Ji Zhuo's hand gripped Lin Xihe's arm tightly like an iron clamp. The pain felt like it was tearing every nerve in her body apart, but Lin Xihe endured it without struggling at all.

She tilted her head slightly, meeting Ji Zhuo's eyes directly, and said in a slightly trembling but firm voice, "I admit that I do still have memories of him in my heart, and those past fragments occasionally surface in my mind."

"But those are memories I can't control. I once naively fantasized that if you could forgive me, I would wholeheartedly stay by your side and start over with you."

She paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "However, some things, once they happen, cannot be undone, and broken mirrors cannot be mended. Today, even if I drink that bowl of medicine to comply with you, you will always have a thorn in your heart from now on, won't you?"

"I don't want us to end up hating each other. Maybe it's time to end things now that we've come to this point."

Ji Zhuo looked at Lin Xihe, who was both familiar and unfamiliar, and felt a mix of emotions.

He had never seen her so resolute, as if she had thrown everything to the back of her mind, with a kind of reckless determination.

Ji Zhuo felt waves of dull pain spreading through his heart.

Even though he hadn't done anything wrong, and he was the one who had been betrayed, seeing Lin Xihe's stubbornness, Ji Zhuo suddenly felt inexplicably flustered, and his voice unconsciously rose a few decibels: "So what if I have a thorn in my heart? That's something I have to face myself."

"If you just drink the medicine, and if you do, we'll pretend nothing ever happened and start over, okay?"

Lin Xihe gently shook her head, her eyes revealing a resolute determination: "No."

"How can you expect me to accept this? You're my woman! But you're carrying another man's child! How can I swallow this insult and calmly accept all of this!" Ji Zhuo stared at Lin Xihe with bloodshot eyes, his gaze filled with a mixture of pain and anger.

"Lin Xihe, you were the one who begged for peace yesterday, and you're doing this again today. What exactly do you want from me?!"

"Why should I accept all of this?!"

Lin Xihe tilted her head back, sniffed, and tried to stop her tears from falling.

In fact, before Ji Zhuo arrived, Lin Xihe had already thought it over repeatedly in her heart and weighed all the possibilities countless times.

She was caught between the two men, feeling utterly exhausted. No matter who she ultimately chose, she felt she would hurt the other.

After much thought, she decided it was better to let go and face everything alone from now on.

"You don't need to accept it. We're breaking up. From now on..."

"Don't say it!" Ji Zhuo tightened his grip, trying to shut her up.

Lin Xihe sighed and continued, "Let's just leave it at that, okay? I'll let you go, and you let yourself go too. From now on, we..."

Before Lin Xihe could finish speaking, Ji Zhuo suddenly pulled her to his side, quickly pressed her head down with one hand, and kissed her lips fiercely without saying a word.

He was afraid to hear Lin Xihe say things that he found hard to accept, and he was afraid that after she said them, she would really cut ties with him.

This sudden kiss instantly drowned out Lin Xihe's words of wanting to separate.

Lin Xihe instinctively wanted to push Ji Zhuo away. The decision she had finally made with a heavy heart was now in disarray because of Ji Zhuo, and she was in a state of panic.

But she still forced herself to stay rational and not let herself get lost in Ji Zhuo's passionate and domineering kiss.

After a long while, Ji Zhuo finally released Lin Xihe slowly. The two of them pressed their foreheads together, trying to calm their disordered breathing.

Lin Xihe had just caught her breath, still thinking about finishing what she was saying, and had only managed to utter one word: "We'll break up..."

Before the word "open" was even fully uttered, Ji Zhuo eagerly kissed her lips again.

No matter how passionately Ji Zhuo demanded, Lin Xihe kept her lips tightly shut and never responded.

It wasn't until Ji Zhuo leaned down and pressed her down that Lin Xihe instinctively worried about the baby in her womb and quickly protested, "Don't press down on the baby!"

This shout instantly snapped Ji Zhuo back to his senses.

Ji Zhuo immediately braced himself with his elbows, carefully controlling his weight, afraid that the slightest carelessness would harm the child in Lin Xihe's womb.

Ji Zhuo once again silenced Lin Xihe's resolute words with his lips.

When Ji Zhuo released Lin Xihe again, before Lin Xihe could even speak, Ji Zhuo's choked voice rang in her ears:

"Don't say it, Xi'er, don't say it..."

Ji Zhuo buried his head deeply in Lin Xihe's neck, and Lin Xihe could clearly feel his shoulders trembling slightly, striking her heart again and again.

Her heart ached, aching so much that she could hardly breathe.

“I admit defeat… Lin Xihe, I admit defeat.”

Ji Zhuo's voice was low and hoarse, as if he had used all his strength to squeeze out these words, "Let's keep him, I will treat him well."

"Please stop talking, Xi'er, I beg you."

The strong defense that Lin Xihe had painstakingly built collapsed at this moment.

She gripped Ji Zhuo's shoulders tightly with both hands, tears streaming uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes: "Why did you do this? You left me. You could have found someone better."

Seeing that Lin Xihe had softened her attitude, Ji Zhuo replied bitterly, "What you said is true, but who told me to be blind, and I don't intend to get cured."

Lin Xihe was already crying her heart out, and upon hearing Ji Zhuo's words, her tears flowed even more fiercely, like a flood bursting its banks.

Ji Zhuo had said similar things before, and this time he was determined to swallow his pride and bear it all silently.

Ji Zhuo lowered his head and kissed away the tears at the corners of Lin Xihe's eyes, then slowly said, "A heartless woman's tears are salty too."