Chapter 177 - 176: Sorry

Talents like these, provided they possessed good character, could easily be recruited to serve the country.

However, the underworld would always remain the underworld. The capable figures and righteous martial artists of this world could never be fully controlled by the state.

This time, the Tiger Brothers had taken on a freelance gig. Xu Meng, the eldest daughter of the Xu Family in Jingcheng, had offered three hundred million to capture Lin Aoxue. Her demand was simple: apprehend Lin Aoxue within three days and deliver her to Jingcheng. Seeing that Lin Aoxue came from an ordinary background and had no powerful backing, the brothers accepted the mission without hesitation.

Nowadays, money was hard to come by. Three hundred million for a woman’s life—they truly couldn’t fathom the mindset of the rich. As for why Xu Meng wanted Lin Aoxue captured, that was entirely outside the Tiger Brothers’ scope of concern. As professional assassins, they were only responsible for killing or kidnapping; they never questioned their employers’ motives.

After shaking off the Land Rover, Lin Aoxue went to a congee shop to buy food for Ye Xuan. Meanwhile, Yang Bingyu knocked on the door of Ye Xuan’s hospital room.

"Bingyu..."

Ye Xuan looked at Yang Bingyu standing in the doorway. His eyes flickered, at a loss for words for a moment.

Yang Bingyu stood frozen for a few seconds. Her head was bowed, and her hands nervously clutched the hem of her shirt.

"Does your... arm still hurt?" she finally asked in a small voice after a long hesitation.

"Why are you just standing there? Come and sit."

Ye Xuan didn’t answer her question. Instead, he waved her over, gesturing for her to come inside and sit down. Yang Bingyu fidgeted for a moment before finally walking over to him.

Following her suicide attempt, Yang Bingyu had gained a new perspective on many things. The death of Yang Zhennan and her accidental miscarriage had always been insurmountable hurdles weighing on her heart. After losing the baby, she had suffered from countless sleepless nights. She felt as if the torment of these two tragedies was driving her completely mad. Her manic episodes had eventually worsened into severe depression, leaving her gloomy and despondent all day long. Her physical health had also taken a sharp dive, severely impacting her overall well-being. Unable to endure such a miserable existence any longer, the thought of taking her own life had taken root.

What she hadn’t expected, however, was that Ye Xuan would jump down right after her. Furthermore, even as they plummeted, he hadn’t forgotten to protect her.

Her heart, originally numb from the pain, suddenly felt a renewed ache. She admitted to herself that she regretted her actions. If given the choice to do it all over again, she absolutely wouldn’t have done something as foolish as attempting suicide by jumping off a building.

"How are you doing? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?" Ye Xuan asked with concern, looking at the awkward and uneasy Yang Bingyu sitting beside him.

Hearing this, Yang Bingyu gently shook her head.

"I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me." After saying this, she slowly raised her head, looked directly into Ye Xuan’s eyes, and continued. "I’m sorry. I was too willful this time."

From the moment Ye Xuan was wheeled into the emergency room up until she knocked on his door, Yang Bingyu had thought about a great many things. Although some events had occurred because of Ye Xuan’s influence, none of it was truly his fault. After divorcing Lin Aoxue back then, he could have easily returned to Jingcheng and reclaimed his lofty position as the Cyan Dragon Chief. Yet, to protect her and to fulfill his past promise, Ye Xuan chose to stay in Jianghai City. Moreover, he had swallowed his pride to become her personal bodyguard.

Truthfully, Yang Bingyu should have been thanking Ye Xuan instead of blaming him for everything. That one simple phrase—"I’m sorry"—was something she should have said a long time ago.

"Silly girl, what do you have to be sorry about to me? These minor injuries are nothing. Don’t worry about it."

For a moment, Ye Xuan didn’t grasp the true depth of her apology, assuming she was just feeling guilty about his injuries from the fall.

Hearing Ye Xuan speak in such a gentle tone, Yang Bingyu felt an even sharper pang of self-reproach and sorrow. She wondered why she had repeatedly hurled such hurtful words at a man who was so gentle and treated her so well. How was she, at that time, any different from the old Lin Aoxue?

"Ye Xuan, you know I’m not just talking about this one incident.

"I was too capricious in the past. I said a lot of hurtful things to you and did many things that made you feel awkward and uncomfortable.

"For all of that, I am truly sorry."

Hearing this, Ye Xuan was stunned for a moment before a faint smile graced his lips.

"I have never blamed you. On the contrary, I feel incredibly guilty and full of self-blame toward you.

"Actually, what you said wasn’t wrong. Many of the things you went through happened because of me.

"If I had chosen to protect you from the shadows back then instead of staying by your side as a personal bodyguard, a lot of these things wouldn’t have happened. But I didn’t think it through thoroughly.

"I promised your brother that I would take good care of you, yet I failed to do so, and even caused you to suffer deeper pain.

"So, the one who should be saying ’I’m sorry’ is actually me."

Ye Xuan’s original intention in saying these things was to comfort Yang Bingyu. Who would have thought that his words would instantly reduce her to tears?

"Bingyu, please don’t cry. Did I say something wrong?"

Looking at her crying a river of tears, Ye Xuan was momentarily at a loss for what to do. It was truly baffling how a woman’s tears could fall so readily. No wonder people said that women were creatures made of water.

Yang Bingyu sobbed for a short while before finally stopping her tears.

"Ye Xuan, give our baby a name. Even though he is gone, he was still our child. I don’t want him to not even have a name."

At the mention of the child, another wave of pain washed over Yang Bingyu’s heart. If only she had listened to Ye Xuan back then and calmed down, she wouldn’t have lost the baby to a miscarriage caused by her extreme emotional distress. Therefore, she couldn’t blame anyone else for this tragedy; it was her own lack of qualification to be a mother.

"Alright. I’ll tell you once I’ve thought of a good one."

The loss of the child was actually a deep scar in Ye Xuan’s heart as well. Losing the baby was just as painful for him. However, as a man, he couldn’t easily show his inner anguish. The pain he had to bear in silence was far greater than what a woman endured.

"I heard that you and Lin Aoxue are returning to Jingcheng? Is that true?"

After another stretch of silence, Yang Bingyu finally mustered the courage to ask the question that had been lingering in her mind.

Yang Bingyu had accidentally overheard White Snake and Yu Ling talking about Ye Xuan and Lin Aoxue heading to Jingcheng. If it had been the past, Yang Bingyu would have absolutely lost her mind upon learning that Ye Xuan was leaving Jianghai City with someone else.

But now, she felt none of those manic impulses.