Chapter 169: No title (1/2)

Chapter 169: [No title]

Lin Fan really was waiting for her right beneath her apartment. There were still traces of last night’s downpour all over the streets, but the day’s weather was really good; one could even see the bright and beautiful sunlight filtering through the dense foliage.

Lin Fan was standing underneath a tree by her apartment. His back was tall and straight, and his bearing was particularly graceful today.

Cheng Xi guessed that he might have come looking for her because of what had happened last night, but contrary to her expectations, the first he said was, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know you called my mother. Regarding Jiaman, is there any way I can help?”

Cheng Xi looked at him strangely. “You came just for this?”

Lin Fan fell silent, but Cheng Xi patiently waited for him to speak up. She knew that he preferred to keep his troubles to himself, but for this issue, staying silent wouldn’t help either of them.

Lin Fan squeezed out somewhat arduously, “Yesterday…… I have an explanation for what my wife said. Would you be willing to listen to them?”

Cheng Xi looked at him again. “Have you tried giving your explanations to your wife?”

“She doesn’t believe me.” He smiled bitterly as he continued. “She doesn’t believe anything that I say. I’m not intentionally treating her like that, but I just don’t know what to say to her. No matter what I say, she refuses to believe it, and it’s purely because she doesn’t ever believe me that I lost all will to ever say anything. Cheng Xi, I’m not that much of a bastard. When I first decided to marry her, of course I wanted to treat her well! But everyone gets tired, and her mercurial nature left me weary hearted. You know what kind of environment I grew up in—I loathe fighting. Thus, no matter what she wants, I’ll try my best to satisfy her. But I never expected that even this would leave her dissatisfied and unhappy.”

“I’ll also admit that I didn’t want her to see you because I didn’t want to embroil you in my affairs. However, this only made her feel like I was trying to shield you, so she decided to go on a hunger strike to threaten me into acquiescing.”

Cheng Xi listened to him quietly. When he finished explaining, she asked, “So, all of this was just a misunderstanding on her part?”

“Yes.”

“Then, did you marry her because you loved her?”

Lin Fan didn’t answer, so she asked again. “She was depressed even before she married you. You should know this. After you two were married, did you really spend any time understanding her, accompanying her, or learning more about her?”

“You’ve been married for so long. But do you even know her favorite dish, her hobbies, her favorite book genre, what she thinks about when she’s bored, or what plans she has for her baby’s future? Do you know any of these things?”

“Lin Fan, the reason why she doesn’t trust you is because she can’t feel your sincerity. If you always push the blame onto others when you interact with them, that’s not an explanation—that’s just a flimsy excuse, and a sign of incompetence. When you asked me what you could do to help with Jiaman’s affairs and I didn’t answer, that was because I too don’t trust you. If you can’t even take care of your wife, then how can you take care of others?”

Lin Fan stood there, dazed as he listened to her words. Each word was like a knife being shoved deeper into his heart. It felt like the knives from last night’s conversation were still buried in his heart, and as she spoke, those knives trembled and reopened those freshly healed wounds until he was paralyzed in agony.

He couldn’t remove the knives; he couldn’t even touch their handles.

He used to think that she was the gentlest person in the whole world, but in reality, she also had another side to her.

She could also harm people.

He thought that she of all people would understand him, but she still spoke such words…… He staggered back a couple steps and asked in disbelief, “Cheng Xi, you’re truly angry at me, aren’t you?”

This time, it was Cheng Xi who didn’t respond.