"What did you say?"
Nan Xi could hardly believe it, her body shaking uncontrollably.
She suddenly felt very, very cold.
A chill crept up from the soles of her feet to every limb, making her shiver intensely.
Years ago, Grandpa had asked her, "Xixi, if Jianshen wants to be with you, to marry you as his wife, would you agree?"
"Grandpa, is it of his own free will?"
By then, she already knew that the person he loved was Fang Qinglian, hence her question.
She had told herself that if he was being coerced by Grandpa, she would never agree, because she didn't want to trap him in a marriage.
She didn't want to get him that way.
"Silly girl, Jianshen is so stubborn. If it wasn't his own desire, could Grandpa really force him?"
Later, she also asked Lu Jianshen.
She asked him, "Do you willingly want to marry me? I know Grandpa dotes on me, and I don't want you to marry me because of Grandpa's orders. I don't want to make it difficult for you either."
How did Lu Jianshen respond to her?
He said, "It's voluntary. Qinglian and I have already broken up. We've set an agreement, limited to three years. I will try to fall in love with you. If after three years I still can't love you, we'll get a divorce amicably. Do you agree?"
"I agree!" She had smiled radiantly at the time.
Lu Jianshen had also asked her, "Why do you agree to marry me? Don't you have someone you love? Aren't you content to be restricted by marriage? Don't you want to pursue your own love?"
She said yes, she had loved for eight years.
Then she shook her head, "No pursuit anymore."
Because she had already become his wife, turning love directly into marriage, making a major leap in her life.
But now, Fang Qinglian told her that it was all fake.
If what she said was true.
Then it meant that from the beginning, everyone had been deceiving her.
The three-year period?
Nan Xi pinched her fingers, suddenly wanting to laugh, emotions just a facade, a naked lie.
Back then, she had tearfully been moved, thinking that Lu Jianshen had really forgotten Fang Qinglian and wanted to start anew with her sincerely.
It turned out that she was the naïve one, the one who had been thoroughly duped.
"Nan Xi, you really are naively adorable. Jianshen loves me. How could he possibly marry you willingly? Do you know why he suggested the three-year agreement? It was to let you, after three years, have no reason and no complaints to initiate a divorce, freeing him to come back and marry me."
"He knew that only if you spoke to Grandpa would he agree. Grandpa would have definitely disagreed if he had been the one to ask."
"To be with me, he really went to great lengths, even... setting this beautiful trap."
Fang Qinglian's words made Nan Xi feel as if she was in a cold cellar.
A chill tightly enveloped her, she was so cold, so cold.
If all these were fake.
Then all those days and nights, had he just been acting?
And those nights.
He held her passionately, tenderly, were they all fake?
Was there nothing real?
Nan Xi's heart was bitterly painful, she suddenly felt like a complete fool, utterly stupid.
That's why Lu Jianshen could manipulate her in circles, deceiving her thoroughly.
"I don't believe it, unless you tell me how Grandpa coerced him."
Nan Xi clenched her fists, having been close for so long, she knew Lu Jianshen too well.
If it weren't for a very important chip, given his nature, even if Grandpa held a knife to his throat, he wouldn't have meekly submitted.
Fang Qinglian smiled mockingly.
"Nan Xi, you really won't give up until you reach the end. Since you want to know so badly, I'll tell you."
"Because Grandpa threatened him that if he didn't marry you, Grandpa would send me abroad, and for the rest of our lives, he and I would never be able to meet again. Although we couldn't be together, to meet again, he compromised,"
Nan Xi bit her lip; she was in distress.
So distressed that she couldn't utter a single word.
Yet Fang Qinglian didn't let her off and continued her offensive, "As for my legs, do you remember on the day of your wedding, Jianshen received a phone call during the ceremony and almost left on the spot?"
"Mhm."
Her wedding, she definitely remembered it.
"It was because I was in a car accident on my way to your wedding, almost died, and was only barely saved after a day of emergency treatment, but my legs were already ruined."
No wonder, right after the wedding, he hurried away.
She even asked him if something happened at the company.
He said a friend had a car accident and he wanted to take care, but Grandpa didn't let him go and asked her to cover for him.
She remembered, Grandpa even specifically called and asked her, "Xixi, is Jianshen behaving and staying with you at home?"
"Yes, Grandpa, he's right by my side."
She foolishly helped him cover it up.
So much so that, on their wedding night, he did not return all night.
It turned out, he spent their wedding night with another woman.
In the following days, he continued to leave early and return late, very exhausted.
But he never told her his "friend" was Fang Qinglian!
What if she had known?
Nan Xi gave a bitter smile; even if she had known, she would still have helped him cover it up.
Who could blame her for loving him so much that she couldn't bear to see him scolded by Grandpa!
"So then, why are you telling me all this now?"
Nan Xi looked at her, suddenly like a hedgehog frantically defending itself, raising all its quills to protect its soft body.
"Tell me, are my legs like this because of me, did I cause your disability?"
"Nan Xi, ask yourself, isn't it true?" Fang Qinglian's voice also became agitated.
"If it weren't for you, Grandpa wouldn't have forced Jianshen, Jianshen wouldn't have reluctantly married you, and I wouldn't have had an accident on my way to your wedding due to distraction, and my legs wouldn't have become useless."
"If it wasn't for you, I would have married Jianshen long ago, and we might already have a bunch of children enjoying family bliss."
Nan Xi struggled to control herself.
After a while, she lifted her head and calmly responded, "Not because of me; you're just finding a morally fitting excuse for your disability and a scapegoat."
"I trust Grandpa, he loves me very much, but if he disagrees with you and Jianshen being together, he must have his reasons. If you truly met Grandpa's standards for a granddaughter-in-law, not one, not a thousand Nan Xis, not even ten thousand Nan Xis could shake your place."
"As you said, if Grandpa had to resort to so many methods to keep you apart, it only shows, Fang Qinglian, that there's something wrong with you."
"I, Nan Xi, may not be a daughter of a rich family, but I'm not here to be bullied by you, and you can't just pin any crime on me."
"Nobody invited you to the wedding, and nobody asked you to drink and drive while intoxicated."
These words, Nan Xi said resoundingly, linking everything together seamlessly.
Not giving anyone a single gap to point out any flaw.
Fang Qinglian looked incredulously at Nan Xi.
After two years, she never expected that the careful girl who used to follow behind Lu Jianshen, who would blush at the slightest thing and speak softly and timidly, would suddenly become so fierce.
"My beloved getting married; do you think I would be absent?"
"Beloved?" Nan Xi sneered, "Fang Qinglian, just because Jianshen doesn't know some things, doesn't mean I don't. Don't force me to reveal all those disgraceful things you did back then."
"You're talking nonsense; I'm innocent, how can you accuse me like this?"
Fang Qinglian, agitated, staggered and suddenly fell from the wheelchair.
At that moment, Lu Jianshen returned.
He put down the thermos, gently helped Fang Qinglian up, and asked coldly while pinching the bridge of his nose, "Can someone tell me what exactly happened?"