This familiar voice left Yan Yincheng with no room for self - deception. From her cold and aloof tone, he could feel her undisguised anger. The dream in the early morning and her ending in that dream resurfaced in his mind once again.
His face full of panic, he rushed towards the direction where she was. He wanted to grab her and make sure he could hold onto her—
"Yuan Xi, please listen to my explanation."
But Xu Zixi had no intention of giving him a chance. When he got closer, she easily snatched the trophy that rightfully belonged to her from his hands, then took a few steps back to avoid his touch.
Her eyes were always fixed on his pale and panicked face. She curled her lips and said almost cruelly:
"I've got the trophy. Isn't it time for the acceptance speech? My acceptance speech is, thank you, Mr. Yan, for presenting this award to me in person. I'm truly honored."
She deliberately emphasized the words "Mr. Yan". After saying that, without even looking at Yan Yincheng's reaction, she turned around expressionlessly, holding the trophy, and walked off the stage.
"Zixi!" All the strings in Yan Yincheng's mind snapped. He called out this name known only to the two of them and started chasing after her without hesitation.
The stage was a certain distance away from the audience. Without the amplification of the microphone, people in the audience couldn't hear what the two on the stage were saying. They only saw Xu Zixi grab the trophy and run, while Yan Yincheng chased after her.
In his eagerness, Yan Yincheng didn't notice that there were stairs ahead. He missed a step and fell, landing on the ground in an extremely awkward and undignified manner. His white - cane also flew far away.
There were gasps from the audience. Half of them stood up and stared at the man who had lost all his dignity.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"I heard that this Mr. Yan is Uncle of Yan Zhen. Could it be that he discovered Yuan Xi's true identity?"
"Yuan Xi is in big trouble. She finally won the first - prize. Will her winning qualification be revoked?"
The commotion behind her naturally didn't escape Xu Zixi's ears. But her steps only paused for a moment. Then, she gritted her teeth determinedly and strode out of the venue.
Wei Shu, who had rushed over after getting the news, quickly stepped forward to help the fallen Yan Yincheng up.
"Third Master, are you okay?"
Ignoring the pain in his body, Yan Yincheng shook off Wei Shu's supporting hand, struggled to get up, and continued chasing after her. Wei Shu had no choice but to follow him to chase Xu Zixi.
Xu Zixi didn't know why she was running. Clearly, she wasn't the one who had made mistakes or concealed her identity. But she just couldn't control herself. She felt that the stage lights were too blinding and the surrounding air was too thin. It was so thin that she had difficulty breathing, as if she was about to die.
It wasn't until she ran out of the Pei's Building that the cold wind blew on her face, and her mind, which had been clouded by anger, regained a bit of clarity. Her steps slowed down, and finally she stopped by the fountain in front of the Pei's Building.
She gasped for breath, trying to dispel the dull pain in her chest. But no matter how hard she tried, the pain there became clearer and clearer.
She looked up blankly. The human - shaped statue in the middle of the fountain hung its head and calmly stared at her, as if mocking her or pitying her.
Mocking her for living with that person every day but being more blind than he was, pitying her for being like a plaything, being fooled without knowing it.
"Xiaoxi!" A sudden call came from beside her. The voice sounded very strange. She wasn't in the mood to pay attention at first, but someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder and forcefully turned her around. A surprised face appeared in front of her.
"Xiaoxi, it's really you! Xiaoxi, I've been looking for you so hard!"
As he said that, he tried to hug her. Xu Zixi finally regained her senses. Frowning, she bent her knee and gave him a kick, then executed a perfect over - the - shoulder throw, sending the person crashing to the ground with a thud.
The man was caught off guard by the throw. For a moment, he felt as if his internal organs had shifted. Seeing her roll her eyes and try to walk around him, he pounced on her and hugged her leg, shouting:
"It's me! It's me! Yan Zhen!"
If he hadn't said anything, it would have been fine. But once he did, Xu Zixi's expression turned even uglier. Great! The uncle had concealed his identity and tricked her into an engagement, and the nephew was pestering her. What a rotten family!
Miss Xu was filled with anger. She kicked the man away and coldly said: "Scumbag, get out of my way!"
Yan Zhen awkwardly rolled on the ground twice but still stubbornly got up, looking sad: "Xiaoxi, you're still mad at me for breaking off the engagement with you directly at the birthday party back then. But Xiaoxi, I had no choice. I had my own difficulties..."
Let's rewind the time to two minutes ago. Inside the coffee shop, no matter how much Yan Zhen pressured Pei Mingyuan to tell him Xu Zixi's whereabouts, Pei Mingyuan refused to say a single word. Finally, Yan Zhen lost his patience and pounced on Pei Mingyuan, starting a fight.
Yan Zhen punched Pei Mingyuan in the chin, and Pei Mingyuan countered with an elbow strike.
Pei Weiwei shrieked from the side: "Ah—stop fighting, stop fighting!"
Seeing that the fight between the two had attracted a lot of onlookers, Pei Weiwei blurted out in a hurry:
"Yuan Xi is in the Pei's. She's participating in a design competition!"
Hearing this, Yan Zhen immediately let go and rushed out of the coffee shop. Unexpectedly, he bumped into Xu Zixi who had just run out of the Pei's Building. Yan Zhen thought that this must be fate. Fate had let him know that she was in Haicheng, and fate had let him find her on the very first day!
But who would have thought that she would be so merciless to him!
Yan Zhen felt pain all over his body. He gasped for breath after saying a few words: "Xiaoxi, you've changed a lot after all these years."
Xu Zixi didn't want to say a single word to any man with the surname Yan. She turned around and tried to walk around him from another direction.
Having finally found the person he had been looking for, Yan Zhen would never let her disappear from his sight. He immediately chased after her and was about to say something to her when, unexpectedly, a figure stumbled out from behind the tall bushes—
He watched helplessly as the woman he had been longing for was tightly hugged by that person.
It was as if that person had hugged the whole world.
And she didn't push him away.
Even though Wei Shu was there to protect him, Yan Yincheng still fell several times while running. Each fall brought pain to his body, but he didn't feel it at all. He only knew that if he slowed down, he would lose the most precious thing in his life.
He chased and chased.
Finally, following the lingering fragrance in the air, he caught up with her by the fountain in front of the Pei's Building. The moment he grabbed her wrist, he felt his hanging heart finally settle down. He hugged her tightly without hesitation and said in a trembling voice:
"Zixi, I can explain."
I can explain everything. Please, give me time, give me a chance.
But the next second, his body was forcefully pushed away. The embrace that had just been filled suddenly emptied, and the air rushed in. He stretched out his arms in emptiness, still maintaining the posture of a hug, but his arms were now empty.
The one who pushed him away wasn't Xu Zixi, but Yan Zhen.
He couldn't believe that she didn't resist when being hugged. He stepped forward and forcefully separated them, then stood in front of Xu Zixi. When he saw the man in front of him clearly, Yan Zhen was greatly shocked and subconsciously said:
"Uncle, why is it you?"
Uncle...
Uncle.
Xu Zixi looked up at the man who had finally chased her out.
He was in a complete mess. A few buttons of his once - immaculate shirt had popped off. There were scratches on his elbows and knees from the falls. His dusty eyes, with a hint of dark blue in them, widened slightly. The panicked look on his face made her heart twitch.
At this moment, Yan Zhen's appearance and pestering couldn't compare to the hurt caused by this man's deception.
She said: "What else do you want to explain, Uncle Yan?"