Chapter 97
Chapter 97
By the time Xie Yuheng finished speaking, the two older maids had also completed their search.
They had clearly been acting on Madam Lin’s orders and showed no care whatsoever for Ji Hanyi’s belongings.
It was hardly surprising. Ji Hanyi was no longer the young mistress of the Xie Family, so neither of them feared offending her. One of the maids even tore a corner from a painting by her father — one she had always treasured.
The sight pained Ji Hanyi, but arguing now would change nothing. The damaged painting could never be restored to its original state. She walked silently around Xie Yuheng and began rolling up the scrolls that had been unfurled haphazardly and tossed carelessly across the table.
Xie Yuheng watched from the side. When he saw the quiet forbearance in her expression, his heart suddenly ached with unbearable intensity.
He stared at the torn corner. He knew these paintings had been painted by Ji Hanyi’s father and were especially precious to her. Yet even after the maid damaged one, she did not utter a word.
Had she endured everything in silence like this all these years?
Had she silently endured it the same way that day in the snow?
He could not understand. Was it because she truly did not care, or was there some other reason?
Unable to hold back, he asked, “That maid tore your painting. Why didn’t you say anything?”
Ji Hanyi did not even raise her head. She continued putting away the scrolls. “It wouldn’t have done any good.”
Her painting was ruined. There would never be another one like it.
Those few quiet words seemed to carve a gash into Xie Yuheng’s heart.
Was she saying that it had been the same with all the grievances she had suffered before — that speaking up would have changed nothing?
As her husband, had he ever taken her side even once?
Yet in his memory, Ji Hanyi had spoken up before.
That time he had made her get out of the carriage halfway through their journey, she had later asked him why he had treated her that way.
He had long since forgotten how he had answered her, but after that incident, she never seemed to ask again. She had merely begun going after Mingrou, and whenever he accused her of it, she usually said nothing.
Looking back now, it seemed that far too many things had come between them. He had never made any effort to understand her or consider how she felt, and she had never opened up to him either.
Now, when the two of them had already severed all ties, he suddenly asked, “Back when I was always blaming you, what were you thinking?”
Ji Hanyi paused briefly, then placed the scroll she had finished rolling into the chest. Her voice was faint. “Nothing.”
Her answer took Xie Yuheng aback. “Why didn’t you ever explain yourself or argue back?”
Ji Hanyi frowned slightly. Her hands stilled as she turned to look at him, confusion in her eyes. “What did you want me to explain?”
“Would you have believed me?”
Xie Yuheng froze.
Ji Hanyi glanced at his expression, then turned away. “That was why there was no need to explain.”
Xie Yuheng’s voice abruptly grew urgent. “But what if I had believed you? What if I had misunderstood you?”
Ji Hanyi finished rolling the last scroll, then looked toward Rongchun. The writing supplies there, after being painstakingly inspected one by one, had also been packed away. Only then did she turn back to Xie Yuheng and answer without hesitation.
“You wouldn’t have.”
Xie Yuheng lowered his head. Her tone was so indifferent, as though his refusal to take her side or believe her had been the most natural thing in the world.
He stumbled back a step and tried to find some reason to refute her. Yet no matter how he searched his memories, all he could recall were the accusations he had leveled at Ji Hanyi and the countless times he had treated her coldly.
When Mingrou got sick after eating the pastries in the room, he accused Ji Hanyi of being petty and narrow-minded. When Mingrou had a headache one night, he went to see her, but Ji Hanyi stopped him, saying propriety dictated that men and women keep their distance. He accused her then, too, of being intolerant.
One incident after another rose to the surface of Xie Yuheng’s mind. He could not understand why he had said those things back then, or why he had been so certain that she was responsible for all of it.
He had always believed Ji Hanyi loved him deeply and that this was why she had targeted Mingrou. But if she truly loved him that much, why was she now so determined to leave?
His thoughts were in turmoil, and his chest felt tight and painful. He stared blankly at Ji Hanyi before finally asking in a hoarse voice, “Did I ever falsely accuse you?”
Ji Hanyi paused and looked at Xie Yuheng. “Eldest Master Xie, I do not know why you are asking me this now.”
“Whatever you choose to believe is no longer any concern of mine. Explanations have long since become meaningless between us.”
“There is no need to bring up these old matters again. There was never any need to bring them up in the first place.”
Xie Yuheng stared at her in a daze. “You are not even willing to explain anymore…”
Ji Hanyi frowned. “You know better than anyone what you are willing to believe, do you not?”
“As far as I am concerned, whether you believe me or not means nothing.”
“I do not understand why you want an explanation from me now.”
Her cold, unfeeling words made Xie Yuheng slump in dejection. The detachment in Ji Hanyi’s eyes made it seem as though he had long since become someone utterly irrelevant to her.
Ji Hanyi did not look at him again. She told Rongchun to take her belongings out first, then softly called for Snowball, intending to pick the cat up and leave.
But Xie Yuheng’s next words finally disturbed the perfect calm in her heart.
Xie Yuheng said, “If Mingrou cannot bear the sight of that cat, I will have someone beat it to death.”
At last, pain stabbed through Ji Hanyi’s heart.
She stopped in her tracks and spun around to face Xie Yuheng. Her fingertips trembled, and anger finally flared in her eyes. “What right do you have to touch what belongs to me?”
“Who do you think you are?”
“What gives you the right?”
“I have not taken a single thing belonging to your Xie Family. What right do you have to touch anything of mine?”
Xie Yuheng froze. He stared dazedly at Ji Hanyi’s suddenly reddened eyes. When his mother had made things difficult for her earlier, she had shown no emotion. She had remained perfectly calm while speaking of the past. Even when the old maidservant damaged one of her treasured painting scrolls, she had said nothing.
Yet now, for the sake of a mere beast, she had uttered the most vicious words she had spoken in three years.
Could that cat truly matter more to her than anything else?
Xie Yuheng opened his mouth. As he looked into Ji Hanyi’s eyes and saw an anger he had never witnessed before, he suddenly felt that he had been wrong from the very beginning.
She had said it belonged to her…
He suddenly remembered the patch of crabapple trees he had torn out by the roots.
He had not done it on purpose. He had never deliberately meant to destroy her things…
He had merely thought that if Mingrou did not want to see them, it did not matter. Crabapple trees could be found anywhere, and that cat was just an ordinary cat. How could mere possessions be more important than a person?
When Ji Hanyi saw that Xie Yuheng remained silent, she drew a deep breath, barely able to contain her emotions. “During my three years in the Xie Family, every single day felt like an eternity. I regret it just as much as you do. I regret ever bringing that marriage contract to find you.”
“Now that we are finally free of each other, I hope we will never have anything to do with each other again.”
“I will kneel before the Buddha and pray that if you ever destroy even one more thing of mine, you will die a miserable death!”