Mindful, Yet Accepting

Ning Ruo had always been the sort to say whatever was on her mind.

"..."

Xu Xing fell silent for a long while. He swallowed the fruit in his mouth, then slowly spoke.

"There are some things, actually..."

But before he could finish even half the sentence, Ning Ruo cut him off directly.

"I know." She smiled.

"I've waited all these years already. Waiting a few more won't matter."

"Time never meant much to us in the first place."

In those years when everyone told her to "put the greater good first," it was Brother Xu who had paid the price for her.

And only after that did she understand: when someone told you to put the greater good first, more often than not, you were the price.

How could she not like him?

"You know, Brother Xu, sometimes I really think you're quite contradictory," Ning Ruo continued.

"Hm?" Xu Xing did not quite understand. "What do you mean?"

"When you saved me back then, you told me to live for myself. You said I no longer owed anyone anything."

"Um... what does that have to do with this?"

"But all these years, how often have you lived for yourself?"

"..." Xu Xing paused, then shook his head with a smile. "It's different. You had your ending decided for you from the moment you were born. After you escaped back then, you no longer owed anyone anything."

To a certain extent, Ning Ruo's situation back then had actually been very similar to Charm Ancestor's.

The slight difference was that before Ning Ruo had even come into this world, her final fate had already been decided.

Even after she grew up, she accepted the final ending the entire city had chosen for her.

After all, everything had to put the greater