Chapter 87 I Will Not Wait Passively for Death
She said, “Even if you crossed the ocean to find me when I was most helpless, even if you forced me to entwine with you, even if you did everything you could to take away my garden, even if you smiled while watching me cry…” Her throat tightened, a single crystalline tear slid from her eye into her ear. “Despite all that… I still can’t bring myself to hate you!”
“Enough!” he barked, cutting her off sharply. He straightened up and took several steps back, shutting his eyes tightly, struggling in pain. “Stop acting, not every pitiful look makes me oblige!” He opened the car door, grabbed a folder from the passenger seat, and flung a stack of photographs at her. The sharp edges stung her exposed skin. Leaning on the hood, she stood up, glanced at the photos under the weak light, and quickly recalled the day she and He Li attended a client’s wedding. She remembered running into Xi Mintang that day. Sure enough, the later photos captured Xi Mintang chatting happily with the groom, and in the background, her blurred silhouette was visible.
“What is this? Don’t tell me you’re still trying to make something out of me and Xi Mintang?” She felt Lin Shuo had lost his mind, completely unreasonable.
He interrogated, “Don’t pretend you don’t know the groom, Li Qingjiang. He’s the second son of Shundu Realty. How could you be unaware of whatever Xi Mintang is scheming?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She continued to look through the photos, and was startled to see Xi Mintang photographed taking her home after the wedding. Alarmed, she exclaimed, “You had someone follow me!”
“Save it. If Shundu hadn’t gotten involved, I might never have known what kind of person you really are.” Lin Shuo’s contemptuous gaze seemed to brand her with the words ‘wanton woman.’
She threw the photos back at him and turned to leave. He chased after her, grabbing her arm. “You think you can just walk away before I’m done? How much did Xi Mintang give you to play along with his act?”
She remembered clearly—Xi Mintang had told her the groom was his subordinate that night. How much had he hidden from her? “You call me naïve, but aren’t you just as blind? You’d condemn me based on a handful of photos?” She met his fierce gaze without faltering. “I know nothing about the entanglements of Maoyuan Shenghua, nor do I care if the groom is some Shundu prince. If you’re looking for a culprit, at least give me a crime worth my while!”
“Fine, just fine. Don’t think you and Xi Mintang can join forces and I’ll sit here waiting for defeat!” He clenched his jaw, the muscles in his face standing out with fury. “Xi Mintang is not a man you can trust your life to, Ni Xiaoxiao. Take a good look at yourself, see just how foolish you are!”
He released her. She stood frozen in the darkness of the underground parking lot, watching his car’s bloody-red taillights vanish into the distance. Once again, he abandoned her, as if tossing away a toy he’d grown to despise.
He should have cast her into hell; right under his nose, she’d conspired with another man against him. He could disregard the losses in business, but the sting of betrayal in love—he’d tasted it once, bitter beyond measure, and never wished to endure it again. Just moments ago, he’d had her within his grasp, she was so compliant, and with only a little force she would have been swept into another world. Yet, when his fingers brushed her neck, he couldn’t bring himself to linger.
That ring left a mark so deep, binding his finger and aching his heart. He raised his palm and slammed it against the steering wheel, the horn’s mournful cry carving a crimson wound into the night.
She said she could not hate him—wasn’t he the same? In the end, he simply couldn’t be cruel.