Chapter 21: Chapter 21: I Do Not Accept Your Apology

Lu Xiao, of course, knew what he was saying. He just didn’t like the phrase Su Tang was always repeating.

In their marital relationship, she merely treated him as a temporary partner to get through life with.

For the duration of their marriage, he was to fulfill his duties as a husband.

And once he was no longer needed, they would go their separate ways.

Lu Xiao hated this feeling, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint the source of his aversion.

He just didn’t like it.

“The pot’s boiling over.”

Su Tang froze for a second before blurting this out and turning to flee.

A smile graced Lu Xiao’s face as he watched her flee in a panic.

It was always Su Tang teasing him; he never got a chance to tease her.

Today, he’d finally evened the score.

At dinner that evening, Su Tang was uncharacteristically silent. It was all Lu Xiao’s fault for his bizarre declaration of loyalty.

It made things so awkward between them now.

Lu Xiao, perfectly unruffled, wasn’t affected at all. In fact, he used the chili sauce Su Tang had made to eat two bowls of noodles.

Before bed, Su Tang skipped her usual habit of reading and went straight to sleep.

’If I have to face Lu Xiao with the lights on, I’ll die of embarrassment.’

’Damn it! The image I worked so hard to build was shattered by a single sentence from him.’

Lu Xiao looked at Su Tang’s back, the smile on his face growing wider.

’He’d thought Su Tang was so tough, but it turns out she’s just a paper tiger.’

「The next day.」

When Lu Xiao got up, Su Tang was still fast asleep.

She was a quiet and neat sleeper, never kicking off the blankets at night.

The curtains blocked most of the morning sun, allowing only a few scattered rays of light to fall across her face.

Lu Xiao could even see the fine, downy hair on her face, illuminated by the light.

Her long, curled lashes fluttered. He quickly averted his gaze, threw on his clothes, and fled the room.

Su Tang stretched and slowly opened her eyes.

’That’s weird. Why did it feel like someone was staring at me just now?’

She turned to look at the space beside her, but Lu Xiao was long gone.

The quilt was folded into a perfect square, and the spot where he had slept was free of even a single crease.

’So disciplined. Way too disciplined.’

Su Tang sat up, got dressed, and went to wash up, planning to head to the hospital later to check on things.

When she left yesterday, the hospital director had told her to come back today if she had time.

’It’s either another interview or they’ll just give me the results.’

Either way, she had to make the trip.

But before she could leave for the hospital, trouble found its way to her doorstep.

Hu Lili walked into the courtyard looking haggard. Before Su Tang could even speak, she dropped to her knees.

It startled Su Tang so much she looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“What are you doing?”

“Su Tang, I’m sorry. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching, and I want to apologize for what I did.”

The moment Hu Lili knelt, neighbors from all corners, eager for a spectacle, started to gather.

Su Tang glanced at the crowd of onlookers and went to pull Hu Lili up.

“I don’t accept your apology. I don’t need it, either.”

The bad blood between them had already been established; there was no way a simple apology could fix things.

And Su Tang had no intention of ever being friends with Hu Lili.

“Su Tang, you’re still angry with me, aren’t you?”

“I really know I was wrong.”

With that, Hu Lili grit her teeth and tried to kneel again.

Su Tang held on to her, refusing to let her kneel.

’All this kneeling… Soon, my reputation is going to be ruined again.’

’I worked so hard to get people to see me in a better light. I can’t let her ruin it now.’

“Hu Lili, what are you doing? Are you trying to give Su Tang a bad name?”

“Zhang Cui, why are you defending Su Tang so much? Lili is already apologizing like this, and she still won’t accept it. Does she think she’s some kind of goddess?”

Zhang Cui, who had rushed over in a panic, saw the scene unfold and went to help Su Tang pull on Hu Lili.

But unexpectedly, others who heard Zhang Cui began to speak up for Hu Lili.

With Zhang Cui and Su Tang both holding her arms, Hu Lili’s second attempt to kneel failed.

Her body went stiff, her face grew even paler, and tears streamed down like pearls from a broken string. Her voice, thick with sobs, sounded all the more wretched.

“Su Tang, please… I… if I leave the residential compound, I have nowhere else to go! I lost my job, my reputation is ruined… Please, be the bigger person and give me a chance to survive…”

Her deliberately loud pleas reached the ears of every single bystander.

The murmuring from the crowd grew louder.

Sympathy for the underdog is human nature, and Hu Lili’s desperate, cornered act successfully stirred the emotions of a portion of the crowd.

“Sigh, the poor thing…”

“Yeah, Su Tang, she’s already in this state. You should forgive and forget.”

“She’s a young woman. What’s she going to do if she really gets kicked out?”

“Exactly. Burning your things was wrong, but she paid for them and admitted her mistake. What more do you want?”

“Just what you’d expect from a young lady from Shanghai. So cold-hearted…”

These comments pricked at Su Tang like tiny needles.

She frowned deeply, not out of hesitation, but out of sheer annoyance.

Hu Lili had precisely targeted her weak spot, using public opinion to destroy her reputation.

The image Su Tang had so carefully maintained was about to be torn apart by Hu Lili playing the victim.

Zhang Cui’s face flushed with anger as she yelled at the people taking Hu Lili’s side.

“What do you know! It’s easy for you to talk when it’s not your problem! Her, pitiful? Why didn’t she pity Su Tang when she was burning her medicinal herbs? Those herbs were priceless! She nearly got Su Tang into serious trouble!”

“And now you’re all falling for her sob story?”

“If she were truly sorry, couldn’t she have apologized in private? Why does she have to block the doorway and kneel in front of everyone? What kind of game is she playing?”

Zhang Cui’s words were powerful and convincing, silencing some of the murmurs, but they also stirred up resentment in others.

“Zhang Cui, that’s harsh. Look at the state Lili is in…”

“Exactly! Everyone makes mistakes. Is it right to show no mercy?”

The scene reached a stalemate. It was a classic “he said, she said” situation. Su Tang hadn’t even joined the argument, but the two factions were already at each other’s throats.

Hidden in the crook of her arm, the corner of Hu Lili’s mouth curled into a nearly imperceptible smirk.

This was exactly the effect she wanted. As long as the public pressure was strong enough, Su Tang would have to save face, grit her teeth, and forgive her, letting her stay.

Su Tang took a deep breath and let go of Hu Lili’s arm.

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the din with exceptional clarity.

“Hu Lili, listen carefully.”

Everyone fell silent, their eyes fixed on Su Tang.

She stood ramrod straight, her gaze clear. There was no anger, no trace of feeling wronged.

There was only a calm that seemed to see through everything, tinged with an almost unnoticeable trace of pity.

“I’m not accepting your apology. It’s not because I’m hard-hearted, but because I can see you aren’t truly sorry.”

“You’re kneeling here, crying your heart out, not because you feel you did anything wrong, but because you’re afraid of being kicked out of the residential compound, afraid of losing this relatively secure home.”

Su Tang’s words were like a surgeon’s scalpel, precisely dissecting the true motives beneath Hu Lili’s elaborate performance.

“And whether or not I accept your apology is my choice. No one can guilt-trip me into it.”

“Just as Lu Xiao said, if that fire had spread to the house that day, you would have burned more than just my medicinal herbs.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep