Jiang Zhiyuan's face overlapped with Jiang Se's memory, but his tone and expression were completely different from the person she remembered.
There was no more hostility in his eyes, and there was even a hint of caution and restraint in his gentleness.
The real Jiang Se is thinner than she appears on the screen. Her coat wraps around her slender body, and the strap of a backpack hangs on one of her small shoulders. Even though the bag is not heavy, he always wants to share some of the burden for her.
He clenched his hands in his pocket and felt a cell phone that was still ringing. He took it out, took a look at it, and without thinking, threw it to the side of the road.
The phone was thrown far out of the beach, rolled a few times and landed on the sand, and you could still see the flashing lights.
Jiang Se took a look, moved his lips, and explained: "It's no use anymore."
His eyes fell on his daughter's face. This was the first time he had truly seen her as an adult, not through newspapers or magazines, not through news videos, but she was standing in front of him, allowing him to clearly see her facial features that were similar to his own, and her tall figure that had inherited his.
This meeting was different from the time he met her downstairs of the IMAX theater when "The Lost City" was released. He was no longer evasive, but stood in front of her calmly. His eyes could describe her appearance and his image was firmly engraved in his heart.
The phone was useless in the first place, but the only reason I didn't throw it away was that I still kept thinking about it in my heart.
He had used this number to call Jiang Se before. Perhaps in his heart, he had also imagined that one day Jiang Se would find that silent call strange and would call him back.
Jiang Zhiyuan thought it was just a dream and never thought it would come true.
Jiang Se not only called him back, but also made an appointment to meet him. What he got that day was more than what he desired.
He moved aside to make way for a path up the mountain behind him:
"Let's go for a walk."
There were too many things in Jiang Zhiyuan's eyes. Jiang Se lowered her head and took a step forward with courage. She didn't look at his face, so she naturally couldn't notice the smile on his face at this moment.
This road up the mountain is quite clean and quiet. The only sounds you can hear are the sound of two people walking, the rustling sound of waves hitting the shore, and the sea breeze blowing through the bushes.
The two of them didn't speak along the way. Jiang Zhiyuan was already accustomed to silence. In his early years, he had so many things to say to others, but years of imprisonment made him accustomed to keeping things in his heart. Over time, he became a taciturn person.
Jiang Se didn't know what to say to him. The man who once kidnapped her and almost took her life, many years later, she was reborn as his daughter and possessed Jiang Se's body. The man who almost killed her became her father. Some things in the world are really hard to explain.
After walking in this depressed state for a long time, a corner of the sun appeared in the sky, the dawn light illuminated the sea level, and also illuminated the road ahead a lot.
Jiang Se's forehead and nose were covered with sweat. She didn't walk very fast, but walking with Jiang Zhiyuan still brought her a lot of psychological pressure. She walked with her head down for a while and felt something was wrong. When she looked up, she found that Jiang Zhiyuan was gone.
She was startled and turned to look sideways, only to see that he was nearly ten meters behind her, still with his hands in his pockets and still walking at a leisurely pace.
"Are you tired?"
She took out a tissue from her bag and wiped her cheek, while standing there waiting for Jiang Zhiyuan and asked a question.
Pei Yi's phone in the bag was still on, obviously hearing the noise here. She picked up the phone and tried to call Pei Yi, and soon got his response.
Jiang Zhiyuan shook his head. Of course he was not tired after such a short distance. He just walked behind her and watched her stride forward, full of energy.
Looking at Jiang Se at this moment, he recalled how she looked when she was just learning to walk. She still walks so steadily, maybe it is because she fell so many times in the past.
He couldn't ask such questions, and he didn't have the right to do so. For the first time, he regretted his rash behavior back then, which made him lose the joy of growing up with her.
He missed every moment of her growth. He didn't hear her calling "Dad". He didn't know how many times she fell in order to learn to "walk", nor did he know how she got to where she is today.
But he liked the way she walked steadily now. He always felt gratified to see her moving forward in the direction of the rising sun.
It’s not that he can’t walk anymore, he just hopes that this road will be shorter.
He understood what he had done and knew what would become of him. Not long after she called him and asked him to meet, he began to receive calls from the Feng family.
