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The person in front of him instantly transformed from gentle and refined to savage and brutal. Zhao Xingran froze on the spot, cold sweat pouring down his back.

Her past life experiences and acquired knowledge prevented her from childishly questioning the reasons. Instead, after calming down, she quietly pushed open the car door and stepped into the cold night.

As Zhou Ji'an ran, his shock gradually faded.

Based on her understanding of Deng Yi's family over the past few days, it seemed particularly "normal" that Deng Wencheng, a university professor, would have an extramarital affair with a girl in her early twenties.

Perhaps when Shen Ruoheng revealed that Deng Yi was not Deng Wencheng's child, it actually pleased him, making him feel more justified in associating with young women and exploiting Shen Ruoheng's self-blame day after day to seek some kind of benefit.

Perhaps Shen Ruoheng revealed her shameful secrets because of Deng Wencheng's private life issues?

Deng Wencheng never revealed his identity, perhaps because he was afraid of exposing his moral failings, rather than because he didn't want to be an actor.

Did Deng Yi know about what Deng Wencheng was doing?

Does Zhao Xingran know that Deng Wencheng is already married?

"Ji'an, Ji'an, Zhou Ji'an."

Zhou Ji'an stopped and looked around suspiciously.

The night, the lights, and the buildings made everything around us appear hazy and indistinct.

Another voice rang out in the wind: "Zhou Ji'an."

Someone was approaching her, but because of the backlighting, she still didn't recognize the person and took a step back defensively.

"Can't you recognize my voice?" Xu Zhiyan turned to the side, his face no longer in the shadows.

Zhou Ji'an felt relieved, but he was still inevitably flustered and at a loss. "I, uh, I'm thinking about something."

Xu Zhiyan didn't pursue the matter further, but casually glanced around and asked, "Where's your husband?"

Zhou Ji'an had just opened his mouth when he said, "He has..."

Xu Zhiyan interrupted: "Aren't you all like conjoined twins?"

“I just came from Lu Jianni’s house.” A passerby was walking towards them, and Zhou Ji’an stepped aside. “I attended a seminar she organized. It was all girls, and I can’t let him go too. Lu Jianni would be unhappy.”

Xu Zhiyan continued to look around, and when his gaze returned to her, he said, "Lu Jianni's house is more than an hour and a half's drive from your husband's house. Doesn't he pick you up or drop you off?"

Zhou Ji'an vaguely sensed that Xu Zhiyan wanted to ask something.

Indeed, now that the rumors of her sham marriage with Deng Yi have become even more believable thanks to that secretly filmed video, it's impossible for Xu Zhiyan not to have doubts.

“He was waiting for me in that square up ahead,” Zhou Ji’an told the truth. “I was afraid of causing Lu Jiani any unnecessary trouble, so I had him park the car there.”

Xu Zhiyan was inexplicably disappointed, but said unwillingly, "Really? I just came out for some fresh air, I'll take you there."

Zhou Ji'an thought to herself that someone might be taking pictures of her again right now, and if they captured Xu Zhiyan's face, it would likely cause some gossip.

"No, no," she refused as she took small steps forward, glancing at the nearby coffee shop. "Your friend is waiting for you. You should go back now."

The shadows cast by the branches of the sycamore tree changed with Xu Zhiyan's expression, making his taut chin and deep, pool-like eyes extremely clear.

Zhou Ji'an tugged at his bag strap and said goodbye, "I'm leaving now."

"Are you planning to continue like this?" Xu Zhiyan retracted his small step and raised his voice, "Isn't happiness more important than anything else?"

Zhou Ji'an thought about it carefully, then turned around and said, "For me, being happy isn't the most important thing right now, but I'm not unhappy either."

The person opposite her didn't react to her answer, so she said cheerfully, "Have a good date."

Yellow, orange, red, purple and other colored lights dyed the night breeze into a colorful river.

Zhou Ji'an ran to the square in one breath, enjoying the night breeze, and knocked on Deng Yi's car window.

The people inside did not respond.

I knocked again, but there was still no response.

Zhou Ji'an took out her phone to make a call when someone approached her and pulled her into their arms.

"How can you be so wary? Hmm? I've been following you all this way." Deng Yi's palm touched her slightly cool cheek.

Zhou Ji'an panicked and anxiously asked, covering his hand, "Where did you start following along?"

"What?" Deng Yi cupped her face and asked with a smile, "Are you afraid I'll see you with Xu Zhiyan?"

Zhou Jian breathed a sigh of relief, put his hands inside his coat, shifted his weight onto him, looked up at him and said, "I couldn't find a shared bike, so I ran here, and I ran into him on the way."

Deng Yi wrapped her halfway in his coat and helped her into the car. "I know."

"I knew you wouldn't call me," Zhou Ji'an complained while fastening his seatbelt. "I was afraid you'd be waiting too long, so I ran so fast that my throat is sore."

Deng Yi unscrewed the thermos and held it to her lips, "To moisten your throat."

Zhou Ji'an scoffed in dissatisfaction and drank water from his hand.

