Chapter 123 Chapter 123 Because Jiang Dong’s career is now...

Thanks to Jiang Dong's career progress and the house, Xia Li now felt less financial pressure. Aside from the money she gave to her aunt, Xia Li enjoyed some shopping, but she wasn't the type to spend lavishly. She had no idea where to spend her money.

Xia Li felt that her work attitude was different now, though she was still working very hard. Xia Pingzhi's persuasion at home, and Jiang Zai's pleading eyes, hadn't swayed her resolve. Jiang Dong had tried to persuade her before, but that had led to a long, bitter disagreement between the two of them, and he didn't dare to say anything more.

After resting, Xia Li went on a business trip again.

With Jiang Dong gone, the house felt even emptier. Xia Pingzhi already trusted Jiang Dong enough to put such a valuable house in Xia Li's name. Thanks to the current relaxed household registration policy, her household registration had been transferred from her hometown to here. Xia Pingzhi had no qualms left, so she simply let Jiang Dong live in the house permanently, so he could be a companion to the children.

Jiang Dong officially became acquainted with the neighbors on the street as Xia Pingzhi's niece-in-law. Xia Li probably didn't know it, but Jiang Dong had already established a good relationship with these neighbors through his own interactions. Grandma Zhong was particularly fond of Jiang Dong, thinking that this young man and Xia Li were a perfect match, both of them respectable and capable people.

Xia Li would call home almost every few days when she was away from home. Jiang Dong had installed a telephone at home, making it much easier for Xia Li to contact her family.

That day, after Xia Li finished talking to the child, Xia Pingzhi took the phone and said a few words, asking her to take good care of herself and come back soon after finishing her work. Then, she handed the phone to Jiang Dong.

Jiang Dong picked up the phone and listened to Xia Li say a few words. Then he frowned and the two of them hung up the phone after they finished talking.

A few days later, Jiang Dong appeared in front of Xia Li.

At the hotel entrance, Xia Li thought she had seen it wrong. She got out of the car and walked closer, only to find that it was really him.

Xia Li was very excited. She was really happy to see him after such a long time away from home. She ran to Jiang Dong and said, "Why are you here? Why didn't you tell me in advance? I'll come pick you up."

Jiang Dong saw that Xia Li was in good spirits and said, "I'm also on a business trip and came to see you."

Several colleagues behind her also came over at this time, and they all looked at the man next to Xia Li with curiosity. Zhou Qiang was more direct. After taking a look, he asked directly: "Sister, is this my brother-in-law?"

Xia Li glanced at Jiang Dong and nodded.

Jiang Dong stretched out his hand, Zhou Qiang looked at it, and then shook it.

"Hello, my name is Jiang Dong, I'm Xia Li's lover. I'm here on a business trip and wanted to visit her."

Afterwards, Jiang Dong also greeted the others, and the young people all called him brother-in-law.

Back in the hotel room, Xia Li put down her things, turned on the air conditioner, and went to the bathroom. When she came out, she found Jiang Dong taking something out of his bag.

Charlie was puzzled: "What did you take? The hotel has everything."

Jiang Dong held up a box and shook it, then showed it to Xia Li.

"Medicine! Who did you buy it for? Are you sick?"

Jiang Dong said, "I called you the night before yesterday and heard that your throat seemed uncomfortable. Did you catch a cold?" He was worried about her health. Xia Li hadn't been home for more than half a month, so Jiang Dong wanted to come over to see how she was doing.

Xia Li was quite touched. Anyone would be happy if someone noticed their slight discomfort. The feeling of being cared for by others was really good.

She smiled and asked Jiang Dong: "So you came here specifically to bring me medicine? Didn't you say you were here on a business trip?"

Jiang Dong put down the medicine box in his hand and nodded. He said, "But it seems that you don't need it. Are you feeling well now?"

Charlie shook her head. She had been feeling a little unwell before, and her throat was still a little sore when she woke up one day. "Maybe I'm just too tired. I haven't been getting enough rest lately, so I don't feel anything anymore."

Jiang Dong said, "It's better if you don't need it, but you still need to be careful. Have you been tired from work recently?"

Xia Li's face turned bitter when she heard this. She lay down on the quilt, staring at the ceiling, and unconsciously complained to Jiang Dong, "You have no idea how difficult the people here are. The language barrier is one thing. And this is really an unfamiliar market. The factory never considered selling its products here before, but now it's a new situation. We've been discussing what to do recently!"

Xia Li's words revealed their predicament, and Jiang Dong felt the same way. As a business owner, the most challenging part is opening up a business and gaining trust. To put it bluntly, trust is money. When others trust you, your products, or your services, they'll spend money, and that's how the deal is done. However, this initial step is truly difficult.

Jiang Dong pulled up a chair beside the bed and sat on it, telling Xia Li about some of his experiences. He had been out in the world earning money earlier, so he naturally had more experience. Therefore, what he told Xia Li was just to tell her not to rush and take it slow.

