Chapter 959: Heartbroken

"Ah!"

The sound of a painful cry tore the air as Gu Lingsha fell to the ground in a sorry manner. Fiery pain radiated from her wrist and instantly made her tear up. She bit her lip and looked down to see a bruise forming on her fair arm. Bleeding slightly, her arm looked a little sinister underneath the porch light.

Gu Lingsha did not dwell too long on the pain. She glanced up with hurt in her eyes and silently looked at Qi Lei before her. She could not help but start tearing up.

Qi Lei did not expect to accidentally hurt her too, so he stopped walking and peered down at her, his gaze as indifferent as still water.

"How could you have the heart to treat me like this now?" She clasped both hands together, her blue eyes sparkling with concealed vulnerability as she stared at Qi Lei.

Qi Lei did not say anything. He lowered his gaze and fell silent for a moment, then he suddenly turned to walk into his house. "Don't come looking for me. Let's give each other some fond memories to keep. I told you, I've always made a clear distinction between friend and foe," he said and then he took a step into his house.

"You're lying! It's because of Xi Xiaye, isn't it? Is it because of her? Do you think I don't know that after you left the Qi residence that night, you went to look for her, didn't you?" Gu Lingsha finally could not help but shout heartbrokenly toward Qi Lei's back.

Upon hearing that, Qi Lei instantly frowned. He stopped walking and turned towards her. "What do you mean?"

Gu Lingsha's disappointed little face became extremely gloomy. She quickly took out two pictures from her bag and tossed them to Qi Lei. "What do I mean? What are these then?! What are these? You're lying! You clearly fancy this woman! Lei, don't be silly, alright? She's Mu Yuchen's woman!"

Qi Lei took the photos from her to study, then his handsome face instantly clouded over!

It was from that night after he left the Qi residence and bumped into Xi Xiaye on the bridge. It was a picture of the two of them sitting in the car!

Qi Lei's eyes turned frigid as he gave Gu Lingsha a stern look before asking in a hostile manner, "You got someone to follow me?"

"It was just an unexpected picture. Don't you feel like you should say something?" Gu Lingsha took a deep breath and looked up at him. For a moment, she forgot to get up.

Qi Lei could not help but laugh bitterly. His gaze at Gu Lingsha was becoming more and more distant. In the depths of his eyes, even more unspoken gloominess settled.

He looked down at the pictures again, then he tore them up calmly before tossing the shreds at Gu Lingsha. His tone was as cold as ice. "Didn't the people who followed me that night tell you that I also had a drink with Mu Yuchen, Su Chen, Zhou Zimo, and the rest for the entire night and that we only left at midnight?"

When she heard that, Gu Lingsha's eyes darkened while a smile flashed at the corner of Qi Lei's mouth. You could not hear any emotions from his tone as he continued, "Shasha, once some things have changed, they can't go back to the way they were. You keep saying that I've changed when actually, we both have. I hope to still protect our childhood and our most precious memories. Can you at least let me have this?"

Then, before Gu Lingsha could answer, his tall figure quickly vanished through the door.

Bam!

The loud crash of the door closing shook like a heavy hammer that fell onto Gu Lingsha's heart. Stunned, her whole body went rigid, then her expression suddenly turned pale. She seemed to be able to hear her heart shatter as the tears that welled up in her eyes suddenly poured out.

She did not know how long she had sat on the ground with a hand covering her mouth as she felt depressed, but finally, she took a deep breath and held back the pain in her chest. Getting up, she looked tearfully at the tightly shut door, then quietly left.

At this moment, on the second-floor balcony, Qi Lei was in a corner in the darkness, watching with a sharp gaze as Gu Lingsha gradually moved further away. For a while, there were mixed emotions in his eyes. He could not control the feelings within him as something surged up his chest.

To say that he was not sad in the least would be a lie. For a long decade or two, many of his memories had Gu Lingsha. In his younger days, she had a place that could not be erased.

Only now, Qi Lei truly understood that great friends or those who loved and cared for you would eventually leave one day. You never knew when these people or things would fade or disappear, so the only thing you could do was to just appreciate the present.

The past should be left for the memories, and the future left for hope. That was all you could do.

He quietly watched that figure gradually be swallowed by the twilight. After a while, he took out a cigarette box and slid a stick out to leisurely light it up. Amidst the smoke, he suddenly smiled. Although he was not sure where the smile originated from, he felt a slight chill in his heart.

That smile was naturally a lonely one. When he looked up into the faraway sky and saw the crescent moon hanging there, there was frustration in his eyes that had never been revealed more clearly than it did at that moment.

He inhaled a few puffs before turning around to go back in.

The night was as cool as water, and it was getting late. Xi Xiaye was about to walk over to pull the curtains close with her recently dried hair when a light suddenly shone from the balcony outside, and she vaguely heard him talking.

He was probably talking to someone on the phone, so Xi Xiaye did not continue listening. She turned around to return to her bedroom and silently lay down in bed. Just when she pulled the blanket up, the phone on her bedside table buzzed, so she quickly picked it up.

Su Nan's voice came through immediately. "Xiaye, it's me. Are you not asleep yet?"

Her voice was slightly raspy and there were also some light coughs being held back. Xi Xiaye frowned upon hearing this. She responded, "Not yet. What's wrong? If you're unwell, you should go see the doctor. Take good care of yourself."

Usually, whenever Su Nan was a little sick, Ruan Heng would very delicately take care of her because she was quite clueless about many of such things, but now that Ruan Heng was in that condition...

"Don't worry. It's just a cold and I've taken my medicine." Su Nan laughed and Xi Xiaye could hear that gratitude in her voice. "Actually, I've been wanting to call you to chat, but it got a little busy once we got here. There's the time difference too, so I've been delayed."

When Xi Xiaye heard her explanation, she immediately chuckled. "Since when have you become so courteous with me? What do you want to talk about? I'll talk to you tonight."