Chapter 722 - I’m Still Me, What About You? (1)
When Qi Lei said that, Gu Lingsha’s expression turned slightly rigid. The smile on her face froze too. However, moments after she suddenly laughed and turned to look at Qi Lei, she smirked with pursed lips. “What’s wrong? Don’t you welcome me at Qi Kai? I remember that you were quite eagerly inviting me to join Qi Kai.”
Qi Lei’s expression remained solemn as he suddenly sighed and lamented, “Shasha, it’s been six years. Many things should be in the past now. Even those that shouldn’t be are now. I hope that you can forget some of the past grudges. No matter why you returned this time, I hope that you can still be the innocent and happy girl from before like the first time we met. Continue to maintain that innocence.”
“So?” Gu Lingsha’s hands that hid beneath her sleeves had already tightened as she watched the plum blossom petals that flew before her, and her line of sight slowly stopped on Qi Lei’s face. “You’re right. It’s been six years. Time has passed too quickly. In the blink of an eye, it’s going to be six years. Six years is a lot of time to change many things. Do you think I’ve been living happily these past six years, Lei?”
Qi Lei turned to look at her. After a long while, he could see the sadness and fatigue that she had endured between her brows.
Of course, she could not have lived happily, but then again, who could?
“I suddenly find that you’re a little strange. You’re no longer the person I was once familiar with. You were innocent back then. I remember you telling me that you’d always protect me, but it seems like your protection has never come into play, so I never treated it seriously. Back then, when I nodded and agreed to Mu Yuchen’s proposal, you told me that if I really wanted happiness, you’d do your best to give it to me, but when the wedding date came closer, I never saw you anymore. Instead, it was Ah Feng and Lingtian that I saw…”
As Gu Lingsha said this, her eyes suddenly became slightly misty. There was a feeling she could not describe. She was upset, miserable, and felt a little depressed. “I don’t want to hear you explain yourself either. I just want to ask you, even if I had chosen to leave with you and not Qi Feng, could you have really given me happiness?”
Qi Lei froze at that question. He reached out to rub the railing beside him as if there was something dirty on that railing. After a long pause, he smiled bitterly and suddenly turned to look at her. “I’m still me. What about you? Shasha, are you still you? Happiness… was something I never had, so how could I have given it to you? You need to fight for that yourself, and not rely on someone else to give it to you. Back then, even if you were willing to leave with me, I probably wouldn’t have really taken you away with me. You never liked me. In fact, I knew that you were already…
“I knew that you were already pregnant then, so no matter what, I couldn’t have taken you away.” Qi Lei sighed, and when he reached the end, his tone became even calmer.
The light in Gu Lingsha’s eyes faded. She pursed her lips as she looked at Qi Lei with a gaze that contained faint hurt and slight shock. After that, she smiled pitifully. “When did you find out?”
Qi Lei looked at her with mixed expressions. After a while, he blinked and turned to look at the plum blossoms by the corner once again as he said softly, “The day that Mu Yuchen decided on the wedding date and sent the betrothal gifts, I saw that you bought a pregnancy test kit in your handbag, and after that, the way you looked seemed to be filled with panic and being at a loss. I could already guess… That child… Is it Qi Feng’s? Or Lingtian’s? Or actually Mu Yuchen’s?”
Gu Lingsha was stunned as she trembled all over, and could not help but bite her red lips gently. Her pitiful eyes flickered with tears, and she could not help but cover her face as her chest heaved with pain.
Her child, her poor child…
“Can you tell me?” Qi Lei could not quite bear to see her like this, so he handed her a tissue.
Gu Lingsha was fazed for a while before she reached out to take the tissue. In the blink of an eye, large teardrops immediately slid down while she just sighed deeply, she turned around and with her back facing Qi Lei. Then, she quickly wiped away her tears and did not answer him.
“It’s gone. There’s no use going after it. Back then, I did think of giving birth, but… So, Lei, if it were you, would you have just quietly accepted it all? Some things can be tolerated or forgiven, but some things are like a dead knot that can never be undone. You haven’t been through that pain, so you won’t understand all that I’m suffering through.” Gu Lingsha scoffed coldly.
“Shasha, that’s not the only ways to resolve grudges. There are many ways more to settle it. We can’t put all the blame on Mu Yuchen. You were going to leave with Qi Feng while being his fiancèe. That would’ve been an embarrassment to him. Besides, does he know you have a child? Any man wouldn’t be able to bear it, so I can completely understand that he’s just human!” Qi Lei frowned while he could not help but defend Mu Yuchen.
“Enough, Qi Lei! Since when did you get so good at defending Mu Yuchen? If it were not for him, we wouldn’t be where we are today. You don’t understand the situation at all. You’ve changed! You’ve become so strange!”
Gu Lingsha bit on her lip as she looked sadly at Qi Lei, watching the way the innocence on his handsome face from back then had faded. His eyes had become more profound too. Finally, he could not help but laugh bitterly as he quietly turned around and walked towards the corridor ahead.
“Joining Qi Kai will only be my father and Uncle’s decision. The Gu family wanting to collaborate with the Qi family needs a trustworthy person. If you don’t want to see me, you can pretend like you don’t me in the office. I’ll pretend I don’t know you either, and that I only know you’re the Deputy CEO of Qi Kai. That’s fine, isn’t it?” Gu Lingsha said, and then her figure very quickly vanished in the corridor.
Qi Lei frowned and stared after her vanishing figure for a long time. Then, he massaged the space between his brows because of the haze.
What else could he say?
What else could he do?
After a lengthy amount of time, he sighed softly. He had a bad feeling because he was afraid that the days to come would be quite chaotic, no matter who was among them.
He understood Gu Lingsha too well. With that determined tone of hers, who could influence her decision?
Right now, he was actually a little worried about Mu Yuchen and Xi Xiaye. If it were really as he thought, then how could Qi Qiming give up on Qi Feng’s issue on this end?
When he thought about this, his heart skipped a beat, and he could not help but lift a hand to smack his head.