Xu Qingyan gazed at her, his hand clenched tightly in his palm, remaining silent for a long time.
He didn’t know how to begin.
Nor did he know how to apologize.
Still less did he know how to resolve it.
His father had done something wrong.
For someone who had benefited from it, any explanation or justification would only be despicable.
His lips moved slightly, his voice thin and weak.
“I’m sorry…”
Those three heavy words left his heart instantly hollow.
Would she… hate him?
Would she… ignore him?
Would she… come to resent him?
All kinds of guesses flooded his mind, turning his face pale.
The look in his eyes was shattered and drifting.
He seemed like a glass doll in a display window—one light push away from shattering into nothingness.
Meng Luosheng stepped closer and squatted in front of him.
Her face was gentle, her voice gentle.
Everything about her was gentle.
“Why are you apologizing?”
There was a trace of sorrow in the movement of her brows and eyes.
“Do you not want to marry me? Am I really that… repulsive to you?”
She lowered her head in disappointment.
“The fiancé I mentioned was something I made up. When your father first proposed it, I was unwilling. I was afraid I couldn’t give you the love you wanted, afraid I couldn’t give you the happiness you desired…”
She took a deep breath, her shoulders trembling.
Summoning her courage, she lifted her eyes and looked at him sincerely.
“Love at first sight, affection at the second glance. Drawn close despite myself, shamelessly making physical contact with you. Taking advantage of your father’s goodwill to secure an engagement with you—step by step approaching, step by step calculating. Despicable to this extent, shameless to the extreme, all just to bind my life with yours.”
Even as she spoke these words, filled with shame, she stubbornly clung on.
“Even if you don’t want to, I still want to marry you. Don’t reject me. Don’t call off the engagement, okay?”
A stepping stone—that was how she defined Xu Qingyan.
All that was required was a trivial, painless price.
A perfect wife, a perfect love, a perfect marriage.
Useless things—she gave them without hesitation.
The shift in her thoughts and attitude, the overturning of her former beliefs, took only one night.
Her former fiancé, Lu Mingyuan, was cast completely out of her mind.
When the boat reaches the bridge, things will sort themselves out.
She only wanted the present—neither the past nor the future.
Selfish, heartless, faithless, and uncommitted.
Using everything, enjoying everything, obtaining everything.
From a girl with calculated, false kindness, she transformed into a fully self-centered, vicious girl.
Between good and evil, the balance tipped entirely to one side.
Or perhaps this was simply her true nature.
Everything else was merely going along with it.
Xu Qingyan did not doubt her.
He unconditionally believed every word she said.
His withered heart bloomed once more.
“I’m willing. I’m willing. No matter what you want to do, no matter what you do to me, I’m willing.”
He wanted to cry, but he held it back.
At happy moments, one must not cry—should not cry—was not allowed to cry.
He had to smile.
A joyful smile, an excited smile, a nearly manic smile.
All the emotions eventually settled into one thing—gratitude.
He stared at her foolishly.
Such simple happiness: she said she liked him.
Such lasting emotion: she said she wanted to marry him.
Such blissful years ahead: she would… accompany him.
He lifted his head—the crescent moon curved in the sky, yet Meng Luosheng’s brows and eyes curved even more beautifully.
“I really like the accounting job.”
Xu Qingyan was so emotionally stirred that he didn’t dare reach for her hand.
He clenched his fists tightly, staring at her without blinking.
“Because you’re outstanding, it belongs to you.”
Meng Luosheng nodded, her entire face glowing with a bright smile.
“So that’s how it is. I’m honored to receive your recognition.”
Gradually, her mood dipped.
“It’s just that… I won’t be able to work alongside Xiaoli anymore. She’s my best friend…”
She stopped there, deliberately appearing strong.
“It’s fine. I’ll get used to it.”
Anyone else would not have fallen for it.
But Xu Qingyan’s response came faster than thought.
“The village school still needs teachers. If she’s willing, she can start anytime.”
At that moment, the boy in the wheelchair stood tall and unyielding.
Meng Luosheng’s eyes widened.
“Really? If Xiaoli knew, she’d be so happy. Thank you—you’ve solved a huge problem that’s been weighing on my heart.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she shook her head.
“I keep saying thank you—it feels too distant. From now on, we’re husband and wife. We should be… closer…”
The last sentence was barely audible as she shyly lowered her head.
