Xiao Cheng's appearance clearly indicated he had just woken up. Meng Jingwei realized then that Qing Muye hadn't come to find him.
"Uh... I..."
Meng Jingwei stammered, racking her brain for a reason. Finally, she lied, "I couldn't sleep in the middle of the night and wanted to call you to say thank you. Your phone wouldn't connect, so I thought you might be in danger and came to check."
She deliberately avoided mentioning Qing Muye.
Xiao Cheng's hand rested on the doorknob. His clear mind recalled everything that had happened a few hours ago, and his gaze instantly turned dark. He said coldly, "A person full of lies would care about whether I lived or died? Heh, should I thank you then?"
Suddenly, his attitude towards Meng Jingwei became much more distant.
Because Qing Muye's staged death, Meng Jingwei had deceived him.
"Xiao Cheng..."
She called his name and looked up at him. The moment their eyes met, Meng Jingwei felt a chilling coldness emanating from his eyes.
At that glance, she guiltily lowered her head. "I know, I lied to you. But you and A Ye have always been at odds. We had our own plans, so we could only keep it from you."
"Are you done explaining?"
Xiao Cheng remained unmoved. "If you're done explaining, then leave."
He began to show her the door, but Meng Jingwei didn't turn away. Instead, she looked up and asked expectantly, "Can you and A Ye let go of your hatred for each other?"
They were enemies. No matter who got hurt, it wasn't what Meng Jingwei wanted to see.
If only there was a way to resolve the conflict between them.
"Let go?"
Xiao Cheng's emotions got the better of him, and his voice rose.
After speaking, he glanced back in the direction of the bedroom, then walked out, gently closing the door.
Standing before Meng Jingwei, his hands tucked into the pockets of his bathrobe, he looked down at her. "Meng Jingwei, listen carefully..." he said, each word firm and resonant. "In this life, it's either I die, or he dies."
There were things Xiao Cheng found difficult to say.
Even without him saying it, Meng Jingwei could understand the unpleasant events of the past and the death of his sister, Xiao Meiyan.
"I want to ask you, are we considered friends?" Meng Jingwei calmly retorted.
It was a sudden question, which made Xiao Cheng fall silent.
A few seconds later, his thin lips parted. "A few hours ago, yes. But now, no longer."
A flicker of disappointment crossed Meng Jingwei's eyes. All her past interactions with Xiao Cheng swirled in her mind.
From their meeting at the KTV, where the affluent young master didn't mind her "ugly" appearance after her disguise, to later knowing her identity and pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend in front of her adoptive mother, and then to him and Qing Muye arriving one after another to rescue her on Da Liang Mountain...
Each scene flashed through her mind like a movie.
Initially, she admired and liked Xiao Cheng, then they became good friends. Later, Xiao Meiyan's actions angered Qing Muye, leading Qing Muye to retaliate against the Xiao family. Xiao Cheng then kidnapped her... and finally, they turned into enemies.
Meng Jingwei thought she would hate Xiao Cheng forever.
But who would have thought that on their wedding day at Xishan, he would rush in front of her, disregarding his own life, to block Antina's bullet.
That time, the bullet had been only centimeters away from taking his life.
It was on that day that Meng Jingwei let go of all her resentment towards Xiao Cheng.
In subsequent encounters with Xiao Cheng, she noticed he had changed. His temper had mellowed considerably, and he treated her with polite respect.
Meng Jingwei even thought that being friends with Xiao Cheng wouldn't be so bad.
However, their long-standing grievances made them irreconcilable, and she could only make a choice.
"Okay."
Meng Jingwei nodded slightly, lowered her eyelids, hiding the trace of disappointment in her eyes, and turned to leave.
After taking a few steps, she paused, then slowly turned back. "Xiao Cheng, you are not A Ye's match. I know Xiao Meiyan's death has always been a pain in your heart, but I believe she would want you to be happy. And me, I don't want to see either of you get hurt."