Qin Tingxue looked at Gu Changwei with a calm expression.
Gu Changwei's eyes darted away, as his current state was truly unsightly.
"We are no longer related, so Lord Gu, please have some self-respect," Qin Tingxue said, enunciating each word.
Do not bother me again.
Gu Changwei scrambled up in a sorry state. He looked at Qin Tingxue with what he thought was a deeply affectionate gaze, "A Xue, I was wrong before. From now on, I will treat you with my whole heart."
Gu Changwei believed that Qin Tingxue's words were a tactic of playing hard to get.
She merely wanted him to invest more effort in her.
"I'm serious. From now on, I will not only treat you well, but I will also treat A Nian well. In the future, I will devote myself entirely to you both," Gu Changwei continued.
"Furthermore, the Gu family will still be inherited by A Nian. A Nian will be the head of the family."
"Don't worry, even if Si Ya returns in the future, she won't compare to A Nian."
"In short, I keep my word."
Qin Tingxue sneered.
"Do you think these words will move me? And that I will go back to the Gu family with you without any reservations?"
"Gu Changwei, once a heart grows cold, it is very difficult to warm it up again."
"You know in your heart what you have done to me and A Nian over the years. Do you think I will overlook it, or that A Nian will?"
"Those were my mistakes. I know now, and I will correct them," Gu Changwei defended himself.
"If it weren't for Gu Si Ya's accident, if it weren't for the failure of your schemes, would you have remembered me, or A Nian?" Qin Tingxue questioned him word by word.
Gu Changwei looked somewhat embarrassed.
"You have to give me a chance to make amends..."
"A leopard cannot change its spots," the First Madam of the Qin family said leisurely.
Gu Changwei felt awkward and couldn't argue with the First Madam.
"In short, A Xue, let's reconcile," Gu Changwei said loudly.
Xie Chen arrived just in time to hear this.
He instinctively looked at Qin Tingxue, feeling an inexplicable nervousness.
"If Lord Gu hasn't woken up yet, please go back and sleep. What nonsense are you spouting here?" Qin Tingxue said. "You disturb others' peace and annoy them."
Gu Changwei's confident expression froze on his face.
He seemed unable to understand why Qin Tingxue would say such things. Wasn't he sincere enough?
Even playing hard to get had its limits.
At this moment, Gu Changwei hadn't noticed Xie Chen's arrival.
"A Xue, I'm not joking with you, nor am I dreaming," Gu Changwei said.
"Then Lord Gu is having a delusion in broad daylight?" Xie Chen's voice, laced with mockery, rang out.
Gu Changwei stiffened all over.
"So, you are rejecting me now because of Xie Chen?" Gu Changwei asked Qin Tingxue persistently, without looking at Xie Chen.
His expression was somewhat angry, as if Qin Tingxue had done something wrong by him.
"I find it strange, where is this anger of yours coming from?" Xie Chen walked forward and stood beside Qin Tingxue.
"You and Tingxue are divorced. Men marry and women wed; you are no longer connected."
"What is the meaning of you coming here to express your feelings now?"
"Are you deliberately trying to tarnish Tingxue's reputation?"
Xie Chen questioned him sentence by sentence.
Gu Changwei ignored Xie Chen's words; he knew he couldn't win an argument against Xie Chen.
He stared intently at Qin Tingxue, "A Xue, I want an answer from you."
"So what if I am?"
Gu Changwei and Xie Chen froze simultaneously.
After the moment of stunned silence, Xie Chen was ecstatic.
Gu Changwei, however, was as if his parents had died.
After a long while, he stammered, "You, you, you—"
The First Madam of the Qin family spoke at the opportune moment, "My mother has already stated that we will choose an auspicious day to have Xiao Xue betrothed to Master Xie."