Time seemed to stop, and the air seemed to cease flowing. Wen Ruan looked at Lin Qinghan in a daze, only his words from earlier were left in her mind.
He said, "I miss you."
He said, "I don't want you to come back to me out of habit, but because I truly miss you."
He said, "I know I've done a lot of things wrong in the past. I haven't been a qualified husband. I've overlooked many things. I hope you can give me another chance."
Finally, he said, "Wen Ruan, let's start over, okay?"
Wen Ruan.
Let's start over, okay?
The night's gardenias still exuded a delicate fragrance.
The man in front of her, illuminated by the bright moonlight, had a gentle look she had never seen before.
As Wen Ruan looked at him, she suddenly laughed. It wasn't the restrained smile from before, but an unrestrained laughter, with tears streaming down her face.
She had emerged from the incredulous shock, yet she kept laughing, her eyes and brows curved, her gaze fixated on Lin Qinghan. She gushed out several laughs uncontrollably.
Lin Qinghan looked at Wen Ruan with some confusion.
He didn't think her laughter was out of happiness. On the contrary, this laughter made him feel an unprecedented sorrow and sadness. He frowned, about to inquire, but before he could speak, Wen Ruan, who had been laughing, stopped as if she had laughed enough.
"Wen Ruan—" She stared directly into his eyes and suddenly called out to him.
"Yeah?" Lin Qinghan saw her return to normal and temporarily suppressed his doubts, asking softly, "What's wrong?"
"Do you know?" Wen Ruan looked at him and said slowly, "Before I asked for a divorce, I had hoped for a conversation like this with you more than once. Your eyes only on me, speaking openly and sharing intimate conversations with each other."
"I could understand what you wanted, and you could know what I needed."
Lin Qinghan's heart throbbed. He had a feeling that what followed wouldn't be a good thing, at least not the kind of thing he wanted to hear.
He was about to speak, but before he could, Wen Ruan continued to look at him and said, "But you didn't. From the beginning to the end, you never had a proper conversation with me. We've been married for three years, over 1100 days, and we had the closest relationship in this world."
"But you couldn't spare a single moment to have a heartfelt conversation with me."
"You were always too busy, always had so much to do. Have you tried to understand my life? Have you tried to understand how I've lived these three years?"
Wen Ruan had initially intended to calmly explain the facts to Lin Qinghan as an outsider, telling these words rationally, but she found it too difficult. She couldn't truly forget those days, nor could she make herself an outsider.
She felt distressed and wanted to cry.
She even wished that she could scold Lin Qinghan like a shrew, asking him why, why he had to come to her when she was beginning to forget and enjoy her new life, using the gentlest words to tear open the wounds hidden in her heart.
Tears in her eyes, she gazed at Lin Qinghan.
Her trembling figure was concealed in the oversized suit.
"Wen Ruan."
Lin Qinghan spoke in a hoarse voice. He had never seen this side of Wen Ruan before, nor had he ever faced such questioning. He reached out to touch her, but before his fingertips could reach her shoulder, Wen Ruan had already taken two steps back.
With unfamiliar eyes, she spoke with lips redder than the night, "You never, even until now, understood what I want, though you say you want to pursue me again, claim to know your mistakes, and want me back by your side. But do you understand what I want?"
"Lin Qinghan, you say you want to treat me well, but do you know how to do that?"
Lin Qinghan, who was always victorious outside, seemed at a loss at the moment. He stared at her blankly and didn't know how long it took before he weakly said, "You can tell me what you want, what you need. You can tell me."
Wen Ruan looked at him.
She had countless things she wanted to say, grievances, anger. She wanted to tell him everything, but suddenly she found it meaningless.
She knew that Lin Qinghan truly didn't know how to treat a person well.
His parents' marriage had never been happy, and his grandfather had always focused on his career. Since childhood, there had only been the housemaids and the butler around him. Knowing this, she always found herself empathizing with him involuntarily.
She even thought that as long as she gave more, Lin Qinghan would eventually reciprocate with the same love.
But now.
She lowered her head, feeling utterly exhausted. She no longer wanted to empathize with Lin Qinghan.
