Chapter 256 Past and Present Life

"Come on, slow down, slow down, be careful——"

Tian Xin followed behind Zhang Shuai, carefully protecting Lin Zhou, who was drunk and unconscious and was carried on his shoulders.

It was already late at night, and Lin Hai and Gao Cheng were also drunk. They were helped back to their hotel room by Li Jing and Gao Wen.

Zhang Shuai was very impatient. As soon as he entered the room, he put Lin Zhou down and threw him on the bed. It was no exaggeration to say that he threw him. If Lin Zhou woke up at this moment, he would definitely be shocked by this person lying on the bed with his legs spread out and his body red like a cooked crab.

He felt annoyed by his strange appearance, not to mention that Tian Xin was right next to him and saw him like this.

"Hey, slow down--" Seeing Zhang Shuai's rough movements, Tian Xin hurried over to straighten Lin Zhou, took off his shoes for him, and covered him with a quilt. The gentleness of her manner really annoyed Zhang Shuai.

"Come out with me—"

"what?"

Zhang Shuai rolled his eyes angrily and slammed the door and walked out!

The slamming of the door startled Tian Xin. She was stunned for a few seconds, put Lin Zhou's hand hanging by the bed into the quilt, and turned to walk out the door.

Zhang Shuai was leaning against the door, a cigarette between his fingers, his brows furrowed as he blew smoke rings one after another. When he saw her come out, he glanced at her and rolled his eyes.

"What's wrong with you today? What's wrong with you? It's been so long since we've met, and you're already giving me a sour face. What did I do to you? Huh?"

"Have you really decided... to be with him?"

The voice was a little hoarse, completely different from before. Tian Xin looked up and saw that Zhang Shuai's eyes were instantly red, and the hand holding the cigarette hung limply, trembling slightly.

"Didn't you say you didn't like him?"

"I……"

"He chased you to Yiwu, and you changed your mind?"

"no……"

"Or..." He suddenly moved closer to Tian Xin, put his arms around her shoulders, and approached her with red eyes: "During the time I was away, you guys had already..."

Before he finished speaking, his grip tightened, and a piece of ash fell from the cigarette in his hand, landing on the back of Tian Xin's hand.

"Hiss—ah—" She took a breath in pain and shook her hand quickly. The cigarette ash fell, leaving a conspicuous red mark on the back of her hand.

"I'm... sorry!" Zhang Shuai quickly put out his cigarette and pulled her into the bathroom to flush the water to reduce the swelling. The cool water flowed over her skin, and the red marks quickly disappeared. She soaked her hands in the water, lowered her head and whispered softly: "You go out first! Let me be alone for a while——"

"Oh... then I'll wait for you at the door!"

"You go back and rest, I..."

"Boss..."

"Brother, people change." She lowered her head, not looking into Zhang Shuai's eyes, and said in a deep voice: "I thought I would never fall in love with anyone again in my life. I hate men's heartlessness, and I hate how they spend so much effort to get someone and then abandon them. But I hate myself even more..."

She paused, looking at her fair hands, which were no longer red after being soaked in the water: "I hate myself for not being able to control my heart."

A few tears silently slid down her cheeks, but were blocked by her scattered hair, so Zhang Shuai didn't see them.

She watched her tears fall into the pool, creating ripples, and her vision instantly became blurry.

"I tried to stay away from him, to keep a proper distance from him, and rejected him again and again. But in the end, whenever I couldn't hold on any longer, he was always the first one to appear in front of me."

"After all, I'm a loser. If it weren't for the car accident, how would he have had the chance to be with you?"

Zhang Shuai spoke calmly, his tone revealing a hint of calmness, but also a hint of reluctance. At this moment, he finally gave up suppressing himself and spoke out everything he had been holding back for so long, word for word, for her to hear.

"For so many years, I always thought you were hurt, so I never dared to say a word to you, never dared to overstep my bounds with you. I stayed with you, guarded you, thinking that you would understand one day. When that bastard Liu Bo showed up, I admit I panicked and was scared. I was afraid you would get hurt, and even more afraid that I wouldn't be able to protect you. So, I should never have looked for Lin Zhou. I regret it now! Boss, I really regret it!"

Zhang Shuai became increasingly emotional as he spoke, and at this moment, even he himself probably didn't know why he suddenly said it. Perhaps it was out of jealousy of Lin Zhou, or perhaps it was to give himself an explanation.

But Tian Xin's reaction was surprisingly calm. She didn't even raise her head, still looking at her hands soaked in water.

"From the day you woke up, you are my brother, and that will never change."

"No matter whether Lin Zhou and I can be together in the future, you are still my brother."

"If possible, quit smoking!"

"And don't drink so much anymore!"

"Don't gamble, you promised me..."

After saying these words, she raised her head and looked at herself in the mirror with tears streaming down her face, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

"Then what am I to you?" Zhang Shuai saw her crying, and his emotions suddenly overwhelmed. He walked over and hugged her in his arms: "After all these years, don't you really understand? I didn't dare to say it because I was inferior and timid. I was afraid that if I told her, we wouldn't even be friends. But you really can't feel it at all? Why can Lin Zhou do it, but I can't?"

"You're different from him!"

"What's the difference? Is it because he comes from a good family and can afford to give you a better life? But boss, are you such a person?"

"Why don't you understand?"

She pushed Zhang Shuai away, took a few steps back, pointed at him and said in a trembling voice, "I call you brother because... you are my past life and present life. I put you in the most important place in my heart. Even if all the men in the world died, this would not change. Why do you have to be so entangled and insist on me giving you an answer?"

"I...no, don't get excited, that's not what I meant!"

Zhang Shuai was suddenly at a loss, the words "past life and present life" kept echoing in her mind, but she didn't understand what she meant.

"Then what do you mean?" Tian Xin approached him step by step, her voice still trembling: "Why do you look so much like me? Why did you suddenly appear beside me at that time? Do you know that I finally managed to forget him, why did you bring him up again? Why did you smoke? Why did you remind me of those days that were worse than death?"

She was screaming hysterically, her mind was completely confused, and she had no idea what she had said or what she had revealed.

Zhang Shuai was frightened by her behavior. Even though he heard a lot of questions in her words, he didn't dare to ask any more questions.

At this moment, he was forced back into the room by her. He didn't dare to move at all. Looking at Tian Xin's tear-stained face, he felt so distressed that he couldn't say anything more: "Don't get excited... I... I won't mention it... I won't mention it again... Don't cry! Don't cry..."