Zhang Lan reflected, “After all, she’s a university professor. Yunhua’s mother entrusted her to you before dying, and it seems she didn’t misjudge…” As she spoke, she became emotional, her eyes nearly welling up with tears.
Yunzhi quickly tried to steer the conversation back, “Aunt, I came today to get another checkup, to see if there’s been any improvement…”
Zhang Lan looked at him strangely, “You have no issues, why get a checkup?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly realized something and stopped.
Yunzhi’s heart tightened, “Aunt, what did you just say?
Zhang Lan’s expression became somewhat awkward, “Oh, I mean, you’ve already been checked, no need to do it again!”
Yunzhi looked at her sharply, “Aunt, you’d better tell me the truth. Between me and Yunhua, who has a problem?”
Zhang Lan’s words were evasive, “This matter, hasn’t it been over for more than two years? Why are you still asking me about this?”
Just as Yunzhi was about to press further, a face appeared at the door: “Dr. Zhang, the hospital director wants to see you in his office!”
Zhang Lan, looking relieved, told Yunzhi, “Wait here, I’ll be right back!” Then she hurried out.
Yunzhi’s face darkened. Zhang Lan’s comment “You have no issues, why get a checkup” and her evasive gaze confirmed his suspicions. He was almost certain that Song Yunhua had manipulated something. As her relative, Zhang Lan might have helped her fabricate something. The only thing he couldn’t understand was how no one knew he had gone to another hospital for a follow-up, and what about that hospital’s diagnosis? And why would Yunhua fabricate something? Did she really not want to have children? Or…?
Yunzhi felt increasingly cold-hearted.
Until Luo Xuan appeared in front of her again, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s not snowing outside, right?” She pretended to be nonchalant and nestled back into the sofa, casually picking up a book from the coffee table.
“It stopped snowing long ago!”
Luo Xuan had his hands behind his back, looking casual, as if he had just gone out for a stroll.
Chu E lowered her head and flipped through the book. “I thought you had gone back!”
Luo Xuan remained silent. After a few seconds, he suddenly called her name in a gentle voice: “Chu Chu!”
“Hm?” Chu E looked up in confusion, only to be met with a bunch of bright red roses. Behind the roses were Luo Xuan’s smiling eyes. She was stunned.
Before her brain could process what was happening, Luo Xuan had already knelt on one knee, pulled out a small box, opened it, and said: “Chu Chu, marry me!”
In the box was a massive, brilliantly shining diamond ring!
Chu E was bewildered. What was going on?
Luo Xuan looked at her sincerely and repeated: “Chu Chu, I beg you, marry me!”
Chu E took a deep breath and said somewhat angrily: “Luo Xuan, don’t joke about this!”
“I’m not joking, I’m serious!” Luo Xuan knelt on the ground, insisting: “Chu Chu, I’m sincerely proposing to you, please agree!”
Chu E fell silent. After a while, she said bitterly: “You know my situation, I’m pregnant with someone else’s child…”
“I know!” Luo Xuan quickly interrupted her. “I’ve thought it through. Although this child is not mine, I will love him as my own. Please give me a chance to take care of you and the child…”
Chu E looked at him in disbelief.
“You don’t mind?”
Luo Xuan smiled slightly. “I used to mind, and even hoped you would get rid of him. But now I understand that this is a life we have no right to dispose of casually. Besides, I love you. As long as I can be with you, I don’t care about anything else…”
Chu E smiled bitterly and shook her head. “I don’t need your sympathy, nor your pity, I…”
“Chu Chu!” Luo Xuan grabbed her hand. “This isn’t sympathy or pity. This is the result of careful consideration. Chu Chu, if you won’t think about yourself, can’t you think about the child? If Gu Yanzhi still can’t accept this child in the future, what will you do? Are you willing to let him be called an illegitimate child behind his back for life?”
Tears slowly filled Chu E’s eyes. Gu Yanzhi wouldn’t even acknowledge the child. Even if a DNA test proved the child was his in the future, what could be done? Divorce? Impossible! Take the child? She would never agree! So the child’s identity was destined to never see the light of day!
“Chu Chu!” Luo Xuan looked at her sincerely. “Let me take care of you, give you and the child a warm home!”
A home! Wasn’t this exactly what she had been longing for? But she still refused: “No!”
Luo Xuan slowly got up, perhaps having knelt for too long. When standing, he staggered and almost fell. He murmured a bitter smile, “Chu Chu, I truly wish time could turn back to when we first met.”
Maybe then, we would have loved each other happily, lived joyfully, without all these subsequent entanglements, without so many regrettable things happening…”
After realizing this, Luo Xuan was desperate. A sarcastic smile hung at the corner of his mouth: “Heaven, what a ridiculous love food chain this is!”
“I’m sorry, Luo Xuan!” Besides apologizing, she couldn’t think of what else to say.
Luo Xuan slowly got up, perhaps having knelt on the ground for too long, causing his legs to feel numb. When standing, he staggered and almost fell. He murmured a bitter smile, “Maybe then, we would have loved each other happily, lived joyfully, without all these subsequent entanglements, without so many regrettable things happening…”
“But time won’t flow backward, right?” Chu E’s mouth curved with a bitter smile, “In love, we are all powerless!”
Luo Xuan forced a smile, “It’s okay. If we can’t be husband and wife, at least we can still be friends! From now on, if you need any help, just ask…”
“I will!” She smiled, “Luo Xuan, you’ve given up on one tree, and heaven will surely give you an entire forest. I wish you happiness!”
He looked at her deeply, “Can you grant me one last request?”
“Go ahead.”
He hesitated, “Let me kiss you one last time, may I?”
“
Chu E was stunned, never expecting such a request. She found it abrupt. But seeing his desperate yet passionate eyes, she sighed softly and gently closed her eyes.
Luo Xuan leaned closer, lowering his head, about to touch her cold, soft lips, but then changed his mind, only gently kissing her clean forehead, then whispering in her ear, “Promise me to take good care of yourself!”
Then he turned and resolutely walked out the door, leaving behind a bunch of bright, almost dripping crimson roses, releasing a lingering fragrance in the silent air.
Chu E stared blankly at the roses, murmuring: “If life were only like the first encounter, why would the west wind grieve over a fan!”
“Xiao E!” he called out with a heart-wrenching voice, “Xiao E, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”
A single “I’m sorry” instantly brought tears to her eyes. She took a deep breath, her voice choked, “Go away, I don’t want to see you!”
He said nothing, only his heavy, alcohol-laden breathing came through the phone. After a while, just as Chu E was about to hang up, his voice came softly: “I know, you hate me…”
“Yes, I hate you!
“Chu E squeezed out the words through gritted teeth, ‘I even suspect that those so-called sweet moments, those supposed joys, those supposedly unforgettable memories, were just a facade, or merely a momentary impulse? And you, have you ever truly loved me?’
‘No, Xiao E,’ he shouted anxiously, ‘Heaven can bear witness, my feelings for you were genuine…’
Chu E cried out in grief, ‘Then why didn’t you believe me? Why did you doubt me?’
‘Xiao E, let me explain…’
‘Stop with your sweet talk, I don’t want to hear it!’ she roared angrily. ‘Gu Yunzhi, you’re a complete hypocrite! I was blind not to see your ugly true nature earlier…’
He inhaled sharply. ‘Xiao E, is this how you see me? In your eyes, am I really so despicable?’
