The rain was so heavy that Jiang Ci had a hard time walking. She wasn't looking at the road at all. After following Zhou Mingli's footprints into the forest, Jiang Ci knew where he had gone.
Jiang Ci and Zhou Mingli only came to the mountains once.
The two of them together.
They caught a rabbit, picked wild vegetables and wood ear mushrooms, and together they spied on Xia Lei's transaction, only to be chased by a large snake and screaming as they fled.
Jiang Ci remembers that road.
She ran up the mountain along the path she remembered, calling out Zhou Mingli's name all the while.
"Zhou Mingli!"
"Zhou Mingli!!"
"Zhou Mingli!!!"
Jiang Ci always calls Zhou Mingli by his full name and surname.
Zhou Mingli once asked her why she didn't call him Mingli like her parents did. If she wanted to call him Xiaoming, Zhou Mingli would have no objection.
Jiang Ci said that the name Zhou Mingli, whether it's called Mingli, Xiaoming, or Xiaoli, doesn't sound good.
Zhou Mingli's voice is the best.
She liked to call him by his full name.
Jiang Ci's vision was filled with rainwater, mud mixed with rain, wet and dark brown trees, and deep green thickets...
She stumbled and was about to fall.
The person was suddenly grabbed tightly.
The palm that held her arm was as cold as her skin, and as wet as a snake.
Jiang Ci snapped out of her daze and looked up.
The torrential rain made it impossible to see anything, and the rain stung my face.
The liquid flowed down his soaked hair, along the contours of his cold, handsome face, past his taut jaw, up the bulging veins on his neck, and down into the water.
It was Zhou Mingli.
The sight of familiar faces instantly eased Jiang Ci's tense nerves.
She was falling.
Zhou Mingli caught her.
"Zhou Mingli...!"
Raindrops fell all around, pattering against the leaves, the ground, the branches, and the stones.
Jiang Ci's breathing was unsteady, and her voice was trembling, "Are you crazy! Why would you go up the mountain when it's raining!"
Zhou Ming stared intently at her, as if worried that she would disappear at any moment. His eyes were bloodshot, filled with emotions darker than the gloomy sky.
Zhou Mingli's voice was rougher than sand as he suppressed his emotions and said, "What else could I have run into the mountains for?"
With a loud bang.
Lightning and thunder roared high in the sky.
Jiang Ci saw that Zhou Mingli's face was covered in rainwater and looked at her intently.
Jiang Ci's heart skipped a beat, and she took a step back. Zhou Mingli suddenly grabbed Jiang Ci's arm, not allowing her to retreat even a step. His hoarse voice was like a small boat without a place to stop in the rain, "Jiang Ci, who else in this world can make me disregard everything and brave the rain to go into the mountains?"
"Am I crazy to go up the mountain in the rain?!" Jiang Ci seemed not to hear him. She closed her eyes, exhaled, and inhaled. "Let's go down the mountain now."
She regained her senses, her face turning extremely pale. Suppressed emotions welled up in her chest, but she held them back, enduring them, and turned to walk down the mountain, not wanting to stay in this forest for even a moment longer.
She didn't go up the mountain.
Zhou Mingli looked at her with his dark eyes.
So why is she on the mountain now?
Looking for him?
The mountain is very slippery, and apart from the small paths formed by people walking on it, there are no steps for people to walk on.
Jiang Ci's shoes were covered in mud, making it slippery to walk.
Zhou Mingli gripped her arm tightly, not uttering a word the whole way, but his eyes seemed fixed on Jiang Ci, never leaving her for a moment.
On the way down the mountain, Jiang Ci stepped on moss and slid down immediately.
The arm holding her arm suddenly tightened its grip, holding Jiang Ci tightly.
Zhou Mingli held her body as she nearly slipped down, all his muscles tense, like a long-suppressed volcano about to erupt.
"Why did you come up the mountain to find me?" Zhou Mingli suppressed his emotions, Jiang Ci's figure reflected in his dark eyes. "You drew a clear line between us, preventing me from crossing it, but what are you doing now?"
"Tell me, Jiang porcelain."
The veins on his arm, which was gripping Jiang Ci's waist, bulged, making him look as ferocious as a trapped beast.
"Why did you cross that line again and come to my side? Why did you come to find me?"
"Jiang Ci, what exactly do you take me for?"
Is it a dog that comes when summoned and goes when dismissed?
Collaborator, tacit partner, ex-husband who shared hardships...
These words buzzed through her mind, but were drowned out one by one by Zhou Mingli's words, leaving only what he had said.
What do you take me for?
Jiang Ci's mind was buzzing.
Her silence brought a bleak smile to Zhou Mingli's face.
Her silence was enough to shatter all of Zhou Mingli's reason.
Zhou Mingli's eyes dimmed completely, and he was about to let go of her waist when he suddenly heard Jiang Ci's voice.
"And what about you, Zhou Mingli?"
Jiang Ci stopped walking, her emotions on the verge of exploding were extinguished, and her voice became as flat as a calm, still surface of water.
"Marrying me must be very embarrassing for you, right? Being the son-in-law of the Jiang family makes you a 'phoenix man' who climbs the social ladder by attaching himself to the powerful. People will say, 'He only got along because of the Jiang family,' and all your efforts will be in vain. After six years of a marriage of convenience, am I the obstacle that prevents you from being with the one you love?"
Jiang Ci's eyes were red-rimmed. She grabbed Zhou Mingli's collar and stared intently at his face. Her words seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth. She gritted her teeth and wished she could bite Zhou Mingli to death.
Jiang Ci was on the verge of a breakdown. "Zhou Mingli, when you brought the person you like to my home behind my back, used my bathtub, and wore my clothes, what were you thinking? What do you take me for?"
"You dare let some piece of trash I despise sleep in my bed and use my things! And now you come asking me what I consider you to be? You're nothing!"
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