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"Ling Chen?" When Duan Qing Chu received Ling Chen's call, he was chatting with Jiang Xun on WeChat since she said she had something to tell him.

What did Ling Chen want this late?

He answered the call while thinking.

"Qing Chu." Ling Chen's voice was strange, as if he been sobbing.

Duan Qing Chu was taken aback, "What happened to you?"

"Jiang Xun got married."

"What?" Duan Qing Chu abruptly sprang up and cried out in surprise, "Say it again?"

"Jiang Xun got married!" Ling Chen yelled to vent his emotions, "Do you hear me, I said Jiang Xun got married."

His bitter voice was full of pain.

"How is that possible?" Duan Qing Chu said in disbelief.

"What's more ridiculous is, do you know who she married?" Ling Chen let out a self-deprecating laugh, which sounded worse than crying.

Duan Qing Chu was also still immersed in the painful blow and didn't even have the strength to ask "who?" He turned silent as if he was suddenly punched and thrown into a place without any oxygen. His whole person became dumbfounded. His heart ached beyond his imagination, making him feel like he was dying.

Ling Chen gritted his teeth and said, "She married my dad, isn't that ridiculous? Say, do you think she's trying to get back at me?"

Duan Qing Chu was struck by thunder again. He exclaimed in shock, "How is that possible?"

He seems to have lost his vocabulary as he could only repeat these few words.

Ling Chen, "You can't believe it either, right?"

Duan Qing Chu didn't speak.

Ling Chen originally thought if he told Duan Qing Chu the news that he might be able to feel better. However, it didn't at all. Instead he felt even more unbearable.

He hung up the phone silently, and then lied on the steering wheel pessimistically, calling Jiang Xun's name.

Why does things become like this?

...

After waiting a while, Jiang Xun still didn't receive Duan Qing Chu's reply, which she felt was a little strange.

They were having a good conversation just now, and she was about to invite him out to tell him about her marriage, but he stopped replying.

However Jiang Xun was indeed a bit conflicted since she didn't know how to handle him. After all, she had only hit on him, yet she had to tell him that he had no chance and how she was married so it was difficult for her to accept anyone.

Nevertheless there was no way. When she first saw Ling Kong Leng, she had already decided to marry him. Who let him be this world's highest quality lucky son of the Heaven who also happened to be Ling Chen's father, marrying him would kill two birds with one stone.

Plus, she also liked Duan Qing Chu, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't marry two people in this world. Now she can only try to make it up for him as much as possible.

Finally, Duan Qing Chu responded back to her except Jiang Xun was stunned when she saw the message.

Duan Qing Chu: [You're married? ]

Jiang Xun hesitated for a second before smiling. Alright, that's fine he found out without her opening her mouth.

Jiang Xun: [Ling Chen told you? ]

Duan Qing Chu: [En. ]

Jiang Xun stared at the phone and didn't reply for a long time.

Duan Qing Chu was also confused. He didn't know what else to say. He wanted to ask a lot of questions, but he didn't know how to ask them and what use would there be in asking.

Duan Qing Chu couldn't name his current feeling.

After a considerable time, he asked: [Where are you now? Can we meet? ]

Jiang Xun: [En, I'll come find you. ]

When Duan Qing Chu saw this sentence, he knew she was definitely not alone right now.

His heart felt like it was squeezed tightly by a hand into a deformed shape, heavily suppressing him.

He said: [I am waiting for you at my home. ]

Jiang Xun: [Okay. ]

Duan Qing Chu put down his phone as he lay back as if he had lost his soul. His eyes turned empty while he stared at the ceiling in a daze.

Then, he walked into the studio blankly before sitting in front of a drawing easel and picked up a pen to chaotically draw on the paper.

Eyes, nose, mouth... He can directly draw Jiang Xun's face with the image in his mind.

He didn't know when it started that Jiang Xun's appearance was completely engraved in his heart to the point he can only think of her when he closes his eyes.

Within a few minutes, he finished a simple outline of the face. When he saw that familiar face, his eyes turned red. He threw away the pen in his hand, tore the paper in half, and threw it on the ground.

Calming himself down, he picked up the paper again and put it back together to clip it inside the art portfolio. He smiled bitterly, and his heart filled with sorrow.

Duan Qing Chu zoned out staring at all the paintings in the studio until half an hour later, he heard the doorbell ring.

Jiang Xun waited outside the door for a few minutes before Duan Qing Chu came to open the door.

His expression was ugly, especially how his eyes turned complicated after seeing Jiang Xun. He found his heart would still skip beats for her. When he saw her, his dry heart suddenly came back to live again.

The pain just now seemed to be relieved.

Suddenly Duan Qing Chu embraced Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun froze and didn't push him away.

She whispered, "I'm sorry."

"No need to say sorry, you don't owe me anything."

Duan Qing Chu hugged her tightly like he wanted to embed her into his body. She could feel Duan Qing Chu's luck flowing into her.

Jiang Xun was a little shocked. Even at this time, Duan Qing Chu still liked her.

She let him hold her and who knows how long it took before he released her.

"You should come in first." Duan Qing Chu said.

Jiang Xun nodded.

The two sat down face to face on the sofa.

Jiang Xun broke the ice, "I wanted to tell you earlier, but I didn't know how to word it."

