Chapter 68 Inside and Outside the Walls
Huo Nanchen and Lin Xili walked side by side, a subtle and peaceful atmosphere flowing between them, born from their earlier hand-holding.
However, this tranquility was broken by an uninvited guest as they approached the dormitory building's entrance.
Right across from the dormitory building, a figure leaning against a sports car straightened up and walked quickly over. It was Xu Yanchi again.
Lin Xili felt a deep sense of powerlessness, annoyance, and bewilderment. How could he do something like a sticky plaster, clinging on and on?
She instinctively tightened her grip on Huo Nanchen's hand.
"Why is he here again?" she whispered to Huo Nanchen. "It's been a month already, isn't this going to end anytime soon?"
Huo Nanchen didn't speak, but simply tightened his grip on her hand slightly.
He stopped and gently shielded Lin Xili to his side, his calm gaze fixed on Xu Yanchi, who was walking briskly towards him.
Xu Yanchi had clearly taken great care of himself; his clothes were still impeccable, and a smile played on his lips.
He continued to ignore Huo Nanchen's presence, his gaze fixed intently on Lin Xili, filled with deep affection and remorse:
"Xi Li, Xi Li, listen to me, I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong."
"I've thought a lot about this over the past month, and I regret it. I'm working on improving myself and I won't repeat the mistake."
"But I really can't live without you!"
Lin Xili felt nauseous and was about to coldly interrupt his disgusting words when Huo Nanchen spoke first.
“Mr. Xu,” Huo Nanchen’s dark eyes were sharp as knives, “is this the kind of upbringing your Xu family has that allows you to shamelessly harass a married woman like this?”
The words "married woman" made him suddenly turn his anger towards Huo Nanchen, and his tone became agitated.
Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?
"She used to have a crush on me, she liked me. After so many years of feelings, how could she just stop liking me like that?"
"She married you?"
"It was just because the Lin family forced her to marry, and she just picked someone to appease them. Do you really think she had any feelings for you?"
He tried to sow discord by using past memories and his self-righteous truths, in order to prove that he was the one with historical and emotional foundations.
Lin Xili couldn't listen anymore.
She took a half step forward, her cold eyes shooting straight at Xu Yanchi like icy stars. "Xu Yanchi, I've said it before, I don't like you anymore!"
"From the moment I saw through your hypocritical and snobbish nature, all the innocent feelings I had when I was young and ignorant vanished completely."
"Please stop humiliating yourself and disrupting my life!"
Huo Nanchen gently patted Lin Xili's arm, indicating that she didn't need to get angry.
He looked again at Xu Yanchi, whose face was ashen, and said, "Mr. Xu, don't you think your 'love' is cheap?"
Huo Nanchen raised an eyebrow slightly. "When she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism during her premarital checkup, your Xu family immediately treated her like a pathogen and turned around to marry her sister without hesitation."
"Now that she has recovered from her illness, she has made a name for herself in the field of forensics with her professional skills, which has made you realize that she is more outstanding and valuable than you imagined."
"So, your cheap 'love' has been rekindled?"
He paused, looking at the wedding ring that Xu Yanchi was still wearing on his ring finger.
"You seem to have forgotten that you yourself are a married man with a pregnant wife."
"How could your Xu family have raised an heir like you, who has no male virtues and can't even uphold the most basic responsibilities and bottom lines?"
The words "male virtue" were extremely insulting when spoken by Huo Nanchen, directly damaging his self-esteem. Xu Yanchi's face turned pale and then flushed.
Lin Xili took a deep breath, not wanting him to pester her any longer. "Mr. Xu, please leave and don't appear in front of me again."
"Otherwise, next time, I will take legal action to protect my personal safety."
After saying that, she turned around and took Huo Nanchen's hand, "Let's go."
Huo Nanchen glanced coldly at Xu Yanchi, who was standing frozen in place, and let Lin Xili pull him along.
The two turned around and walked into the gate of the Justice Bureau dormitory.
He completely shut out the man who was still immersed in self-pity and anger.
Back in the quiet dormitory corridor, Lin Xili let out a long sigh of relief.
"I have no idea how he ended up like this."
She murmured to herself, as if asking Huo Nanchen, or perhaps asking herself.
When did that handsome young man in my memory become so paranoid, hypocritical, and disgusting?
"As Mr. Qian Zhongshu wrote in 'Fortress Besieged,' marriage is like a wall; those outside want to get in, and those inside want to get out."
Huo Nanchen paused, as if he had seen through the ways of the world, "In fact, it's not just marriage, but also people's hearts, desires, what we can't get and what we've lost."
"He abandoned you because he felt that the health and perfection outside the walls were more in his interest."
"Now, he sees you living a successful life within the walls of your home, shining brightly in your professional field, and perhaps even reaching heights he can't reach."
"Then he felt that you were better inside the walls and wanted to break in."
"He never loved you as a person, but rather the value he imagined that met his needs and interests at different stages."
He looked at Lin Xili, reached out and gently brushed away a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her cheek, his movements natural and tender.
"This is human nature: greed, and the inability to see what one truly wants."
Lin Xili raised her head and looked into Huo Nanchen's calm and wise eyes.
He always manages to see the true nature of things with the simplest language and the calmest attitude.
He's right. Xu Yanchi's entanglement has nothing to do with love; it's just the insatiable greed in human nature at play.
She had already stepped out of the walled city of Xu Yanchi, and was becoming more and more determined on the path she had chosen.
She stopped worrying about why Xu Yanchi had become like this; it was no longer her concern.
The important thing is that she knows exactly which wall she is standing on.
And the scenery within this walled city is becoming increasingly clear and warm because of the presence of the man beside her.
“Yes, I understand,” she replied softly.
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