“I do not want you to be like this. Mianyue, are you blaming me?”
As the words fell, the customary gentle smile on Wen Conghan’s face vanished abruptly.
She watched Ji Mianyue with eyelashes trembling slightly, her voice carrying a faint quiver. The stark reality was that Wen Conghan looked as though she were about to shatter.
“Do you, do you hate me very much?”
This question was asked softly and was filled with self-deprecation. The words were light, but the meaning behind them was heavy.
Ji Mianyue’s hand, which was holding her bag, stopped. She had never seen Wen Conghan like this.
In everyone’s eyes, Wen Conghan was always composed, no matter what happened.
But the current Wen Conghan looked like a kitten drenched by a heavy rain in the middle of the night, crouching confusedly at a street corner.
“Mianyue, I will not force you anymore, alright?”
Wen Conghan forced a slight curl of her lips, but the resulting expression did not look like a smile. Instead, her voice sounded more like she was crying.
“Just pretend I never said anything. Or, I will go tell Auntie Ji and Auntie Shen not to acknowledge me. I do not care about the status.”
As she spoke, she took several steps back.
One step, two steps, Wen Conghan looked as if she were about to retreat to the edge of a cliff and leap off.
Ji Mianyue’s heart felt as though it were being squeezed by a hand, turning sour and stinging.
In her eyes, Wen Conghan was someone who was meant to stand in the light.
After learning that their lives had been swapped, Ji Mianyue had secretly looked into Wen Conghan’s past experiences.
After reading them, Ji Mianyue felt that Wen Conghan was both intelligent and resilient. She truly resembled their mothers much more than Ji Mianyue did.
She never expected that Wen Conghan would show such a fragile side because of a single sentence from her. Had she done something wrong?
“Please do not be sad.”
Ji Mianyue felt panicked and reached out to pull her. Her extended hand stopped in mid-air. “I did not mean it that way.”
She simply felt that she had occupied Wen Conghan’s life for too long.
Therefore, she wanted to return a little bit to Wen Conghan within the scope of her ability.
She was merely a fake phoenix who had usurped another’s nest. How could she continue to live such a comfortable life with a clear conscience?
The skincare products her mother bought her cost thousands per bottle, yet Wen Conghan’s monthly living expenses in high school had not even reached that amount.
She had even specifically chosen brand-new items with the packaging intact, fearing that Wen Conghan would think she was showing off.
“I just feel that I am no longer worthy of using these,” she lowered her head, her voice growing smaller. “Giving them to you is their true intended purpose.”
Wen Conghan listened quietly. Many emotions surged in her eyes, but she forcibly suppressed them. She understood what Ji Mianyue was struggling with better than anyone.
She knew that what Ji Mianyue was sharing with her was not just surface-level skincare products, but the maternal love Ji Mianyue possessed.
She was personally sharing a portion of that love with Wen Conghan.
But now, Wen Conghan could not show that she understood this.
“Mianyue,” she finally spoke, her voice as light as a sigh and filled with guilt. “I do not want to see you treat yourself this way.”
She looked up, her eyes rimmed with red and her voice shaking.
“You doing this makes me feel like I am an absolute villain.”
Hearing this, Ji Mianyue’s gaze crashed directly into Wen Conghan’s reddened eyes.
Wen Conghan frowned slightly, her long eyelashes masking her pain, yet they could not hide the faint exhaustion and self-reproach. She was smiling bitterly.
Ji Mianyue’s heart suddenly turned sour, as if soaked in lemon juice. The bitterness rushed to her eyes, making her almost burst into tears.
“I just wanted to give you something while I still have, while I can still give,” she explained incoherently, feeling that her words were not quite right. “These originally should not have belonged to me. If I keep them, instead,”
She suddenly choked up as a more terrifying thought surfaced, making her face turn pale.
“Do you think that by doing this, I am humiliating you?”
She was startled by her own question.
But Wen Conghan’s silence, her retreating steps, and her wounded gaze, everything pointed toward this answer that made her heart race with anxiety.
Ji Mianyue was completely flustered.
She looked at Wen Conghan, her eyes full of panic and regret.
Ji Mianyue was still holding those exquisite bottles and jars. She felt as if she were holding glowing red coals.
The air between the two of them was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
Meanwhile, Wen Conghan stood a few steps away with her back straight, yet she looked as if she would break at the slightest touch.
“If you insist on giving them to me, can you listen to what I want to say?”
“Mianyue, please do not be so cruel to me, okay?”
When it came to showing weakness to elicit sympathy, it was impossible for Wen Conghan to lose.