Chapter 39. Li Zhoudu's words completely exposed the truth...

Li Zhoudu's words completely blew things up.

The argument that broke out downstairs late at night quickly alerted Li Junchuan and his wife. Wenxi listened for a few moments, then stopped her husband from getting up and put on her coat before getting out of bed.

The next day, Li Zhizi entered the house early in the morning and saw Ling Wei and Wen Xi, whom she had met once before, admiring the newly sprouted flowers and plants in the yard.

The two elders were having a conversation, so she bowed to greet them and went inside first.

Li Zhoudu sat alone on the sofa, making a phone call. His face was gloomy, and two distinct marks were prominently displayed on his chin.

Li Zhizi hesitated for a moment, then went to the first-aid kit in the storeroom to get some medicine. When she returned, she ran into the aunt coming downstairs, who whispered to Li Zhoudu, "Little Cat asked me for my phone, but she said she doesn't want to eat breakfast."

Li Zhoudu was clearly furious when he spoke, saying, "Eat it or not, it's none of our business!"

The new pink phone was right there on the coffee table in front of him. Li Zhizi recognized it very well. That day, when Li Junchuan came home to celebrate Li Li's appearance on TV, she also received the same model.

She placed the ointment on the table and said softly, "Brother Zhoudu, applying this will help it heal faster."

The white camellias in the deep porcelain jar in the courtyard were in full bloom, their tightly packed white clusters resembling layers of cake skirts wrapping around the pale yellow stamens.

Wenxi, holding the flower branch, turned to Lingwei and said, "Last night, Zhoudu said that these things were inappropriate, but the matter was important, and I don't think he would lie about such a thing."

“Xiaowei, Tan Yi is someone we’ve watched grow up. It’s pitiful and a pity to have a father with such a character. But even if he’s young and innocent, Junchuan and I both believe that it’s not appropriate for him to have a father like him right now.”

"Little kittens are childlike; they're too sentimental and don't distinguish right from wrong. If she's used in the marriage, it won't be good. It's better to wait a few years, until both of us are more mature and stable. If she truly can't live without Tan Yi, then we can discuss it further. What do you think?"

Li Li is impulsive and willful. Her family was afraid that she would act rashly, so they secretly went to get a marriage certificate with Tan Yi to prove her determination.

Ling Wei understood the implications perfectly. She said to Wenxi, "You've worked so hard all these years, sister-in-law. Why don't I just wait until the kitten's paperwork is done and then take her with me?"

————

Tan Yi stayed awake in the hotel until dawn, but his phone remained silent as if its battery had run out, and he didn't receive the usual morning and evening greetings.

Before we parted yesterday, Xiao Mao looked so dejected. She kept apologizing, saying, "I'm sorry, Tan Yi. I did such a bad job with these two things lately."

Looking at Li Li's dejected appearance, Tan Yi couldn't understand why she had apologized.

None of this was her fault.

Because her boyfriend is not presentable and she cannot refute being looked down upon, she is burdened with having to constantly consider his self-esteem in social situations.

Why is she still so foolish as to think that I'm the one being wronged?

Tan Yi deeply loathed this position where he always had to hide behind Li Li, and the identity of a weakling etched into his soul that he could never erase.

It was as if he was being forced back to that year, hiding in the closet, nervously raising the camera, watching with bated breath as Tan Su raised his hand at Li Li's waist, wondering if he would make the decision to press down on it the next second.

He thought of Ling Wei, that exceptionally kind and gentle woman.

If she knew she had done this to her daughter.

Or perhaps, the kitten finds out from Li Zhoudu what kind of person I am in private. Will she still love me?

Tan Yi felt nauseous in his empty stomach and rushed to the bathroom, where he dry-heaved in front of the basin for a long time.

Suddenly his phone rang. He quickly cleared his mouth, rinsed his face, and swiped to answer: "Cat?"

"Tan Yi." It was Li Zhoudu.

He immediately changed his address and called out, "Brother Zhoudu."

His face, glistening with water droplets, was reflected in the mirror before him. The voice on the other end was cold: "It seems you didn't listen to what I said on the ship in Hong Kong last time. Tan Yi."

"You take someone else's carefully nurtured flowers in a greenhouse and move them into a muddy ditch. Don't you think that's incredibly unreasonable? My little cat is simple-minded and kind-hearted, and it's not suited to your kind of complicated living environment."

Tan Yi's voice was bitter as he said, "Brother Zhoudu, it seems like you've never really liked me?"

From a very young age, he frequently visited the Li family, and the elders all cared for and liked him. Only Li Zhoudu remained consistently indifferent. He would only be mentioned in passing when Li Li was around.

Li Zhoudu said, "If you had asked this question when you were a teenager, I might have had the patience to answer you."

"But Tan Yi, you're already 23 years old. Are you still considering whether someone's rejection is because they don't like you? Isn't that a bit too naive and foolish?"

Li Zhoudu sneered again: "Of course, that also explains why you keep bothering my little cat."

"She's also a stubborn person who puts emotions first. She's had an excessive amount of sympathy since she was a child, and she treats everyone the same. Do you really think she can distinguish between love and pity? Tan Yi."

After making the call downstairs, Li Zhoudu deleted the call log. As he went upstairs, he didn't notice Li Zhizi, who was being instructed by Wen Xi to bring milk up the other side of the stairs.

