Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

Chapter 1300 How Could He Do This to Me

Jia Zhang's body stiffened, and then she turned her head, with surprise and confusion in her eyes. "What?" She sneered, with some disdain in her tone, "You are here to persuade me too? You saw with your own eyes what he said to me, he didn't take me seriously at all! I just wanted him to understand some truths, but he treated me as an enemy! How could he do this to me?"

The old man sighed, frowned slightly, and said in a deep voice: "Zhang, isn't it time for you to calm down? You know what kind of character Li Xiangqian is. I understand that you are unwilling, but you can't always force him. If you do this, it will only make him further away from you." He paused for a moment and said, "It's not easy for him to begin with, especially in this situation. If you push him too hard, I'm afraid he won't have any room to maneuver in the future."

Jia Zhang's eyes flickered, and she was obviously shaken, but soon she shook her head, and a sneer appeared on the corner of her mouth again. "It's not easy for him? Who doesn't have a hard time? He just got something by chance. Do you also think that he did the right thing and that he should have his own persistence?"

The old man looked at her expression, and his worries deepened. He knew that Jia Zhang was dissatisfied with Li Xiangqian for not following her wishes, but this stubborn emotion and behavior would make everything worse. He slowed down his tone and tried to make himself look gentle: "Zhang, sometimes not everything can be done the way we want. If you force him like this, it will only make him disgusted, and there may even be no chance of reconciliation between you and him. Have you ever thought about whether this situation is really the result you want?"

Jia Zhang's mouth moved slightly, as if she wanted to refute, but when she heard the concern in the master's words, her heart was slightly shaken. She didn't expect that the master would come out to persuade her at this time. She was a little stunned, and a trace of doubt suddenly emerged in her heart. Is it really as the master said, that she has gone too far?

"But..." Her tone was a little hesitant, and her eyes began to wander. "He is so ungrateful. I did good things for him, shouldn't I get something in return? He refused to give me face, refused to listen to me, and instead directly tore his face off against me."

The old man shook his head, his eyes filled with admonition: "Are you doing these things for rewards, or to make yourself feel at ease? If it is to make yourself feel at ease, then you should know that forcing others to change will only put yourself in a more difficult situation." He looked at Jia Zhang, his eyes full of deep meaning, "Are you doing this because you are too eager to gain a sense of control? Why do you want him to obey? Don't you really have any self-awareness in your heart?"

Jia Zhang's body trembled slightly, and her eyes darkened, as if she saw some facts in the old man's question that she didn't want to face. She smiled coldly, then turned her head and stopped looking at the old man. "Is it wrong for me to do this? What he owes me, I deserve it." There was a hint of disdain and self-defense in her tone, but the hesitation in her words could no longer be concealed.

The master didn't say anything else. He knew that Jia Zhang was full of resentment at this moment. She didn't even know what she was pursuing, nor what price she paid in this fight. He sighed, turned around slowly, and walked out of the courtyard.

Jia Zhang stood there, letting the breeze brush across her face. The world in front of her seemed to become even more blurred. She couldn't help but lower her head, and an inexplicable fatigue rose in her heart. Was the ideal she had always insisted on, the way she insisted on, really correct? Or was she just being swayed by her own emotions and desires, and missed more possibilities?

Jia Zhang stood in the yard, looking at the old man's back as he left, her heart full of mixed emotions. She seemed to have lost her direction, staring at the front with empty eyes. At this moment, her heart was not as calm as it seemed on the surface, but was deeply troubled. Almost subconsciously, she walked to the stone table in the yard, picked up a porcelain cup, and gently tapped the cup, with an indescribable irritability surging in her heart.

Suddenly, she heard light footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw Li Xiangqian standing not far from her. He didn't seem to notice her emotions. He looked calm and had a hint of indifference in his eyes. "Why are you still here?" Li Xiangqian asked calmly, with a bit of annoyance in his eyes.

Jia Zhang's lips trembled slightly, and she wanted to say something, but couldn't speak for a while. She took a deep breath and finally couldn't help but speak: "You are really too much to me, Li Xiangqian." Her voice was full of suppressed anger and disappointment, "I just want to do something good for you, why can't you listen to my advice?"

Li Xiangqian was stunned for a moment, frowning slightly, obviously confused by her emotional reaction. "Do good?" He asked coldly, with a hint of impatience in his eyes. "What you call 'do good' is just asking people to do it your way. Don't you think this approach is a bit too coercive?"

Jia Zhang's face changed, and she became even more excited. "Force? You said that, but you don't understand what I'm doing at all! You never understood me, Li Xiangqian. I just want you to understand that I'm thinking about you and I'm helping you!"

Li Xiangqian smiled slightly, but his eyes were cold. "Help me? What are you helping me with? Do you think I need your help? If you really want to help me, why can't you respect my decision and give me some space? Instead, why do you push me into the framework you set?" He paused, his eyes became sharper, "You impose your ideas on me, regardless of whether I am willing to accept them or not. What's the point of this?"

Jia Zhang's chest was heaving with anger. She gritted her teeth, and a trace of anger and unwillingness appeared in her eyes. "You are simply unreasonable!" Her voice became more and more sharp. "You have no gratitude at all. You don't understand anything. You just keep rejecting me. You don't even have the basic understanding! Isn't everything I do for your own good? You don't understand, and you don't want to understand!"

Li Xiangqian's eyes turned cold. He approached Jia Zhang step by step. His tone was still calm, but every word seemed to carry a sharp blade: "I don't need you to do anything for me, nor do I need you to teach me how to be a man. You can have your own ideas, but please don't restrict me in this way." He paused and his voice became lower. "What you call 'help' is nothing more than a form of control in my opinion, a way for you to expect me to submit to you."