“Yuanyuan, are you still leaving?”
A deep, magnetic voice drifted through the room.
Ning Zhiyuan followed the sound and met the gaze of the man sitting in a wheelchair behind her.
Shen Li’s body was tense. The hands resting on his knees unconsciously drew together.
His handsome face remained stern, his dark eyes fixed on her without blinking. Hidden within them was a trace of heartache so subtle it was almost impossible to notice.
The moment Ning Zhiyuan saw Shen Li again, she forgot how to react.
All she could see were the memories from her previous life.
The man lying beside her in a crystal coffin.
The man who had embraced her shattered, unrecognizable corpse after she had fallen to her death.
The man who had chosen without hesitation to be buried alongside her.
The man who had died for love.
Her eyes were already red, but now tears poured down uncontrollably.
Ning Zhiyuan wiped at her face.
Warm.
Wasn’t she already dead?
How could she still cry?
How could she still feel anything?
Panic surged through her as she looked around.
Her gaze landed on the reflection in the vanity mirror.
Under the soft lighting, she was wearing a red evening gown. Her long, slightly wavy hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall.
Her face was youthful and delicate, her eyes red-rimmed from crying.
This was not the despairing twenty-five-year-old woman she had become.
This was the vibrant, youthful version of herself from three years ago.
A bold thought surfaced in her mind.
She had been reborn.
In an instant, scorching tears flooded from her eyes.
Seeing her cry so hard, Shen Li raised a hand and pressed it against his chest. Lowering his gaze, he sighed softly.
“You should go. I’ll cancel the engagement. The Ning family won’t be affected in any way.”
The familiar scene.
The familiar words.
The memories buried deep within her previous life gradually awakened.
Shen Li was three years older than her.
The two of them had grown up together.
When she was younger, she had adored this older brother.
Later, because of certain events, she began to resent him, the perfect child everyone else’s parents loved to compare their children to.
That year, she had been kidnapped.
Shen Li had rescued her and lost a leg in the process.
The Shen family had used that incident to pressure the Ning family into arranging an engagement.
On the day of the engagement, her ex-boyfriend, Pei Jin, told her that if she refused the engagement, he would get back together with her.
She had run away from the ceremony.
Shen Li had personally brought her back.
Ning Zhiyuan had cursed at him and kicked him, even declaring viciously,
“I’d rather stay unmarried for the rest of my life than get engaged to a cripple in a wheelchair!”
The marriage had never been born under proper circumstances.
It existed only because of Shen Li’s disability.
If Shen Li recovered, there would be no engagement to speak of.
The hidden meaning behind her words was clear.
No matter what happened, she would never accept Shen Li.
The hurt in Shen Li’s eyes had been impossible to miss.
After a long hesitation, he had asked her:
“If my leg recovers, Yuanyuan, will you still leave?”
Hearing that had made her feel deceived.
She already believed Shen Li was pretending to be injured and using his sacrifice to force her into marriage.
Now it sounded as though he was not even trying to keep up the act anymore.
The more she thought about it, the more twisted she believed he was.
By the end, she had cried from sheer anger.
Unable to bear seeing her upset, Shen Li gave her the freedom to choose.
She immediately ran off to reconcile with Pei Jin.
The engagement banquet, which had attracted the attention of the entire city, was officially canceled.
Her runaway engagement and reunion with Pei Jin became tabloid headlines.
The three of them turned into everyone’s favorite gossip topic.
Later, public interest faded.
The Shen family voluntarily proposed ending the engagement.
Yet the Ning family suffered no repercussions whatsoever.
The engagement quietly disappeared into history.
She got her wish and reunited with Pei Jin.
In the end, he caused her death.
Her family was destroyed.
Her life ended in tragedy.
When Shen Li learned of what had happened, he traveled thousands of miles to avenge her.
Then he gave up his own life to follow hers.
The memories came to an end.
Ning Zhiyuan frowned and wiped away her tears.
She had never liked owing anyone.
Especially Shen Li.
Her enemies would be dealt with.
As for the emotional debt she owed him…
She would repay it.
Meanwhile, Shen Li awkwardly turned around and maneuvered his wheelchair toward the door.