Xia Li knew that those who could make money in this society naturally suffered more, but she had no idea that Jiang Dong had been through so much. So many bitter things, and now that he spoke of them so calmly, Xia Li felt like she had come into contact with another side of this man that she had never discovered before.

I feel depressed.

She turned her head away, not wanting the person in the room to see her expression.

After a while, as if to cover up her mistake, Charlie said in a nasty voice, "These crappy jobs are so hard! I quit! I quit! I quit!"

After saying that, she scratched her hair angrily and her legs spread on the bed jumped a few times as if to vent her anger.

"Oh, right," Xia Li suddenly remembered something and stood up. She looked at Jiang Dong and asked, "Have you checked in for accommodation when you got here? Otherwise, do you have to stay in the same room with me?"

Xia Li asked as a matter of course. Jiang Dong raised an eyebrow and answered as a matter of course: "What else? You have already acknowledged that I am your brother-in-law, and he has called me that. If we sleep in separate rooms again today, won't it make people laugh at us?"

Jiang Dong’s words were very clear. After he finished speaking, he added, “Turn up the air conditioner a bit, don’t catch a cold!” Then he went to the bathroom to wash up.

Charlie sat on the bed and stared at the air for a long time.

It was strange for the two of them to sleep in the same bed again after such a long time.

Xia Li tossed and turned, and finally stared at Jiang Dong in the dark for a long time, thinking that he didn't have night vision anyway.

She was thinking about something when Jiang Dong suddenly spoke up, "Why are you always looking at me? Can't sleep? If you can't sleep, why don't we do something together?"

As he spoke, he seemed to move his body and wanted to come over to Xia Li. Xia Li was so scared that she quickly stopped him, "No, no, no, you can sleep!"

Jiang Dong stopped and sighed with regret, his words still frightening: "If you can fall asleep, hurry up. It's hard to endure now, so don't make things more difficult for me."

Charlie didn't say anything after hearing that, but she didn't dare move anymore.

In the middle of the night, Jiang Dong woke up. The room was incredibly bright, and he thought it was daytime. But upon closer inspection, he realized it was the central ceiling light that was on. Puzzled, he sat up in bed and saw Xia Li, in her pajamas, sitting at the table, writing something. She would pause to rest her head on her head, pondering, then scribble quickly across the paper.

Jiang Dong looked at the time, it was one o'clock in the morning.

He didn't make a sound to disturb her, but just looked at her back intently for a while, then took a paper material from the bedside table on Charlie's side and looked through it.

I didn't continue sleeping.

Charlie got up because she couldn't sleep. She sat at the table and worked for a while. She wrote a little on the plan in her hand before she felt a little sleepy.

She yawned deeply, stretched, and stood up to continue sleeping when she realized that Jiang Dong was also awake.

Suddenly, Charlie felt a little embarrassed. "How long have you been awake? Is the light too bright? I thought you were asleep, so I turned it on."

Jiang Dong interrupted her: "It's okay, I woke up on my own. You're done, right? Come up and rest."

Charlie said "Okay," then she went to the bed and checked the time. It was past two o'clock. "I couldn't sleep, so I figured it was okay, so I got up and sat for a while."

For some reason, she suddenly wanted to explain to Jiang Dong. Perhaps it was because the concern on his face was too obvious.

Charlie sat down, then lay down on the bed. She grabbed the quilt and covered herself with it, then remained still and motionless.

In the dark night, two gentle breathing sounds were heard, and Charlie knew that neither of them was asleep.

Jiang Dong lay on the other side with his eyes open. After a long moment, he asked Xia Li, "Is this the kind of life you like?"

He waited for a while, but didn't hear Charlie's answer. He thought she was asleep, then he heard Charlie say "hmm" softly.

"That's great. I know you really like your current job." Jiang Dong murmured, almost as if he were talking to himself. Xia Li must really like this kind of life. Although it's busy and difficult, she feels distressed. Although she says she's quitting, she will still keep working hard.

Perhaps it was the darkness that gave people courage, Jiang Dong asked the questions that had been buried in his heart for a long time. These were also the questions he should have asked when they met for the first time since their reunion.

But Xia Li lived such a good life after leaving me, which made me want to hate my past self for no reason and dare not think about it.

He asked, "Did I do a lot of things wrongly in the past that made you feel very unbearable?"

He held his breath, like a goose with its neck strangled, waiting for fate to judge him.

Xia Li opened her mouth slightly, surprised by Jiang Dong's words. She recalled the past and realized that Jiang Dong had never done anything to offend her.

Even though she knew he couldn't see, Xia Li still kept shaking her head on the pillow, "No, you've always been nice to me. It's my own problem. Jiang Dong, I actually owe you an apology. But at that time, I didn't know why, I had to leave, otherwise I..."

Charlie couldn't say it.