Let whoever wants to, empathize. She didn't want to be tired anymore.
"Lin Qinghan." Wen Ruan looked at him, seeing his pale face and ignoring it. She gently spoke to him with the coldest and most indifferent words, "I'm a human, not a machine. People get tired."
"I've pursued you for so many years, and I'm very tired."
"From now on, I just want to live my own life well. As for you, whether you genuinely like me and want to pursue me, or it's just impulsive, I don't care anymore."
She took off her suit and handed it back to him.
Seeing that he still didn't reach out, she didn't insist. She put it on a nearby branch, didn't look at him, didn't say another word, and decisively left.
Lin Qinghan watched Wen Ruan leave, then took a step forward, but stopped after just one step.
The figure and questioning of Wen Ruan just now lingered in his mind. First was her tearful and distressed appeal, then her composed and indifferent departure.
He felt suffocated.
As if being lightly cut by a knife.
Extremely uncomfortable.
Lin Qinghan didn't know what to do. Faced with Wensoft, the tactics he used in the mall seemed to be of no use. He couldn't even say a word to keep her. He could only watch helplessly as Wensoft walked away.
In fact, there was no longer Wensoft's figure in front of his eyes.
But he still stayed in place, not knowing how long before he turned and left.
After they left.
When there was no one else around, a figure jumped down from a tree. At first, he stayed in the shadows, and his appearance couldn't be seen until he slowly walked out of the shade, and the moonlight illuminated him, allowing people to see clearly.
Ji Yan.
He had come out of the banquet hall early, originally not wanting to see those hypocritical people. Unexpectedly, he ran into Wensoft and Ji Yan.
Thinking back to the conversation the two had just had.
Ji Yan glanced in the direction Lin Qinghan had left and then at the banquet hall, raised an eyebrow, and said nothing.
***
Banquet hall.
After leaving the garden, Wensoft didn't immediately return. She went to the restroom to touch up her makeup and make sure she looked presentable before going back.
The people in the banquet hall stopped talking when they saw her return, and everyone turned to look at her, as if trying to figure out what had happened before.
Ji Xi and others came over directly.
They were all anxious and concerned, asking, "Are you okay?" Ji Xi held Wensoft's hand and checked her from head to toe before finally sighing in relief when she saw that she was fine.
"If you hadn't returned, we would have gone out to look for you."
Facing the worried and caring faces in front of her, Wensoft smiled sincerely and said, "I'm fine, sorry for worrying you."
"Don't be so polite."
Once it was confirmed that Wensoft was okay and not lying, they all relaxed and started talking about other things.
***
In the car.
Li Ze watched the movement in the back seat, somewhat surprised that he came out so quickly, and also felt it was within reason. He didn't say anything else, just asked quietly, "Boss, is it home, or?"
Lin Qinghan didn't speak; he sat in the back seat, turned his head to look at the brightly lit Ji's house, and his sharp-angled face in the shadows was favored by the Creator.
Not knowing how long he had been staring, he remembered Wensoft's question, her eyes red as she asked, "Do you know what my life has been like these past three years?"
His delicate eyelashes trembled slightly, his thin lips pressed down, and his expression briefly showed confusion and vulnerability. When he withdrew his eyes, his expression returned to its usual cold and indifferent look, as if that moment of vulnerability was just an illusion.
"Home," he said.
Then he closed his eyes and didn't speak again.
The car slowly drove away, and when it reached Tan Mountain Villa, it was already very late.
Lin Xiue had gone out to play cards and hadn't come back. The other servants were all asleep, and only Aunt Li remained in the living room, greeting him when she saw him come back, taking the things from his hand, and asking, "Sir, why are you back so late today? Wasn't it a six o'clock flight?"
Afterwards, she asked, "Do you want me to prepare a late-night snack for you?"
Lin Qinghan shook his head. He had no appetite for a late-night snack; he just wanted to go upstairs and lie down, doing nothing. As he took a few steps forward, he suddenly paused, turned around, and asked, "How has Wensoft been at home for the past three years?"