"I was going to call you, but seeing your running figure reminded me of the past, so I didn't have the heart to call you back." Deng Yi held up the thermos cup for her with one hand, and with the other hand, he stroked the hair by her ear, his fingertips gliding over her earlobe. "I miss the old you."

Ever since Deng Yi made Zhou Ji'an promise that he could be the same as before, Zhou Ji'an began to reminisce about his former self.

But she still can't figure out what Deng Yi wants her to be like before.

Hearing Deng Yi say this now, she couldn't help but suspect that Deng Yi was very dissatisfied with her as she was now. She pursed her moist lips and asked, "What was I like before?"

Deng Yi's reply was very stingy: "You'll have to think of that yourself."

When she asked him what he needed for his birthday, he gave a similar answer.

Zhou Ji'an got angry and bumped his head against his forehead.

Their heads were probably both good heads; when they collided, they made a "thud," a crisp sound like a melon cracking.

Deng Yi, who was bumped, showed no displeasure. Instead, he raised his hand to rub her head and said cheerfully, "I think you seem to have remembered a little bit."

His words did absolutely nothing to help Zhou Ji'an recall his former self or what he lacked.

In addition, Zhou Ji'an was preoccupied with another matter, so she changed the subject.

Zhou Ji'an asked, "Does Qin Xirang like you a lot?"

Before starting the car, Deng Yi looked at her carefully before saying, "I didn't sense any affection from her."

"How is this possible?" Zhou Ji'an exclaimed in disbelief.

Deng Yi countered, "Have you sensed Wei Jinglin's affection for you?"

Zhou Ji'an almost rolled his eyes.

Wei Jinglin? Likes her? Impossible!

No one likes people like Wei Jinglin.

"How could Wei Jinglin possibly like me? He probably enjoys seeing me make a fool of myself."

"Qin Xirang and Wei Jinglin are the same kind of people." Deng Yi looked ahead and said thoughtfully, "It's just that Qin Xirang is smarter than Wei Jinglin and is good at making people look foolish without making a sound."

Zhou Ji'an had only met Qin Xirang four times in total. Although her feelings for Qin Xirang were decreasing, she still couldn't definitively conclude that Qin Xirang and Wei Jinglin were the same kind of people.

Could you give me an example?

The car moved forward smoothly, and Deng Yi seemed to be lost in his memories, not answering her question.

A long time passed, so long that Zhou Ji'an saw the buildings near her home, but Deng Yi still didn't give her any examples.

Zhou Ji'an suspected she had stepped on a landmine, and even after the two returned home, finished washing up, and lay in bed, she didn't dare ask Deng Yi for any more examples.

Deng Yi pulled the person next to him into his arms, pressing her back tightly against his chest. After a while, when he felt that their body temperatures were about the same, he touched her hair with his lips and said, "When I was ten years old, one day on my way home from school, I bumped into my dad with another woman."

When he said "my dad," he paused noticeably, and Zhou Ji'an tightened his grip on the hand that was resting on her waist.

“I went home and told my mom, trying to appease her.” The person behind me paused noticeably. “My mom didn’t react at all after hearing it. I was very angry. At that time, I didn’t even know what I was angry about. Because I didn’t know what I was angry about, I started to throw a tantrum, yelling, throwing things, smashing things, and going on a hunger strike.”

Zhou Ji'an couldn't fully empathize with Deng Yi's experience, but she seemed to understand why Deng Yi was angry.

She was chatting with a married friend once, and the friend casually said, "My husband used to say that I always wanted to go here and there because I had never seen the world."

When Zhou Ji'an heard his friend recount the experience in a nonchalant, even emotionless tone, he suddenly became furious.

She thought that if two people could fall in love and get married, they would at least care for each other. How could she use a sarcastic tone to say that the other person was naive and unsophisticated?

When she expressed her thoughts and said emotionally, "Then why don't you divorce him?"

My friend said nonchalantly, "Huh? Getting a divorce over something like this? That's so childish."

Zhou Ji'an was so angry that he wanted to bite himself.

Deng Yi probably felt that his behavior was superfluous because his mother, as the victim, wasn't angry at all.

"And then?" Zhou Ji'an asked.

“Because my behavior lasted for several days, my grandfather locked me in the basement,” Deng Yi replied. “Before locking me in, my grandfather had someone perform a ritual on me.”

The word "again" in his words tugged at Zhou Ji'an's heart. She turned over to face him, and through the darkness, touched his face to interrupt him, saying, "If you feel uncomfortable, you don't have to continue."

Anyway, she still has plenty of time to observe Qin Xirang.

Deng Yi lowered his head and kissed her, then smiled deliberately and said, "I'm afraid I won't have the chance to tell you later, so I'll tell you everything now while I'm in the right mood. Maybe I can win your sympathy."

Zhou Ji'an felt distressed, and hearing him say that made him feel even more heartbroken and suffocated. "I won't sympathize with you."

She wouldn't pity him; she just wanted to run back immediately to perform a ritual for the old man and lock him in the basement.

Deng Yi murmured, "Is that so? In that case, I won't say anything more. I was hoping that you would decide not to leave me because you sympathized with me."