Ai Zhiyi also smiled and was touched by the words. After all, that thirty-two-year-old woman was too kind to be called a kind person to him.
When the people and the world hated Ai Zhiyi and Chu Weixu, Chu Xinian was the only one who wanted to accept them. She was also the only one in the Chu Family who had mercy on them. She had sacrificed too much in terms of both material and time. If Chu Weixu and Ai Zhiyi had worked for their entire lives, then their wages would never have been sufficient to make up for all of them.
Even though Chu Xinian didn't mind at all, Ai Zhiyi still felt that they owed her something, and had to pay her no matter what. If not, he would be ashamed for life, even when he died.
Ai Zhiyi thought of the past, which seemed too naive, and was carried out very hastily.
On the night eleven years ago, Ai Zhiyi still vividly remembered how Chu Weixu and he had run away. It was the beginning of Chu Xinian's sacrifice for them.
When both of them had to spend the night on the street waiting for the train to leave early in the morning, Chu Xinian came secretly and gave them some money. Chu Xinian knew that Chu Weixu wouldn't want to accept the money, so she decided to give the money to Ai Zhiyi.
Ai Zhiyi accepted it with a heavy heart, but he also had to think about how they should survive in another city that didn't even care about their existence.
At that time, they were still teenagers. Ai Zhiyi left before his graduation day at High School, while Chu Weixu didn't attend college. They had no abilities of work, all they could rely on was a talent that had never been tested.
A long time ago, Ai Zhiyi took a music class at his school, so he was good at playing several musical instruments and the violin was what he was most interested in. While Chu Weixu had a good voice, and once dreamed of becoming a musician. Also, he could play the piano and guitar.
However, Chu Weixu's father was a hundred-year-old business owner. He wouldn't let Chu Weixu go with his foolish dream easily.
Unfortunately, Chu Weixu chose to run away and took someone he loved. Although Ai Zhiyi refused at first, Chu Weixu seemed to have magic on his lips. Each of his words was an incantation that could create the sensation of forgetting, which made Ai Zhiyi wonder until now about why he wanted to accept the offer to elope with him.
He wondered, why does he love him?
Why does Weixu love him?
People often say that love and affection need no words. If someone asked, "Why do you love each other?" Then the true love would feel in a daze. There would be no physical reasons, but only their psychology.
In the past, there was a saying, "The sea dries up and the stones are crushed", which described true love. It was once told directly to Ai Zhiyi that Chu Weixu would always love him to death.
At that time, Ai Zhiyi was sixteen. Chu Weixu looked into Ai Zhiyi's eyes deeply — deeper than the world's deepest lake, and wider than the ocean. Chu Weixu said firmly that he would live with him — forever.
Ai Zhiyi couldn't help but trust him as he was just a stupid teenager who also loved him a lot. Even if someone asked the same question about his feelings now, he would return to becoming the stupid teenager he used to be and say the same answer.
Then, when Ai Zhiyi was seventeen, Chu Weixu forced him to have sex. Ai Zhiyi complied and gave himself up that night. Even though he was in pain, it was soon replaced by happiness when fireworks exploded in their heads. There was raciness and pleasure they could feel, coursing through their bodies like something warm amid a blizzard that almost froze them.
However, something bad happened after their pleasant night. The people found out about their relationship, both families became furious and each dragged their kids. Chu Weixu was locked up in his mansion, while Ai Zhiyi had to be scolded for days.
Out of their naivety, both families had to bear some shame. Chu Weixu's father fired Ai Zhiyi's father as a private driver in the Chu Family. He was thrown away like disgusting trash as if his years of service to the family meant nothing to theirs. It made Ai Zhiyi feel heartbroken to find out how the Chu Family treated his family so badly.
One night, Chu Weixu ran away from his mansion and came to see Ai Zhiyi, who had been crying all day.
Ai Zhiyi intended not to let him in, but it was winter that night, the snow almost froze Chu Weixu who was standing outside the window.
It was their first meeting in nearly three months since their family had locked them up.
In truth, Ai Zhiyi wanted to break up with him, considering how the Chu Family looked down on his family. Yet, he tried to think with common sense that Chu Weixu was different — Chu Weixu was his lover. They were two people who loved each other and neither of them wanted any of this to happen.
Ai Zhiyi still remembered how Chu Weixu had said something shocking to him. "Zhiyi, if we're still here, I'm sure our relationship won't continue even if we want it. I want to be with you, even until I die. So, now it's time to be selfish. I want you to come with me."
Ai Zhiyi didn't understand the words. He was just an innocent teenager who didn't understand anything, so he asked, confused, "What do you mean?"
Taking a silent breath, Chu Weixu tried to say his words more clearly, "Come with me to Shanghai. I'll be waiting for you at the station tomorrow night at eleven o'clock. If we stay here, our relationship can't stand any longer, so I want you to come with me."
Ai Zhiyi refused it. Apart from not wanting to leave his family, he and Chu Weixu were still teenagers.
However, Chu Weixu was too good at words and allowed Ai Zhiyi to believe in him as well as his life, so Ai Zhiyi tried to consider it one more time within a week before agreeing to it.
When that night came, Ai Zhiyi stole some of his mother's savings, then fled through the window of his room to the station, leaving only a letter for his parents to say goodbye to. Also, he left a bad name for his family, perhaps even disgusting them to the bones.