The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Only Fifteen Days Left Until Our Divorce

Standing on the mountaintop, there is an illusion that one can reach out and grasp the sun.

Wen Zhiyi truly experienced this feeling with such clarity for the first time. He exerted himself to suppress the trembling in his legs, standing on the sun-drenched summit, gazing forward. All that met his eye were endless peaks and a sunrise cradled within the rolling hills.

“Not going to take a photo to check in?” Lin Chang, who had carried him through the final hundred meters, stood beside him with an air of composure, pointing to the snow mountain summit marker not far behind.

The trekkers who had successfully summited were already contentedly taking photos, one by one. This was where Wen Zhiyi heard the most laughter along the entire journey.

Little Wen, clutching his backpack straps to maintain his balance, glanced back at the crowd, feigning an elegant calm: “The true milestone isn’t on the mountaintop; it’s in the heart.”

The truth was, he was too exhausted to take another step.

The roaring wind whipped the stray hairs that escaped from the edges of Wen Zhiyi’s mask and goggles. His hair was usually soft, smooth, and straight, so it rarely felt this stiff and cold.

Lin Chang, looking down at Wen Zhiyi, suddenly turned to face him. He swiftly and gently pulled off Wen Zhiyi’s mask and goggles, while simultaneously raising a sports camera with the other hand and pressing the shutter in one fluid motion. Little Wen, whose surprise was sudden, didn’t have time to react at all.

His expression of bewildered, wide-eyed surprise was captured.

In the boundless expanse of white snow and light, his eyes and hair were the only black presences.

Dark, deep, and resolute.

He blinked slowly in confusion. The rich, amber-honey texture of the sunlight hung over his eyes like a sheer veil.

“Since you’ve come all this way,” Lin Chang decisively used the same hand to put Wen Zhiyi’s mask and goggles back on, “you must take a photo.”

Lin Chang did not take a photo with Wen Zhiyi. He felt it was enough to capture Wen Zhiyi’s appearance at that very moment, enough to capture Wen Zhiyi as he was being observed by him.

The safe area for activity at the summit was actually quite small. It didn’t take long to walk around. The successful climbers took hundreds of photos, finally temporarily suppressing their excitement.

Many surprises are like this: once obtained, one gradually gets used to them and no longer considers them a rare treasure.

Yes, many surprises are like this.

A certain person also wearing windproof goggles stood at a certain distance behind the summit marker. He wasn’t too far or too close, maintaining a perfectly appropriate distance, standing quietly and silently outside the crowd, using his eyes to distinguish the person he was looking for, one by one.

He wasn’t wearing a face mask, thus revealing the lower half of his handsome, clean-cut face with its sharp lines. He waited patiently for his surprise.

The guide who had climbed the West Slope all the way with Wei Yuzhi was already sprawled on the other side. He swore that in all his years of work, this was the first tourist to completely break him. This cold-tempered man was practically a perpetually operating machine, his muscles and joints perfectly and flawlessly executing the brain’s commands. Once he decided to move forward, he would absolutely not stop.

Wei Yuzhi, who had waited so long for the summit sunrise, didn’t look at it once.

He was indifferent to it.

The surprise he desired seemed not yet ready to appear.

How would the surprise manifest?

Would he be utterly exhausted or still have reserves of energy? Would he be ecstatic or calmly composed? Would he have achieved his wish or be filled with regret?

After being exhausted for so long, what would Wen Zhiyi’s mood be when he completed the first goal he set after deciding to divorce?

Wei Yuzhi, who had arrived filled with jealousy and unease, had, in this moment of witnessing Wen Zhiyi taming the snow mountain, stopped thinking about others. He was instead consumed by a rare, almost tranquil thought: had Wen Zhiyi achieved his wish?

He finally understood that some problems did not lie with others, and he finally realized that problems appearing on others could never change Wen Zhiyi’s decision.

Just as Wen Zhiyi’s past patience and tolerance stemmed from loving Wei Yuzhi, Wen Zhiyi’s decision to divorce would absolutely not be because he had fallen in love with someone else.

The problem between two people should simply be confined to those two people.

This was Wen Zhiyi’s idea.

So now, it had also become Wei Yuzhi’s.

The only chance left to keep Wen Zhiyi was while Wen Zhiyi hadn’t completely stopped loving him.

Little Wen was soft-hearted, especially towards the mate, brother, and friends he loved. But he was also very hard-hearted; once the love was gone, it was gone. Once he walked away, he would never look back.

Thanks to Ms. Zhao Mingzhu’s guidance, Wen Zhiyi had intuitively learned the shortcut to avoiding pain—never walk backward.

Wei Yuzhi, silently contemplating this series of questions, stood in place like a silent yet powerfully present tall statue, looking for his surprise with an expressionless face.

He did not view this surprise as a gift, for the sheer weight of it could not be described merely as a gift.

Wei Yuzhi’s exceptional height allowed his gaze to penetrate the layers of the crowd. He patiently, focusedly, and wholeheartedly searched for the purpose that brought him to this place, to this barren, cold plateau.

