Rebirth! The Assassin's Revenge-Chapter 434: As Long As You Like

The dust settled, and Gu Ningyue lowered the hand covering her mouth and nose, inviting Ling Tianyou into the house.

Ling Tianyou glanced around with the flashlight’s beam, taking in the cabinets covered in cobwebs and the dusty tables and chairs, making the already small room feel even more cramped.

In such a small room, after placing these items, there was only enough space for a single table and chair, leaving no room for anything else.

Yet, despite the dilapidated state of the room, Ling Tianyou’s mind blurred with a warm and sunny scene of a little girl standing in the kitchen, asking her mother for food.

The young Gu Ningyue, or rather, the young Gu Weiwei, used to stand here, didn’t she?

"Welcome to my home," Gu Ningyue said, her eyes slightly red, as she placed a clean chair in front of Ling Tianyou: "Please, have a seat."

Ling Tianyou glanced at it and, not thinking much, sat down.

However, after just a few seconds, there was a ’crack’, and the entire chair collapsed beneath him.

Luckily, Ling Tianyou reacted quickly; otherwise, his clothes would have been ruined on the floor untouched for over a decade.

Gu Ningyue supported Ling Tianyou’s arm, looking him up and down as she asked, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?"

She knew too well how rundown this home she lived in for so long was, everything piled together, leaving hardly any toys in her childhood. Even if she had the money to buy them, there was nowhere to put them.

In this small town, houses like this were countless, and there were even many simple shacks.

Everyone lived like this; neither better nor worse than each other, they were long accustomed to it.

"I’m okay," Ling Tianyou said, straightening up and looking at Gu Ningyue, "When you lived here as a child, didn’t you feel uncomfortable?"

Here, not to say three people, even two people would feel it was somewhat suffocating.

Gu Ningyue smiled faintly, "It was alright; when mom was still alive, it didn’t feel like anything. But unfortunately, later on, it was just me in this house."

Ling Tianyou’s mind wandered, realizing Gu Ningyue had hardly ever mentioned her father, "And your dad?"

Gu Ningyue glanced at him, "Not long after I was born, my dad ran off, and later mom died because we couldn’t afford the treatment. She died right in this house! When I was very little, I worked as a child laborer in a restaurant to make money, I’ve been through all sorts of hardships. But unfortunately, my mom’s illness never got better..."

Ling Tianyou hadn’t expected her background to be so tragic, softly apologizing, he held her fingers, "And after that? Did you meet your master then?"

Gu Ningyue nodded, "More or less. All the money went to mom’s treatment, I wanted to go to school."

At this point, Gu Ningyue turned to Ling Tianyou and said, "You know? My whole life, I’ve never felt a father’s love. When I was reborn, I thought for a moment that maybe heaven would be a little more merciful to me. But only when Gu Ningyue’s memories flooded my mind did I realize there was something even more disgusting than my father."

Ling Tianyou felt a pang of heartache, gently embracing her shoulders, "One day, you’ll have your own family; you’ll be a great mom, and I’ll be a great dad! The past, let it pass!"

Gu Ningyue nodded lightly, "Yes. Wait here for me a moment, I’ll find something."

Saying that, Gu Ningyue slipped away from Ling Tianyou’s hand, ran to a small cabinet, and rummaged around, uncovering a box already covered in rust.

After wiping it countless times with wet wipes from her bag, Gu Ningyue finally managed to clean the dented box.

Returning to Ling Tianyou with the box, Gu Ningyue shook it slightly and said, "This is one of the few treasures from my childhood, so I always kept it at the bottom. I didn’t expect it to still be here."

Ling Tianyou shone the flashlight on it; one could faintly see a large red peony flower, but with time, rust had nearly corroded the petals.

Gu Ningyue gently opened the box by pressing the edges, inside were several thick envelopes and some bracelets and brooches of unknown materials.

Gu Ningyue brushed off the dust from the envelopes and poured out the contents.

A few photographs fell onto the table from the letters, Ling Tianyou picked up a photo, looking at the little girl with a braided pigtail and big glistening eyes staring at the camera, "Is this you as a child? So cute."

Who would have thought such an adorable little girl would grow up into an assassin as time passed?

And she topped the assassins’ ranking.

Gu Ningyue didn’t respond, just gazed thoughtfully at the letters in her hand, silently reddening her eyes.

In the moment of Ling Tianyou’s confusion, the always resilient, never-teary Gu Ningyue unexpectedly began crying, "Mom..."

Ling Tianyou was startled, immediately frazzled, "What’s wrong? Don’t cry..."

He had never comforted anyone before, Gu Ningyue’s tears were like a bomb, exploding vividly in his mind.

His hands didn’t know where to be, extending and then retracting.

Only when Gu Ningyue threw herself into his arms did he tightly embrace her with one hand, gently patting her head with the other, as if soothing an injured child: "There, there, cry it out, it’ll be better..."

No one knew how long she cried, only when Gu Ningyue finally released her grip with a sob, "Sorry, I was too emotional just now, did I scare you?"

Ling Tianyou gently wiped the remaining tears from her face, his smile tender enough to warm the whole night’s atmosphere, "It’s alright, you never need to be strong in front of me, because I’ll always protect you."

Despite knowing her for so long, it was the first time Ling Tianyou saw Gu Ningyue so out of control; his heart ached tremendously.

Though he wanted to ask what she saw, fearing it’d upset Gu Ningyue again, he stayed silent, quietly staying by her side, watching her review each photo from the envelopes, one after another.

Almost every time she looked at them, Gu Ningyue shed tears.

Ling Tianyou gently embraced her shoulders, silent, yet in the nighttime offered her the strength to continue.

Only when everything was seen did Gu Ningyue reluctantly organize the items, placing them back into the box.

"I want to take this back," Gu Ningyue said, looking at Ling Tianyou, "Is that okay?"

Ling Tianyou smiled, "Of course! As long as you like, you can do anything."