Chapter 271 You're not even worthy to carry her shoes

Inside the room, Huo Yunting naturally didn't miss the fleeting panic and guilt in Liu Ruolan's eyes.

He sneered, a laugh filled with endless mockery and contempt.

“Your father married you to me in order to win me over.” He looked at her with the same gaze he used to look at a filthy object. “But I was unwilling to be associated with him, so he settled for second best and chose that greedy fool Huo Yunzhan.”

“So,” his voice was icy cold, like icicles in the dead of winter, “you two, father and daughter, joined forces to set up this wonderful show.”

"You pretended to be deeply in love with me as husband and wife, but in reality you secretly instigated and persuaded Huo Yunzhan to lure me... to the border, and then... to kill me!"

“Then,” his eyes were full of coldness and indifference, “in order to make Huo Yunzhan a dog of your Liu family more legitimate, you simply had him switch identities with me and impersonate me.”

“You knew it all along! You knew he was a fake, but you pretended not to know and comfortably engaged in marital relations with him. You even... couldn't wait to get pregnant with his child so as to completely solidify the alliance between him and your father.”

“Liu Ruolan,” he looked at her, his eyes filled with endless mockery, “you put on quite a show… well done.”

Liu Ruolan turned pale and trembled violently as a result of his words!

But she still gritted her teeth and put on an innocent look as if she had suffered a great injustice!

"I didn't! What are you talking about? I don't know!"

Upon seeing this, Huo Yunting sneered, his laughter filled with disdain.

“The reason you are the way you are now,” he said, looking at her and emphasizing each word, “is simply because things… didn’t go as you expected.”

"You schemed and plotted against Shen Qingci, but you were outsmarted by her! That good-for-nothing Huo Yunzhan lost his life because of it!"

“So,” a cruel smile curved his lips, “you’re the one pretending to be innocent, trying to… extricate yourself from this quagmire you’ve already sunk into.”

"But...can you pick them all cleanly?"

"The lover you chose is a good-for-nothing who can't even be a man. Your good father, who plotted for years with great ambition, has now... suffered a complete defeat, hasn't he?"

His words pierced Liu Ruolan's heart!

She could no longer hold back and suddenly raised her head. Her bloodshot eyes were filled with deep-seated hatred and resentment!

"I just... chose the wrong person!" she shrieked. "That bitch Shen Qingci! She was just lucky! She chose Chu Jichen!"

"If only I had known Chu Jichen would end up like this! If only I had known he was so easy to seduce! I should have..."

Upon hearing this, Huo Yunting couldn't help but chuckle softly.

That laughter was full of mockery and pity.

“You don’t actually think,” he looked at her, his eyes filled with the absurdity of a joke, “that Chu Jichen… is someone you can seduce so easily, do you?”

Liu Ruolan's brows furrowed tightly: "Isn't that right?"

"Chu Jichen has a broken leg and can't have sex! No one wants to marry him! That's why that bitch Shen Qingci was able to marry him so easily!"

“Otherwise,” her voice was filled with jealousy and resentment, “what right does she have, a widow who has been married and even had a miscarriage? What right does she have… what right does she have?”

"At least... I haven't had a miscarriage!" Liu Ruolan's voice became sharp and shrill due to extreme jealousy. "Moreover, I am the daughter of the Prime Minister! My status is many times higher than that of Shen Qingci, that orphan with no parents!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a soft "roll" sound, like a wheelchair rolling over a bluestone pavement, suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard.

Chu Jichen maneuvered the wheelchair and slowly entered, while Shen Qingci followed behind him at a leisurely pace.

Upon hearing the noise, Liu Ruolan and Huo Yunting both turned their heads sharply!

When Liu Ruolan saw that the people who came were Chu Jichen and Shen Qingci, a flash of undisguised panic and resentment instantly appeared in her eyes!

How...how did they get here?!

Huo Yunting's face showed no surprise, but a hint of knowing interest flashed in his unfathomable eyes.

Chu Jichen maneuvered his wheelchair and came straight to Liu Ruolan, where he slowly came to a stop.

He raised his eyes, and in those deep phoenix eyes, there was no warmth whatsoever, only a cold indifference, as if looking at a dead person.

“I’ve come,” he said calmly, yet each word was like a knife, “just to tell you something.”

"You've got it wrong."

Liu Ruolan's heart skipped a beat!

Chu Jichen's voice, each word distinct and deliberate, struck her heart:

“It’s not because I’m disabled that no one wanted to marry me, so she married into the family ‘easily’.”

"But it's because," a tender nostalgia, which he himself didn't even notice, flashed in his eyes, "that when I was young, I met someone... who was just too amazing."

"But then," his voice tinged with a barely perceptible melancholy, "she got married."

“Therefore,” his gaze became sharp and obsessive, “I am unwilling to marry anyone else.”

"I have been waiting for her."

"I thought, if she is doing well, then it doesn't matter if I grow old alone."

“But perhaps,” a cruel smile slowly curved his lips, “that even the heavens couldn’t stand it anymore.”

"That's why they gave me a chance."

"Her husband died."

“You probably will never know,” he looked at her, his eyes filled with endless mockery and contempt, “how happy I was when I learned of her husband’s death.”

Even so, I was still afraid that I might offend her. After much hesitation, I finally mustered up the courage to ask a matchmaker to come and propose marriage.

"But to my surprise," his eyes filled with tenderness and relief, "she agreed immediately."

Chu Jichen's words were so straightforward and so blunt!

Is there anything Liu Ruolan doesn't understand?!

Her eyes widened in disbelief, her face, which had long since lost all color, filled with endless shock and horror!

She looked at him, her voice trembling: "That person...is...is Shen Qingci?"

Chu Jichen slowly nodded.

“Yes.” He looked at her, his eyes filled with an undeniable certainty. “That person has always been her.”

“I’ve liked her for… several years now.”

“Speaking of which,” a wicked, amused smile played on his lips, “I really should thank you properly.”

"If it weren't for you and that idiot Huo Yunzhan, who deliberately drove her to such a desperate situation, allowing her to regain her freedom."

"I'm afraid I'll never have that opportunity."

“So,” he looked at her, his eyes filled with endless mockery and pity, “you think she’s unworthy of me?”

"No."

His voice was cold and resolute, like a divine decree from the heavens, delivering a decisive blow within this small courtyard!

"You're not even worthy to carry her shoes!"