Chapter 78 The Photograph is Lost, and He Says One Thing

"Xu Wenci, don't go."

Fu Yanli murmured softly.

Xu Wenci didn't stop walking. Instead, he walked straight out of the room, wanting to see the villa where they had lived for several years in the last world.

Everything remains the same.

He suddenly stopped and turned back. Fu Yanli, who had been hanging his head, quickly apologized, "Xu Wenci... I'm sorry..."

Xu Wenci didn't look at him or say anything. He simply walked around him, went to the bedside, picked up the photo frame of the two of them laughing heartily from the bedside table, and threw it into the trash can.

His eyelashes trembled, but his gaze did not linger on the photograph even once.

Then, they left without any hesitation.

It's something from the last world.

There's no need to keep it, much less to preserve the most insignificant part of that hypocritical relationship.

Hearing the footsteps fading away, Fu Yanli tilted his head slightly, squatted down, and silently picked up the photos from the trash can.

Biting her lip, she remained silent, stubbornly using trembling fingers to touch a small scratch on Xu Wenci's cheek through the glass frame of the photo.

The scratches are not obvious.

It was during his argument with Xu Wenci that he threw it on the ground, the glass shattered, and the shards of glass splashed onto the photo that should have been protected by the glass frame, leaving this small scratch.

That argument was unprecedented.

It seems to be because of a very, very small problem.

He had forgotten some of it, but he remembered clearly that little question that had brought to light all the hidden issues that had been lurking in the shadows during their year of dating and one year of marriage.

He accused him of always making decisions for others without considering their feelings.

He accused him of merely playing the role of a virtuous lover and never truly caring about him.

The two were like fighting beasts trapped in a cage, their eyes red as they glared at each other, unleashing all the emotions that had been building up for two years, vowing to fight to the death.

"I don't care about your feelings?" Fu Yanli's voice rose in disbelief, even trembling slightly, and carrying a wounded tremor. "Xu Wenci, in everything I do, don't I put you first?!"

He stepped forward and pointed to the still intact photo frame on the bedside table. Xu Wenci smiled gently in the picture, but his smile never reached his eyes.

"Everything you like, I'll present to you; whatever you hate, I won't let you see it a second time... What else do you want from me? Aren't you satisfied with anything I've done?!"

Xu Wenci stood still, his face displaying the kind of indifferent calm that Fu Yanli hated most.

But his hands, hanging by his sides, were already clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"What else do I need you for?" he murmured softly, repeating Fu Yanli's words, his tone so calm as to be devoid of any emotion. "Fu Yanli, have you ever asked me about any of the decisions you've made? Have you ever sought my opinion on what you consider to be good for me? Do I really hate the things you think I hate?"

His gaze finally focused on Fu Yanli's face, where there was no anger, only a kind of almost weary disappointment.

"You want to play the role of a considerate husband, but you're unwilling to put in the effort to understand me, and you presumptuously treat me well... But why should I fall for your self-pity..."

"I didn't!" Fu Yanli roared, his chest heaving violently. "I love you, is that all an act?!"

"Is that so?" Xu Wenci suddenly chuckled very softly, his fingers trembling slightly. "Then tell me, you presumptuously installed a locator on my phone, wanting to know my location all the time, because you were afraid I would be in danger?"

Fu Yanli's pupils contracted slightly, and his tone unconsciously softened: "The Fu family... is in great danger."

“Danger?” Xu Wenci pressed. “Fu Yanli, you can send your bodyguards to protect me, you can go to public events with me and go shopping with me, you can even tell the Fu family to keep themselves in line… I believe that someone like you, who holds absolute power in the Fu family and whom no one wants to offend, can’t possibly not protect me, right? Or are you just trying to satisfy your twisted desire for control?!”

"I..." Fu Yanli was speechless, scratching his head in frustration, "I didn't think that much..."

"See?" Xu Wenci smiled slightly, but his eyes held a knowing look. "This is what you mean by caring about me. Using your intuition and your judgment, you interfere in everything I do without explanation. You're not even willing to consider which method I can accept!"

"And what about you?!" Fu Yanli was stung by his gaze, his arm began to tremble slightly, his fists hidden behind his back, he tilted his head slightly, his voice carrying an obvious anger and sorrow, "Did you ever really care about me? Xu Wenci, you're always like this! Never take the initiative, never refuse, never try to keep me!"

Everything I did for you, you accepted without question, but did you ever give me a genuine response? Everything you did was like a perfect performance, playing the role of being weak and vulnerable, playing the role of being considerate and charming, but where is your heart? Where is your heart?!

He suddenly raised his hand, as if to grab Xu Wenci's shoulder, but froze in mid-air before finally falling heavily to the side, slamming into the wardrobe with a dull thud.

"Sometimes I feel that even if I died in front of you, you would just frown, calmly call an ambulance, and then continue with your life! Your calmness, your rationality, are the greatest cruelty to me!"

Xu Wenci's eyelashes trembled violently, and a crack finally appeared in his icy calm. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but in the end, only a deeper weariness escaped his lips:

"So, all that's left between us is accusations against each other, is that it?"

After extreme anger comes a deeper sense of powerlessness and despair.

Looking at him, who seemed as if he might disappear at any moment, Fu Yanli felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, the pain almost suffocating him.

Panic, resentment, anger at being misunderstood...

All the emotions mingled together in his heart, flowing through his blood to his entire body, almost penetrating every inch of his veins, overwhelming his reason.

The photo frame that held their smiles now seemed incredibly jarring to him.

