou's expression became serious, and his tone was unprecedentedly solemn.

"But Manli, you have to have the courage to die until you die, and unparalleled patience. You have to wait until he is riddled with wounds from the light you chased, and you have to endure all impulses to love him, and you have to let him understand , he can lose his faith and light, but he can’t live without half his life, and he can’t live without you.”

Man Li stared blankly at this man whom she could not understand from the first day she met him.She couldn't believe the hope he gave her, but in her heart, he was so omnipotent.

"So Man Li, tell me, if one day, he is no longer the flamboyant Young Master Ming, no longer the light in your mind, and becomes completely different..."

Qiao Baizhou held her shoulders with both hands, lowered his head and looked into her eyes seriously.

"Do you still want him like that?"

Manli looked up at him, her picturesque eyebrows showed a determination that didn't match her weak appearance.

She heard her firm voice.

"No matter what he becomes, I will love him till death."

The author has something to say:

Thank you for a Lacey mine in the ghost area~ This name is so special~