spring bite mark

Chapter 167 Amorous Photos

There's a lot of information. There's thanks for the visit, and also... Murong Xin's?
First, I opened Xie Jian's WeChat window, which was already filled with dozens of emojis.

Jiang Manman replied apologetically, "It's raining and there's traffic. Mom will be there soon."

Xie Jian replied quickly, her voice sweet and childlike: "Mommy, no rush. My brother and I are playing at the children's playground in the flower market. Come back when the rain gets a little lighter, or you'll get soaked."

Jiang Manman gave a gentle "hmm," exited the chat window, and then opened Murong Xin's.

An ambiguous photo came into her view. In the photo, a philandering man and a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in revealing clothing entered a room one after the other, and a large area of ​​ambiguous color could be vaguely seen inside the room.

The caption read: "Guess what a lone man and woman are doing in the room?"

Jiang Manman's heart, already shaken, instantly plunged into an even colder state.

She hastily exited WeChat, her mind a mess, and carelessly tossed her phone into her handbag, her almond-shaped eyes cold and dim.

Xie Yuheng stood beside her.

He also heard Xie Jian's soft, childlike voice. He truly loved that child like his own son and wanted to say something, but the next moment he saw the flirtatious photo on Jiang Manman's phone and fell silent.

Jiang Manman lowered her head slightly, not looking at him: "I'm sorry you had to see this."

Xie Yuheng picked up a large black umbrella, opened it, and didn't mention the photo: "Let's go, I'll see you out."

The rain was still falling, and the sky was completely dark. Lightning flashed and thunder roared incessantly. On the deserted long street, the water was uneven, and even the streetlights were shrouded in mist.

There were several half-dead people lying at the entrance.

Xie Yuheng gestured to Li Ke: "I'll leave the rest of this to you."

After saying that, the black umbrella tilted towards Jiang Manman, and he instinctively reached out to put his arm around her waist, but then quickly withdrew it, instead offering a slight gesture of support: "The rain is heavy, why don't we find a place to sit and chat?"

"No, I want to leave now," Jiang Manman insisted. Although the situation wasn't intimate, sharing an umbrella with an ex was already extremely ambiguous. The thought of being in a room together and reminiscing about the past made Jiang Manman feel awkward.

Xie Yuheng stopped insisting and accompanied her out of the chess and card room, protecting her as she crossed the human-shaped barrier at the door.

"I'll stop here. I'll walk the rest of the way myself." Jiang Manman hesitated, looking at Taigu Street, which was shrouded in mist from the downpour. "Could I borrow your umbrella?"

“You can’t get out without me with you.” Xie Yuheng’s eyes were dark, and his tone was gentle but carried a strange meaning. “The street corners are all under control.”

Jiang Manman paused for a moment: "Then call them and let them go."

Xie Yuheng did not respond.

He gazed intently at Jiang Manman once more, his gentleness tempered with a hint of assertiveness: "Either I'll go out with you, or we can find a room nearby and talk."

Jiang Manman stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly walked forward, leaving behind the words: "If you want to come, then come."

The large black umbrella reappeared above her head, moving in sync with her steps, without even a single strand of her hair getting wet. In contrast, the person holding the umbrella beside her was soaked through in moments.

The long street stretches as far as the eye can see.

Jiang Manman walked with her head down, her steps uneven. Xie Yuheng followed slowly beside her with his long legs. Several times, his shirt accidentally brushed against her cheongsam, and Jiang Manman's breathing became several degrees faster.

"Manman," Xie Yuheng slowly spoke, his emotions unreadable, "It's been a long time since we've spent time together like this." Jiang Manman replied indifferently and distantly, "Our identities aren't appropriate; it's better to keep our distance in the future."

"Manman, now that you know Xie Jian exists, do you still hate me?"

Jiang Manman remained silent for a long time before gently speaking: "At Xie Yunxi's family reunion banquet back then, you clearly knew that I had mistaken someone for someone else, so why didn't you explain and instead allowed that misunderstanding to continue for so many years?"

“At the time, I didn’t know that the man who bullied you that night was Xie Yunxi.” A sharp glint flashed in Xie Yuheng’s cold eyes. “But no matter who it was, taking advantage of you while you were drunk is a beast. With your personality, if you knew that you had been defiled by a beast, you wouldn’t be able to bear it. I was afraid that you would do something to hurt yourself.”

"And then what happened? You knew it was Xie Yunxi, but you didn't explain?"

"Manman avoids me like the plague." Xie Yuheng smiled. "He's reached the point where he loathes even a single word I say, and he's never given me a chance to explain."

Jiang Manman remained silent.

Xie Yuheng continued, "But I really never thought of explaining. Over the years, you've been entangled with him, completely forgetting the old days we spent together. As for me, I'd rather be deeply hated by you than be forgotten by you. Over time, hatred has become the only intense emotion I can get from you."

Jiang Manman didn't know how to respond.

"Xie Yuheng." After a long while, she said, "There may be regrets between us, but it's all in the past now."

Xie Yuheng sighed softly, "It won't work out for me."

His gaze fell gently on Jiang Manman's profile, his expression unreadable:

"Manman, back then, I was the one who met you first. We were in a human trafficker's den, relying on each other for survival, never abandoning each other, and getting through the most difficult and terrifying time of my life..."

"Later in the capital, I became your boyfriend first. He was not only an intruder, but also a newcomer. He was a prince of the Beijing circle, and he was so handsome that I felt threatened for the first time in my life. I thought I was vigilant enough and tried every means to pester you to agree to marry me and establish our status so that I could rest easy."

At that time, he was so impatient. Even though she was only a few months away from reaching the legal marriage age in the capital, to avoid any unforeseen complications, he coaxed her to go to the port city to marry him several months in advance.

But who would have thought that all her scheming would ultimately benefit someone else...

"I don't even know what I did wrong." Xie Yuheng's expression was darker than the night. "I restrained myself and kept to myself, coaxing you into becoming my girlfriend. Even though my body craved you to the point of sleeplessness, I couldn't bear to be impulsive. The most intimate thing we did was kiss. In order to gain the Xie family's approval, I made Murong Xin break off the engagement. My only act of feigning promiscuity backfired and brought trouble upon myself."

Jiang Manman lowered her eyes and remained silent, only quickening her pace.

The rain seemed to be getting heavier.

Xie Yuheng's voice sounded fragmented, cut by the torrential rain:
"I imagined our home over and over again in my mind, dreaming of our intimate married life. I even thought about how many children we would have and what their names would be. But overnight, because of Xie Yunxi's marriage certificate that beat me to it, everything I had vanished..."

“Manman, I have never been a good person. My hatred for Xie Yunxi outweighs my kinship. If one day, my hatred gets out of control, please forgive me for the sake of our past relationship.”

Jiang Manman suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Xie Yuheng, I'm sorry." Her eyes were filled with deep embarrassment. "That night, I was drunk and acted recklessly, taking the initiative to pursue him and propose to him."

Xie Yuheng's face paled for a moment.

Jiang Manman felt a chill in her heart: "So, Xie Yuheng, if you're going to hate someone, you should hate me."

Xie Yuheng didn't say anything, but suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and pinned her against a Roman column on the street.

(End of this chapter)