It seems to be the biggest irony of the relationship over the past two years.

He rushed over, grabbed the picture frame, and slammed it to the ground with all his might!

"What use is there in keeping this hypocrite!"

The glass shattered instantly, sending sparkling shards flying everywhere.

One of the sharpest fragments grazed the surface of the photograph, leaving a permanent, tiny scratch on Xu Wenci's face.

The argument stopped abruptly.

The world fell into a deathly silence.

Both of them were stunned, staring at the mess of broken pieces on the ground and the jarring wound in the photo.

At that moment, they all clearly felt that something, like the picture frame, had shattered.

After that argument, their cold war lasted for two months.

Two months is enough time for him to think things through.

That would also be enough for him to choose a suitable frame for the photo that wouldn't be easily damaged.

However, that scratch has remained.

Xu Wenci went downstairs, casually sat on the sofa, and pulled out the remote control he had been hiding in the sofa cushions.

The villa is still the same as before.

He pursed his lips, forgetting that he had been following that variety show for a long time.

"Mr. Xu, it's lunchtime," the butler said softly.

As I have done countless times before, I prepare meals for him.

Xu Wenci lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and he said "okay".

He glanced at the dishes on the table, gritted his teeth, and saw that there were some dishes he didn't like.

Staring at the corn in the dish, Xu Wenci was lost in thought. It had been a long time since he had seen a dish he didn't like.

He doesn't eat corn.

Fu Yanli stood at the top of the stairs, his voice not loud, yet it clearly penetrated the entire restaurant. His words were like a pebble thrown into an icy lake, shattering the carefully maintained tranquility.

The housekeeper immediately understood and stepped forward to remove the dish containing corn.

"No need," Xu Wenci said indifferently. He picked up his chopsticks, reached straight for the plate of golden corn, picked up a kernel, and put it in his mouth.

He chewed very slowly.

He swallowed it down, then looked up and glanced at Fu Yanli.

“People’s tastes change,” Xu Wenci said calmly, as if stating a fact unrelated to him, but he secretly frowned. “What I didn’t like before, I may not like now. Just like what I thought was important before, now I see it as nothing special.”

His words were pointed, and every word struck Fu Yanli's heart.

Fu Yanli's Adam's apple bobbed. He walked down the stairs step by step, not approaching the dining table, but stopping a short distance away and sighing.

He looked at the plate of corn in front of Xu Wenci that had been touched by chopsticks, and the light in his deep purple eyes gradually dimmed.

“Is that so…” he said in a low voice, “And what about me?” It was as if he was asking himself.

"To you, I can change too, right?"

Xu Wenci did not answer. He simply lowered his head and quietly ate his meal, bite by bite.

He shut Fu Yanli and all his unspoken words out of his own world.

The butler left at the right time, leaving only the faint sounds of cutlery clinking and chewing in the restaurant.

Fu Yanli's Adam's apple bobbed, his eyelashes concealing all emotion in his eyes: "You... you're clearly disgusting, so why did you eat it..."

Xu Wenci said coldly, "I don't want to argue with you."

They don't need to argue.

Their return to the previous world is only temporary; there's no need for them to reenact the loving drama of that world.

Fu Yanli fluttered his eyelashes and continued softly, "You still hate corn and won't eat a single bite. It took me a long time to discover that a long time ago."

He stood by the dining table and walked step by step into Xuwenci.

Xu Wenci, who was about to mock Fu Yanli, was stunned when he heard this.

He wasn't a picky eater before.

He had almost forgotten.

When Xu Wenci first started dating him, he wasn't picky about food.

When asked what he wanted to eat, he said anything was fine.

It seems like I don't have any particular preferences.

It took him a long time to discover that he liked calligraphy brushes, and a lot more time to discover that he didn't like eating corn.

Fu Yanli licked his lips and tightened his grip.

He was really happy when he first learned that Xu Wenci didn't like to eat corn.

Xu Wenci doesn't show his dislike for something, nor does he show his hatred for a person.

When Xu Wenci finally learned to be picky about food, Fu Yanli understood that Xu Wenci would no longer hastily swallow everything because he had no other choice.

The author's note: In fact, Fu Yanli and Xu Wenci's feelings for each other were a mixture of love and hate.

However, Fu Yanli understood earlier that his hatred was not directed at Xu Wenci, but at all the suffering Xu Wenci had endured.

Xu Wenci hated him, but he was actually quite happy. A person without likes or dislikes has no reason to live in this world. Even if Xu Wenci hated him, he would only be glad that Xu Wenci had become vibrant.

Xu Wenci's hatred for Fu Yanli was a one-man show he created for himself. In the previous world, he sensed that Fu Yanli's love for him was fleeting, so hatred became the only thing he could possess alone without needing Fu Yanli's cooperation.

I've been revising the story recently, and I've also been quite busy in real life, plus I've been sick, so my typing speed has slowed down considerably. I'm trying my best to wrap up the foreshadowing, and the completion date should remain the same.

Actually, I've been anxious about the ending of this project lately. I'm always afraid that the ending will turn out to be a mess. It's actually a cliché story, full of love and hate, and melodramatic twists. The shift between love and hate happens in an instant, because love and hate coexist.

I cried a lot while revising my writing the other day. Looking back at what I wrote, I was very clear that the main plot was progressing, but I was always anxious and doubted myself because of the complexity of the subplots.

Therefore, I've temporarily decided to revise the chapters after chapter 64 are finished, completing the main text first, and then writing some short side stories. [heart emoji]