Xie Jiangsheng was pushed away at an excruciatingly slow pace, the faint scent that had lingered around his nose becoming ethereal. His heart seemed to beat with equal slowness, yet heavily, a sharp pain radiating within him.
"Shen Yue..."
His deep, resonant voice was hoarse, carrying a warning, yet laced with a silent, helpless plea.
Her eyes were downcast, and she heard Xie Jiangsheng call her name. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly as she slowly looked at him.
Her dark, beautiful eyes overflowed with a gentle tenderness and an inexplicable sadness, much like lotuses in a Jiangnan summer rain, where tender petals swayed under the gentle downpour.
It was more like an extremely sharp blade plunged into Xie Jiangsheng's eyes.
Why did she always push him away? Why did Shen Yue, after losing her memory, seem to like him less?
Why did she look at him with such an expression?
It was Shen Yue who had abandoned him first.
The two faced each other in silent confrontation. Winter was approaching, and the cold wind outside was biting. The temperature dropped rapidly as night fell.
The dense leaves rustled with a swishing sound, and a few green leaves fell like a spring rain.
Shen Yue tilted her head slightly and said gently, "Mr. Xie, please stop following me."
Xie Jiangsheng gritted his teeth, his jaw aching, as if he wanted to devour the person before him.
He was in disarray, yet his tone remained steady.
He spoke with infinite patience, as if coaxing a lover throwing a tantrum.
"Come home with me."
Home?
Shen Yue's expression went blank for a moment, her eyes stinging.
She thought that the word "home" had no connection to her. Xie Jiangsheng already had his own home. She was merely a despicable third party.
Xie Jiangsheng was always so composed, so assured. He seemed to firmly believe that Shen Yue was merely throwing a tantrum. As long as he coaxed her patiently, his little lover would happily throw herself into his arms.
He believed Shen Yue loved him; this was his confidence.
But he didn't know that love could also disappear.
Shen Yue shook her head and said softly, plainly, "That is not my home."
She couldn't bear to look into his eyes, which seemed so full of emotion, as if they saw everything with deep affection. To be looked at by such eyes, as if deeply loved by the man before her.
Shen Yue had been deceived by those eyes, which was why she couldn't bear to see them now.
"Mr. Xie, that is your home, not mine."
Xie Jiangsheng didn't seem to fully grasp the meaning of her words, but he knew Shen Yue refused to go home with him. He said, with a hint of restrained anger, "Stop this nonsense. My home is your home. Is it because I'm married that you have to make such a fuss?"
Could marriage and love be separated?
Wasn't marriage a representation of pure and solemn love?
How could one fall for another after getting married?
Xie Jiangsheng didn't seem to think he had done anything wrong. It was all so natural, as if his love were some supreme treasure, and anyone who received his love should be eternally grateful.
It was as if Shen Yue was the one being ungrateful for everything.
He frowned, looking at Shen Yue as if she were an unreasonable child.
Those who are doted upon are always fearless.
Unknowingly, Xie Jiangsheng had already been spoiled by Shen Yue.
"Mr. Xie, you cannot give me a home."
Shen Yue's eyes were clear and limpid, leaving only a pure clarity. In her eyes, there was only simple pain, like a child abandoned on the roadside, lost and directionless, unable to find the way home.
Xie Jiangsheng fell silent for a moment, his voice softening. "Then who can give you a home?"
Shen Yue lowered her eyelashes, the corners of her eyes tinged with red, like blooming rouge. Her voice was very small, "...It won't be Mr. Xie, anyway."
Xie Jiangsheng's expression turned extremely terrifying in an instant, a suffocating pressure spreading around him, as if he were on the verge of exploding with anger.
He stared intently at the pale Shen Yue, his gaze terrifying, like a ravenous beast.
His voice was low and deep, seemingly squeezed from between his teeth.
"Did you hook up with another man, which is why you're so eager to dump me?"
Xie Jiangsheng had always been a suspicious person. He didn't believe in love without any ulterior motive in this world; everything had a purpose. For example, she might have coveted his money or his perfect facade.
He believed Shen Yue was the same.
Shen Yue blinked, her long, thick eyelashes trembling gently.
The wind against her face felt a little painful. Shen Yue's heart also felt chilled by the cold wind, freezing inch by inch, ready to shatter with a single blow.
Shen Yue lowered her head slightly and said in a low voice, "Mr. Xie, this has nothing to do with you."
Her words seemed to be a wake-up call for Xie Jiangsheng, and also for herself.
But in Xie Jiangsheng's eyes, it was an admission.
As if unable to face the fact that a woman who loved him so much had betrayed him, his expression contorted slightly.
Xie Jiangsheng suddenly pressed closer, his strong arms forming an absolute confinement, firmly grasping Shen Yue's thin, slender shoulders. Veins bulged on the back of his hands, and his deep tone harbored a brewing tempest.
It was as if he had caught evidence of Shen Yue's infidelity and abandonment, like a jealous husband, like an irrational fool.
"Wasn't I good enough for you? What did you want that I didn't give you? And you dare to go find someone else behind my back, Shen Yue, what do you take me for? What in the hell do you take me for?!"
Each word struck her eardrums like lightning, deafening her, making her wish she could cover her ears. The surging, overwhelming pressure made Shen Yue's heart flutter, her limbs go weak, her face pale to the point of transparency.
Almost instinctively, she tried her best to avoid Xie Jiangsheng's gaze, wanting to gasp for breath.
"How can you be so cheap?"
Cheap?
Shen Yue's heart felt like it was being crushed by a boulder and sinking into icy seawater, her blood slowly chilling.
Her hands trembled, and her shoulders shook.
Her dark eyes were filled with glistening, misty tears. Her vibrant lips curved slightly, her dimples shallow, rippling with bitterness.
She said, "Mr. Xie is right, I am cheap."
Her long, beautiful eyelashes were damp, trembling like a fluttering butterfly.
Her reddened eyes were brimming with tears, which slid from the corners of her eyes like pearls poured from a casket, falling in a steady stream.
But her lips were still curved, a semblance of a smile, not quite real.
As if smiling, as if crying.
"Tell me, how can a person be so cheap?"
Her soft, delicate question seemed directed at herself.
She despised herself, loathed herself.
She intensely hated herself, wishing she had never come into this world.
She even began to hate why that car accident hadn't taken her life.