It seemed that Su Jialan had long anticipated Jiang Li's refusal, so she wasn't surprised. There was just a smile in her tone as she said meaningfully, "Well, you belong to A Yan. It's impossible for you to listen to me."
Jiang Li held the phone and didn't bother to explain. She replied softly, "Thank you for your understanding, Madam."
"However—" Su Jialan suddenly changed her tone, "I really admire you. You can watch him get so close to another woman while still loving A Yan."
Jiang Li remained silent.
There came some noise from Su Jialan's side, as if the sound of watering a potted plant: "A boy like A Yan will surely find a girl from a prominent family, whether it's for dating or getting married."
"You're a good girl, and I've always been satisfied with you. If A Yan weren't the eldest son of the Xiao family, I'd be willing to have you as my daughter - in - law."
Jiang Li listened casually without responding.
She had dealt with Su Jialan for four years and knew that this lady was best at the gentle offensive.
She seemed to be non - competitive, but in fact, she had the most complicated mind.
"I won't make things difficult for you. Well,"
Su Jialan tried another approach: "I'll have someone cause some trouble in a couple of days. You just need to comfort A Yan. It shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"
Hearing this, Jiang Li was stunned.
She didn't know what Su Jialan was up to, but her intuition told her that Su Jialan was going to take action against Qin Yaoyao.
Jiang Li had witnessed some of Su Jialan's methods during the early days when she was with Xiao Yanzhi.
It was nothing more than getting someone to create a misunderstanding and then fanning the flames to make a scene, forcing Qin Yaoyao to leave Xiao Yanzhi voluntarily.
After the call ended, Jiang Li was still a bit in a daze.
She put away the phone absent - mindedly. Just as she was about to go out with her things in hand, she saw that familiar black car right in front of her.
Xiao Yanzhi was back.
He got out of the car. The buttons of his shirt were not fully done up, and his expression was extremely cold. Their eyes just happened to meet.
But what she didn't expect was that another person also got out of the car.
It was Qin Yaoyao, holding onto the sleeve of Xiao Yanzhi's shirt, with a shy look in her eyes.
There was no way to avoid them, so Jiang Li had to face them bravely. She was silent for a few seconds before greeting them in a calm tone.
"Hello, Sister Jiang Li." Qin Yaoyao's voice was soft and very clear: "Where are you going? Do you want A Yan and me to give you a ride?"
Jiang Li shook her head. "I've already called a car."
Just as she was about to take a step, Xiao Yanzhi called out to her, his expression unchanged: "What are you going to do?"
Jiang Li said, "Go home."
Xiao Yanzhi's eyes fell on her. As she walked past him, he suddenly said, "I'm going to let Yaoyao live in Ruiyuan."
He paused for a moment and then added, "I'll also move in with her later."
Jiang Li's steps froze for two seconds.
For some reason, she suddenly felt it hard to breathe. An indescribable emotion slowly spread from her chest.
He was going to bring Qin Yaoyao to live in Ruiyuan.
To live in the house where she had lived for several years.
That "home" filled with her memories of Xiao Yanzhi.
Maybe, it couldn't even be called a home.
Jiang Li lowered her head. The bag in her hand suddenly slipped and fell directly to the ground.
"Sister Jiang Li, you dropped your things."
Seeing that something was wrong with her expression, Qin Yaoyao suddenly walked over, picked up the bag on the ground, and stuffed it into her hand.
If it weren't for the obvious look of show - off on her face, one would really think she was concerned about Jiang Li.
There was a bit of shyness on her face: "Wasn't I in an accident yesterday? A Yan said he was worried about me. It's safer for us to live together."
"Besides, since we're in a relationship, it should be normal for us to live together, right?" As she spoke, her cheeks blushed again.
Jiang Li nodded blankly, clenching her hand on the handbag.
"Yeah, it's good."
Her voice was very soft, without much emotion: "I'll leave first. You guys go ahead."
After saying that, she took a step forward but found that her steps were extremely heavy, as if filled with a thousand - jin stone.
It was extremely difficult to take even one more step.
Xiao Yanzhi's expression remained unchanged. He watched lazily as Jiang Li continued to walk step by step to the roadside.
Her back was very thin, but her steps were very determined. She never looked back.
After just a few minutes, the car that came to pick up Jiang Li arrived. She directly opened the door and got in. With great difficulty, she said, "Go home."
The new assistant looked back and was a bit surprised to see Xiao Yanzhi standing alone at the entrance of Ruiyuan.
She turned to say something to Jiang Li: "Sister Jiang Li, what's wrong with Mr. Xiao..."
Before the little assistant could finish her sentence, when she looked back, she saw that Jiang Li's eyes were red, and tears were welling up, rolling down her cheeks and hitting her knees.
When she cried, there was no sound at all, making it almost impossible to notice.
Only her shoulders trembled slightly as the tears slowly flowed from the corners of her eyes, wetting a small area.
"Sister Jiang Li, are you okay?" The little assistant panicked immediately and quickly took out a tissue and handed it over: "Did something sad happen? Or are you not feeling well? Do you want to go to the hospital?"
Jiang Li shook her head in a hurry. She took the tissue absent - mindedly and wiped away her tears. The makeup on her eyes was wiped off along with the tears, leaving only desolation in her eyes.
Her tears were a bit bitter.
A few drops flowed into her mouth along the corner of her mouth, and the bitterness gradually expanded and spread.
Even her throat felt hot and spicy.
Just a few hours ago, that man had kissed her lips.
She thought she had already recovered, but now she inexplicably felt like being burned by alcohol. The pain spread from her throat to her stomach, making her want to curl up her whole body.
When she got home, she still felt a bit unreal, walking as if floating.
Maybe she should take a hot bath. Everything would be okay after a hot bath, she thought.
She went into the bathroom, filled the bathtub with hot water, and immersed her whole body in it. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.
The steam enveloped her vision and gradually became blurred.
Her mind was in a mess. She raised her hand to touch her face and didn't know if it was steam or tears.
Tears welled up again. She fell into a deep sleep until she had no more strength to cry.
She didn't know how long she had slept. She remained in the bathtub without any awareness even after the water in the bathtub had completely turned cold.
Since childhood, she had been most afraid of the cold, and then pain.
But she didn't expect that the most painful thing wasn't the pain of being beaten to a pulp by debt collectors, but a sharp pain that went deep into the bone.
This pain was intangible but truly existed.
She didn't know how long she had slept when Jiang Li vaguely heard someone calling her name.
The voice was urgent, panicked, and forceful.
She felt weak all over. With great effort, she opened her eyelids, propped herself up from the bathtub, put on all her clothes, and tried to open the door.
The door was knocked very loudly, each time louder than the last. Jiang Li suspected that the person on the other side was about to break the door down.
Her steps were unsteady. She staggered and almost fell in front of the door.