It was a sunny afternoon when Li Jun cooked her favorite dishes and beckoned her over. Gazing into her father'…
It was a sunny afternoon when Li Jun cooked her favorite dishes and beckoned her over. Gazing into her father's softer-than-usual eyes, she decided she wouldn't quarrel with him today. "What is it?"
Then she heard the absurd proposal: Her father had decided to give her a new father.
"Why not? You get along with Murong Yanzhao! You even call him 'Father'... We're father and daughter by fate, but we clash. You suffer with me..."
"I'm doing this for your own good."
She didn't understand.
But more than that, she wanted to share his hardships. She was used to them by now.
Her pride wouldn't let her say this. That night, she stormed out without glancing at her father or younger brother.
At first, she marched swiftly, then slowed, then began looking back. With every step, she never doubted someone would come for her. Surely her father would follow.
But no one came.
Two hours passed. Her legs felt leaden. After half a day, she forced herself not to turn around. As she trudged toward Mohist Hill, her anger cooled, and the spark of hope in her chest died.
Finally, she accepted the truth: she'd been abandoned. Her feet ached, but she shed no tears.
This road is so hard to walk, she thought.
No, it isn't the road. It's the waiting that hurts. The hoping. If I could just stop expecting someone to come for me, maybe the road wouldn't feel so long.
From that day on, she stopped hoping. Hope, she realized, is harder to carry than the road itself.