Chapter 26: Chapter Twenty-Four

"Is that what she told you?" Jiang Jie frowned.

"She only wants to know when your divorce agreement will arrive."

"It won't be arriving!"

"Do you really intend to keep her by your side?"

Jiang Jie looked toward a distant spot outside the window. Of course he wanted to keep her by his side; only these past days had he realized that having her near was happiness itself—living under the same roof, breathing the same air, sleeping in the same bed, eating at the same table. This... was happiness.

But could he still possess this happiness?

Bai Bai Ziling was half-squatting, tying a little boy's shoelaces. When she patted the boy's head and straightened up, she suddenly saw Jiang Jie, and both love and hate were written in her eyes.

"Bai Ziling." He no longer called her by her full name now, as if the two of them had weathered the storm and all bad things were in the past.

"Do you think you're so capable?" She launched straight into accusations.

"I..." He hadn't even figured out what she was referring to yet!

"Why do you come to harass me?"

"I've come to take you back."

"Take me back?"

"Legally..."

"Don't drag law into this!" If she hadn't feared frightening the children nearby, Bai Bai Ziling would have already lunged at him to teach him a lesson. "If you're so capable, go sue me. Let's meet in court and see which side the judge stands on."

Jiang Jie watched her with patience, as if he had already resolved to yield to her, endure her, and let her have her way, as some form of atonement.

"Go back immediately."

"Unless you come with me."

"Jiang Jie, there's a cliff five minutes' walk ahead. If you leap from it, even if you don't shatter into pieces, you'll certainly be thrown into such a state that you won't be recognizable. Do you wish to drive me to that point?" Bai Bai Ziling asked with a "sweet smile."

"I don't mean to drive you. I only want to make amends."

"This amends comes too late."

"You can punish me, as long as it's within my power."

"But I want neither your amends nor to punish you. I only want my original simple life!" she shouted hoarsely.

"A simple life..." he repeated.

"Yes! A simple life without you."

"Bai Ziling, there can't be no feeling between us; otherwise, that night you wouldn't have given yourself to me. Of course, I know you're angry with me, hate me, resent me, but these can all be overcome and made up for!"

"Where do you intend to start making amends?" she asked him sorrowfully. "From the first day I moved into your home, I hoped to be your true wife. I didn't want it to be just three months of acting. I hoped you would fall in love with me, hoped you would want to keep me by your side..."

"I am now trying to..."

"But how did you treat me during those two months?" She felt unworthy of herself. "I was only slightly more useful than the furniture in your house. I am alive. I have feelings. I suffer!"

"I didn't know..."

"But you didn't want to understand me. You only wanted time to pass quickly so you could end it all!" Bai Bai Ziling voiced his mindset at the time.

"I admit my fault. I apologize to you."

"It's useless!"

"Bai Ziling, people must look forward. Even a murderer, even a criminal sentenced to life imprisonment, still has a chance to atone or a possibility of a reduced sentence. Why can't you give me one more chance?" Jiang Jie grew somewhat angry as he spoke. "Let me be your spouse for a lifetime!"

"A lifetime..." She wanted to cry.

"It's not too late!"

"For you, it's not too late..."

"Bai Ziling, is your head filled with cement or garbage? Can't you think of something beautiful? Besides hate... don't you have any other, more affectionate emotions toward me?" No longer willing to remain on the defensive, Jiang Jie began to counterattack.

Bai Bai Ziling fell silent out of pique.

"Nothing is beyond starting over." He scolded her.

"You're so self-assured!"

"I will never let myself lose you."

"You have already lost!"

"Bai Ziling, you are not a woman who will take any man, nor will you cuckold me. We can live well together." He reached out his hand, wanting to show her his sincerity and true heart.

But Bai Bai Ziling knocked his hand away. She showed no appreciation at all, especially since the children around them had been watching their quarrel for quite a while.

"Go! Don't set a wrong example for these children."

"You really won't go with me?"

"I won't!"

"What about your coffee shop?"

"If it closes, so be it!"

"Do you really intend to stay on this mountain?"

"I've already grown to like it here." Bai Bai Ziling wasn't lying. She noticed Tong Yiwen had been watching them all along, but she hadn't intervened, merely observing them silently. "Let's go! My cousin is already watching."

"I will come again." He made his declaration.

"I will disappear again."

"No matter where you hide, I will find you!"

After Jiang Jie had walked for a while, Tong Yiwen came to Bai Bai Ziling's side. She wasn't there to pry, only to express what she had seen and felt.

"Very cool, very handsome, a man who seems to hold great power, as if nothing in this world could obstruct or shake his resolve. Bai Ziling, is this man troubling you?" Tong Yiwen asked, knowing full well what she was asking.

"Cousin..."

"When you stand together, you look very well-matched, like Jin Tongyunu."

"That's an illusion."

"Can you really steel your heart and refuse him?"

"He could steel his heart and hurt me until I was utterly broken; why can't I steel my heart?" Bai Bai Ziling spoke somewhat insincerely; actually, her heart had gradually softened, after all, he had bowed his head to her again and again, but the moment she thought of her feelings when she left his house that morning...

It was truly hard for her to let go!

On a rainy afternoon with a downpour, Di Di Zhiwei also arrived at this kindergarten on Xindian Mountain; Jiang Jie had told him Bai Bai Ziling's whereabouts, perhaps Jiang Jie thought he could bring Bai Bai Ziling back to Taipei!

Coincidentally, Bai Bai Ziling was sending a little boy with a fever home, so Di Di Zhiwei faced a woman who looked a bit like an old maid, yet possessed sharp eyes and was very mature.

"I must wait for Bai Bai Ziling to return," Di Di Zhiwei said politely.

"You are..." Tong Yiwen asked with sharp eyes; Bai Ziling had never mentioned this person, and this fellow looked

different from the man last time, carrying a certain roguish charm; one glance showed he was no decent, proper man.

"I am Bai Bai Ziling's friend."

"I am Bai Bai Ziling's cousin."

"Hello, cousin," he said wittily.

"I am not so 'old and virtuous' that you can call me cousin; do you have business with Bai Ziling?" Tong Yiwen questioned guardedly; she did not want to see more inexplicable people bothering her cousin.

"Some business." He felt this woman was somewhat difficult to deal with.

"What business?"

"When I see Bai Bai Ziling, I..." Di Di Zhiwei did not want to offend this woman who looked so sternly serious.

"If it is not very important, I do not wish for you to disturb her." Tong Yiwen was essentially ordering him to leave.

"It concerns her lifelong happiness; do you say it is important or not?" Di Di Zhiwei was getting a bit angry.

"Lifelong happiness? With you?!"

"Is that not allowed? Cousin—"

"Sir, I am quite certain my age is not greater than yours, so you need not call me 'cousin' this and 'cousin' that, nor try to claim kinship with me; I cannot bear it. Bai Ziling's mood is somewhat confused now, but I believe her confusion did not start because of you." Tong Yiwen clashed with him; she found this fellow unpleasant.

"I am Di Di Zhiwei; Bai Ziling may have mentioned me to you."

"She did not mention this person to me."

"But Bai Ziling and I have some 'history'." Di Di Zhiwei began to feel a bit overwhelmed; now there were actually young "old maids"? She looked like those humorless matrons from the past, but after looking at her for a while, one felt she was quite pleasant to look at and quite charming.