Chapter 74 Falling from the Building Her head hit the floor hard and she lay still. ...
"What?" Qiao Zimu could hardly believe his ears.
"Say it again?"
Lan Jia looked up at him with a determined gaze and said, "I say, let's get engaged."
Upon hearing this, a thunderous roar immediately filled his mind, drowning out all other sounds.
In the past, upon hearing this news, he would have been overjoyed and announced it to the whole world. But now, hearing it, his heart was unusually heavy. He knew perfectly well that she had no feelings for him, so this sudden change of heart made him think that she had suffered some kind of shock.
Qiao Zimu held her hand and said somewhat incoherently, "Lan Jia, think about it again... I don't care what your reasons are for making this decision, marriage is a major life event. Why don't you think about it again, and we can talk about it again when you've calmed down, okay?"
"I'm calm and clear-headed. Or are you saying you don't want to marry me?"
She looked at him for a second, two seconds, three seconds... then she turned to leave.
"Sign it!" Qiao Zimu went all in. He had waited so long; how could he possibly let this opportunity slip by?
"What else do you need to do? What else do you want to do? Lan Jia, I'll do whatever you say."
"We'll leave the Li River tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away. I'll book the tickets." He was so overwhelmed by the news that he walked straight inside, then turned back to ask, "I want to inform my parents first. As for the engagement, we can discuss it and arrange to have it happen abroad, okay?"
Lan Jia nodded.
Chen Ma, who had gone to get a towel, returned. Upon hearing the good news, she beamed with joy and hurriedly said, "Miss Yi, please come in quickly and dry your hair. I'll go and make you a cup of hot ginger tea."
Qiao Zimu led Lan Jia to sit on the sofa, wiped her face, and then wiped the raindrops from her hair. They remained silent for a while, then he suddenly asked, "Have you discussed this with your family? What do they think?"
The old lady was alright, but he knew that Meng Cenjun had always looked down on him, so it was unlikely that he would agree.
Lan Jia happened to have thought of this as well, and naturally understood who he was worried about. She immediately stood up and said, "I'll go talk to him now."
Qiao Zimu quickly pulled her back, still feeling that she was driven by impulse. If she had seen Meng Cenjun and dropped this bombshell, given their usual tempers, it would have been a huge uproar.
"I'll go with you."
Although they had only verbally agreed to the engagement, in his heart, it was already a done deal. With the title of fiancé, he could finally stand openly by her side and rightfully protect her.
Before Lan Jia could say anything, he was already frantically looking for a driver and quickly grabbed an umbrella, ready to leave. Chen Ma had just brought out the ginger tea when she saw the two about to depart. Not knowing the details, she hurriedly asked, "So eager to leave? Miss Yi, wouldn't you like to have a cup of hot tea to warm yourself up before you go?"
Lan Jia knew she meant well, so she turned around and smiled, "Thank you, Aunt Chen. I'll come again next time."
Chen Ma nodded and stepped forward a little further, watching the two of them walk into the rain, arm in arm.
Once I got in the car, it felt like only a blink of an eye, and we arrived at Yizhai No. 9.
Just as Qiao Zimu was about to open the door and go downstairs, he heard Lan Jia say, "I'll go in myself and talk to him myself."
"But I'm really worried about you in your current state."
"What could possibly happen? He's not going to eat me."
He hesitated for a moment, then worried that if he went, he would be caught in the middle and only add fuel to the fire. He didn't want to put Lan Jia in a difficult position, so he could only hold her hand tightly and say, "Then let's talk it out calmly and peacefully. Don't argue. I'll stay outside. Contact me immediately if anything happens, okay?"
Lan Jia nodded.
The driver came over with an umbrella and opened the door for her.
She had just gotten out of the car and taken two steps when she heard Qiao Zimu call out to her loudly from behind: "Lan Jia!"
She looked at him.
He laughed and said, "I'll wait for you, wait for you to get engaged to me."
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
Lan Jia wanted to laugh, but her heart felt like it was being gnawed by ants, a mix of sourness and numbness. In the end, she said nothing, just nodded slightly, and left.
