Ning Ruohuan’s smile froze. “What do you mean?”
Luo Yanzhi stepped in front of her. “Sister, for the sake of the Luo family’s interests, I cannot choose to marry you. However, I can still promise you that I love only you. No matter who I enter a political marriage with in the future, my feelings for you won’t change one bit. The so-called marriage is just for outward appearances; it won’t be anything more than two marriage certificates.”
Ning Ruohuan could hear the sound of blood rushing through her veins.
“I will be with you, just like we are now. Aside from a public identity, I can give you everything,” Luo Yanzhi said, pausing between each sentence. “Sister, you’re willing to stay by my side silently like this, right? Just like the past five years.”
A constant buzzing filled her ears, and the surrounding sounds gradually distorted, amplifying with the rhythmic pounding of her heart. Ning Ruohuan felt a chill seep into her entire body. She stared in disbelief at the woman whose lips were moving in front of her, feeling for the first time that Luo Yanzhi was a complete stranger.
This was a version of her she didn’t recognize at all.
Her body was so numb she couldn’t move. Ning Ruohuan’s voice trembled. “You can still promise… that you only love me?”
Luo Yanzhi softened her tone. “Yes, Sister. I only love you.” She half-knelt in front of Ning Ruohuan, resting her hands on her knees. Her gentle eyes held a faint ripple of warmth, as if she were coaxing a child. She repeated, “I am the only person in the world who loves you.”
The only person who loves you.
Over the past five years, Ning Ruohuan had heard these words countless times—whispered, tender, casual… but none were as ironic as they were at this moment.
How could the only person who loves you hurt you like this? Ning Ruohuan couldn’t understand it, and she didn’t want to waste any more energy trying to figure out Luo Yanzhi’s thoughts.
A part of her body was pained to the point of paralysis. A metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, and her throat was dry and stinging. She struggled to speak. “So, do you want me to be your mistress or your lover?”
How laughable. Five years of her life, and in the end, all she got were those titles.
Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the sofa tightly. What on earth made Luo Yanzhi think she would agree to such a suggestion and stay with her with a clear conscience?
Did she, Ning Ruohuan, have no dignity at all? She grit her teeth, the slight friction of bone on bone echoing sharply in her head, triggering one nerve after another.
Luo Yanzhi knew this news was a massive blow to Ning Ruohuan. She was willing to be patient and take things slowly. “Sister, don’t use such ugly words. My heart and body belong to you. In other words, you are the wife I have chosen. The eyes of the outside world don’t matter, and that piece of paper doesn’t matter. Isn’t this how we’ve lived for the past five years anyway?”
She carefully cupped Ning Ruohuan’s cheeks, her fingers gently stroking those pale, bloodless lips, slowly kneading them until they deformed under her touch.
Ning Ruohuan turned her head away.
Luo Yanzhi caught her chin, fixing her neck in place to continue her soothing. “Sister, didn’t you promise me? You said you were willing to stay by my side silently.”
Ning Ruohuan’s throat moved. She reached up, prying Luo Yanzhi’s fingers off her face one by one, then swung her arm to brush away the hand that tried to reach for her again. “Stop playing word games.”
She had overlooked it. She had overlooked how, every time she asked about the marriage candidate, Luo Yanzhi’s eyes would flicker and her words would be vague. She had never given a definitive answer.
It was always just a light, airy “I love you.”
At this moment, those three words seemed cheap and redundant.
Desolation rose in Ning Ruohuan’s heart. She had held onto hope for Luo Yanzhi time and again, only for it to be shattered by her own hands. When hope was gone, all that remained was disappointment.
Actually, it wasn’t even disappointment anymore.
Ning Ruohuan didn’t want to stay here. She wanted to go somewhere else.
But where could she go? There was no place for her in the current Ning family. Her past friends had long since lost contact with her because of Luo Yanzhi’s extreme possessiveness and various incidents.
In an instant, she had become a solitary soul, even more pitiful than before.
At least before, people treated her with respect. Even if they were using her or trying to gain something from her, they did so with a smile.
When had she ever been in a situation where anyone could trample over her head?
In this life, had she not compromised enough?
A small virtual hourglass appeared in Ning Ruohuan’s palm, the sand falling grain by grain.
The surroundings were silent, save for the sound of light breathing.
Luo Yanzhi took off her coat and tossed it onto the other side of the sofa. She sat down next to Ning Ruohuan, her back hunched and her head bowed into her arms, looking as if she were the one being troubled. “Sister, this is the best solution I could think of. Don’t make things difficult for me.”
Ning Ruohuan wanted to laugh. She twitched the corners of her mouth, but her face wouldn’t move. Her features were as stiff as if they had been frozen.
She didn’t have the energy to continue this conversation.
A “ding” sounded from the phone on the glass coffee table.
It was Ning Ruohuan’s phone.
It was likely a message from Shi Wen.
Shi Wen must have received the news long ago, but she probably didn’t know how to tell her, which was why she had delayed sending a message.
But fire cannot be wrapped in paper forever. Ning Ruohuan finally knew that Luo Yanzhi would not marry her.
She learned it from the person involved—the person she thought she loved.
Ning Ruohuan reached out to grab the phone, but another porcelain-white arm was faster, hooking the edge of the phone and sliding it into a palm.
Luo Yanzhi glanced at the lit screen. Even without clicking into the message, the two lines of text displayed were enough to deduce it was “spam.”
Spam that could be deleted immediately.
Luo Yanzhi looked at it and placed the phone on her side.
Ning Ruohuan didn’t have the energy to play these games. “Give me the phone.”
Luo Yanzhi said, “I’ll keep it for you for now, Sister.”
