After the divorce, the CEO knelt down every night begging for remarriage.

The maid prepared dinner.

The three of them took their seats.

Contrary to his usual behavior, Li Tingze proactively added food to Lin Wanxin's bowl and said in a gentle tone, "Mom, I'm really sorry for missing your birthday banquet yesterday. I hope you won't take it to heart."

Such treatment was somewhat overwhelming for Lin Wanxin.

Lin Zhi and Li Tingze have been married for five years, and neither Li Tingze nor his family has ever treated her with such high courtesy.

She could tell that Li Tingze had made significant changes in order to keep Lin Zhi.

She smiled slightly and easily forgave, saying, "It's not your fault. You were just too busy with official duties to come. It's good that you've explained it clearly."

A slight smile appeared on Li Tingze's face.

He glanced at Lin Zhi and saw that she was eating silently with her head down, so he took the initiative to add more food to her plate.

However, Lin Zhi didn't appreciate it and moved her bowl and chopsticks to the side to avoid it.

She said calmly, "Thank you, but I don't like it."

Li Tingze's hand hung awkwardly in mid-air, a hint of pain flashing in his eyes, and the smile on his face gradually turned bitter.

Lin Wanxin quickly handed over her bowl, smiling awkwardly as she said, "She doesn't like it, but I do. Give it to me."

The atmosphere instantly became awkward.

The entire dinner fell into a cold silence, with the three of them tacitly remaining silent.

Lin Wanxin sensed something was wrong between the two and noticed that Lin Zhi's wedding ring on her ring finger was missing, which filled her with indescribable melancholy.

She knew it would be difficult to find a suitable heart donor, and she also knew that her condition was not optimistic, so she couldn't accompany Lin Zhi for too long.

Li Tingze is the best choice for Lin Zhi right now.

She didn't want to see Lin Zhi and Li Tingze's marriage break down.

After dinner, Lin Wanxin didn't stay long and asked to return to the sanatorium. No matter how Li Tingze tried to persuade her to stay, she was determined to go back.

As she left, she held Lin Zhi's hand tightly and said earnestly, "Zhi'er, listen to your mother's advice, live a good life with Tingze, and love yourself. All men in this world are the same, it doesn't make much difference who you find. Men only behave when they're hanging on the wall. Relatively speaking, Tingze is much better than 99% of the men in Jingbei, and he's more suitable for you."

“I can also tell that he intends to make peace with you, otherwise he wouldn’t have arranged this dinner, nor would he have taken the initiative to add food for me and try so hard to please you and me.”

"Marriage shouldn't be about constantly dwelling on each other's shortcomings and past mistakes, otherwise you'll live a very tiring life."

……

This advice did not receive an immediate response.

Lin Wanxin sighed repeatedly in distress.

After a long while, Lin Zhi looked deeply into her eyes and asked, "Mom, what is the meaning of marriage?"

Perhaps guessing the purpose of Lin Zhi's question, Lin Wanxin replied with heartache, "Zhi'er, have a child. That way you will know the meaning of marriage and understand the meaning of life."

Lin Zhi stiffened slightly, then smiled wryly as she saw Lin Wanxin into the car.

After returning to her room, she went straight upstairs.

Pushing open the bedroom door, the first thing you see is Li Tingze, who has already showered. Water droplets from his hair slowly trickle down his cheeks, all the way past his abs...

In the past, Lin Zhi would have blushed at such a scene.

Now, however, she looks straight ahead, her face indifferent.

It was as if the person standing in front of her was not a man, but a cold stone sculpture.

Li Tingze raised his hand and deliberately made an ambiguous gesture in front of her.

I thought I would make her feel embarrassed and shy.

did not expect……

Lin Zhi walked straight past him and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

He turned to look at the closed bathroom door, experiencing defeat for the first time.

After taking a shower, Lin Zhi lay on the other side of the bed. Before she could find a comfortable position, Li Tingze hugged her tightly from behind. His hands were restless, and his intentions were very clear.

She suddenly closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, she raised her hand and ruthlessly pushed his hand away from her body.

He said coldly, "Li Tingze, I don't want to tonight."

Li Tingze was stunned.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Zhi's voice rang out again.

She said, "If you really want to, hurry up!"

If her ignoring him earlier had given him a taste of defeat, then her words now completely crushed him to the ground.

