No reconciliation, no forgiveness! Mr. Pei leaves with nothing.

What secret do you think there might be?

Jiang Hua put down her pen, crossed her legs, and looked him up and down. He was wearing a black striped bathrobe with the collar slightly open, revealing strong and sexy muscle lines. Her gaze moved slightly downwards to the man's abs, which were faintly visible. It has to be said that Pei Zhan's physique was indeed good. Coupled with his face, it's no wonder that many women were eyeing him. He certainly had the capital to make people swoon.

Meeting Jiang Hua's gaze, Pei Zhan stepped forward, took her hand, and placed it on her chest. "If Mrs. Pei wants to see, she can see openly and honestly. Not only can she see, but she can also touch." His seductive words had long since lost their effect on her.

Before she could even touch the man's exposed chest, Jiang Hua withdrew her fingertips and pulled her hand back, saying sarcastically, "Does Song Qingran know you have this side to you? If you had treated her like this earlier, why did you confine her to this glamorous world, preventing her from even seeing a stranger?"

"Even now, she doesn't want to look at you at all."

Ignoring the man's expression, Jiang Hua looked away, picked up her pen, and continued to underline some key points. "You can leave now. I'm not interested in the secrets on your computer. I'll return it to you after one night."

"I'll go change my clothes first, and I'll come back to keep you company later."

"unnecessary."

Watching the man's departing figure, Jiang Hua's gaze gradually fell into deep thought. After returning from Wuchuan, this time he didn't disappear at the drop of a hat like he did in his previous life to stay by Song Qingran's side. Instead, he appeared in front of her time and time again, frequently showing concern for her... and his attitude towards her had also changed.

Why is it that in this life, she did nothing wrong, yet Pei Zhan... has changed?

What exactly did he do in Wuchuan?

Just then, Jiang Hua accidentally pressed her elbow on the laptop keyboard, and the page suddenly redirected to a photo. The photo showed a little girl, who looked to be only about sixteen years old, wearing a white dress and with long black hair. She looked like an innocent and naive girl with a pure face and a beautiful smile. Such a face would be what people call a first love face these days. The girl was standing under a tree. This person... seemed to be Song Qingran, but upon closer inspection, there were some differences, yet nothing in particular. It was because Song Qingran's hair was now open, which made her look slightly different from the person in the photo. Jiang Hua didn't think much of it.

There seemed to be other people beside her, one on her left and one on her right, and behind her, making it look like a family photo. However, the photo was not complete, only showing the figure of the girl in the middle. If it were just an ordinary family photo, it would be fine, but the fact that he only included her shows that in Pei Zhan's heart, this girl holds a unique place in his heart.

If Jiang Hua hadn't seen a photo of 'Song Qingran' when she was only a teenager on this computer, she might have actually believed Pei Zhan's words about loving her. It turned out that he had secretly buried all his love for 'Song Qingran' deep in his heart.

Even after returning from Wuchuan, the ending of the previous life and this life remains unchanged.

Pei Zhan still loves Song Qingran!

Knowing the answer, she was not surprised, nor did she feel any emotional turmoil. She tried to switch the system back to the original desktop, but found that she couldn't do it back. She could only put it aside for the time being and then continue with what she was doing.

Pei Zhan changed into his pajamas and walked to Jiang Hua's side. When he saw the photo on the computer, a hint of sadness flashed in the man's deep eyes.

Jiang Hua rested her chin on her hand, showing no emotion whatsoever, and said nonchalantly, "I accidentally pressed it and this photo popped up. You can switch back; I don't know how to do it, I'll need it again later."

Pei Zhan would rather Jiang Hua argue with him than have her speak to him in a normal, nonchalant tone. At least that would show she still cared, instead of acting like nothing was wrong.

Pei Zhan looked at her, but Jiang Hua didn't care at all who the person in the photo was.

“Okay.” Pei Zhan deleted all the hidden photos in front of her. When the system notification popped up, indicating that the photos could not be recovered after deletion, Pei Zhan clicked confirm without hesitation. He then switched the desktop back to its original state, where Jiang Hua’s unfinished document appeared.

The person pictured above is not Song Qingran, but Zhou Xu.

Jiang Hua saw him pretending to delete the photo of 'Song Qingran' but didn't say anything.

"I'm going to make some late-night snacks. What would you like to eat?"

"Whatever." Pei Zhan's cooking was indeed passable. It was already quite late, and she didn't want to disturb Xu Ma's rest. She hadn't eaten much since returning from Xiangweiju that evening, and was feeling a bit hungry.

Pei Zhan cooked some noodles and served them to her. These small things could have been done by the servants, but he felt that some things were more meaningful to do himself. There was nothing wrong with cooking a bowl of noodles for his wife.

Consider this... a small compensation for all these years.

Jiang Hua ate her noodles while Pei Zhan smoked on the balcony outside the study, his gaze fixed on the dark abyss in the distance. More than anything, he was worried and afraid that Jiang Hua would find out about Zhou Xu's existence. Jiang Hua had a heart condition, and Pei Zhan was afraid she couldn't bear too much. Some things, he would keep buried deep underground forever, never to be exposed to the light of day.

From Jiang Weiguo's perspective, he was only doing it for Jiang Hua, because she was the only bloodline of the Jiang family and needed a complete matching heart to survive. That's why he used underhanded methods. People are inherently selfish, especially since the Jiang family is so powerful and enjoys the wealth of power. Who would want to die?

But from Pei Zhan's perspective, what he lost was someone he once 'cared about'. On the night he was wandering and homeless, missing Jiang Hua, that little girl took him home, giving him a place to stay and allowing him to survive. As for Zhou Xu's love for him, Pei Zhan initially had no feelings for her. In his eyes, she was just an immature girl; what could she know about love? The feelings he had were merely love born of dependence. Pei Zhan only treated her as a younger sister. Only after Zhou Xu's death did he begin to bear the weight of her love, and even now…

On that rainy night, Zhou Xu was in a car accident while buying a ring. She collapsed in the rain. That day was caused by him, and Pei Zhan's guilt could never be erased.

Since she loved him, Pei Zhan gave her the title of his deceased wife, just to make up for the guilt in his heart.

Later, he learned that Zhou Xu's death was not so simple...