CHAPTER 246: A HEART’S TRUE COMPASS

Xueru was a woman who was gentle on the outside but strong on the inside. She could quickly recover from setbacks, but he didn’t want her to get hurt, especially when the wound was inflicted by him.

Now, with Xiao Nian also in such a state, her heart was already frosted over. He couldn’t sprinkle more salt on her wounds.

"Tang Shuwen, say that again. What did you just say?" Zhao Yuning demanded loudly, her eyes filled with anger and hatred. She truly couldn’t believe that Tang Shuwen would ask her to abort the child.

Tang Shuwen looked at her calmly and said in a deep voice, "Get rid of the child!"

"You..." Zhao Yuning raised her hand to strike Tang Shuwen’s face, but he intercepted it midway. He tightly held her wrist. Zhao Yuning looked at him in shock, Tang Shuwen’s face as dark as water.

In the night, the two stood in cold confrontation, Zhao Yuning’s tears falling like rain, each drop a wound.

How could he be so cruel?

Tang Shuwen released her hand, his voice softening. "Yuning, let go."

"Shuwen, back in high school, when you pursued me, you said you would only love me for one lifetime, and you would never do anything to betray me." Zhao Yuning tried to use their past to hold onto his affection.

It had only been a short month, yet why had everything changed so much?

Tang Shuwen looked at the woman he once loved. "Before, I liked lilies, but now I like roses. Yuning, the me at seventeen or eighteen is different from the me now. You’ve been in America for seven years, and you’re no longer the girl I remember. We’ve both changed. It was just me stubbornly clinging to that past memory, stubbornly staying in the past, thinking I still loved you. But time has eroded the love in our memories, leaving nothing but unfamiliarity. Whether it’s you or me, we both feel like strangers to each other now.

This time, when you came back, I was willing to reconcile with you, not out of love, but because I wanted to hold onto the beauty of the past. Now I realize some things, once they’re over, they’re truly over.

Some people you let go of back then, you have to let go of for life. I hope you can understand, don’t waste your time on me. Regardless, you and I are no longer possible.

I hated Xueru initially, not just because of what happened in America, but more importantly, because I was so eager to marry you, to prove that the beauty of our past still existed, and she ruined it. It’s as if she destroyed a beautiful dream of mine. But now I have to thank Xueru, for if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t understand even now that some people in life are your lifelong companions, while others are just passersby. Gu Rui was Xueru’s passerby; I am Xueru’s life, just as you are my past, and she is my life."

He understood all these things from Xueru. She also taught him the meaning of a fleeting life and cherishing those in front of you.

He thought he would fall in love with Xueru, deeply in love.

Perhaps he already had, but he just didn’t realize it.

Regardless, he didn’t want to lose Xueru.

This feeling came suddenly, but it was also very real.

In that moment when he shielded Xiao Nian from the bullet, what he thought was that if Xiao Nian were gone, Xueru wouldn’t be able to live either. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Xiao Nian; rather, it was loving the house and its crow – because of Xueru, he adored Xiao Nian.

Though he always told himself it was because of Xiao Nian that he married Xueru.

"Your life..." She cried uncontrollably. Shuwen actually said Chen Xueru was his life, and she was just a passerby, merely a passerby. Zhao Yuning cried, "Tang Shuwen, you’ve changed your heart, but you’re finding such high-sounding reasons to convince me, to convince yourself. Just tell me directly that you’ve fallen in love with Chen Xueru, that you’ve changed your heart, and I’ll find it easier to accept."

Anything was better than him saying Chen Xueru was his life, words that cut her heart like a knife.

How unbearable.

Tang Shuwen frowned, then smiled again. "If you can truly accept it, I’d be more than happy. In that case, just consider that I’ve changed my heart. Yuning, I thank you for once giving me a very happy time, but for the rest of my life, I cannot accompany you. You are still young; go find a man suitable for you. Don’t waste your efforts on me; it’s not worth it."

Zhao Yuning looked at him with cold eyes, then gave a self-mocking smile. "Is that how you dismiss the woman who’s carrying your child?"

"Besides Xueru, I never intended for this accident to happen. As for you..." Tang Shuwen paused. Zhao Yuning’s face turned ashen. He smiled faintly and said, "Perhaps there really isn’t anything in this world that one can completely control. Accidents always happen, which is why life is so full of rights and wrongs, ups and downs."

"What if I insist on giving birth to this child?" Zhao Yuning asked in a deep voice.

In the night, Tang Shuwen’s face took on a hint of coldness, as if covered by a thin layer of ice, his gaze calm yet with a chilling undertone. Zhao Yuning had never seen this side of Tang Shuwen before and couldn’t help but feel a little afraid.

Tang Shuwen said, "Yuning, I only recognize Xiao Nian as my child. If you insist on giving birth to this child, I will only consider him non-existent. In the future, whether this child’s fate is good or bad, how he lives, will have no relation to me. Why do you insist on bringing suffering to the child? Have you thought about this child being born and facing disdain? You also said that the Zhao family is a respectable household. How will the child cope?"

"Now, you are the one forcing us, mother and child, into this situation. Tang Shuwen, don’t push all the responsibility onto me. Are you not at fault?" Zhao Yuning asked sharply. Tang Shuwen paused. Indeed, her accusation was very accurate. He was also at fault, at fault for being too confident and allowing this accident to happen.

However, aborting the child was the best solution.

A thought of Xueru’s words flashed through his mind: every child is a gift from God to their parents.

She was always so kind and wise.

A child is a gift from God. The mistakes committed by parents should not be borne by the child. If this child were truly born, it would impact both families, the Zhao family and the Tang family.

His future days would certainly be difficult, so, given that, why would he allow this child to be born?

"If you insist on giving birth, there’s nothing I can do. But, Yuning, are you sure you truly love this child? Perhaps the child is just a tool for you to achieve your goal. I don’t love this child, and you don’t love this child. If the parents don’t love him, what’s the point of him being born? I know asking you to abort the child is cruel to you, but what choice do you and I have?" Tang Shuwen said earnestly.

If he didn’t want this child to be born, he had many ways to get rid of it. The reason he patiently spoke with Zhao Yuning for so long was only to make her understand the implications.

Her deciding herself was much better than him forcing a decision.

"I must give birth to him," Zhao Yuning said in a deep voice, her eyes revealing a hint of hatred.

Tang Shuwen sighed. This consistently delicate woman had finally come to hate him.