Du Jiashu's sudden confession caught Tang Yinyao completely off guard.
Feigning great astonishment, she quickly tried to cover it up with a forced laugh:
"Brother Jiashu, what are you talking about?"
"We're good buddies, and I really like you too."
But Du Jiashu stubbornly pierced through that pretense, saying, "Yaoyao, my feelings for you aren't the kind between friends or good buddies. It's a man's liking for a woman."
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
It took Tang Yinyao a good while to find her voice again.
"Brother Jiashu, don't be like this. You're married, and I have a fiancé."
"Let's just continue being good buddies."
Du Jiashu took a deep breath. This was something he had wanted to say countless times, and now he had finally spoken it aloud.
"But I don't want to continue being your vague 'good buddy' anymore. If you truly don't have even a shred of romantic feelings for me,"
"then we don't need to keep in touch."
"I don't lack an ordinary 'good buddy'."
Tang Yinyao was stunned.
What?! Had the simp suddenly awakened?
Before she could even think of what ambiguous or placating words to say to keep him hanging on, the other end swiftly hung up the phone.
This...
Just what had been happening lately? Why was everything spiraling so completely out of her control?
It seemed the feng shui abroad wasn't doing her any favors. She needed to hurry back home.
...
Xia Liuyue was feeling a bit drowsy and was about to put down her phone and sleep.
A soft knocking sound came from outside the master bedroom door.
At first, she ignored it, but after a while, the knocking started again.
It was like an alarm clock set to go off automatically every three minutes.
Infuriated, Xia Liuyue threw off the covers, slipped on her slippers, and stomped to the door. But she didn't open it, instead yelling through the crack:
"Du Jiashu, are you insane, not sleeping in the middle of the night?"
"Fine if you don't want to sleep yourself, but you won't let me sleep either? Did a donkey kick you in the head?"
"Hurry up and squeeze your brain, see if you can squeeze out a giant waterfall."
Outside the door, Du Jiashu's knocking hand paused.
In the past, being scolded like this would have made him furious. But right now, compared to Tang Yinyao's attitude moments ago, Xia Liuyue's vivid, fiery reaction actually made him chuckle.
It felt very real.
What it was, was what it was.
Why had he never noticed before that his arranged marriage wife was actually quite adorable?
He really must have had water in his brain, hadn't he?
"Liuyue, I want to tell you something."
Xia Liuyue couldn't help rolling her eyes inside the room. "Don't want to hear it, not interested, get lost!"
But Du Jiashu continued on his own:
"I just laid everything out clearly with Yaoyao. I told her I like her, that I never saw her as just a good buddy."
"She rejected me, so we won't be in contact anymore, and we won't be any so-called 'good buddies' either."
"I promise I won't contact other women anymore. So, Liuyue, can you give me another chance?"
"I want to build a proper life with you."
Xia Liuyue yanked the door open violently.
Outside, Du Jiashu's face lit up with hope, thinking she had been moved by his sincerity and was ready to accept him.
Unexpectedly, Xia Liuyue was holding a basin of water she had just filled from the bathroom.
Gripping the edges of the white basin with both hands, she lifted it and splashed the water right over his head and face.
Cold water drenched him from head to toe.
Du Jiashu stood there, still dazed, not quite processing what happened.
Then he heard Xia Liuyue's icy voice.
"Du Jiashu, I'm not a garbage collector. Just because Tang Yinyao doesn't want you doesn't mean I'll pick you up and take you home."
"And no matter how many times you say it, the relationship between us is like this basin of water."
"It's icy, cold, and already been poured out. It can never go back to how it was before."
"Listen clearly. I, Xia Liuyue, am now formally asking you for a divorce!"
He was soaked through, chilled to the bone.
But no matter how cold his body felt, it was nothing compared to the coldness in his heart.
His lips trembling, he raised his eyes to meet her gaze, which looked at him as if he were an enemy. "Why?"
Xia Liuyue let out a cold laugh.
"Ruoshui."
"Du Ruoshui."
"That was the name I chose for our child."
"You killed her. You killed what was between us, Du Jiashu. I will never forgive a murderer."
With those words,
a gust of wind swept past the door.
"BANG—!!!"
Xia Liuyue slammed the master bedroom door shut with great force, also shutting out Du Jiashu's hopeful gaze.
Outside the door,
he stood like a stiff zombie, only after a long while raising a hand to wipe the wet strands of hair plastered to his forehead. Water dripped from his entire body.
The sound of their argument had drawn the attention of the maids downstairs.
An older maid hurriedly offered a towel. "Sir, please dry off quickly, or you'll catch a cold."
But Du Jiashu seemed oblivious.
He murmured softly, "Ruoshui, Du Ruoshui... that was my child..."
The maids around exchanged glances, not daring to speak.
They thought to themselves: What child? Has the master lost his mind? Though, Du Ruoshui is a rather lovely name.
Du Jiashu pushed the towel aside and walked, utterly despondent, to the balcony alone.
The night breeze was cool, making his soaked body shiver.
He felt even colder.
His mind seemed to clear up all at once.
Scenes from his past with Xia Liuyue flashed before him: their blind date, the wedding, that intoxicated night, the joyful expression on Xia Liuyue's face when she showed him the pregnancy report.
What had he said back then?
"Is this even my child?"
How heartless.
How cold.
He clenched his fist and slammed it hard against the wall.
Cursing, "Du Jiashu, you're a real piece of work!"
Then he remembered the typhoon day. Xia Liuyue hadn't wanted to go out, but he had stubbornly insisted that Yaoyao had booked an appointment with a specialist, which was hard to get, so they absolutely had to go.
Otherwise, Yaoyao would lose face.
Then came the underpass, the car being submerged, the moment he broke the escape window.
His first thought had been for Tang Yinyao in the back seat.
Only after pulling Tang Yinyao to safety did he turn and remember his wife in the passenger seat. He was about to go for her, but by then the rescue team had arrived.
In the end, that child—no, Ruoshui—hadn't been saved.
It was his fault!
Yes, he was a murderer. He had killed his own child.
Du Jiashu stood in the cold wind all night, only returning to his room at dawn. He collapsed onto the bed and immediately came down with a high fever.
When Xia Liuyue learned about it the next morning,
she called Du Jiashu's mother, then had the maids and driver pack his things and send him to the Du family's old mansion.
What a joke?!
Whether Du Jiashu's act was a ploy for sympathy or not, she wasn't falling for it.
A man's repentance didn't automatically make him worthy of forgiveness.
