When they met again, the boss' eyes turned red, kissed her and said sweet words to her

"Mr. Pei is waiting for you upstairs."

Arriving at Pei's residence, Ye Qingrou followed Butler Li upstairs and walked all the way back to her bedroom.

Pei Muchuan sat on the chair in front of her dressing table, his back straight and broad. He raised his head the moment she appeared. Caught off guard, her eyes met his in the mirror.

There was a dark circle under his eyes, and his gaze was no longer as sharp and oppressive as before. Instead, there was a hint of caution as he looked at her gently.

Ye Qingrou was the first to look away, and said in a businesslike tone, "My lawyer had some problems on the way, so he won't be here for a while."

"I know." Pei Muchuan said, "I created this situation."

Ye Qingrou frowned, turned around and left.

"Don't go, Rourou."

"I finally convinced myself to sign the divorce papers. After today, I may never sign again."

The man's voice was a little hoarse and difficult to hear.

Ye Qingrou paused, turned around and looked at him, then asked calmly, "Then why did you stop my lawyer?"

The chair rubbed against the floor with a harsh sound.

Pei Muchuan stood up and walked to her bedside table, pulling open the three drawers of the bedside table.

Each floor was crammed with medicine boxes.

A variety of antidepressants and sleeping pills.

He half-knelt down, flipping through the medicine box, not daring to look her in the eye, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you still taking these medicines now?"

"I stopped eating it three years ago. I put it here to remind myself how I got through those days and not to repeat the same mistakes."

Pei Muchuan pressed his aching temple and asked, "When did you start taking these medicines?"

"After giving birth to Xiao Mo, I couldn't sleep for a while and took some sleeping pills."

She was probably experiencing postpartum depression at the time, but thankfully it was mild and she adjusted well. She only really started trying various medications after she had that argument with him and broke up with him.

If she hadn't spent those ten years close to him, if she hadn't truly possessed him, she could have accepted being Mrs. Pei quietly, watching him from afar. But the psychological gap of having him and then losing him was hard for her to accept, and she tormented her for a long time.

Pei Muchuan propped himself up on the bedside table with both hands, exhaled forcefully, and picked up the boxes of medicine and threw them into the trash can one by one: "I won't need these anymore."

After throwing away the medicine, he stood up and walked to her, lowered his head, and looked at her with his dark eyes filled with tenderness and love.

"Actually, I can't accept that kind of gap either. Ye Qingrou, when you miss me, I miss you too. During those years, I often stayed at the company and kept my work schedule very full. I was afraid of seeing your cold face when I got home."

"I always thought you were tired of me, annoyed with me, and didn't care about me. If I knew... that you loved me, and knew you were sad, I would have moved out of Cheng Yu's room, and I would never have had a scandal with another woman..."

He never explained to her, never told her that he had arranged a lot for her and the Ye family behind her back. Wasn't he just being angry and trying to make things worse? She didn't care about him and was annoyed by him, so why did he bother to say so much?

This was the first time in half a month that Pei Muchuan had truly examined and criticized himself. His arrogance and cold, hard temper were the reasons for the current situation.

"A man should always bow his head first. I am not a good husband."

Ye Qingrou's fingertips trembled, she lowered her head and remained silent.

"You come with me."

Pei Muchuan walked out.

Ye Qingrou followed him and was stunned when she reached the end of the corridor.

This is her studio, which she hasn't been to for nearly ten years.

open the door.

What I see before me is not a dusty and messy scene, but a brand new one.

The pictures she had drawn for him were neatly arranged against the wall.

Pei Muchuan's eyes slowly scanned each painting. "How long did it take you to paint these?"

Ye Qingrou: "More than ten years."

From the time I got married until that fight and the breakup, I was always painting.

At first, I went to the studio just to practice painting and pass the time. Later, I found that as soon as I picked up the paintbrush, he was in my mind and I started painting.

She doesn't even need him to be in front of her, she can accurately describe every detail, especially when she misses him very much.

"Is this how I look to you?" Pei Muchuan commented on the painting: "I look like someone with facial paralysis, unable to make any expression."

