"Please, wait here. I’ll get the prisoner for the meeting."
Leaving Jie in a meeting room, the police officer went inside to get Zhou Ning. He had to wait for a while before Zhou Ning was brought inside the room clad in grey prison clothes. The police officer undid her handcuffs before giving them a moment to talk.
"I didn’t expect to see you here," Zhou Ning stated while taking a seat before him. "Why? Are you here to condemn me? Go on with it. Let’s get over it."
Jie stayed quiet for a while just staring at her face. As if trying to look for something.
"Actually, I have a question for you," Jie spoke with a heavy heart since he wasn’t used to seeing her in a haggard look. She looked tired, sleep deprived, pale and very old.
"A question? What is it?" She asked.
"I met Lu Yuhan." Zhou Ning gave him a startled look before composing herself.
"What about it?"
"She said you blackmailed her back then and that’s why she left me." Seeing that Zhou Ning wasn’t planning on saying anything on her own, he continued, "Can you tell me why you pushed her away from my life?"
"Because I wanted to. I didn’t like seeing you happy at all." Zhou Ning answered in a sharp tone.
"Is that so? I don’t believe you." Jie stated calmly.
"That’s up to you."
"Can’t you be honest with me for once? At least for the sake of respect that I gave you all these years." His words managed to shook Zhou Ning’s resolve.
"I told you from the very beginning that I don’t like that girl."
"But why?"
Zhou Ning snickered. "Perhaps I saw myself in her and that made me hate her even more. She was after your status rather than you. So, I threw her out of your life."
"You chose Xu Mey. Then why did you turn against her later on?"
"If Lu Yuhan was not a simple character than neither is your current wife. She is also calculative, scheming and pretentious. I didn’t want such a life partner for you. If she was an innocent girl, I’d have no problem with her. And from what I learned about her, I didn’t want her to hurt you."
"For someone who hates me, you really care too much about my well being." Jie sneered contemptuously.
Zhou Ning stared at him for a moment longer before speaking, "I have never hated you, Jie." Jie was shell-shocked as his eyes widened dramatically. "The only person I hated in my life is your mother, He Susu. I know she tried to be nice to me but she was naive. Her kindness made me feel inferior beyond redemption. It was her compassion that threw me over the edge and I became vicious."
"She is a good person. That’s why she tried to help you." Jie took his mother’s side.
"Yeah. She is a good person but sometimes our kindness can become someone’s bane in life as well. Your mother’s goodness became my bane. The way people looked at me made me hate myself. They thought I was pitiful who needed their charity and help. And just because I took the charity of He Susu, do you know how many boys came to offer me money? But all of them wanted me to warm their bed." Jie kept staring at her face without moving or saying anything. He didn’t have words.
"Just like kindness took my pride and self-respect from me. I wanted to snatch something from her in return as well. But your dad pushed me away. I guess that’s when I really started hating her." With a long sigh, she went on, "But you... I have never hated you. I treated you differently but that’s because you were a sensible child. You didn’t like attention. You were my crime and redemption. How could I hate you?"
He was lost for words for a long time. He thought jealousy was the reason behind him losing his identity but no. It was, in fact, his mother’s kindness that turned out to be torture for someone else. He didn’t think his mother was wrong for being a good person. But was he supposed to really hate Zhou Ning? After all, the woman had really protected him all these years.
He stood up and gave a deep bow as he said, "I apologize on my mother’s behalf. Not because she was wrong. But because she couldn’t protect your innocence or self-respect. I am really sorry."
He was turning to leave when he saw Zhou Ning fidgeting as if she had something to say.
"Do you want to say something?" He asked.
"Forget it. It’s nothing." In the end, she decided not to say it.
Jie thought for a moment before saying, "I’ll ask Jun to come for a visit."
Zhou Ning looked at him with a surprised look on her face. Fighting the tears in her eyes, she said, "Thank you. And I’m sorry for taking your chance to grow up as Young Master Zhu Jie."
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