Gu Baisheng was shocked by Qu Xiaobo's words.

But after she regained her composure, she laughed, "It's nice that you two have made it clear."

After they talked everything through, they would be reconciled.

She didn't have to worry about Qu Xiaobo.

But she still wanted to help with their relationship.

"Bobo..."

Gu Baisheng called her name gently and wanted to have a good conversation with her.

But Qu Xiaobo knew her too well and became alert after seeing her smiling face, "What do you want to say?"

Every time Gu Baisheng used such a sweet and gentle tone to talk to her, she knew that Gu Baisheng was going to say something that would annoy her.

She guessed it right.

Gu Baisheng was very careful about her tone, "Bobo, hypothetically if Zhang Kai cheats on you, would you feel heartbroken?"

Qu Xiaobo laughed on hearing it, "He doesn’t dare to do that."

"I mean hypothetically."

Gu Baisheng stressed, "Answer it truthfully."

In fact, she could guess Qu Xiaobo's attitude by her tone.

Every time they talked about this kind of topic, Qu Xiaobo tried to avoid them.

She did it again now.

But Gu Baisheng wouldn't give up before she got an answer.

Qu Xiaobo knew that she couldn't avoid the question anymore, so she hesitated and said, "I will."

"Will you be devastated?"

"Yeah."

Qu Xiaobo answered slowly.

She had known and been with Zhang Kai for so many years.

They got to know each other and then fell in love.

Even though they were not madly in love now, they were used to each other's company and took each other as a family member.

If Zhang Kai suddenly changed his mind and had an affair, she would indeed be really sad.

But she believed that Zhang Kai wouldn't betray her.

"Bobo, if you feel sad, it means that you care about Zhang Kai a lot, doesn't it?"

"I do care about him a lot." Qu Xiaobo admitted.

"You care about him so much that you want to spend the rest of your life with him, right?"

"Yeah."

Qu Xiaobo nodded.

"If you have decided to spend the rest of your life with him, why can't you marry him?"

Gu Baisheng asked her again.

Qu Xiaobo suddenly became silent.

She stopped talking.

Gu Baisheng knew that the only uncertainty between Qu Xiaobo and Zhang Kai was that they didn't get a marriage certificate.

Zhang Kai was very traditional.

He wanted Qu Xiaobo to be his wife.

At the same time, he wanted to be acknowledged as Qu Xiaobo's husband.

But Qu Xiaobo refused to get married all the time.

Other women might care about the marriage certificate so much when they were in a relationship.

But Qu Xiaobo was not one of them.

She hated marriage and marriage certificates.

So, even if she liked and would like to be with Zhang Kai, she would never marry him.

It was Zhang Kai's pain.

And Qu Xiaobo tried to avoid the pain.

But as time went by, they became older.

No matter how much she wanted to avoid and ignore the problem, she needed to face it at last.

Zhang Kai and Qu Xiaobo would about it over and over again.

Gu Baisheng felt that as Qu Xiaobo's best and most influential friend, she needed to discuss it with Qu Xiaobo.

"I don't want to get married, Shengsheng." Qu Xiaobo raised her hand to cover her forehead helplessly, "I like Zhang Kai. I care about him and would like to be with him forever. But loving each other is enough for me. I don't need a marriage certificate to prove anything to anyone. They all feel that a couple is not a real couple until they get the marriage certificate. But it's just for other people's approval and to show people that they officially have each other. But for those who really love each other, they don't only care about the marriage certificate. Even if Zhang Kai and I don't have one, I view myself as his wife and plan to spend the rest of my life with him."

"I know what you mean, Bobo, but..." Gu Baisheng paused to sigh and continued after thinking for a short while, "You actually feel worried without the marriage certificate, don't you?"

Qu Xiaobo suddenly became silent.

Gu Baisheng sighed, "Although you don't say it, I can feel it, Bobo."

Women tended to feel insecure in love.

Although Qu Xiaobo claimed that Zhang Kai and her could spend the rest of their lives together without the marriage certificate,

Qu Xiaobo was the most emotional and worried one when Zhang Kai was with other women.

Without the marriage certificate, Zhang Kai could marry another woman and become a legal couple with her under his family's pressure.

