Tang Ao, Do I Still Have a Chance?

"Auntie, this is my marriage contract with Tang Ao." Li Shiyun carefully pulled out a crumpled, yellowing piece of paper from her pocket and carefully unfolded it.

Tang Ao leaned in closer, and for a moment, he was completely stunned.

The handwriting on the paper was childish, but it was clear that the crooked, uneven characters were Tang Ao's own.

The content of the paper was simple.

It stated that once Li Shiyun became a good police officer who fought against evil, Tang Ao would come to marry her on a colorful cloud.

At the bottom of the paper, not only were Tang Ao's and Li Shiyun's names signed in a childish scrawl, but there were also two black fingerprints pressed alongside their signatures.

Tang Ao furrowed his brows, glancing at his right index finger and then at the fingerprint on the paper. Although the fingerprint was smaller than his current finger, the pattern was identical!!!

He looked at the date on the contract—it was from when he was in middle school!

The material, the yellowing paper, the childish handwriting—this marriage contract was real!!!

Tang Ao was at a loss.

This wasn't in the original novel's plot!

In the original story, Li Shiyun was one of the main female characters. Although she initially had some affection for Tang Ao, as her bond with Ye Chen deepened, she never had any further interaction with Tang Ao. However, when Tang Ao's family was ruined by Ye Chen, Li Shiyun did save Tang Ao's life, though the author never explained why.

Now, it all made sense!

It turned out that Tang Ao and Li Shiyun had privately pledged themselves to each other many years ago!

This also explained why, in the original plot, even if it meant going against Ye Chen's will, Li Shiyun had saved Tang Ao's life!

In other words...

Li Shiyun was truly Tang Ao's childhood sweetheart!

She became a police officer, a good one, not only because of Tang Ao's positive influence back then but also because of the promise Tang Ao wrote on that paper—that once she became a good cop, he would marry her!!!

[Oh my god, this is a battle between childhood sweethearts...]

[But usually, childhood sweethearts never win against new love interests, right? So why is this happening to me?]

[I'm not the main character. In those novels and anime, the protagonist always chooses the new love interest over the childhood friend.]

[But here I am, just a villain, and yet the plot demands that I ignore my childhood sweethearts Zhou Qiao'er and Li Shiyun to stay fixated on Lin Ruoxue, whom I haven't even known for long!]

[I just don't get it! I don't get it at all!]

Hearing Tang Ao's thoughts, Zhou Qiao'er and Li Shiyun both looked up simultaneously, their eyes filled entirely with Tang Ao.

While Tang Ao was undergoing his medical checkup, Li Shiyun had already learned why he jumped from the hospital building.

Tang Ao had done it to save Zhou Ling'er and Sister Hong from being cornered by thugs!

He had climbed the fire escape all the way to the sixth floor, struggling mentally for a long time. This courage, this bravery—Li Shiyun felt she couldn't compare!

It only made her believe even more that Tang Ao had never changed. He was still the righteous dragon-slayer he had been when he made that marriage promise to her!

Tang Ao was still the Tang Ao she had always loved, unchanged from the beginning!

Tang's mother stared at Li Shiyun for a long while before suddenly covering her mouth in surprise. "You... you're... the only daughter of the Li family, the ancient martial arts family from Longquan City!?"

Li Shiyun furrowed her brows, nodded, then shook her head. "From the day they tried to stop me from becoming a police officer, I announced that I had severed all ties with the Li family!"

It took Tang's mother a long moment to process this information. She looked at her son and didn't know what to say.

Just two days ago, she had been worrying about her son's lack of direction, his lack of a girlfriend, and his silly pursuit of Lin Ruoxue.

But now...

Zhou Qiao'er, Lin Ruoxue, Li Shiyun—all of them were vying for Tang Ao to marry them!

The most important thing was that whether it was Zhou Qiao'er, Lin Ruoxue, or Li Shiyun, each of them was an outstanding young woman whom others would say Tang Ao couldn't even dream of marrying!

Tang's mother could hardly believe that her son was being pursued by three such exceptional women at once!

If someone had told her this before she witnessed it with her own eyes today, she would have thought they were mocking her son, calling him useless, and she would have been furious.

But now, it was all happening right in front of her!

Suppressing her shock, Tang's mother cleared her throat and pointed to the marriage contract in her hand. "Miss Li, you mean... Could you explain in more detail?"

Li Shiyun carefully took the marriage contract from Tang's mother's hand, folding it neatly along the original creases as she spoke. "Auntie, I hope... you'll give me a fair chance to compete. My love for Tang Ao is no less than anyone else's!"

Zhou Qiao'er had declared her intentions, Lin Ruoxue had too, and now Li Shiyun had made her stance clear!

Tang's father and mother were so happy they could hardly contain themselves!

They had suspected that their son was playing a deep game, and now the situation confirmed their suspicions!

Tang Ao was playing a game so intricate that no one else could understand it!

Zhou Qiao'er was backed by the Zhou family, a world-class family as powerful as the Tang family!

Lin Ruoxue, though seemingly the weakest, had managed to hold her fragmented family together through sheer skill and determination—her capabilities were undeniable!

And then there was Li Shiyun...

Her family, the Li family, a mysterious ancient martial arts clan, might not be as wealthy as the Tang family, but in terms of influence and power, they far surpassed families like the Tang and Zhou families!!!

The greatest happiness for parents is realizing that their son has grown into a true dragon.

Tang's father and mother had already believed Tang Ao was exceptional, but now they realized they had underestimated him. He was far more exceptional than they had imagined!!!

If Tang Ao had heard their thoughts, he would have cried out in misunderstanding—he hadn't done anything! He was just trying to play the role of a humble villain!

Faced with Li Shiyun's request, Tang's mother found herself in a dilemma.

She feared that any firm decision she made might interfere with Tang Ao's plans and ruin everything for him.

For a long moment, she didn't know what to do.

Finally, after some hesitation, Tang's mother sighed and said, "Your father is right. You young people... We old folks don't understand your world anymore. This matter... we'll leave it for you young ones to decide. Your uncle and I have some urgent matters to attend to, so we'll be leaving now!"

With that, Tang's mother grabbed Tang's father by the waist and hurried out of the hospital.

Today was truly a day of double happiness—her son Tang Ao was unharmed, and three outstanding women were competing for his love!

At a time like this, parents should step aside and let their son handle things!

In the now-empty hospital hallway, only Tang Ao, Zhou Qiao'er, Li Shiyun, and Zhou Ling'er remained.

Li Shiyun gazed at Tang Ao, her eyes full of hope. "Tang Ao, do I still have a chance?"