"It is okay, mom; as long as you take care of yourself, everything will be fine," Li Chuxi assured her mother, holding her hands.
Xin Yan only nodded awkwardly, perplexed as to why her daughter was acting this way.
After lunch, Xin Yan requested to meet with Li Qiang in his study. He agreed, and they were now sitting in his study, with Xin Yan looking sideways.
"Do you have something to say to me?" He asked, and she nodded with a heavy expression.
"I think I remember something," she told him, and he sat up right away.
"What do you recall?" He questioned her while squinting.
"I recall how my skin got burned in my previous life," she told him, and he frowned.
"You had burnt skin? He asked hesitantly. "When did this occur?" He inquired again, angry at his inability to step up in her previous life.
Perhaps if he had done so, she would not have faced so many difficulties.
"It is supposed to happen in two years," she said quietly, lowering her head and fiddling with her fingers.
"How did it happen?" He asked again, and this time, Xin Yan recounted everything that had occurred that day.
When she was finished, Li Qiang clenched his fists.
"I am going to kill her, I will kill both she and Yuan Renshu," he exclaimed, like a starving animal let loose as he made to storm out of the office.
Fortunately, Xin Yan had quick reflexes, and she was able to stop him.
"What exactly do you think you are doing?" He sighed deeply as she asked.
He looked at her and his eyes were filled with various emotions. Love, fear, sadness, disappointment, and ultimately regret.
"I am sorry," he confessed.
Xin Yan raised her eyebrows, taken aback by his apology.
"Why did you apologize?" She inquired with a slight twinkle in her eyes.
"Because I was not there for you, maybe I should have just followed my instincts and pursued you," he said regretfully as he sat next to her on the sofa.
"If you had done so, it would have been a different story; I might have agreed to marry you, but I would have hated you because you would have separated me from someone I thought was dear to me," she explained to him, and he nodded, thinking her theory was quite reasonable.
"So, I believe it is fate; let us be content with how things are going," he said to her, nodding.
"And who was the mastermind behind the earlier incident?" She never forgot about it.
"Was it something to do with Jiang Lanfen?" She inquired after noticing his head was lowered.
"She was not the only one involved; there was another person," he told her, to which she chuckled.
She had no idea she could be targeted in this way.
"Who was it, anyway?" She asked. It was important in her life in any case, and she needed to know who had problems with her.
"I am not sure if you know her, but she is Tang Mei, the Tang family’s youngest daughter and last child," he replied, causing her to laugh.
He looked at her and could not figure out why she was laughing.
"I had forgotten to tell you that I had a disagreement with Tang Mei yesterday; it appears she was jealous of me," she laughed as she spoke.
Li Qiang’s confusion persisted. Confrontation? Yesterday? What exactly had happened?
She could tell he did not understand what she was saying by his confused expression.
"What I am trying to say is that I met Tang Mei, and I did not know who she was until she introduced herself to me," she began, telling him everything that had happened the day before.
When she finished, he gave her a strange look. She also told him about her little theory, which caused him to stare at her strangely.
"Why do you believe she likes me? You also believe she stole the suit just to give it to me; why do you think so?" He asked with his arms folded. He was very curious about what she was thinking in her head.
"I am a woman, and I have what is known as a woman’s instincts; a woman will always know when a fellow woman likes a man, and from what I have seen, she really likes you," she chuckled as she remembered Tang Mei’s jealous expression yesterday. It actually made her extremely happy.
"What do you want me to do with her?" "She likes me, which is good for her," he said in an emotionally detached tone.
She asked him with a puzzled smile, "Why did you say that? "The lady likes you," Xin Yan remarked with a laugh.
"But I like you!" He responded with firmness.
Xin Yan’s cheeks flushed immediately. She was not expecting him to confess so quickly.
Yes, she was aware that he loved her, and he had always told her so. His confession, however, took her by surprise.
She looked at him awkwardly because she had no idea how to respond.
He adored her, but she did not reciprocate. Perhaps just a little.
She was unsure about her emotions. She had no idea how she was going to react to his sudden confession.
"How do you think I should handle Jiang Lanfen? After all, she hurt me this time, and I can not take it lightly," she quickly changed the subject, her gaze straying from his. She was not brave enough to look into his eyes.
He sighed and laughed as he witnessed her feeble attempt to ignore his confession. He made no comment about it.
Rather, he intended to take it slowly with her. She was at a vulnerable point in her life and needed to be treated with caution; otherwise, if he went too far, she might flee.
"I actually wanted to speak with you about something," he told her in a serious tone, and she recovered from her embarrassment.
"What exactly is that?" She asked a question.
"I actually dealt with Jiang’s company; they are currently in a bad situation, and my goal is to disrupt their business," he finally admitted to her.
Xin Yan was taken aback as she gazed at him with wide eyes and parted lips. She certainly was not expecting this from him.