Chapter Forty-Five: The Bottom Line

"Is he doing well?"
Duman's voice seemed squeezed from her throat.
"What?"
Chen Rong hadn't heard clearly. She glanced at Duman and asked, "What did you say?"
"I said, he..."
"Oh, him? He's doing great. He started a big company over there. I saw him once at a reunion with some classmates from the south. By the way, he specifically asked about you."
"He? Asked about me?"
Duman was surprised.
After all, she had been the one who rejected Bai Siyuan back then.
"Yes, he can't forget you!"
A faint blush crept over Duman's face.
At that time, she and Bai Siyuan had been the golden couple of Donghai High School.
Xu Fei hadn't even crossed her mind.
Later, due to Bai Siyuan's family circumstances, she had been forced to give up that relationship.
In truth, thinking back now,
If Bai Siyuan hadn't gone to study out of province—
If she hadn't listened so blindly to her mother—
Perhaps the man beside her now really would have been named Bai.
"What are you thinking about?"
Chen Rong's words startled Duman out of her reverie.
"No, nothing."
Chen Rong burst out laughing. "Let me tell you, Bai Siyuan is even more handsome now. If I were better off myself, I'd really want to pursue him."
She glanced at Duman after speaking.
"You two... It's such a pity."
Chen Rong shook her head.
"It's impossible now."
"Who says it's impossible?"
Chen Rong looked at Duman in surprise. "Why are you so stubborn? Xu Fei—he's nothing. I heard he's a gambler, owes a lot of money, and works as a laborer hauling sacks at the sugar factory. You're the heiress of the Du family. Are you really going to spend your life with a man like that?"
Duman smiled faintly at Chen Rong's indignant expression. "Xu Fei's not as bad as you make him out to be."
"Not as bad? Hmph, I think he's just a loser!"
The conversation between the two women grew increasingly lively.
They didn't realize that Xu Fei was already standing outside the room.
Bai Siyuan?
Xu Fei could vaguely recall a shadow of that name in his memory.
He hadn't expected his former self to have a rival in love.
No wonder.
A woman from such a privileged background—
How could she not have admirers?
Still, Bai Siyuan was now far away.
However—

Chen Rong's words were hard for Xu Fei to stomach.
No matter how flawed he was,
It wasn't her place to judge.
Did she really want to break up his family to feel satisfied?
Ahem!
Xu Fei coughed.
"Who is it?"
Chen Rong was about to continue persuading Duman when she heard someone outside. Startled, she stood up and lifted the curtain.
"You?!"
Seeing Xu Fei, Chen Rong was a little embarrassed, though in her eyes, he was just a useless man.
Xu Fei ignored her.
He walked straight into the room.
Standing by the bed, he looked at Duman. "Are you feeling better?"
"You... why are you back?"
Duman looked at the suddenly appearing Xu Fei in confusion.
"I came back to get my work clothes."
Xu Fei glanced at the items Chen Rong had bought, picked them up, turned to Chen Rong, and said coldly, "These—did you bring them?"
"Yes."
Chen Rong answered indifferently.
"Take them away."
"Huh?!"
Chen Rong had never imagined that the man she regarded as a loser would embarrass her so directly.
"What do you mean, Xu Fei? I bought these for Duman."
"I know."
Xu Fei shoved the items into her hands.
"Xu Fei, don't be ungrateful. I'm thinking of Duman. Since you can't afford them, why shouldn't I, as her friend, buy them for her?"
"It's not that you can't—it's that you don't need to!"
Xu Fei pointed toward the door. "Please leave. Now. Immediately!"
"You—Xu Fei, stop pretending. I'm Duman's friend. Is this how you treat your wife's friends? So uncultured!"
"Friend?"
Xu Fei snorted.
"If friends like you encourage her to divorce her husband behind his back, I'd say having no friends like that would be better."
"I..."
Chen Rong now understood and sneered, "So that's it, you heard what I said. All the better. Let me tell you, Xu Fei, Duman marrying you is a stroke of luck for you, but do you really deserve her? Look at the life you've given her."
She gestured around the room.
"That's our affair. It doesn't concern you."
Xu Fei's voice was tightly controlled, as though an energy might burst from him at any moment.
"Please leave!"

"I'm not leaving. What will you do? Let me tell you, Zhang Lei will—"
Before Chen Rong could finish her sentence, Xu Fei stepped forward and grabbed her arm.
He was strong enough to lift two-hundred-pound sacks with one hand; Chen Rong, barely a hundred pounds, was effortlessly dragged out of the room.
"Xu Fei!"
Seeing this, Duman felt embarrassed—after all, Chen Rong was her friend.
But Xu Fei was so enraged by Chen Rong that he was on the verge of violence; if she weren't a woman, he wouldn't have held back.
This was the limit of his patience.
Chen Rong was dragged all the way out the front gate.
Xu Fei pushed her outside and shut the door.
"Xu Fei, you hurt me! Are you even a man? Fine, just wait and see—I’ll have Zhang Lei deal with you!"
Her voice faded in the distance.
Xu Fei stood at the door for a long time before calming himself.
"Why?"
Duman's voice sounded behind him.
"It's nothing. I just feel that someone like her shouldn't be in my home."
"But... she's my friend. Couldn't you consider my feelings?"
Xu Fei realized he might have neglected Duman's feelings just now, but remembering what Chen Rong had said, he couldn't accept it as a man.
"I'm sorry."
He said those three words, then opened the door and left.
Duman watched as the door closed again.
It seemed
The relationship between her and Xu Fei, which had been slowly healing, had suddenly developed new cracks because of what had just happened.
At that moment,
Xu Fei ran far before gradually stopping.
Was he wrong?
Xu Fei asked himself.
His anger toward Chen Rong just now seemed more a reaction to Duman's attitude.
What his former self felt for Duman was not his concern.
Since his rebirth,
He had developed an indescribable emotion for Duman.
He knew their marriage was a mere formality.
But Duman should still fulfill her role as a wife.
And since his rebirth, Xu Fei had tried to keep his distance from Duman,
never crossing that final boundary.
But...