Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Xia Mingzheng reached out to put his hand on his wife’s shoulder. He… did not want for this to happen, but this scandal really left them with no choice. He was more afraid that there would be more things about Yixuan that would appear. His daughter was already dead, please, don’t hurt her again.

“Won’t you think about it more? She is your daughter after all.” Song Wan clenched her fingers briefly. She couldn’t imagine how there would be such cruel parents in the world. That child had nothing left. Did they really have to be so unfeeling?

“There’s no need to consider. We have already decided.” Shen Yijun said coldly. She hated—loathed—the fact that she could have such a daughter who killed her own sister and kept silent, and she was even so despicable. The whole family was humiliated along with her.

Song Wan closed her eyes. It seemed like there was nothing else she could do but stay silent.

Since she left the Chu household, Shen Yijun’s face was extremely long. She didn’t want to recognize her as her daughter anymore. She was really her shame—her shame for the rest of her life.

“Yijun, you can still think about it again. We can actually…” Xia Mingzheng felt slightly bad—not for Xia Ruoxin—but for his wife. No matter how horrid Xia Ruoxin was, she was still her only daughter.

“There’s no need,” Shen Yijun said coldly. “The words have already been said. We can’t possibly go back on our words.”

Xia Mingzheng sighed again. He didn’t have a daughter anymore, and neither did she. She couldn’t possibly want to become lonely old souls with him. It would be really unfair to her, but he knew that anything he said would be useless. They had been with each other for close to twenty years. Would he still not understand her temper?

Outside, heavy rain had started to pour, and in the hazy view, they could only make out the fuzzy outline of distant scenery.

The car started, and the rain fell on their car rhythmically. Through the curtain of rain, Shen Yijun gazed dully at the outside. The pedestrians walked by in a hurry and disappeared in front of her in the blink of an eye.

The car stopped in front of the condominium where they stayed. After Xia Yixuan’s accident and Xia Ruoxin’s marriage, there were only the two of them in the house, along with a nanny.

Indescribable loneliness, an unspeakable desolation. This kind of life, they knew, would last for a long while. As long as they were alive, this would be their everyday life.

Xia Mingzheng took out an umbrella and stepped outside first to pick Shen Yijun. He looked up, and through the heavy rain, he saw a thin and frail silhouette that made his pupils contract.

How could it be her?

Ruoxin, Xia Ruoxin.

Shen Yijun stared coldly at the person standing in the rain. Her clothes were already drenched by the rain.

Xia Ruoxin raised her head and looked at the layer of clouds pressed under the sky, one arm still wrapped in a cast—she didn’t know whether the rain would dissolve away her cast as well, leaving her with less—and the other hand placed carefully on her abdomen.

If she had anywhere else she could go, she would never have come back here. However, she didn’t, she really didn’t. Jiang Yao was overseas, and distant waters could not quench present thirst 1 . She was totally out of reach. Other people gave her all sorts of reasons the moment they heard her voice as if she was some poisonous snake or fierce beast. They were unwilling to be close to her, much less say assist and lend her a helping hand.

The rain continued to run down her hair, and there was no trace of color in the pale, cold face. She could have not come back here, and she could have done any job, but she knew that she couldn’t.