At first, when Suo Ningbing saw that the young man before her really looked exactly like her younger brother, her emotions were incredibly complicated. There was a trace of comfort, but far more was boundless sorrow. Because of this, she did not even notice Lan Ling standing there frozen like a wooden statue.
Later, when Lan Ling suddenly rushed forward and embraced her tightly, she felt shock, shame, and anger all at once. After being stunned for a while, she tried hard to break free, but Lan Ling held her too tightly. She could not struggle loose at all.
When Ye Jingyu noticed what was happening, she rushed in quickly. She was both shocked and furious and shouted, “What are you doing?”
Then she grabbed Lan Ling’s arm and gave it a fierce twist, instantly dislocating his shoulder.
Even though his arm was dislocated, Lan Ling felt no pain at all. He continued to hold Suo Ningbing tightly without letting go.
“Sister, Lan Kou, from now on we will never be apart again. I want to marry you. I want to protect you with my whole life!” Lan Ling poured out all the words he had never had the chance to confess back on Earth.
At this moment, Suo Ningbing calmed down. Because Lan Ling’s words were too infatuated, too sincere. They came completely from the depths of his soul and could not possibly be faked.
“Jingyu, do not hurt him,” Suo Ningbing said. Then she stopped struggling. Looking into Lan Ling’s狂喜 yet dazed eyes, she spoke gently, “You… you can let go of me first. My name is Suo Ningbing. I am not called Lan Kou. You have recognised the wrong person…”
Lan Ling was stunned and said, “Sister, I am Lan Ling. I am the Lan Ling you raised from childhood.”
Suo Ningbing said, “I really do not know anyone called Lan Ling.”
Lan Ling’s mind gradually cleared. He looked carefully at the woman in front of him.
Whether in temperament or appearance, she was exactly like his sister Lan Kou. Of course, because of her noble status, she carried an additional air of elegance and dignity. And perhaps because she had lived in comfort, her features seemed even more exquisitely beautiful than Lan Kou’s. It was a breathtaking kind of beauty.
But that gentle, water-like feeling, that look in her eyes, really was identical.
Since he could transmigrate to this world, it was entirely possible that his sister had transmigrated too. Lan Ling immediately asked, “Were you born in this world?”
Suo Ningbing was taken aback, then nodded. “Of course. I was born in the Tianshui Earl’s residence.”
Lan Ling said, “Then… then do you have any other memories in your mind, as if they belong to another person?”
Suo Ningbing was stunned again, then shook her head.
Instantly, Lan Ling felt a surge of disappointment inside. Could the woman before him really not be his sister Lan Kou? If Lan Kou had transmigrated here, she should have memories from Earth.
Immediately afterwards, Lan Ling thought of another possibility. Could this be a matter of past and present lives? Could the Suo Ningbing in front of him be Lan Kou’s next life?
Yes, that must be it. That must be it. They looked almost exactly the same, so they had to be the same person. Even if the body was different and the memories were different, their souls were the same at the deepest level.
Lan Ling kept telling himself that the woman before him was Lan Kou in this life. She simply did not know it herself.
Him coming to her side was absolutely heaven’s will. It had to be heaven’s will.
Suo Ningbing said softly, “Can you tell me about her story? About the sister Lan Kou you mentioned.”
Lan Ling nodded and said, “I was an orphan. From the moment I was born, I never knew who my parents were. I grew up in an orphanage. When I was four years old, a family adopted me…”
Lan Ling slowly recounted the story of him and his sister Lan Kou.
When he spoke of how his adoptive parents died in an accident, Suo Ningbing was already crying again.
When he told her about how Lan Kou’s face had been disfigured by acid thrown by a bad person, Suo Ningbing was sobbing so hard she could no longer speak clearly.
“Because my sister no longer wanted to live, I decided that before I killed that bastard, I would immediately propose to her… ask her to marry me, so she would have the courage to keep living. Even though her face was ruined, in my heart she would always be the most beautiful.”
Even Ye Jingyu’s expression trembled when she heard this part.
“That night, under a sky full of shooting stars, I used a device to record my proposal and confession to my sister, planning to show it to her. But then a meteor struck me. When I woke up again, I was already in a strange place…”
Lan Ling finished telling the story of him and Lan Kou. He did not mention transmigration. He only said it was a very, very distant place, a completely different country.
After listening, both Suo Ningbing and Ye Jingyu fell silent. Suo Ningbing’s eyes were completely red.
“Is it… really that similar?” Ye Jingyu asked.
“Almost identical in appearance. The temperament deep in her bones, her gaze, completely the same. When I was naughty and disobedient and she scolded me, when I joked around, she would try desperately to keep a straight face but could not help laughing. Other people clutch their stomachs when they laugh. She would press hard on her lower back.”
“When she was about to get angry, her ears would itch. When I tickled her, she was not afraid of her soles, her stomach, or her armpits, but the backs of her knees were extremely, extremely ticklish…”
After hearing these extremely private details, Suo Ningbing’s body trembled. She immediately looked towards Ye Jingyu.
“I have never told young miss even half a secret, and besides, I did not know these things either,” Ye Jingyu said. “Could it be… young miss, you are the same?”
Suo Ningbing nodded in disbelief.
“Young miss, this is heaven’s will. This really is heaven’s will…” Ye Jingyu said. “He was destined to come to your side.”
Suo Ningbing’s gaze towards Lan Ling grew gentler and gentler, filled with more and more emotion. Then she stepped forward, gently embraced Lan Ling, and said softly, word by word, “From today onwards, you are my younger brother. Elder sister will protect you for a lifetime and take care of you for a lifetime!”
…
One of the four great playboys of the royal capital, Suo Lun, had returned!
Through his own mouth, this news spread throughout the entire royal capital in less than a day. Some rejoiced, some sighed with regret, but of course most were dismissive.
This prodigal wastrel had been missing for several months and had not even attended his father’s funeral. Everyone thought he had died in the Heavenly Demon Mountain Range. No one expected him to come back alive.
People had thought the Suo clan would have no heir, that yet another hundred-year noble family would vanish into ashes. No one expected it to pull through again.
In the Li Shui Garden near the royal palace, inside a pavilion, a woman of outstanding grace and peerless beauty, dressed in a snow-white long skirt, lay lazily on her side along the corridor. One hand held a book, while the other dipped into the clear pond water, letting the pretty little fish peck at her fingers.
She was the foremost talented woman of the Fury Wave Kingdom, the Princess Zhi Ning whom countless young handsome elites dreamed of day and night.
A eunuch glided over without his feet touching the ground and stopped outside the pavilion. In a low voice he said, “Princess, that toad Suo Lun has returned.”
Princess Zhi Ning’s near-perfect brows furrowed slightly. Her jade hand in the water tightened, then she said calmly, “I know.”
The eunuch asked, “Then does Your Highness need this servant to do anything?”
Princess Zhi Ning said, “Do nothing at all.”
“Yes.” The eunuch replied. After pausing for a moment, he retreated silently.
Princess Zhi Ning continued reading her book. Her hand in the water loosened. A little fish slipped back into the water, its belly already turned white.
“Brother Li, rest assured. The fish that has already entered my net, I will never let it escape. Tianshui City, I will definitely obtain it for you,” Princess Zhi Ning said in a low voice that only she could hear.