Shi Ran blinked her pupils, tugged at her lips in a daze, but found her mind blank, completely unsure of what to say.
Tang Si, dressed in a black knitted sweater with his hands in the pockets of his casual pants, smiled coldly. "You don't actually think I canceled my engagement with Zhao Wuyan for you, do you?"
He had given her chances.
More than once.
Yet, this damn woman in front of him had repeatedly ignored his 'advances', trampling his 'love' for her underfoot.
Since that was the case, she shouldn't have returned.
Shi Ran: "..."
Yes.
They had canceled their engagement, what did that have to do with her?
She feigned strength and smiled, "I... I... I didn't think that."
"Heh, it's good you have some self-awareness."
Tang Si turned, picked up a cigarette pack from the coffee table, took out a cigarette, stuck it in his mouth, lit it, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window to smoke.
Shi Ran nodded slightly. Seeing him turn around, she no longer forced a smile. "Yes, the Tang family is a prestigious lineage, how could I possibly be a good match?" She sighed, muttering to herself with self-deprecation, "Besides, I'm a disfigured woman."
Her fingers traced her face, touching the scar. Her heart felt as if it were being pricked by needles, an incessant ache.
Her cheeks felt hot, even burning to the touch.
Because the day she saw Tang Si, she had taken off her clothes and covered him. Battered by the biting cold wind, she had developed a fever for several days.
"It's good you know that." Tang Si hadn't clearly heard Shi Ran's last mumbled words. However, having been hurt by Shi Ran repeatedly, he felt his own inherent foolishness, always falling for women.
As a result, he had built a fortress around himself.
Hearing his words, Shi Ran suddenly looked up, her dark eyes widening slightly. She looked at Tang Si, who stood with his back to her, in disbelief.
Tears welled up, sliding directly down her lower eyelashes, soaking her collar.
Disfigurement had always been a painful spot in her heart.
It was a scar that could not be reopened.
Yet, this time, the person who reopened her scar was Tang Si.
So, it turned out...
He truly despised her disfigurement as well.
Shi Ran tilted her head back, rapidly blinking, trying to dilute the tears in her eyes.
However, it was all in vain.
She swept away her tears with her sleeve, feigning composure. "Well then, I wish Young Master Tang happiness in the future."
With those words, Shi Ran didn't know how much effort she exerted to control her emotions, just to make her voice sound normal and calm.
After speaking, she turned and left without looking back, closing the door behind her.
In the living room, silence descended once more.
Tang Si held the cigarette in his hand. The moment the door closed, his entire heart felt hollow.
His fingers continued to hold the cigarette, letting it burn down to his fingertips. The ash fell to the ground, the intermittent sparks burning up to the butt, searing his fingers.
Only then did he snap back to reality, dropping the cigarette butt on the ground and stepping on it to extinguish it.
The living room was utterly silent.
Outside the window, the cold wind howled, its rustling sound like the mournful cries of ghosts in the dark night.
People have their limits.
Shi Ran's repeated departures had completely touched Tang Si's bottom line. He vowed that he would never go looking for Shi Ran again in this lifetime.
Even though he knew that the video of Shi Ran and Yuan Wei might be fake.
But the ambiguous scene he witnessed that day at the entrance of Ran Wei Studio, seeing Yuan Wei and Shi Ran together, how could it be fake?
Otherwise, why would Shi Ran have been so heartless as to leave when he vomited blood that day?
Today, knowing he had failed to become a monk and had just returned from the mountains, how could she bear to leave?
The fundamental reason was that she had never had him in her heart!
Not even a little bit!
The heavy snow had stopped.
Shi Ran bought the earliest flight. The so-called 'early' meant any flight that could take her away from this city.
With a randomly purchased ticket, before boarding, she made a phone call to Meng Jingwei.