Chapter 536: His Hardened Heart
The snowstorm in the afternoon picked up, and the surroundings were whited out into a blur. Snow built up on the dead branches which gradually creaked and snapped under the weight of the additional snowflakes piling up on them.
The snowflakes fell onto the ground.
As the snow landed on the woman’s head, she felt a physical and emotional cold run through her.
Meng Lianying’s tears were about to become frozen in her eyes. She wore thick clothes and her face was terrifyingly pale with a desperation that nobody could bear to see. Her hands, without gloves, turned blue-black from the cold that she did not seem to feel. She looked at the man before her, with tears in her eyes, hoping that he could give her a warm hug or a warm gaze that would keep the cold away from her.
It was a shame none of what she hoped for happened. His heart was hardened – or to put it differently, he ought to have treated her as such.
“Ye, please, don’t leave me. I can’t live without you.” Meng Lianying’s eyes were filled with tears as she shuddered uncontrollably in the chilling wind. She reached out and wanted to hold his arm, but saw his cold gaze and stopped mid-way. With her hand in the midst of a chilling wind, it was almost frozen stiff. Her heart grew colder with each moment, and she even felt her blood freeze over.
Did he learn everything?
If not, why was he so harsh towards her? Mo Ye had never looked at her this harshly as his beautiful eyes seemed calm yet chilling like the surrounding winter. She was afraid and in a panic about what she ought to do.
Mo Ye coldly looked at her kind and lively face with a cold gaze. He remembered her to be an extremely lively and resilient girl who would endure the unbearable pain from the viral relapse. When he comforted her, she would hold his hand and tell him that all was fine and she made it through it all alive. She was a quick learner who was willing to try everything.
Mo Jue once said that she was an extremely good-looking, brilliant, gentle and delicately beautiful woman… She did not seem like an operative, but more like somebody who was well-taken care of and innocent. He once thought that Meng Lianying was a good lady.
Sometime back, he was in negotiations at a casino and in danger. She, disregarding the danger to herself, came and wanted to go through thick and thin with him and the two of them fought their way out. She never, in spite of whatever danger he was in, never abandoned him. She never objected to what he did and always supported him.
He could not see the slightest hypocrisy in Meng Lianying those years back.
She was true, at least until Eleven appeared. She was pure in intention towards him, and she knew that she did not have much time left. She was not despondent, and wanted to fully grasp each day. Mo Ye tried hard to find somebody to save her, but she was willing to resign her to fate and had no regrets so that he would not overextend himself. She did not have much longer to live, and even refused his hand in marriage lest he hurt her too deeply.
He, with her by his side for five years, could feel her sincerity, dependence and trust towards him. There were a few times she had aroused his suspicion, and he had tried to probe her. Her coherent responses and lively face made him wonder if he had been overly suspicious and ought not to have suspected her.
Little did he expect Meng Lianying to deceive him in such a manner for five years!
Was she an A-class actor or sincere? Perhaps both, but that was no longer important. The regret and damage were done, and there was nothing else that could be said.
She indeed had the virus on her, and she did not have him use Eleven as a guinea pig for the virus. She never even mentioned Eleven, and he knew about how unique Eleven was. He could not blame Meng Lianying for this thought.
He single-handedly caused Eleven harm. It was his own undoing, and he really ought not to blame Meng Lianying.
The only frustrating thing was how she had deceived him into recognizing the wrong person. She kept him in the dark all these five years, and this caused him to miss Eleven for five years… That was his biggest regret.
He came to Russia to investigate in detail what happened back then. The deeper he delved into it, the more terrifying it became as truth by truth surfaced. He felt manipulated and fooled for all these five years.
He utterly treasured and doted on a woman after his life and utterly hurt the woman he liked. An utter regret was an understatement of how he felt.
He, in that moment, really wished that he – instead of Eleven, was the person jabbed with all those viruses and spare Eleven from the nightmare she was in AND truly experience his own cruelty.
He hated himself even more.