"If you don't want to say it, you don't need to say it." Duan Qing Chu looked at her, "As long as it's your own decision, you don't have to feel sorry or explain anything."

"Aren't you angry?"

Duan Qing Chu didn't answer, he only glanced at Jiang Xun bitterly.

Jiang Xun suddenly understood. It wasn't that he was not angry or sad, but because he liked her, he supported all her decisions. As he said, he was willing to guard her, not just to monopolize her.

It was the first time Jiang Xun has met someone like Duan Qing Chu. All the men she met before wanted to hog and claim her as their own.

While she herself was like that too, when she meets a man she likes, she'll try her best to monopolize him, so she doesn't quite understand Duan Qing Chu's feelings towards her.

Jiang Xun stood up and hugged Duan Qing Chu. She buried her head in Duan Qing Chu's neck and uttered seriously, "Thank you."

Duan Qing Chu froze before slowly stretching out his hand to return the hug.

"This is the last time I'm meeting you as the identity of your suitor. In the future, we can only be friends." Duan Qing Chu expressed with difficulty.

"Yeah." Jiang Xun replied, muffled.

"I will always wait for you, but..."

Jiang Xun raised her head and kissed Duan Qing Chu. His voice stopped abruptly as Jiang Xun's warm lips made him forget to think at that moment.

He kissed her back without hesitation, tenderly and cautiously.

If he could, he really wanted to present his whole heart to her.

Maybe this was just a compensatory kiss.

But this was enough.

He thought to himself, maybe there was a small corner in her heart that was left for him. Maybe it had nothing to do with love, but he had left traces in her heart.

Duan Qing Chu thought so, causing his heart to receive great comfort.

He was suddenly very grateful that Jiang Xun gave him this kiss, which was enough to soothe his pain and let him heal.

...

The next day, Ling Chen entered the hospital because of a cold and Jiang Xun was the first to know.

Who knows what he was smoking that he changed his phone number and sent a message to her saying he was sick and requested Jiang Xun to take care of him.

Jiang Xun answered with a question mark.

Ling Chen: [Aren't you my stepmother? Since I'm sick, you have to come take care of me. ]

Jiang Xun asked: [Which hospital are you at? ]

Ling Chen thought she was really coming, and quickly sent her the name of the hospital along with the ward number.

Jiang Xun thought about it before sending a message to Jiang Ya with a smile, telling her Ling Chen was sick.

Ling Chen waited in the ward for half an hour until the door was pushed open. Then, he deliberately turned over and had his back against the door, but who knew he would hear Jiang Ya's voice.

"Ling Chen ge ge! What happened to you?"

Ling Chen was dumbfounded and sat up abruptly. When he saw that the person was really Jiang Ya, his face turned black and he icily questioned, "What are you doing here?"

"I..." Jiang Ya was taken aback by his reaction, "It was sister who said you were sick, so I came to visit you. I even brought you something to eat."

"No need, you can leave." Ling Chen said coldly.

"I can't do that, you're sick and need someone to take care of you." Jiang Ya shook her head. Although she was a little scared seeing him like this, she couldn't resist approaching him.

"I told you to scram, can't you understand?" Ling Chen roared.

Jiang Ya was frightened into trembling and everything in her hand fell. She stared at Ling Chen in a daze before suddenly breaking into tears.

Seeing Jiang Ya's tears, Ling Chen didn't react at all.

Jiang Ya ran away crying, while Ling Chen lay on the bed, self-defeatingly. In a fit of anger, he yanked the infusion needle on the back of his hand.

Fresh blood spurted out of his veins, causing him to furrow his brows in pain. Then he picked up his phone and called Jiang Xun.

The newly bought number hasn't been blocked by Jiang Xun yet, so the call went through after ringing a few times.

"What's up?"

"Why did you let Jiang Ya come?"

"I didn't let her come ah, I only told her you were sick." Jiang Xun was currently picking out jewelry in the jewelry store, and pointed to the necklace she fancy for the female clerk to take it out for herself to try on.

"Why didn't you come?" Ling Chen's tone wasn't polite. He felt that Jiang Xun and Ling Kong Leng both owed him, and he had the right to be angry.

"Why should I come?" Jiang Xun replied faintly.

"I was sick."

Jiang Xun paused, "Are you trying to say, you're sick so you want your mother?"

The lady at the counter glanced at her in surprise. Jiang Xun's age really didn't seem like someone who already has children.

Jiang Xun saw her gaze and explained with a smile, "It's my stepson, not my own."

Of course Ling Chen heard it. He was so angry that he almost vomited blood and was even more certain, "You're still mad at me, right? That's why you are doing this to me? Believe me, the one I love is you. I know I'm in the wrong and I'll definitely make it up for you. Please break up with my dad, okay?"

Jiang Xun didn't speak.

Ling Chen gritted his teeth and whispered in a low voice, "Please, I'm begging you."

Suddenly, beep beep beep sounded from the phone. He got hung up.

The author has something to say:

A few seconds later, Ling Chen received a text message from Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun: I was recording just now and sent it to your dad.

...

Jiang Xun: Hubby, your good son told me to break up with you

Ling Kong Leng: How did you reply?

Jiang Xun: I said, how can a son persuade his parents to divorce.