4 – He is Blind, I Forgive Him
“My head hurts, Tang Qianluo.”
Ning Dai’s voice was soft, and even he was taken aback after speaking. For so many years, he had never uttered the word “pain” to anyone.
Tang Qianluo breathed a sigh of relief. She pressed Ning Dai back into his seat, walked behind him, and began gently massaging his temples.
“Should we ask Doctor Zuo to come take a look?” Although she hadn’t been looking forward to this marriage, she certainly didn’t want to become a widow so soon!
The faint, elusive fragrance from Tang Qianluo’s body drifted into Ning Dai’s nostrils. He closed his eyes slightly, his tense nerves finally relaxing a little.
Seeing that he remained silent, Tang Qianluo continued,
“My grandpa used to have frequent headaches too. Whenever I massaged him, he’d feel much better.”
“As a reward, I can accompany you to visit him.”
Tang Qianluo’s fingers paused for a moment before she replied somewhat sadly, “He passed away.”
Ning Dai hadn’t known about this. He had married Tang Qianluo only because he was forced by the family elders—he had never bothered to learn much about the Tang family.
“I miss him a lot, but sometimes I think it’s better that he’s gone. Grandpa had late-stage lung cancer. Before he passed, he suffered every day. Now he must be living happily somewhere.”
Tang Qianluo was a typical optimist, holding a very open-minded view about life and death.
Ning Dai’s brow furrowed slightly, as if he had recalled something unpleasant. He straightened up and resumed his cold demeanor.
“When people die, they’re just dead!”
Tang Qianluo was exasperated. This guy really knew how to kill a mood!
“Tang Qianluo, aren’t you really curious?” Ning Dai said casually, though a closer look would reveal his slightly pale fingertips.
“I am curious, but I won’t ask if you don’t tell me. Ning Dai, we’re husband and wife. I don’t want to—and won’t—learn about you from others.”
Husband and wife… This was the first time she had mentioned that term. Although both of them had entered this marriage unwillingly, Tang Qianluo had been fulfilling her role exceptionally well.
Ning Dai’s fingertips trembled slightly. He said nothing more and turned back to his work.
Beep—
After some time, the landline on Ning Dai’s desk rang. He pressed a button and heard Ji Xianyang’s trembling voice on the other end.
“President Ning, there’s a food delivery downstairs… they say you ordered it.”
Everyone in Ning Corporation knew that Ning Dai had severe germophobia and never ate takeout. If the delivery person hadn’t been able to name the floor of the executive office, Ji Xianyang wouldn’t have dared to make this call even with ten times the courage.
“Tell him to get lost!” Ning Dai frowned and raised his hand to hang up.
“Wait, wait! I ordered it.” Tang Qianluo rushed forward to stop him. “Assistant Ji, could you please bring it up for me?”
“You want to eat takeout in my office?” Ning Dai gritted his teeth.
Tang Qianluo clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture. “Just this once! I’m starving.”
Ning Dai suddenly felt the urge to crack open this woman’s head and see what exactly was inside.
Yet Ning Dai, who always adhered strictly to rules, actually indulged her!
The luxurious, high-end CEO’s office was instantly filled with the earthy aroma of spicy hot pot, grounding the atmosphere entirely.
Employees coming in to deliver documents couldn’t help but sneak glances at the woman devouring her meal like a storm.
Tang Qianluo’s lips were slightly red from the chili. Holding the spicy hot pot like a treasure, she walked over to Ning Dai.
“Ning Dai, don’t you want some? It’s super delicious!”
Ning Dai leaned back and snorted coldly. “Do you know what happened to the last person who dirtied my office?”The man’s aura was too overpowering, making Tang Qianluo stammer nervously, “W-what is it?”
“It will soon be his anniversary.” His tone was low, but icy enough to send a shiver down Tang Qianluo’s spine.
She hurriedly stepped back while holding the spicy hot pot, only to trip and accidentally fling the entire bowl out.
