Chapter 69: Extreme Emotion Beneath a Calm Shell

After the banquet, the snow-covered sky scattered beautiful white blossoms, and Lin Yin sat atop the ramparts of North-Repelling City, quietly watching the drifting snow filling the air.

"Why are you out here all alone?" A voice came from behind him—it was Xiao Ruoyu.

She lifted the hem of her white dress, revealing jade-like, slender legs, and gently seated herself beside Lin Yin. Her cherry-red lips curled into a faint smile as she turned her head to look at him. "Thank you so much for this time. My father keeps praising you, calling you an unearthly prodigy the human race encounters perhaps once in a millennium."

"A prodigy? You don't say?" Lin Yin chuckled lightly. "That doesn't quite sound like a compliment."

"In any case, everyone in North-Repelling City is truly grateful to you." With a lingering smile in the corners of her eyes, Xiao Ruoyu gazed at Lin Yin's cheek and extended her palm. "I am so glad and fortunate to have met you, Lin Yin."

"Our second handshake." Lin Yin smiled, gently clasping Xiao Ruoyu's hand. Her skin was delicate and smooth to the touch, like holding a piece of mutton-fat jade.

Lin Yin held her hand without releasing it.

A flush of maidenly shyness bloomed across Xiao Ruoyu's exquisite face, and she gently withdrew her hand.

"I heard you live in the River-Facing Villa District in Tianhe City?" Xiao Ruoyu tucked a wisp of dark hair falling beside her ear. Her motion was graceful, her profile breathtaking, and her demeanor possessed a noble elegance that caused even Lin Yin—who had lived through two lifetimes—to inwardly sigh at what a peerless beauty she truly was.

"Yes, I do."

"Then... take this." Xiao Ruoyu handed him a black-and-gold card, upon which two characters were engraved: Ruoyu.

"What is this?"

"The River-Facing Villa District was built by the corporation under my name. This is the corporate black-gold card. No matter where you go, as long as it is within the Dawu Yuxiao Corporation, you can enjoy the highest tier of privileges and benefits."

With that, Xiao Ruoyu reached toward her neck and gently unclasped a snowy jade pendant from her necklace.

"I've worn this piece of jade since the day I was born. I'm giving it to you—you must accept it."

Having said this, Xiao Ruoyu seemed to feel her words might be slightly inappropriate, and she quickly added a very earnest explanation: "This isn't a bribe! It's just a pure and sincere sentiment!"

Looking at the earnest young woman from North-Repelling City explaining herself before him, Lin Yin burst out laughing. He waved his hand, accepted the black-gold card, and then picked up the snowy jade pendant. It felt light and translucent, clearly an item of immense value, so he teased with a smile, "Does this represent your father's sentiment, or yours? A jade of such profound significance that it could practically serve as a dowry—would your father even agree to you giving it to me?"

"Ah?" Xiao Ruoyu froze for a couple of seconds, but with her sharp intellect, she quickly grasped the subtext of Lin Yin's words.

"My sentiment, my very own personal sentiment," Xiao Ruoyu said earnestly. "My sentiment toward you, Lin Yin, from Xiao Ruoyu!"

Hearing this, Lin Yin turned his head away to gaze at the starry sky and murmured softly, "The snow night is beautiful."

The corners of Xiao Ruoyu's lips curved upward in a smile. She nodded gently, said nothing more, and silently accompanied Lin Yin as he watched the swirling snow.

Would that reply be considered ambiguous? No, not at all, certainly not. It was simply my open and completely sincere heart.

Lin Yin, I appreciate you. I truly, deeply appreciate you.

That is why I want to give you the most meaningful thing I possess.

***

So now... we should probably be considered good friends.

At this thought, beneath the heavy snow blanketing the ramparts of North-Repelling City, the girl in the white dress looked toward the boy beside her. The smiles at the corners of her lips and eyes seemed as eternal and unchanging as a ten-thousand-year snow mountain; her bright eyes were pure and clear, brilliant as the starry expanse. With every slight shift of her expression, her natural nobility radiated effortlessly, enveloping her in an aura of pristine, ethereal grace.

Lin Yin gazed into the falling snow without looking back. His eyes held a smile, yet also an absolute, profound tranquility. How could he fail to feel the fervent gaze resting upon him?

Let it end here. Let time freeze, refusing to march forward; let this contentment linger right in this moment.

Do not open the door to any complex entanglements. Let things be simple, pure, and solitary.

***

The next day, Lin Yin topped off his motorcycle's fuel tank, preparing to make his return to Tianhe City.

Yet, following the ordeal of the snowy night, a different notion had taken root deep within his heart.

If an Eighteen-Winged Snowfield Sovereign could descend and cast a heavenly blizzard upon North-Repelling City, might there be other mysterious existences lurking elsewhere?

