"You should ask yourself honestly, are you willing to marry Fang Chen?"

An Xinrong was stunned. She looked at Zhuang Yan and felt weak in her limbs, as if all the blood was rushing to her head. She bit her lip and her eyelashes trembled uncontrollably.

Seeing her reddened eyes, Zhuang Yan continued, "You don't want to, do you? It's like when your parents made you learn advanced math when you were little, and you just couldn't concentrate and were never happy."

"If you chose the school your dad arranged for you after the college entrance exam, and he made you study finance, would you be happy?"

Won't……

"Participating in the talent show was your own choice. Do you regret that choice?"

No……

"Actually, you already know how to choose. Looking at your choices at each important juncture, as long as you are happy and willing, then you have not made the wrong choice. Follow your own heart; you are the one who knows yourself best."

An Xinrong forced an ugly smile: "You might not believe it, but I got very close to Fang Chen before to test you, just to see if you were interested in me. After I found out you were with Lu Yan, I also gave up on myself and thought I should just marry him since my dad thought he was a good man. Anyway, everyone gets married when they reach a certain age, and Fang Chen isn't bad either... Since I can't marry the person I love, it doesn't matter who I marry. I'll just treat marriage as a goal and make do for the rest of my life."

Zhuang Yan suddenly asked, "Do you like me?"

An Xinrong felt as if she had been punched in the nose; a sour feeling filled her mouth, and tears immediately streamed down her face. She wiped the tears away forcefully and snorted, "So what if I like you? Is liking you something shameful? What kind of expression is that!"

"No... what is it about me that you like?" Zhuang Yan wasn't stupid; he could sense that An Xinrong liked him.

But he found it strange that when he was with Xia Wan, An Xinrong always disliked him. Whenever he appeared, she would belittle him and say that he was not good enough for Xia Wan.

He didn't do anything special by participating in this variety show, did he?

An Xinrong had studied facial expression analysis and could roughly guess what Zhuang Yan was thinking.

“I think I’ve liked you for a long time. When you were with Xia Wan, I was envious of how good you were to her. I just regret that I couldn’t distinguish what love was back then. I apologize for my harsh words to you. I’m sorry.”

“I never took it to heart,” Zhuang Yan said. “Have you ever thought that you just lack love, not that you like me? Because you lacked love and security since childhood, you envy Xia Wan for being liked by so many people, and you want to have that too. And you just happened to focus your attention on me.”

“That’s not how it is!” An Xinrong shook her head vigorously: “Maybe it was like that at first, but slowly, you became the most special one in my heart. I would think of you involuntarily, dream about you, feel remorse and blame myself for the things I did to hurt you in the past, and regret my past actions. I would also feel heartache when I saw you being nice to Lu Yan. In order to prove whether I liked you or not, I had Fang Chen do an experiment for comparison, and I also saw a psychologist and took tests. Zhuang Yan, you are a good person. I just knew it too late.”

Her vision was completely blurred, and no matter how much she wiped the water off her face, she couldn't dry it. An Xinrong never thought she would cry so pathetically in front of Zhuang Yan, especially with so many people watching in the live stream.

If her father sees this, she'll definitely get a scolding when she gets back. He'll say she's shameless for pursuing a man and that she should try to please Lu Yan instead. Instead, she's competing with Lu Yan for the same man.

Not only did the man lose the fight, but he also cried so pathetically, completely disgracing the An family.

Because of years of lack of love, An Xinrong has developed an awkward and proud personality. She is unwilling to admit when she likes someone. The fact that she can cry and say it now is enough to prove that she has fallen in love and has really been hurt.

An Xinrong was sobbing, and Zhuang Yan handed her a tissue.

An Xinrong took it with trembling hands, turned her back to Zhuang Yan, blew her nose, and her nose and eyes were red from crying.

"Do I look ugly like this?"

"Not ugly, very real and likable." Zhuang Yan treated her the same as before, not as a woman because of her confession, and still as a child who needed to be coaxed.

Although An Xinrong was very receptive to this approach, she also felt powerless at the same time.

An Xinrong asked, "How much do you like Lu Yan?"

Zhuang Yan: "I will marry no one but her."

What if she doesn't want you anymore?

"Then I'll be alone."

"You're not considering others anymore?"

"I'm not considering it." Zhuang Yan shook his head. He felt like he was adopted into this world, and he had already prepared himself to grow old alone. But Lu Yan entered his heart.

"She was a pleasant surprise for me. I have made two plans: either marry her and grow old together, or I will live out my days alone."

It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but that's really what he was thinking at that moment, just like Lu Yan in her previous life.

Whenever Lu Yan was mentioned, his heart would pound with excitement.

He felt he couldn't like her more than he did today, but he thought so yesterday too. Second by second, day by day, the sudden joy became an unshakable force.

In just a few words, he blocked An Xinrong's path. An Xinrong couldn't help but blow her nose in front of Zhuang Yan, completely disregarding her image.

Because she had come to realize that no matter what she did, Zhuang Yan would never like her.

"Lu Yan is so lucky to have met you."

"You're wrong. Meeting her is the greatest stroke of luck for me."

An Xinrong felt a lump in her throat, but after speaking it out, she felt much better. Although she still had regrets, at least she wasn't suffering as much anymore.

An Xinrong clenched the tissue in her hand tightly, stood up straight, and took a breath: "One last question, were the things you said to me before sincere or just perfunctory?"

"It's half and half. I was praising you sincerely, but at the same time, I wanted to get you to do something."

Zhuang Yan never told her a single lie, leaving An Xinrong unsure whether to be happy or angry.

"Fine, no matter how much you praise me from now on, I won't do anything for you anymore." An Xinrong snorted, suppressing her sadness, and raised her chin. At this moment, she reverted to her arrogant persona.

Zhuang Yan smiled.

The two broke the ice and talked things out; they could at least be friends, even if they couldn't be lovers.

After buying the items, Zhuang Yan put them in the car. Avoiding the cameras, Zhuang Yan reminded An Xinrong, "Fang Chen's family is complicated. You can send someone to investigate. His intentions towards you are not pure."

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid." An Xinrong opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. "My dad wants Fang Chen to marry into our family. He is capable, but I don't like him and I'm not willing to settle. I'd rather be alone than live with him. Besides, I believe I can definitely find someone better than you in the future."