Chapter 222 Considerations
......Misunderstand?
Zhou Pingchuan... likes him?
Was it my imagination? Or was I just hallucinating from being too frightened tonight?
"Impossible!" Xia Mian exclaimed incredulously. "You should like Xia Mingzhao, you're lying to me!"
Zhou Pingchuan raised an eyebrow: "What did I do to make you think I like Xia Mingzhao?"
"You transferred him to the company and kept him by your side every day. To win a smile from Xia Mingzhao, you even took him to Paris and spent a fortune to buy over a dozen items for her. These are all evidence that you like him. Stop lying, is it fun to play games with me?"
The more Xia Mian talked, the angrier she became. So angry that she forgot her fear and reached out to pry Zhou Pingchuan's hand off.
After a long period of regular exercise, the boy developed incredible strength, which increased even more in his rage. Zhou Pingchuan's fingers ached from being twisted by the boy. But he remained in the embrace, motionless, letting the boy vent his anger.
After the boy had finished venting, Zhou Pingchuan explained, "Xia Mingzhao applied for the internship at Kepler on his own initiative. He came to Paris with me because his department manager had a family matter that day and recommended him to go along. As for buying those trinkets at the auction, you're right, it was indeed to win a smile from a beauty, except that the beauty wasn't him, but you."
"Xia Mian, I always knew you were in the next private room. Didn't you notice that every item I targeted in the auction was something you were interested in?"
"What a 'beauty,' I'm not a beauty, I'm a handsome guy! Wait..." Then, Xia Mian realized she was focusing on the wrong thing. "Then why are you bidding against me? Paying several times the price for something you could have bought at the original price, what a rip-off! No, no, that's not right either," Xia Mian realized she was focusing on the wrong thing again, "You're still lying to me. If you wanted to give me something, where's the gift? Don't make empty promises, I'm not that easy to fool!"
Zhou Pingchuan: "I wanted to tell you that night, but you didn't give me a chance to speak. As for those trinkets, since they weren't given away, Xia Mingzhao took them home and entrusted them to Zhou Ting for safekeeping."
Xia Mingzhao took it home...and entrusted it to Zhou Ting for safekeeping...Combined with the message from the day before joining the crew, Xia Mian's thoughts became clearer and clearer, and a conjecture gradually emerged:
Xia Mingzhao sent that message intentionally, to make him misunderstand Zhou Pingchuan.
Zhou Pingchuan was extremely proud, even to the point of being somewhat arrogant. He had his own style of doing things and rarely explained or proved himself, so it was impossible for him to waste so much breath trying to deceive him.
There's no need to lie to him.
As far as Zhou Pingchuan was concerned, he was of no value and not worth keeping.
Therefore, what Zhou Pingchuan said should be true.
But why did Xia Mingzhao... want to sow discord among them?
Xia Mian frowned. Seeing the child deep in thought, Zhou Pingchuan also noticed something illogical.
Xia Mian likes to keep things to himself and let others guess. But he's actually not good at hiding his emotions; his joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are all written on his face. If he holds it in for too long, he'll speak in a sarcastic tone, something Xia Mian has experienced countless times.
This time, however, Xia Mian seemed particularly certain about Xia Mingzhao's situation. So certain that she bypassed the usual sarcastic and sarcastic remarks and went straight to a calm state, proposing a divorce.
“Mianmian,” Zhou Pingchuan asked, “you seem very certain that I will like Xia Mingzhao.”
His first reaction was that someone was interfering.
Xia Mian snapped back to reality. He was certain, of course, because that's how it was written in the original story! But after tonight, he was almost certain that the plot had already shifted due to his intervention.
Zhou Pingchuan... likes him now.
The plot involving the villainous boss forcibly taking what belongs to the protagonist has not yet occurred.
Should we tell Zhou Pingchuan the truth?
Xia Mian hesitated for two seconds, then decided to keep it a secret for now. Putting himself in her shoes, he imagined himself living and working diligently every day, painstakingly expanding his business empire, making his family increasingly prosperous, and even establishing his own small family last year. Then someone told him, "Everything around you is fake, even yourself is fake. You're just a two-dimensional character created from words!"
...That's too cruel.
It's even more cruel than The Truman Show.
Moreover, he wasn't sure if making things up would cause further plot twists.
Until a solution is found, let's stay calm for now.
“...I’m scared,” Xia Mian casually made up an excuse. “Xia Mingzhao enjoyed the life that should have been mine and got the person I used to like. I’m afraid he’ll take you away too. That’s what any normal person would think.”
Xia Mian deliberately emphasized the word "once": "Aren't you pretty sure that Zhou Ting and I had a thing going on?"
Zhou Pingchuan's eyes darkened: "You used to like him, now he likes you. He filed for divorce from Xia Mingzhao for you, and now you're filing for divorce from me..."
"Okay, okay, stop talking," Xia Mian said, her face burning. "It's all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding."
At this point, Xia Mian realized that she had been so busy thinking and bickering that she hadn't told Zhou Pingchuan some very important things.
He stopped struggling and hugged Zhou Pingchuan back: "When you went back that morning, were you feeling unwell?"
Zhou Pingchuan paused, then suddenly coughed: "I caught a cold, and it keeps flaring up. It hasn't gotten better yet."
Xia Mian had never seen Zhou Pingchuan sick before. In his memory, Zhou Pingchuan was invincible. The pain made his heart tremble: "Then sit down first, I'll pour you some hot tea."
"No need, standing is fine."
"Okay, you must tell me if you're not feeling well. And... I'm sorry."
Xia Mian was too young, too young to face his mistakes honestly. He buried his head in Zhou Pingchuan's neck, his voice trembling: "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. Because of those messy little thoughts, I almost destroyed our family with my own hands, and made you suffer with me. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."
Zhou Pingchuan didn't say anything, he just patted him gently on the back.
Xia Mian hadn't intended to cry, but after he patted her like that, tears instantly welled up in her eyes: "I'm so terrible, will you still like me in the future?"
“You’re not bad, I like you,” Zhou Pingchuan said with an unwavering certainty, “Then about the divorce…”
Xia Mian raised her head and wiped away her tears: "Divorce... I need to think about it."
Zhou Pingchuan: "?"
"Aside from the misunderstanding, you weren't without fault either."
"Tell me about it."
"You're too results-oriented. You don't tell me anything you're doing, which makes me feel like I'm not involved at all. Now that we're married, we're one family. I'm your family member and also your best friend. Shouldn't we discuss things related to the family together?"
"Okay. How long do you need to think about it?"
Xia Mian thought for a moment: "Half a year."
Zhou Pingchuan: "At most three months."
"Okay. Then... can I still use your debit card?"
This question perfectly exemplifies the phrase "spoiled and arrogant," leaving Zhou Pingchuan both amused and exasperated: "Use it however you like."
"You're the best, hehe." Xia Mian jumped up and kissed him, making a loud "pop" sound.
He said Zhou Pingchuan was wrong, but he wasn't much better himself. Xia Mian thought silently that he had been spoiled too much, so much so that from childhood to adulthood, he always thought that everyone should understand him and know what he wanted. When he encountered problems, he always waited for others to coax him.
The importance of "speaking frankly" has been completely ignored.
In short, let's grow together from now on.
For Zhou Pingchuan, for his... family, he was willing to be a better adult.
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