Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

Shen Wei’s red lips curled.

“What do you want to find that kind of woman for? She’s just a prostitute. Mr. Chu Lui, aren’t you scared of staining your noble self and superior reputation? If you want such a woman, I’m sure there’s one in your house. You don’t have to come here looking. Even if you do, you’ll still need to pay.”

Shen Wei’s smile became more bewitching. Chu Lui narrowed his eyes. He was the one who said those words to Xia Ruoxin every day, but hearing it from other people now made his heart feel as though someone had ripped a chunk out. It hurt a lot.

No, no, that’s not it. He didn’t know. He really didn’t know.

“I’ve told you before that she isn’t here. As for information about her, you can search for yourself, Mr. Chu. It’s not my business whether she’s dead or alive, for I wasn’t the one who forced her here. IT’s you, Mr. Chu.”

Shen Wei finished and pursed her lips, turning around and leaving. Let him search for her if he can. Chu Lui seemed to have realized something, but it was too late now.

When a woman had been devastated, she would not love others anymore, only herself.

His hysterical actions and feelings—those were obviously love, but why hadn’t he admit it? Trying to make amends now was him being too naive and seeing things too easily.

Women were not objects that would come and go at a man’s command.

Chu Lui looked at Shen Wei’s disappearing figure, without being able to get any answers. He slammed the wall beside him with his fist, not feeling any pain at all... for his heart was already numb.

He turned around and left, his usual high spirits now bleak and desolate. He realized he had always been lonely, and the so-called hate was just an excuse for not letting go.

Without love, there was no hate. The more he hated, the more he loved.

He walked out. The day outside was already dark, and the wind hit against his face, stiff and painful. He placed his hand on his chest. It was radiating with pain that seemed endless.

He sat back in his car. The phone he had forgotten in the car was ringing incessantly. He took out his phone, and he picked it up to show numerous missed calls—all from Li Manni.

He tossed the phone away. He just remembered that he had a woman at home, a wife he had married when he thought he knew it all. He was afraid that his heart would continue to be affected by that woman and scared that he would betray Yixuan.

So he married Li Manni. The crueler he was to Xia Ruoxin, the nicer he was towards Li Manni. He was living with feelings of atonement for these four years, but exactly whose crime was he atoning for?

He had never pondered over this. Perhaps he did not even consider this and wasn’t willing to.

He placed his hand on his chest. Didn’t he know the meaning behind him piecing the drawing together? Didn’t he suppress enough?

He let out a deep sigh. He placed his hands on the steering wheel. The phone by his side rang again, almost endlessly annoying. He picked up the phone, pressed hard on the button, and then flung it outside. His reddened eyes flickered with a frenzy and irritation no one knew.

Stop bothering him; otherwise, he would murder someone... or kill himself.

Li Manni hung up the phone and looked once again at the dishes on the table. He had never stood her up before, but why now? Yesterday... today as well. Was he really that busy?

She placed her hand on the small of her stomach. The baby was so important to them. Without it, the relationship between them would be gone, too.

At that moment, there was a noise from the door. She hurried over immediately, almost excitedly. He came back. She knew he wouldn’t leave her alone.

“Lui, you’re back.” She opened the door in a hurry. It was indeed Chu Lui. She said as she threw herself into his arms.

Chu Lui just used a hand to block her body. His tired voice revealed a hint of coldness. “I’m tired. I’ll take a short rest.” Then he walked past her. He did not even want to pretend to be intimate with her. She was really tired. He needed some time to think about things.

“Lui, what’s wrong with you today?” Li Manni stood rooted to the ground, stunned. She turned around to his back and asked, stammering. He seemed different today, but she couldn’t put her finger on what changed.

The dishes on the table were still there, untouched.

Chu Lui walked into his study room and placed his briefcase at one side. He really felt extremely stressed and repressed. He sunk into the chair. It was hurting in between his brows so he massaged for a while, but it didn’t subside. He took out a key and unlocked the drawer he had always kept locked.

He opened the drawer. It was full of pearls, pearls that he had torn apart with his own hands; but the woman had picked them back up one by one. He had not allowed her to bring anything with her from the Chu house, including these pearls he had stowed away in the drawer for four years.

Under the soft lighting of the warm room, the pearls were glimmered brightly. Every pearl was of equal size and shone with perfect luster, but it was a pity they were separate, not strung together.

He locked the drawer and walked into a small suite, lying down directly onto the bed. He did not want to go to the master bedroom today. He did not want to lie beside a woman, much less say force himself to make a baby with a woman.

He was tired. If they couldn’t give birth to a child, then so be it. Perhaps it was retribution for his many wrongdoings.

He lied on the bed, his hand still on his chest. He shut his eyes which had a tinge of red. On the other side of the door, Li Manni placed her hand on the door tentatively but chose to put down her hand in the end. At this moment, she only felt that the distance between them had increased.

Perhaps that distance was never shortened,

“I’ve said before that I will make you pay.” The man said, taking out a stick from behind him. His eyes narrowed as he swung ruthlessly at the woman’s arm.

The woman wailed out in pain as he turned away coldly without looking at her body writhing on the floor.

His hand squeezed tightly around her neck as he wished he could strangle her to death. “You’re nothing but a cheap slut, a deplorable prostitute.” The merciless words poured out of his mouth.

He didn’t know pain nor sadness, but others knew.