She never expected that Lu Yi would kneel directly in front of her, so decisively, without any hesitation.
"Lu Yi, what are you doing? Get up quickly, you haven’t committed any terrible crime, why are you suddenly kneeling before me?" Shen Heyu was genuinely startled and tried to help Lu Yi up, but he simply refused to rise.
Kneeling before Shen Heyu, he looked up at her, "Heyu, I stake my life on it, there won’t be a next time for such an incident, can you forgive me, please? I’m kneeling before you; if you don’t forgive me, I won’t get up today."
Hearing his words, Shen Heyu slowly withdrew her hands, her intention to help him up abandoned, and frowned as she gazed at Lu Yi kneeling before her.
He was kneeling to ask for her forgiveness—it felt more like he was forcing her to forgive him.
"Haven’t I told you? This morning’s incident is in the past; I won’t hold it against you, and there’s no need to bring up old matters again. Now come on, get up; you’ve just been in a car accident, you can’t handle such strain."
Considering that he was still a patient, Shen Heyu finally took a deep breath and gave Lu Yi the answer he wanted.
Lu Yi’s eyes brightened as he looked at Shen Heyu, seeking confirmation on a matter repeatedly.
"Did you really forgive me for what I said this morning? You wouldn’t lie to me, right? I tend to take your words at face value."
Shen Heyu nodded solemnly.
"I’ve truly forgiven you for what you said this morning, so you can stand up now, okay?"
"Mhm." With an acknowledgment, Lu Yi finally rose from the ground.
He pulled out a chair in wait for Shen Heyu to sit down, "Alright, let’s not talk too much, or the meal will get cold. Let’s have dinner first."
"I just realized I’m not hungry at all; you go ahead and eat. I’ll go out for some fresh air; don’t wait for me." Shen Heyu turned and left the villa.
Watching Shen Heyu’s retreating figure, Lu Yi slowly clenched his fist until she was completely out of his sight, then he kicked the chair in front of him to the ground in frustration.
Just as he was feeling irritable, his phone rang at the worst possible time. Seeing the familiar number, Lu Yi’s brow furrowed severely, the wrinkles deep enough to trap mosquitoes.
"Hello!" Lu Yi, quite angrily, answered the phone, pressing it to his ear.
"What, did you eat explosives or something? Why are you so hot-tempered? Did things not go smoothly with asking Shen Heyu for forgiveness?" As soon as Chen Wenzhou heard his tone, he had an ominous premonition, thinking to himself that Lu Yi couldn’t be that incompetent, to fail at such a simple task.
"I might as well have eaten explosives, I knelt down and pleaded with him, yet there’s no sign of willingness to forgive me. What does that mean?"
"I’m injured and still made an effort to cook a table full of delicious dinner, all the dishes he loves, but he didn’t give any face, didn’t eat a single bite, just walked away."
Lu Yi felt a blaze of anger burning in his chest. He pulled out a chair, sat down, clenched a fist tightly, and pounded the table fiercely.
"That’s why I keep reminding you, you absolutely cannot go against Shen Heyu. You’ve been by Shen Heyu’s side for so long; don’t you know what kind of person he is? You must coax him and act according to his wishes."
Shen Heyu had been by Pei Yansi’s side for three years, and what kind of person was Pei Yansi? He was a possessive and obsessive man. Pei Yansi’s word was law in front of Shen Heyu, and she had no choice but to obey. She had been his golden thread for three years but had grown tired of this life, which is why she wanted to leave Pei Yansi."
"At times , what you need to do is to be gentle and considerate towards Shen Heyu, give her a different feeling, the very feeling she craves after leaving Pei Yansi’s side."
"If you can give Shen Heyu the gentleness and consideration she couldn’t feel from Pei Yansi, she will undoubtedly follow you wholeheartedly. But what stupid mistake did you make this time?"
Chen Wenzhou’s words indeed awakened Lu Yi.
Lu Yi listened to Chen Wenzhou’s words and didn’t make a sound for a long time; finally, he meekly responded with a sentence.
"Alright, I got it; I’ll go find her after we hang up."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Yi went out to find Shen Heyu. He found her in the residential area, standing alone by the roadside, watching the setting sun.
"Do you want me to join you for a walk?" Lu Yi suddenly appeared beside Shen Heyu, but he didn’t startle her.
"How did you get here?" Shen Heyu finally shifted her gaze from the horizon and curiously looked at Lu Yi beside her.
The setting sun’s light bathed Lu Yi’s face, and in a fleeting moment, Shen Heyu seemed to see the familiar Lu Yi she once knew—gentle as the rain, his presence soothing like the breeze of spring, a stark contrast to Pei Yansi.
"Because I was worried about you, if you had truly let go of this morning’s issue, then you would definitely sit down and share dinner with me, but you didn’t do that."
"I’m also not clear as to why I said those excessive things this morning, but you should know that not only did those words hurt you, they also hurt me. If you don’t forgive me, I will live with remorse and guilt."
"But you can also choose not to forgive me, as a punishment for me, to make me remember today’s lesson, so that I never dare to say such things to you again."
At this moment, Lu Yi was truly gentle, so gentle that Shen Heyu stared at him for half a minute without blinking.
The man before her was the Lu Yi Shen Heyu knew; the Lu Yi from this morning and afternoon seemed like two different people, so strangely unfamiliar.
"I won’t forcefully beg for your forgiveness anymore; now, I just hope you can live well, as before. The meal is still on the table. When you’re ready to eat, let’s go home and have dinner together."
Lu Yi smiled gently at Shen Heyu.
Shen Heyu looked at his face, and after half a minute, silently left. She too wished to believe what Lu Yi had said, but trust, once shattered, is very difficult to rebuild.
Looking up at the sunset in the sky, and lowering her head, she quietly said to Lu Yi, "It’s getting late, let’s go back for dinner."
Shen Heyu started walking towards home, and Lu Yi took out his phone to send a message to Chen Wenzhou, telling him that Shen Heyu had forgiven him, their plan was a great success.
"What are you still doing standing there?" Shen Heyu, who had walked ahead several steps, turned back to find Lu Yi still standing in place.