"Being with you, I would have to endure so much humiliation. Too much anger would make me sick, and a minor illness would become a major one. I would have died young, a young man who wouldn't even be able to collect his pension." Zhuang Yan exhaled, then smiled. "Luckily, I broke off our engagement and didn't end up with you."

Of all the things Zhuang Yan had said, none had ever been as damaging as this one.

In those dreams, there was clearly a heartwarming scene.

Xia Wan listened silently, becoming stiff like a statue.

The wind blowing against her body felt less like wind and more like thousands of needles pricking her, causing pain in every part of her body.

"Zhuang Yan, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I was really wrong..." She reached out to grab Zhuang Yan's hand, but Zhuang Yan dodged backward, and Xia Wan stumbled and fell to the ground.

She didn't look seriously injured, but she was in so much pain that she couldn't stand up. She knelt on the ground, looking at Zhuang Yan with an injured expression.

Passersby noticed the commotion and turned to look. Some recognized Zhuang Yan and Xia Wan and secretly took out their phones to take pictures from a distance.

Xia Wan knelt down in the street, "Zhuang Yan, I don't ask you to stay by my side, I only ask you to give me a chance to get close to you and make it up to you. As long as you are willing to let me stay by your side, I am willing to do anything. I will obediently listen to you from now on, and I will not stop you from being with Lu Yan."

Some people who heard this were stunned. Was this someone who wanted to be a mistress for love?

Zhuang Yan never expected Xia Wan to go to this extent. The once arrogant Miss Xia used to look down on people with her chin held high. Now she was kneeling on the ground, as if she would kowtow without hesitation if Zhuang Yan asked her to.

Zhuang Yan's face remained unchanged, as if covered with a layer of ice. "Even if you try to stop me, it's useless. You are nothing to me. What you can give is the last thing I need. I have no feelings for you, whether it's the me now or the me in your dreams. From the moment you ran away from the engagement banquet, my heart has been dead to you."

In his view, emotional infidelity is just as unforgivable as physical infidelity; both are infidelity, regardless of their relative value or status, they are equally disgusting.

The previous life had disgusted him to the point of numbness, and now bringing it up again is like putting a bucket of shit in front of him and forcing him to smell it. Isn't that just disgusting?

Zhuang Yan couldn't understand why Xia Wan wanted to talk to him about their past life. Did she just want to confirm that they had been husband and wife? And had an intimate relationship?

It's fine to talk about being happy, but if you're unhappy and you still talk about it, it's just really annoying.

Xia Wan looked up at Zhuang Yan with despair, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably: "Zhuang Yan, do you hate me?"

Zhuang Yan shook his head.

"You're not worth my time. Everything I did today wasn't to get revenge on you; I was just trying to protect myself. I know all too well what kind of people you and Xia Qingshan are. If I didn't fight back, I would be the one who died. I don't like to put my life on someone else's whim. The Xia family's current state is Xia Qingshan's own fault. Don't waste your time bothering Lu Yan, and don't kneel before me begging for forgiveness. If I forgive everything, then I deserve everything that happened in the past. Besides, those dreams you had have nothing to do with me. Talking about them will only disgust me."

Everything is just a cycle of cause and effect; those who wanted to harm him either ended up in prison or contracted serious illnesses.

Zhuang Chongming used to say to him, "This is your destiny."

A single sentence determined his life.

This time, he showed them with his actions that their fates were in his hands.

Zhuang Yan is always like this; just when she thinks there's a glimmer of hope, he blows it out without hesitation the next second.

The taste of blood in her throat grew stronger. If it were before, seeing Zhuang Yan's ruthlessness, Xia Wan wouldn't have said anything more.

But things are different now; her father is still in the hospital. Seeing Zhuang Yan about to leave, she knelt on the ground and crawled over to him: "Don't go, Zhuang Yan, don't go... Please save my dad. I'm begging you. Everything is because of me, it's my fault. It has nothing to do with my dad. I beg you to let the Xia family go, let my dad go. I'll go abroad, I'll leave this place, and I promise I'll never appear in front of you again."

This was Xia Wan's original intention. She mentioned that dream because she wanted to play the emotional card with Zhuang Yan. Perhaps she always had a saying in her heart: "A day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness."

Zhuang Yan said in a very calm tone, "Lu Yan was right. Your tears and your current attitude are just a pretense because you are afraid of punishment. Your apology is not because you really know you are wrong, but because you hope I will be a fool and let you go. Now that things have come to this, I advise you to take care of yourself. I am not as magnanimous as you think. I am petty and vengeful. Don't forget, I am the kind of person who would even send my own parents to prison to be abused."

There was truly no hope left. Xia Wan's breath hitched, and then she felt a surge of difficulty, unable to find the strength to support herself.

With all her remaining strength, she asked her last question, "Zhuang Yan, did you ever love me?"

Does love still matter now? Zhuang Yan said seriously, "I loved you before we got engaged. You pulled me up on the hospital rooftop and said something like, 'If you can't find a reason to live, you might as well try loving me.' So I spent three years loving you and doing everything to the best of my ability."

"If you can't find a reason to live, why not try liking me? Try pursuing me. Once you have a goal to strive for, you might just want to live."

This is the original quote.

At that time, Zhuang Yan had even forgotten what it felt like to like someone. She couldn't love others, nor could she love herself. She had lost the ability to love.

Zhuang Yan looked into Xia Wan's eyes; clearly, if he hadn't said anything, Xia Wan might have already forgotten.

Xia Wan probably knew in her heart that Zhuang Yan had spent his whole life being good to her in that dream, but in the end, he did not have a good ending.

Isn't one lifetime enough?

......

Xia Wan felt even more pain upon receiving this answer. Zhuang Yan had truly loved her, but she had lost him.

The taste of blood in her mouth grew stronger. As she watched Zhuang Yan turn around, she tried to stand up and chase after him, but as soon as she managed to get her legs up, a tingling sensation came from the soles of her feet, and her knees buckled, causing her to kneel down again.

Xia Wan coughed up a mouthful of blood, collapsing completely to the ground. A broken sob escaped her throat as she looked up at Zhuang Yan's resolute back, her face streaked with tears and blood, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.

She tried to reach out towards Zhuang Yan, wanting to grab him. A raindrop fell into her palm, and the wind passed through it. She clenched her fingers, but couldn't grasp what she was trying to hold onto. Zhuang Yan's departure was like the wind; she couldn't catch the wind, just as she couldn't catch him.

Zhuang Yan left without looking back; he didn't even bother to look at her pitiful and disheveled appearance.