Chapter Twenty-Three: I Don't Want to Leave

Shen Yanlie raised his hand above Mai Xijun’s head, feeling something inexplicably strange. He disliked trouble, abhorred entangling himself in any woman’s emotional past, and detested their tears most of all. The women who kept company with him were always brisk and efficient, their relationship strictly transactional. He would call them when he needed them; when he didn’t, he hoped they would vanish as far from his life as time allowed.

Now, he was hesitating, unsure whether he should lower his hand and gently pat her shoulder, offer her a few words of comfort, or simply turn away rationally and leave. Once upon a time, she would softly pat his back, quietly soothing him—even though she likely no longer remembered him. Back then, she was only twelve or thirteen, and ten years had passed since. If not for his faint recollection of those beautiful eyes, how could he have recognized her?

Yet, today’s scene mirrored that moment ten years ago. The shadow that had grown vague over time was slowly approaching him again, but now the person stood right before him, remembering nothing of their connection.

“Why does no one want me? Why does everyone leave me…” Her cries echoed relentlessly in his ears, the familiar voice, the familiar face, the familiar aura stirring his memories, even that night. But the girl in his memories never cried like this, never wept so heartbrokenly, so unrestrained and unabashedly as the woman before him.

Shen Yanlie felt he was losing his mind. All the clarity and rationality he had maintained for years was unraveling in this moment. She was driving him to madness—madness that made him want to ignore the entire world.

Mai Xijun endured the pain of her hair being yanked upward, her tear-stained face gazing dazedly at the man looming over her, shrouded in dark clouds. At this moment, it seemed all the pain and chaos of the outside world could not eclipse the hurt buried deep in her heart. It was a wound that could not be covered, tears pouring like blood, her eyes swollen and red, her throat convulsing as she choked back sobs.

This scene tightened Shen Yanlie’s throat, and he felt himself sinking step by step. He grabbed her shoulder, his thumb pressing into her collarbone—cold meeting hot, either you devour me or I destroy you…

The man’s slender frame seemed to contain endless strength, effortlessly trapping the delicate woman in his arms as he kissed her lips, biting and devouring her like a madman.

“Mmm—let me go… let me go!” Mai Xijun’s face was awash in t