The staff quickly arranged a room.
A bare concrete room, with only a glaring incandescent bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Zhan Bei Jue, impeccably dressed in a suit, sat behind the bare table, his handsome face devoid of any expression.
He stared straight ahead, waiting for several minutes before the iron door was opened.
Jiang Nan Fang's familiar face finally fell into his line of sight.
Twelve hours later, the two who had been sweet and planning to escape their troubles at the ends of the earth met again in such a pathetic manner.
The matter was not yet concluded. Jiang Nan Fang was merely being held temporarily.
She was still wearing yesterday's clothes and her hair was styled as it was yesterday.
Except for a pair of silver bracelets on her wrists, she seemed completely unharmed, beautiful and clean.
Zhan Bei Jue's heart ached.
How could a woman who was so captivatingly beautiful every moment, a woman who seemed so lively and innocent, harbor so many despicable secrets?
Jiang Nan Fang did not yet know she had been set up.
At this moment, her image had undergone a complete transformation in everyone's eyes.
She thought Zhan Bei Jue had come to comfort her.
With a slight smile, as if to reassure him, she sat down and spoke in a relaxed tone.
"I'm fine. I'm not eating or sleeping poorly as you might imagine. I can last twelve hours, don't worry."
Looking at her like this, Zhan Bei Jue's feelings were indescribably complex.
There was heartache and reluctance. Alongside it, there was anger and contempt.
She was clearly so capable, so young, and so beautiful. She had so many open paths before her, why didn't she take them?
Why did she insist on walking a single-plank bridge?
He had a bellyful of anger he wanted to unleash, to question her why.
But facing her directly, seeing her seemingly effortless expression, he suddenly couldn't ask anything.
After a two-second pause, he gestured with his chin towards the uniformed legal officer standing diagonally behind him.
"I've brought a lawyer. Do you know what that means?"
Seeing his serious expression and the heavy atmosphere, Jiang Nan Fang was not stupid.
The charges of harming Tang Xue Ying must have been confirmed.
She just couldn't understand how Tang Xue Ying managed to fake her death and deceive both Zhan Bei Jue and the police simultaneously.
"I guessed as much. I probably won't be getting out anytime soon."
She smiled sarcastically.
"The verdict is too quick. Tang Xue Ying and Tang Yuan Shan must be overjoyed to hear this news outside."
Her lips were truly sealed.
If Tang Xue Ying hadn't disappeared before his eyes, Zhan Bei Jue would have once again believed her side of the story.
"Besides this, is there anything else you want to say?"
Anything else you want to say?
Jiang Nan Fang suddenly recalled watching historical dramas as a child, where the executioner would ask the condemned man, whose head was about to be placed under the blade, if he had anything to say.
She never expected to hear those words from Zhan Bei Jue's mouth one day.
What did he mean?
Did he also believe Tang Xue Ying was truly dead, that she had killed her, and deserved to be punished?
Just a moment before she was brought in, he had held her and sworn that he believed her and would definitely help her uncover the truth.
That sentence felt like a huge joke, stunning Jiang Nan Fang.
She dropped her smile, leaning forward incredulously, her eyes complex as she looked at Zhan Bei Jue.
"What do you mean?"
Her plan had failed.
She thought winning Zhan Bei Jue's heart would clear all obstacles and erase all past embarrassments.
Now that her plan had fallen through, was she finally panicking?
Zhan Bei Jue met her gaze expressionlessly, suppressing the malicious words on his lips.
"You know very well what I mean. We're adults. I'll pay for my gullibility and blindness, and you should learn too."
"Don't look at me like that. I don't owe you anything."
Jiang Nan Fang understood.
Tang Xue Ying's plan had succeeded.
A rift had once again appeared between her and the self-important, arrogant, and cold Zhan Bei Jue.
Zhan Bei Jue had come to humiliate her.
Heh.
She never expected this.
While others made friends who would protect each other for life, her decade-long friendship had only resulted in her losing all her assets and facing imprisonment.
Indeed, in this world, one could only rely on oneself.
Look at that, her best friend, her man, when disaster struck, they were the first to run.
Jiang Nan Fang once again accepted the fact that she was a lone star, destined for misfortune.
Mr. Zhan's social status did not allow a woman like her to aspire to him. She would never aspire to him again.
"I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have looked at you like that. It was presumptuous."
Though her heart was in turmoil, she refused to let it show on her face.
"You just came to say goodbye. You've said what you needed to say, and I've received your sentiment. Thank you for making the long trip, you can go back now."
Was he throwing a tantrum and being sarcastic because his plan had failed?
Zhan Bei Jue's last shred of desire to maintain dignity vanished.
He tapped the table lightly with one finger, suppressing the surging anger, and spoke with mockery.
"Mrs. Pierre, we have several children we are raising together. Even if I can't help you with this matter, there's no need to fall out completely, is there?"
"I believe I've always been generous and tolerant towards you. Aren't you satisfied?"
Mrs. Pierre?
Hearing Zhan Bei Jue call her that abruptly struck Jiang Nan Fang like lightning.
"You... you went to Dan Country to investigate me?"
See, she was flustered.
One sentence, one look, as if confirming all of Zhan Bei Jue's suspicions.
So, it was she who had been lying all along!
His heart ached even more.
"Even if I didn't investigate, the police would have. Paper can't wrap fire. Are you surprised by this outcome?"
Jiang Nan Fang was indeed surprised.
She hadn't expected Tang Xue Ying to have planned so meticulously to leave herself an escape route.
Even Zhan Bei Jue couldn't find any loopholes.
It seemed she was destined to lose to those closest to her, just like her mother.
At this point, other than stubbornly refusing to plead guilty, Jiang Nan Fang seemed to have no other recourse.
She had already foreseen her future.
But before Zhan Bei Jue left, she still wanted to ask him a question with a sliver of hope.
"Are you turning your back on me because I married Pierre Paul, or because you believe I am a wicked person?"
"What's the difference?"
Having admitted to remarrying a foreigner, wasn't that enough to be considered wicked?
Jiang Nan Fang gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
"It's different. Of course, it's different. You must want to figure out why I married that foreigner now, right?"
"It was for the children."
Rarely, her eyes glistened.
"You know, people from our Nan Cheng, when abroad, without a green card, not only can we not find employment, but our children cannot be registered.
"Without registration, they cannot enjoy local education and medical care. To get medical treatment for my child, I had to find someone to marry and get a green card."
"This should not be difficult to understand. Mr. Zhan, movies often portray it this way."
It had to be said.
At the crucial final moment, Jiang Nan Fang played a good hand.
She attributed her remarriage to her children, successfully defusing half of Zhan Bei Jue's anger.