Chapter Sixty-Two: The Most Romantic Love

(Thank you to all the esteemed readers for your monthly votes and recommendations.)

The car that came to pick up Yang Qing and the others was a stretched business sedan, its interior spacious enough to seat ten people. Even though Yang Qing was not someone who knew much about cars, he could sense an overwhelming aura of luxury emanating from the sleek black vehicle before him.

He exchanged a glance with Tan Jin’er; both were visibly astonished. It seemed Li Wanxiao’s background was far from ordinary. When the car stopped in front of a small villa, their surprise deepened into awe.

The villa, surrounded by a lush garden and emerald lawns, struck Yang Qing with a powerful impact. The delighted exclamations of Xiao Qiu’er and the others rang in his ears, stirring within him a wild ambition: if one day he could let his sisters live in such a villa, how surprised and happy they would be.

“Wanwan really is a little princess,” Tan Jin’er remarked softly, moved by the sight. Material things, at times, can provoke profound changes in one’s senses. Now, as she watched Li Wanxiao approach, she suddenly felt that the gentle and elegant aura this woman exuded was not a facade—it radiated from her very bones.

“Xier, Qiuer, Xiaobai!”

Today, little Wanwan seemed even more energetic than yesterday. Seeing her friends arrive, she gleefully released her mother’s hand and ran over, her childish voice ringing out.

“Haha… Wanwan!”

Little Xier shouted as she rushed forward, hugging Wanwan tightly. “Oh dear, Xier can’t lift you up!”

“You silly girl,” Xiaobai laughed quietly at Xier’s flushed face, then turned to Wanwan in wonder. “Wanwan, your house is so big and beautiful!”

“Hehe…” Wanwan gave a shy, toothy smile. Then she took their hands and whispered, “Xier, Xiaobai, let’s go eat buns—they’re really tasty!”

“Okay!”

“Here, try this—it’s really sweet,” Xier said, pulling a candy from her little pocket and handing it to Wanwan. Then, turning her head, she called out to Xiao Qiuer, who was crouched by the garden, “Qiuer, what are you doing? Come over!”

“Coming!” Xiao Qiuer ran over, her small legs pattering, and looked at the little princess Wanwan, pointing curiously at the nearby garden.

“Wanwan, why aren’t there any vegetables in your garden?”

“Um… Wanwan… Wanwan doesn’t know. It’s… it’s mama who planted it,” Wanwan answered softly, adorably.

“Silly girl, that’s a flower garden, not a vegetable patch. Flower gardens are for flowers, vegetable patches are for vegetables,” Xiaobai explained, laughing, saying that there were many such little gardens at the Red Pony Kindergarten, filled with flowers that smelled so wonderful.

Immediately, the three children who hadn’t attended kindergarten became curious, chattering and asking whether kindergarten was fun and if there were many babies there…

The four little ones, laughing and noisy, ran into the villa. The little boy Ma Minghao politely invited Xiao Chuner and Xiao Xiar inside as well.

Yang Qing and Tan Jin’er, carrying little Dong’er, strolled along, chatting with Li Wanxiao.

“These are all the fruits of our parents’ time. Their generation truly worked hard and accomplished so much,” Li Wanxiao said, noticing the shock in Yang Qing and Tan Jin’er’s eyes, smiling as she spoke. “You must be wondering how a wealthy heiress like me married a firefighter, thinking it must be some melodramatic story.”

She paused, gazing at a small garden ahead, her voice filled with sweetness and longing. “Actually, no. Many would not find our meeting romantic, but I believe it was the most romantic of all—because it was the romance of life itself.”

“My mother passed away from cancer when I was in high school. At that moment, I decided that when I grew up, I would become a doctor. My father was very open-minded; he always supported my decisions.”

Li Wanxiao fell into the memories of the past, her expression shifting from pain to sorrow to sweetness.

“In the end, I achieved my dream and became a doctor. I was very happy and always worked hard, dedicated to my sacred profession…”

“Until one day, we received an emergency call: a residential building was on fire, with many injured. I was assigned to go out with my colleagues from the emergency department.”

