Peach-Orange! – Chapter 229 – Is the Choice You Made the Right One?

Yes, to have Xiaocheng no longer be a yandere, to become normal, and thus live a normal life with her—

‘Isn’t this exactly what I’ve always wanted?’

From the moment of the “black room” incident until Xiaocheng was shot and killed, Su Tao believed she had taken the wrong path again and again.

This wrong path was avoiding Xiaocheng’s yandere tendencies while comforting herself with the idea that everything she did was to “cure” her, even if it meant doing things that hurt her deeply.

It was only in the last two weeks that she truly realized: Xiaocheng had her yandere side, but she also had her adorable side.

If she could enjoy her cuteness, then she shouldn’t run from her yandere tendencies.

As for “curing” her, Su Tao hadn’t even considered that possibility in a long time.

But now, the chance to cure her was right in front of her.

Within reach!

In fact, this might be the only opportunity in her entire life!

Her breathing grew rapid. The cold metal of the phone felt icy in her hands, yet Su Tao felt as if hot blood were surging through her body alongside the words on the screen.

If things really turned out the way Chengcheng said, what would the future look like?

Su Tao wasn’t the imaginative type.

If asked to envision a future where Xiaocheng was no longer a yandere, the memories that surfaced in her mind were actually from their childhood.

Before their falling-out, back in middle school and high school.

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She hadn’t understood Xiaocheng’s feelings back then, but perhaps Xiaocheng had already liked her a little?

If she lost her yandere tendencies, would she return to that version of herself?

Su Tao stood there, holding her phone, letting the cold wind turn her ears red.

She was like an ice sculpture, unmoving.

Her beautiful eyes seemed to lose focus as she stared blankly at the words on the screen.

Countless smiles of Chi Xiaocheng flashed through her mind.

But after the smiles came bloodstained lips, one terrifying, suffocating scene after another.

The basement.

The rooftop.

The black room.

The snowy road when she broke ties with Ye Liang.

The images flickered past like an old film reel, accompanied by a “click-clack” sound, before finally freezing on the moment before her death.

Not the contentment she expressed after being shot.

But… the words she spoke during their last argument.

Hurting Sister Long, causing chaos at school, standing up for her in front of her advisor.

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At the time, she had been disrupting her life, creating one frightening scene after another. There was no doubt that this was the behavior of a yandere.

But had she done all that, acted so obsessively, not all for her sake?

“If that suffocating love were gone… would she still be the Xiaocheng I know?”

By the time Su Tao snapped out of her thoughts, these words had already slipped softly from her lips.

The night wind continued to blow from behind, tangling her ponytail. The cold seemed to cut through the fog in her mind.

Suddenly, an elderly voice spoke beside her. “Child, what are you thinking about?”

Hearing the voice, Su Tao realized that while she had been lost in thought, a patient from the neighboring room had stepped outside.

It was an old man. Su Tao noticed the cloth covering his eyes and the white cane in his hand.

This old man was blind.

Su Tao put away her phone for the moment and smiled at him. “It’s nothing, just chatting with a friend.”

Though blind, the old man’s hearing was sharp. He had come out to enjoy the night breeze but had been startled by the murmur he’d caught.

Hoping for some conversation, he said, “If it’s something troubling you, you can tell this old man. Standing here alone in the cold wind seems a bit lonely.”

Su Tao felt lost. The thoughts that had just surged in her heart were still warring with memories of the past Xiaocheng.

She couldn’t help but speak. “My story might be a bit long, Grandpa. Do you really want to hear it?”

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The old man tapped his cane lightly on the ground and nodded.

After a brief pause, Su Tao began recounting her story with Chi Xiaocheng, though in her version, their romantic relationship became familial.

Her yandere tendencies were described as a mental illness.

Her extreme actions were framed as excessive dependence on her “older sister,” rather than obsessive love.

She had to consider the old man’s ability to comprehend.

Finally, she voiced her dilemma. “The doctor told me that if my friend remains amnesiac, her mental illness won’t return. But if her old memories are revived, then her condition might never be cured.”

The old man listened without interrupting. Only when she finished did he softly ask, “Is this ‘doctor’ you speak of really a doctor?”

Su Tao hesitated, then awkwardly twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Well… actually, it was a friend who told me that.”

The old man chuckled kindly. “Then your friend is wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Yes.” The old man nodded. “Memory isn’t something you can control. Even if you don’t help her recover her memories, one day she might dream of them, or experience something shocking.

“And suddenly remember everything. That’s entirely possible.

“To put it more plainly: unless your sister moves to a completely new environment and never interacts with anyone she knew before, she will eventually recover her memories.

“A single major event that impacts her mentally could be enough to bring them all back.”

The old man added, “If you have time, would you like to hear about my son’s story?”

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His son had been a firefighter. At 20, during a mission, he rescued a girl from a fire.

The fire had been started by a desperate criminal who, after breaking into her home, killed her parents in front of her. When the police arrived, knowing he couldn’t escape, he set the house ablaze—

Determined to take the girl with him.

The flames spread fast. By the time his son found the girl, a burning beam had collapsed on her head, knocking her unconscious.

When she woke up, perhaps due to the trauma or the head injury, she had amnesia. Apart from a vague impression of “home,” she remembered nothing.

The girl was cheerful and resilient, cooperating fully with treatment in hopes of one day going home.

But some things couldn’t be hidden. After six months of treatment, during which she never once spoke to her family on the phone, nor had her parents visited, she began to suspect something was wrong.

She had amnesia, but she wasn’t stupid. Realizing her family might be gone, she pressed for answers about what had really happened.

At that point, his son faced two choices:

Revive her lost memories.

Or fabricate a new life for her. As a firefighter, he even considered marrying her to protect her from the pain of remembering.

Here, the old man turned toward Su Tao, guided by the sound of her voice.

Though his eyes were covered, it felt as if he were looking straight at her.

“Child, if it were you… which would you choose?”