Ye Qingrou looked at him in the painting. He was extremely handsome, cold, and expressionless, and he looked very distant.

"That's how you act in front of me," she confirmed.

So much so that she wanted to ask several times, she seemed to have not dug up their Pei family's ancestral graves? Of course, she didn't dare to ask.

Pei Muchuan rubbed his brows with a headache. His deep voice was extremely gentle, like coaxing a child: "Rou Rou, don't think too much. I treat everyone like this. When Mom was alive, she also said that seeing me every day was like she owed me hundreds of millions. She wanted to stuff me into her belly and rebuild me, and give birth to a son who would smile at her."

Ye Qingrou hummed, and suddenly heard him ask her in a low and soft voice: "Do you still love me?"

"No." She shook her head.

Pei Muchuan put his hands in his pockets and looked at her with deep eyes: "You said you didn't love me before, and I believed you. But this time I don't believe you."

Ye Qingrou walked to the window and looked at the orchard outside.

In the orchard, several cherry trees with green branches and leaves are full of ruby-like cherries.

"That's what Sister Zhang and I planted four years ago, and it's produced a lot this year."

Pei Muchuan stood beside her, looked in her direction, and then looked back at her elegant and quiet face.

“After I stop painting, I prefer to take care of the orchard and plant flowers.”

"As long as I water, fertilize, and prune them well, they will grow well as I expect. My expectations will not be disappointed, just like you and our marriage..."

Ye Qingrou's expression was calm and calm. "I've been trapped in this uncontrollable and unrequited relationship for too long. I'm so tired and don't have the energy to love anymore."

Pei Muchuan looked into her eyes. Such beautiful eyes, but their spirit was dead like dead water.

His heart suddenly felt suffocated and he couldn't breathe. He really had raised her very poorly.

Rubbing the corners of his sore eyes, he had prepared so many words but hadn't finished them yet, but he didn't want to say any more: "Okay, okay."

"It's okay, then I don't love you anymore. I'll sign and completely disappear from your life. You forget me and start over."

Just then the lawyer called and said he was downstairs.

Ye Qingrou said softly, "It's time to go down and sign."

Pei Muchuan turned around and strode out. She followed him with her head down, feeling a little dazed, unable to tell whether it was a dream or reality.

Until pain came from the forehead.

He stopped suddenly at the door, and she was caught off guard and her forehead hit his broad back.

Suddenly, Pei Muchuan turned around and looked at her, "Can I hug you one last time?"

He was much taller than her. She raised her head and met his gentle, deep eyes with a red tinge.

She didn't say no.

His big hands grabbed the thin waist and put it on him.

The man locked his arms behind her back, tightening them continuously. Her bones ached from being squeezed, and she clung to him like a thin, soft petal.

He loosened his grip a little, and she thought he was going to let her go, but she felt a cool, hard touch on her back.

Pei Muchuan hugged her and turned around, pushing her against the wall. He held her face with one hand, lowered his head, bit her lips open, and kissed her forcefully...

She closed her eyes tightly, feeling hazy and dizzy, and tasted the saltiness of warm tears.

His deep and strong voice was in her ear: "Rou Rou, I will love you forever in a place where you can't see me for the rest of my life."

"From now on, you will no longer have the shackles of Mrs. Pei. You must go back to being the Ye Qingrou you used to be, as if you had never met me."

"The house is left to you. I'm leaving. Don't come downstairs. I'm afraid I'll see you and won't be able to bear to sign."

The anxious and steady footsteps were getting farther and farther away.

His hot breath, embrace, and the scent of him left her.

Ye Qingrou opened her eyes and stood against the wall for a while. The moisture in her eyes gradually faded away. She turned around and went out and returned to the bedroom.

It's drizzling outside the window.

She stood on the balcony, watching the familiar tall figure walk out the door, as she had done countless times before.

Pei Muchuan didn't hold an umbrella. Raindrops soaked the fabric of his clothes on his broad shoulders. He put one hand in his pocket and strode forward calmly and steadily, quickly disappearing around the wet and foggy corner...

Ye Qingrou slowly retreated back to the bedroom, walked to the bedside table on the other side, and opened a few drawers.