Jiang Dong remembered something Xia Pingzhi had told him before. She said that when Xia Li first came to her, she felt that there was something wrong with her mental state. She worked very hard, but it seemed like something was on her mind. She didn't rest well every night, and she didn't laugh as much as she remembered.

Xia Pingzhi said that she now knew that Jiang Dong was a good person and that he really liked Xia Li. She probably knew something about the relationship between the two of them, so she was afraid that Jiang Dong would still have some resentment in his heart, so she told him some things.

Combined with Xia Li's unfinished words, Jiang Dong felt like a complete jerk. No, it was all his fault. If he'd truly made Xia Li happy, why would she have been so upset and he hadn't noticed? If she was already like that when his aunt saw her, how could she have gotten through it all on her own?

How could he be so careless.

Jiang Dong clenched one fist, placing it beside his leg, tightly clenching it to prevent his body from shaking. With his other hand, he covered his eyes, covering the tears of regret that had flowed down his face. He really shouldn't have done that!

A man's fragility and helplessness were all exposed at this moment. He clearly wanted to give happiness to the one he loved, but in the end he didn't realize that she had been living in a quagmire, and he kept blaming her for so long.

Suddenly, the soft little hand suddenly held his.

Jiang Dong grabbed it with his backhand, then held it tighter. The next second, he held the warm body tightly in his arms, hugging it extremely tightly, as if a drowning person had finally grabbed a piece of driftwood that could save his life.

He was extremely eager for physical contact at this moment, and only hoped that he could hug her tighter and tighter, and finally rub her into his bones and blood.

Crazy kisses fell on the cheeks, lips and neck of the woman in his arms.

The woman in his arms didn't resist at all. It took Jiang Dong a long time to realize that she didn't resist at all. He touched her cheek with a trembling hand, and sure enough, there was a face full of cold tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Charlie, it's all my fault." His words were incoherent, and he was afraid that she would never forgive him.

Charlie held his face in her hands as she listened to his frightened apology with tears in her eyes.

It was wet, and he was crying. It was the first time Xia Li felt Jiang Dong's tears.

She was crying and he was crying too.

She felt as if her heart was burned. Did this man care about her so much? Was this man so fragile?

In this room, in the long dark night, the man hugged the woman, and their hearts had never been so close as they were this time.

Xia Li didn't say anything. She climbed her arms around Jiang Dong's neck and responded with her soft lips.

A long time later, Jiang Dong hugged Xia Li, and the two snuggled tightly. Jiang Dong said, "You must have been very scared at that time, and these years must have been very difficult for you. It's my fault. I didn't do well enough."

He stroked Charlie's shoulders and said with concern.

Xia Li crouched in the crook of his neck, her arms draped over his shoulders. She spoke slowly, "I was indeed very scared at the time, but as for the hardship, I never felt it. Looking back at the road I've come, it does seem a little harder than others, but it was also very rewarding." After saying this, she rubbed her cheek against Jiang Dong and said, "I know it was hard for you too. We won't do that again in the future."

After he finished speaking, Jiang Dong hugged her a little tighter, "Yes, we will all be fine in the future. Xia Li, if you are unhappy about anything in the future, you must tell me. As long as I can change it, I will definitely change it. Just don't keep it in your heart."

Xia Li knew what he was afraid of. "No!" She gently comforted him, "Jiang Dong, no. At that time, I had just given birth to Jiang Zi, and for some reason I suddenly felt helpless, as if I were trapped in a swamp. I didn't know what to do, and I thought no one could really help me. I thought you would definitely not respect my choice. At that time, I felt that there were only two paths in front of me, and I was forced to choose one. So, I made that choice and gave up you and the child. I am sorry for you and Jiang Zi."

When Charlie looked back, she seemed to still see the confused and helpless self she was at that time.

"Don't say that. How could a woman like you have persevered for so long out there alone if you had no other options? I'm already very grateful to God for allowing you to be what you are now and to be able to return to my side. Charlie, I just want to tell you that no matter what you want to do, I will be by your side. I will spend the rest of my life proving that you don't have to make choices or trade-offs. You can do the job you love, have your career and future, and you can also have me, the children, and my aunt. We will always be by your side."

He continued to hold his beloved in his arms, expressing what he had always wanted to say: "I am truly too lonely. It was the happy days we had before that kept me coming to you. I always believed that you would not be completely devoid of feelings for me. I always told myself that as long as you were willing to keep talking to me, eating with me, and laughing with me, I would be willing to wait forever. Fortunately, God has pity on me."

He kissed Charlie's hair deeply, and his soul found peace.

Xia Li said, "God has been very good to me. It's just that sometimes He sends good things to me all of a sudden, and I don't realize it because I was too young. But isn't it the best arrangement now? We are both more mature and courageous."

"Yes, no matter what happens in the future, we will not be afraid, because we know we will face it together."

After Jiang Dong finished speaking, Xia Li hugged him and smiled happily.

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