After Trying To Pursue The Cold, Elegant Beauty. I Ended Up Being Flirted With Instead - Chapter 52.1

In the stairwell, the color drained from Pei Xiubai’s face at a visible speed.

All the recent joy and anticipation instantly turned into icy shards, stabbing into her heart.

The heaviness made it difficult for her to breathe.

No, it’s not like that.

She opened her mouth, her voice dry, like sandpaper rubbing, “I’m not…”

“You don’t have to admit it,” Wen Zhu’s voice was very light, “but we are truly over.”

“Thank you for helping yesterday. But this is where it ends. We can’t go back.”

After saying that, she didn’t want any further entanglement, turning to pull open the heavy fire door.

A slight “creak” sound, particularly jarring in the empty stairwell.

Pei Xiubai panicked.

She felt like her soul was being crushed only one thought remained in her head.

She couldn’t let Qingqing go.

If she let her leave today, nothing would ever go back to how it was.

Pei Xiubai practically lunged, gripping Wen Zhu’s wrist tightly.

Her eyes were fiercely red, her voice carrying a plea she hadn’t even noticed.

“Qingqing, it’s impossible to end it! It can never end between us!”

“I did things that upset you. I can apologize, I can change!”

Seeing that Wen Zhu remained unmoved, Pei Xiubai completely panicked, throwing out the bargaining chip that had always worked for her like a final, desperate gamble:

“You haven’t repaid the kindness you owe the Pei family. Don’t think you can leave so easily!”

Kindness?

Wen Zhu looked down at the wrist, reddened by Pei Xiubai’s grip, then looked up at Pei Xiubai, her eyes full of mockery.

Even if she no longer loved her, she still felt wronged, still felt resentment.

“Yes, I do owe the Pei family quite a bit of kindness.”

“But haven’t I done enough for the Pei family and for you all these years? I worked for you at Yu pei. How many orders did I sign for you? If not billions, then hundreds of millions, right?”

Wen Zhu stared at her, every word spoken as if using all her strength.

“Just because the Pei family pitied me back then and gave me a few scraps like a dog, do I have to sell myself here for a lifetime, never being able to lift my head up?”

The words “like a dog” severely stung Pei Xiubai.

It was just that her friend had said those words about Wen Zhu once. Did she have to hold onto it to this extent and retaliate with such words now?

She frowned tightly, her face full of hurt and anger.

“You don’t need to speak so harshly, saying ‘given you a few scraps like a dog’? Wasn’t my mother good to you?”

Pei Xiubai’s voice also became cold, demanding, “Didn’t you say it yourself? You said you were very happy at the Pei family!”

“I was happy?”

Wen Zhu laughed.

The laughter was soft but like an ice-tempered knife, echoing in the dead silence of the stairwell, cutting into Pei Xiubai’s heart and making her flustered.

“Pei Xiubai,” Wen Zhu felt like a complete idiot, but there was someone even more foolish than her, “do you truly believe your mother was good to me?”

“Have you ever been to my room?”

“Do you know how empty that room of mine was, besides the bed and closet?”

“Do you know the look of disgust your mother gave me every time I came home?”

Wen Zhu’s voice began to tremble.

Not out of fear, but because those long-suppressed memories were now rushing up, tearing at her nerves.

“During the days I lived at the Pei house, I really wanted to crumple myself up like a piece of paper and throw myself into the trash can, so your mother wouldn’t feel I was contaminating the Pei family’s floor.”

There was a time when she even started to genuinely doubt herself.

Was she really that dirty, that unbearable?

Wen Zhu clenched her fists, “I’ve had enough of those days when everyone looked down on me. I never want to go back.”

“I wasn’t the one desperately clinging to stay at the Pei family. Why did everyone have to look down on me?”

“I said I was happy because I didn’t want you to worry, didn’t want to affect your relationship with your mother!”

She didn’t want to cry.

But the thought that she had considered Pei Xiubai’s feelings for so many years, swallowing so much bitterness so as not to worry her.

And the other person knew nothing at all.

This showed that Pei Xiubai had never truly put her feelings into consideration from the beginning to the end.

People don’t just break suddenly.

The clues were all hidden in the subtle details, she had just been blinded before.

Wen Zhu took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging emotions in her chest.

“I like my life now.”

Her voice returned to calm, a calmness that was almost indifferent.

“After leaving Yu pei, I no longer have to worry about anyone’s expression.”

“I can walk with my head held high, I can make noise when I walk, and I don’t have to wake up in a fright whenever I hear footsteps outside, afraid someone will rush in and kick me out.”

“Before, I liked you, so I could tolerate those judgmental looks, I could tolerate your mother’s nitpicking and cold eyes.”

Wen Zhu looked at Pei Xiubai’s instantly pale face, pulling a slight smile.

Pei Xiubai’s heart sank abruptly, as if gripped tightly by an invisible hand, making even breathing difficult.

She anticipated what Wen Zhu was about to say next words she could not bear under any circumstances.

She reached out, wanting to cover Wen Zhu’s mouth, wanting to plead with her to stop.

But it was too late.

“But I don’t like you anymore.”

Wen Zhu opened her lips, her tone cruel, yet carrying a hint of satisfaction.

“Pei Xiubai, did you hear me clearly?”

“I don’t like you anymore.”