Silence is the unspoken default.
And Shen Nian's silence was the fatal blow that broke Lu Lingchuan.
He thought they could start over, but Shen Nian's direct rejection made him completely sober.
"...Okay." Lu Lingchuan said that word through gritted teeth.
Wasn't she luring him here just to hear him say that?
A flash of delight flickered in Liang Jinghe's eyes, and the next second she rushed into Lu Lingchuan's embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Lu Lingchuan stood like a statue, motionless, allowing Liang Jinghe to hug him.
The man's answer made the onlookers cheer with excitement, all of them cheering and hooting.
"Ohhh~~~"
There were even faint whistles.
Yet she still didn't look at him.
Lu Lingchuan's gaze remained fixed on Shen Nian, so persistent, his expression numb.
Eventually, a lifeless glimmer flashed in his dim eyes.
Everyone's attention was on the two people in the distance, no one noticing that Shen Nian's hand was trembling, and the trembling was getting worse.
She used her other hand to press down firmly, frowning hard to prevent excessive emotion that might arouse suspicion.
Wanting to leave hastily, when she looked up she met Lu Lingchuan's gaze.
His scorching gaze stared straight at Shen Nian, questioning, interrogating.
He was asking her—
Are you satisfied?
Is this what you wanted? Are you satisfied now?
Shen Nian immediately felt a chill run up from below, freezing her to the core.
.....................
Shen Nian staggered back home in a sorry state.
Just as she was about to close the door, a slender, fair hand stopped it.
Seeing that hand, Shen Nian's pupils shrank, she tried to force the door closed, but Lu Lingchuan used his strength to fling her aside.
She felt a spinning sensation, and with a loud "thud" of the door slamming, Shen Nian was slammed against the wall by Lu Lingchuan.
Her back hit the light switch at the entrance, instantly illuminating the room.
Lu Lingchuan lowered his head to look at her, his eyes bloodshot, as Shen Nian tried to push him away and struggle.
"Let me go..."
The man didn't budge, and she pushed him harder, "Let me go!"
Lu Lingchuan tightly gripped Shen Nian, glaring fiercely at her, agitation coursing through his entire body, as if countless insects had burrowed into every blood vessel, viciously gnawing at him, making him suffer unbearably.
"Are you satisfied?" His voice was cold and harsh.
"..."Shen Nian stared at him blankly.
"Answer me!" He screamed hysterically, "Are you satisfied!"
Shen Nian's eyes turned red as she continued staring at him, then she smiled wryly, "Yes, I'm satisfied."
"..."
"Lu Lingchuan, I hope you'll be happy." She looked at him, enunciating each word carefully.
Liang Jinghe is a good person who truly loves Lu Lingchuan, so Liang Jinghe is more suited for Lu Lingchuan than her. At least, when Lu's mother sees Liang Jinghe, she only feels affection, not pain.
"Happy?" Hearing her words, Lu Lingchuan laughed outright, his jet-black pupils glaring at her fiercely, his eyes turning an ominous bloody red, "What right do you have to choose happiness for me! What right do you have!"
"Shen Nian! You never considered being with me!"
"You're just a cold, heartless woman! You chose to abandon Ling Rui back then! And now you unhesitatingly choose to abandon me too!"
Like a child on the verge of a breakdown, he protested vehemently, shout after shout, sentence after sentence.
He raised his fist and pounded his own chest, over and over, "No one has ever hurt me as deeply as you! You hold the knife, and every blow strikes right at my heart!"
Stabbing him all over, tearing him apart!
"..."Shen Nian's ears were ringing, as if she had lost her voice, only silently watching his frenzied state.
Lu Lingchuan had been completely tormented into losing all reason and lucidity, filled with frantic rage, he protested in disbelief, "Shen Nian, how can you be so heartless! Why would I fall for such a cold woman like you! You're just an untamed white-eyed wolf, no matter how good I am to you, you always bite back!"
He pinned her against the wall, one hand clutching her throat, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, "You're a white-eyed wolf! Rather than letting you harm others in the future, it's better to strangle you to death today!"
