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

Xi Lingxian stared at him blankly, a flood of long-suppressed questions welling up inside her. With a choked voice, she asked, "After I left, how are my family members...?"

The pain in Wang Jue's eyes gradually softened.

"Your brother's leg ailment was cured after many years of seeking out famous doctors all over the world. It can be said that Heaven took pity on him. Later, his meridians gradually recovered, and his legs and feet were gradually healed. For the rest of his life, he could walk freely without any major problems."

Xi Lingxian's eyes instantly reddened even more.

Okay, that's good.

"And your younger brother," Wang Jue's voice lowered, "He had been taking Five-Stone Powder for years, which had completely drained his body, leaving him extremely weak. I was powerless to cure his deep-rooted illness, but with the best medicine he received every day, his life was spared. Although he was frail all his life and did not live long, he lived peacefully to his fifties and died a peaceful death."

After he finished speaking, he paused, his tone tinged with bitterness and self-deprecation.

"As for your father, your sudden death nearly broke him, leaving him heartbroken for half his life. He hated the Yu family for harming you, and he hated me even more for not protecting you, for being cold and heartless, watching helplessly as his daughter suffered injustice and died with resentment."

"He took his Nine Dragons Whip and whipped me severely in the mourning hall, leaving me covered in bruises and causing me to have a high fever for three days."

Xi Lingxian, whose tears had been silently streaming down her face, couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this, and softly spat out a remark:

"Serves you right."

Wang Jue felt a pang of pain mixed with tenderness in his heart. He gently tightened his grip on her wrist and whispered in a low voice:

"You deserve it. No matter how much you're beaten or how much resentment you suffer, you're never coming back."

When asked about her family's well-being, Xi Lingxian felt a slight relief from the bitterness in her heart.

But when her gaze fell on his face, her heart clenched again.

She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly. "And what about you? After I left, you...you must have married Xie Wanyi as your second wife, and lived a life of wealth and prosperity with many children and grandchildren."

Wang Jue was stunned for a moment, then asked in a deep voice, "Who told you I married her as my second wife?"

"Do I need anyone else to tell me?" Xi Lingxian raised her eyes, a hint of self-deprecating certainty in them. "Would the Wang family allow you to remain unmarried for life? Back then, I only refused to let you take a concubine, and your mother was frantic, nagging me all day long. Not to mention later, the position of matriarch was vacant, and the Langya Wang clan couldn't be without an heir. Xie Wanyi has remained unmarried for so many years, isn't it because she's been longing for this day, hoping to sit in the position of matriarch of the Wang clan? With such ambition, how could she possibly let it go so easily?"

Wang Jue suddenly tightened his grip on her wrist, the force so great that it hurt her slightly.

His voice was terribly hoarse as he spoke, each word distinct: "I didn't."

The heavy tone startled Xi Lingxian. She stared at him blankly, not reacting for a moment. "What did you say?"

"I said, there is no one else." Wang Jue gazed intently at her, his eyes burning. "From beginning to end, there has never been anyone else between you and me."

Xi Lingxian blinked, and it took her a while to come to her senses.

As if seeing through her disbelief, Wang Jue's Adam's apple bobbed, and he slowly continued, "The Wang family cannot be without an heir. I chose a gifted boy from the second branch of the family and adopted him into my family. I personally raised and taught him. That child lived up to my expectations and later became a capable successor."

Xi Lingxian was dumbfounded, frozen in place, her eyes filled with disbelief.

The powerful heir of the Wang family, whose succession was crucial to the family's foundation, was willing to have no biological sons and only adopt one child to cling to the vacant position of matriarch.

This is utterly absurd and completely violates all common sense and the rules of aristocratic families.

She opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a word for a moment, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

Looking at her dazed and lost expression, Wang Jue could no longer suppress the surge of tenderness and fear in his heart. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her tightly into his embrace.

He held her tightly, his arms taut, as if he wanted to embed the person he had lost and found in this life firmly into his bones and blood, never to let go again.

His chin rested on the top of her head, and his originally steady voice gradually trembled, unable to hide his sobs: "I have taken good care of your family. I have been watching over them for you and have never neglected them in the slightest."

Hot tears silently streamed down Xi Lingxian's cheeks, wetting the front of his shirt.

He actually shed tears.

That proud and strong-willed man cried.

She leaned against his chest, murmuring, her voice thick with nasal congestion, tears blurring her vision: "They're all fine..."

Are there any people in this world who are bad?

Wang Jue released her, his fingertips trembling slightly, and gently wiped away the tear stains on her face with his fingertips.

Looking at her red and swollen eyes, she forced a smile, a smile that, when seen by Xi Lingxian, was tinged with an unyielding desolation and loneliness.

His voice was as soft as a breeze, yet every word pierced the heart: "Only I am not good enough."

Wang Jue was taught from a young age to be calm and composed, and not to show her emotions. She never thought of herself as someone who would complain.

In his past understanding, tears have always been the weakness of the incompetent and a useless way for the weak to vent their emotions.

He detests others shedding tears for no reason, and even more so, he detests showing any vulnerability in front of others.

No matter how much they went through, they always gritted their teeth and persevered alone, never showing the slightest weakness.

But at this moment, holding the person he had lost and found again in his arms, feeling her real warmth and breath, the deep sorrow and grief that had been suppressed and accumulated in his heart for many years completely broke through all his defenses and he could no longer control himself.

Is there anyone in this world who is truly heartless and indifferent to joy or sorrow?

Who doesn't long for someone with whom they can let down their guard and confide their hardships along the way?

He buried his face in her shoulder, and warm tears slid down his cheeks without warning, soaking the fabric of her clothes. His body trembled slightly.

That was a look Xi Lingxian had never seen before. Gone was her usual aloofness, elegance, and composure; all that remained was an unconcealable vulnerability and helplessness, like a lost child who had finally found a safe harbor.

She felt his trembling and warm tears, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

A belated warmth and flutter of excitement slowly welled up in her heart, mixed with a hint of schadenfreude that she herself was somewhat ashamed to admit.

You wronged me in my past life, you treated me with such indifference, and now you are tasting the bitterness of having your heart torn out.

But after the schadenfreude came overwhelming shock and bitterness.

She pulled out a handkerchief and threw it at his face. "Don't think that crying will make me forgive you!"

He covered Wang Jue's face with a handkerchief, and for a moment he forgot to take it off, so he said in a muffled voice, "I didn't think that way."

"I just hope you won't hold a grudge against me anymore."

What if I were to hate you?

"Hate? Very well, love and hate are intertwined, without love there is no hate." The learned and talented young master of the Wang family, how eloquent and flattering he was.

Xi Lingxian choked violently.

He said everything.