"...It was at Grandpa Ye's house that I learned everything," Ning Yuan said calmly, recounting what had happened that day.
Xiang Ziye remained expressionless, but his mind was in turmoil.
Ning Yuan looked at him and dropped another bombshell: "If you want evidence, Ye Qiu's diary is in my pocket."
Xiang Ziye was already in a state of confusion, and at this moment, he froze completely.
He looked at Ning Yuan in disbelief and asked in a trembling voice, "Why didn't you say so from the beginning?"
Ning Yuan asked coldly, "If I tell you, will you believe what I'm saying is true, or will you just think it's a fake?"
"You..." Xiang Ziye paused for a moment, looking at her with an uncertain expression.
Before this confrontation, if she had mentioned Ye Qiu's diary, he would have simply assumed it was fake, something someone had forged.
But now... even though his reason completely disbelieved what she said, a voice in his heart seemed to be tempting him.
Go take a look... go take a look...
Xiang Ziye clenched his fist, stood up abruptly, and strode towards the door.
Ning Yuan's bag was casually tossed into the car by him!
As soon as Ning Yuan watched him leave, she instantly relaxed.
She raised her hand and rubbed her face, then, supporting herself on the bed, slowly sat up, grimacing.
Feeling that the numbness in her limbs was getting better, she quickly touched several places on her body where she had hidden things.
After making slight adjustments to what I needed, I quickly lay back down on the bed, maintaining the same position as before.
Soon after, the man's heavy footsteps approached again.
Xiang Ziye held a worn-out leather notebook in his hand, but stood there for a long time, staring at her without saying a word or flipping through it.
"What, you don't dare to look? Even if you think we're scheming and fabricating something, you can still see how we fabricate it!" Ning Yuan asked calmly.
Xiang Ziye felt he couldn't let a woman lead him by the nose like this, but...
This notebook... was given to Ye Qiu by him... Did she use it all those years after she left?
He stared at the notebook in his hand for a long while, then gritted his teeth and opened it to read.
During the earthquake, the diary, which was buried under the bricks along with my work bag, had several pages soaked with blood.
The delicate handwriting is blurred, but it is still clear that the owner was well-educated, though his emotions fluctuated greatly.
Every messy handwriting tells a story of the owner's pain.
"...June 8th, it rained. I wonder if it rains in the south for A-Ye... Every rainy night, I think of that terrible night... those four beasts..."
"No...no...no...it's so dirty...so dirty...so dirty!"
"...June 15th...I can't sleep, I can't sleep every single day...The sleeping pills are gradually losing their effect...Ah Ye...Are you alright..."
“…Ah Ye…Ah Ye…”
Every few pages, the name "Aye" would mechanically repeat itself.
The two characters "A-Ye" were soaked with dark blood, and the paper hardened.
Xiang Ziye trembled as he touched the blood-soaked paper, when suddenly hot water droplets fell from nowhere.
The blurring effect was on those two words.
He suddenly turned his back as if burned by blood, and slammed the diary shut with a "smack"!
He remained silent for a long time, making it impossible for Ning Yuan to see his expression.
After a while, Xiang Ziye suddenly stood up, turned his back to Ning Yuan, and walked towards the door.
“You are familiar with Ye Qiu’s handwriting. So tell me, is this diary real or fake?” Ning Yuan suddenly spoke up.
Xiang Ziye remained silent for a long time, then suddenly turned around, looking at her with a complex and cold expression: "Even if this is true, so what? Even if there's no feud between us—no wife-stealing—..."
He scoffed lightly: "Xiao Si's life was lost in his hands, and I will definitely get it back."
Ning Yuan frowned: "I've already told you, Xiang Xiaosi isn't..."
"I've said it before, never bring up things without evidence!" Xiang Ziye interrupted her expressionlessly.
Ning Yuan was furious; she had been talking for so long for nothing: "Xiang Ziye, it's clearly He Su..."
"Do you think the feud between me and Rong Zhaonan, and between the Xiang family and the Rong family, is only a personal grudge?" Xiang Ziye interrupted her again.
Ning Yuan was taken aback.
He turned back and said expressionlessly, "Everything is irreversible."
Ning Yuan looked at his lonely and desolate figure bathed in the setting sun, her heart trembled, and she fell silent, overwhelmed with mixed feelings.
Xiang Ziye said calmly, "I can leave you alone for now, provided you behave yourself."
With that, he walked outside.
Ning Yuan suddenly spoke again: "Xiang Ziye, you asked me what it is about Rong Zhaonan that you like. Do you still want to know now?"
Sure enough, those words made him stop in his tracks.
Ning Yuan said softly, "Ye Qiu asked you that question about 'Love in a Fallen City'—would a man truly accept Bai Liusu, a divorced woman who schemes and maneuvers between different men, even if forced by her family and circumstances?"
She paused, then continued, "The night I left the Ye family, I also asked Rong Zhaonan about it, and he said..."
...
“I know what you really want to ask.” That night, Rong Zhaonan suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The man standing under the moonlight quietly looked down at her, his beautiful, cool eyes reflecting her face.
The tall, slender man suddenly reached out and hugged her, whispering in her ear without hesitation, each word distinct and clear—
"No matter the situation, no matter how many men you have to deal with, the first priority is always—to stay alive! Sending those bastards who bullied you to hell is my job!"
Her heart skipped a beat. Ever since they were in the village, she had known that he was such a simple and traditional man when it came to relationships...
She touched his lips in her sleep, and he immediately thought about spending his life with her. He couldn't tolerate any other man being too close to her, and he had an extremely jealous personality.
But the fact that he could say such a thing made her heart soften instantly.
...
Ning Yuan said softly, "That night, at that moment, I remembered a saying—the person who loves you only cares about your safety, while the person who doesn't love you enough only cares about your chastity."
She paused for a moment: "That's one of the reasons why I like him."
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