Li Tingze remained proud deep down.

He propped his head up with one hand, his hawk-like eyes fixed on her expressionless face, and asked in an unhappy tone, "Lin Zhi, in your eyes, all I want to do is be intimate with you, is that it?"

"You shouldn't ask me this question; you should ask yourself." Lin Zhi looked away from the ceiling, a faint, cold laugh escaping her lips. "In the past, every time you took the initiative to approach me, wasn't it for something intimate?"

Li Tingze's expression instantly turned cold.

Looking back on the past five years, it was indeed as Lin Zhi said: every time he took the initiative, it was to do intimate things with her.

In the past, no matter how wronged or upset she was, Lin Zhi would never refuse him; she would even take the initiative to please him and make him extremely happy.

Now, she not only knows how to say no, but also how to spoil his mood.

He was clearly making changes to ease the tension in their marriage, so why was she turning a blind eye?

For the first time, Li Tingze wanted to fight for something for himself.

He said with a hint of amusement, "Why can't you see the changes in me? Why is it that when Shen Mubai does just the smallest thing for you, you go to the trouble of buying him a gift to express your gratitude? Lin Zhi, when you think about it, we're just like each other."

Lin Zhi lowered her eyes, wanting to laugh but unable to.

The reason she bought gifts for Shen Mubai was simply because she didn't want to owe him anything and didn't want to have too much involvement with him.

She hadn't expected Li Tingze to view her attempts to distance herself in this way.

She didn't want to say a single unnecessary explanation.

The dimly lit room fell silent.

The evening breeze blew in through the window, chilling Li Tingze's burning body to the bone.

After a long silence, he spoke softly, "Lin Zhi, when I said I would try my best to love you, it came from the bottom of my heart."

Lin Zhi's heart was already fortified with iron and steel.

She chuckled softly: "Really? You can really love me to the core? Treat me like the apple of your eye, protecting me unconditionally? Even if it means sacrificing your own life, you'll protect me for the rest of your life?"

Li Tingze opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

His eyes were fixed on Lin Zhi, his fingers clenched into fists.

He doesn't understand love, nor does he know how to love others.

He has never felt what love is since he can remember.

When he was a child, his parents had a bad relationship. They would have a small argument every three days and a big fight every five days, making the atmosphere at home very gloomy.

When Song Ya and his father argued to the point of losing their temper, she would even drag him to the windowsill and throw him off the building to force his father to give in.

As a child, he also knew to use crying to express his inner fear.

Gradually, he became numb.

Even when Song Ya drove the car into the lake in a fit of rage, he wasn't afraid in the slightest.

As he grew older, Grandpa Li also disliked him, making things difficult for him at every turn and never giving him any of the love that comes with being a grandfather.

The word "love" doesn't exist in his world.

So much so that he didn't cherish the passionate love Lin Zhi showed him five years ago.

Perhaps his reluctance to divorce is also largely related to his family background.

Deep down, he didn't want to follow in his parents' footsteps in marriage.

Initially, he thought that as long as he kept Lin Zhi by his side, that would be enough.

But he told him everything that had happened during those days.

Love cannot be forced.

Love cannot be forced.

Li Tingze never takes the initiative to open up his heart, let alone personally reopen old wounds.

He looked at her and asked in return, "And what about you?"

I knew exactly what kind of answer she would give.

He was asking a pointless question.

Lin Zhi felt instantly at ease. She looked at him and gave him her brightest smile: "Li Tingze, if time could turn back five years, I wish I had never met you, never meddled in other people's business, and never chosen to marry you."

At that moment, her smile was like countless daggers, mercilessly stabbing into his heart.

Even in such a situation, his brain would automatically allocate rationality and capture key words.

He asked, "When did we first meet before the proposal?"

Lin Zhi didn't want to recall what happened that night.

He simply left behind the words: "None of it matters anymore."

Then he turned his back and fell into a deep sleep.

Li Tingze's heart was in turmoil, and he lost all sleepiness. He got up and dialed his assistant's number, ordering him to thoroughly investigate all of Lin Zhi's past.

After hanging up the phone, he sat alone on the wicker chair on the balcony, quietly looking out into the darkness.

He thought to himself that he must be going crazy.

That's why he would do something that's inconsistent with his usual style of doing things.