Jason Carter stood in the rain without an umbrella. His black, tight-fitting training suit was already soaked, perfectly outlining the muscular curves of his upper body, and you could vaguely see his eight-pack abs.

  “Jason Carter?”

  The more the girl looked at Jason Carter, the more familiar he seemed. Suddenly, her beautiful eyes lit up as she remembered Jason Carter's name.

  “You are?”

  Hearing the girl call out to him, Jason Carter turned his head to look over. After a brief pause, he asked uncertainly, “Emily Brooks?”

  “Mm.” Emily Brooks nodded with a smile, revealing two adorable dimples, as if she was happy that Jason Carter remembered her name.

  She was a very beautiful girl and had been Jason Carter's classmate in high school. Jason Carter remembered that Emily Brooks was the school beauty back then.

  Moreover, this girl was a true “rich, pretty, and fair-skinned” type—not only was she beautiful, but her family was also wealthy.

  “By the way, Jason Carter, where have you been these past two years? I remember you got into Tsinghua, right? Why didn’t you go?”

  Emily Brooks was 1.75 meters tall, wearing a white T-shirt on top and grayish-white denim shorts on the bottom, showing off her fair, straight, and slender legs. Paired with white canvas sneakers, she exuded a youthful and vibrant aura.

  “Uh, something came up at home, so I didn’t go. What about you? Are you still in school?”

  Jason Carter had indeed been admitted to university, and not just any university—Tsinghua. But for various reasons, including his family’s difficult situation and his grandfather’s old age, he didn’t go to college and chose to join the army instead.

  “You, you! Other than being a bit more muscular than two years ago, you haven’t improved at all—still so clueless! Do you think this is a place to chat?”

  Emily Brooks looked at Jason Carter standing in the rain, her delicate brows furrowing.

  “Have you eaten? Why don’t we chat over a meal?” Jason Carter wiped the rain from his face and said with a smile.

  ……

  In a private room of a very popular Western restaurant in S City.

  Rainwater still dripped from Jason Carter’s face from time to time. Emily Brooks took a handkerchief from her bag and handed it to Jason Carter.

  “Thank you.”

  Jason Carter took it, thanked her, wiped the rain from his head and face, and then returned the handkerchief to Emily Brooks.

  “I’m still in school, at Tsinghua.” Emily Brooks continued the previous topic.

  “Oh, college life must be pretty interesting, right?” Jason Carter picked up his knife and fork, cut off a piece of steak, and put it in his mouth.

  “It’s alright. What about you? Where have you been these past two years? You just disappeared.” Emily Brooks felt that Jason Carter had changed a lot; he seemed to have a steadiness and calmness that others their age didn’t possess.

  To be honest, Emily Brooks went to Tsinghua because of Jason Carter. In high school, she had an indescribable feeling for him. After learning about Jason Carter’s university choice, she turned down her father’s plan for her to study in the US and chose Tsinghua instead.

  High school studies were intense, so Emily Brooks suppressed her feelings, planning to get closer to Jason Carter in college. But what she didn’t expect was… Jason Carter didn’t go to college!

  “As for me, it’s better if you don’t ask. You and I are not from the same world.”

  Jason Carter smiled. He knew that Emily Brooks had liked him in high school, and he had feelings for her too. But… just as Jason Carter said, they were not from the same world.

  Here, “not from the same world” didn’t refer to family background, but to their identities. He was a soldier, he had missions, and those missions were dangerous. He didn’t want to drag unrelated people into it.

  Meeting Emily Brooks again, Jason Carter felt a bit regretful. The right thing to do would have been to say “You’ve got the wrong person” when she got out of the car, and then just leave.

  “You should know me—I don’t care about those things.”

  Emily Brooks was very smart. She could hear the regret for a love that never started in Jason Carter’s words, but also sensed something else. She thought Jason Carter was referring to the difference in family background.

  “You didn’t understand what I meant. I won’t deny that I once liked you, but it was just a crush! If we were really meant to be, I would have gone to college two years ago.”

  At this point, Jason Carter sighed and continued, “I know you asked others about my university choice, and I know what that means. But some things, once they’re in the past, are really in the past. You and I are no longer who we were—we’ve both grown up!”

  “Eat up, it’s getting cold.”

  Emily Brooks forced a smile, picked up her knife and fork, and started cutting her steak. She was a wise girl and didn’t want to discuss this sensitive topic at this time, because she could sense… Jason Carter had many stories over the past two years.

  Jason Carter nodded and started eating heartily. The two of them fell into silence.

  Jason Carter had always liked a saying: In the face of time, any promise is pale and powerless. So… never make promises lightly! Because for a man, a promise is heavier than life itself!

  Jason Carter would never make promises lightly. That was his principle, his bottom line! If a person doesn’t even have basic principles and bottom lines, he’ll end up nothing more than a puppet, a walking corpse!