"..."Shen Nian didn't struggle, only staring at him with reddened eyes.
His eyes looked bloodshot, his gaze filled with endless despair and emptiness.
He was unwilling to accept it.
Why didn't Shen Nian want him, why wouldn't she want him!
Even now, Shen Nian hadn't shed a single tear, her eyes were just terrifyingly red.
Watching Lu Lingchuan in such a frenzied state, the force on her throat grew stronger, almost robbing her of all breath.
Shen Nian curled her lips into a smile, then slowly closed her eyes.
She had already resigned herself to this fate.
Seeing Shen Nian so willing to die, Lu Lingchuan recoiled as if electrocuted, stumbling several steps backwards.
His back slammed hard into the shoe cabinet, knocking everything on the shelf to the floor with a clattering crash.
"Cough cough cough..." Shen Nian clutched her throat, coughing violently, the survival instinct forcing her to gulp down huge breaths of air.
Lu Lingchuan only stared at her, after that heart-wrenching frenzy, all that remained was a devastated, numbing despair.
"Heh..." He gave a self-deprecating laugh, muttering, "You win..."
"Shen Nian." He called her name, his expression so calm.
He said, "I've never disliked you as much as I do now."
"..."Shen Nian froze, her heart almost stopping.
Tears instantly welled up in her eyes and streamed down her face.
He said he disliked her.
He had always said he hated her before, because hate is the transformation of love. The more love, the more hate.
But now, he said he disliked her...
"..."Lu Lingchuan stared at the tear-stained Shen Nian, numbly asking her, "Are these crocodile tears?"
After saying that, he laughed at himself, "You really are so changeable."
Tricking him into accepting Liang Jinghe's confession, and now crying as if wronged, as if she were the victim.
Perhaps due to exhaustion from the past few days, Lu Lingchuan suddenly felt very tired, more tired than he had ever been, too tired to even lift his hand.
He didn't want to say anything more, no matter how much they argued, it wouldn't change the outcome.
Like a world-weary old man, he grabbed the door handle and opened the door.
Then he left the home he shared with Shen Nian.
Shen Nian's legs felt like they were disabled, unable to muster any strength.
Sliding down the wall, she collapsed onto the floor in a pitiful heap.
Tears streamed down like rain, shoulders shuddering violently.
For so many years, no matter how they quarreled or went cold, when they turned around, the other was always standing behind them.
Because there were only the two of them, no one else showed up.
But now... a third person had appeared.
Until the moment today when Liang Jinghe threw herself into Lu Lingchuan's embrace.
She had completely lost Lu Lingchuan.
Lu Lingchuan would no longer belong to her.
..................
[There's something I need to explain. Yesterday, I didn't fail to update; it was just that the backend was stuck, and I couldn't post the chapter. I was extremely anxious about it. Usually, there's no problem, and the update comes out around 3 or 4 AM. But I waited until 5 AM, and it was still under review. I thought it might get sent back for revisions, so I set an alarm for 8 AM, preparing to wake up early to revise the chapter. Otherwise, as someone who usually wakes up around 3 or 4 PM, you all might have been driven mad waiting... Fortunately, when I woke up around 8 AM, it had already been released.
For those of you who haven't followed my Weibo account, @ErciaoCiao, hurry and follow it. Unless something unexpected happens, I usually update in the early morning hours. If you don't see my update in the early morning, there's an 80% chance it got stuck in review. Follow me, and if a chapter gets stuck in review, I'll post a notification on Weibo because I can't notify you in the chapter itself when it's stuck. That way, you don't have to wait foolishly and can just go to sleep early and read it during the day.
If a chapter gets stuck in review in the future, I'll notify you. If you see the notification, just go to sleep early and read it the next day. If there's no update and no notification from me, it's likely just my lazy habit acting up again. Wait for me to get my act together, and I should still be able to scrape together a chapter for you to read. You can wait for it then.
Finally, remember to follow my Weibo account, @ErciaoCiao. That's it, mwah!]
