My Alleged Husband

Chapter 256 - 236 Volcanic Eruption_1

Watching the girl he loved walk away from him, step by step, was such a painful thing for him. Why had things turned out this way? He was becoming more and more unwilling to accept it. Hadn’t he put in all that effort for a reason? Wasn’t this the day he’d been waiting for? But why had things reached this point where he could no longer control the situation? In his heart, he blamed it all on his mother, pushing all the faults onto her. He rushed home, kicked open the front door, and saw his mother sitting on the sofa. His anger was palpable as he stormed up to her.

"Why did you do this? How did she wrong you? It was I who didn’t let you return to the Zhang family, not her. She tried to persuade me over and over. Why can’t you see any good in her through your eyes? Are you satisfied now? She’s been in the hospital for three whole months, and today, the day she was discharged, today, she wants to break up with me. Are you happy now? Why can’t you ever consider my happiness?" Yichen shouted at Xia Jing.

Xia Jing never expected to be yelled at by the son she had carried for ten excruciating months over a woman. She couldn’t tolerate this happening to her, and she yelled back at her son, "Do you even consider me your elder? I am your mother. No matter how much I’ve wronged you, in terms of kinship, I will always be your elder. Is this how you speak to your elder?"

Yichen found it a bit funny. Was this his elder? Was this his mother? Why were her actions always so calculating and ruthless?

"Mother? Can you honestly say that you have even an ounce of a mother’s touch in you? Is this how you treat your son? Treating his lifelong happiness as a trifling matter, placing your interests far above your own son. Is this your way of being a mother? You abandoned me, and I could bear it. In fact, I don’t want to keep bringing up the fact that you abandoned me, but it’s a reality that can’t be changed, you know? How much I wish I could call you ’mom.’ How much I wish we could live happily together as a family. How much I hope that on every New Year or festival, my parents could be with me. But how did you treat me? Over these past years, every New Year when everyone was joyfully having a reunion dinner, I only had Grandpa. I had no idea where in the world my parents were wandering; all I knew was that they had heartlessly abandoned me here to enjoy their own free world. When traditional festivals came around, how much I wished my mom and dad could wish me a happy holiday, but the outcome was always heartbreaking. You never wished me happiness. On my birthdays, how much I anticipated my mom and dad appearing like a birthday present from heaven, standing before me and saying, ’Child, you’ve suffered,’ but none of this ever happened. In my ten-plus birthdays, you never spent a single day by my side!"

"Now it seems like all you see is your girlfriend, right? I don’t matter to you as your mother, correct? Do you know what she’s been saying about me behind my back? The rumors and gossip are everywhere, and it’s all my fault. Didn’t I already apologize to her? What more does she want? Does she think she can force me with these tactics? Do you think that works? I wasn’t raised to be intimidated, none of these tactics can pose a threat to me. I’m not afraid of her threats, but what I do fear are backstabbers. Does she know how much her words have damaged my reputation?" Xia Jing said to Yichen.

Zhang Yichen was a bit bewildered. He didn’t understand what his mother meant by that. Could there really be someone stabbing him in the back? He didn’t believe what his mother was saying. He wished she could produce some evidence to prove her words were true, not fictitious.

"One must have evidence in everything they say or do. You have no proof, so what makes you think it was Zihan who did these things? And since you claim there are rumors, please could you present the evidence of these rumors to me? Why is it that only you have heard them and I know nothing?"

Xia Jing had anticipated her son’s response and came prepared. She pulled a document from her drawer and threw it in front of Zhang Yichen. He picked up the document and glanced at it. It was indeed full of gossip, but he couldn’t believe that it was all done by the person he loved. He knew he was a forthright person who would never do such despicable and shameless things behind someone’s back.

"There is no mention of who released this on the document. How can you accuse Zihan? This document only proves that there is gossip, not that she was behind it. You still don’t have solid evidence to prove that all this was her handiwork. I hope you find more reliable evidence. Until then, don’t come to me with this. I won’t believe it. In my heart, your trustworthiness pales in comparison to hers. I will believe whatever she says, but not you. From the beginning, you have been a liar. Your words don’t give me a shred of reliance, let alone any sense of security. For someone who lacks a sense of security, do you think your actions make her feel safe?" Zhang Yichen retorted to Xia Jing.

"Since you’ve made your stance clear today, let me make myself very clear as well. I have to admit, I admire her a lot. Under those circumstances, she still chose to plead for me, to forgive me, which touched me deeply. However, I don’t want anyone who chooses to stab me in the back after forgiving me. I could never accept such a person. If it weren’t for the rumors, I might have already let you two be together. To me, nothing is more important than the happiness of my son, but nothing should harm my personal reputation either. I don’t want to investigate who started spreading the rumors, because I believe there is no smoke without fire. If the concerned party didn’t spread the details, others wouldn’t know them so thoroughly."

"Even so, you still have no proof, and you can’t smear her reputation like this. You know how important one’s reputation is to them. Even you, a mercenary, care so much about your own field, so don’t easily damage others’ reputations. There’s no benefit for you, and it’s an even greater harm to her. I hope you will think carefully before acting each time, not just thinking about your benefits, but considering others’ lives as well. People don’t deceive you; they choose to forgive you time and again because they regard you as family and don’t want you to suffer like her. Can’t you put yourself in her shoes and consider her feelings? She’s human too, with a soul. When her parents hurt, she hurts. Just as when I hurt, you hurt. That pain can’t be conveyed to others; it has to be swallowed down into one’s own stomach. You know that kind of pain, how desperate it must be. Please don’t let your future daughter-in-law suffer that pain again. If something like this happens again, don’t blame me for not cherishing our past friendship..."