Chapter 96: You're Settled Then

  "Give me time, I will slowly understand." Chen Yan's tone was soft and almost pleading. He didn't know Xia Xixi, but he believed it was only a matter of time before he did. If he had grown up with her like Lu Dongqi, then his understanding of her wouldn't be any less than his.

  "This isn't a matter of time, Chen Yan. You're too self-centered, to you, others are only divided into those who look good and those who don't, those who will submit to you and those who won't. You never truly put people in your heart. The 'like' you mentioned is just possessiveness." She wasn't blind to the changes in Chen Yan, nor was she oblivious to the deep emotions in his eyes. It's just that Xia Xi had convinced herself that it was her own willfulness that had led to Lu Dongqi's accident.

  If it weren't for that phone call that night, there wouldn't have been a second meeting the next day, and Lu Dongqi would have died in the traffic accident. The guilt in her heart made Xia Xixi put on the hat of a sinner, she wanted to punish herself to make up for Lu Dongqi, she wanted to refuse everyone, and engrave him in her memory, only then could she save her heart from deep remorse.

  Saying such hurtful words to reject Chen Yan didn't make her feel any better, she didn't dare face Chen Yan, nor did she dare face her own heart.

  Chen Yan's determination was not deterred by Xia Xixi's cold words, and compared to Xia Xixi's confusion, he had never been clearer about his own heart.

  It's not that I approached you because I wanted love, but rather I believed in love because I loved you. He has never felt such an urgent need to protect someone before, even if it means facing the other person's ruthlessness without retreating.

  If you really love someone, you will put down all your pride and stubbornness, take off all the coldness and disguise, stand naked in front of her, hoping she can see the scorching heart beating in your chest. So Chen Yan said: "I'll prove it to you, your view of me is just a prejudice, Xia Xi, I'm going to conquer you."

  His tone was so firm, as if it were a promise and an oath.

  But Xia Xi's courage had been exhausted when she received the news of Lu Dongqi's death, and she did not dare to accept Chen Yan's confession, so she fled in a sorry state.

  Chen Yan didn't go after her, although she responded to his sincere offer with a self-mutilating way of escaping, he didn't have the slightest blame for her. His girl locked herself in a dark room, filled with guilt and remorse, and all he could do was wait until she broke free from her mental shackles.

  But at this time Chen Yan believed more firmly than ever that they would have a beautiful ending without any shadow.

  Kaori crawled onto the bed and fell asleep as soon as she got home, not thinking about anything, not caring about anything. In her dream, she was in a state of confusion, with a gray mist in front of her eyes, unable to see anything clearly.

  When she came to, she heard the sound of conversation in the living room. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she pushed open the door and found Liu Xuanmei and Zeng Yu inside.

  "Finally woke up, Auntie said you've been sleeping for nearly 16 hours, if you didn't wake up, we would have considered calling an ambulance." Xuan Mei said with a smile.

  "You're a scoundrel, you didn't even contact me after I gave you time off, it seems like you've devoted yourself to the temple of Zhou Gong." Zeng Yu teased her.

  The two pretended as if nothing had happened, joking around, but the cautious look on their faces revealed their concern. Xiaoyu had prepared a set of comforting words in her heart, but on the way there, Xianmiao reminded her not to comfort her, and to pretend as if nothing had happened, so that she could quickly walk out of the shadows and return to being the sunny Xiaoxi.

  "Hmm... I might have contracted a disease that makes me not want to get out of bed." XiXi pouted, although these two close friends had been teasing her since early morning, but it made her gloomy mood for the past few days seem to see a glimmer of light.

  "Hurry up and wash your face, change your clothes, we're going to the Natural History Museum in a bit." Xuan urged her.

  "Why go to the natural history museum? I'm not going." Xixi had just woken up from a daze-like dream, her body was lazy and didn't want to move at all, she didn't want to go anywhere. She still immersed herself in sorrow, wanting to quietly reflect alone.

  "Xia Xi, look at yourself now, you're completely like a rotten mud pulled out of the water. I'll give you half an hour to take a bath and change your clothes before going out. If not, I'll strip you naked and throw you out!" Xian Miao shook her head with a face full of disgust, looking at her. Since persuasion didn't work, she resorted to forceful means to get her out the door. If Xia Xi was allowed to stay cooped up at home alone any longer, her heart would forever be shrouded in gloom and she'd never be able to escape the shadow of losing Lu Dong Qi.

  Waaah, really no sympathy, she's already like this and still wants to force her out, Xia XiXi looked at Liu XuanMei with a pitiful gaze, she knew that she was always one who wouldn't budge, if she moved any slower, it's likely that she would be stripped bare and thrown out.

  "Xi Xi, you have to go. This weekend, there are kindergarten kids going to the natural history museum for a visit, and they need beautiful, gentle, and elegant volunteer sisters to explain things to them." It was still Zeng Yu's words that sounded pleasant to Xi Xi's ears, and her mood slightly improved as she listened to her say, "You're talking about beautiful, gentle, and elegant Zeng Yu sister. If because of you delaying the time, I'm unable to explain things to the kids, what a huge sin that would be."

  It turned out that this string of adjectives was describing herself. Xia XiXi's eyes welled up with tears as she heard Xuan Miao start counting down, "Don't say I didn't warn you, 5 minutes have already passed, you still have 25 minutes left."

  She subconsciously glanced at her watch and rushed into the bathroom.

  "Xiao Mei, aren't we being too cruel to her?" Zeng Yu looked at Xia Xi's flustered appearance and sighed.

  "I think you understand the feeling of losing an important person better than I do. What she needs is not to indulge in pain, but to shift her attention." Xuan's tone was slightly dim, ten years ago, she witnessed her mother's death at her bedside, that kind of heart-wrenching pain often made her wake up from her dreams.

  At that time, her father's career was on the rise, and he didn't have much time to accompany her. On many nights, she would lie alone in bed, looking at her mother's photo and crying until she fell asleep, only to wake up again to a new day.

  She told herself, Liu Xuanmei, you must be strong, Mom is watching from heaven, how can you not let her rest in peace after she's gone? So she shifted her busy self, forcing herself to learn piano, chess, foreign languages, and everything that could shift her attention.

  A 10-year-old child, yet with the strength and independence of an adult, slowly emerged from her painful past. Now, seeing Xia Xi's hidden pain in her eyes, she seemed to see her own self ten years ago. She couldn't let Xia Xi sink into it. (Download this book by entering or searching for "book name + Ha Shi Ba") You can search for the latest updates of this book on Baidu by typing "冤家校草不易解Ha Shi Ba"!