In the past few days, he became Anthony and returned to where he was five years ago. He stood outside the little black hut and saw her standing still as the cold wind blew on her. His heart utterly ached.
He deeply knew that she hated him. She said she came here to remember something – it was to actually remember a romance that died.
He seemed to have fallen into an extremely deep abyss.
He, after very much effort, made a little progress at having her drop her defenses slightly so that she would slightly fancy him. He was utterly ecstatic and happy at his progress that he wanted these days to last and be free from anyone else’s sabotage.
As he saw Meng Lianying again, her deceiving him was not as important. He was even more concerned about Eleven.
“Meng Lianying, do you still think that I will allow you to remain by my side?” Mo Ye coldly looked at her with a calm glare that did not seem like hatred. His gaze, with his slight smile, was vicious.
Her body violently shuddered as her tears fell. While she somewhat guessed that he already knew it all, she was still as shocked to hear him say it in person. As she struggled to accept what he said, her heart ached to the point she could not breathe as she violently trembled as though she was about to fall onto the snow.
“You know it all, you know it all…” Her tears flowed down like a string of broken pearls that evaporated with the wind. She felt a chill in her bones.
It was utterly heartrending.
Mo Ye ignored her pain and anguish. He coldly squinted and said, “Go away. I do not want to see you anymore.”
She was sincere towards him those five years and did not harm. While he did not have romantic feelings for her, he treated like her like kin for those five years and did not want to lay a finger on her. If somebody else had dared to deceive him in the same manner as her, said person would have been wiped off the face of the earth long ago.
Apart from that reason, he had a second consideration – Eleven’s body… Eleven’s body could require Meng Lianying’s antidote, and she might be able to retrieve the antidote if she returned to the Organization she once belonged to.
If it weren’t for this important reason, he would not make things easy for her if he did not kill her.
His forgiveness for Meng Lianying ended here.
“Ye, no. I do not believe that you did not truly love me in these five years,” Meng Lianying held his hand tightly. “Even if I didn’t save you back then, I followed you AND loved you these five years. It wasn’t anybody else Ye, just me. You can’t just be this cold towards me.”
Mo Ye coldly smiled and looked at Meng Lianying with dangerously squinted eyes. “Do you think I, if it weren’t for these five years, would have spared you? Meng Lianying, you were the person who caused me to be blind and the person who shot me. If it weren’t for what you did, I would not have ended up in that predicament. You’ve been with me for five years, and did you see me spare anybody who had harmed me?”
Meng Lianying was in shock and her face turned pale as she loosened her grip on Mo Ye’s hand and could not help but back off as though she was gravely affected. How could it be? How could it be? How could he have learnt everything?
How could he have been able to learn that? Clearly, nobody else knew!
Meng Lianying was in such a panic she was unable to control her emotions. While she wanted to refute him, she was unable to speak. Since he was speaking the truth this certainly, he must have been clear of everything and there was no refuting that.
She really hated…
How did he manage to learn all of that? All that she was afraid of happened.
“It was unintentional…” Meng Lianying cried. “I am an operative with orders to follow. If I knew that I would fall in love with you, I would have never shot you or poisoned you at all.”
“No, I should thank you,” Mo Ye plainly said as he was unmoved by her tears. “If it weren’t for you poisoning me, Eleven and I wouldn’t have crossed paths our whole lives.”
Meng Lianying was doubly affected. The sum of all the previous hurts were not as piercing as this statement that chiseled itself into her heart.
Mo Ye, how could you be this cruel?
She long knew that he was a vicious person, but he was never harsh towards her. Once his harshness landed on her, it agonized her even more than killing her outright…
“You are extremely cruel…” Meng Lianying cried pitifully at how cruel he became.
Mo Ye secretly smiled in his heart. She would not be able to guess what was on his mind.
“Go, I do not want to see you,” Mo Ye coldly said as he raised his wrist and saw the time. He did not want to tangle with her anymore and head back to prepare dinner for Eleven.
As her dream for five years shattered, Meng Lianying felt tears blur her vision as she lost the desire and will to live. Now that he was about to leave her, how would she live on? How would she live on?
