Chapter 458 Never Loved
Upon hearing this, the people present were momentarily stunned.
Mei Qingyun's maid was also greatly shocked. She never expected her mistress to say such a thing. After all, with the Lady of Changxing Marquis present, it wouldn't have mattered if it were just the Marquis of Changxing alone.
Gu Jingxi frowned. His intuition told him that this woman was about to go crazy again. He had witnessed her madness with Yu Chuan when they were in Huzhou. She was spouting nonsense and slandering his reputation.
He looked at Mei Qingyun with a warning in his eyes and said in a low voice, "Miss Mei, the evidence in Wei Heng's case is conclusive, the case is closed, and he has been beheaded and his head displayed to the public. I think there is nothing more to say about this."
Mei Qingyun met his gaze, and after a moment's thought, she realized that he didn't want her to say anything she shouldn't. At the same time, she was both surprised and astonished. She hadn't said anything yet, but he had already guessed it.
Could it be, as Lady Jing'an Marquis suspected, that he is still thinking of her at this very moment? But because Meng Jinyao is present, he doesn't want her to say it?
Thinking of this, Mei Qingyun's heart raced. She glanced at Meng Jinyao beside her, smiled faintly, and said gently, "It's not related to Wei Heng, but something else entirely."
Meng Jinyao looked at them thoughtfully, then said understandingly, "Husband, I think Miss Mei really has something important to tell you. Qingqiu, Ningdong, and I will wait for you in the pavilion ahead. You can have a good talk with Miss Mei."
Mei Qingyun glanced at her in surprise. She hadn't expected her to let her husband talk to her at a time like this. Was she stupid or overconfident?
Gu Jingxi suddenly turned his head to look at her. He saw that she was smiling and looking at him with gentle eyes. He glanced at the pavilion not far ahead and nodded slightly. It was better to make some things clear to this crazy woman, so that she would not always suspect that he was still thinking about her and would say something to others that would tarnish his reputation and affect his life with A Yao.
Meng Jinyao left with two maids. The pavilion was not far from here, within Gu Jingxi's sight, and she could see the situation from the pavilion as well.
Mei Qingyun's maidservant also tactfully stepped back.
Ning Dong was somewhat puzzled: "Madam, why did you give Miss Mei and the Marquis a chance to speak alone?"
Meng Jinyao replied in a low voice, "If you say it's about serious business, it doesn't matter whether I listen or not. After all, I don't understand matters of the court. If it's about private matters, the Marquis won't give her any chance. But if you don't give her a chance to speak, it might be more troublesome in the future. So it's better to give her a chance and let her give up completely."
Ning Dong pondered for a moment, then nodded knowingly. She sensed that Miss Mei was discussing private matters, because the way Miss Mei looked at the Marquis wasn't innocent, and when she looked at the Madam, there was a hint of hostility. Were women these days so brazen? Seducing their Marquis right in front of their Madam!
Mei Qingyun was right in front of him, but Gu Jingxi didn't look at her. He just stared at A Yao's back and remained silent for a long time. It wasn't that he was afraid A Yao would hear their conversation, but that he didn't want A Yao to hear those crazy words and offend her ears.
After Meng Jinyao had walked away, Gu Jingxi said, "Miss Mei, what exactly do you want to say? You can say it now."
Seeing that he neither went elsewhere to talk to her nor even glanced at her, Mei Qingyun looked at him with a hurt expression: "Third Brother Gu, why are you so cold to me?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi looked at her and said indifferently, "My father only had three sons in his life and no daughters. I ask Miss Mei to have some self-respect."
"Are you still angry that our Mei family broke off the engagement back then?" Mei Qingyun lowered her eyes and said with a gloomy expression, "Breaking off the engagement back then was not my intention, but the will of my parents. I had no choice but to comply. Even my marriage to Wei Heng was arranged by my parents and the matchmaker. And my relationship with Wei Heng was not as good as it seemed on the surface."
She looked up, her eyes welling up with tears, and choked out, "Perhaps it's fate playing tricks on us. The God of Love has tied the wrong red thread. For so many years, we've longed for each other, but we can't be together. Now I'm no longer Wei Heng's wife, but you've become someone else's husband."
She paused, looked steadily at Gu Jingxi, and for the first time lowered her stance, mustering her courage to say, "Third Brother Gu, I've thought about this for a long time these past few days. We've already missed more than ten years. How many decades does one have in a lifetime? I don't want us to miss the rest of our lives. But at the same time, I understand that she's pregnant with your child. Even if you're forced to marry her, you can't divorce her now. If I don't mind her existence, I'm willing to be your concubine. Are you willing?"
Gu Jingxi refused without hesitation: "I'm not willing."
Mei Qingyun was struck dumb, unable to believe her ears. She swallowed her pride and even offered to be subordinate to Meng Jinyao, taking the initiative to become Gu Jingxi's concubine. But Gu Jingxi refused.
Soon, Mei Qingyun thought of Meng Jinyao and asked, "Is it because of her?"
Gu Jingxi clearly stated: "I am grateful for Miss Mei's misplaced affection. I have never thought of taking a concubine. Having my wife by my side for the rest of my life is enough. As for Miss Mei's statement that I have been thinking of you for many years, I do not know what I did to give Miss Mei such a huge misunderstanding. My heart is only for my wife. There is no one else besides her."
Upon hearing this, Mei Qingyun's face turned deathly pale. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Gu Jingxi. He didn't seem to be lying, but she couldn't accept it and refused to believe it. She shook her head repeatedly, saying, "No, it's impossible! This is impossible! You're lying! Gu Jingxi, if you don't have me in your heart, why haven't you married all these years? You're a marquis; there are plenty of girls willing to marry you. Even without me, you wouldn't have trouble finding a husband. Everyone knows you were forced to marry her."
Gu Jingxi frowned and replied calmly, "I have remained unmarried for many years simply because of my illness, and I did not want to delay others, not because of Miss Mei. Even if the Mei family had not broken off the engagement back then, I would have told my parents to cancel the engagement myself, so as not to ruin Miss Mei's life. It's just that the Mei family broke off the engagement first. As for marrying later, it was indeed out of necessity at the time, but it was also my own choice. Later, my wife and I fell in love over time, which is a blessing from heaven."
As soon as she finished speaking, Mei Qingyun felt as if she had been struck by lightning again. Her head was buzzing, and she looked at Gu Jingxi with teary eyes. When she saw that Gu Jingxi was looking at her coldly, her understanding of things over the years was overturned in an instant. She was greatly shocked and her body swayed.
What did she hear? Gu Jingxi said that even if the Mei family hadn't broken off the engagement back then, the Gu family would have taken the initiative to do so? He wasn't not marrying her because he loved her, but because he didn't want to hold others back?
One of the things she was most proud of over the years was that Gu Jingxi loved her and remained unmarried for more than a decade because of her.
What allows her to always remain undefeated in her arguments with Wei Heng is Gu Jingxi's love for her.
But when she set aside her pride and told Gu Jingxi that she didn't mind Meng Jinyao's existence and was willing to be a concubine just to be with Gu Jingxi, Gu Jingxi said that he had no feelings for her and that she had misunderstood.
What she had firmly believed in for years turned out to be a joke, a joke that belonged only to her, a joke of her own wishful thinking. Shame overwhelmed her, making her wish that time could turn back and that she had never said such shameful words.
It took her a long time to find her voice, and she asked one last question with unwavering determination: "Then...did you ever love me?"
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