Jiang Zhiyuan knew what this meant. The Feng family would find a way to gain access to the authority and locate his address through the Internet.
It is very likely that this road will not be completed, and someone from the Feng family will appear. She doesn't even have to wait for someone from the Feng family to appear, because her husband will arrive first and take him away.
How he wished that time would stay at this moment. She tilted her head to look at him, her cheeks slightly red, beads of sweat on her forehead and nose, and she looked a little naive, completely defenseless.
"It should be halfway up the mountain."
She took a deep breath, and the crisp wind that blew into her mouth refreshed her. It was still very early, and the sky was about to get bright. Perhaps those who went for morning jogging had just left home. No one disturbed them along the way, and the earliest scenery was left to her and Jiang Zhiyuan.
He nodded, feeling a little regretful that the road was too short.
Jiang Se waited for him for a while, but saw that he was still standing there, as if he was intentionally keeping a distance from her. She felt a little relieved.
She turned to look at the other side. Beneath the green mountains were layers of tall buildings. The bay was surrounded in the middle, clear as a gem.
The morning sun shines on the sea, creating a breathtakingly beautiful scenery.
Pei Yi should already be on his way up the mountain. She held her cell phone and talked to him, asking him to slow down and not to rush.
She knew that Pei Yi was worried about her mood, and in order to reassure him, she did not turn off her phone all the way, but there were some things that she needed to face and solve on her own.
She and Jiang Zhiyuan walked forward at a leisurely pace. Those who came later for morning jogging and tourists who went up the mountain overtook them and were already running to the top of the mountain.
The road became more crowded and no longer as quiet as before.
When the two reached the top of the mountain, it was more than three hours later. The sky was already completely bright and there were already voices of people talking in front of the square on the top of the mountain.
Jiang Se found a corner with few people and sat down, while Jiang Zhiyuan also sat down about one meter away from her.
"It's better here at night than it is now."
Jiang Zhiyuan suddenly spoke, and Jiang Se was a little surprised.
Being with him was not as scary as she had imagined. The laughter and chatter of people around her and the fact that Pei Yi did not hang up the phone undoubtedly made her feel at ease.
The sky gradually brightened as they walked, an environment completely different from the dark wooden house in her memory. His attitude made her realize that he was just an ordinary person, not an invincible nightmare.
He can also talk, sweat, and breathe.
Jiang Zhiyuan didn't get a response from Jiang Se, but he didn't care. He had a lot to say to Jiang Se, even if she showed a strange expression, it was more likely that she didn't want to listen, but he was afraid that if he didn't say it, he would never have the chance to talk to her again.
"It's a pity that I didn't bring you to see it later. At night, the lights of the harbor over there are on, and you can take a cable car."
In fact, he had never ridden this thing, but during this period he always saw tourists with their families holding their children or family members' hands, getting on with either surprise or fear, and he felt a little envious.
He may never have such an opportunity in his lifetime.
Jiang Se didn't say anything, and listened to him continue:
"Actually, I've met you once before."
"I know."
Jiang Se lowered his head and said, "A few years ago, at the IMAX theater, when I talked to Feng Nan."
Jiang Zhiyuan was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but smile. Jiang Se looked up at him:
"Did you plan to kidnap her again from then on?"
Jiang Zhiyuan was still smiling, she was very serious, her eyebrows were wrinkled:
"Are you doing these things because of me?"
He pursed his lips and said nothing, but it was obvious that Jiang Se's guess was true.
"Do you understand?" She clenched her fists and pressed them against her stomach. She bent her body, put her face on her knees, and hid her hands.
"I don't need you to do this."
Her body shrank into a small ball. Jiang Zhiyuan's facial muscles tensed. He wanted to reach out to comfort her, but he felt he was not qualified.
He moved his lips and moved a little further away from her, fearing that if he got too close to her, she would be unhappy.
"I'm just a very selfish person. I don't like to owe others, nor do I like others to owe me." She lay there for a while, her tears soaking the fabric of her trousers at her knees. She went to rummage through her bag and took out a tissue:
"Feng Nan does have ill will towards me, but this is not the way to resolve it."
