Chapter 56: Why Don’t You Like Me Suddenly?

Long, jade-like fingers wiped away the tears beneath her eyes. The faint, bitter scent of smoke from the boy’s hand seemed to make her eyes water uncontrollably.

Jiang Sheng walked up to her, cupped her face with one hand, and used the other to wipe away her tears. Even though he couldn’t wipe them all away, he did it gently and patiently.

“Little Rose, tell me why.”

“Why did you suddenly dislike me? Why are you afraid of me? Why is there a deep sadness in your eyes?”

Li Ning Qiutang’s tears flowed like a dam breaking. She bit her lower lip, looking at him with a mix of hesitation and worry. Could Jiang Sheng really care about their childhood friendship?

Could she truly forget the pain of his past actions, actions that had been so vivid in her memory?

Could they truly stand on the same side, facing all difficulties and dangers without betraying each other?

“Jiang Sheng, if I told you that you once hurt me, made me feel like I was living a nightmare, and I could never escape, should I hate you?”

Her question was like a bomb, shattering all filters and peace. Shouldn’t there be a blood feud between them?

Jiang Sheng looked at her tear-reddened eyes, her rosy nose and cheeks, which made her even more beautiful when she cried. “You should not only hate me, you should kill me. Tell me how much it hurt, how I treated you.”

It was as if he were talking about someone else.

Li Ning Qiutang gently frowned, her clear, bottomless eyes like unpolluted spring water, revealing all secrets to those who looked into them.

“I had a dream. In the dream, you locked me up, didn’t give me food or water, and let me starve. Next to me was the wolfdog you raised, staring at me, ready to attack me with wild ferocity if I moved. You let it bite me, but you wouldn’t kill me.”

“You kept me alive with potions. Every time I tried to die, you would torture me even more cruelly. Jiang Sheng, you gouged out my eyes, cut out my tongue, broke my limbs. I was tortured every day, my flesh was cut away with a small knife and fed to the dog. For three whole months, I didn’t see the light of day until you were tired of playing and ended my life with a gun.”

As she spoke, she felt like she was back in that dark and hopeless cage, constantly tortured, unable to die, facing new insults every day.

She suddenly grabbed the boy’s hand and bit down hard on his arm, as if using all her strength. She could taste the blood in her mouth.

Jiang Sheng’s eyes darkened and became sharp, but he didn’t struggle. He let her vent her anger. He reached out and hugged the girl, his voice cold and low as he comforted her, “I believe what you said. Do you want revenge? I promise not to fight back.”

“I don’t know what happened, but as long as you can forgive me, as long as these things can disappear from your heart, then it will all be worth it.”

Li Ning Qiutang released her bite, looking at the serious injury on his arm, the blood dripping to the ground, the flesh almost torn away. “I think you’re strange. Everything is strange. We’ll talk about it when you figure it out.”

She still had a grudge against what happened in her previous life. Jiang Sheng had tortured her and hurt her, that was a fact. There couldn’t be two of him, could there? She couldn’t hate him, and she couldn’t continue to like him either.

If there was really a hidden reason, she would talk about it later. She always felt strange about the two times she couldn’t control herself, and both times Shen Wanwan was present. Both times, Shen Wanwan had been hostile towards her.

Perhaps Shen Wanwan was the key to everything.

Both in her previous life and this life, it was because of her.

Jiang Sheng lowered his hand, seeing that she was no longer crying and standing aside, he said, “I’m serious. If one day you want my life, I’ll give it to you.”

Li Ning Qiutang offered him a blanket to press against the wound on his hand. Otherwise, the bleeding would continue and he would lose too much blood.

“I don’t want your life, just let me go.”

Wasn’t her initial intention to stay away from him?

She hadn’t forgotten.

Jiang Sheng’s face instantly turned dark. The brilliant sunrise that slowly climbed from the dark horizon dispelled the darkness, but the young man’s features remained icy cold.

“Besides this, I can promise you anything.”

Li Ning Qiutang nonchalantly hummed in agreement, not emphasizing their impossibility as she had before.

After all, he wouldn’t listen.

The sun, filled with hope and radiance, finally struggled out from behind the mountain, scattering a golden glow across the land, making it impossible to look directly at its dazzling color.

The dawn broke.

“You asked me why earlier, so I’ll ask you one why too.”

“Why did you suddenly look at me, obsessively wanting to have me?”

She watched the sunrise, the chill around her subsiding.

Jiang Sheng’s hand was bandaged like a dumpling. He then looked at the bewildered girl and said directly, “I always felt like I wasn’t on the same wavelength as everyone else, until you started breaking the rules. You became different, and I realized we were on the same wavelength.”

“Do you know why I was sent to the Qingmu Sanatorium four years ago?”

Li Ning Qiutang recalled the events of that year, which weren’t that long ago, but her memories were hazy.

“They said you were crazy.”

Jiang Sheng looked up at the sky, a chilling smile curving his lips, “It wasn’t that I was crazy, but that I couldn’t pretend anymore.”

“Everyone here is like a pre-programmed program. Their every word and action strictly follows certain rules, and even bugs can occur. I searched for a long time and discovered that everyone was just a cold, icy program. So I desperately tried to die, but I never succeeded.”

“The old man thought I was crazy and sent me to the Qingmu Sanatorium, but…”

He seemed to think of something, his eyes becoming exceptionally cold.

These words plunged Li Ning Qiutang into deep thought.

Everyone is like a pre-programmed program?

She had a bold idea, wasn’t this just like a TV drama or novel, where everyone is a specific character, and they have to act according to the script?

“So you noticed me and wanted to test something?”

“We can cooperate, there’s no need to necessarily be together.”

Jiang Sheng saw that she understood, and even a glimmer of sharpness flashed in her eyes. She had guessed something.

“What if I like you?”

Li Ning Qiutang stared at him, her reaction flat, “You like me, so I have to like you?”

“Just like before, I liked you, and you didn’t like me either.”

Jiang Sheng laughed, a little self-inflicted, “Okay, cooperation.”

“Childhood sweethearts, never betray each other.”

Li Ning Qiutang crossed her arms, almost saying, you already betrayed me.

“Go back quickly, I’m almost sleepy.”

She turned back and sat down, the big stone in her heart seemed to have shifted a little. She breathed a sigh of relief, her impression of Jiang Sheng had improved quite a bit.

When they went back, they saw the program crew filming.

Yu Jiaojiao was once again borrowed to play a game in place of Yao Zhi and Pei Tingxu.

Yao Zhi generously said to Li Ning Qiutang, “I’m about to ship them.”