The full basin of spicy hot pot splashed all over Ning Dai. Tang Qianluo stood frozen in place, feeling as though it was about time she went to meet her grandpa.
“Ning Dai, are you burned?” Tang Qianluo quickly grabbed some tissues and began wiping him down.
Perhaps due to panic, she couldn’t control her strength and ended up pulling his collar open.
She should have been embarrassed by the situation, but the horrifying scars on the man’s body made her freeze!
The scars looked old, crisscrossing densely across his chest and shoulders. Just this small area had so many scars—she didn’t even dare imagine what the unseen parts looked like.
Ning Dai hurriedly yanked his collar back up, gritting his teeth, “Get out!”
But this time, Tang Qianluo didn’t move an inch. Her voice slightly choked, she tremblingly withdrew her hand and asked,
“Ning Dai, did it hurt?”
Did it hurt? In the first twenty-five years of his life, no one had ever asked Ning Dai that question.
When he was whipped, when he was locked in the closet, when he was held underwater in the bathtub nearly suffocating—everyone would only tell him, “Ning Dai, just endure it a little longer!”
Those words exploded like fireworks in Ning Dai’s heart, shaking him to the core and even causing a ripple in his gaze.
“Too many words,” he said, walking toward the inner room of the office.
After asking, Tang Qianluo also felt a bit of regret. The two of them weren’t close at all, and the question had been somewhat abrupt. Perhaps it was because she recalled her own childhood experiences of being beaten and scolded by Wan Qing, stirring a sense of sympathy within her.
She shrugged and walked back to the sofa, intending to call someone to clean up the mess, but was interrupted by a noisy argument outside the door.
The door was pushed open with a bang, and Tang Qianluo stood still, sizing up the woman at the door.
Her hostile demeanor was Tang Qianluo’s most immediate impression.
“I’m sorry, Madam, I couldn’t stop her,” Ji Xianyang said with a slight bow, apologizing.
Tang Qianluo shook her head. Anyone who could barge in at this level was no simple character.
“Who are you?” the woman asked rudely, her contemptuous gaze sweeping over Tang Qianluo with disdain.
Tang Qianluo pulled out a tissue, wiped her hands slowly, and said, “You want to see my husband, and you’re asking who I am?”
The woman snorted coldly, crossing her arms and lifting her chin arrogantly. “So it’s you—the cheap second daughter of the Tang family!”
“Auntie, did your mother not teach you any manners?”
The woman gritted her teeth but remained composed. “Then again, how can one expect ivory from a dog’s mouth? Let me introduce myself—I’m Huo Yan, Ning Dai’s fiancée!”
Tang Qianluo replied expressionlessly, “Oh, and then?”
Huo Yan was taken aback, as if she hadn’t expected Tang Qianluo to be so calm. She cleared her throat and repeated, word by word, “Your husband—he is my fiancé.”
“Everyone has a moment of blindness in their youth. It’s fine, I can forgive him.”
Tang Qianluo had grown up watching these kinds of wealthy family dramas. It wasn’t just fiancées—there were plenty of women who showed up pregnant at the door.Huo Yan had intended to provoke Tang Qianluo to stage a dramatic scene, but she never expected Tang Qianluo to genuinely not care in the slightest, showing no reaction at all.
She dropped her facade, her expression instantly turning unpleasant. Gritting her teeth, she forced out a sentence through clenched jaws,
“Fine, if you don’t mind that, then what about the fact that his father killed someone? Do you not mind that either?”
Hearing this mentioned by two different people in a single day, Tang Qianluo was truly growing impatient.
“So what?”
“Ning Dai’s father is a murderer—a serial killer. He killed my mother. His entire family is guilty. He must marry me—it’s what he owes me!”
Huo Yan’s veins bulged, her face twisted and repulsive, like a snake hissing with its tongue flickering, as if she were about to lunge at Tang Qianluo the next moment.