She opened the door herself, and as soon as she stepped inside, she saw Meng Cenjun standing in the living room making a phone call, her tone very gloomy. Turning her head and seeing her, she said, "No need," tossed her phone aside, and hurriedly walked towards her.
When Lan Jia saw that cold face approaching, she thought he was about to get angry and instinctively wanted to take a step back, but she didn't expect him to pull her into his arms first.
"where have you been?"
Do you know how worried I am about you?
He hugged her for a while, then reached out and stroked her cheek, touched her wet hair, and then touched her damp shoulders, saying, "What happened? Go take a hot shower and change into some clean clothes."
Meng Cenjun was completely absorbed in talking to her, only realizing after he finished that she wasn't responding at all.
"Lan Jia?" He stared into her lifeless eyes and suddenly felt an unknown fear.
After a long while, she finally moved, taking half a step back before saying softly, "Brother, I'm planning to get engaged to Qiao Zimu."
He stared at her, radiating coldness, and remained silent for a long time.
“You don’t love him,” he interrupted immediately.
After a two-second pause, she asked with great difficulty, "If you don't love him, why did you marry him?"
"As time goes by, I think I'll fall in love with him."
His expression was stern: "No, think about it again."
"Perhaps I've always loved him, but I didn't understand it before, and now I realize it."
He said patiently, "Lan Jia, think it over again."
"No need to think about it anymore, I've already thought it through very clearly."
"Think about it again..."
She suddenly looked up and said indifferently, "Give me back my passport. My flight to the United States is tomorrow."
Ever since she returned from her last trip injured, her passport had been kept by him. She had secretly gone out without his knowledge and felt guilty, assuming it was for her safety, so she soft-heartedly handed it over. But now, thinking back, wasn't that a form of control? She found it terrifying.
Sure enough, Meng Cenjun's face darkened upon hearing this: "Impossible."
Lan Jia wore an expression that said, "I knew this would happen," and with a sullen sigh, she went straight upstairs. She rushed into the study, rummaged through the desk and cabinets, pulled out all the drawers, and searched through everything, but found nothing.
She paced anxiously around the room, bumping into things like a headless fly, when suddenly she remembered there was a safe in the study, hidden inside the wall. Lan Jia struggled to drag the book ladder to a painting, climbed up in a few steps, took the expensive painting down and threw it aside, and sure enough, she saw the safe embedded in the wall.
Meng Cenjun had been following behind her since she went upstairs. Seeing her posture, he knew she was serious. Fearing she might fall in her haste, he stood guard beside the ladder, suppressing his breath as he advised her, "Lan Jia, come down first. We can discuss it later."
She ignored him and focused on opening the safe. Subconsciously, she entered her own birthday, but it said it was wrong. A strange feeling immediately arose in her heart. She then entered his birthday, but that was wrong too. She immediately got a little angry and asked him, "What's the password?"
"I won't let you leave until you explain yourself clearly," he said coldly.
Lan Jia was angry and heartbroken. In her own home, she didn't even know the combination to the safe. Did they think she was a human being? But she refused to believe it and kept trying other combinations, getting them wrong several times in a row. The safe locked itself, and in her anger, she smashed the steel plate, leaving her hand red and raw.
He reiterated, "Get down."
She really came down this time, but still ignored him, rushing headlong to the bedroom, then to the walk-in closet, dragging her suitcase out and spreading it on the floor. She opened the wardrobe and started rummaging through it, stuffing everything in without a care, throwing things around and searching, making a complete mess.
Meng Cenjun stood to the side, feeling that her every move was pricking him, and he couldn't help but get angry: "What are you doing now? It's just a couple of words, why are you packing your bags?"
With a cold expression, she took the clothes hangers off and threw them on the ground: "I'm moving out tonight and leaving tomorrow. You'd better give me your passport as soon as possible."
"Move out to live? With whom? With your illegitimate fiancé?"
Lan Jia sensed the sarcasm in the voice and immediately glared at him, saying, "I can live with whomever I want, what's it to you?"
