In the end, Tan Linyuan couldn't bear to say anything harsher to Nan Yu. He turned around and summoned the young monk.
"Escort Miss Nan out," he said.
The use of "Miss" cut off the bond between them abruptly.
After Nan Yu left, the young monk returned from the temple gate and found Tan Linyuan still standing there.
The young monk sighed. "Brother, if you don't form attachments, you won't be lonely."
Tan Linyuan remained silent.
A ginger cat was lying on the eaves, observing for a long time. Now it climbed down the pillar and ran towards Tan Linyuan.
After a winter, the ginger cat had grown fatter. It rubbed its lazy body against his trouser legs.
Tan Linyuan bent down and reached out to touch its head.
The ginger cat purred contentedly. Suddenly, it bit his finger when he least expected it.
Caught off guard, Tan Linyuan didn't have time to pull his hand back.
Looking at the bite mark on his palm, he paused for a few seconds, then shook his head with a wry smile. "You're blaming me too."
Blaming him for his cruelty.
Blaming him for his heartlessness.
He knew better than anyone that his jasmine had withered.
From then on, his world was a barren wasteland, and no more flowers would ever bloom.
Fuchen returned on the day of the Start of Spring.
Learning that his senior brother was in seclusion in the temple, he was very surprised.
Ignoring the Buddhist rules, he went straight to his meditation room.
Pushing the door open, he saw Tan Linyuan sitting in meditation on a cushion, looking like an otherworldly immortal, oblivious to the outside world.
"Senior brother," Fuchen called out.
Tan Linyuan still ignored him. He didn't get up to look at Fuchen until he finished reciting the sutra.
"You're back," he said calmly.
Fuchen looked at Tan Linyuan. He always felt that something about him had changed, but something remained the same.
After thinking for a while, he smiled. "It seems that senior brother has grasped the truth of the mortal world during this time."
"I can't say I've grasped anything. I just feel that there's no need to trouble myself," Tan Linyuan said.
He closed the sutra in front of him and looked at his junior brother, who traveled around all year. "What brought you back?"
"What else? Of course, it's you, senior brother," Fuchen said with a smile. Then he joked, "I thought senior brother was going to do something earth - shattering, but I didn't expect you to be a deserter."
"Going against fate is seeking death," Tan Linyuan summarized his actions.
He didn't care about Fuchen's mockery.
Fuchen shrugged. "You didn't listen to Master. All this is your own doing."
Buddhism emphasizes the cycle of cause and effect.
If you plant the wrong cause, you won't get the right result.
Tan Linyuan was too lazy to listen to Fuchen's preaching. He just asked if he had done his morning devotions.
Facing Tan Linyuan's gesture of seeing him off, Fuchen didn't mind. He just reminded him carefully, "Senior brother, don't give up something completely just because of one setback."
"Idle people should stop judging others," Tan Linyuan retorted. "You call me senior brother, but I don't think you really respect me in your heart."
Fuchen didn't argue with him. He went back to the main hall to do his morning devotions.
...
Everything had been sorted out.
Before leaving Jiangcheng, Nan Yu's last visit was to Wen Ruoyi and Niannian.
Wen Ruoyi heard that she was leaving Jiangcheng and insisted that she come to her house for a meal.
Originally, Nan Yu planned to go to a restaurant, but she couldn't refuse Wen Ruoyi's enthusiasm, so she agreed.
When she arrived, Liang Yi was actually there.
Liang Yi had put away his usual casual attitude and was sitting on the sofa, reading with Niannian.
Nan Yu was shocked.
"Nanyu, this is Uncle Liang," Niannian thought Nan Yu didn't know him and introduced them actively.
Nan Yu: "… Hello."
Liang Yi was a bit embarrassed too. "Hello."
Niannian blinked. "Nanyu, Uncle Liang is very nice to me. He said my piano playing is very nice."
"He also bought me nice clothes and took me and Mom to the amusement park. Long live Uncle Liang!"
Nan Yu looked up at Liang Yi. He touched his nose awkwardly.
She always felt that Liang Yi was a bit guilty.
Wen Ruoyi came out of the kitchen with some fruits. Liang Yi immediately got up and took them from her and put them on the coffee table.
They hardly talked, but their movements were very natural and in sync.
Nan Yu had a guess in her heart, but she didn't say it out.
It wasn't until Wen Ruoyi sat down.
She was still as gentle as before, and her voice was soft. "When are you leaving, Miss Nan?"
Nan Yu said, "I'll leave this weekend."
Wen Ruoyi was a bit regretful. "So soon... Have you settled everything in Beijing?"
The house they had bought was expected to be renovated in three months. She asked Zhou Yu to help her find an apartment temporarily.
She would move into the house after it was renovated.
"If you need any help, just contact me," Wen Ruoyi said with a smile. "You're Niannian's benefactor and her first friend."
Nan Yu smiled. "When Niannian goes to Beijing for a piano competition in the future, we'll meet again."
Wen Ruoyi nodded. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but then she hesitated.
The nanny came up tactfully and took Niannian back to her room.
"Miss Nan, I've heard about what you've been through recently. Actually, Linyuan... "
Wen Ruoyi wanted to say that Tan Linyuan didn't mean to hurt her.
He was always like this. Once something unexpected happened, he always thought it was his fault.
In the past few years, Wen Ruoyi had been trying to help Tan Linyuan get out of the shadow of his elder brother's death.
Finally, Nan Yu's appearance gave her a glimmer of hope.
But this glimmer of hope had been completely extinguished.
Similarly, Nan Yu was also a victim of this accident.
She had no right to defend Tan Linyuan anymore.
"You don't need to comfort me," Nan Yu said with a smile first. "Some people are only meant to be with us for a while. I understand."
Wen Ruoyi was speechless. "… It's good that you can move on."
Had she really moved on?
Actually, no.
But people can't always wallow in sadness.
She couldn't even tell which was more painful, losing the child or losing Tan Linyuan.
But people can't always stay in one place.
"It will get better," Nan Yu said softly.
She was saying it to Wen Ruoyi and to herself.
Before leaving, Nan Yu listened to Niannian play the piano one more time. Her fingering was more proficient than before.
Niannian also told Nan Yu some good news: this autumn, she was going to have a prosthetic limb surgery.
By then, she would have a pair of mechanical legs that could walk - although they might not be very flexible.
But she could stand up from the wheelchair.
"By then, I can also stand up and bow to the audience after a performance, just like those pianists," Niannian said.
Nan Yu smiled with relief.
Everyone was growing in a better direction.
And she was also trying to look forward.
But there was a voice in her heart, not very loud but very clear.
It told her that she had been left behind forever in that early spring.
Her love with him had just survived the last winter but had died in this spring.
Her flowers would never bloom again.