‘Introduce yourself to strangers? Arranged marriage? What era is this? How can such things still happen?’
Jiang Lai’s heart tightened when she heard Shen Ruxue’s words, overwhelming shock and pity flooding her.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but her throat felt blocked, dry and unable to make a sound.
Shen Ruxue saw Jiang Lai’s flustered state and pressed her advantage. She trembled slightly, and large teardrops uncontrollably rolled down, splashing onto her hand, even raising tiny droplets.
Her breathing became rapid and erratic, occasionally letting out stifled sobs, fully displaying her pitiful appearance.
“They… they never once asked for my opinion and arbitrarily decided everything for me.”
Shen Ruxue choked up, her words broken.
“In their eyes, I’m just a tool, an object to be manipulated at will. I have almost no freedom…”
Her voice carried a crying tone, full of pain and despair. That trembling pitch gripped Jiang Lai’s heart like an invisible hand.
What Shen Ruxue was saying now was 30% truth and 70% lies. Only in that way could the lies seem more real. But to move Jiang Lai more effectively, she had indeed exaggerated a bit.
Even Shen Ruxue inwardly felt she was overacting when she finished.
After all, she had never pretended to be pitiful or put herself in a weak position. That was true now, and even more so before her rebirth.
When facing Jiang Lai, Shen Ruxue would always forcefully obtain what she wanted. But in the past, she had always controlled everything from a dominant position. Still, she knew that sometimes she needed to combine strength with softness; only then would feelings deepen.
She had also shown weakness and yielded appropriately before, but never like this, crying and feigning misery. This was the first time.
But what she said wasn’t entirely false. There were indeed people in the family who wanted to introduce her to others. If Jiang Lai investigated, she would naturally find out.
But even if she found out, so what? She had long decided not to follow those arrangements from the family. Now, she didn’t need to be restrained by so-called family authority. Her goal was to take control of the entire family’s management.
This wasn’t heartlessness. In this life, she only wanted to act according to her own wishes.
And Jiang Lai was hers; she had to have her.
Jiang Lai stared blankly at Shen Ruxue, her eyes full of helplessness. She had never seen Shen Ruxue so fragile and vulnerable.
The girl who had been bold, passionate, and even a little frightening to her before now looked like a wounded fawn, curling up in a corner to lick her wounds alone, her eyes full of fear and anxiety.
“How could this be… Ruxue, it’s okay. You can tell me anything.”
Jiang Lai murmured, reaching out unconsciously to gently pat Shen Ruxue’s back. Her movement was so soft, as if one wrong move would break the girl.
Finding an outlet for her emotions, Shen Ruxue cried even more sorrowfully.
Her body trembled violently, her arms hugging herself tightly as if to give herself warmth and security.
She repeated the same words while crying, her voice growing quieter:
“I don’t want to go… I really don’t want to go… I don’t want to go home…”
In the end, it became almost a silent murmur.
Jiang Lai’s eyes also reddened slightly. She looked at Shen Ruxue, her heart a mix of emotions.
She had originally come to draw a clear line with Shen Ruxue, but faced with her like this, those harsh words she had prepared couldn’t be said.
“Ruxue, don’t be afraid.”
Jiang Lai comforted softly, her voice full of tenderness and pity. She didn’t know why such things could still happen, but thinking about Shen Ruxue’s family, such coercive arrangements didn’t seem too strange.
Jiang Lai didn’t know much about Shen Ruxue’s family. Her only sources were fragments she had heard from Si Yina’s mother and Xu Ruobing.
Shen Ruxue’s family was not simple. Although she wasn’t at the core of power, she was still a member of the Shen family. In a place with such strict rules, many seemingly unreasonable things actually seemed “reasonable.”
Jiang Lai instinctively detested this kind of thing. Beyond disgust, the most important thing was that this practice completely ignored personal will. She couldn’t accept it.
Moreover, Shen Ruxue was crying so pitifully; she really felt for her.
Jiang Lai didn’t know why she suddenly had such emotions. But when she saw Shen Ruxue so sad, a strong protective urge surged from deep within her.
Perhaps it was also because Shen Ruxue was even younger than her own daughter; she couldn’t stand by and let this happen.
Sometimes being too soft-hearted wasn’t a good thing.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. No one can force you. If you really have nowhere to turn… I can protect you.”
Shen Ruxue raised her tear-streaked face, her eyes full of confusion and helplessness, looking at Jiang Lai.
Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, with tears still clinging to her lashes. She looked extremely pitiful.
“Really?”
Her voice trembled slightly, as if in hope, and as if she couldn’t believe it.
Jiang Lai nodded heavily, reaching out to gently wipe the tears from Shen Ruxue’s cheeks. When her fingers touched the warm tears, her tone became especially firm:
“Really. I promise you.”
As if at that moment, she had made up her mind to be Shen Ruxue’s shelter, to become her last support.
But after making the promise, Jiang Lai’s heart felt like an overturned spice rack, all kinds of flavors intermingling.
She couldn’t help asking herself—what was wrong with her?
She had always been troubled, even frightened, by Shen Ruxue’s boundary-crossing behaviors. But now, seeing her cry, she couldn’t bring herself to push her away, and even made such a promise.
Jiang Lai still remembered that Shen Ruxue had sneaked into her room at night. The warm breath and unguarded closeness had made her feel that her personal space was violated, and she had wanted to confront her, to tell her to stop doing such absurd things.
But now—
Looking at Shen Ruxue’s trembling shoulders and helpless eyes, those unpleasant memories seemed to be veiled by a thin mist.
What remained in her mind were only Shen Ruxue’s gentle but persistent gaze when she looked at her.
That gaze always followed her closely, leaving her no escape.
There was still a faint unease in her heart.
But when she met Shen Ruxue’s tearful eyes again, she eventually softened.