However, Li Qiyu had no intention of letting him off. She dug deeper.
"Then you should at least be able to tell me why you had these dreams."
Song Jiaye shook his head.
"What? Not willing?"
"No." Song Jiaye confessed frankly, "I don't know. I've had this dream for many years."
As Song Jiaye told his dream truthfully, Li Qiyu frowned more and more deeply.
These were clearly memories that only Zhou Donglin should have.
Her heart was pounding, but she still couldn't help asking, "You didn't just say this on purpose after reading the poetry collection, did you?"
"My dream happened before the poetry collection. Moreover, back then, because Li Xichi looked a lot like the girl in my dream, I pursued her for a while. You know all this..." At this point, Song Jiaye just realized that the one beside him now was Li Qiyu, not Li Xiyu.
He could only lower his head and say helplessly, "If you don't believe me, you can go and ask Aunt Jiang and Li Xichi, if you want."
Song Jiaye thought that the wheel of fortune had really turned. Just a few days ago, he was still suspecting whether Li Xiyu had read *Spring Yu Collection* and was imitating the heroine in it to give him that inexplicable sense of familiarity with the woman in his dream.
Now, the situation had reversed. It was Li Qiyu's turn to question him whether he was acting.
But Li Qiyu wasn't as tangled as Song Jiaye. As soon as Song Jiaye said she could ask Li Xichi, she remembered.
The last time Li Xichi came to Xiyu Villa, she had indeed taken the initiative to talk to Song Jiaye about the time when he had a crush on her, and that was when the dream had been mentioned.
"Are you... Zhou Donglin?" Li Qiyu asked cautiously. A glimmer of light flashed in her eyes, like the stars in the sky. It was extremely beautiful.
For a moment, Song Jiaye was a little dazed.
How he wanted to say, "Yes." And then just stay by Li Qiyu's side as Zhou Donglin.
Li Qiyu had left without saying goodbye today. They had been separated for just one day, but Song Jiaye's heart hadn't been at peace for a single moment.
Although Song Jiaye had gone to work before and left Li Qiyu alone at home or let her go out to play with Ming Yuexuan, because he knew he would see her when he got back, he had never been as panicked as he was today.
The panic of worrying that he would never see her again and that he would lose her forever.
Song Jiaye wasn't a fool. Li Qiyu was so nervous about that poetry collection, and during this conversation, most of what she talked about was Zhou Donglin.
Actually, as long as he said yes, he would never have to worry about losing her.
But Song Jiaye fell silent. After a long time, he finally mustered up the courage to shake his head.
"The me in the dream might be, but I'm not sure. Sometimes I also dream that I become an emperor. But I know I'm not. I haven't time - traveled. And after all, dreams are illusory. Although I had these dreams, I don't want you to have misunderstandings because of them."
Song Jiaye's words came from the bottom of his heart.
He knew that maybe these words would sound like a rejection to Li Qiyu, but only Song Jiaye himself understood that this wasn't a rejection. It was cherishing.
Before, in order to pursue the girl in his dream, he had regarded Li Xichi as a shadow of the girl in his dream and poured all his enthusiasm on her. The result was that all three of them were hurt. Not only did it bring misunderstandings to Li Xichi, but he himself was also deeply trapped in it and couldn't extricate himself. It also made Li Xiyu hold a grudge all the time.
He didn't want to look for a substitute anymore, nor did he want to be anyone's substitute.
Moreover, no matter what kind of entanglements he had with Li Xiyu before, he had long regarded Li Qiyu, who had traveled through time and had a completely different temper and disposition, as a brand - new person.
She was a unique girl.
At least in his eyes, she was.
After listening, Li Qiyu felt inexplicably sad. She didn't know if it was because she hadn't found Zhou Donglin or because she and Song Jiaye had finally reached this point.
From the moment she traveled through time, ignorant like a baby learning to speak, growing up little by little under Song Jiaye's protection, to now being able to stand on her own.
Her feelings for Song Jiaye were extremely complicated. So complicated that even Li Qiyu herself couldn't figure it out.
However, things always had to come to an end.
Li Qiyu took a deep breath and then exhaled heavily. She said to Song Jiaye, "Song Jiaye, let's get a divorce."
It was said seriously.
Song Jiaye turned his head in wonder.
"I... I already promised you, didn't I?"
"No. What I mean is that we should go to the Ministry of Household Affairs as soon as possible to go through the relevant formalities."
Song Jiaye was really panicked. He didn't know if it was because what he said just now had made Li Qiyu angry. He didn't even have the mind to correct Li Qiyu's mistake of calling the Civil Affairs Bureau the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Song Jiaye came up with a lame excuse. "Now the Li Corporation is at a critical stage of going public. A divorce will affect the listing."
"Xiaoxuan and I have consulted a lawyer. We can keep it a secret, or we can draw up a divorce contract first. When the time comes, we can go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to go through the formalities."
"Do you hate me so much? Are you so eager to leave me?" Song Jiaye's expression was extremely ugly, and his face was full of hurt.
Li Qiyu told the truth.
"I don't hate you. In fact, I'm very grateful to you. What I hate is my ancient husband, the man who looks exactly like you and has the same name."
Actually, Li Qiyu was already able to regard the modern Song Jiaye and the ancient Song Jiaye as two different people. But she was also afraid. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to control her temper and would take her anger out on the innocent modern Song Jiaye.
Especially after knowing that Song Jiaye also knew about the ancient things, she couldn't feel at ease even more. Song Jiaye also said that he had dreamed that he was an emperor. Did that mean that he also had the memories of the ancient Song Jiaye?
This was the scariest thing for Li Qiyu.
She was like the person in the fable who had been bitten by a snake and would be extremely scared at the sight of a rope.
For her own sake and for his sake, she thought it would be better for both of them to separate earlier.
"Why... why do you hate him?"
Song Jiaye asked very carefully.
This was the part that wasn't in his dream. His dream seemed to have been carefully screened. Most of the scenes were of him getting along with Li Qiyu, mostly from their childhood. He only vaguely knew that the girl in his dream finally married his brother and committed suicide by jumping off a building.
But he knew nothing about the process in between.
He guessed that the ancient Song Jiaye was probably the brother who had never shown his face in his dream.
"One hundred and twenty - four." Li Qiyu closed her eyes and said a number painfully.
"What does it mean?"
"Human lives. There were one hundred and twenty - four lives in the Li family. This is what he owes me."