Or perhaps, was the entire world as it is now actually governed by a pantheon of supreme beings?

At the very least, now that Lin Yin knew there were heavens beyond the heavens, he was no longer willing to confine himself to a small corner of the world.

His initial aspiration had been to study at an academy and eventually march onto the battlefield.

Now, however, he had new plans.

Rumble... Lin Yin bid farewell to Xiao Chen, though Xiao Ruoyu was nowhere to be seen. He smiled and waved, donned his helmet, and sped off into the distance, leaving a trail of dust.

"Why didn't you go say goodbye to him?" Xiao Chen asked with a smile as he waved farewell. When Lin Yin's figure was about to vanish into the horizon, he suddenly turned his head to speak toward the corner of the wall behind him.

From the shadows of the corner, an elegant white dress slowly emerged. Today, Xiao Ruoyu wore delicate, refined makeup; her fair cheeks and faint willow-leaf brows framed dark hair cascading down to a waist slender enough to be spanned by a single grip. Her demeanor was graceful and transcendent, resembling both a girl next door and a noble princess.

Looking at his daughter, who had clearly dressed up specifically for someone, how could Xiao Chen—seasoned by the ways of the world—fail to see through it? He smiled with relaxed amusement, yet his tone carried a weighty earnestness: "Ruoyu, you are a piece of jade bestowed by the heavens. You are precious and confident, so do not be afraid. Previously, seeing that you had no inclination toward matters of the heart, I agreed to the political marriage. But suppose—just suppose—that you have found your feelings, then do not discard them, do not cower. Pursue them bravely. Even if the ultimate result is failure, at the very least you will have no regrets, right?"

Xiao Ruoyu understood.

Though father and daughter maintained a tacit agreement and refrained from speaking too bluntly, both knew precisely what the other was discussing.

Meticulously dressed like a fairy descended to the mortal realm, Xiao Ruoyu gazed out toward the distant horizon and spoke softly, "But Father, to do certain things simply for the sake of having no regrets—the very starting point of that is wrong."

"That is merely an excuse concocted in advance by hesitant people to rationalize a failed outcome, meant to make themselves feel better if they truly fail."

"If one pursues matters of the heart, that pursuit should be pure enough to serve only the emotion itself, rather than existing merely to avoid regret."

"If you do not succeed, then you remain unreconciled for a lifetime. Remaining unreconciled for a lifetime, you pursue it for a lifetime—right until the moment you die upon that path of pursuit."

"That, in my view, is what bravery and love truly mean."

***

Right until the moment you die upon that path of pursuit?

"Then what if that person never accepts you?" Xiao Chen couldn't help asking.

"A lifetime of unresignation, a lifetime of pursuit, until death," Xiao Ruoyu replied calmly.

"You! If that's the case, what will you have gained in the end? You'll be dead, with nothing left at all! What meaning is there in such stubborn persistence?"

"I repeat: when pursuing emotions, the goal should not be to avoid regrets, nor should the goal be to possess 'meaning.' There are already countless meaningless things in this world." Xiao Ruoyu turned her calm gaze back to face her father directly. "Moreover, the very act of pursuing an emotion is the greatest meaning of all. Even if I were to die, I would still feel that I had not wasted my life."

Good grief, she's completely obsessed!

"Then what if... what if that person were to die by accident? You wouldn't even have anyone to pursue!"

"Then I would follow him into the netherworld, through the cycle of reincarnation, and continue pursuing him in the next life."

"You mean you'd die with him? Act as a burial companion? Have you lost your mind?"

"Once the decision to pursue has been made, there is no need to consider anything else. One must stand at the summit of emotion and mock the impotence of the Grim Reaper, Father."

"Of course, there is also another choice: to rescue him at all costs and continue the pursuit."

Watching Xiao Ruoyu recount these words with such absolute serenity, Xiao Chen clenched his teeth, momentarily dazed. For the first time, he gained an entirely new understanding of his daughter.

Beneath that graceful and delicate shell, she concealed a mindset that was paranoid and extreme.

No wonder he had never previously detected any signs of a young girl's heart being stirred.

This kind of emotion simply wasn't something ordinary mortals could awaken in the first place!

Yet once awakened, it was bound to be like opening Pandora's box—it could never be closed again...

This was an affection stubborn to the point of extremism, a madness that disregarded everything else.

Yet upon Xiao Ruoyu's face, Xiao Chen saw only calm and natural composure.

As though an emotion that outsiders would view as almost obsessively extreme was entirely normal within the heart of his own daughter.

The calmest shell harboring the most extreme love...

Xiao Chen let out a long sigh toward the heavens, gritted his teeth, and muttered, "It seems I've got my work cut out for me!!"