Her son tried to appease and coax her, but Mengyao didn't take it to heart.
This made her worry that her son would be bullied after they got married. It seemed that if she had the chance, she would have to have a good talk with Mengyao.
It was a long walk from the Hong family mansion to the road where Mengyao could hail a taxi.
Jiaxi kept following her and finally blocked her path, apologizing: "I'm sorry, I admit it was wrong to get you back this way again, but I truly love you, so much..."
"Actually, your mother never asked you to come to me to learn tea ceremony. Those words were all made up by you to trick me into coming to your house, weren't they?" The more Mengyao thought about it, the more she felt she had fallen into his trap, and her heart grew cold.
Jiaxi admitted, "Yes, I lied to you. But I did it for your own good. Only by giving yourself to me, body and soul, can you forget the person who only brings you harm."
Mengyao felt that the Jiaxi before her was no longer the Jiaxi of the past. She said with a laugh, "You're twisting logic. To get me through such despicable means without respecting my wishes, and then call it for my own good? What kind of bandit logic is that?"
"Who is the real bandit?" He had used means to truly get her, but he had endured it when she kept calling Song Jiaping's name while she was unconscious.
Now Mengyao still called him a bandit, and he could no longer tolerate it. "Song Jiaping is the real bandit. He clearly snatched you away from me, so why have you never thought he was wrong? He is the one who ruined our relationship..."
"Hong Jiaxi! What do you take me for? You say he snatched me away, so you want to snatch me back. Am I a lifeless doll, to be snatched back and forth without my own thoughts or will?" Mengyao seemed to have seen through everything and stared at him, "Do you really still love me? You've just had your beloved doll snatched away and want to get revenge by snatching her back!"
Hong Jiaxi blocked her tightly and said, "No, it's not like that! I love you, and my love for you has never stopped! Do you know how I survived those years you mysteriously disappeared?"
"You found comfort in other women." Mengyao recalled what Song Jiaping had said earlier about Jiaxi playing with and then abandoning a junior student, which led to her suicide.
Jiaxi extended an arm in front of her, rolled up his sleeve, and asked her to look carefully. His eyes were red as he said, "I was depressed. Every time I thought of you, I would cut myself with a blade on my arm. One time, I don't know what was wrong with me, I directly cut open the artery on my wrist. Fortunately, my family found me and sent me to the hospital, otherwise I would have died."
Mengyao was shocked. She saw faint marks on his arm and wrist, which were not noticeable if you didn't look closely.
Jiaxi said with a pained expression, "It wasn't that I wanted to cruelly abandon that girl. I was sent to a specialized hospital by my family to treat my depression, and I couldn't contact the outside world during that time. When I recovered and was discharged from the hospital, I learned of her suicide. I was also very sad, but there was nothing I could do to salvage the situation. After that, I never dated anyone else and have been waiting for you... waiting for you to come back."
Mengyao was shaken by what he said, "How could you be so foolish? Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"I was afraid you'd look down on me for having suffered from depression." Jiaxi's eyes lit up as he said, "But now that you're back by my side, my illness has long been cured. I really can't live without you. Please don't be angry with me. Let's get married and spend our lives together."
Mengyao only felt he was pitiful, yet she couldn't make up her mind.
At the time, she had been willful and gone abroad without giving Jiaxi a chance to explain, which was indeed wrong.
Her decisiveness had caused her a lot of pain for a long time, and she didn't expect Jiaxi to have suffered even more.
Unfortunately, she could no longer find the love she once had for Jiaxi, but she couldn't bear to hurt him again. "I won't look down on you. As for marriage..."
Before she could finish speaking, Jiaxi saw her attitude soften and hugged her tightly with joy, "It's good that you don't blame me or are angry with me. As for whether you want to marry me, you can think about it. You don't need to give me an answer right away."
Mengyao's heart was in turmoil, and she was held by him blankly, wondering whether she should marry Jiaxi.
In fact, after she fell in love with Song Jiaping later, their relationship had always been platonic. Song Jiaping had always been passionate but restrained by propriety.
As for her and Jiaxi, they had grown up together, and she had given him her first time in college.
All in all, Jiaxi was the only real man she had experienced. Were they destined to be together?
"Let me drive you back. Don't take a taxi in a fit of pique." Jiaxi saw that she had fallen silent and took it as her agreement. He embraced her and walked back to the Hong family mansion, then drove her home.
All the way, Mengyao was in a daze.
Jiaxi only took her to the door and did not follow her into the Huangfu family's main entrance.
Mengyao didn't even ride the electric scooter and walked into the hall herself.
Since she wanted to completely forget Song Jiaping, why was her heart still so heavy?
"Mengyao, are you going to Uncle Er's place?" Mengqi saw that she looked like a lost soul. After coming in, she didn't change her shoes and walked straight towards the corridor leading to the other end of the connected villa.
Mengyao was startled by her call and snapped back to attention, looking at her and saying, "Big Sister, you're back."
Mengqi pulled her and said, "What's wrong with you and Mom? Both of you look like you've lost your souls. I was with Mom in the garden arranging flowers just now, and she cut all the good flowers, leaving only leaves, and almost cut her hand."
"Is Mom alright? Is she still sad about Second Brother?" Mengyao asked nervously, "I'll go see her."
"Don't go bother her, she's already asleep." Mengqi pulled her to sit down and asked as they drank tea, "You didn't go to work this afternoon. Where did you go? Did Jiaxi bring you back?"
Mengyao just nodded and drank all the tea in the cup in front of her.
Mengqi smiled at her and said, "You seem quite happy with Jiaxi. Jiaxi is lively and fun. You must be in a better mood when you're with him."
"He just seems outgoing and lively, but actually he..." Mengyao stopped, feeling it wasn't appropriate to spread Jiaxi's private matters around.
However, she felt that Jiaxi's personality had changed greatly from before, and some of his underhanded methods made her very uncomfortable.
But Jiaxi always had unavoidable hardships to explain, making her unable to get angry and ignore him, yet she couldn't bear to.
She was really conflicted now.
Mengqi saw her strange expression and looked unhappy, asking, "What's wrong? Did you have a fight with him?"
Mengyao shook her head and said, "No, he suddenly proposed to me, saying he hoped I would marry him. But I haven't even thought about marriage yet, I..."
"It's a good thing he proposed to you! How did he propose?" Mengqi said happily for her, "Did he give you flowers and a diamond ring? Did he design a very romantic scenario?"