Her face flushed red, not daring to look up.
From boldly confessing, drawing closer, binding the two of them together, and seizing control of the narrative—
A giant in words, a dwarf in action.
She achieved everything she wanted with nothing but talk.
Without lifting a finger.
Xu Qingyan, blinded by love, noticed nothing.
In his heart stood a mountain of devotion and desire.
Within that mountain lived Meng Luosheng, imprisoning the willingly captive him.
Carefully, tentatively, he called out,
“Sheng… Shengsheng? Can I call you that?”
The vicious Xu Weiliang had given birth to a purely kind Xu Qingyan.
He personally led the person into the house.
And hung a blade at Xu Qingyan’s neck.
Life and death—separated by only an instant.
Meng Luosheng nodded as if it were only natural.
“Of course you can.”
She cupped her face, full of expectation.
“But I’d prefer you call me Luosheng—a unique name. No one else calls me that.”
“Luosheng. Alright. From now on, I’ll call you Luosheng.”
He agreed instinctively, repeating it silently in his heart.
Shengsheng. Shengsheng.
That name still sounded nicer.
But since Shengsheng wanted him to call her Luosheng, he would call her Luosheng.
Shengsheng—he would keep that name only in his heart.
Everything went so smoothly that Meng Luosheng felt as though he, too, was acting.
But it didn’t matter—she accepted it calmly.
Nodding happily, she began to envision the future.
“Then from now on, we’ll see each other every day. Every day I’ll get to know you a little more, love you a little more, fill my heart with you, and forget all my worries. What do you think—okay?”
Xu Qingyan keenly caught the meaning behind her last words, his expression turning slightly anxious.
“Worries? What are you worried about?”
Realizing his reaction, he reined in his urgency and answered the earlier part of her words.
“Seeing you every day—of course I want that. Everything about me will be laid bare before you. You’ll come to know me, completely understand me. But I hope… that I’m the one who loves you.”
Meng Luosheng had no heart.
An icy wasteland stretching endlessly.
A mask always worn, false warmth constantly performed.
Disguise layered upon disguise, pretense piled on pretense.
No one could glimpse the side of her she kept hidden.
Her reply was hard to voice.
“Something happened at home, and I was forced to go to the countryside…”
She looked at him with tenderness.
“Let’s not talk about unhappy things. Love should be mutual—I also want to love you properly.”
Squatting for too long made her legs go numb.
She shifted slightly.
Xu Qingyan’s attention was entirely on her; naturally, he noticed the movement.
Afraid she might fall, he instinctively reached out.
Then he frowned at himself in self-disgust.
“Your legs went numb, and I didn’t even notice—honestly!”
What he wanted to say was damn it.
But he felt that sounded too extreme and might scare her.
The words stopped at his lips and were changed to—
“Honestly, I’ve got no awareness at all.”
Meng Luosheng couldn’t help but laugh.
“You really are…”
She naturally withdrew her hand.
“Adorably foolish.”
So intimate it seemed like a pair of lovers deeply in love.
Oh—but that was exactly what they were playing now: a pair of lovers in love.
Affection rose with the wind, and stopped when the wind died.
Deception—such a trivial thing—she handled with effortless ease.
When the song ended and the crowd dispersed, when the curtain finally fell—
Each would return to themselves, each seek their own salvation.
Or perhaps… each would head toward their own destruction.
But for now—
The play had not stopped, the song was still being sung, and the actors had to stay in character.
Meng Luosheng’s career officially began.
No time limit. No emotional limit. No limit of scale.
Free performance. Free creation. Free revision.
Like right now.
For reasons unknown, their fingertips brushed lightly against each other.
Then separated at once, as if it had never happened.
Completely opposite inner worlds.
One calm and unmoved; the other rippling outward.
From afar, it looked like a deep, affectionate gaze.
In truth, there was nothing at all.
Pure as a child, blank as white paper.
A heart-shaking, world-defying love catastrophe—
Burying Xu Qingyan, fulfilling Meng Luosheng.
The matter she had once hesitated over was now decided.
Xu Qingyan agreed to falsify accounts for his father.
He wanted money—lots of money.
To shoulder the responsibility of supporting a family, and to provide for the beloved he worshipped like a god.