Volume One, Chapter 89: Does She Really Like That Man So Much?

Xu Zhi was actually quite annoyed with Liang Muzhi at the moment. She already had enough on her plate and had no idea what was troubling this young master now. But considering she had promised him a conversation earlier, she decided to send Zhao Nianqiao out of the hospital first.

Zhao Nianqiao had taken a taxi to the hospital. Xu Zhi and Liang Muzhi accompanied her to the curb and put her in a cab before making their way, one after the other, to stand beneath the trees bordering the street.

Xu Zhi’s mood was low. Zhao Nianqiao was ill, and she couldn’t even send her home for fear that Xu Heping would lock her up again. As a daughter, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt.

Liang Muzhi glanced at her, noticing the faint redness around her eyes. “Crying again?” he asked.

Xu Zhi turned her face away. “Just say what you have to say.”

Liang Muzhi felt a wave of exhaustion. “Can’t we talk properly? You weren’t like this before.”

“People change,” Xu Zhi replied.

He was at a loss. He had come with a torrent of words and questions, but her attitude had drained away any enthusiasm he’d had. He decided to get straight to the point. “Your parents quarreled again, I assume it’s still about your runaway engagement?”

“That’s my family’s business,” Xu Zhi said flatly.

His tone hardened. “I’m the one you ran away from—I’m your fiancé, at least in name.”

She stared at him as if he were a fool. “Fiancé? How can you even say that? Have you forgotten you already have a girlfriend?”

He frowned. “You think I want this? Did you know my parents are already contacting people to arrange the engagement ceremony? They’re planning something grand. If it weren’t you, it would just be someone else.”

Xu Zhi almost said, “Then let it be someone else.” But she hesitated.

She thought of Zhao Nianqiao’s injuries—what if she got hurt again after going home? Xu Zhi no longer knew what to do. She’d already decided there was no turning back, but with Zhao Nianqiao hurt, she couldn’t just stand by and watch.

Liang Muzhi watched her face. “Let’s talk about this engagement calmly. Right now, both of us are being forced into it. If you run, your mother suffers, your family’s company collapses. On my side, my grandfather hasn’t even been discharged yet. I can’t even argue with my parents without worrying about upsetting him. And—” He pointed toward a man in black not far off. “My father’s got a bodyguard watching me around the clock. There’s no way I could run even if I wanted to.”

Xu Zhi glanced at the bodyguard, speechless but not surprised. Liang Muzhi was the type to do anything when desperate—if she could run, he’d only run farther and faster.

She asked, “What exactly are you trying to say?”

He was silent for a few seconds, then took a deep breath. “What if… we just go along with the engagement for now and figure things out later?”

Xu Zhi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Don’t get upset,” he said hastily. “Just listen. It’s only an engagement, not a marriage. Your father will get what he wants and won’t give your mother a hard time. My parents will at least call off the surveillance, and my grandfather can recover in peace. See? It’s mutually beneficial.”

Xu Zhi was stunned. “What about Chen Jing? Do you think she’ll agree?”

“Of course she won’t…” Liang Muzhi sounded irritated at the mention of Chen Jing. “She’s talking about breaking up, but I can explain it to her—it’s just a fake engagement.”

Xu Zhi’s mind raced. She was no stranger to such tricks; back in school, he’d take her to internet cafes to play games and claim he was taking her to the library just to fool his parents. It was much the same. But this was an engagement, and judging by his parents’ intentions, it would be a grand affair. She’d be branded as Liang Muzhi’s fiancée, and even if they broke it off, it would be even harder for her to be with Liang Jinmo.

Then she remembered everything that lunatic Chen Jing had done at the ski resort. Instinctively, she felt this plan was too risky for her and shook her head immediately. “No. Chen Jing won’t let me off.”

Liang Muzhi was momentarily stunned. “You’re overthinking it.”

Xu Zhi looked at him deeply. She no longer wanted to waste words explaining. “Even if Chen Jing doesn’t care, I can’t accept it. I told you—I’m in love with someone, and he wouldn’t accept it.”

Liang Muzhi froze, his mind blank. “What do you mean? Are you together now?”

Xu Zhi’s heart was in chaos. She didn’t know if she should leave herself a way out, so she hedged, “Either way, I won’t accept a fake engagement.”

She was dodging the issue, and he realized it.

He regarded her—this girl who’d been at his side for over twenty years—and wondered when she’d started keeping secrets from him, being evasive, running from the engagement for the sake of another man, even at the risk of getting hurt. Did she really like that man so much?

A suffocating heaviness pressed on his chest. Somehow, it just didn’t feel right.

After a long silence, he spoke again. “You won’t agree to a fake engagement, and you’ll run if it’s real. What’s your plan then? Just watch your parents fight, your family company go under? Your mother’s already been beaten and hurt—can you really stand by? I remember you once said—even if your mother never really loved you, she still cared. Is this how you repay her?”

Xu Zhi had nothing to say.

Her face turned ashen. Lost in a whirlwind of thoughts, she couldn’t see any way out. She truly didn’t know what to do.

Liang Muzhi’s tone turned cold. “I’m being forced into this too. If my family just picks another girl for me to marry, your father will lose his last chance. Xu Zhi, this isn’t just about you and me. Think carefully—if you lose this opportunity, your loss is greater than mine.”

Xu Zhi bit her lip and said in a low voice, “Don’t push me…”

Liang Muzhi thought, Who’s pushing whom, really?

A question had been nagging at him, and he couldn’t help but ask, “You didn’t run away just to be with that man you’re always thinking about, did you?”

“That has nothing to do with you,” Xu Zhi said.

“I don’t care,” he snorted. “But girls who give themselves away too easily are never cherished. I can’t stand your starry-eyed devotion—it makes you look so cheap.”

Xu Zhi found him utterly baffling. “Do you have a problem? Whatever I do and with whom is my own business.”

She pulled the conversation back on track. “About the engagement… let me think about it.”

She really couldn’t make a decision in such a short time. At the very least, she needed to talk to Liang Jinmo again. She wasn’t alone anymore; her decision affected him too.

Liang Muzhi curled his lips in disdain. “Whatever. I’ll just get another fiancée. At least I wouldn’t let my own family suffer because of me.”

His words stung. Xu Zhi clenched her fists at her sides. “I’m leaving,” she said, and turned away without a backward glance.

Liang Muzhi stared at her slight, retreating figure, grinding his teeth in frustration.

His gaze shifted, tracing the lines of her body. Even beneath a down jacket, he could picture her silhouette in his mind. Xu Zhi was petite and slender, but with all the right curves. During adolescence, he’d been curious, stealing glances at her developing chest out of the corner of his eye; all boys did it, he didn’t think it was wrong. He’d noticed how slim her waist was, too.

Xu Zhi was fair and delicate, with beautiful almond-shaped eyes and a figure that drew attention. Over the years, with the two of them always together, others assumed they were a couple. He never denied it, and any boys who fancied her soon gave up. He saw it as a way of protecting her.

He couldn’t imagine what it would be like for her to have a boyfriend. But as he thought about it, he realized he expected her to be just as she’d always been beside him—gentle, obedient, sweet…

So now, had she given all that to another man? Was she only showing her sharp edges to him?

Had she… become intimate with that man? If they’d been together these past few days, had something already happened between them?

He couldn’t stop his mind from conjuring decadent scenarios he’d once fantasized about. His fists clenched unconsciously. He had an inexplicable feeling that something once his, something deeply important, had been taken from him without his even realizing it.