"Ming Zheng! I know you hate me, and I know that no matter what I do to make amends now, I can't compensate for the harm I've caused you over the past year."
Ming Huai Zhi's voice was filled with bitterness and pleading.
He even pressed his forehead to the ground.
"Please, give me this one chance... I just want to talk to you alone... just a few words..."
By the end, his voice had become choked with sobs.
The eyes that looked up at Ming Zheng were also bloodshot.
So humble.
Begging Ming Zheng for a sliver of softening.
But Ming Zheng's gaze remained indifferent and devoid of emotion.
Towards his kneeling.
Towards his apology.
Towards his pleading.
She turned a blind eye.
Just as he had done before.
When he saw Ming Zheng's eyes filled with anticipation for a word of care from him.
He chose to...
Turn a blind eye.
Was Ming Zheng's feeling at that time the same as his now?
The pain and sorrow in Ming Huai Zhi's heart surged even more.
Guilt spread and expanded in his heart.
With a choked voice, he pleaded humbly, "Ming Zheng, just give me a little time... If... if I can't get these answers, I will kneel before you every day, and I will repeat my questions incessantly..."
"Until you are willing to forgive me!"
If this was Ming Zheng's way of punishing him.
Then he was willing to accept the punishment.
Willing to grovel before her and beg for her forgiveness.
Ming Zheng: "..."
She frowned, her eyes filled with impatience, looking at Ming Huai Zhi as if he were a maggot. "Young Master Ming the Second, stop wriggling in front of me like a maggot, it's really annoying."
Ming Huai Zhi's pupils trembled.
This sentence was incredibly familiar.
His mind instantly recalled—
On a night a few months ago, Ming Zhi Rou had video-called him, crying about her grievances. Although she hadn't mentioned Ming Zheng once in her words.
He knew, however, that Ming Zheng had caused her distress.
Coincidentally, Ming Zheng came over. Perhaps she heard his voice, and quickly leaned in, pushing Ming Zhi Rou aside and rushing to the camera.
She called out in a hesitant and nervous voice, "Second Brother..."
He was furious at the time.
Looking at Ming Zheng's nervous anticipation for his response.
He said coldly—
"Ming Zheng, do you know what you're like?"
"You're like a maggot, wriggling in front of me, it makes me really sick."
Now, Ming Zheng had returned the exact same words to him.
What kind of scoundrel had he been saying all those years ago!
Ming Huai Zhi wished he could slap himself twice.
"I'll give you three minutes."
Ming Zheng crossed her arms, her eyes lowered, and she cast a lazy glance at him.
Her condescending demeanor was as if she were bestowing charity upon him.
But Ming Huai Zhi needed this "charity."
His eyes immediately lit up.
He quickly crawled two steps towards Ming Zheng on his knees.
His gaze towards Ming Zheng became more excited. "Three months after you were brought back to the Ming family, I got drunk and returned to the Ming family..."
He took a deep breath, his tone becoming cautious. "That night, you... stayed up all night taking care of me, didn't you?"
Ming Zheng did not answer immediately.
The cold curve at the corner of her lips carried a more meaningful irony.
She smiled, "Young Master Ming the Second, do you wish it was me?"
Her tone was like a cat playing with a mouse.
Ming Huai Zhi was momentarily stunned by the question.
Immediately, confusion spread across his eyes.
Did he wish it was Ming Zheng?
He didn't know.
Since he learned that the song "Qing" was originally composed by Ming Zheng.
His heart had been in turmoil.
A lingering doubt in his heart seemed to have found its answer at that moment.
Therefore, he had rushed to find Ming Zheng.
He wanted to hear the answer from Ming Zheng's own mouth.
Seeing his silence, Ming Zheng couldn't help but let out a soft scoff. "See, even you yourself don't know the meaning of the answer you desire."
"What if it was me? What if it wasn't me?"
"Is your affection for your sister merely dependent on a single instance... of care provided when you were drunk?"
No.
It wasn't.
Ming Huai Zhi wanted to retort.
But the words wouldn't come out.
He wanted to say that if the person who took care of him that night was her.
He would never have been so indifferent to her again!
He would have doted on her, just like he doted on Ming Zhi Rou.
He would have given her the familial affection she longed for.
But he knew, he probably... still wouldn't have.
Perhaps he would have even...
Thought Ming Zheng was trying to steal Rou'er's credit.
Ming Huai Zhi's voice began to tremble. "You should have told me earlier... that you were Zheng Yu."
Ming Zheng was amused.
"After knowing I was Zheng Yu, I gained value, and then you could treat me well, right?" Ming Zheng's eyes held even more mockery. "I'm truly enlightened. The Ming family's treatment of their relatives is determined by their utility."
"I didn't mean that..." Ming Huai Zhi quickly shook his head.
He didn't want to see the coldness in Ming Zheng's eyes.
Nor did he want to see the sarcastic expression on Ming Zheng's face.
He quickly said, "I just want to know... if it was you that night, if it was truly you who helped me..."
"You asking me, you already have the answer in your heart, don't you?" Ming Zheng's lazy voice was laced with casual mockery. "You just want to confirm an answer, so I'll tell you."
"Yes, the answer you want to confirm is me."
Ming Huai Zhi's pupils constricted violently again.
He looked up, his expression shifting constantly.
Having received the answer he sought, his heart felt even heavier.
He even wished...
That Ming Zheng was lying to him.
Because, for so long, he had been convinced that Ming Zhi Rou was the one who had taken care of him that night.
But now, Ming Zheng's words had shattered what he had believed for over a decade.
And completely...
Filled his heart with guilt and regret.
Making him suffer, making him suffocate.
"Do you know why I didn't say anything after discovering you had published the song 'Qing'?" Ming Zheng asked, her lips tinted red, smiling.
That smile was wickedly unrestrained.
Clearly filled with malicious amusement.
Ming Huai Zhi's heart tightened slightly.
An answer was on the tip of his tongue.
And Ming Zheng's words confirmed his suspicion. "Because... that song was originally composed by me on my first day back at the Ming family, thinking I finally had relatives."
"I originally wanted to give that song to you."
The knife stuck in Ming Huai Zhi's heart felt as if it were twisting and turning within his chest...
Cutting his heart into pieces.