Yan Shao suppressed his joy and tried his best to calm himself down. After all, he was already thirty-three years old and had long passed the age of a naive young man who could easily show his emotions.
Or, some might say that going to court and being convicted is a bad thing, so what's there to be happy about?
But for Yan Shao, a "prisoner" who is eager to reform but repeatedly fails to find the right approach, this means that the judge will tell him where he went wrong based on his behavior.
This also means that Judge Zhu Qianying is willing to open her heart to him and let him into that dark inner journey that he did not know.
Yan Shao was overjoyed, but his expression remained calm. He even tugged at her arm with remarkable composure.
"Sit down, you've only just been discharged from the hospital!"
Zhu Qianying's bedroom wasn't large, and the furnishings were simple and practical. The wardrobe was on the left side of the entrance, against the wall, and the bed was near the floor-to-ceiling windows of the terrace. Between the bed and the wardrobe, against the wall, was a computer desk with a swivel chair in front of it.
Zhu Qianying did as she was told and sat down on the edge of the bed. Yan Shao then dragged the swivel chair in front of her and sat down as well.
After sitting down, Zhu Qianying did not say anything immediately, but remained silent for a while, trying to sort out her feelings after Yi Wei was kidnapped, striving to restore her feelings at that time without any bias.
"Young Master Yan, there's something I wanted to ask you five years ago, but you didn't give me a chance. Since you feel wronged, I'll ask you now: during the days between Yi Wei's kidnapping and your stay in the hospital, did you ever think of me?"
Yan Han thought she would ask him about everything between him and Yi Wei, but it turned out that she wouldn't.
Her question seemed easy to answer, but the truth of it made him hesitate to speak.
Because at that time, all he could think about was Yi Wei's horrific injuries and how to bring the kidnappers to justice. He didn't think much about anyone else, not even Zhu Qianying or his parents.
Zhu Qianying stared at her with her dark eyes, her gaze truly like that of a judge—serious and cautious. She didn't interfere or offer any reminders regarding Yan Han's silence; she simply watched him quietly, patiently awaiting his answer.
Under her clear, cold gaze, Yan Han felt as if he were being stripped naked and scrutinized. He felt very uncomfortable, but he also knew that if he didn't even have the courage to face the truth of the past, then he would really have no chance at all!
"No……"
Only after this answer was spoken did Yan Han vaguely realize that these two extremely simple words actually revealed his ruthlessness at the time.
For Zhu Qianying at that time, it was like a sword, piercing straight into her heart.
A faint smile appeared on Zhu Qianying's lips, seemingly both mocking and relieved.
Although this happened five years ago, Zhu Qianying still feels a sharp pain in her heart when she mentions it now.
The man opposite her probably had no idea that the happy days of her honeymoon had once given her many unrealistic and beautiful dreams about married life.
However, those beautiful illusions were soon ruthlessly torn apart and brutally destroyed by Yan Han himself!
"Young Master Yan, you've been explaining to me all this time that there's nothing between you and Yi Wei. But do you know that from beginning to end, what I care about isn't Yi Wei herself!"
Zhu Qianying didn't consider herself a narrow-minded person. She understood the importance of mutual care and help among good friends. However, back then, Young Master Yan...
"Actually, it doesn't matter to me who the person lying in the hospital bed is, nor does it matter whether you and that person once had a deep relationship. What matters is that, as your wife, I have absolutely no place in your heart. Because I have no place, that's why you've never even thought of me."
At this moment, Young Master Yan didn't even have a reason to defend himself.
"Think about it, if you didn't come home for dinner, you would at least call Uncle Hai to let him know, right? But when you went to rescue Yi Wei and took care of her at the hospital for those few days, did you call me once or send me a single message to explain? No! Right?"
Yan Shao remained silent, offering no opportunity to refute. Because, at the time, he genuinely hadn't considered needing to explain himself to her.
He simply assumed that their relationship required no explanation. His actions needed no explanation to her, and she had no right to inquire about his whereabouts.
However, after she left, he realized how wrong he had been!
Therefore, he was powerless to refute her question at this moment!
“You might say that you were only concerned about Yi Wei’s safety and busy tracking down the real culprit, so you didn’t have time. But ultimately, that’s not the real reason. The real reason is that you didn’t care!”
Yan Han was a little anxious, "No, I care..."
However, at that time, he himself did not realize that he actually cared about her more than anyone else.
Zhu Qianying got up, took a cup, and drank some water to moisten her parched throat. She completely ignored his explanation because, at that time, he didn't make her feel cared about anything at all.
"Deep down, you always believe that I will always be there whether you say it or not! And you don't care whether I'm here or not! And you don't care whether I, as your newlywed wife, am sad and heartbroken because I'm alone for many days! Is that right?"
She's not made of wood; she can sense whether others treat her well or not.
Zhu Qianying's series of questions left Yan Shao completely defenseless.
"Young Master Yan, let's look at it from another angle. If it had been Xing Bailun who got into trouble back then, and I treated Xing Bailun the way you treated Yi Wei, and then treated you the way you treated me, how do you think you would have done it?"
Without a second thought, Yan Han said, "I will kill you!"
Zhu Qianying smiled slightly, "That's right, I really wanted to kill you back then! But unfortunately, I didn't have the ability, so I could only kill my own heart! Do you understand?"
From a young age, due to her parents' relationship, Zhu Qianying had always been skeptical of love. But people's hearts are made of flesh and blood, and after Yan Han treated her gently for a while, her girlish heart, which had never been stirred before, finally began to sprout!
However, before this tender sprout could even sprout and grow tall, it was frozen to death by the frost and snow of winter. Consequently, her heart could no longer feel any love or affection for other men.
In other respects, she was never cowardly, but in matters of the heart, there were too many uncontrollable factors, so she was afraid!
For example, even though she could calmly face Yan Bo and his wife when Yan Shao was taking care of Yi Wei, she couldn't control the fact that her heart was being slowly torn apart and hollowed out!
[The fourth and fifth updates will be later, please save them for tomorrow.]
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