When he was six years old, he probably would have been willing to use the blue water to save those two people too—Alan Carter silently prayed in his heart, praying that the little girl who disappeared at the end of the heavy snow, even if burdened with the mistakes of the previous generation and struggling forward, would not end up like himself, with no one left to protect with all her might at the tail end of age twelve.

He didn’t love anyone, and no one loved him.

His family was wealthy, he wasn’t stupid, had good aptitude, no pressure at all, and his stepmother had smoothly given birth to a son, shifting attention and inheritance expectations.

He knew his father didn’t have much affection for him either, keeping him around only because of that sentence, “If you didn’t look so much like me.”

After all, he was his own blood.

When Alan Carter was most afraid as a child, he used to stare at the mirror, worried he’d wake up one day with a head of blond hair like Domin, but gradually, he stopped caring.

He stopped caring about anything.

“So what about you? Still not willing to give up?”

Alan Carter didn’t know how to answer.

Was it that he wouldn’t give up, or that there was no one worth giving up the blue water for?

“But even now, my answer is still that I would give up the blue water for the people I love.” Zoe Young smiled gently, “Like my uncle and aunt, Andrew Lane… and you.”

The last sentence was a little hesitant, but when she spoke, she was still calm.

This girl had always been so calm and determined, even more peaceful and happy than when she was younger.

She grew up safe and sound.

Alan Carter wasn’t unmoved.

He thought, at least in this, everything had turned out as he wished.

Actually, he had lied to her about a lot.

He lied and said he’d never studied Olympiad math, never attended the affiliated high school, he made up a protagonist’s game for her, and everything wasn’t as Zoe Young thought, not to turn her into him.

Everything he did was to keep her from becoming him.

They finished the meal quietly, the snow falling heavier, but it didn’t hide the starlight on the ground at all.

“Last time… the girlfriend you mentioned last time…” Zoe Young paused, as if sorting out her thoughts, “You’re twenty-nine now, right? Do you plan to marry her?”

He reached out and gently patted her head. “Even you are starting to care about this kind of thing now, huh.”

Alan Carter extra “You never had a girlfriend before, and now you finally have one, it’s been two years, and at your age, I just naturally thought you’d get married.” As Zoe Young said this, she didn’t look at Alan Carter, and her tone was still a little unnatural.

“I never had a girlfriend?” Alan Carter laughed, “Did you investigate me?”

“Your college classmate is now our year’s counselor, I asked about some things… and…

It’s not illegal…”

He affectionately ruffled her hair again. “Mm, right, not illegal.” Then he let out a long sigh.

“Breaking up is normal. Actually… actually, I just felt that when you’re in love, your heart doesn’t feel so empty. I tried it, and it was true, but after a while, when that so-called passion faded, it felt even emptier than before. It’s like an addiction.”

After Alan Carter finished, he was stunned for a moment, turned his face, and saw Zoe Young staring at him with wide eyes, looking at him with utmost seriousness.

As if she had accidentally stepped into his heart.

“I told you I’m just an ordinary person, don’t look at me like I’m a fallen immortal,” he said, a little embarrassed, “This is just how I am.”

This is just how I am.

From six or seven years old until now, this is just how he was.

He had already tried very hard.

At least, finally, one day, he could easily say to someone, this is just how I am.

He had chased all the way from the north to snowless Shanghai, always searching for something he might never find in this life.

“It’s nothing. You know, we broke up just because I suddenly realized that everyone has places you can’t touch. She has hers, I have mine.”

They admired him, appreciated him, but no one really knew what the real Alan Carter was like. Because he was unwilling to share that real side. What he was looking for was just, like when he was a child, someone who could let him relax and open his heart honestly, no longer carrying the burden of being mature beyond his years.

To be wild and unrestrained, like when he was six.

But the boy who was mature beyond his years back then was now gradually approaching the age of maturity.

The two parted calmly. The girl had grown up, a bit like him, but the warmth that came from deep inside belonged to her alone.

He watched from afar as she ran toward a tall boy, her snow boots leaving a trail of footprints in the thin new snow.

She and they, there was always someone waiting at the end of the road.

After all the twists and turns, just when he thought they had already said goodbye, he unexpectedly found himself standing behind them again while waiting for the traffic light in the crowd.

Alan Carter hesitated for a long time, but still didn’t call out Zoe Young’s name.

Because he happened to hear the boy say in a youthful tone, “How come I don’t know about this idol you told me you used to be obsessed with?”

There was a hint of jealousy in his tone, and a hint of indifference.

A bit awkward.

Alan Carter heard it clearly and couldn’t help but smile.

Yes, an idol she used to be obsessed with.

Unexpectedly, Zoe Young very seriously corrected him, “I used to think I was obsessed with a god… I mean, an older big brother. But that’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

Alan Carter could almost imagine the little girl staring seriously with wide eyes, after all these years, the impression hadn’t faded at all.

“It’s just the kind of liking that an ordinary woman has for a man.”

The red light turned yellow.

“It’s just the most ordinary kind, wanting to be with him, wanting him to be happy, and I’d be happy too, even if all the Alan Carter extra things we do are boring, not profound or magical at all—that’s the feeling. It’s actually very simple.

I was the one who made it complicated—actually, it’s just this simple.”

The yellow light turned green.

“Hey, hey, hey, why are you getting all worked up again, that was in the past, okay? Now I like you in the same way an ordinary woman likes a man—”

“Tch, as if, I’m not an ordinary man!”

Alan Carter didn’t move, watching the two lively young lovers cross the street.

He looked up, and the snow was still falling just like many years ago, coming from who knows where, out of nothing, covering him all over.

The kind of liking an ordinary woman has for a man.

An ordinary father, an ordinary mother, a life without great achievements or great mistakes, holding a bottle of blue water, always ready to give up the chance to meet God for an ordinary person.

All these years, through so many cities, searching and searching, he just hoped to find someone he’d willingly give a bottle of blue water to.

That bottle, in the snowy memory, had already frozen solid.

“No matter what, I’m really glad that in all these years growing up, I had a Alan Carter.”

Zoe Young said this at their parting, and he just smiled.

“Yes, congratulations.”

How lucky you are, Your Majesty.

Emperors face coups, the fourth consort is sent to the cold palace.

But it doesn’t matter, no matter how many thousands of troops chase from behind, that year the fourth consort still took the emperor’s hand and ran forward without hesitation.

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Zoe Young & Andrew Lane extra: Holding your hand, dragging you away

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Zoe Young & Andrew Lane extra “Zoe Young? I knew you’d come, hahaha, wait a sec, I’ll go see where Andrew Lane ran off to…”

Nathan Lucas said, then started calling out exaggeratedly in all directions.

They all knew she would come.

The time from the end of the college entrance exam to the announcement of results was twenty days of estimating scores, filling out applications, and simply waiting. The final application forms had all been submitted this morning, and all the parents and students who had been carefully studying the national university admissions guide could finally relax for a bit.

Do your best.

The rest is up to fate.

Zoe Young was called to a classmate gathering by Andrew Lane’s phone call—she wasn’t really interested, and didn’t even know whose classmates they were gathering with, or what there was to gather for at this time.

But Andrew Lane had been so shameless on the phone.

And her aunt was right there, eavesdropping, pretending to wipe the table, not noticing she’d almost worn through the tabletop.