Middle-aged tycoon: Twins come knocking on his door when he goes home for Chinese New Year

The moonlight, like water, spilled onto the country lanes.

Two cars were parked quietly on the open ground by the roadside: a brand-new black Audi and a weathered white Volkswagen.

Just like these two people standing face to face, although they were once a whole, they are now in stark contrast.

Li Ze held the unlit cigarette in his hand, twirling it between his fingers twice.

Looking at the woman in front of him, who was wrapped up tightly, he smiled gently.

"What a coincidence? You're here to smoke too?"

Zhang Ruoran's mood was originally quite complicated, but he was amused by his frivolous remark.

She rolled her eyes at Li Ze and said irritably:

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"I don't smoke. What's the point of smoking that pungent stuff?"

"I think I left something in my car, so I came to get it."

Without looking at Li Ze, she quickly took out her keys, opened the Volkswagen door, and bent down to rummage through the car.

Li Ze stood to the side and put the cigarette in his pocket.

Since she doesn't smoke and doesn't like the smell of smoke, there's no need for me to light this cigarette.

Respecting one's wife's habits is a basic quality of a man who wants to remarry.

Watching Zhang Ruoran dawdle and flip through the pages for ages without finding anything, I realized that she was completely lost.

Li Ze cleared his throat and decided to ask a question that had been on his mind for a long time.

There were too many people and too much chatter in the room just now, so it wasn't appropriate to speak up.

It's dark and windy now... no, the moonlight is perfect, it's the perfect time for a heart-to-heart talk.

"If so."

Li Ze's voice became somewhat low and serious:

"Just now while I was eating, and also this afternoon at the train station."

"You keep saying that I left you for other women."

"But it was clearly written in the letter I left you back then."

"I'm going there to earn money, to fight for a future for our family, definitely not to find any women."

"You understand me so well, we've been together for so many years."

"Don't you know who I, Li Ze, am? I may be poor, but when have I ever been unfaithful?"

Why are you so insistent that I left for a woman?

This was not only Li Ze's question, but also the part he felt was most wronged.

He admitted to the crime of abandoning his wife and children, after all, he had indeed been gone for eighteen years.

But he didn't want to take the blame for cheating.

This is a matter of principle.

Upon hearing Li Ze's words, Zhang Ruoran, who was pretending to rummage through things in the car, suddenly stopped.

Then, she slowly straightened up and stepped out of the car.

With a "bang," she slammed the car door shut.

Zhang Ruoran turned around, leaned against the car door, and put her hands in the pockets of her down jacket.

Those eyes, which appeared particularly cold and clear in the moonlight, were fixed on Li Ze.

Her eyes held a mixture of mockery and the pain of being deceived.

"Do I know it myself?"

Zhang Ruoran gave a cold laugh:

"Li Ze, even at this point, are you still playing dumb with me?"

"Do you think this never happened just because I didn't bring it up?"

She took a deep breath and squeezed out a name through gritted teeth:

Do you still remember Bai Qianyue?

Upon hearing the name, Li Ze paused for a moment.

Bai Qianyue?

This name is as distant as a memory from the last century for him now.

He searched his memory for a while before finally matching the name with a somewhat blurry face.

"Bai Qianyue..."

Li Ze frowned as he recalled:

"I vaguely remember this name."

"Isn't that the junior from our university?"

Why are you bringing her up?

Seeing Li Ze's seemingly confused expression, which she actually saw as nothing more than "acting," Zhang Ruoran's anger flared even more.

"Heh, I knew you'd remember."

"That's true. She's so beautiful, her family is rich, and she was deeply in love with you. How could you not remember her?"

Li Ze felt that Zhang Ruoran's words were laced with jealousy and hostility; it was clearly a huge misunderstanding.

He quickly waved his hand and explained:

"No, if that's the case, listen to me."

"Back then, Bai Qianyue did have a one-sided crush on me, I don't deny that."