"I won't allow it!"
He pulled her up abruptly and said angrily, "I'm your brother! I watched you grow up! I raised you! And now you're just going to leave without a word? I won't allow it!"
And so it always happens. Whenever she wants to do something, he always uses his status as her older brother to suppress her. He just wants her to live under his control forever.
Lan Jia, her anger simmering and her face flushed, said, "Didn't you tell me to think it over? I've thought it over. I want to leave Lijiang, I want to marry the person I love, I want to be independent, and I want to go far away to do what I want. I've thought everything through so clearly, why won't you agree? Why won't you respect my choice?"
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"You're leaving me, you're going to marry someone else, what am I supposed to do?"
He yelled at her fiercely, but then realized it was too irrational, so he restrained himself and softened his voice, saying to her, "Lan Jia, you don't love him. Think about it again."
"But I've never said I love you." Her tone was cold, but her eyes were red.
Meng Cenjun stared straight at her, feeling as if something inside him had shattered. He was like a broken porcelain vase, his words broken and fragmented: "It's okay if you don't love me. But Lan Jia, I'm your brother, I'm your family. We can't just separate like this..."
She said in a hoarse voice, "I will repay you many times over in the future."
These words were another heavy blow, so painful that he couldn't make a sound for a long time.
Lan Jia ignored him and hurriedly packed her luggage, stuffing in all her everyday clothes. She then opened the glass cabinet, grabbed her favorite bags, threw them into the pile of clothes, and rushed to the bedside. Her hands rummaged through the photo frames in the niche, finding the ones for her parents and grandmother, which she then hugged and walked back.
Meng Cenjun looked closely and saw that amidst the mess, only his photo with Lan Jia remained.
She doesn't want him.
He followed her back to the dressing room, and saw her pack her luggage, close the suitcase, and prepare to leave. He had never felt so helpless in his life. Standing before her, all his past business strategies and methods seemed to have failed him. He reverted to his most primal state, mindless and devoid of wisdom, only knowing to desperately try to keep her. He asked almost humbly, "I don't know what I did wrong, Lan Jia. Please tell me? Tell me, and I'll change. Please don't leave like this, in a fit of pique."
Lan Jia didn't even look up, only focusing on closing the box, her mouth still running: "You're not wrong, I'm the one who's wrong. Just consider me fickle. I'm just that kind of fickle person, not worth you trying to keep me. Please, just let me go, okay?"
He immediately reacted as if pricked by a needle, blurting out, "I don't believe it."
Was everything before a lie? Were all those things you said to me, that we would never be apart, all lies?
Lan Jia endured it, trying hard to pull the zipper, but the suitcase was too stuffed and she couldn't close it no matter how hard she pulled. She got angry and felt like she wanted to destroy it. She pulled hard, and before her hand was even injured, her eyes started to hurt. She yelled at him in a hoarse voice, "You believe everything I say? You believed what I said when I was young and naive?"
"You might not be sensible now, so I'll just pretend I didn't hear what you just said."
She was already irritable, and upon hearing this, she immediately glared at him sensitively. In his eyes, she would never be mature, and her wishes would never matter.
"No matter what you think, my mind is made up, and no one can stop me."
“You can’t leave.” He suddenly said, his face darkening.
Lan Jia looked at him in disbelief: "You're threatening me? What are you threatening me with?"
"Lan Jia, I have many ways to keep someone on the Li River, but I don't want to use them on you. So, don't make me angry, let's talk calmly, okay?"
Unfortunately, she became agitated as soon as she heard the first half of the sentence, her eyes red as she questioned, "What do you want to do? Are you going to imprison me? Tie me to your side forever?" She stood up, her whole being filled with hostility, "Do you want to control me? Has that always been your intention?"
"Lan Jia, calm down!"
He was about to reach out and grab her shoulders when she shoved him away, saying, "How am I supposed to stay calm?!"
"I want to leave! I want to leave! You won't let me leave! How can I calm down?"
"Lan Jia!"
