315— Shut Up For Me And Listen!

"Are you considering going back to him?"

Pei Yueran: "...."

Their conversation was so startling that she didn't even have time to entertain the shock of the night before. Now another bombshell was dropping from an unexpected place.

While she fought to make sense of his words, Li Chuanmo was still speaking, "I know I should let you go—it would be the right thing—"

"Chuan, what are you talking about? Let me—" She tried to explain, taking her face away from his shoulder.

Li Chuanmo cut her off again, still immersed in self-pity and sorrow, "—but I've thought about it over and over, and I can't."

"Chuan—"

"I can't Ran'er. Without you, I can't imagine living—"

"Chuanmo, you don't understand, let me—"

"—life. How would I function? Ran'er —"

Exasperated, Pei Yueran pushed at his chest and said firmly, "Li Chuanmo, shut up for me and listen!"

Her tone effectively snapped him out of his melancholy.

Pei Yueran adjusted herself on the bed, and Li Chuanmo helped her to put pillows behind to support her back. As she moved, the arm that had the IV needle stuck in it until early that morning hurt, and she winced.

God knew she was so tired of these hospital visits. After this ordeal, she planned never to stay overnight in a hospital again.

Turning her attention back to him, she asked,

"Who told you all this nonsense? Why would I be considering going back to him? And why would you letting me go—whatever put that in your head—be the right thing to do?"

Li Chuanmo was taken aback, "But, but didn't you say he is your first love?"

"So?" Pei Yueran asked back tiredly.

"I heard first loves are always the strongest."

Pei Yueran was almost rendered speechless at this reasoning. "So, you have a white moonlight in your heart? One that you've been unable to forget all these while?"

"No, what moonlight? I only have you in my heart." Li Chuanmo swore with a straight face.

"If you were in my shoes, where your beloved wife that was dead suddenly appeared in front of you, would you leave me just like that?"

"I won't. Actually, I can't. I now know that I can't live without you. The prospect of a future without you seems so bleak and terrifying." Li Chuanmo actually shuddered.

"So you can't live without me, but you believe that I can live without you?" Pei Yueran asked with as much patience as she could muster in order for him to see reason.

Li Chuanmo paused, hope sparking to life in his eyes. Then he remembered something else and the spark died, "But we're different. Besides, both of you have Yichen between you. That bond is not easy to break."

Pei Yueran felt like throwing reason out the window into the Atlantic Ocean and instead shaking the man in front of her, but she didn't have the energy. So she resorted to more talking.

"Li Chuanmo, are you listening to me at all? I said love you. It's true that Han Lei is Xiao Chen's father, but you're his father too. Besides, I doubt that he needs a father like that. I wonder how he would feel when he hears this." Her voice was low, tinged with real sadness.

Caressing her arm, Li Chuanmo said, "Don't stress about that, we'll take things as they come. Yichen is a very mature young man, he'll understand. We'll also be there to talk him through things."

Pei Yueran nodded, "See what I mean?"

Li Chuanmo was suitably confused, "What?"

"You're steady and dependable, and you love us so much. How can I leave you?"

Li Chuanmo didn't know what to say, but his eyes softened.

"So stop saying nonsense and allow me process the ramifications of what happened last night. Lei is alive? Then why? Why did he make me believe he....died? I really don't understand."

Her hurt and confused voice made him hurt as well. Li Chuanmo tightened his hold over her, and she leaned on him again.

"Just rest your head, don't worry about anything. Be sure though, that none of this is your fault and therefore, it is not up to you to fix." He definitely wasn't going to make excuses for his rival.

Even when he was being at his most rational, he would have thought a man like Han Lei was the stupidest person on earth, talk more of now that he didn't even want to think rationally at all. He wasn't a saint in the first place.

Pei Yueran nodded with her eyes closed, and

both of them fell silent.

Pei Yueran was thinking that she needed to meet with him. No matter what, she deserved an explanation from him.

On the other hand, Li Chuanmo's thoughts were consumed with the notion that he had to properly teach this Han Lei a memorable lesson for making his sweetheart sad.

His wife would probably not recognize him if she could read his current thoughts. They were dark and terrifying.

*****

Qiao Mingran showed up at the hospital thirty minutes later, in spite of Gao Tinghua telling her that Pei Yueran was fine and would soon be discharged. She came with Zhou Qiaohui, who was equally worried.

Both women could not sit still, much less sleep all night and as soon as the sun rose, they hurried to the hospital.

Li Chuanmo had calmed down by now, and anyway, he couldn't be rude under Pei Yueran's watchful eyes, so the nurse that came by shortly after their talk witnessed a different person.

He wasn't smiling or anything, but he looked more approachable, unlike the person that wanted to kill people with his laser gaze the day before.

He greeted Qiao Mingran and Zhou Qiaohui when they came in and brought seats over for them. Zhou Qiaohui almost hurried over to Pei Yueran's side, but she held back on hearing Qiao Mingran's emotional call of "Yue'er".

Pei Yueran sat up again to greet her guests. She said nothing when Qiao Mingran took her hands, but answered all her questions patiently.

"I'm so sorry Yue'er. It's all my fault. I should never have insisted on holding this banquet after knowing how dangerous it would be. Now you're injured."

"I'm fine, really. It's not your fault. I wanted to hold this banquet, and I'm really not as injured as you think," Pei Yueran explained patiently.

It was true. Although she didn't know about the threat earlier, she still wanted to go afterwards.

Infact, she was the one that enthusiastically came up with the plan of the waiter pouring stuff on them and badgered Li Chuanmo until he agreed.

The whole point was to provide an opportunity for them to be alone and vulnerable, giving the mysterious organization a chance to act.

It was just that Madam Jiu coming along and her mother leaving the hall were variables that they weren't expecting.

As for her supposed injuries, they were only bruises. They looked scary, but would heal well and fade without leaving scars.