“Why do you think so?” Nie Yunfan’s expression changed slightly. He grabbed An Qi’s hand and said excitedly, “You really care about what that woman said, don’t you? Let me tell you, don’t listen to that woman’s nonsense. I already know what kind of person you are and what kind of family background you have. I don’t care, and neither do my parents. I like you, but only you.”


  “But I care!” Before Nie Yunfan could finish his sentence, An Qi had already interrupted him in a loud voice, “But I care. What that woman said is actually not wrong. I am the child of a poor family. When I enter and leave that kind of high-class restaurant, I don’t wear thousands of famous brands that rich people like you can easily buy. Instead, I wear those street stalls that are placed on the side of the road and can buy several pieces for a hundred yuan. If you bring me along, you will only feel ashamed.”


  “How could I……” Nie Yunfan anxiously wanted to explain himself, and he felt extremely regretful in his heart. Why did he choose such a high-class restaurant in order to create a good atmosphere to propose, and he didn’t take into account An Qi’s mood…… “Listen to me first,” An Qi interrupted Nie Yunfan once again. “Yes, you’re pursuing me now, so you won’t think that I’m very old-fashioned, vulgar, and disgraceful. But what about in the future? In the future, there will be many people like that woman who will say the same thing as that woman. Even if they don’t say it in front of us, they will say it in secret when we leave the place. Over time, the entire upper-class society will know that you married a woman who wasn’t of the right social status and wasn’t of the right social status. At that time, can you still say that you don’t care as firmly as you are now?”


  “I……” Nie Yunfan was really speechless after the long rant. His eyes turned slightly, and he quickly thought of a solution. “When you’re with me, you’ll have the most fundamental of protections. No one will gossip about you. You don’t have to worry about that.”


  An Qi didn’t say anything. She just looked at Nie Yunfan. Nie Yunfan felt nervous under her gaze, but he did not know why.

  After a long while, An Qi suddenly laughed. She looked at Nie Yunfan helplessly and sorrowfully. “You still don’t understand what I mean.”


  “What?” Nie Yunfan was stunned. He didn’t understand what he had said wrong again.

  An Qi pushed Nie Yunfan’s hand away, took two steps back, and leaned against the door of her house, smilingbitterly. “You said that after I get together with you, everything will be different. Does that mean that in the future, I will be like you, wearing the same high-end clothes as you, eating the rare but ridiculously-priced food, drinking the foreign wine that people have to drink because they want to make people feel that they are cultured, driving an expensive sports car that is worth a house. All of this will be given to me by you. Without you, I have nothing. What is the difference between me and a parasite?”


  “An Qi, why do you think that way?” Parasite? Nie Yunfan didn’t understand why An Qi would have such a thought. Marrying him. Wasn’t it only right for him to give her his world? Why would that make her feel like a parasite? Why?

  “Then what should I think? You’re a rich person, born with a silver spoon in your mouth. From the start, you were leaps and bounds ahead of the average person. In your childhood, you’ve had wealth that the average person couldn’t reach in their lifetime. You received the highest level of education, lived in the most luxurious aristocratic circle, and did things that many people couldn’t imagine. And me? I’m just a poor wretch who has no parents, nothing, no talent, and no appearance. I can barely feed myself. While I’m worrying about how to eat my fill, how to find a place to shelter from the wind and rain and sleep well, you’re thinking about how to earn more money and how to enjoy a better life.” “An Qi, I……”


  Nie Yunfan wanted to interrupt, An Qi didn’t give him the chance. “When I encountered difficulties, the first thing I thought of was how to rely on myself to tide over the difficulties. Because I had no one to rely on, no friends to rely on. No matter how hard it was, I could only persevere on my own. Otherwise, a nobody like me would have died on the roadside that day, and no one would have known. But what about you? When you encounter difficulties, the first thing you should think of is someone you know, someone else who is very rich and powerful. They should be able to help me out.”


  “An Qi, aren’t you talking in absolutes? This kind of thing……”


  “This kind of thing is reality. If you feel that I’m being too abstract, then I’ll be more straightforward. Let’s not talk about anything else but that watch on your hand.” An Qi pointed at the watch on Nie Yunfan’s hand, which was obviously very expensive, she asked in a low voice, “How much is this watch?” Nie Yunfan had an ominous feeling, so he didn’t dare to quote too high a price. He directly removed one zero from the original price of the watch. “Five…… five…… fifty thousand.”


  “Fifty thousand, right?” An Qi nodded. “My salary now is about six thousand a month. After taxes, it’s about five thousand. In other words, for nearly a year, if I don’t eat, drink, rent a house, or spend a penny, I can buy this watch of yours. To you, that may only be a drop in the ocean, but to me, that is a huge sum of money.”


  a mon

  An Qi paused for a moment. She shifted her gaze away from the watch and turned to look at Nie Yunfan. “Do you understand what I’m saying? What separates us is not just those gossips, but our own values. From the very beginning, there was no way to overlap our outlooks on life. With this, we might still be able to walk hand in hand for a period of time, because those fundamental problems have yet to be exposed. But what about in the future? With such a fatal flaw, how long can we walk and how far can we go?”


  “I……” Nie Yunfan opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but he found that he couldn’t say anything. Although An Qi’s words weren’t pleasant to hear, he had to admit that she was quite right.

  An Qi looked at Nie Yunfan’s hesitant expression, she took another deep breath. “Um, can you leave for a while today? I need some time to think about it. You also need some time to calm down. So tonight, you can go out and stay for a night. When we calm down, you can come back and pack your things. That’s…… that’s

  it.”


  An Qi did not wait for Nie Yunfan’s reaction. She quickly opened the door of their home, rushed in with a whoosh, and then banged shut the door.