Former and current
The sufficient sleep these days finally dispelled the fatigue accumulated over the days.
Wen Lingyi sat in front of the dressing mirror, carefully drawing her eyebrows and applying a light blush to make her complexion look more radiant.
After carefully grooming herself from hair to toes, she finally felt like a human being, having escaped from the haggard state of working non-stop in the hospital.
After packing up, she walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
My eyes swept across the long-untended garden outside the window, where the plants grew freely according to their own will.
Wild weeds are mixed among the flowers that were once carefully planted, showing an unrestrained and almost wild luxuriance.
She looked down at her watch and estimated the time. Zhou Jianxing should be here soon.
He walked towards the heavy carved door of the villa and prepared to wait at the door.
However, just as she opened the door, an unexpected figure came into her sight, like an untimely shadow, abruptly interrupting her cheerful mood.
Zhu Yang just stood there, as if he had been waiting for a long time.
In Wen Lingyi's opinion, the best ex is the dead ex.
And after you die, don't linger around.
"Lingyi," Zhu Yang's voice sounded, and he stated his purpose straight away, "Let's start over, okay?"
Wen Lingyi paused and took half a step back to create some distance.
She didn't say anything, just looked at the other person, with no warmth in her eyes.
"I tried, I really tried hard," Zhu Yang said, lowering his head slightly, "but I found that I really... really can't let you go."
The long straight black hair slid down Zhu Yang's shoulders and trembled slightly with the slight rise and fall of her shoulders.
"Don't you understand what I'm saying?" Wen Lingyi finally spoke, her eyebrows slightly raised, her hands folded in front of her chest.
She looked up and down at Zhu Yang in front of her, her eyes sweeping over his whole body.
I don’t know if it’s because she gave birth to a child, but Zhu Yang’s figure has changed significantly compared to the slim figure in my memory. She looks bloated and ugly.
Wen Lingyi found that her ex, whom she had once been deeply infatuated with but who ultimately caused her great harm, appeared in a faded and even embarrassed state.
It does bring a twisted, almost cruel pleasure.
There's nothing more satisfying than seeing your ex old and worn out.
She first met Zhu Yang when she was eighteen years old.
At that time, Zhu Yang was twenty-one years old, like a flower in full bloom.
She was captivated by the striking beauty and fell in love with him at first sight.
Zhu Yang was very beautiful when she was young. Once you see her in the crowd, it is hard to notice anyone else. She is too beautiful and full of the stereotypical "femininity".
The whole person is like water, so soft as if he has no bones and will melt at any time.
But it is not completely soft, like pebbles polished by stream water, with a coldness in gentleness, a contradiction that is very captivating.
For the young and inexperienced Wen Lingyi, the attraction was fatal.
She remembered that Zhu Yang had long wavy red hair and red lips, which made her skin look as white as paper.
Even the long nails are pure red without any color tendency.
As the name suggests, he is flamboyant and unrestrained.
Her face is only the size of a palm, a standard oval face.
It’s hard to tell what the exact eye shape is, but the wrinkles on the double eyelids seem to hide a deep story, attracting people to come closer to read it.
Only after reading it will you find it is empty.
The tip of her nose is slightly upturned, and the corners of her lips are naturally raised. Even when she is not smiling, she looks like she is smiling. But when she really smiles, she is so cold that it makes people unapproachable.
Maybe it’s because Zhu Yang isn’t really smiling most of the time.
It was the kind of smile where the corners of the eyes and eyebrows were raised, the corners of the mouth were raised, but the eyes were cold.
How could she laugh so sincerely?
Zhu Yang has never been a caring person, but she is so beautiful that people easily overlook her ruthlessness. Her beautiful appearance is too deceptive.
Just standing there, one would feel that she must have many stories.
Without a story, it's just empty.
If it were in an old romantic TV series, Zhu Yang would be very suitable to play the second female lead. She is gorgeous and aggressive, and looks like she is very good at deceiving people and has deceived many people.
It was indeed Wen Lingyi who fell in love first, and she was the one who pursued Zhu Yang first. It took her a whole year to win him over.
Later she found out that Zhu Yang actually had a boyfriend at that time.