Wei Yuzhi was not anxious. On the contrary, he was calm and composed.

He knew he had arrived early enough, so he would definitely wait for Wen Zhiyi. From dawn until past nine in the morning, he maintained his searching posture, patiently waiting amidst the wind and snow.

Lin Chang’s sudden movement instantly focused Wei Yuzhi’s gaze. Through that extremely brief moment of exposure, he locked onto Wen Zhiyi’s location.

Wen Zhiyi once said his heart was like a lock—a heavy, cold lock where you knew exactly where the keyhole was, and you knew the key was in your hand, yet you always doubted whether you could truly open it.

Because this lock was overly indifferent, stingy with strong feedback. Its entire emotional torrent stemmed from itself, making the person facing this lock believe that it loved him, but seemed not to care whether he loved it.

It was this key, this one and only key, that was already in Wen Zhiyi’s hand and would only ever be in Wen Zhiyi’s hand.

Wei Yuzhi continued to gaze at Wen Zhiyi. He could very well describe his current mood. He saw Wen Zhiyi reveal a restrained smile. This smile looked relaxed and casual. It wasn’t as sweet as before, but it had a certain ineffable casualness that surpassed his past expressions.

He looked happy.

This was the only pilgrimage purpose he cared about after waiting so long.

He discovered that all that mattered was Wen Zhiyi’s happiness, regardless of whether that happiness was brought about by him.

Wen Zhiyi, who was being watched from afar, did not notice the gaze. Wen Zhiyi was long accustomed to the looks of others. He was currently leaning against the railing, propping his chin up to look at the continuous rolling mountains in the distance.

This kind of expansive, heavy creation, while providing a sense of security, inevitably brings a sense of oppression, as if accepting its embrace means accepting permanent confinement.

Lin Chang, beside him, held a cigarette between his fingers, but did not light it, simply holding it. On the other side, Wei Xingjiang stared unhappily at Lin Chang, giving the impression that if the man dared to smoke, he would immediately drag him down the mountain.

Lin Chang, of course, would not give Wei Xingjiang that opportunity, calmly enjoying the scenery with Wen Zhiyi.

“Looking at snow mountains for too long is bad for your eyes.” Wei Xingjiang stood clingily beside Wen Zhiyi. His height, half a head taller than the latter, allowed him to easily loop his arm around Little Wen’s shoulder. “Look at me instead; looking at me is good for your eyes.”

Wen Zhiyi could hardly believe his ears.

And Wei Xingjiang’s next action confirmed that he hadn’t misheard. The young, passionate Alpha took off his gloves and used his cold, hard, exposed fingers to turn Wen Zhiyi’s chin, making the other’s gaze rest only on his smiling face.

Wen Zhiyi struggled to speak: “Are young Alphas all like this—doing whatever they think of immediately?”

Wei Xingjiang feigned thought for a moment, then replied casually: “I don’t know about other Alphas, but I would never just do whatever I think of. Everything has to be considered whether it should be done before taking action. Except—”

Except for things concerning Wen Zhiyi. He wouldn’t think about whether they should be done; he would just do them immediately once he thought of them.

Wei Xingjiang had strong initiative, like an ordinary Alpha, but he had many more messy, distracting thoughts than an ordinary Alpha. His environment also forced him to think; if he followed his heart, Wei Xingjiang would have made many mistakes already.

After all, when he first met Wen Zhiyi, he was a young Alpha with worrying mental health and unstable emotions.

Little Wen, however, didn’t seem to be listening closely to Wei Xingjiang’s reply. His eyes slowly widened, watching the person walking toward him with long, swift strides.

Even wearing goggles, he could recognize who it was.

While providing a sense of security, he inevitably brought a sense of oppression, as if accepting his embrace meant accepting permanent confinement.

Wen Zhiyi’s brain rarely crashed. He couldn’t figure out why the other person would be here.

It was as if whenever he set foot on a high plateau, Wei Yuzhi would respawn at that location and find him.

In this place far from the horizon and close to the sky, Wei Yuzhi always appeared.

Wei Yuzhi, who had received countless gazes due to his exceptional height along the way, calmly stopped in front of Wen Zhiyi. He expressionlessly pushed aside Wei Xingjiang, who was standing extremely close to Wen Zhiyi, with such force that he completely disregarded the fact that the other was his cousin.

Actually, he did consider it, otherwise Wei Xingjiang wouldn’t have just been violently shoved away, caught off guard.

Wait, Wen Zhiyi’s happiness still has to come from him.

Wei Yuzhi’s deep, almost black pupils trembled slightly for an instant, and he slowly added that thought in his mind.

“You…” Little Wen rarely felt his tongue tied. “Why are you here?”

“We haven’t seen each other for fourteen days,” Wei Yuzhi, an expert at answering a question with something else, replied. He removed his goggles, and his entire handsome, profound face was fully presented before Wen Zhiyi. “I wanted to see you, and let you see me.”

“Because only fifteen days are left until our divorce is final.”