Chapter 722: 29.6%, and 2.4%

The old man's cracked lips trembled as they opened, and the corners of his eyes, which seemed to have long since dried up, became moist again... These seven words were like a sword piercing through three hundred years, stabbing into the softest part of his heart.

At this moment, all the exhaustion, pain, and grievances suppressed deep within his heart... could not be contained and surged out, condensing into drops of turbid tears that streaked down his cheeks and fell, drip by drip, onto the ruined earth.

No one knew how he had spent these three hundred years.

He shouldered the responsibility of maintaining the Red Dust Realm, he endured the pain of the damaged device piercing his body, he suffered the loneliness that ordinary people could not bear, and he competed with time, stitch by stitch...

He had wanted to take everything with him and return to the dust in loneliness, but a single sentence from Su Zhiwei shattered all his stubborn persistence.

The old man forced himself to look away, no longer meeting Su Zhiwei's eyes. He looked at the gurgling water at his feet and said hoarsely:

"You shouldn't have come to find me..."

"Why?"

"If you hadn't found me, I would still be the young Yao Qing following behind you," the old man paused for a moment. "Now, I am an old man so old I can't even speak clearly... At the very least, I wanted to leave the most perfect image in your heart."

"Does perfection have anything to do with appearance?"

Su Zhiwei frowned. "You are the one who created the Floating Life Painting, the one who protected the Red Dust Realm, the one who locked time for me, and the one who resisted Lord Wuji at the critical moment... This realm rose because of you and prospered because of you. Without you, the Red Dust Realm would have been destroyed long ago, and I would have died in the passage of time long ago.

You haven't been following behind me for a long time, Yao Qing. You walk in front of me, you walk in front of everyone... You have done so much for us, why do you still feel that you are not perfect?"

"But from now on, whenever you think of me, you will only think of this ugly old face... I don't want that."

"You'd rather not see me just to keep your image in my heart looking better??"

Su Zhiwei seemed angered. She gritted her teeth and glared at Yao Qing. "Childish! Stubborn!! You're still exactly the same as that little brat from back then!"

Hearing the second half of the sentence, the old man was stunned for a moment, then the corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily. He leaned against the trunk of the willow tree and let out a hoarse, light laugh... His expression was somewhat stiff, even grotesque, not because of anything else, but because he hadn't laughed in hundreds of years, and the muscles in his face had long since atrophied.

The old man seemed much more relaxed. He said softly, "But you are in the prime of your youth, yet you are concerned about an old man who is about to be buried. This doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it..."

When the word "concerned" came out, Su Zhiwei was also taken aback. At this moment, she felt as if she had truly returned to the years over three hundred years ago. The Yao Qing of that time also often teased her like this, or rather, hid his love in casual banter.

But at that time, she usually wouldn't take the initiative to respond, because in her view, there was some kind of insurmountable barrier between them... She was eight years older than him.

The former Su Zhiwei, as part of the highly educated group, had a rather conservative view of relationships. But now she had experienced too much, and some things she once regarded as barriers had long since become irrelevant...

Su Zhiwei pursed her lips. After hesitating for a moment, she answered seriously:

"Age is not a problem; that's what you said yourself back then."

The old man hadn't expected Su Zhiwei's answer to be so direct this time. She no longer hid her true feelings in the slightest, but generously gave him feedback... But this time, he didn't answer immediately.

The old man looked silently at the reflection in the river at his feet. Between him and Su Zhiwei, there had long existed a chasm...

It was time, it was the era, it was life and death.

"Back then... I was just saying it," the old man murmured.

"But I took it seriously."

Su Zhiwei's even more direct answer once again shattered Yao Qing's sentimental worries. He was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to respond... Facts proved that when Su Zhiwei, this straight-talking science-minded woman, was determined to express her true feelings, no matter how delicate and complex the embroidery, it could not capture Yao Qing's crumbling heart.

In front of the current Su Zhiwei, all of Yao Qing's worries, concerns, and complex thoughts were like the adolescent troubles of a little boy, being forcefully torn into pieces.

"Back then, I was twenty-seven, a doctor; you were nineteen, still a college student... For us at that time, eight years was an insurmountable chasm. But now, everything is different." Seeing Yao Qing's delay in answering, Su Zhiwei continued seriously,

“8/27≈29.6%，8/330≈2.4%……”

"...What do you mean?"

Even though Yao Qing had lived for over three hundred years, he still couldn't understand Su Zhiwei's train of thought.

"The chasm that once existed has been trampled under our feet... Time is nothing in the face of love." Su Zhiwei looked deeply into his eyes,

"I love you, Yao Qing, regardless of the era, regardless of life and death."

In Yao Qing's shrinking gaze, Su Zhiwei closed her eyes and kissed those aged lips.

Raindrops fell into the river, making a crisp tinkling sound. Two hearts resonated at this moment, and the world sank into eternal silence.

I don't know how much time passed.

The two figures under the withered willow tree slowly separated.

Yao Qing's gaze was still fixed on Su Zhiwei's face, his expression shifting from astonishment to joy, and finally sinking into bitterness and helplessness...

Su Zhiwei's shoulder was pressed against Yao Qing's, and she leaned against the trunk of the willow tree with him. The two sat on the bank like this, quietly feeling the river flowing beneath them and the light breeze brushing past their ears...

No one spoke, as if they couldn't bear to break this dream that was too beautiful to be real, as if they were enjoying this moment of tenderness that had bloomed in the three hundred years of time.

The heartbeat was gradually weakening, just like the fleeting breeze at their fingertips.

"...Sister Zhiwei."

Yao Qing turned his head and said softly, "I should sleep."

"Sleep then... I will be here with you," Su Zhiwei looked into his eyes. "One day, we will meet again... in a dream, or in another reality."

"...Mm."

Yao Qing's eyes closed uncontrollably. His current vitality could no longer allow him to think carefully about Su Zhiwei's answer... He was like a bonfire that had been burning fiercely for three hundred years, gradually extinguishing in this rain, leaving only a tiny, ultimate spark drifting silently.

At the same time, Su Zhiwei's slightly trembling voice, which she could no longer suppress, rang softly in his ear:

"Thank you for three hundred years of companionship... Yao Qing."

Fwip—

The spark extinguished within the aged shell.

The moment his heart stopped beating, Su Zhiwei could no longer control her expression. Two lines of tears kept sliding from the corners of her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Yao Qing's corpse and wept silently.