If you were cold and aloof in your past life, why are you crying in this one?

Xi Lingxian was suddenly pulled away, leaving her suspended in mid-air.

Turning around, the man's brows were furrowed tightly, and his hard jawline was taut.

She instinctively tried to shake off his hold, but couldn't move.

"What are you doing?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? What do you want to do?"

"What have I done? It's your Wang family who are bullying us and trying to seize our house, and you're turning around and blaming us?"

"I didn't mention that. Aren't you and your sworn brother getting a little too close?"

Xi Lingxian was surprised.

How did they become close?

No, what does it matter to him whether it's close or not?

"Mind your own business? Just say it, are you here to help bully people?"

"Who are you bullying? You?" he said. "When have you ever let yourself be taken advantage of?"

Xi Lingxian scoffed coldly, "What, are you disappointed that I'm hard to handle?"

Wang Jue stared at her silently for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand and pinched the soft flesh of her cheek.

Xi Lingxian slapped him hard with lightning speed.

She struck swiftly and decisively, and his originally fair hand instantly turned red.

Wang Jue wasn't angry; he simply rubbed the reddened area.

He calmly asked, "Is this house absolutely necessary?"

"Yeah, you want to rob me? Try it!"

Why do you have such a big temper?

"You absolutely won't allow it?"

Xi Lingxian's eyes could kill. As if she had thought of something, she suddenly smiled mysteriously and said, "I can, but I have a condition."

Tell me about it.

"Promise me that we'll never have any relationship in this lifetime; and write me a document promising you'll never bother me again."

Wang Jue's expression suddenly froze.

Why?

Xi Lingxian calmed down by now. "I don't like your Wang family, and I don't want to marry you. Wuyi Lane is no different from a cage to me."

"Your demand is to sever all ties with me?"

He always felt that there was more to their relationship than just that.

The good and bad of their past lives were like clusters of red threads, tightly binding them together.

Good or bad, it's all the same in a lifetime.

He desperately wanted to make up for the regrets of his previous life and was confident that he could do it well.

"Is it because of Xi Wen? He is your father's adopted son, which seems like a top choice for a son-in-law."

Xi Lingxian paused, realizing she hadn't considered that aspect.

She reacted quickly, immediately smiling, "That's right, my sworn brother may not be as powerful as you in the court, but he definitely knows better than you how to be a good husband to a woman."

"Is this your choice?"

"I'm begging you, please don't interfere in anything concerning my family or me anymore; I died under your nose in my past life, and I won't die without you in this one."

Her expression was disdainful, and she had a cold and ruthless demeanor.

Wang Jue paused for a moment, feeling a sharp pain in his heart, as if a dagger had pierced it.

"Does it really have to be this way?"

Why bother?

Xi Lingxian didn't want the two families to become enemies, so even at this moment, she tried her best to keep her tone calm. When she met his gaze, she thought he would be very indifferent and distant, but she actually saw a trace of obsession and... sorrow in his eyes.

Could it be that he has fallen for her?

How could that be? She clearly remembers the scene of him running towards Xie Wanyi in the water on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.

"Why do you, such a proud person, insist on clinging on? Our relationship has run its course; wouldn't it be better to part amicably?"

"Is our fate over? We weren't meant to be in our past lives anyway. Wasn't it you who forced it?" He stared at her intently, his eyes slightly reddening. "Why is it that you're allowed to force things, but I'm not?"

"So I didn't have a good ending in my past life," she chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I died young; aren't you afraid of retribution if you follow my example?"

Wang Jue's eyes trembled slightly.

"Whether in this life or the past, I have never felt that you care about me; you don't need to make excuses or deceive yourself."

Xi Lingxian paused. She didn't like to bring up old grievances, but she simply couldn't help but mention the grievances that hadn't been properly addressed over the years.

"In both of your Dragon Boat Festival drowning experiences, you chose Xie Wanyi. Do you really think you were simply saving someone from the water that day?"

"You told my elder brother that you did so because you saw me in Guangling and knew I was a good swimmer; but in such a critical moment, who could guarantee that nothing unexpected would happen? When lives are at stake, who would risk even the slightest danger on someone they care about?"

"In my past life, I was blinded by greed and made excuses for you, thinking that human life was of paramount importance. Since I didn't need your help, I couldn't stop you from doing good deeds. Besides, you and Xie Wanyi had a childhood bond. I used this reason to deceive myself for many years."

He watched her quietly as she spoke of the past in an unprecedentedly calm tone. A heart-wrenching feeling seeped into his bones, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

"This reason is too lame and too pathetic. That's how I fooled myself through those years in my past life."

"Back then, I thought I was going to live this absurd life forever, maybe even God couldn't stand it anymore."

"I don't even have a lifetime."

His voice trembled slightly, "Stop talking."

"Why don't you say so?"

"If I don't clarify these things, you'll keep thinking I'm throwing a tantrum, or even that I'm playing hard to get. If I don't clarify these things, am I supposed to keep getting entangled with you in this ambiguous way?"

Wang Jue reached out to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes, but she turned her head away.

"You know what? In my past life, I actually sensed something was wrong with my body a long time ago, and I also realized that someone around me might have been bribed. I didn't trust anyone else, and I always wanted to find you..."

She couldn't wait for him; he was too busy.

At that time, Wang Dun had already stepped down to the second line, and the heavy responsibility of the Wang family rested almost entirely on his shoulders.

He has a million things to do, but everything is more important than her.

"Later, when Yu and Xi Yao came to see me, I found out that they were the ones who drugged me and that my wet nurse had been bribed. At that time, I was on my deathbed and barely alive. I didn't want anything or anything. I just felt that even if I died, I had to take one of them with me. I couldn't let them step on me to get everything that rightfully belonged to me."

"Later... you probably saw it too, I even think I'm pretty amazing. Xi Yao died like that, the Yu family's plans all fell through. It's so satisfying to think about how an old person outlives their young."

Wang Jue stared at his wife from his previous life, his heart empty and his gaze blank.

She recounted her struggles and resistance before her death, all of which he should have shielded her from.

It was his negligence and his indifference that led to this terrible mistake.

"Do you know what my last thought was before I died? I thought, if I could choose again, I would definitely not marry you. I would stay by my father's side and not go anywhere else; in this world, the person who loves me the most is my father."

Everyone else's love comes with conditions; they only love her if she is sensible and generous.

Only her father loved her, simply because she was herself.

She never dared to imagine how desperate and devastated her father must have felt upon learning of her death in her past life.

For a moment, Wang Jue felt a sense of disorientation, unable to distinguish whether what he was seeing was virtual or real.

His wife would never say such heartless things to him.

Looking at Xi Lingxian before him, he recalled a long, long time ago.

The Xi Lingxian of the past only had eyes for him.

She would chatter on and on, waiting for him in the corridor after his shift, linking her arm with his, and talking about trivial matters and everyday life.

She muttered a complaint about who had offended her in the household that day, but then generously said that she wouldn't hold a grudge.

He knew that Xi Lingxian would never come back.

She died because of her own indifference and self-righteousness.

The Yu mother and daughter were not the culprits who killed her; he was.