She acted as if nothing had happened. "I have hands and feet, can’t I pour it myself? Why should I call you? It’s the middle of the night. Don’t you need to sleep?"

He couldn’t bear it anymore. "Yan Xixi, what’s the point of this? Are you punishing me? Are you going to keep blaming me?"

She was baffled. "What does this have to do with you? Why would I punish you?"

The anger finally erupted in his chest. "Yan Xixi, do you think I’m unaware? You’ve always blamed me. Take your IV drip, for instance. I wanted to take you to the hospital in the morning, but you absolutely refused. You waited until noon, by which time it had become serious, and then you went alone. When I called you, you had the audacity to say you were at home. What’s the point of lying like this? You didn’t even say a word when you had an allergic reaction and nearly died. What do you mean by this? Have you been holding a grudge against me all this time?"

She remained silent.

"Even if you’re holding a grudge, don’t gamble with your life. Doing this only makes me think you’re being affected."

"That’s right, I am very affected..."

Interrupting him, she replied with surprising coldness, "But does my being affected bother you? Haven’t you always encouraged me to be independent? Didn’t you warn me not to have the delicate constitution of a young mistress if I’m fated to be a servant? Can’t I just rely on myself and not ask for your help?"

He was momentarily struck speechless, his breathing growing heavy. "You know very well that’s not what I intended. I had no other choice back then..." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"I didn’t blame you either."

"You’re not blaming me? If you weren’t blaming me, would you have this attitude today?"

She sneered. "What kind of attitude am I showing? Mr. Wan, why don’t you tell me what kind of attitude *would* satisfy you?"

"Yan Xixi, you’re utterly unreasonable."

Anger finally surged within him.

"How am I unreasonable?" she retorted. "Did my solitary trip to the hospital inconvenience you in any way? I didn’t ask you to take me."

He said nothing, and she pressed on, "You’re right, and so is Empress Dowager Liu. I’m not qualified to be a mere ornament. Is going for an IV drip on my own such a big deal? Millions of single women working out there, when they get sick, don’t they go to the hospital alone? Do you think everyone who gets sick has a large entourage to attend to them? If you don’t have that kind of fate, don’t put on such airs! My going for an IV drip myself didn’t inconvenience you in any way, did it?"

His face turned beet-red, experiencing true fury for the first time.

"Yan Xixi, you’ve truly disappointed me."

The simmering fury in her chest finally ignited. "Disappointed? What right do you have to be disappointed? Do you think I haven’t been disappointed? Do you think I’ve always had complete faith in you? You always appear when you want to and disappear when you want to. And me? I can only wait obediently at home for you, like a pet you own. When you’re happy, you don’t mind spoiling me rotten. When you’re unhappy, you just kick me aside, refuse to see me, and cut off all contact. And what have you been lecturing me about all this time? Not to be coddled, not to enjoy the comforts of a young mistress before I’ve even become one...

"Yes, I did disappoint you. It’s because I’m not as capable as you, nor as adaptable. You can love when you want and stop loving when you don’t. I also haven’t received that kind of training, to control my emotions with such ease. It’s true. I was like a petty person who achieved sudden success back then, mistakenly thinking that being pampered meant it would last a lifetime. But then you suddenly vanished, and I panicked. Do you know what price I’ve had to pay? Being threatened daily by Yang Wei, nearly disfigured by Wang Xiaohao... Wan Donglin, where were you then? Was I supposed to wait for you? If I didn’t become independent, was I supposed to wait for you to descend from the sky and save me?"

Good times are always fleeting. What a person fears most isn’t the constant uphill struggle, but being suddenly thrown down from the very peak. Once you’ve been hurt by the fall, you learn to be wiser.

His breathing was ragged. "Xixi, you know I’ve always felt very guilty about this..."

"What do you have to be guilty about? Didn’t you also send people to protect me? What’s the point of saying that now?"

He fell silent.