Chapter 98
Chapter 98
Xie Yuheng was stunned by Ji Hanyi’s words. He stumbled several steps backward.
He had never seen her like this before. Her eyes held nothing but hatred for him.
All because of a cat.
She had cursed him to die a horrible death.
She had even said she regretted marrying him.
They had been husband and wife for three years. The woman whose heart and eyes had once been filled with him now looked at him with nothing but coldness.
His voice trembled. “It was only a cat. If you want one, I’ll give you another to make up for it.”
He spoke so casually, as though destroying something of hers were of no consequence whatsoever.
Ji Hanyi closed her eyes. She truly could not control her emotions. She had endured everything for three years, but at this moment, her feelings finally broke free of her control.
She drew a deep breath and stared coldly at Xie Yuheng. “I don’t want one anymore. You killed my cat. One day, retribution will find you.”
Xie Yuheng stared at her in shock.
Ji Hanyi took another two steps toward him and looked him straight in the eye. “That cup of tea Li Mingrou offered me that year — she spilled it herself, yet you blamed me for it for three whole years.”
“You let others blind and deafen you to the truth. A fool like you will suffer the consequences of his own actions one day.”
“I should have seen you clearly long ago. You’re nothing but a muddleheaded mediocrity hiding behind a facade of integrity.”
“Thank goodness. Thank goodness I no longer have to stay here. Otherwise, sooner or later, you’d destroy everything I hold dear!”
With that, Ji Hanyi did not spare Xie Yuheng another glance. She walked straight past him.
Xie Yuheng stared blankly at her receding figure as she left without hesitation. In that instant, he understood that none of the countless pleas he had rehearsed last night — nothing he could say to make her stay or change her mind — would be of any use.
He had also seen hatred in her eyes.
She hated him…
The intensity of that hatred sent a faint chill down his spine. It was as though she truly wished him dead.
In a daze, he thought of the Ji Hanyi from before, the one who had always been gentle and meek with him. She had cared about everything concerning him, and her tender, loving eyes had held no one but him.
Why had all the affection she once held for him suddenly vanished from her eyes?
Had the woman he believed would never be able to leave him ever truly loved him at all?
Her figure gradually disappeared from sight, and Xie Yuheng suddenly staggered.
He turned to look at the now-empty room behind him. During the days Ji Hanyi had been away, he had often come here to look at her paintings, the calligraphy she had practiced, and the meticulously kept ledger she had left on the desk.
His gaze fell on the chair where she used to sit. Perhaps her figure would never again appear there by the window.
Now the room was empty and cold, restored to how it had been before her arrival. She had not left a single possession behind in the main quarters. Not even the faintest trace of her presence remained. She had even told the maids to carry away the begonia she had tended.
Ji Hanyi truly had not taken a single thing belonging to the Xie Family. After marrying into the household for three years, she had asked for nothing…
No matter what, things should not have ended like this. He had wronged her, after all.
Lost and dispirited, Xie Yuheng sat down in the chair Ji Hanyi had often used and stared vacantly at the bare desk.
The room was utterly silent. Light fell across his face as he clutched his chest, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe.
Ji Hanyi’s words circled endlessly through his mind. She had cursed him to die horribly. She had said retribution would find him.
In her heart, had he truly wronged her so deeply…?
Li Mingrou hurried in from outside, lifting her skirts as she walked. The moment she arrived, she saw Xie Yuheng sitting dazedly in the chair.
In her eyes, Brother Xie had always been upright and proper. She had never seen him look so defeated.
But why was Brother Xie like this now? He still granted her every request. When she said she was afraid of Ji Hanyi’s cat, Brother Xie had ordered someone to dash it to death. When she said she wanted every furnishing in the room replaced, Brother Xie had not said a word of protest.
Brother Xie had never treated Ji Hanyi this way before. In his heart, Li Mingrou was supposed to be the one who mattered. Now that the person who had stood between her and Brother Xie was finally gone, shouldn’t he be happy?
Ji Hanyi had left with all her belongings. At last, not a single trace of her remained here.
Li Mingrou would replace the servants who had attended Ji Hanyi, the bed where Ji Hanyi and Brother Xie had slept — everything had to be replaced. For the rest of her life, Ji Hanyi would never live better than she did.
Li Mingrou took a deep breath and walked over to Xie Yuheng. He sat staring blankly down at the table. She gently touched his shoulder and called softly, “Brother Xie.”
Xie Yuheng paused, then looked up. Li Mingrou’s delicate face hovered above him, as weak and pitiful as ever. In a small voice, she asked, “Is Brother Xie sad?”
Xie Yuheng silently studied her face. She looked exactly like the Li Mingrou he remembered from childhood, the girl he had always needed to protect. She was forever clinging to his side in this frail manner, as if she could not survive without him.
He suddenly asked, “The year Hanyi entered the household, when you served her tea, why did you deliberately knock over the cup and make me misunderstand what happened?”
Li Mingrou froze, panic flashing through her eyes. Why would Brother Xie say that? Had he learned everything?
Of course she had done it deliberately. She had only wanted to put Ji Hanyi in her place and show her who truly mattered more to Brother Xie. She had wanted Ji Hanyi to understand her position and stop fighting her for Brother Xie.
But Xie Yuheng’s sudden interrogation had caught Li Mingrou completely unprepared. She had no idea what Ji Hanyi had said to Brother Xie just now, much less how he had learned the truth.
Still, she quickly forced herself to calm down. There was no need to panic. She knew that no matter what she said, Brother Xie would believe her.
Even if it was an obvious lie, Brother Xie would still take her side and believe her.
Tears swiftly gathered in her eyes. She lowered her head and looked at Xie Yuheng with an aggrieved expression. “Does Brother Xie no longer believe Mingrou either? Mingrou has never done such a thing.”
As she spoke, she dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief, then continued hoarsely, “Ji Hanyi has already divorced Brother Xie, yet she still insists on slandering me and making trouble for me. Everything she said was a lie.”
Xie Yuheng looked at the tears in Li Mingrou’s eyes. He had also clearly seen that flicker of panic moments ago.
He had investigated countless cases and read through countless case files. He had phrased the question that way on purpose. Her instinctive reaction could not be faked.
Xie Yuheng suddenly drew a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut.
That incident had been the beginning. From then on, he had believed Ji Hanyi to be narrow-minded. From then on, he had taken Li Mingrou’s side at every turn.
Yet only now did he learn that he had misunderstood Ji Hanyi all those years ago… and had continued misunderstanding her for so many years afterward…
Just how many other things had he gotten wrong about her?
Xie Yuheng suddenly felt such a crushing weight in his chest that he could barely breathe. He lowered his head and braced his forehead in one hand. For the first time in his life, he spoke coldly to Li Mingrou.
“Get out…”
Li Mingrou stared at him in shock, then dropped to her knees before him and wept. “I forgot what happened that year long ago. Perhaps Ji Hanyi did it by accident, or perhaps she did it deliberately.”
“So many years have passed. Why is Brother Xie bringing it up now?”
Xie Yuheng’s fingertips trembled. He covered his face with his hands.
Why bring it up now…?
Only now did he truly understand why Ji Hanyi had insisted on divorcing him even after things had spiraled this far.
And why she hated him so much.
He had destroyed the crabapple flowers she had planted and killed the white cat she had raised. He could not blame her for hating him.