The world grew further and further away, and death came closer and closer. In the quiet dark she could finally sink slowly into sleep with nothing left holding her, and never need the pain and the struggling again. Death was coming on, closer than it had ever been.

She was so tired, so very tired. In all these years it was the first time she had slept so peacefully. Only, once she went under this time, she might never wake again. But… whether she woke or not no longer mattered. She had seen her sister throw herself into that man’s arms. She had heard him say I will never let anyone bully you again, and had watched him hand out death to wicked men on their account without a shred of mercy… and all at once she felt very happy, and very satisfied, and very light, as if in one instant everything that had been pressing down on her, everything so heavy, had gone without a trace. And once she had let go like that, the heavy weariness came over her and put her into a deep sleep.

She believed what he had said… He would protect her sister for a lifetime and never let her be bullied again.

And she, at last, need not struggle any more, because she had seen her sister happy… and her sister’s happiness was her own, the one thing she had been holding on for, the one thing that would not let her go.

So… let her sleep slowly away. There was no need… to wake again.

“Xue’er. Xue’er…”

Out of the vast sea of her consciousness came that familiar call, and it woke the part of her that had gone under. The abyss of death was there in front of her. She had only to walk quietly down into it and she would be released from the abyss of pain, and fall into a dark where everything scattered like smoke. Only, that calling, over and over, stopped her feet.

Her sister. The only thing she had had to lean on while she lived, the only reason she had for living.

If she never woke again, her sister would be sad… But her sister is strong. She would be happy again soon, surely.

Only, she so wanted to see her sister… so wanted to see her one last time, and say goodbye…

In front of the abyss of death, she drew back. And then she began to struggle, spending every scrap of strength she had, trying to open her eyes…

Her eyes opened, slowly. In front of her was a world of pale white… the ceiling of a hospital room.

“Xue’er… you’re awake, Xue’er.”

Her small hand was taken gently between two warm ones. With an effort she turned her head, and saw her sister. She smiled and said, in a very small voice, “Sister…”

She was too weak. Even getting a smile onto her face took that much out of her.

“Sister’s here.” Chenxin secretly wiped the tear-tracks off her own face and gripped that soft little hand that seemed to have no bones in it. “Xue’er, you’re awake… That’s so good. Listen to your sister — don’t leave her. All right?”

From what the doctor had said, they already knew: Chenxue had given up the fight with the demon of the illness and given up her own life, and had chosen to meet death calmly, and to wait for it, and to want it… And it was true. Three years ago she should have died. All these years she had struggled at a cost that was truly terrible, and death, to her, was the lighter thing. It was only for her sister’s sake that she had held on with an unbelievable will… And now, with the last thing she wanted settled, she could finally choose to let go…

“Sister… I’m so tired, so very tired. I want to go and find Papa… and Mama. Sister said they’re in heaven watching me. Waiting for me.” Her eyes were half open, and her voice was almost too faint to hear. They were so blurred they might close at any moment.

“No… Xue’er, if you go, what will your sister do?” Chenxin’s hands were shaking. Hard as she fought to hold the tears back, they fell anyway, without a sound, and soaked into the white sheet.

“Sister… you have to promise me. You mustn’t be sad, all right? When I go, there’ll be someone to take my place and stay with you…”

“Xue’er, don’t talk nonsense. Nothing is going to happen to you. You’re so strong — how could anything happen to you?” Ran Chenxin rocked that frail body gently, and felt a pain like ten thousand arrows going through her heart. For fifteen years they had never been apart. They were sisters, and more than that they were each half of the other’s life… more than half.

With an effort Chenxue moved her gaze to Ye Tianxie, who was standing behind Ran Chenxin. Her lips, with no color of blood in them at all, parted, and she said in a very small voice in which every word was clear, “Big brother… you said you’d never let anyone bully my sister again… What big brother says always counts. Doesn’t it?”

In that instant the sea of Ye Tianxie’s heart shook violently, and all at once he understood why this girl had stopped struggling and was waiting for death like something that would let her go.

He is a man almost nothing moves, and in that moment something in him shook hard for this girl. A girl with a heart as pure as ice and snow — why had fate treated her like this… Has heaven gone blind? Has it gone blind!

He bent down and nodded gently. “It counts. It will always count. I’ll protect the two of you, and I’ll never let anyone bully you again…”

“Then let’s… pinky swear on it…” The little finger of her right hand moved slightly, as if she meant to raise it, but the strength never came. Ye Tianxie put out his own little finger and hooked it around hers. “Mm. We’ll pinky swear on it. And whoever breaks his word gets turned into a pig for it…”

Chenxue began to laugh, and the smile on her was beautiful enough to break a man’s heart. Ran Chenxin, bent over the side of the bed, was weeping past the point of speech.

