"Beyond my imagination..." Datong repeated this sentence, his eyes staying on Tiantian, as if asking Tiantian with his eyes, do you know all this, do you believe all this...
There was another long silence...
In this silence, the distance between the two people became wider. Haitang could feel this, and Datong could also feel this.
Once some truths are told, they will distance themselves from each other.
Some truths will rot in the stomach for a lifetime, letting them become secrets hidden deep under the sea...
But what people are pursuing one after another is the truth. If they can't accept it, a lifetime of love is just a lie. Haitang chose to tell the truth.
Datong turned his attention to Bai Haitang.
Her appearance and expression have not changed, she is still her wife, her soul, Datong cannot see...
"Where is my Haitang?" Datong asked a sad question that Bai Haitang had never experienced before...
What he is thinking about is his real wife...
"This is her body. Her soul may have traveled to other time and space, or may have disappeared. I have no way of knowing..." Bai Haitang lowered his eyes.
"Smoke disappears... smoke disappears..." Datong repeated this sentence, looking at the wisps of smoke rising in the sky. Was that place once the place where the lady disappeared...
Looking at Haitang, a layer of unfamiliarity covered his pupils.
A heavy sadness lingered in Datong's heart, and he hugged Tiantian tightly. She was the real wife's daughter, his own daughter, and the only bloodline between them...
This is true.
Haitang gritted her teeth, and a string of tears fell from the corners of her eyes. They should not have been hers, and they might eventually flow away the day she learned the truth.
She turned around, not wanting others to see her tears.
Why is it so heartbreaking? Is this what it feels like to love someone and be hurt again...
"Mother, mother..." Tian Tian broke away from Datong's arms, staggered and ran towards Haitang, pulling the hem of her skirt.
Haitang picked her up.
Datong watched all this.
If it were yesterday, all this would be so sweet.
But today is different.
Tian Tian, do you know that she is not your real mother? Your mother has disappeared into thin air and turned into a cloud in the sky. She will never, never come back...
That is your real mother.
Datong was thinking in his heart but couldn't say it out loud.
Even though Haitang has exactly the same appearance, even though Haitang is extremely good, he still remembers the memory of his wife. That virtuous and gentle woman died when he went to Beijing to take the exam, and he didn't even see her for the last time.
We haven’t seen each other, and we can’t even say goodbye properly...
Even if I allow myself to hold her hands once more, look into her eyes once more, and say "my dear wife"...
It was too late. She didn't even see her daughter. She had never eaten her favorite food in her life, never used good rouge, never worn exquisite hairpins, and never wore gorgeous clothes...
…
She just went away like that, lightly and silently...
Endless sentimentality filled Datong's head. Everything was about the real Bai Haitang, and memories of her past flooded into his mind.
From a few tears to a flood of tears...
Datong felt that his heart was broken. He sat alone under the old banyan tree at the back of the village all night, thinking about his wife all night, and crying all night...