Chapter 100: Why Are You Crying?

Mo Qing picked up the ring and hurled it into the distance with all her strength.

Jiang Yao walked over, picked up the ring, and after confirming it wasn't damaged, clutched it preciously in her palm.

"You can misunderstand me, you can throw away this ring, you can start a new life, but you cannot wrong Teacher Chen." Jiang Yao took a deep breath, then pulled a judgment document she had prepared in advance from her backpack and placed it in front of Mo Qing.

"What is this?" Mo Qing frowned, glancing at the handwriting on the paper.

"Back then, I really was close to Teacher Chen, but Teacher Chen is innocent. The only one who wasn't innocent was me," Jiang Yao said, her expression calm. "He was just trying to help me, to rescue me from the hands of a demon."

"What do you mean?" Mo Qing finally reached out and picked up the judgment document.

"If you don't believe me, I have more evidence, right on me." Jiang Yao raised her wrist, tore off the wrist guard in one motion, revealing the ugly scars beneath.

Mo Qing's hand holding the judgment trembled as she stared at the scars on Jiang Yao's wrist. "What is this..."

"It's my past," Jiang Yao said, smiling with tears in her eyes. "A past I once desperately wanted to destroy. If you still don't believe me, I have more evidence, right here in my heart."

"A Yao." He Yunqing's warm, large hand gently clasped hers, shaking his head at her.

Jiang Yao waved her hand, calmly smiling at He Yunqing. "I'm fine."

"Ha, ha..." Mo Qing looked at all of this in disbelief, then suddenly let out a bitter laugh. "Don't tell me that back then, I misunderstood everything."

"I also thought about whether it would be better not to tell you any of this, whether you could forget everything and start a new life, but... I can't let Teacher Chen bear all this grievance alone anymore. He's such a good person. Why should he have to endure this?"

"Then why should I have to endure this?" Mo Qing, in a fit of anger, threw what she was holding to the ground and stomped on it wildly. "Jiang Yao, ten years ago, I became a laughingstock because of you, and now you've made me a laughingstock again. What have I been doing all these years? I've been suffering pointlessly all this time, and I'd just barely decided to walk out of that pain, and now you tell me my pain was all a misunderstanding. I..."

"I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry."

"I never want to hear the word 'sorry' again!" Mo Qing said, agitated. "Can 'sorry' take me back to ten years ago? Can it give me back the marriage I once had? Can it make up for the ten years I wasted? No. Jiang Yao, no one has that power!"

Jiang Yao wiped away her tears, then suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh, right, Xiaoxiao. Where is Xiaoxiao? Is she..."

"No!" Mo Qing denied it categorically. "She has nothing to do with Chen Zui at all. Nothing!"

The more one denies something, the more it seems true.

Jiang Yao looked at her frantic denials and already had her answer in her heart.

"Thank you, for giving birth to Xiaoxiao. If Teacher Chen knew he had a daughter, he would be so happy."

"I told you, Xiaoxiao has nothing to do with him!" Mo Qing collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, sitting there in a daze, murmuring, "Nothing to do with him... nothing to do with him..."

Jiang Yao gave Mo Qing a slight bow, then turned to look at He Yunqing. "Let's go. Let her have some time alone."

"Stop!" Mo Qing called out to Jiang Yao.

Jiang Yao turned back.

"Give me back the ring." Mo Qing's voice was cold.

Jiang Yao looked at the ring in her own palm.

"What, it was originally mine. Don't want to give it back?"

Jiang Yao placed the ring back on the coffee table, then took He Yunqing's hand and left.

Only after Jiang Yao and He Yunqing had walked far away did Mo Qing pick up the ring. Staring at the diamond's brilliant gleam under the light, she suddenly burst into anguished sobs.

"Chen Zui, you bastard! Why didn't you tell me anything! I wronged you for ten years, and I resented you for ten years. Why did you have to die like that, without even giving me the chance to see you one more time! I'm such a fool, such a fool..."

At the doorway, Mr. Zhou and Xiaoxiao had been standing there, no one knew when.

Xiaoxiao whispered to Mr. Zhou, "What's wrong with Mommy?"

Mr. Zhou crouched down, gently stroking Xiaoxiao's little face. "Xiaoxiao, why don't you go comfort Mommy, okay?"

Xiaoxiao nodded, walked up to Mo Qing, and gently tugged at her hand. "Mommy, why are you crying? Don't cry, Mommy. Xiaoxiao will wipe your tears."

Seeing Xiaoxiao made Mo Qing even more heartbroken.

She pulled Xiaoxiao into her arms and wept in agony. "Xiaoxiao, your father... Mommy wronged your father. Mommy falsely accused him..."

Xiaoxiao frowned with a puzzled look. "But Mommy, didn't you say Xiaoxiao doesn't have a father?"

"Your father, he..." Mo Qing choked on her words, slowly lifting her head, only to see Mr. Zhou already standing before her.

"A Qing."

Mo Qing fell silent.

"Your husband is not a petty man. I'm not, and I'm sure that Mr. Chen before me wasn't either." Mr. Zhou crouched down, gently pulling both Mo Qing and Xiaoxiao into his embrace. "He wouldn't blame you. Perhaps he has already let it go."

Mo Qing looked at him through tearful eyes. "And what about you?"

Mr. Zhou smiled. "You're already my wife. Of course I'll protect you for the rest of your life, as long as you don't disappear without a word like you did before."

On the quiet road late at night, there was scarcely a single pedestrian.

Jiang Yao walked ahead with a light, brisk step. "He Yunqing, do you think I shouldn't have told A Qing all that tonight? Her wedding was supposed to be a happy day, but I made her cry so hard."

He Yunqing strolled leisurely behind her. "Sometimes clearing things up isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's good to completely let go of your obsession with the past."

Jiang Yao nodded in agreement, turning around to look at He Yunqing. "Yeah, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. I haven't felt this relaxed in a long time."

"A Yao."

"Hmm?"

"I might have to leave again for a while. Take good care of yourself."

"Oh." Jiang Yao twisted her fingers together, telling herself she needed to get used to this kind of life.

The nature of He Yunqing's work meant he could never stay in one place for long.

"And one more thing."

"What else?"

"Stop calling me He Yunqing." He Yunqing walked closer and draped his long arm over Jiang Yao's shoulder.

"But your name is He Yunqing." Jiang Yao tilted her head.

Seeming annoyed that she wasn't catching on, He Yunqing tapped her on the forehead. "That's not how you address someone you're dating."

"Then what should I call you?" Jiang Yao deliberately furrowed her brows as if in deep thought.

He Yunqing gave her a sidelong glance, mildly. "Call me whatever you like."

With that, the man pretended to be upset and strode ahead with big steps.

"Hey, He Yunqing!" Jiang Yao jogged after him. "He Yunqing, Yunqing... Yunqing..."

A faint, almost imperceptible smile crept onto the lips of He Yunqing, who walked ahead...