“Big brother… you’re so good. If… if there’s a next life, I’ll… repay you. And I’ll marry you… all right?” She gazed at him with those blurred eyes, lost in him, and the sounds that came out of her lips were blurred as well.

Ye Tianxie laughed softly and nodded hard, and then shook his head. “Why not repay me in this life, and marry me in this one?”

“This life…” She looked at him, counting the faint heartbeat she could hardly find at all. “It seems like I can’t any more…”

“Nonsense.” He pressed her small hand lightly and bent lower still, until his face was almost against hers. “I just made Chenxue a promise, and I will certainly keep my word. But Chenxue has to promise big brother one thing too. All right?”

Chenxue looked at him, her gaze going further and further away.

“Promise me you won’t die.” He said it perfectly seriously.

“But… I…”

“Xue’er, believe big brother… I will cure your illness. Hold on. Hold on the way you did before, all right? You’re the only family your sister has. If you were gone, the pain would make her want to die, and big brother would be very sad too. For your sister’s sake, and for mine… be a little stronger, all right? Once big brother has cured your illness, you can be with your sister every day. The two of you can eat everything you want to eat, and go and play in all the beautiful places, and play games together… and nobody will ever bully you again, and you can do whatever you like. All right?”

He was describing a future to her, one that was very beautiful, calling up in her the desire to live.

“Chenxue, big brother is very strong. You saw it — I can knock the bad people down all at once, and I really can cure your illness completely… Listen. Your illness can’t be cured here, but very, very far away there’s a planet called Planet Lyle, and there they can cure every terminal illness there is. Do you hear me? Every one. Your sister has known about it all along too… Chenxue, remember how strong you used to be. You mustn’t die. We’re going to Planet Lyle very soon, and there your illness will certainly be cured, and then you can stay with your sister forever… All right? Chenxue, did you hear what I said? Chenxue has always been the strongest child there is, so she’ll believe me and do as I say. Won’t she?”

Ye Tianxie’s words came slowly into the sea of Chenxue’s heart and set the last fragile string in it moving. In the end she smiled, and nodded slightly. Deep in those dimmed eyes, a longing to live glimmered up again. And that longing came out of her belief in him.

“Xue’er, you’re going to get better. Don’t leave your sister.” Chenxin wiped her own tears away and murmured it. But what Ye Tianxie had said… they could not go to Planet Lyle until a year from now. In the state Chenxue was in, could she truly hold on for another year?

Ye Tianxie nodded hard, stood up, and turned to Zuo Pojun. “Pojun. Do something for me.”

“Say it, Second Brother.” Zuo Pojun answered at once.

“I’m going to Meili… going right now. Have someone get every single thing I’ll need ready for me.” Ye Tianxie’s brows were drawn tight, and every word of it rang like struck metal.

“Ah? This…” Zuo Pojun was plainly startled, and then his face went back to normal. Looking into those eyes of Ye Tianxie’s, steady and with no room in them to turn back, he let out a light sigh and nodded. “Second Brother, I understand. I’ll have it made ready right away.”

That said, he took out his phone and walked quickly out of the room.

Murong Qiushui started to say something and stopped himself, turned away, and let out a soft, faraway sigh.

“Chenxue, we’re going very soon to Planet Lyle, where your illness can be cured. So you have to keep our agreement. You mustn’t die, and you have to be very, very strong and wait for the day we go to Planet Lyle. All right?”

In that instant, he had made a mad decision.

A decision so mad it could not be reasoned with.

Only, having made it, he did not feel one trace of regret.

Today was the first day he had known this girl, and still she was worth it… and not only because she was Ran Qingsheng’s daughter.

The children you get are the children such parents have. The kind, gentle old man of that year had two daughters who were kinder still. They were worth doing this for.

He could not wait a year, and Chenxue could not last a year. So he would go to Meili and use every method there was… asking, if asking would do it; threatening, if threatening would; coercion; or paying a price so large it hardly bore thinking about. As long as it got him what he wanted — as long as he could go to Planet Lyle at once and save this girl’s life — there was nothing he would not try.

Though he knew, just as well, that even with this mad decision the chance of saving Chenxue was still exceedingly small… But small is not the same as no hope at all. As long as there was one thread of possibility, no matter how great the price, he was willing to try it for this girl, and he would not give up.

(End of Chapter 276)