“What’re you doing!” Qin Ya tried to snatch the knife from him, but he dodged her just in time and lifted the knife out of her reach. “I’m willing to offer you my life in order to prove myself. After all, I did let you down and hurt you before…”
“Don’t be crazy!” Qin Ya cut him off by yelling at him, “Put the knife down!”
Staring at her, Su Zhan refused to do as she said. “No, I have to prove myself to you.”
“I don’t need you to do that!” Qin Ya went panic-stricken, worried that he might hurt himself in his agitation. “Fine, I believe you. Just put the knife down.”
“Really?” Su Zhan pretended to look incredulous, but deep down inside he was elated to see how much Qin Ya cared about him. If she no longer cared about him, why would she even be bothered whether he was hurt or not?
He stared at her solemnly and apologized, “Ya, I’m sorry.”
Qin Ya averted her head away from him with tears falling uncontrollably down her face. Su Zhan put the knife down and drew her toward his embrace. Resting his head on her shoulder, he whispered next to her ear, “Ya, please forgive me. I’ve learnt my mistake.”
Qin Ya cried harder after hearing what he said and she did not even know why. Perhaps, she was feeling sorry for herself after suffering all the hardships, or maybe she was lamenting her life which was full of misfortunes.
Her tears made Su Zhan’s eyes red-rimmed too. He knew Qin Ya had gone through a lot of challenges ever since she met him.
Now, she was even deprived of the right to be a mother because of him.
How cruel must that be for her?
With that thought in mind, he wrapped his arms around her even tighter. “Ya, I promise there wouldn’t be any occasion for me to say sorry to you in the future.”
He would prove his love for her through his actions.
He would make sure she would not be harmed or hurt ever again.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Qin Ya still harbored some reservations.
She believed in Su Zhan’s feelings for her, but her condition was going to affect their life.
In ancient times, sterility was deemed to be a sin as that would mean the end of the bloodline.
“Surrogacy is out of the question.” Although her remark seemed premature, she saw the need to make sure Su Zhan knew things that were out of bounds for her.
If he could not be on the same page with her, he should let her go right away.
“Of course. I won’t allow any other woman to give birth to my child.” Su Zhan pecked one of her cheeks and promised, “Please believe me.”
Qin Ya closed her eyes and lamented, “You must have been predestined to be the trouble of my life.”
That must be the reason why it’s so hard to get rid of you.
She had always considered herself as a tough person. Yet, she just realized that she had overestimated her level of resilience.
Because of Su Zhan’s attitude, not only did she feel a whole lot less awful than before, but she also even felt warmth in her heart.
Indeed, it was easier to handle the harsh truth together with him than to do it alone. When she revealed the truth to him, it was actually not as bad as she had imagined.
She actually felt so much more relieved after coming clean with him.
Sitting on the sofa with his arms wrapped around her, Su Zhan asked, “So, did you do the story of you being together with Shao Yun just to convince me to give up on you?”
Qin Ya held her head low and affirmed his question with silence.
He sighed, “I nearly believed that to be true. If I didn’t catch your conversation with Xinyan just now, I would have missed out on you. So, please promise me you wouldn’t hide anything from me again no matter what happens in the future, okay?”
Qin Ya was still not uttering a word. Her throat was so parched that she was worried that her voice might come out croaky.
Patting her back soothingly, Su Zhan said, “I’ll take your silence as consent then.”
“Why did you fight at the bar?”
Examining the scars and bruises on his face, Qin Ya felt like reaching out to touch them, but she was worried that she might hurt him.
Su Zhan held her hand and placed it on his face. “I didn’t think my life was worth living anymore after you dumped me. So, I went to the bar and created a scene to provoke those guys to beat me up.”
Qin Ya went speechless.
Meanwhile in the adjacent room, Lin Xinyan was sitting on the sofa with her body leaning on the armrest and her face resting on her hands. “I wonder how their talk is going.”
Zong Jinghao lifted her off the sofa by her wrists. “Come on, let’s get you back to the hotel. You’ve done your part in helping them. So, please stop worrying about them and let them handle the rest.”
Lin Xinyan went along with his movement and stood up. “Aren’t we going back to the villa?”
“Nope. It’s too crowded for you to take a good rest there. So, we will stay at a hotel for the next two days.” In response, Lin Xinyan cast a disappointed glance at him and grumbled, “It’s going to be so boring staying at the hotel by myself.”
“I’ll keep you company.” Zong Jinghao edged closer to her and whispered next to her ear.
Lin Xinyan shifted away quickly. “Don’t you need to work? Don’t forget that you’re responsible of putting food on the table for our family.”
Zong Jinghao chortled, “I can do that.”
He booked a presidential suite in the hotel. As Su Zhan was busy with his own affair, he reckoned Shen Peichuan would not insist on visiting them. In that way, they could enjoy each other’s company at the hotel without being disturbed by anyone. However, when they arrived at their room, they saw Zhou Chunchun standing at the door. The sight of the woman reminded Zong Jinghao of Bai Yinning, and that thought made the smile on his face vanish.
“Chunchun.” Lin Xinyan was pleased to see her. She found the kind-hearted and simple girl quite likeable.
Zhou Chunchun scurried over and passed a gift box to her. “Xinyan, this is a wedding gift for you.”
Lin Xinyan reached out for it. She wondered what was inside as it actually felt rather heavy. With a smile, she thanked her.
“You’re welcome and congratulations on your marriage! I’m afraid I’ve got to run as Yinning is waiting for me in the lobby.” With that, Zhou Chunchun scuttled off.
Zong Jinghao cast a glimpse at the gift box in Lin Xinyan’s hands, slightly annoyed. He always felt uncomfortable and irritated when he thought of Bai Yinning.
Every time Bai Yinning showed up or was just mentioned by someone, Zong Jinghao would think about how sly and cunning a person he was. He couldn’t help but think that the gift from Zhou Chunchun was suspicious, as she could have been instructed by Bai Yinning to prepare the gift.
When they entered the presidential suite, Lin Xinyan found a pile of gifts stacked on the coffee table in the living room.
While removing his tie, Zong Jinghao explained, “I have them moved here.”
As they had received quite an amount of gifts, he had no choice but to have them moved to the hotel room, so that Lin Xinyan could look through them when she was free. She could keep those she fancied and move the rest to the storeroom.
Lin Xinyan nodded at him as she sat down on the sofa and started unwrapping the gift box from Zhou Chunchun. At first, Zong Jinghao intended to go and take a shower. However, his curiosity was piqued when he saw Lin Xinyan opening the box.
He could easily tell whether the gift was prepared by Zhou Chunchun or Bai Yinning according to what was inside the box.