So, Qu Xiaobo was worried.

She was not sure how long Zhang Kai would agree to be with her like this.

So, she was so alert to Zhang Kai's actions.

She knew it clearly that if she kept refusing Zhang Kai's proposal, he would probably give up the idea of marrying her but marry another woman.

But now she tried to hold back her worry.

She lied to herself about spending her life with Zhang Kai without getting married.

Gu Baisheng didn't want to fool her.

So, she said it clearly, "Bobo, why don't you agree to marry Zhang Kai? It's better than remaining worried. If you two get the marriage certificate, he would feel more secure and treat you well."

"I won't... I won't get married."

Qu Xiaobo refused it immediately, "I would never repeat their story."

"Bobo..."

Gu Baisheng still wanted to persuade her.

But Qu Xiaobo stopped her first, "Stop it, Shengsheng. You're my best friend and you should know how haunting that thing is. I can't get over it no matter what, so I won't get married."

"People are different, Bobo. Zhang Kai is so sweet to you. He would never ever beat you after you get married. He will treat you right."

"Stop it! Please!"

Qu Xiaobo was a bit emotional, "I'm really busy now, Shengsheng. I need to go."

Qu Xiaobo hung up after saying so.

Gu Baisheng heard the sound of the phone being hung up.

She shook her head helplessly.

No matter what,

Qu Xiaobo couldn't get over this thing.

She was deeply traumatized by her parents' behaviors.

Gu Baisheng sighed gently.

She knew that she failed to persuade Qu Xiaobo again, so she put her phone back into her pocket.

Today was the New Year's Eve.

There were only a few patients in the hospital.

Most of them celebrated today at home.

Nobody would like to spend a festival for a family reunion at the hospital.

Only those who were seriously ill and couldn't be discharged from the hospital would stay here for today.

Gu Baisheng pushed open the window after walking to it.

Lots of people were walking by the outpatient building.

Gu Baisheng could see that among those people, there was a young woman holding a 5-year-old's hand.

The little boy was wearing a cute dungaree and a white puffer jacket.

His hair was very tidy. He walked obediently with his mother.

When they walked further, he seemed to feel that someone was watching him upstairs.

He stopped and turned around to look at her.

Gu Baisheng noticed that the little boy was looking in her direction, so she waved at him smilingly.

She didn't know whether he saw her or not before he was carried away by his mother.

While watching them leaving,

Gu Baisheng felt a bit sad.

In the past, she used to do this to her son.

When her son was tired of walking, she would pick him up.

Although she was not a strong woman, when she picked up her son, she seemed to be the most powerful person in the world.

She looked down and smiled when she thought about her son's face.

...

Gangcheng was so busy on New Year's Eve.

At a mountainous village, Gui Town, it was much noisier on such an important festival.

Xiao Rong and Zhang Tiantian walked to the farmer's market which they went to in the morning.

In a long distance, they could hear kids playing the homemade firecrackers with their clothes dirty.

In cities like Beicheng, setting off fireworks was forbidden due to air pollution.

Firecracker was on the forbidden list.

At the mountainous area of Gangcheng, the sounds of firecrackers could be sound constantly in the morning before the new year.

Zhang Tiantian was walking next to Xiao Rong with a canvas bag on her shoulder. When she noticed that he was watching the kids who were playing around in a distance, she said, "My village is inside the mountain, so the supervisory department doesn't care about the firework here."

On hearing it, Xiao Rong smiled and gestured, "I haven't seen a real firework display in years."

Zhang Tiantian smiled, "You'll see a lot tonight. Lots of people set off fireworks on New Year's Eve every year. The firework displays are so beautiful. Those who are well off will keep doing it for an hour. You can see all kinds of fireworks."

Xiao Rong nodded and gestured, "I'll enjoy it today!"

Zhang Tiantian smiled, "Let's buy two boxes of fireworks."

Xiao Rong smiled and joked, "It's quite dangerous. Can you do it?"

"Why not? When I was young, I set off one box of fireworks myself. It's so beautiful."

Zhang Tiantian put her canvas bag into Xiao Rong's arms while speaking, "I saw a stall! I'll buy some!"

Zhang Tiantian walked to the stall first.

Xiao Rong followed her to the stall right away.