Li Pingyu seemed to want Xu Ke to hear, her voice loud, penetrating through the door directly into Xu Ke’s ears, causing a sharp pain in her heart.
“Mom, it’s not like that,” Lin Ge said in a low voice.
“Lin Ge, we might be poor, but you must marry a pure girl. With this photo in the newspaper, how will you face people in the future? You might not care about your reputation, but I do. She’s too beautiful for you to afford or keep.”
Xu Ke could no longer hold back her disappointment and pain. She opened the door and faced Li Pingyu, “Auntie, I will break up with Lin Ge, don’t worry.”
Lin Ge stood there, stunned, his face pale with shock, sadness, and helplessness. Looking at his face, Xu Ke felt a dull, heavy pain in her heart. After two years together, she had never thought of breaking up, but now, the thought came out without hesitation or doubt, indicating that she had been deceiving herself for two years. Or perhaps, her tolerance had reached its limit, ignited by a fuse, culminating in an irreversible explosion. She had overestimated her capacity for tolerance, overestimated the Lin family’s view of her, overestimated their love, and underestimated the power of money and social norms. Just a sum of ten thousand yuan and a photograph had revealed the true nature of everything, destroying two years of effort. She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or sad.
The living room was unusually silent, the only sound being the steady tick-tock of a quartz clock on the wall. Li Pingyu seemed somewhat surprised by Xu Ke’s decisiveness, remaining silent beside her. Xu Ke, exhausted and weary, had no more words to say and didn’t want to hear anything more from Li Pingyu or Lin Yao. She hastily grabbed a coat, picked up her bag, and walked to the door. “Xiao Ke, where are you going?” Lin Ge grabbed her hand, looking anxious as if she might never return. “I’m going to the hospital.” “I’ll go with you.” Xu Ke neither agreed nor refused, silently put on her shoes, and left the room, the only place in the city where she felt at home.
