Yan Qiubai's eyes were bloodshot, looking like a cornered beast trapped in a desperate situation.
Meng Ruozhao's clear and resolute declaration of breaking up completely shattered his last bit of sanity.
He suddenly grabbed Meng Ruozhao's wrist, with such great force that it almost crushed her bones.
"End? Who do you think you are to say it's over first?"
His voice was hoarse, with a kind of crazy paranoia.
"Oh, I get it," he said.
"Do you think you've had enough of dating and want to get married right away?"
"Fine! Let's go to the civil affairs bureau now! I'll take you there to get the marriage certificate right now! Will that satisfy you?"
He pulled her and was about to walk out, his movements rough and hasty.
It was as if he could hold onto the fading phantom as long as he bound her with a marriage certificate.
Meng Ruozhao's wrist ached. Frightened by his crazy appearance, her face turned pale as she struggled desperately.
"Yan Qiubai, let go of me. I'm not playing hard - to - get. I really don't like you. Can't you understand?"
"Don't like me?"
Yan Qiubai suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned back to stare fixedly at her. His blood - red eyes were filled with moisture, but he stubbornly refused to let the tears fall.
"Why? Give me a reason! Is it... Is there still another man on your mind? Is it your ex - boyfriend?"
He seemed to have grasped at the last straw, yet at the same time, he was stung again by his own speculation. His tone was sharp.
"You've lost your memory and forgotten everything. Why can't you forget about him? What's so good about him?"
Meng Ruozhao's struggling movements suddenly froze. Her pupils constricted sharply as she looked at Yan Qiubai in shock.
He knew...
He actually knew that she had an ex - boyfriend?
Du Feng had sworn to her.
All her "dishonorable" past experiences: rebellion, immaturity, running away from home...
Including that married old man who was said to have kept her, had all been completely erased by the Du family at a great cost. All the insiders had signed confidentiality agreements.
They had even fabricated a pure and innocent persona for her in front of Yan Qiubai, saying that she had been focused on her studies and had never been in a relationship.
In Du Feng's words, what the wealthy family needed was a well - behaved and presentable socialite.
She had to act like a harmless little flower in front of Yan Qiubai, even if it was just an act.
So, in theory, Yan Qiubai should never have known about these things.
Unless... he had conducted an in - depth investigation of her behind her back.
This realization sent a chill down her spine, but then, a stronger thought suddenly popped up -
Since Yan Qiubai had investigated her, did he know the truth about her past?
Could she pry open the tightly - shut door of her lost memories from his mouth?
Her momentary daze and silence were undoubtedly taken as a silent admission and nostalgia in Yan Qiubai's eyes.
"Ha... haha..."
Yan Qiubai trembled with anger. His vision went black in front of his eyes, and the force with which he grabbed her wrist almost got out of control.
"Sure enough! It's really him. Meng Ruozhao, do you have a heart?"
"If that man had any real feelings for you, how could he not come to look for you for so long?"
"He's already abandoned you and forgotten about you. Only I've been like a fool, planning our future."
Extreme jealousy and anger made him speak without thinking.
"You like that kind of past life, don't you? Fine, I can give it to you too!"
"You want to continue your studies or settle abroad. I'll agree to everything. I'll give you whatever you want!"
"But you're not allowed to think about him anymore! Never!"
"You were supposed to be mine. If there hadn't been an accident back then, we would have been childhood sweethearts with a deep - seated affection..."
Meng Ruozhao endured the sharp pain in her wrist and the turmoil in her heart. She ignored his chaotic promises and accusations.
She looked up, her eyes as sharp as a knife, directly piercing into Yan Qiubai's eyes, interrupting his crazy ramblings.
"You know him, don't you? My ex - boyfriend."
Her voice was unusually calm, with a faint tremor.
"Yan Qiubai, do you know him?"
When he mentioned that person, there was no contempt or disdain, but instead, it was full of jealousy and unwillingness.
Did it mean that that person was not a married old man at all?
And that she had been in a normal relationship instead of being kept?
Yan Qiubai was taken aback by her question. A momentary look of panic and deeper jealousy flashed across his face.
Without waiting for his answer, Meng Ruozhao then threw out a more fatal question. Her voice rose due to eagerness.
"How much do you know? What else do you know? About him and my past."
Yan Qiubai was completely enraged by her relentless questioning.
He had almost abandoned all his dignity, laid bare his heart, and poured out his love to her.
But her focus was all on that man.
Moreover, she was so eager to ask how much he knew.
All the pent - up unwillingness, grievance, and jealousy from the past six months or so erupted at this moment.
He almost roared out, each word like a poisoned knife.
"Yes, I know. I know everything! I know you were crazy about him! I know you even - "
He gasped for breath, his blood - red eyes fixed on her face, with a kind of almost cruel pleasure of revenge. He said word by word,
" - were pregnant with his child!"
These words were like a thunderbolt exploding in Meng Ruozhao's ears.
Pregnant with his child...
A child...
When she had received that report from a stranger before and investigated it but eventually got nowhere, she had also fantasized that it might be fake.
Even if that person was married, there was no need to keep the illegitimate child such a secret, spending so much effort to erase all the traces.
Instead, the more they tried to cover it up, the more it seemed like a fake.
Maybe there had never been such an operation at all, which was why the records were so clean.
But now, Yan Qiubai said that she had been pregnant with that person's child.
Yan Qiubai's information couldn't have come from the Du family.
Because Du Feng was still waiting to "sell" her for a good price and wouldn't do anything to harm his own interests.
Du Xixi still had to rely on Du Feng to live. Even if she had the intention, she didn't have the guts.
That meant that Yan Qiubai's information was the result of his own investigation.
In other words, she had really been pregnant and had an abortion.
This thought kept echoing in her mind, bringing with it a cold, tearing pain that instantly drained all her strength.
Her face was as pale as paper. Her lips trembled uncontrollably. Her vision went black, and she almost couldn't stand steady.
She no longer felt the pain from Yan Qiubai's tight grip on her wrist.
Instead, there was a sharp, illusory pain deep in her lower abdomen.
It wasn't the sordid past that Du Feng had casually mentioned and needed to be covered up.
It was a little life that had once really existed and was connected to her by blood...
And she had no memory of it at all.
"What... else do you know?"
She still kept asking, her voice as light as a broken wisp of cotton in the wind.
Seeing her instantly devastated and shocked appearance, a twisted sense of pleasure flashed through Yan Qiubai's heart.
But immediately after, there was deeper panic and regret.
He didn't want it to be like this. He didn't want to hurt her in this way.
He was just too afraid of losing her and too jealous of the shadow that had occupied all of her past.