Volume 2 Chapter 61
by Need_More_SleepVolume 2 + Chapter 61: Bai Yuxuan’s Confession
“I just have a suggestion. Right now, right here… let’s hold a small gathering that belongs only to the two of us.”
At this moment, Ouyang Qianxue spoke with an expression that was three parts playful and seven parts serious.
“I…!”
Bai Yuxuan instinctively wanted to agree, but just as she was about to step forward, her body suddenly froze in place.
“What are you afraid of?”
Ouyang Qianxue’s tone turned stern as he asked.
At that moment, in Bai Yuxuan’s eyes, the person before her seemed like a completely different Ouyang Qianxue. His gaze had become incomparably sharp.
“How ridiculous! I, Bai Yuxuan, how could I possibly be afraid!”
She forced herself to sound composed as she spoke.
“Is that so?”
As he said this, Ouyang Qianxue lightly rose onto his toes and leaned his face closer to Bai Yuxuan.
Under the gaze of those glass-like, translucent eyes, Bai Yuxuan suddenly felt as if she were being seen through completely.
(How could that be?! I, Bai Yuxuan, have met countless nobles and dignitaries since childhood, read countless people, how could I possibly be seen through by a mere little girl like her?!)
After holding her gaze for a moment longer, Ouyang Qianxue smiled faintly and turned away.
“Bai Yuxuan, you’re still afraid that my kindness toward you might just be a fleeting dream, like a castle in the air. You’re afraid that one day I might suddenly leave you, leaving you with nothing but empty joy. So instead, you push me away… because without hope, there can be no disappointment. Am I right?”
“I…!”
Bai Yuxuan was stunned. She had never imagined that the self that even the scheming elders of her family couldn’t see through… would be completely exposed by someone younger than her by more than a year.
“Hmph! Stop flattering yourself. Do you really think that as the heir of the Bai family there’s anything I can’t obtain? Why would I care about your little bit of concern?”
Though her heart was already wavering, she still refused to show weakness before Ouyang Qianxue.
“Have you truly obtained it?” Ouyang Qianxue pressed further.
“Hmph, I don’t want to waste any more words on you.”
“Is that so?”
As he spoke, Ouyang Qianxue circled around Bai Yuxuan.
(Please… just leave already!)
Though Bai Yuxuan’s face remained expressionless, her heart was silently pleading. If Ouyang Qianxue stayed any longer, she couldn’t guarantee when her emotions would collapse. She didn’t want him to see her in such a disgraceful state again.
“Well then, instead of just standing here bored under the moonlight, how about you sing a song? I’ll accompany you.”
With that, Ouyang Qianxue lightly shook the harmonica in his hand.
“Hah? Why would I do something so pointless with you?”
“Heh, is that so? I think you’re afraid that before you even finish singing, you’ll lose control and start pouring out all your troubles to me, aren’t you?”
“Stop talking nonsense! Fine, I’ll play along. Give me accompaniment.”
With that, Bai Yuxuan sat down across the lakeside and began to sing.
When Ouyang Qianxue heard the song she chose, he paused for a moment, then revealed a faint smile. Sitting beside her, he began to accompany her.
The song Bai Yuxuan sang was Zhou Chuanxiong’s old classic “Lonely Sandbar Cold.” When it reached the most sorrowful parts, she sang with full, unrestrained emotion, so much so that even Ouyang Qianxue was deeply shaken.
“I didn’t expect you to sing such an old song,” Ouyang Qianxue remarked after the song ended.
“And you could accompany it, doesn’t that mean you’ve heard it too?”
“Mm. My mother used to love listening to it when I was little.”
Ouyang Qianxue sighed softly, then looked at Bai Yuxuan.
“Your voice is really delicate. It’s hard to imagine a ‘boy’ having such a fine voice. If you hadn’t poured your true feelings into the climax just now, I would never have believed that such a voice came from the cold and distant Bai Yuxuan I know.”
“…”
Bai Yuxuan glanced at him but said nothing.
“You know, although Lonely Sandbar Cold is originally more of a heartbreak song, you brought out the loneliness in it most movingly.”
After saying this, Ouyang Qianxue looked at her again, but she still gave no response.
“Usually, when someone can express a certain emotion in a song so deeply, it means they truly understand it… perhaps even from personal experience.”
As he spoke, Ouyang Qianxue stood up, walked over to Bai Yuxuan, and gently placed his hands on her shoulders before slowly lowering his head.
His soft golden hair brushed against her cheek like silk. Then, leaning close to her ear, he whispered softly.
“You’ve been lonely for so long… you’ve worked hard.”
Those words struck like a cannon blast, shattering the final barrier in Bai Yuxuan’s heart.
At that moment, she could no longer hold herself together. All the loneliness, grievance, and suffering she had endured for so long burst forth as tears, streaming uncontrollably from her eyes.
“It’s alright now. With me here, you won’t be alone anymore.”
As he said this, Ouyang Qianxue gently embraced her from behind, using his slender fingers to wipe away the tears on her face.
But suddenly, Bai Yuxuan stood up and shook him off.
“I don’t need your fake, hypocritical concern!” she shouted angrily.
“When I wanted to get close to you the most, you kicked me away without mercy!”
Tears streamed down her face as she yelled at him.
“Do you know how happy I was that day when you celebrated my birthday?”
“At that time, I felt like I was finally living like a real person. That there was actually someone in this world who cared about me like that. I thought I was no longer just a tool for my father and my family. I even naively believed that the world wasn’t completely stingy toward me, that at least it had given me warmth… someone like you!”
“Mm.”
Ouyang Qianxue simply nodded with a faint smile. He offered no defense, nor did he explain his own difficulties.
“Do you know how much I’ve valued you since then? I didn’t even dare approach you easily, because I was afraid, afraid that someone like me, who had never formed close relationships, wouldn’t know how to get along with others… afraid that you’d come to dislike me!”
The more Bai Yuxuan spoke, the more agitated she became. She grabbed Ouyang Qianxue’s shoulders and began shaking him violently.
Yet he did not resist. The gentle smile remained on his face.
He understood her deeply. All the grievances, bitterness, and pain she had suppressed for over a decade were now pouring out as anger directed at him. He knew that although she was lashing out, this was the first step toward opening her heart. All he needed to do was quietly endure it.
And so, for dozens of minutes, Ouyang Qianxue simply stood there, smiling gently as he listened to her cries and accusations. Not only did he feel no anger, he felt sympathy for the wounded “boy” before him, whose heart was covered in scars. He even felt a trace of guilt for the words he had spoken on her birthday.
“I already… I already treated you as the most important person in my life! And yet you said such cruel things to me!”
By now, Bai Yuxuan’s voice had grown weaker, exhausted from shouting.
“So… it’s all in the past now. From this moment on, you won’t be alone anymore.”
Ouyang Qianxue gently drew her head into his embrace as he spoke.
“Are you saying this just to deceive me… only to abandon me again later?”
At this moment, Bai Yuxuan had completely lost her earlier strength. She seemed like a fragile girl, perhaps this was her truest self. A lonely girl yearning to be loved.
“No. This time, I will stay by your side.”
Ouyang Qianxue gently patted her back as he spoke.
(Ah, what am I even saying… I’m a guy, why does this sound like a confession?!)
Though his expression remained gentle, inwardly Ouyang Qianxue was in turmoil.
At that moment, not far from the two of them, within a patch of grass…
A shadow was quietly approaching.
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