It didn't take long for Xu Jiaqi to accept that she was ruthlessly plotted against by her stepsister and fiancé.
That she wouldn't live up to another day.
The peerless daughter of the Xu family, standing on top of millions with her prowess.
What did she not have?
Power, wealth, beauty, intelligence, everything was in her palms.
She only lacked one thing.
The ability to understand love.
______
"Xu Jiaqi, you don't love me." A man's voice trembled as he spoke, falling to his knees.
His hands were covered in blood that was not his.
Just a meter away from him, a woman on the brink of death was breathing heavily, struggling to keep her consciousness awake.
"..What do you mean? I love you, I am willing to marry you, start a family, and end up lovingly looking after our grandchildren in our late years.. Wang Zhengyu, what else is there?" Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth as she spit out those words, using all the strength that was still left in her.
She had been cornered into the edge of a cliff. A knife stabbed deep into her abdominal area a few minutes ago and left a gaping wound. Large amounts of blood spurted out of her body, her vision was turning hazy, but she held on.
She couldn't fathom what happened to her. What she did in order to deserve this.
In front of her stood a man named Wang Zhengyu, the fiancee she was intertwined with by her family's will.
Both the Xu and Wang family were powerful households. The engagement was made to better the relationship between the two families, to ensure a smooth cooperation and long lasting benefits.
Xu Jiaqi had been raised as the perfect daughter from birth, so she had no qualms. She viewed the world as a linear progress.
Being born, studying, working, building a family, settling down as an elder, and death.
To her, it was a given that she should climb up the world's ranks as she grew up and eventually meet a good match for her.
This Wang Zhengyu was precisely the man she envisioned, a man who was an equal to her and could contend with her moves.
But these two shared a difference.
"Wang Zhengyu, this defeat, I already admit it. Just tell me... Why?" Xu Jiaqi choked up those words, struggling to breathe as her wounds worsened with every passing second.
Xu Jiaqi did not feel sad. She was disappointed, but not sad. She thought that Wang Zhengyu was the same as her. They spent their childhood together, growing up side by side, and even their work matters were closely related.
Although she did not have desire for the man, it was enough for her to feel comfortable staying by his side. She did not have any complaints.
"That isn't love," A tear slid down the man's cheeks. "Jiaqi, what you described, that isn't love!"
He looked anguished, much more in pain than Xu Jiaqi, who was nearing the end of her life.
Xu Jiaqi parted her lips, but no words of defence could come out.
"Jiaqi, do you know? I have been waiting for years, years to no end, waiting for you to spark any type of feelings towards me. But you never did. Don't you realize? Everything you have done for me, it wasn't done out of love for me. You just want to sculpt your perfect life on your own accord, but I can't do that. I can't be like you."
"You are comfortable with me because I satisfy your qualifications, that I can give you a stable life."
"I have always felt pressured whenever I'm with you, Qiqi. I should've known from the start. When I first fell in love with you because of your excellence, I realized that you are different. You never looked at me as Wang Zhenyu, but rather a man that can satisfy your twisted simulation of a 'perfect life'."
"Don't you know how vexing that is? To be treated by the one you loved as not yourself, a living human with thoughts and feelings, but rather a 'character' that goes with your goals?"
Throughout Wang Zhengyu's speech, Xu Jiaqi was silent. She did not know how to reply to this situation. How she should react.
Normally, she would carefully construct the best option for her to take, considering all her experiences and knowledges before forming a step.
"Xu Jiaqi, you are not qualified to talk about love. An emotionless person like you can't understand it." Wang Zhengyu's eyes were bloodshot as he said that.
Giving up, Xu Jiaqi let out a long sigh. She laid on her back, feeling blood seep out of her body and her eyes dimming.
"...You're right, I don't understand. Or rather, I can't understand." Xu Jiaqi closed her eyes as she lamented.
She only wanted to hold on to her fleeting life because she couldn't find a speck of sense in what Wang Zhengyu and her step sister did. She never considered them to be her enemies, so this plot she fell into was shocking.
Turns out, they were so different. She failed to see the man's change all these years, it could also be counted as her mishap.
Wang Zhengyu 'once' loved her. The way he phrased it meant that he was no longer in love.
His answer was insensible in her eyes, but to him, it was the belief he firmly grasped.
There was one more thing left unanswered at this point. After she receives this answer, she was set to pass on.
She wasn't the type to hold meaningless grudges, but she wasn't going to let herself be wronged too. Alas, it was already the end of her life, what use was it to hang on to this life?
"Then, why is my sister involved in this plan? You couldn't bear to stick a knife in me, but you could watch me slowly die?" Xu Jiaqi asked, laughing darkly as she watched her step sister looming behind Wang Zhengyu.
Her step sister, Xu Jiaxin, was adopted by her mother. She was the daughter of her mother's close friend who died in an accident. When she first came, Xu Jiaxin was a sweet girl who kept smiling at everyone.
Xu Jiaqi wasn't particularly fond of this sister of hers, nor did she hold any ill intent. She kept a neutral balance and treated her fairly.
So why did she plot with Wang Zhengyu?