Chapter 9

Li Bin and I went to a corner of the courtyard. He didn’t apologize or show any remorse; he just anxiously tried to shift all the blame onto Mi Duo.

It was Mi Duo who wavered him, Mi Duo who entangled him, Mi Duo who seduced him-he was passive and innocent.

He was truly anxious, and I was especially sick of this formulaic way of deflecting hatred and shirking responsibility.

Shameless and despicable. I cut him off.

“Enough. Whether she seduced you or you pursued her has nothing to do with you cheating on me behind my back. The hurt you caused me was your choice, and I will only retaliate against you. I know what you’re thinking. I’ll make it simple for you-I won’t reconcile.”

Li Bin was left speechless, almost having a heart attack. My merciless exposure ignited his anger, and he gritted his teeth and said:

“Chen Nuo, this is exactly what makes you so annoying. You’re too clear-headed. Did you ever really love me?”

“So now you want to blame your cheating on me being clear-headed enough?”

“I just feel like you never loved me.”

“Does your feeling matter?”

“Chen Nuo, do you really have to be so ruthless? I’ve been with you for five years.”

“Five years, and you didn’t hesitate for a second when you hit me. From the moment you slapped me, our relationship was over. You schemed against me, so naturally, I schemed against you.”

“What did I scheme against you? I just don’t love you anymore. If I don’t love you, we should break up. What did I do wrong?”

Li Bin shouted about not loving me, his words piercing straight to the heart-he never held back.

“You kept one foot in each boat, gave me false hope, and tied up my feelings.”

“You wanted to train me into a dog you could keep. When you hit me, that was the start of your testing. If I hadn’t fought back, you’d have sweet-talked me after, gotten my forgiveness, and from then on, I’d lose my boundaries and you’d lose your scruples. Li Bin, whether you’re wrong or not doesn’t matter, whether you admit it or not doesn’t matter-just accept the consequences.”

There’s no point in accusing him of his mistakes. I only need to point out the result.

I’m good at hitting where it hurts.

Li Bin’s face flushed instantly. “That’s just your imagination. Are you treating me like this because of your own paranoia?” His urgent voice, all bluster and no substance beneath the anger.

“Yeah, I treated you like this. Got a problem? If you do, you can kneel and say it.”

Li Bin: “…”

He lost his patience with my defiant attitude. He stopped arguing and directly threatened, “Chen Nuo, fighting means you’ll be detained too. Don’t think only my job will be affected. I hope you keep a clear head. If we’re breaking up, let’s do it properly. Don’t do something impulsive that we’ll both regret.”

“Whatever. Hesitating in the face of trouble only makes things worse. I have no interest in swallowing my pride. If you make things hard for me, you won’t have it easy either.” I’m already at my limit-why should I keep accommodating him?

From the moment I fought back, I was ready to accept the consequences.

Li Bin was shocked-he realized my stubbornness wasn’t an act.

He didn’t have the resolve to go head-to-head with me. After stiffening his neck for a while, he deflated: “I’m sorry, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have hit you. Give me another chance. I’ll pay your medical bills and lost wages.”

“Stop. You’re apologizing because you can’t control the situation anymore.”

If he’d been willing to break up in the normal way, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point.

He’s so anxious because he’s still hiding things from Sun Pan and the company. He thinks if he calms me down, it’ll all blow over. He has no idea that the day we left the Police Station, I posted on my Moments, visible to Bai Tao, to the subcontractors he once took kickbacks from, and to his competitors at work.

The road I paved for him is still ahead. Once he loses Sun Pan’s support, he’ll have to cough up the kickbacks he can’t handle, his authority will be stripped, Bai Tao will keep him in check, and he won’t be able to transfer even if he wants to. One criminal record isn’t enough to get him fired, but it’s enough to keep him down for life.

He’s miserable now, but he doesn’t know the worst is yet to come.

Everyone has to pay the price for their choices. I pay mine willingly; he pays his unwillingly. There’s no reconciliation. Everything goes by the book-three days for me, five for him.