"Wen Lingyi," Zhu Yang called her full name, "I was wrong about what happened back then. I was wrong."
"But I didn't expect that after so long, I still couldn't let you go."
"Just give me one more chance, okay? Just once." She raised her tear-filled eyes, her lower lip bitten by her teeth, maintaining a fragile and broken expression. "I will do my best to make it up to you, I swear."
Unfortunately, even though her figure has changed, her face is still beautiful, and when she cries, it is easy to deceive people's sympathy.
Wen Lingyi remembered very clearly that when they were together in the past, as long as Zhu Yang shed a few tears like this, she would easily soften her heart and would even be willing to do anything for her.
Willing to ignore those hurtful and suspicious details for her and pretend not to see them.
"You're not at home taking care of the children, but you come all the way here to find me," Wen Lingyi remained unmoved. "Do you want to hear me humiliate you?"
Unfortunately, even the act of humiliating Zhu Yang now seemed to Wen Lingyi like a waste of her time and energy, and was boring and uninteresting.
·
They both studied for their undergraduate degrees in City C. Wen Lingyi was a native of City C, while Zhu Yang was from City J in the far northern Province S.
So Wen Lingyi knew almost nothing about Zhu Yang's family and past experiences.
S Province does have beautiful women, and Zhu Yang is truly stunningly beautiful, but Wen Lingyi has kept her distance from the beauties of S Province ever since.
She would really hate the previous province because of one person.
After graduation, Zhu Yang returned to J City to work. He straightened his signature red wavy hair and dyed it back to black. The two began a long-distance relationship.
After they were separated, she repeatedly expressed her desire to visit Zhu Yang's hometown in the north to get a deeper understanding of her life.
But Zhu Yang always refused with various reasons and never agreed.
Because at that time, Zhu Yang had already started a family with another man in her hometown in the north.
Only Wen Lingyi was still foolishly planning to go to Zhuyang's city to develop after graduation, naively thinking that they could be together forever.
However, Zhu Yang explicitly rejected her request to go to the north on the grounds that he "doesn't like being too clingy" and "needs personal space."
Later, Wen Lingyi went abroad to study for a master's degree, and the distance between the two became even greater, and they had fewer opportunities to meet.
During one vacation, she returned to China specifically for Zhu Yang.
She wanted to go to Zhu Yang's city, but Zhu Yang disagreed. She asked Zhu Yang to come to City C, but Zhu Yang made excuses to refuse.
As a result, the accumulated doubts, uneasiness and long-term separation finally made her unable to bear it and break up.
Zhu Yang on the other end of the phone cried very sadly and tried his best to keep her.
That time, Zhu Yang flew directly from J City, which was thousands of miles away, to C City to find her.
After a warm reunion after a long separation, Wen Lingyi softened her heart and agreed to get back together.
Zhu Yang promised her that she only needed to wait for another year or two, and he would completely deal with the things over there and return to City C to be with her forever.
As for why they had to wait for one or two years and what specific matters they had to deal with, Zhu Yang did not elaborate.
At that time, Wen Lingyi was immersed in the joy of regaining what she had lost, and did not ask any further questions.
What happened next was that Su Qing accidentally saw Zhu Yang and a strange man entering a hotel together in an intimate manner, and immediately called Wen Lingyi to go and "catch them in adultery" together.
The truth is so cruel that it's laughable.
When Zhu Yang came to City C, she brought her legal husband with her.
How ironic, how ridiculous.
·
"I had no choice but to do it because of my family," Zhu Yang covered his face with his hands, his voice leaking out from between his fingers. "Where we are, if a woman doesn't get married and have children when she reaches a certain age, her whole family will be pointed at and criticized, and they will be ashamed..."
"I have my own difficulties."
"I originally thought that after I had the baby and completed my mission, I would come back to find you." She put down her hand and looked at Wen Lingyi with tears in her eyes. "Now I'm divorced, and the child is mine. Let's get back together, okay?"
"No one can stop us this time."
"Are you cheap?" Wen Lingyi looked at her, and the emotions that she thought she had forgotten surged up again.
She remembered especially clearly the feeling of her whole world collapsing and shattering when Zhu Yang's husband took out their marriage certificate with an expressionless face and placed it in front of her.
