Jiang Beihuai averted his face uneasily, put a cigarette between his lips, lowered his head slightly, and exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Choke, choke, choke." A puff of smoke happened to drift into Bai Wenxi's nose, and she couldn't help coughing several times.
Jiang Beihuai immediately reached out to crush out the cigarette butt. He seemed not to feel the pain as his long, fair fingers directly pressed on the glowing ember.
He put the barely smoked cigarette back into the pack and gave a shy smile. "Although it's been touched by my saliva, it can still be smoked. No need to waste it."
"Awen, even though you might not want to hear this from me, I want to tell you," he said. The bright moonlight fell from the sky, covering him in a faint silver mist.
Jiang Beihuai's already well - defined face became even more mysteriously handsome under the gentle night.
"If I only liked you when we first got married, now I love you deeply."
Bai Wenxi reclined the seat and casually propped her feet on the car door. "What kind of love? Love at first sight for this face?"
Jiang Beihuai was at a loss for words and couldn't find a retort for a moment. "It's not entirely that."
"Then you did fall in love with this face," Bai Wenxi said firmly, but without any annoyance. "It's normal. For a man and a woman who've never met before, they'll surely notice each other's appearance first."
Bai Wenxi then asked, "That night... why did you mistake me for someone else and end up with me?"
She was being discreet, but Jiang Beihuai quickly understood what she meant. "It was dark in the room, and you looked a lot like her. And it was my first time..."
Bai Wenxi double - checked. "Was that night just a coincidence? You entered the wrong room?"
Jiang Beihuai's thick eyelashes drooped, casting a shadow under his eyes. "It was just a coincidence."
"She's in the past. She dumped me before I returned to the Jiang family." Jiang Beihuai looked aggrieved, trying to show his vulnerability to gain his wife's sympathy.
"She dumped me just because I was poor, and it really broke my heart."
He rubbed his face with his hands and began to tell his story slowly.
"I never attended a noble school, and I never got any benefits from the Jiang family. I've always made a living with my own hands." He looked at Bai Wenxi tenderly and said, "When my mother got old and unattractive, was abandoned by her boss, and fell ill at home, it was me who worked outside to earn the medical expenses."
Hearing him calmly tell such a difficult past, Bai Wenxi's heart tightened, and she gently nestled her head in his arms.
"I didn't have many friends back then. Only the girl next door was willing to play with me."
Jiang Beihuai looked dejected, his face as cold as water. "A poor and aloof guy like me couldn't make friends, of course."
Bai Wenxi lowered her eyelids slightly, pursed her lips, and tried hard to suppress the sourness in her chest. "Beihuai, stop talking."
She stretched out her slender fingers to cover her husband's mouth. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you recall such sad memories."
Jiang Beihuai stroked his wife's hair, his eyes full of tenderness. "Awen, you're so kind. You don't need to say sorry to me."
"My life should be bitter first and then sweet. You know what happened next. I was recognized by the Jiang family, and now I'm living a life of luxury."
Bai Wenxi trembled slightly and asked the question that had been on her mind for a long time. "What about your mother?"
She didn't dare to ask in too much detail, afraid of touching Jiang Beihuai's taboo.
"She's dead. My mother has been dead for a long time," Jiang Beihuai said expressionlessly, as if talking about something that had nothing to do with him.
"She had an irregular lifestyle and liked to smoke and drink. Her living habits were so bad that she had many chronic diseases. Once her health deteriorated, it got worse quickly, and she passed away soon."
Jiang Beihuai suddenly grabbed Bai Wenxi's shoulders, his bright eyes staring straight into her heart. "I have to confess to you. I did kill someone."
"Beihuai?!" Bai Wenxi was shocked.
"But he didn't die. I was judged to be acting in self - defense."
Jiang Beihuai tried his best to explain, but he hung his head in self - abasement, afraid that this stain would become a barrier in his wife's heart.
"Those gossips weren't wrong." A crystal - clear teardrop fell on Bai Wenxi's face. She raised her head from her husband's arms and only saw Jiang Beihuai's tear - streaked chin.
"I stabbed him with a knife cruelly, several times." A string of teardrops fell like rain, instantly wetting Bai Wenxi's face.
"Stop talking, stop talking," Bai Wenxi hugged Jiang Beihuai tightly with all her might and pressed her face against his chest. Listening to his violently beating heart, she cried empathetically.
"I don't want you to misunderstand me. I'm not a bad person."
Jiang Beihuai's lower lip was bleeding from biting. He made a great determination to tell her everything.
"He was my high - school teacher. That night, I was sleeping in the dormitory with my upper body bare..."
He choked with sobs and couldn't continue. "He quietly sneaked in and grabbed my buttocks..."
"I'm sorry, Awen, I'm sorry! I didn't want to kill anyone."
"He was the person I respected the most. I regarded him as my father and confided all my troubles to him." Jiang Beihuai cried uncontrollably, his hair wet with sweat and sticking to his forehead in strands.
"I've never had a father since I was a child. He was nice to me. I just wanted to get fatherly love from him."
He grabbed the cross necklace on his chest and kept repenting. "I was so scared at that time. There was a fruit knife beside the table, and I just picked it up without thinking..."
"I made a mistake. I actually tried to kill my own teacher!"
This was the first time Bai Wenxi saw Jiang Beihuai in such a vulnerable and desolate state.
Before, he always seemed nonchalant and cold - hearted when facing the unfriendly looks from others.
But on this hazy night, he poured out the secret that had been weighing on his heart for a long time.
Looking at her sobbing husband, Bai Wenxi couldn't find the right words to comfort him.
These real sufferings had actually happened to him, shattering his hope for the light in human nature.
They also brought him a heavy burden, making him carry the stigma forever.
In fact, he was just a child trying to protect himself...
Bai Wenxi kissed his wet eyes. "Beihuai, stop talking. It's all over."
"Awen, I'm such a dirty and despicable person," Jiang Beihuai said worriedly. He was afraid that Wenxi would dislike the real him. "I'm like a rat that can't see the light, living in the dark sewer."
"I'm not worthy of you!" He tried hard to hold back his sobs, looking a bit sickly. "Don't leave me, okay?"
Drops of rain began to fall from the sky. They both looked up at the night sky at the same time.
"Beihuai, the hardships are over," Bai Wenxi looked at her husband and gave the most determined vow. "I'll always be your wife."
The sports car started slowly, and Jiang Beihuai's tense back finally relaxed. "Awen, thank you..."