Chapter 38

At first, Xue Ling thought he was joking, but when she asked him again, he repeated “break up” with no further explanation, as if it meant nothing. Their relationship had started lightheartedly, almost as a joke, and now he was ending it in much the same way.

Seeing his indifferent, almost absent expression, Xue Ling lost control of her emotions for the first time. She threw her milk tea at him. At that moment, she hoped he would be angry or argue with her, but he merely wiped his face and walked away.

During their year together, Xue Ling had often felt that Wen Jiuze genuinely cared about her. He had little patience, but at home, he was willing to clean with her, often taking on the most troublesome tasks without complaint.

Though Wen Jiuze had a bad temper and hated being disturbed in his sleep, he wouldn’t get upset with her. When she woke him up at 4:30 a.m. after he’d only slept two hours to stand in line for a tourist attraction, he would sit in silence for a few minutes, then begrudgingly rise and get ready.

Wen Jiuze didn’t like her passive nature, yet he never criticized her for it. He even went out of his way to confront people who tried to take advantage of her, siding with her without needing an explanation.

Xue Ling knew she was often taken advantage of, doing work that others shirked, but she disliked conflict and avoided trouble. With distant relatives and an uncle who’d help but then reprimand her, she’d learned early on that avoiding conflict, even at a personal cost, brought peace.

But Wen Jiuze, who was obviously a year younger than her, showed her unconditional support, making her feel that it was okay to stand up for herself, to feel anger, and to experience conflict.

Wen Xuan once approached her and said, “Wen Jiuze is a master at deception. There’s no way he really likes you. He’s just using you to spite me.”

He added, “If I tell him you mean nothing to me, he’ll dump you without hesitation, like tossing out garbage.”

Enraged, Xue Ling slapped Wen Xuan, convinced he was lying. Wen Jiuze was not like that—or so she believed.

Yet, on the day of their breakup, as she watched him walk away, she began to doubt her perceptions. Perhaps, as Wen Xuan had said, Wen Jiuze no longer needed her for his game, and she had never really known him at all.

She began to think it had all been an illusion—that he didn’t care for her as much as she thought. Otherwise, why would he break up so easily, with no concern for her feelings, and without even offering an explanation?

——The above was the internal struggle of 22-year-old human Xue Ling three years ago.

Now, after three years as a zombie, she reunited with the ex-boyfriend she once despised, whose obsessive behavior convinced her he truly loved her. If he didn’t, why would he share a bed with her lifeless form, kiss her decayed face, and give up a human future just to stay with her?

His sudden breakup three years ago now weighed on her mind.

“You still don’t understand why I was angry!” Xue Ling scribbled on a writing board, squatting down.

Wen Jiuze squatted across from her. “Why were you angry? Wasn’t it because I said we should break up? Is there another reason?”

Noticing how awkward her position was, he took the board to hold it for her. She shifted to write, “Breaking up hurt, but not explaining it was even worse!”

Wen Jiuze replied, “That’s not quite right. Shouldn’t breaking up be the real issue? After we’re already broken up, does the reason really matter?”

Are you arguing with me about who should be angrier?

Xue Ling erased her words and wrote two bold characters: “The reason!”

Wen Jiuze looked at the board, his gaze drifting to the yellow leaves swirling behind her.

The reason was both simple and complex. 

The Wen family patriarch, in poor health, worried his sons and grandsons couldn’t control Wen Jiuze and wanted security before he passed.

Though the Wen family’s legitimate business wasn’t extensive, they dealt in illegal trades like selling counterfeit relics. Old Master Wen planned to hand the family legacy to Wen Jiuze, not Wen Xuan.

He wanted Wen Jiuze to take over early but feared that, after his mother’s death, he might seek revenge on the family. To prevent this, he arranged for him to marry a distant relative from his second uncle’s side.

In Old Master Wen’s eyes, if Wen Jiuze married and started a family, he’d be bound to the family for life. He was ruthless and courageous. In the future, the Wen family’s business will be backed by him. The Wen family will definitely continue to prosper for two generations.

Old Master Wen had long been used to controlling the lives of his sons and grandsons, and he never expected Wen Jiuze to resist. Little did he know, his pressure had only made Wen Jiuze more determined to fight back.

At that time, Wen Jiuze had no idea how to explain things to Xue Ling.

Should he tell her: “My grandfather wants me to go back, marry the person he chose, and take over the criminal business of the Wen family. But don’t worry, I’m just pretending to go along with it. I’ll find a way to kill my grandfather when I get back.”

“And if I’m lucky and don’t get caught, once he dies and the Wen family falls into chaos, I’ll be free. Then I’ll come back and look for you after I’ve saved my mom. Of course, my mom has heart disease and needs constant treatment. If you stay with me, you’ll face a huge burden.”

“And if I’m unlucky and they find out I killed my grandpa, I might end up in prison. After hearing all this, will you still want to break up with me?”

Most people would likely run away immediately upon hearing such a thing, but Xue Ling… was a bit naive, and there was a chance she might suddenly say she was willing to wait for him.

Worse, she might even end up helping him figure out how to deal with the Wen family.

So, for any number of reasons, he couldn’t tell Xue Ling the truth.

At the time, he was too young and struggled to talk about his difficult family situation and the uncertain future with his equally young lover.

He didn’t want her to know just how powerless he felt about his miserable life.

He didn’t want her to know the terrible things he had planned next.

They had only been dating for a year, and now he had dragged her into the mess of the Wen family, even risking her ending up in jail. How unlucky she would be.

