Reborn Heiress: Seeking Revenge-Chapter 654: Mengjie’s Choice (1)_1

"These things may be negligible to you, but to me, they are very important. I don’t want to lose a single one of them," Shangguan You’s figure swept lightly past the others, coming to stand opposite Lin Mengjie. The cold wind stirred her hair as she stood proudly before Lin Mengjie, their gazes locked.

"Mengjie, you can abandon kinship and love, but our girl is the only daughter in our family! You can’t do this! We won’t allow you to do this!" Liu Ruoling’s petite frame couldn’t help but take a few steps forward, staring at the seemingly unattainable Lin Mengjie.

"Mengjie, are you really going to be so cruel?" Zhuge Feng laughed, yet his eyes stared vacantly at Lin Mengjie. For seventeen long years, she had been by his side. Now, she wanted to cruelly make him forget everything?

"Mengjie, you can forget us, even treat us as strangers. But you don’t have the right to make us forget you, and you certainly can’t make us forget our girl!" Shangguan Hao stood before everyone, looking at the woman who had been his wife for a year. A heightened memory, a year of companionship, a lifetime of longing. And now, was she unwilling to even let him hold onto this longing?

Lin Mengjie’s multi-hued eyes flickered. She gazed at the familiar yet strange faces before her, at the sorrow etched on their features, the pain in their hearts, and at her daughter, who felt both foreign and familiar. Questions swirled in her mind. Was it wrong for her to return everyone’s lives to their original paths? No matter what they said, no matter how much they suffered, she simply wanted them to escape their pain. Could that truly be wrong?

"Your original lives were changed by me. I simply want to return you to your original paths."

"What’s changed has changed! We are willing to continue living this way; we don’t want to change."

"That’s right!"

Seeing their resolute gazes, a multi-colored light flashed brightly in Lin Mengjie’s eyes. Then, after a tense silence as everyone waited, she nodded.

"Since you are willing to continue living this way, then let it be so for now. If you ever regret this, you can always come to me," Lin Mengjie’s cold words rang out. She agreed not to erase their memories for the time being. But none of them considered how long "for now" might last. Perhaps a day, perhaps a year, or perhaps forever.

"Girl, let’s go home. It’s truly cold out here in this snow," Shangguan Zhi smiled, gesturing to Shangguan You, who was still in mid-air. He wanted to take his granddaughter home.

"You, my girl, come home with Daddy," Shangguan Hao called out to Shangguan You. He cast a deep look at Lin Mengjie, repeatedly telling himself that this was the Guardian, not his wife. Gazing at Mengjie in mid-air, Shangguan Hao forced himself to look away. This might be the last time they would ever see each other.

"Okay. Grandpa, Daddy, Eldest Uncle, Eldest Aunt, Brother Qing, Brother Jie, Brother Hao, Uncle Feng, let’s go home. It’s so cold here." Shangguan You nodded. Her figure flashed, and she landed before everyone. She offered them a gentle smile, her gaze sweeping over each face. The surrounding chill seemed only to make her heart feel warmer, an extraordinary warmth. This was kinship, a feeling Lin Mengjie might never experience. But she was content to be cherished by her family, to be doted upon and loved. She longed for this simple, warm life. The responsibility of being a Guardian was too heavy; her shoulders were too small. She couldn’t bear this great burden, nor did she want to. Her desires were few, and what she wished to protect was even less.

"You cannot go back with them," a cold voice suddenly declared, and the smiles froze on everyone’s faces once more.

"Mengjie, why can’t our girl go back with us?" Liu Ruoling asked, her voice sharp with anxiety. She looked at Lin Mengjie, her face taut with fear that she might go back on her word.

"I have matters to discuss with her. The rest of you, go back first," Lin Mengjie stated coldly. With a wave of her hands, a flash of multi-colored light flared, and then both Lin Mengjie and Shangguan You vanished from sight.

"Daddy, everyone, please go back first! I’ll be home soon, don’t worry!" Shangguan You’s ethereal voice drifted from afar, so faint it was clear they were already a great distance away.

THUD! Shangguan Hao’s fist slammed heavily into a tree trunk. Snowflakes scattered as the trunk itself split under the force of his punch. Gazing into the dark night, Shangguan Hao felt a profound sense of powerlessness for the first time. With his own strength, he shouldn’t have been able to split a tree trunk in two with a single punch. Just moments ago, he had felt a warm current flow into his body; even standing in the frigid wind, he hadn’t felt the cold. Now, looking at the sundered plum tree, Shangguan Hao stared dumbfoundedly at his own hands.

It wasn’t just Shangguan Hao; no one else standing in the snow-covered clearing felt the chill either. Zhuge Feng rose to his feet and looked into the distant, dark night, speaking softly, "This is Spiritual Energy that Mengjie has infused into all of us as compensation. If you slowly cultivate this Spiritual Energy within your bodies, your health will gradually improve. You might even be able to cultivate properly and living for another hundred or two hundred years will be no problem at all."

"Moreover, all of your bodies were already enhanced by the Medicinal Pills from our girl. You were originally stronger than ordinary people. Now, with Mengjie’s Spiritual Energy as well, unless you encounter someone from Hidden World Village, you can be considered quite formidable around here." Zhuge Feng’s gaze casually swept over Shangguan Hao. The bottleneck that had long hindered his own cultivation had also been broken through by Lin Mengjie. In this moment, he could actually perceive the cultivation levels of everyone present, except for Second Young Master Ye. This was simply incredible!

Yet, compared to receiving this Spiritual Energy, he would have much preferred even a single glance from Mengjie. Zhuge Feng sighed deeply, then his figure flickered into the air, rapidly vanishing from everyone’s sight.

"She’ll be fine. You can rest assured." Second Young Master Ye left these few cold words behind as his figure, too, vanished before their eyes. The remaining group looked at each other, their faces showing no joy at their enhanced physiques, only deep concern.