hotmtlnovel Chapter 148: I will beat you to death
Chapter 148: I will beat you to death
Chapter 148: I will beat you to death
The concept of "ex-girlfriend" was one that Wang Zijun could talk about endlessly. From high school to university, from class belles to delinquent students—he had stories for days.
For Qin Hao, however, it was a different matter entirely. Even after three tries, you couldn’t get a single word out of him. His life revolved around wearing a uniform and catching criminals; girlfriends weren’t even on his radar. He lacked such worldly desires.
Xu Qing, on the other hand, was a normal guy—at least normal enough to employ plenty of flirtatious tactics. He managed to charm Jiang He so thoroughly that her cheeks turned red and her heart raced, shifting her from "pure as the driven snow" to questioning her own innocence. She was well aware of Xu Qing’s ulterior motives, but she couldn’t help watching to see what he would do next, quietly waiting for his performance.
“Uh...girlfriend?” Xu Qing pocketed his phone, thought for a moment, and corrected himself. “That’s an ex-girlfriend.”
“Ex-girlfriend? So I’m the...post-girlfriend?”
“There’s no before or after—you’re the current girlfriend,” Xu Qing said.
Jiang He fiddled with her bag, running her fingers down the chain strap from her shoulder. She mulled over the word "current" in "current girlfriend." “And what does that mean?”
“It means...” Xu Qing trailed off. What did it mean?
Jiang He wasn’t looking for a reason to get upset. That kind of self-inflicted frustration wasn’t her style.
“Why didn’t you marry her?” Jiang He asked.
“Why would we get married?”
“Isn’t a girlfriend someone you’re supposed to marry?”
“Well...a relationship can end. When you’re young, it’s often just hormones. Once you’re together, you might realize you’re incompatible, so you break up. That’s dating—it’s far from marriage.”@@@@
Xu Qing walked leisurely along the road as he explained. “Dating is a trial-and-error process. If you find it’s not working, you break up quickly so no one’s time is wasted. Otherwise, rushing into marriage without knowing each other well could ruin your life. Imagine spending the rest of your life with someone you don’t even like—it’s a miserable thought.”
“Break up?” Jiang He murmured, stunned. She thought for a moment before asking, “Does breaking up mean there’s no connection between you anymore?”
“Of course. Once you break up, it’s over.”
Hearing this, Jiang He felt a faint irritation. From Xu Qing’s tone, breaking up seemed like a normal, commonplace event.
If two people broke up and never saw or contacted each other again...how was that any different from her vanishing into thin air?
No, it was worse. At least if she disappeared, he wouldn’t be with someone else. But if they broke up, he might treat another girl well, kiss another girl, and hold another girl’s hand...
Xu Qing stopped by the roadside as an empty taxi approached. After a moment’s thought, he decided against flagging it down. Instead, he led Jiang He to stand beneath a nearby tree, the streetlights casting a warm glow over them.
“Our relationship is...unusual. It exists in the gap between two eras. There’s no point in overexplaining it now. You’ll gradually adapt to modern life and may even change your views—like accepting the idea of breaking up. I’m not saying I’ll break up with you; I mean you might.”
He paused, then continued. “Right now, our arrangement is that I’ve taken you in and given you a safe space to learn and grow. Once you’re independent, you’ll have the freedom to choose—to stay or to leave. If you choose to leave, I won’t stop you.”
“Let me go?” Jiang He froze.
“Yes. Right now, I see you as someone from the past, but one day, I’ll treat you as an equal in this era. As for our relationship, if you choose to leave, it’ll mean our bond wasn’t strong enough to last. Forcing you to stay wouldn’t make sense—that’s the modern way of thinking.
"Right now, I’m pursuing you because you’re still adapting. When you look back someday, you’ll see that I wasn’t entirely innocent—that I took advantage of your naivety.”
Jiang He frowned. “That sounds really shady. Are you taking advantage of me?”
“Yes.” Xu Qing nodded earnestly. “In the future, when you reflect on my behavior, you’ll realize I was scheming all along, manipulating you while you were still figuring things out.”
Jiang He didn’t understand what "manipulating" meant, but she glanced at their joined hands and squeezed his again, slightly harder.
This guy was openly admitting to deceiving her, and yet he was completely unapologetic about it...
“You’re a bad person,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, well, so are you. You showed up with blood on your sword that day.”
“Hmph.”
Neither of them were saints...
But so what?
Jiang He pursed her lips, glanced around, and then, taking advantage of the night’s cover, stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
“Your ex probably broke up with you because she couldn’t beat you. If you dare break up with me...” She wiped her lips and raised her fist, cracking her knuckles loudly.
“I’ll really kill you.”
They had kissed and hugged already. If he dared to run, he’d have to face the consequences.