If her smooth life in the future could be realized by Jiang Zhiyuan kidnapping Feng Nan, she might never have peace in her life.
She couldn't bear to see a life disappear because of her, and she also couldn't let Jiang Zhiyuan make up for his "daughter" in this way.
She got her body and the life she wanted. She rushed back to stop Jiang Zhiyuan, not to save Feng Nan's life, nor to put herself in danger because of Feng Nan. In addition to not wanting to take the life of another person for no reason, she also felt that she owed Jiang Se.
There are some things that Jiang Se can no longer say, but she can still.
She was still afraid of Jiang Zhiyuan and couldn't treat him as her father, but she also didn't want to see him take risks and do wrong things in order to solve problems for herself.
"This is wrong. No one has the right to hurt others." She looked up and bravely looked into Jiang Zhiyuan's eyes, without blinking or avoiding, to show her determination: "Everyone's choices and actions will bring many impacts and changes to the future."
She is, and so is the original 'Jiang Se'.
If she thought about it carefully, if she had not been reborn, according to the original life trajectory of "Jiang Se", she would have lived in an environment like the Du family. Her mother was cowardly and Du Changqun hated her very much. He would beat and scold her at every turn, which made her develop a perverse and violent character. She could not get the warmth of family and the care of her parents. She was ostracized by her half-siblings and was only concerned with making a name for herself.
Maybe it was just as she originally planned, to give up studying at the age of seventeen, to enter society, and to enter the entertainment industry as she had originally envisioned.
Jiang Se didn't know whether she was doing well or not, but she could probably guess a little from the fact that she could get to know and become enemies with someone like Feng Nan.
Just imagine, if Jiang Zhiyuan had not done anything wrong at that time and had personally taught his daughter, Jiang Se's childhood would not have been so miserable. Even if life was difficult, it would not have been as difficult as it was when she was reborn.
"I just want to clear the influence I brought to you."
After Jiang Se finished speaking, Jiang Zhiyuan was silent for a long time before he spoke.
He was the person in the world who least wanted to see her cry, but at this moment, he was the one who made her cry.
Some "influences" are not so easy to remove. Jiang Se hugged himself. He kept looking at Jiang Se with a very deep gaze. There was a complex emotion of despair and hope trapped in his eyes:
"Do you hate me?"
He said meaningfully, "I know I am not qualified, but I still hope to hear you call me."
As he said this, his eyes became a little fragile, full of hope, and he looked at Jiang Se with some pleading.
The girl lowered her head and pursed her lips. The light in her eyes gradually dimmed and finally became silent, like a pool of stagnant water, without any ripples.
His expression was calm, almost wooden. After a long time, he laughed. The sound was a little sad, a little sighing, and seemed to have some regrets, but also as if he knew everything and had guessed such an ending.
He sighed, dusted himself off, stood up and looked into the distance.
Jiang Se followed his gaze and saw Pei Yi, who had come from a distance at some point in time, staring at the two people sitting there.
Feng Zhongliang, who was furious, was leaning on his crutches, staring at Jiang Zhiyuan coldly, his aura was still as strong as before, which reminded Jiang Zhiyuan of the old man who led the police to break into the house.
He was somewhat relieved that there were two people who cared about his daughter so much. He looked at Pei Yi calmly, sized him up with appreciation, and asked Jiang Se:
"Is this Pei Yi?"
The moment she saw Pei Yi and Grandpa appear together, her eyes lit up. The last bit of haze in her heart about the kidnapping was slowly dispelled with the appearance of these two people who cared about her. She nodded and responded:
"Um."
"Is he good to you?"
Jiang Zhiyuan felt complicated when he saw her expression. He was happy for his daughter but also a little sad. He already knew Pei Yi's identity, what kind of family the Pei family was, and how outstanding Pei Yi was.
But he didn't care about all that. What he cared about was whether this man was good to his daughter.
Jiang Se was a little surprised that he would ask this question, but he vaguely understood what Jiang Zhiyuan meant by asking this question.
This feeling was a little strange, and she couldn't get used to it yet, but she still said:
"He treated me very well, liked me very much, cared about me, and was afraid that something might happen to me." (To be continued)