Song Jiaye was extremely vexed.
This Li Xiyu just wouldn't give up. Just now in the room, she had declared righteously that it wasn't flirting.
If that wasn't flirting, what was it?
Song Jiaye walked downstairs with a cold face. Hearing the commotion, Li Qiyu came back to her senses. She realized that Song Jiaye had seen her secretly rehearsing the scene of a hooligan flirting with a good - woman. After all, she was a girl and felt a bit shy. She clattered downstairs without waiting for Song Jiaye.
Song Jiaye followed her downstairs. When passing by the place where Li Qiyu had just rehearsed, an image automatically flashed through his mind: he was pinned against the wall by Li Qiyu, and she was hooking his chin to tease him.
Song Jiaye quickly shook his head to drive this image out of his mind.
Come on, it was impossible. Even if there was going to be a wall - pinning, it should be he, the man, who did it.
No! What the hell? Why would he wall - pin Li Xiyu?
Right, he had to make things clear to Li Xiyu!
After dinner, Song Jiaye had some rare free time. He told Sister Liu to go back and rest first, then he pulled Li Qiyu to sit on the sofa, ready for a heart - to - heart talk.
At Ming Yuexin's place yesterday, Song Jiaye had already made his feelings clear enough. He thought he had the obligation to let Li Xiyu know his choice.
"Xiyu, whether you remember or not, at the beginning, our marriage was just a business cooperation. We signed a contract. We're more like business partners than a married couple."
"Fire person?"
"No, it's business partners." Song Jiaye patiently explained, "It means partners, business partners. Can you understand?"
Li Qiyu nodded, "I know what partners are. What's a business partner? Is it the 'Shang Xie' in 'I long to know you, my dear, and be with you forever'?"
Song Jiaye: "..." Why do I feel like she's flirting with me again?
"At the beginning, we agreed that getting married was just a form of cooperation. Legally, we're husband and wife, but in reality, we're just friends."
Seeing that Li Qiyu still looked confused, Song Jiaye sighed and resignedly said, "Let me start from the beginning. Just listen to it as a story."
Hearing that there was a story, Li Qiyu became interested. She propped her chin on her hands and quietly looked at Song Jiaye, waiting for him to continue.
"The Li family has been kind to me. Back then, my mother was seriously ill. Not only did we need money, but also because she had the very rare RH - negative blood type, we couldn't easily perform surgery on her. It was your father who paid the money back then. When my mother was having surgery and he found out she had RH - negative blood, he voluntarily stepped forward to donate blood, which allowed my mother to live for another half - year."
Moreover, the Li family was still helping him take care of his relatives. He had always kept this life - saving kindness in mind.
Li Qiyu remembered the contract she and Ming Yuexuan had seen on the phone last time. Ming Yuexuan had said that Song Jiaye had been working for the Li family for free all this time, and they couldn't figure it out at that time.
So, in the four years of their marriage, he had been repaying the Li family for saving his mother's life back then?
Li Qiyu shook her head and said, "This is wrong."
Song Jiaye looked at Li Qiyu in surprise, "What's wrong?"
"Repaying a life - saving kindness by marrying the benefactor is wrong." She said seriously and word by word, "Kindness is kindness, and love is love. They can't be confused."
Actually, it was Li Xiyu herself who had proposed to get married at that time. And words like business partners were what Li Xiyu had said to Song Jiaye back then.
At that time, Li Xiyu would never have said something like "Kindness is kindness, and love is love."
She had said, "Save me, and you're also saving yourself. Let's get married."
Song Jiaye's train of thought was quickly pulled back by Li Qiyu.
Li Qiyu said, "The Li family has been kind to you. You can repay them with gold and silk, with care, or even with your life."
This didn't mean that Li Qiyu wanted Song Jiaye to exchange his life for the kindness. It was just that in ancient times, on the battlefield, she had seen too many such scenes and too many such people.
Sometimes, people would repay a simple meal with their lives. Li Qiyu would admire such people. She thought they were real men of iron and steel.
But repaying kindness by getting married was out of the question.
"In my opinion, repaying kindness by getting married is frivolous and hooligan - like. Can feelings be given or controlled at will?"
Song Jiaye: "..., just a reminder, it was you who asked me to sign the contract back then."
Li Qiyu: "..." She never expected that the hooligan was actually herself.
Oh no, it should be Li Xiyu.
Alas, forget it. Li Xiyu was now her, and she was Li Xiyu. She had inherited Li Xiyu's body, so she had to take on Li Xiyu's mistakes as well.
Li Qiyu had rambled on for a while. She had wanted to give a good lecture, but unexpectedly, Song Jiaye had silenced her with one sentence. She was immediately speechless.
Li Qiyu helplessly rubbed her forehead and said, "I was wrong. You go on."
Actually, Song Jiaye thought that what Li Qiyu said made a lot of sense.
Li Qiyu's words were like a bolt from the blue that woke him up.
Before getting married, Song Jiaye thought that he and Li Xiyu had already agreed on the terms and signed the contract. Even when they lived under the same roof, they had drawn a clear line: one lived upstairs and the other downstairs, not interfering with each other.
At that time, both he and Li Xiyu thought this would ensure everything was foolproof.
Song Jiaye thought that he just needed to treat Li Xiyu as a friend and a relative and fulfill his obligation to take care of her.
He never even thought about having anything to do with Li Xiyu.
He always thought that if he didn't love, he wouldn't cause any harm. But now it seemed that this idea was a bit naive.
He could control himself, but he couldn't control the other person. He always thought that Li Xiyu's deep infatuation was because she couldn't control her own feelings and had nothing to do with him.
At first, he was even a bit angry. He was angry that Li Xiyu had broken the contract and demanded feelings beyond what was agreed in the contract. He was angry that she still refused to divorce when the three - year contract was up.
Now it seemed that whether they were a real or a fake couple, the moment they became husband and wife, they were a community. Living under the same roof, her paranoia couldn't have nothing to do with him.
Moreover, this connection wasn't what he had thought before, that he wasn't cold enough to Li Xiyu and had given her false hope.
On the contrary, it was because he didn't care enough about Li Xiyu that she had gone further and further astray.
If he had communicated with Li Xiyu in time when he noticed that she was going astray, maybe her feelings could have stopped in time.
If he had cared more about Li Xiyu and known what was on her mind, maybe she wouldn't have become so extreme and even threatened to jump into the river.
Song Jiaye looked at Li Qiyu.
Li Qiyu also looked at Song Jiaye.
Both of them could read what the other wanted to say from their eyes.
"I have something to say."
"You have something to say."