“Mo Ye, do you really… not feel a tinge of sadness?”
“No!” he instead felt a sigh of relief as Mo Ye was typically vicious. He frowned and said, “Meng Lianying, we ought not to have crossed paths. We’ve made a mistake here five years ago, so let’s set things straight and go our separate ways.”
All these thankfully did not occur too late. As long as they were still alive, everything was still timely.
“I was wrong…” She smiled in sorrow. “All that I’ve put in all these five years have culminated in these three words: I was wrong… You are mean! Even though I could not face up to you back then, surely these five years have been more than enough time for me to repay you. WHY are you still so mean towards me?”
“Meng Lianying, do not forget that you caused all these single handedly and don’t blame others for it. I, after all, am telling the truth,” Mo Ye flatly said. “You asked for what you created.”
He said that statement to both Meng Lianying and himself. While what happened was of his own undoing, he hoped Eleven would give him a chance to start anew.
“This is all your own undoing, hehe…” Meng Lianying laughed as tears fell down her cheek. “So I was the idiot who waited for nothing for five years!”
Mo Ye frowned.
Meng Lianying wiped her tears away, and her gaze became vicious. “Did you try to shake me off because you fell in love with Eleven?”
Mo Ye coldly smiled. He had never seen such a Meng Lianying before. While she looked lively, she was not the same person anymore. Her liveliness and gentleness were gone and were replaced with a viciousness and grudge that were unique to operatives.
She perfectly concealed that side of her all these five years, and he had no chance to see it.
Mo Ye coldly smiled. “I liked her from the beginning.”
What was five years ago is still so five years later.
She was never Meng Lianying.
“You…” Meng Lianying’s voice was trapped in her throat and she took a while to recover. “It’s impossible between you and her. Given her character and how you have hurt her, you won’t be able to get her to turn back. Mo Ye, you…”
“That’s my problem, and it has nothing to do with you.” Mo Ye interrupted Meng Lianying’s words as he looked at her coldly. “I have nothing to do with you from this point onwards.”
Meng Lianying gritted her teeth and looked at him despondently. “Mo Ye, I just want to hear one thing from you. Did you, even for one single second, love me in the past five years?”
She seemed like a gambler who was giving it her all.
Mo Ye’s gaze grew cold and he flatly said, “No!”
The fortress in Meng Lianying’s heart instantly collapsed. While she clearly heard her heart break, she broke into a maniacal laughter. “Very well, very well, very well… Mo Ye… Your heart is a heart of steel.”
Mo Ye stopped looking at her and turned to walk away.
Mo Ye, you will regret this!” Meng Lianying screamed through gritted teeth. While Mo Ye could clearly hear her in the snowstorm, he was not deterred and did not seem to care about her threat.
Regret…
He was beyond remorse, and there was nothing else who could make him regret himself even further.
Tears freely flew down Meng Lianying’s face as a handsome man slowly walked close with a gentle laughter. “My dear lady, why are you crying? You ought to have known by now that I am the only person who treats you the best in the whole world.”
Meng Lianying continued crying and ignored him.
As the man gently hugged her, Meng Lianying struggled free from him and coldly asked, “Is Eleven on top too?” with a sinister and aggressive glare.
…
Mo Ye returned to the hill. As Eleven was still sleeping sweetly, he leant down and kissed her on her lips. Before he could dust away the snow on her nape, Eleven suddenly jolted awake in shock…
Mo Ye gently smiled and pinched her nose. “You sure slept very well.”
“I’m back,” she turned back to look at the time and was slightly amazed. “You went shopping for this long?”
“Yes, so you have to satisfy me the next time you know? If not, I’ll freeze to death someday,” Mo Ye laughed as he replied. Eleven was slightly blushing. That idiot!
Her alertness was deteriorating to the point she did not even know he entered. Was she too relaxed, and hence unguarded against him? If it were somebody else, she would have lost her life.
“Little Seven, let’s cook together.”