Volume One, Chapter 68: She was not yet ready to forsake everything for him.

Xu Zhi was momentarily stunned, then quickly realized what Liang Jinmo was referring to.

Thinking it over carefully, it was true. Because of her family environment, she had developed a classic people-pleaser’s personality—always afraid of offending others, never willing to hurt anyone. Yet with him, she always seemed to be especially confrontational.

Xu Zhi reflected on herself and asked him, “Was I very awful to you in the past?”

As soon as she asked, she regretted it. She already knew well enough what she’d done to him—why even ask for his opinion?

The traffic light turned green. Liang Jinmo pressed the accelerator, his voice detached. “There’s no use dwelling on the past.”

Xu Zhi fell silent. She couldn’t tell if he was sincere, but it wasn’t something she could probe further.

Liang Muzhi’s words surfaced in her mind again: if Liang Jinmo was really here for revenge…

What then? She didn’t know.

The car reached the side gate of the villa estate and stopped at the temporary parking spot.

Xu Zhi unfastened her seatbelt and was about to get out when Liang Jinmo suddenly called her name.

She turned. He sat wreathed in the car’s warm, yellow light, his features softened by the glow, but his eyes still dark and deep. “You’re still afraid your father will find out you’re seeing me, aren’t you?”

Xu Zhi hesitated.

Indeed, ever since Liang Jinmo had come to the Liang family as a child, Xu Heping had strictly forbidden her from associating with him. All these years, whatever contact she’d had with him was always kept secret from everyone.

Whether in the villa district or at school, Liang Jinmo was always an outcast, shunned by everyone under Liang Muzhi’s lead. To blend in with the safe crowd, she had to keep her distance from him.

Now that she’d fallen out with Liang Muzhi, she didn’t care what he thought anymore. But the others…

She still wasn’t ready to abandon everyone for him.

Liang Jinmo saw through her thoughts at a glance. “I can ignore your father’s opinion of me and go talk to him about the project transformation, but what matters most is you.”

Xu Zhi pressed her lips together and, after a few seconds, said quietly, “Then… let me think about it.”

After getting out of the car, she realized she still didn’t have the courage.

She was always timid and afraid of trouble. There were already too many problems at home; she didn’t want another argument with Xu Heping.

Liang Jinmo was willing to face Xu Heping’s coldness for her, but she was afraid of stirring up more trouble.

Xu Zhi walked home slowly. Turning the corner, nearly at her door, she unexpectedly ran into Liang Muzhi.

Liang Muzhi had his hands in his pockets, glaring coldly at her. “Did you have fun with Liang Jinmo?”

Xu Zhi was caught off guard. “You saw us?”

To avoid attracting attention, Liang Jinmo hadn’t even driven into the villa complex, stopping outside the side gate instead. She hadn’t been paying attention to whether anyone was around.

She’d been careless.

Liang Muzhi was about to suffocate—he hadn’t left the estate all day because wherever he went, bodyguards followed. Even now, one stood ten meters away, eyes locked on him.

He was used to his freedom and being shadowed like this was suffocating. Restless in the evening, he’d gone for a walk and saw Xu Zhi returning in Liang Jinmo’s car outside the gate.

Might as well pick a fight, he thought then.

But with a bodyguard breathing down his neck, if he started something with Liang Jinmo, it’d be reported to his parents in minutes.

He’d held back as long as he could, but now he’d had enough. His words were barbed: “Let me guess—the man you like is that bastard, isn’t he? You have great taste…”

His tone slowed, thick with spite. “So many decent men around, and you pick a filthy bastard. Is there something wrong with you?”

Xu Zhi’s first reaction was to glance around.

Luckily, on a cold winter night, the estate’s roads were empty.

She didn’t want to argue with Liang Muzhi, but his words provoked her. “Mind your own business.”

She tried to leave, but he stepped in her way.

“Maybe I should tell everyone you like Liang Jinmo. Maybe then my parents will finally let up on me.”

Angered, Xu Zhi snapped, “Do as you please.”

Liang Muzhi couldn’t understand why she didn’t deny it. Did she actually like Liang Jinmo?

He didn’t believe it. They’d only interacted a few times—before, they’d passed each other like strangers. How could she suddenly have feelings for him?

She must be doing this to spite him, refusing to argue.

He didn’t call her out, just went along with it. “Fine, I don’t care. But you—you’ll regret this. Mixing with Liang Jinmo just to get back at me? He’s been twisted since childhood; you think a man like him could be sincere? He’s only using you to get revenge on me. Don’t forget you used to be on my side. If he hates me, do you really think he’ll forgive you? It’s laughable.”

Xu Zhi had almost walked past, but those words made her stop and turn her face.

She met his gaze. “Liang Muzhi, can you stop being so childish? You have no right to sow discord here. I don’t care if he’s after revenge or not. All I know is that when I was in trouble, he was the one who helped me. When I was sad, he was the one who comforted me—not you.”

Liang Muzhi gritted his teeth. “He helped you a few times? We’ve known each other for over twenty years—have I never helped you? Never comforted you? Xu Zhi, I never realized you were so ungrateful. And let’s not even talk about that—do you know why Grandpa had a stroke this time? It was all because you let my family find out about me and Chen Jing. Grandpa only had a cerebral hemorrhage because he was so angry!”

Xu Zhi was stunned.

So that was how Grandpa Liang had his stroke.

She frowned. “So it’s all my fault? You and Chen Jing bear no responsibility?”

Liang Muzhi replied, “If you hadn’t said anything, no one would have known, and Grandpa would have been fine!”

Xu Zhi felt numb; she could no longer be disappointed by him. “If you hadn’t done it, I’d have had nothing to say. You’re the one who hurt Grandpa, so stop blaming me.”

With that, she moved to walk away.

Liang Muzhi turned and shouted at her back, “Xu Zhi, you’ll regret this! Liang Jinmo’s just trash—I’ll be waiting to see you cry because of him!”

Xu Zhi didn’t look back. “And you think you won’t regret choosing Chen Jing? Can love really make you turn your back on your family? Seeing Grandpa sick, do you really believe you’re blameless?”

Liang Muzhi spat, “Let’s see which of us regrets it first!”

The young master was still so childish. Xu Zhi said nothing more. Standing at her own door, reaching to unlock it with her fingerprint, she suddenly thought—she had no right to call Liang Muzhi lovesick.

Every time she saw Liang Jinmo, she wavered a little more.

She couldn’t be sure of his sincerity, yet she wanted to throw everything aside and be with him. She’d even considered abandoning her family’s company, ignoring what would become of Xu Heping and Zhao Nianqiao.

Maybe it was because the world had been so cruel to her that the glimmer of hope he offered—even if she couldn’t tell if it was real—was something she desperately wanted to grasp.

She was a little dazed. She opened the door, pushed it open, and froze.

She stood there rigidly, a chill creeping up her spine.

Xu Heping was sitting under the garden trellis, staring at her.

She never imagined, in the dead of winter, that Xu Heping would be outside in the garden. She didn’t know when he’d come out.

She and Liang Muzhi had argued almost right at the door, only a wall away, nothing above to block the sound. She had no idea how much Xu Heping had heard.