Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 447 - 431 I Didn’t Want to Cry

Chapter 447: Chapter 431 I Didn’t Want to Cry

Jiang Xiuwan did nothing but silently accompany her mother-in-law, patiently listening to her repetitive memories of the past, occasionally uttering a "hm" or nodding her head, at most adding a few simple words in short, ambiguous phrases to assert her presence and indicate she was still listening, but she refrained from saying anything more.

Even if the relationship with her mother-in-law was good, Xiuwan wasn’t foolish enough to think she could speak ill of her other son in front of her, not even in agreement.

Besides, there was no reason for a daughter-in-law to casually interject and discuss the rights and wrongs of her husband’s elder uncle. This principle had been repeatedly emphasized to her by her own mother before marriage.

Xia Na didn’t actually expect Jiang Xiuwan to offer any useful advice; all she needed at the moment was someone to lend an ear while she vented her emotions.

After a lengthy outpouring, Xia Na’s emotions eventually calmed down, and she began to seriously consider how to have a calm and effective communication with her eldest son.

Xia Na didn’t know that Gu Feng, the subject of their discussion, couldn’t calm down at all at this moment.

He was frowning tightly, his mind echoing the words of his live-in girlfriend, who had also recently become the mother of his child—

"Xia Ye, my parents have expressed a desire to meet you, would this Saturday noon work for you?"

On the way back to the shared rental home from the hospital, after the initial ecstatic reaction, Ye Man’s anxiety started to resurface.

She took a cautious glance at her live-in boyfriend, and, thinking about the diagnosis they had received that day, she finally mustered the courage to speak to him.

She could not and did not want the one-month-old baby in her womb to end up as an illegitimate child, which her traditional and face-conscious parents would never accept.

At this thought, she sighed inwardly. They say if you have a choice, it’s better to choose a man who loves you than one you love yourself.

Only today did she truly understand how tiring it was to be with a man who didn’t love her enough.

Knowing each other for two years and cohabiting for one, it had always been her actively chasing after him, yet he had always maintained the same distant, indifferent posture as when they first met.

She didn’t know if, given the chance to go back three years, she would still fall at first sight for this man, who once helped her avoid an accident with a bicycle, and make the crazy and bold move of pursuing him that she had never even imagined herself capable of.

She had visualized countless scenarios, only to sigh that maybe she owed him from a past life, and so she was here to pay back the debt. How else could she explain the series of mad actions she took, almost losing her sanity out of infatuation for him?

A sad case of love at first sight, or perhaps this man had somehow bewitched her?

Before that moment, she never imagined that someone somewhat shy and inherently conservative like herself would one day be capable of wildly chasing after a man without a care in the world.

She didn’t even know what exactly drew her to him—to the point that she didn’t mind that he was an orphan with nothing to his name.

She didn’t even mind that he had no education, which left him unable to find a formal, respectable job, and his strong sense of self-esteem led him to refuse the formal job she tried to help him get using her connections. Instead, he preferred to do odd jobs like waiting tables or doing heavy lifting, earning just a pittance. Not to mention providing for her, even supporting himself was tough.

She remembered once when she was out shopping with Xia Ye, and they bumped into a gossipy old classmate who tricked her into revealing Xia Ye’s true circumstances. Almost overnight, all their classmates and friends knew she was dating a man who "couldn’t be presented in decent company," and they all mocked her in private for seemingly keeping a "kept man." All she could do was give a bitter smile.

"Xia Ye..."

Seeing her boyfriend’s brows furrowed as if they could squeeze a mosquito to death, Ye Man felt the joy of being pregnant wash away as if doused with a bucket of icy water, leaving her with a chilling feeling inside and out—did he still not want to marry her even though they had a child?

She lowered her head, and tears finally fell uncontrollably.

"I didn’t say I wouldn’t go." Gu Feng saw her crying and immediately felt agitated, tugging at his collar with a deep and overwhelming sense of helplessness. "Aren’t we always careful? How could you get pregnant?" He thought this to himself but inadvertently blurted it out.

"I... Xia Ye, are you suspecting that I’m using the child to threaten you?" Ye Man widened her eyes in disbelief as she looked at him, her heart shattering in that instant. How could she have expected to be seen as so despicable in Xia Ye’s eyes?

"That’s not what I meant, I’m just not ready yet."

Gu Feng became even more irritable; he also felt an inexplicable panic. He knew well how destitute the "Xia Ye" identity he assumed before Ye Man was, and he had never considered that a woman would genuinely be willing to follow him in this down-and-out state.

He admitted that when he agreed to join her in this impoverished lover’s "love game," it was with a dark mindset, waiting to see when the woman before him would reveal her "phony true face," then look down on him and leave him.

Contrary to his expectations, his anticipated "abandonment" never came to pass, and he found himself unintentionally sinking deeper and deeper into this "love game," unable to extricate himself.

When he realized he was deeply mired and wanted to tell the truth, he hesitated instead.

After three years of dating, he knew the thing she hated the most was deceit. He had tried to test the waters before but was sadly aware that she could tolerate his poverty and accommodate his occasional bursts of "pride," but discovered she couldn’t tolerate his deception.

Yet, he had been deceiving her from the very beginning, even giving her a false name—

He realized deep down that he was actually not opposed to marrying her anymore, but he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her, "Actually, I’ve been lying to you from the start." He was afraid that by saying so, he might completely ruin everything between them.

"Don’t cry," he said.

Ruffling his hair, Gu Feng paced back and forth, his voice ringing in Ye Man’s ears with a heavy tone of impatience.

Ye Man felt even more heartbroken, unable to control her emotions. Even though she knew this would only make Xia Ye look down on her more, her tears fell even harder. She looked up at him with a pitiful expression as she wiped her tears, "Don’t be angry. I didn’t want to cry, really. The tears just started falling on their own; I can’t control them."