Chapter 38: The Park of Childhood

W City is a small town. By night, it lacks the bustling energy of S City, yet it possesses a charm all its own—a quiet, grounded warmth.

The two strolled along the roadside, and the shared memories that belonged to them began to awaken, layer by layer. Perhaps because he had stopped taking the red pills and had returned to his hometown, Jiang Yang found that today, many memories of his childhood with Xiaoqing had resurfaced. Every moment of those recollections felt sweet in retrospect.

Xiaoqing walked with her hands behind her back, tilting her head to look at him. "Do you remember? Every weekend when you came over to play, you would always treat me to the snacks you had hidden away."

"I remember," Jiang Yang said, a mysterious smile playing on his lips. "But there’s one thing you don't know."

"Oh? What is it?" Xiaoqing asked, her face full of surprise.

Jiang Yang chuckled. "Actually, those were just the snacks I didn’t like and couldn't finish, so I gave them to you."

Xiaoqing raised her fist and playfully punched him in the chest. "Jiang Yang, you're awful! You were using me as a trash can!"

Jiang Yang dodged with a quick flash of movement. "Better you know now than never knowing at all."

"Now that I know, are you looking for a beating?" Xiaoqing reached out to grab him again.

Jiang Yang made a face. "You have to catch me first if you want to beat me." With that, he turned and ran.

Xiaoqing, not to be outdone, lengthened her stride and gave chase. Like children playing, they ran one after the other into People’s Park, eventually stopping in front of the old children’s playground.

"Let’s see where you can run to now!" Xiaoqing lunged forward, grabbed his jacket, and pinched his arm hard.

Despite her slender frame, Xiaoqing had a surprising amount of strength. Jiang Yang winced in pain. "Big Sister Xiaoqing, have mercy! I was just teasing you. We were so poor back then, where would I have found extra snacks? Even those few candies I had, I saved them all to honor you."

Xiaoqing was stunned. "Really? Then didn't you go without?"

"Exactly. I just have a sharp tongue and was trying to pull your leg."

"Hmph, well, you deserved to be taught a lesson. Fine, I’ll let you off." She finally loosened her grip.

Jiang Yang rubbed his arm and looked at the abandoned playground. The equipment was too old to provide joy to children anymore, but it held the weight of their shared childhood.

"Jiang Yang, did you bring me here on purpose?" Seeing the rusted merry-go-round, a strange light flickered in Xiaoqing's eyes.

He had. He brought her here specifically to tell her about the confession he had intended for someone else that night. As the starting point of their shared history, this place seemed like a fitting end for their relationship.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you..."

"Are you trying to repeat that confession you made before the car accident?" Xiaoqing interrupted, her eyes filled with tenderness.

Jiang Yang froze. "I... I confessed to you before the accident? But weren't you in the United States back then?"

"That’s right. You held your phone and confessed to me from the top of Baihua Mountain in S City."

Jiang Yang was bewildered. He hadn't considered a video call confession.

"And... did you accept?"

"I..." Xiaoqing bit her lip. "I'm sorry, I didn't accept it that day. I had my reasons."

Jiang Yang wondered if the friction between them hadn't been about money after all, but rather the failure of that confession.

She continued, "I can tell you today. I didn't accept because I had taken out a massive loan to invest in a startup in the States, and I had to pay it off before I could return home. The debt was so large I didn't know when I’d be free. I owed you too much, and I couldn't bring myself to ask you to wait for me."

"I didn't know any of this. Then... how did you pay it off?"

"I got lucky. The stock options I held in a tech company skyrocketed, and I made a fortune. That’s how I cleared the debt and returned." Her words left Jiang Yang stunned. He had confessed, and she had only refused him out of necessity.

Seeing him frozen, Xiaoqing seemed to remember something. "Oh, I forgot you have amnesia. I still have that video. Look."

She pulled up a clip on her phone. It was night; Jiang Yang was standing on the summit plaza of Baihua Mountain, selfie-style, the city lights of S City sparkling behind him.

In the video, Jiang Yang pointed at the view below. "Liang Xiaoqing, let the past be the past. Look, the view is so beautiful here. I want to see it with you."

Jiang Yang looked at her skeptically. "That was my confession? The video is only ten seconds long, and besides..."

He didn't finish the thought. The clip was merely an invitation to look at the scenery; there wasn't a single word of romantic confession.

Xiaoqing wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "When I recorded the screen, you had already finished the confession. I only managed to record this last part."

Of course, she wouldn't tell him that the video had been heavily edited, a twenty-minute recording cut down to ten seconds.

Jiang Yang wanted to take the phone to look again, but she pulled it away. She took his hand. "I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone to the States. Since heaven has given us a chance to start over, we shouldn't miss it, right?"

The warm, delicate touch of her hand, combined with the familiar childhood surroundings and the beautiful woman standing before him, made it impossible for Jiang Yang to speak any harsh words of rejection.

Her words had touched him, and he could remember that he had certainly confessed to her more than once in the past, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"Big Sister Xiaoqing, since you just got back, I think we need time to get reacquainted. Since you're in S City now, can we talk about this later?"

Liang Xiaoqing’s expression stiffened, a hint of shadow flitting across her beautiful eyes, but she immediately softened her face and pulled Jiang Yang into an embrace. "I'm sorry, I was too impatient. It was all my fault before. Don't worry, no matter what, I will make up for what we lost."

Breathing in her scent and feeling her warmth, Jiang Yang felt a pang of guilt. He wanted to just say yes. Who could refuse a confession from their "white moonlight"? But his intuition told him she was hiding something, and until he knew the truth, he could not easily commit.