Xiao Hanjin watched her increasingly displeased expression, almost immediately stepping forward to embrace her, his voice tinged with nervousness. “I just… didn’t want you to worry about these things.”
Besides, back then, he hadn’t known she’d be this concerned for him.
“Ronghua, it’s my fault. I won’t deceive you again.”
Di Ronghua narrowed her eyes, casting him a cool, sidelong glance. “You’ve got quite a record. It’s hard to believe you now.”
His gaze dimmed. “I’m sorry.”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear at all!
Suddenly, as if recalling something, Di Ronghua untied the jade seal that had been hanging at her waist since earlier, holding it up before him. “Here, this thing,” she said bitterly, “if you ever lie to me again, I’ll kick you out of Beixi and leave you homeless!”
Xiao Hanjin’s eyes flickered. “How did it end up with you?”
“Where else would it be?” Di Ronghua scoffed. “What would my brother want with Beixi’s national seal? Naturally, Miaomiao brought it back.”
“So…” He paused, a faint, inscrutable shadow crossing his eyes, tinged with a barely perceptible self-mockery. “It’s because Su Miao gave you this, and you were touched, that you let Jiangjiang call me that?”
Di Ronghua admitted that was partly true, but… why did it sound so strange coming from him?
She frowned. “If that’s the case, don’t you want Jiangjiang to call you that anymore?”
Xiao Hanjin tugged at his lips. “No.”
Whether it was pity or anything else that kept her with him, it didn’t matter.
Her frown deepened. “Then why ask?”
His pupils contracted slightly, the self-mockery in his eyes growing more pronounced. “Fine, I won’t ask.”
Di Ronghua felt a sudden surge of irritation. “Xiao Hanjin.”
He looked up at her, his gaze brimming with unmasked affection. “What’s wrong?”
“There are plenty of people in this world who treat me well,” she said, her tone cooling but her eyes fixed on him, earnest and intense. “And you just happen to be one of the less good ones—sometimes even a bit bad. So if I, Di Ronghua, were to be with someone out of gratitude or guilt, you’d never make the list. Got it?”
He froze.
Though her words were accusatory, the tangled knot in his heart unraveled in an instant, a spark reigniting in his eyes.
Not gratitude. Not guilt.
Was it… love?
His throat bobbed as he stared at her unwaveringly. “Ronghua, I love you too.”
Too?!
Who said she loved him?!
Di Ronghua bit her lip, utterly baffled. How did this man flip from crippling self-doubt to shameless confidence so fast?
She gave him a look of exasperation. “So your injuries… they really don’t hurt anymore?”
He fell silent for a moment, a trace of uncertain hesitation crossing his face. “They still hurt, but you don’t need to worry.”
Di Ronghua pressed her lips together. “Let me see how they’re healing.”
“There’s nothing worth seeing. It’s too ugly.” He let out a faint sigh. “Don’t worry, I’m not lying this time. I want to be with you forever—how could I let myself die?”
Days without her didn’t matter.
But days with her? He wanted them to stretch on endlessly.
Having missed four years, he longed to make up for it with countless decades.
Xiao Hanjin brushed his nose against hers. “Ronghua, I cherish my life more than you think now, hmm?”
