Mu Xue was stunned. “I didn’t scare them. I didn’t say I wanted to marry you either. They misunderstood…”

  Shao Qihai frowned. “So why did you find the children and say these things? They are children and they?will?misunderstand.”

  “I didn’t want to!” Mu Xue’s eyes were red. “I only heard the villagers gossiping about you living off a woman and being a good-for-nothing. That Ji Buwang came knocking on your door, but you didn’t dare say anything and you even washed clothes every day. Those words were really awful. I felt indignant and worried about you. That’s why I said a word or two to the kids.”

  When Shao Qihai heard Mu Xue’s words, his expression changed slightly. He took a deep breath and held it in. “I don’t mind, so you don’t have to mind either, Mu Xue. Don’t say anything to the kids again. It wasn’t easy for us to mend our relationship. I don’t want it to be ruined.”

  Tears fell from Mu Xue’s eyes when she heard this. “I never wanted to destroy your relationship. I just… My heart aches for you.”

  After saying that, she covered her face and ran away.

  Shao Qihai frowned as he watched her leave. He was about to say something when he paused, then turned to leave with a frown. All of a sudden, he bumped into Li Fang, who was standing behind the house.

  When Li Fang saw Shao Qihai, she immediately turned around and left. Shao Qihai reacted and quickly chased after her. “Li Fang, wait. Don’t get the wrong idea. Don’t say anything to Jingzhe…”

  However, before he could catch up, Li Fang disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  Li Fang was already a mature hawker. Occasionally, she would go to places that didn’t allow one to set up a stall. When people chased after her, she would carry a big bag of things and sprint off swiftly. She had long practiced hiding from people and improving her speed. In fact, she’d saved up enough money and was preparing to open a shop. Therefore, even Shao Qihai couldn’t keep up with her.

  Shao Qihai knew that things wouldn’t look good for him if he didn’t catch up to her. He quickly went to look for Mu Jingzhe, wanting to explain things to her clearly so that she wouldn’t misunderstand and their already bad relationship wouldn’t worsen.

  However, Shao Qihai couldn’t find her anywhere. When he returned home and saw Mu Jingzhe, he knew that he was a step too late.

  He was right. Mu Jingzhe had already heard from Li Fang that Shao Qihai and Mu Xue had arranged a secret rendezvous. Besides, Mu Xue even felt ‘her heart ache’ for Shao Qihai. To quote Li Fang:

  “That shameless duo. She even feels heartache for him. Pfft. I really heard that. Jingzhe, you have to know!”

  \r \r \r

  Thanks to Li Fang’s words, coupled with the five kids telling her what Mu Xue had said to them, she knew what was going on.

  She had been observing during this period of time and hadn’t found any signs of Mu Xue and Shao Qihai reconciling. She’d thought that her plan had failed prematurely, but to her surprise, there was a silver lining. Mu Jingzhe quickly accepted it and wasn’t even as angry as Li Fang.

  Upon seeing Shao Qihai return and say that he wanted to explain, Mu Jingzhe nodded. “Alright, I have something to tell you too.”

  When the two of them were alone, Mu Jingzhe got straight to the point. “Shao Qihai, my attitude hasn’t changed. I already said that we should get a divorce. Now that the situation has developed up to this point, why don’t you divorce me first? This will be good for you and Mu Xue, as you won’t let Mu Xue suffer or feel heartache for you and come looking for the kids.

  “Don’t worry. I like Little Bei and the rest of the kids. I can take care of them after the divorce. I’m not trying to snatch your children. They’ll still be your children. I’ll just be taking care of them.”

  Mu Jingzhe patted her chest. She had finally found an opportunity to reveal her ultimate goal. It was impossible for her to really snatch Shao Qihai’s children, but she could at least take care of them, right?

  Shao Qihai covered his face helplessly. He had wanted to explain, but she had already determined what was going on and even said something like this.

  “Mu Jingzhe, this is the third time I’ve seen Mu Xue since I returned. I went to look for her only to stop her from interfering in our family matters and looking for Little Bei and the rest. You can’t take Li Fang’s words seriously because she didn’t hear everything.

  “I really don’t have any plans. Don’t mention getting a divorce again.” He was scared out of his wits upon hearing about the divorce.

  “But it’s meaningless for us to not get a divorce and waste each other’s time like this.” Mu Jingzhe felt very helpless. “Look, it’s been a while since you came back. Do you think we’re compatible? I don’t think we are.”

  “How do you know we’re not right for each other if you’ve never even tried? Mu Jingzhe, do the math yourself. Have I talked to you in private more than ten times in the past two weeks?”

  “Then… That just means we don’t have anything in common.”?Also, the two of us aren’t meant to be.

  “Because you despise me from the bottom of your heart and have branded me as Mu Xue’s man. In your heart, I’m Mu Xue’s. You despise me and only think about getting a divorce, but is this fair to me?”

  Shao Qihai’s expression darkened. “I admit that I married you because of the circumstances, but don’t forget that you and your mom forced me to marry you.

  “You were the ones who forced me to get married back then. Now that I’ve married you, you’ve decided you don’t want this anymore and are forcing me to get a divorce without giving me a chance at all. This isn’t fair to me either, right? Ji Buwang said that you can’t abandon him after toying with him, so how can you abandon me after toying with me?”

  Mu Jingzhe’s eyelids twitched when she heard this. She hadn’t expected Shao Qihai to use this term as well.

  However, she couldn’t retort because this was indeed what the original Mu Jingzhe had done.

  “I apologize. I did do something wrong back then, so now that I’ve realized my mistake, I want to set you free…”

  “But I don’t want my freedom. I just want to live with you.” Shao Qihai bent down and looked at Mu Jingzhe. “Jingzhe, Mu Xue and I really ended things a long time ago. It was over when I brought Xiao Wu back. She gave up on me then. It’s been impossible for us to be together since then. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have let this drag on for so long. Xiao Wu is already so big now.”

  Mu Jingzhe, who had read the book, naturally knew that it was all because of Xiao Wu. The relationship between Shao Qihai and Mu Xue had dragged on for a long time before ending.

  She was very troubled. Just as she had been about to say something, Shao Qihai had stopped her with the words ‘You can’t abandon me after toying with me’.

  Mu Jingzhe paused for a moment. “Oh right. I have a question that I’m very curious about.”

  “What?”

  “Who is Xiao Wu’s mother?” Xiao Wu had been curious to know about his mother before. Mu Jingzhe was actually quite curious too. In the past, she had thought that she had no one to ask, but now that Shao Qihai had returned alive, she couldn’t help but ask him.

  Shao Qihai paused for a moment. “Why do you suddenly want to know this?”

  “Because I’m curious. Xiao Wu has also been curious before. Why didn’t you marry Xiao Wu’s mother? Who is she? Did you cheat on Mu Xue when you were dating her?”

  Shao Qihai: “No…”

  He looked at Mu Jingzhe’s curious expression and said helplessly, “Xiao Wu’s mother is dead, so don’t ask.”

  “Even if she’s dead, Xiao Wu can go and pay his respects. It’ll be unfair to Xiao Wu if you don’t tell him. He doesn’t even know who his biological mother is.”

  “It’s okay. He’s the luckiest person because he’s met you.”

  Mu Jingzhe: “So you’re determined not to say?”

  “Mm…”

  Mu Jingzhe was mentally prepared and had known that he might not tell her. After all, even after Mu Xue had kicked up a huge fuss, he hadn’t said anything at the time. Therefore, although she was disappointed, she could only helplessly accept it.

  After Mu Jingzhe left, the depths of Shao Qihai’s eyes were filled with complicated emotions.