He wanted so badly to ask: Yu Wanwan, if it's just a contract, why explain? If it's just a transaction, why do you care if I misunderstand?
But he didn't. He only forced a single "Mm" from his throat.
He accepted her apology. And he accepted the boundary she had drawn once more.
—
Because of his parents' presence, the two were forced to continue the act of an "intimate couple" at home. After doing it so many times, Yu Wanwan sometimes couldn't tell if they were a real couple or a fake one.
On her birthday, the violent wind and rain had completely subsided, replaced by brilliant sunshine that seemed capable of healing all unhappiness.
As it was Yu Wanwan's first birthday as a member of the Zhang family, Yu Ruosu attached great importance to it, doing everything herself. She even made a cake for Yu Wanwan with her own hands. She invited everyone from the Yu family, marking the first formal meeting between the two families as in-laws.
The corners were piled high with birthday gifts from friends and brand partners. Knowing Yu Wanwan liked bags, Yu Ruosu splurged and gave her two limited-edition bags that were no longer in production.
The only regret was that her two best friends were still in the hospital.
In the afternoon, Yu Wanwan visited Mi Xiaonai in the hospital after her surgery, confirmed her wound was healing well, and then got into the car with Zhang Jingxu to head back.
On the way back, thinking of the ever-loving looks in his parents' eyes, she suddenly brought up a potential future problem with a worried expression: "What if we really get divorced in the future? After all, we're a 'contract couple'—that step will eventually come."
"I don't know," Zhang Jingxu said, concentrating on driving, but his tone was tinged with a hint of melancholy because of the question. He reminded her gently: "But our parents would be really sad."
Yes, Yu Wanwan lowered her head. If they got divorced, their parents would be the saddest.
After a moment of silence, Zhang Jingxu suddenly asked: "Why does 'contract couple' necessarily mean divorce? Can't we develop real feelings?"
"Of course not!" Yu Wanwan retorted firmly. "Our marriage has been based on a transaction from the very beginning. How can a purposeful marriage cultivate pure feelings? It's like a police officer falling in love with a drug dealer while undercover—totally unacceptable."
She turned to him: "Can you have some professional ethics? A transaction is a transaction. Why always think about things that aren't there?"
Zhang Jingxu gripped the steering wheel with both hands, a hint of irritation in his tone: "That's not the same thing at all."
"Not the same thing? Is it something different?"
She said it so casually, as if she had never taken the relationship that started as a "transaction" seriously. This made Zhang Jingxu feel increasingly uncomfortable, and he couldn't help saying: "From the start, only you treated this marriage as a transaction."
"What do you mean, only I treated this marriage as a transaction?" Yu Wanwan retorted indignantly. "I proposed the transaction. You, as Party B, both proposed conditions and agreed. Now how is it my sole responsibility?"
What did he mean? How unreasonable.
The red light came on, and the car slowly stopped at the intersection. The long wait felt like an ordeal.
"Yu Wanwan." Zhang Jingxu suddenly turned around, his gaze locking onto her, no longer hiding the pain and accusation in his eyes: "Since you accepted the meeting gifts from my parents, and you know how much they like you, why do you still bring up the hypothesis of a 'divorce'?"
His eyes churned with complex emotions—anger, hurt, and a profound helplessness: "Do you really think our relationship is a transaction that can be ended at any time? What about me? What about my parents? Are the emotions we invested just meant to be fooled by your acting?"
Yu Wanwan was pinned to her seat by his barrage of questions. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand—sour and swollen.
His words were like a precise dagger, cutting through the truth she had carefully wrapped with the word "contract," a truth she didn't want to dig into.
In her panic, for the first time, she lost her sharp tongue and became speechless.
In the silent stillness, Zhang Jingxu's voice suddenly turned cold, carrying a hint of despair: "Forget it. Just keep avoiding it. Keep avoiding it forever."
Hearing this, Yu Wanwan finally lost her temper. She tried to raise her volume to counter his attack: "What am I avoiding? I'm not the only one using acting to deceive your parents. You're an accomplice too. Don't put all the blame on me."
The more she said, the angrier she got. A nameless fire burned within her, mixed with the shame of being right. She looked down at the bracelet on her wrist. Knowing full well he didn't mean it that way, she still pulled off the warm imperial green jade bangle and shoved it into his hand: "And this bracelet—I never asked for it anyway. Since you brought it up today, I'll return it to you. Save you from always thinking I've taken advantage of you!"
Zhang Jingxu seemed drained of all strength. Instead of gripping it, he deliberately loosened his hold. The priceless jade bracelet slipped from his palm and fell with a dull thud onto the car mat.
Time seemed to stop for a second.
Yu Wanwan's face turned pale with fright. Almost without thinking, she bent down at an astonishing speed and scooped up the bracelet, clutching it tightly in her hand.
She carefully examined it all around, confirming it was intact both inside and out. Only then did her wildly beating heart settle down, replaced by even stronger anger and lingering fear: "Are you crazy?!"
She lifted her head, her eyes reddened from agitation, glaring at him as if she wanted to spit fire: "Zhang Jingxu! Do you have any idea how expensive this thing is?! What if it broke?!"
Zhang Jingxu watched her instinctive protective gesture. The pent-up pain in his chest strangely transformed into a cold sharpness.
The green light came on. He slowly turned back, gripped the steering wheel, and pressed the accelerator with terrifying steadiness. But his voice was softer and heavier than before, like a knife dipped in ice, scraping through the stagnant air between them: "Then it would be better if it broke."
He kept his eyes on the road, his profile taut: "If it broke, you'd owe me for the rest of your life. Then you wouldn't always think about when to return it to me."
Yu Wanwan was completely stunned.
She clutched the bracelet, which suddenly felt scalding to her touch. Listening to the desperate and sorrowful tone in his words, all the arguments, retorts, and words of disassociation she had prepared got stuck in her throat.
Only the low hum of the engine filled the car. The heat of their earlier argument plummeted to freezing point, but something deeper and heavier silently spread through the space.
She suddenly realized that maybe some things couldn't be settled by simply "returning" them.