Perhaps because he wasn’t accustomed to it, he moved slowly.
Ning Zhiyuan secretly complained to herself.
Wasn’t he supposed to be perfect at everything?
Then why was he so bad at pretending to be disabled?
Would someone who used a wheelchair every day really be this unskilled?
In her previous life, the reason the engagement had been canceled was because Shen Li had walked into the banquet hall himself and announced that his leg had already recovered.
The engagement was no longer necessary.
After considerable effort, Shen Li finally reached the door.
Closing his eyes briefly, he took a steadying breath and reached for the handle.
The moment he opened a small crack and caught sight of the people waiting outside—
Bang!
The door slammed shut again.
Locked.
Ning Zhiyuan planted both hands on either side of his wheelchair and stared directly at him.
Her voice sounded muffled.
“Brother Shen Li, where are you going?”
There was only one thought in her mind.
She could not let him leave.
She did not want him to misunderstand and think she was unwilling to get engaged.
She did not want him to walk away and truly choose to let her go.
How much must Shen Li have loved her?
To tolerate all of her stubbornness.
To die for her.
The feeling of regaining what she had lost felt more like a dream than reality.
She had not even had the chance to make it up to him yet.
The distance between them was extremely close.
The girl’s light breaths brushed against Shen Li’s cheek.
Yuanyuan had never been this close to him before.
She had always avoided him whenever possible.
For a moment, he did not know how to respond.
Outside the room, the bodyguards all wore troubled expressions.
Their hearts were practically in their throats.
Assistant Qi forced himself to remain calm.
Earlier, they had heard Miss Ning crying and making a scene, along with sounds of physical struggle.
Their boss would never bear to say a harsh word to Miss Ning.
The so-called fight had obviously been Miss Ning beating up the boss unilaterally.
Ever since the engagement was arranged, Miss Ning’s attitude had only grown worse.
Their boss had been about to come out moments ago.
Now he had been locked inside again.
With all that commotion…
Although his leg had recovered, if Miss Ning truly wanted to hurt him, he probably would not resist.
No.
They could not just sit and wait.
Assistant Qi shot the bodyguards a look.
Everyone immediately gathered around.
Then he knocked on the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Boss, are you alright?”
It was their coded signal.
If they did not receive confirmation that Shen Li was safe, Assistant Qi would break in with the others.
A frown appeared on Shen Li’s brow.
The matter between him and Yuanyuan was nobody else’s business.
He knocked twice on the door to indicate he was safe.
The interruption instantly shattered the ambiguous atmosphere between them.
His muddled thoughts cleared at once.
Ever since childhood, whenever Yuanyuan called him “Brother Shen Li,” she always wanted something.
Help with homework.
Taking the blame when she made mistakes.
And countless other things.
He had already discovered that Pei Jin was connected to the kidnapping.
The man did not genuinely love her.
Yet Yuanyuan refused to believe it.
She would not even allow him to speak a single bad word about Pei Jin.
She had repeatedly demanded that he promise not to do anything to him.
For the first time, Shen Li felt defeated.
Had all his years of devotion meant nothing to her?
Did she truly feel none of it?
Steadying himself, he stopped looking at her.
He feared that one more glance would weaken his resolve to let her go.
“I’ll cancel the engagement. I’ll also keep every promise I’ve made. You can rest assured.”
Looking at the stubborn silhouette before her, Ning Zhiyuan felt a surge of irritation.
She quickly grabbed the hand he was using to turn the lock.
“No!”
Shen Li’s hand was cool to the touch.
His fingers were long, slender, and beautifully defined.
As she held that jade-like hand, she watched helplessly as a faint blush quietly crept up his ears.
Ning Zhiyuan’s heart began pounding wildly.
She was repaying an emotional debt.
So what if she held Shen Li’s hand?
Meeting his puzzled gaze, she released him.
Turning away, she took two steps forward and cleared her throat.
“The engagement doesn’t need to be canceled. I’ll take responsibility for you.”
Shen Li stared blankly at the hand she had just let go of.
After confirming several times that he had heard correctly, he finally replied:
“Mm.”
His fingertips lightly brushed across the back of his hand.
The darkness in his eyes deepened.