She screamed and covered her ears: "Don't touch me!"
He stood with his hands dangling in the air, watching her avoid him like the plague. It felt as if a gaping hole had been punched in his heart, and the northwest wind rushed in, chilling him to the bone.
His mouth was also as if it contained ice, so stiff that it was incoherent: "Are you afraid of me?"
How could she not be afraid? Facing a face that looked exactly like her enemy every day, how could she not be afraid? Why him of all people? Why the person she once relied on most? She couldn't accept it! She couldn't accept it! The mere thought of it gave her nightmares night after night!
"I beg you... please let me go! Let me find a place to start over, okay? Let me go, I can't take it, I don't want to stay here for even a second longer..." she sobbed incoherently, two streams of hot tears instantly streaming down her face.
"Let you go?"
How did things escalate to the point where it's a matter of letting go or not letting go?
How could she hurt him with such words?
Despite the pain, Meng Cenjun maintained an icy expression and said, "You want me to let you go? But when have you ever let me go?"
"I only have one thing to say today: as long as I'm standing here, I will never let you leave this room without a clear explanation!"
Lan Jia looked at him in horror, tears streaming down her face. She was most afraid of him being like this, and she hated him the most; he seemed like a completely different person.
She immediately stumbled back a step, abandoning her luggage, and turned to run outside.
"Lan Jia!"
He immediately chased after her, embracing her in the corridor. As if finally overcome with fear, he pleaded in a trembling voice, "I'm sorry, I was just now... But you have to give me a reason? A reason that I can believe? You don't truly love him, do you? Then why did you leave me? Weren't we fine before? It hasn't been that long! I don't believe you've changed your mind so quickly!"
Lan Jia had completely lost her mind, her thoughts consumed by fear. He held her in his arms, but she struggled like a small animal about to be slaughtered, kicking and screaming, "Let me go! Let me go!"
He held her tightly, his eyes bloodshot: "I won't let you leave!"
"Lan Jia, explain yourself!"
She bit his arm hard, and taking advantage of his pain, she ran away.
But just as she reached the stairwell, he grabbed her again.
He gripped her shoulders tightly, his tall frame looming over her like a dark cloud, and he questioned her with almost cruel rage: "Why? What did I do wrong that you're treating me like this? Why did you leave me?"
He shook her, and she trembled violently, crying and screaming in terror, "Are you trying to control me? You want to control me! Just like Meng Shiyuan controlled my mother, right?"
"What about the future? If I leave you, will you murder me like Meng Shiyuan murdered my mother?"
"Why won't you let me go? Your Meng family murdered my parents, and you still won't let me go!"
“Yi Lanjia!” he interrupted her sharply.
"I have no connection with the Meng family anymore! Do you understand?"
"It's related!"
She was completely devastated, and cried out in tears:
"You are his son! You are his son!"
How can I accept you?
There was a two-second silence, then he incredulously pinched her face:
What nonsense are you talking about?
She was breathing rapidly, looking at him with cold, resentful eyes.
Exactly the same.
The way he looks when he's angry, the way he looks now, is exactly like Meng Shiyuan.
She couldn't take it anymore!
She never wanted to see him again!
Lan Jia hardened her heart and struggled desperately again.
This time, he grabbed her hands, like a mentally unstable patient, frantically demanding, "You're not allowed to leave! Explain yourself! Yi Lanjia, explain all of this to me!"
I don't want you anymore!
She screamed.
He froze, staring at her blankly and pitifully.
Lan Jia cried out:
"Meng Cenjun, I don't need you anymore!"
After she finished speaking, she suddenly mustered all her strength and angrily shoved him in the chest.
Unfortunately, she did not run away from him as expected.
When she was just a hair's breadth away from the stairs, Lan Jia stepped into the air in terror and fell down in an instant, tumbling all the way to the lower platform where she hit the marble floor hard on the back of her head and lay motionless.
Meng Cenjun watched all of this with a blank mind, his body already stumbling and running towards her.
However, after taking only two steps, he completely lost his strength and collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Author's note: Sigh.
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