Stars In His Eyes
Chapter 1077 Value 7

Chapter 1077: Chapter 1077 Value 7

He Teng’s mother cried until she was utterly exhausted. Her greatest regret was, how could she have personally hurt her own daughter? How could she have given up so easily back then?

What she thought was despair—endlessly searching, only to receive no response as if throwing a stone into the sea—she now realized wasn’t despair at all.

Their daughter had still been waiting for them to find her. Yet they... why had they given up because of despair?

"Mrs. Gu, from the day you gave up looking for Gu Zhilan, it meant you had forever lost your daughter. From the day you abandoned me, Gu Zhilan disappeared from this world, leaving only me, He Zhilan. So, from now on, there will still be no Gu Zhilan in this world. Don’t bother looking for me. I am not her. I won’t forgive you. I will continue to hate—hate the both of you."

With that, He Zhilan hung up the phone. Gu’s mother didn’t have time to respond before the thread connecting her to He Zhilan was abruptly severed.

Sometimes, the truth is the cruelest thing in this world.

It has an innate ability to make people feel as if the sky is collapsing.

When someone is heartbroken, no matter how high they hold their head, the tears will inevitably flood out with their sadness. They can’t be controlled, nor wiped away completely.

He Teng walked beside He Zhilan in silence. He didn’t speak—he just held onto He Zhilan, ensuring she didn’t get lost in the crowd.

He knew the bitterness weighing on her heart at this moment, but all he could offer was this silent companionship.

He didn’t have Lin Chan’s eloquence, with sweet words to cheer He Zhilan up. Nor did he know what else he could do to ease her pain.

At this moment, He Teng especially hated his own nature—his inherent taciturn demeanor. His near-wooden stupidity made him despise himself.

The drizzle had tapered off, and somewhere along the horizon, faint sunlight began to filter through. The sky, transitioning to brightness, was half azure and half shrouded in gray.

Even the heavens are like this—how could life be any different?

He Zhilan lifted her gaze to glance at He Teng beside her. He—he was the azure half of her life.

"Brother, I’m fine," He Zhilan said with a faint smile at He Teng before raising her hand in childish mischief and wiping her tears on his clothes. "Weren’t we planning to go have fun? Are you really just letting me wander aimlessly like this? What if we both get lost later?"

"We won’t. I’m keeping track of the way." As an excellent soldier, if he couldn’t even manage basic navigation, how could the military trust him to carry out missions?

"Idiot," He Zhilan softly muttered. "Brother, if I ever feel sad in the future, just take me out to play. Once I’m happy, I’ll forget the sadness."

He Teng nodded repeatedly and silently etched her words into his heart.

Not happy? Then go have fun. If you have enough fun, you’ll forget the sadness.

The entire day, He Teng did his best to take He Zhilan out to enjoy the city. They climbed mountains, searched for Lover’s Lake hidden deep within the hills, borrowed a small fishing boat, and drifted along the lake while listening to fishermen catching fish and singing local dialect songs. Back on land, they followed local children in mimicking the regional slang. Though mocked for being clumsy by the children, the siblings laughed until their sides hurt.

By the time they returned to the inn, it was already past seven in the evening. While He Zhilan showered, He Teng took the opportunity to call Lin Chan to discuss the plans they’d been interrupted from completing earlier. Before He Zhilan finished her shower, he hurried back into the room.