At that time, she was like a sewer rat, not even daring to reveal her identity, and fled in panic.
"Since you've chosen to get married, then just follow your path. You choose your own path, don't you?"
"You chose to be with me not because you loved me." So many years have passed, enough for Wen Lingyi to figure out many truths that were blinded by emotions at the time.
"You just feel it's fresh and exciting. It's just because your man is not around, you feel empty and lonely, and you need to find a way to entertain yourself."
"You don't love me at all," Wen Lingyi sneered, "You don't even want to touch me."
Looking back now, she was just treated as a safe and useful sex tool.
"What?" Wen Lingyi raised her chin. "Now you think your husband is not as good as me, so you want to go back to him?"
When Zhu Yang heard this, he was obviously stunned, then he laughed out loud, tears falling as he laughed.
"Wen Lingyi," Zhu Yang approached her, "You were so good to me before. I know you loved me, and you still love me now."
"I don't love you," Wen Lingyi was almost amused by her, "I only hate you."
"Where does hatred come from without love?" Zhu Yang reached out and grabbed one of Wen Lingyi's wrists. His fingers were so strong that Wen Lingyi felt pain in her wrist bones.
"Hate and love are two sides of the same coin, and you still love me."
"Let go!" Wen Lingyi's face darkened and she struggled hard, trying to pry open Zhu Yang's tightly clasped fingers.
"There is no love, hate is hate, don't make it any more dramatic for yourself."
"You're so self-indulgent that you've tricked yourself into this?"
For so many years, Su Qing always thought that Wen Lingyi still loved Zhu Yang, so she hated her so much. Even the mention of Zhu Yang's name made Wen Lingyi jump.
But for Wen Lingyi, this is not the case at all.
Hate is hate, just hate.
Zhu Yang is her PTSD.
She hated Zhu Yang, just like a veteran suffering from severe post-war stress disorder would hate the war that brought him endless pain.
Would someone go up to the old soldier and say, hate is love, you hate this war because you love this war?
This is really ridiculous.
"Belated affection is worth less than a dog." Wen Lingyi's teeth were almost broken. Her wrist was gripped by Zhu Yang so hard that it hurt, and she couldn't break free for a while.
How come this damn woman is so strong now?
·
"Lingyi?" Zhou Jianxing looked at the two people who were entangled and spoke hesitantly.
She saw two people arguing from a distance, but it seemed that the argument was so intense that no one noticed her.
Zhu Yang's attention was attracted by the sudden appearance of Zhou Jianxing, and he let go of Wen Lingyi's hand.
"Who are you?" She frowned and walked towards Zhou Jianxing with a bad tone.
Zhou Jianxing did not answer immediately, but walked quickly to Wen Lingyi and his eyes fell on Wen Lingyi's wrist that was clenched red.
She picked up Wen Lingyi's wrist with heartache, lowered her head, and blew carefully at the red mark.
She vaguely heard some of the argument between the two just now.
"I'm Wen Lingyi's girlfriend." Zhou Jianxing raised his head and looked at Zhu Yang.
“Snap—”
A loud and crisp slap landed heavily on Zhou Jianxing's face without any warning.
Clear fingerprints quickly appeared on his cheek, and a burning pain spread.
Zhou Jianxing was stunned. He subconsciously turned his head and looked blankly at Wen Lingyi beside him. His eyes were instantly covered with tears and he bit his lower lip in grievance.
"Are you stupid?" Wen Lingyi's voice turned cold, and she was very disappointed with Zhou Jianxing. "She hit you, and you just stood there and let her hit you? Don't you know how to hit back?"
Seeing that Zhou Jianxing didn't react, Zhu Yang pushed Zhou Jianxing hard again, and his hand happened to press on Zhou Jianxing's wound.
Zhou Jianxing's face turned pale in an instant, he cried out in pain, his body bent uncontrollably, and cold sweat instantly seeped out of his forehead.
"Fuck your mother." This was the first time Wen Lingyi cursed since she was a child. "Zhu Yang, today only one of you and me can survive."
After saying that, she grabbed Zhu Yang's hair and pulled it down hard.
This was also the first time she had fought in her life.
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