She stopped walking and followed behind Li Zhoudu, watching him knock on the door and enter Li Li's room.

Li Zhizi walked over and stood in front of the door. Through the crack, she saw Li Li sitting in a wicker chair with her legs curled up, looking lost in thought. Li Zhoudu slowly squatted down in front of her.

The afternoon sun was bright, and the bright red finger marks on Li Zhoudu's face had not faded.

He looked up at Li Li and joked, "Are you planning to spite me and starve yourself to death?"

Li Li didn't speak, so Li Zhoudu reached out to pinch her cheek, but she slapped his hand away.

"You've scratched me like this, I can't even go to work, and you're still angry?"

He laughed and said, "I'm here to return your phone."

Li Li didn't take the phone from his hand. She said dejectedly, "I will never forgive you, Li Zhoudu."

His laughter subsided.

——

During a break between evening classes, Fang Xuan received a message from a friend who said, "It's been so long since I've seen you out and about."

I just saw Tan Yi at the bureau. You two seemed to have a good relationship in high school.

Fang Xuan thought the other party was joking and trying to get her to join in. Why would Tan Yi be attending a classmate reunion in S City at this time?

As a result, the other party sent a photo, which really did have Tan Yi's face on it.

When Fang Xuan arrived, it wasn't too late. Tan Yi was chatting and laughing with someone. His hand was conspicuously bandaged, and because his fingers were injured, he was holding a cigarette between his teeth and lighting it with someone else's.

This was the first time she had seen Tan Yi smoke, because Li Li disliked the smell of smoke.

Tan Yi was smiling happily, but he seemed to be seriously injured, as his hand trembled as he lifted the wine glass with his injured hand.

"Didn't you take your medicine? How can you drink it in this state?" asked the person next to him.

"Go ahead and drink," Tan Yi said nonchalantly. "The family is in such a state; if we don't drink when we should, we'll be starving."

"Awesome!" the other person laughed.

Fang Xuan pushed through the crowd and walked up to Tan Yi. She snatched the wine glass from his hand and smashed it on the table without saying a word.

The surprise in Tan Yi's eyes turned into disappointment, lasting only a brief moment, and then it seemed like it took him a long time to recognize the face in front of him.

"Fang Xuan".

He smiled and said, "Is there anything else I can help you with, Fang Xuan?"

——

The kitten is going to be taken away by Ling Wei, and no one knows when it will return. Wang Minjun is getting old, and she is extremely reluctant to part with it.

To cheer up the elders, Wenxi decided to celebrate Li Junchuan's birthday early so everyone could have a good time.

The restaurant where we ate was located in a Chinese-style garden, with flowers reflected in the water, creating a serene and elegant environment.

On the day of the event, only close relatives and friends were invited. Business guests would have separate banquets on the actual day.

Li Li saw Qi Xi among the people who came. She did indeed have a good personal relationship with Wen Xi, and she even came to such a troublesome social occasion.

Qi Xi was led inside by Wen Xi. As she passed Li Li, she smiled and greeted her.

During the meal, glasses clinked and toasts were exchanged. On stage, Grandma's favorite Wu dialect storytelling was performed. The sounds were noisy and slurred, and it was hard to tell how much of it the audience could understand.

Li Li's phone rang in her pocket. She avoided Ling Wei and said she was going to the restroom.

He took out his phone in the hallway, but the person who sent him the message was not Tan Yi.

She was feeling down when she suddenly heard a voice behind her say, "I just heard from my mom that you're leaving soon."

Li Li turned around and saw Tan Su.

He was dressed in thin clothes, was very tall, and stood not far behind me with one hand in his pocket.

Unable to suppress the grievances she had been holding in lately, Li Li's eyes welled up with tears, and she retorted as usual, "How about it? You're happy, aren't you?"

Tan Su asked her, "Why should I be happy?"

Li Li couldn't say it.

"Hmm? Why am I happy?"

Li Li felt empty inside. She murmured, "Tan Su, you've ruined everything I have."

"Yeah?"

Tan Su asked, "Is it me?"

He stared into Li Li's distraught eyes and approached her step by step: "Am I the one who can't distinguish right from wrong, has no bottom line, and uses my own setbacks as an excuse to make one mistake after another?"

"Am I the one who, driven by my insatiable selfish desires, repeatedly pushes you aside to evade commitments and responsibilities?"

"Am I the one who hid in the closet while my girlfriend climbed into my brother's bed?"

Li Li raised her hand to hit him, but Tan Su grabbed her wrist. He looked down at her and said, "You took your clothes off that day. Did you really think I could be a saint?"

"For their own selfish reasons, they have repeatedly used you to take shortcuts through me. How can you be so siding with them?"

Tan Su lifted Li Li's chin with two fingers, and without hesitation, he lowered his head and kissed her.

The moment his lips touched Li Li's jelly-like pink lips, before he could even open them to taste their sweetness, his face was swiftly slapped away by her other hand.

Li Li took a step back, her expression one of shock and anger.

Tan Su asked casually, "Li Zhoudu is inside. Are you going to keep your promise and have him come and kill me?"

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Author's Note: I'm so sorry, I really apologize [crying emoji]