Ning Ruohuan’s pulse throbbed at her temples. The scene before her eyes shifted rapidly, blurring and clearing repeatedly. The hourglass in her palm tilted into an unstable state, the sand falling even more slowly.
Because of the angle, several grains of sand were stuck at the junction.
Luo Yanzhi rested her arm on Ning Ruohuan’s leg. “Sister, I will compensate you in other ways, for example…”
She paused. She realized that in all the years she had spent with Ning Ruohuan, the woman had never asked for anything material. It was as if she had no physical needs.
Luo Yanzhi only needed to use a few insincere promises to easily capture Ning Ruohuan’s gaze.
What does she actually need? Luo Yanzhi thought, frowning.
After a moment, she changed the subject. “Sister, this is our home.”
Ning Ruohuan turned her head, her amber eyes reflecting Luo Yanzhi’s face. “Home? Does this still count as a home?”
From this day forward, everything here had nothing to do with her. “Have you ever considered my feelings? Have you ever respected me?”
Her voice became unstable. She choked, covered her mouth, and began to cough violently, as if her lungs were about to be expelled.
Her internal organs felt twisted in pain.
Luo Yanzhi was stunned for a moment and retorted weakly, “If I didn’t care about your feelings or respect you, would I still be sitting here talking to you so kindly?”
“Kindly?” Ning Ruohuan was amused by those words. She suddenly discovered that Luo Yanzhi was quite eloquent and could be so self-righteous.
Like a high-and-mighty deity, a few words from her and those below were expected to be grateful—thankful that the deity was willing to offer an explanation.
But Ning Ruohuan was still rational. She focused her mind. “I don’t need President Luo to be so ‘kind’ to me.”
She stood up and headed upstairs. With every step, the blood dripping from her heart felt like a thousand cuts.
She held onto the handrail, forcing her back straight, refusing to let herself look too pathetic or defeated.
“Where are you going?” Luo Yanzhi asked from behind.
She didn’t answer and continued upstairs.
Luo Yanzhi watched the lonely figure disappear around the corner of the stairs and did not follow.
Ten minutes later, the sound of wheels rolling on the floor rang out, punctuated by a few heavy thuds as they hit the steps.
Luo Yanzhi looked up and saw Ning Ruohuan dragging a suitcase down the stairs.
Her heart skipped a beat, a sudden panic rising. “What are you doing?”
Ning Ruohuan looked at her blankly, the light gone from her eyes. “Give me back my phone.”
She needed to check Shi Wen’s message and tell her to come pick her up.
Luo Yanzhi pressed her hand onto the suitcase handle and asked sternly, “What are you doing?”
Ning Ruohuan felt numb all over, moving like a living corpse. It seemed Luo Yanzhi wasn’t going to return her phone. Fine. She had known Shi Wen for over a decade; she knew her number by heart. It didn’t matter if she had the phone back or not.
She pulled the suitcase forcefully, the blue veins on the back of her hand bulging, and bypassed the person blocking her way.
However, before she could reach the entrance, the butler appeared out of nowhere, blocking her path. At the same time, an electronic tone sounded, accompanied by a sharp alarm, and the entire villa was locked down from the inside out.
The butler spoke in a professional tone. “Miss Ning, you cannot leave.”
Ning Ruohuan’s face grew even paler. “Move.”
The butler didn’t budge, following only Luo Yanzhi’s orders.
“Sister, you can’t get out,” Luo Yanzhi said, walking slowly to her side. “You need to calm down for a while. Come back to the bedroom with me. If there’s anything you’re unhappy with, we can talk it out slowly.”
Ning Ruohuan turned her head stiffly, like a robot. “There is nothing to talk about.”
Usually, she treated Luo Yanzhi with kindness and trust. Even when things were riddled with holes, she would accept any random explanation Luo Yanzhi gave and console herself.
But not everything could be forgiven. To be kept in the dark while Luo Yanzhi married someone else, like a caged canary—the last shred of dignity Ning Ruohuan had left in this relationship told her she couldn’t do it.
Perhaps it was wrong from the very beginning. Her meeting and falling in love with Luo Yanzhi were all a mistake.
“I don’t care about those things; I only want to be with you.” When they first met and she was hesitating, those words from Luo Yanzhi still echoed in her ears.
At that time, the young girl’s sunshine had lit up her dark life, so she had willingly surrendered to it. Now, the sunshine that belonged only to her had been taken away, leaving only dense gloom.
Ning Ruohuan stayed alone in the bedroom. The door was locked from the inside, turning the place she had lived in for five years into an airtight cage.
She let her thoughts wander aimlessly. Bits and pieces of the past flashed through her mind. Like slow-motion movie frames, the things she had deliberately ignored were picked up again.
Ning Ruohuan analyzed the past with clear-headed logic, searching for where the relationship had begun to turn sour. Upon closer inspection, she discovered something terrifying.
She couldn’t find a starting point.
Exhausted, she rubbed her forehead and leaned her tall frame against the door.
Knock, knock.
There was a knock on the door.
Ning Ruohuan didn’t want to open it; she was resistant to communication.
The butler’s voice came through the door. “Miss Ning, President Luo asked me to give you your phone.”
The door opened.
Luo Yanzhi stood outside, with the butler standing behind her with a bowed head.
Their eyes met, but Ning Ruohuan’s gaze bypassed Luo Yanzhi and landed on the butler. She politely called the butler’s name. “My phone?”
The butler twitched, cold sweat beads forming on her forehead. She cast a tentative glance at Luo Yanzhi. After seeing the other nod in agreement, she breathed a sigh of relief and respectfully handed it over with both hands. “Miss Ning, your phone. Please take it.”