It would be better if she knew nothing at all. Then everything would be much simpler. She would just think she had a bad ex-boyfriend and they broke up for no reason.

“You’re still in a daze. Speak up!” Xue Ling slammed her writing board hard, shaking Wen Jiuze out of his thoughts.

Wen Jiuze was pushed by her and swayed. He took a deep breath, organized his words, and spoke in a relaxed tone about what happened three years ago:

“To put it simply, my family wanted me to go back, get engaged, and inherit part of the family business due to my mom and grandpa’s illnesses. I had no choice but to break up and return home.”

Xue Ling expected to hear something more dramatic, but instead, it sounded like a mediocre, melodramatic story. She couldn’t help but ask, “That’s it?”

Wen Jiuze replied, “That’s it.”

Xue Ling squatted in front of him, staring at him for a while before suddenly asking, “Why doesn’t anyone offer me five million to break up with you?”

Wen Jiuze answered with a grin, “Ah, maybe I’m not worth five million to the Wen family.”

Xue Ling fell silent again.

“Then why didn’t you explain it clearly back then?” she asked.

“You just turned and walked away, acting like the breakup didn’t matter at all, not even a bit of sadness!” She continued.

Xue Ling wrote quickly, her handwriting so bold and flamboyant that Wen Jiuze took a long time to decipher it.

Does it matter?

Maybe it’s because he couldn’t say the word “break up” without pretending it didn’t hurt.

Whenever he was hurt or in pain, he acted indifferently. It was a habit he had developed during his years with the Wen family.

Apart from saying they broke up, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything else or even look at her. He feared that if he saw her expression, he would instantly take back his words and say it was all just a joke.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know she would be angry. In fact, at that time, he secretly hoped she would be even angrier. It would be best if she stopped loving him and never loved another man again.

If he couldn’t go back to her, at least she would remain angry every time she thought of him and never forget him.

Who could have predicted that things would turn out to be even worse and more complicated than he imagined?

If it were three years ago, the younger Wen Jiuze would have never admitted that he was sad.

But now, facing Xue Ling’s accusations, Wen Jiuze smiled and said, “I’m sad. Of course, I’m sad after breaking up. Can’t you see I’m pretending well?”

Unfortunately, despite his confession, Xue Ling didn’t believe him.

Xue Ling said, “How can you be sad? You’re still smiling!”

Wen Jiuze replied, “Oh, I’m still pretending, forcing a smile.”

Xue Ling: “…”

Wen Jiuze asked, “I’ve told you the reason. Why can’t we get back together?”

Xue Ling: You’d better not tell me the reason!

“No! I don’t agree!” she wrote angrily on the board.

Wen Jiuze suddenly threw her writing board aside and fell into a pile of fallen leaves in the street.

“I don’t want to live anymore. It’s meaningless.”

Xue Ling: “…”

It seems like I was speechless a lot today.

Is this dog imitating me? Is he imitating me?!

“Ah!” Wen Jiuze suddenly shouted, startling Xue Ling, who quickly covered his mouth.

Wen Jiuze lazily bent one leg and pulled her hand down. “Don’t stop me, let the zombies come and eat me.”

Xue Ling: Okay, okay, you’re going crazy too, right?

Unfortunately, there were too few zombies in the school, and not a single one showed up after a long while.

Xue Ling sat in the fallen leaves for a while, but since she was worried about ants crawling on her, she moved to another spot and sat on Wen Jiuze’s stomach.

If he had the guts, he’d just stay lying there forever.

Wen Jiuze threw two fallen leaves at her and asked, “You don’t agree to get back together because you don’t like me, right?”

Xue Ling wanted to punch him on the head. He really hadn’t thought this question through. The reason she hadn’t agreed to get back together was because of his attitude.

It was about attitude, not the reason for breaking up or whether he apologized—he just needed to show the right attitude!

Xue Ling emphasized it again, and Wen Jiuze nodded with a mischievous smile.

“It’s because of my attitude, not because you don’t like me. So you do like me, right?”

Xue Ling: “?”

What is he summarizing? Who taught him to extract keywords like this?

Wen Jiuze grinned and asked, “If it’s an attitude problem, would it help if I apologized now?”

Xue Ling decisively said, “It won’t help!”

Wen Jiuze replied, “If it won’t help, then I won’t apologize.”

Xue Ling: “…” Who taught him to ask questions like this?!

Wen Jiuze was doing sit-ups: “It doesn’t matter if we don’t get back together, as long as I know you like me.”

This guy wasn’t comforting her, he was comforting himself. It was far from the truth.

Wen Jiuze stood up and picked Xue Ling up as well.

“Then when you introduce me to others in the future, you should say, ‘My ex-boyfriend whom I still like.'”

Xue Ling: Are you crazy? Who do I need to introduce you to? Who would introduce someone like this?!

After being shoved into the car by him, Xue Ling watched as the car left the school, kicked him, and asked, “Where are we going now?”

Wen Jiuze rubbed his sore arm and turned the steering wheel: “Recognize your identity and don’t ask questions you shouldn’t ask, ex-girlfriend.”

Xue Ling: “?”

Have you gone mad? Xue Ling almost laughed out of anger.

Who was the one who almost fell into depression because of a word about his ex-boyfriend two months ago?

You’re not pretending, are you?

Before Xue Ling could act on her anger, Wen Jiuze said, “Although we haven’t gotten back together yet, who told me that I like you so much I can’t live without you? So, to answer your question, we are going to Andong City now.”