“The fire was fierce, raging. When we arrived, the firefighters were battling the blaze, and several injured lay on the ground. There was even a child whose face was so badly burned it was unrecognizable, yet she was murmuring ‘Mommy, it hurts’… At that moment, several of the female doctors and nurses with me broke down in tears.”

“While we wiped our tears and gave basic first aid, a tall firefighter suddenly appeared before me, carrying a teenage girl in his arms.”

At this point, tears filled Li Wanxiao’s eyes. “He said nothing, simply handed me the child and turned back toward the fire hoses. Only then did I see his firefighting uniform was already burning.”

“The flames on his uniform were extinguished, and I thought he wouldn’t rush in again. But that was merely my assumption—he charged back into that inferno, which devoured lives without hesitation.”

“My heart was shaken. I couldn’t imagine what kind of responsibility and mission would drive him to risk his life against merciless flames.”

“And in the next moment, I understood—it was life itself.”

“When he carried a woman out of the fire, staggering and collapsing before me, I wept with heartache. As I hurried to treat him, he grabbed my hand and said, ‘Save her first.’”

Li Wanxiao spoke, smiling and crying in turn.

“That was our first meeting. Wasn’t it romantic? He seemed so foolish in my eyes then, risking his life to save strangers. Foolish, yet so heroic!”

“Later, while he was hospitalized, I always found excuses to check on him. Until one time, while I measured his blood pressure, he said, ‘Why am I having my temperature taken four times and blood pressure measured three times in an hour? Am I dying, or can I still be rescued?’”

Li Wanxiao laughed sweetly. “That was our first real conversation. I discovered he was very humorous. As we grew familiar, mutual affection blossomed, and we held hands.”

“Later, he proposed, and I accepted. We married, and we were very happy. After we had little Hao, my father talked to him, hoping he would quit firefighting. My father said, ‘Now that you have a family and a child, you shouldn’t do such dangerous work anymore.’”

“But he refused, saying he didn’t want his son to think his father was a coward. I worried, but I still supported him.”

“After Wanwan was born, I resigned from my job, forsaking my original dream, determined to nurture our family. I made dinner every night, waiting for him to return home. But on Wanwan’s second birthday, I never saw him again. Wanwan never saw her father again.”

“Life is so unpredictable, and so fragile. One moment someone whispers softly in your ear, and the next, you are forever separated. Do you know that despair?”

Li Wanxiao’s eyes, tearful and hollow, gazed at the sky as she murmured, “I sent little Hao to Hope Elementary, for no other reason than that his father once walked those halls as a child.”

“I walk the same route every day to pick up Hao, hoping to find traces of him along that path, to let him know I am thinking of him—missing him so, so much…”

Listening, Yang Qing fell silent. Tan Jin’er wept, gently embracing the trembling Li Wanxiao, speaking sadly:

“Don’t be sad. Don’t grieve. Wanwan’s father was great—a hero. Your love is the most romantic, the sweetest. I believe, in another world, he is still thinking of you, watching over you.”

Jin’er comforted softly, “Though the road is hard, the future is long. For Wanwan, for little Hao, you must be strong. Listen to their laughter—it’s so joyful. I think that’s what he would want to see.”

“Thank you, Jin’er. Thank you all. I will be strong—I promise.”

Li Wanxiao wiped her tears, forcing a smile, then looked at the silent Yang Qing and said:

“Sorry to make you laugh at me. Actually, I should learn from you, after all…”

“No,” Yang Qing interrupted, shaking his head, his voice resolute. “Everyone’s fate is different, each has their own joys and sorrows. You are a good wife, a good mother. Wanwan’s father was a good husband, a good father. You are both great.

If I were in your place, I might not do as well as you. So keep going! The future will be better!”

Li Wanxiao nodded vigorously. “Yes, it certainly will!”

“Mama! Hurry up! We’ve finished breakfast and are ready to go. Wanwan and the others can’t wait!”

Just then, Ma Minghao’s voice rang out. The three adults exchanged smiles, their faces brightening as they walked into the house together.

Disguise—the skill society teaches every adult.