"But didn't I clarify this with you before we got married?"

"I have absolutely no romantic feelings for her; it's just that she's the only one who's interested."

"Later, during my senior year of college, I avoided her and lost contact with her long ago."

"My leaving has absolutely nothing to do with her!"

Li Ze felt he was more wronged than Dou E.

How did an old vinegar jar from eighteen years ago get overturned now?

Zhang Ruoran's gaze grew even colder as she watched him desperately trying to explain himself.

"Is it okay?"

"If it's not a problem, why did you two disappear on the same day?"

"What did you say?!"

Li Ze's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Disappeared on the same day?"

Seeing his shocked expression, Zhang Ruoran assumed he was panicked after his lie was exposed, which further convinced her of her judgment.

She said in a desolate tone:

"Yes, what a coincidence."

"The morning you left a letter, Bai Qianyue also disappeared."

Where did she go?

"At first, I didn't connect these two things, since you two haven't been in contact for a long time."

"But it wasn't until two years later that I met a college classmate."

"He told me that Bai Qianyue also went to America that day."

Zhang Ruoran took a step forward, staring intently at Li Ze:

"Li Ze, are you still going to try to deny it?"

"Disappeared on the same day, to the same destination, all going to America."

"Besides, she pursued you so relentlessly back in school that it caused quite a stir."

"You dare say this is a coincidence?"

"You dare say you two didn't plan this out? Didn't you two elope together?"

Li Ze was completely stunned.

This is...

This plot is so melodramatic!

Even novelists wouldn't dare write something like this!

He genuinely didn't know that Bai Qianyue had also gone to America, let alone that she had left on the same day as him.

In all honesty, he was teleported away by the system that day.

Who knows what got into Bai Qianyue that made her leave that day?

However, if you think about it from Zhang Ruoran's perspective...

The husband ran away, and the rich girl who had always been thinking about him also ran away on the same day, and even went to the same country.

Anyone would think this was an elopement.

No wonder!

No wonder Zhang Ruoran harbored such deep hatred for him over the past eighteen years.

It turns out it wasn't just because he abandoned his family.

It was also because she felt betrayed and abandoned for another woman.

This was an utter disgrace for a proud woman.

Li Ze opened his mouth, wanting to explain that this was truly an incredible coincidence.

But looking at Zhang Ruoran's determined eyes, he knew that any explanation he gave now would be too weak.

Who believes it?

Just like how no one believed him when he said he made trillions overseas.

If you were to recount such a coincidence, people would only think he was making it up.

At this point, Zhang Ruoran seemed unwilling to say any more.

Mentioning that name was like reopening a wound in her heart, making her feel nauseous and sad.

She gave Li Ze a cold look:

"Alright, stop making things up."

"I don't want to dwell on the past anymore."

"Whether it's five million or fifty million, it doesn't change the fact that you betrayed me."

After saying that, without waiting for Li Ze to speak, she turned around, opened the car door, and took out a pack of tissues.

With a "bang," he slammed the car door shut again and walked into the yard without looking back.

Li Ze was left alone, leaning against the Audi door, bewildered in the wind.

Li Ze watched Zhang Ruoran's departing figure, shook his head with a wry smile.

He took the cigarette out of his pocket again, and this time without hesitation, he took out his lighter and lit it with a "snap".

He took a deep breath, and the pungent smoke swirled in his lungs, clearing his somewhat confused mind a little.

"Bai Qian Yue Yao..."

Li Ze exhaled a smoke ring, his thoughts drifting back to his youthful college days.

In my memory, I picture a girl with two dimples when she smiled, an oval face, and who always wore pretty dresses.

That was when he was a sophomore, and as a senior, he went to welcome new students and helped her move her luggage.

As a result, the girl inexplicably fell in love with him.

She was indeed quite crazy back then.

She often brought him breakfast, basketball shoes, and even sang for him downstairs in his dormitory.

Because of this, Zhang Ruoran, who was his girlfriend at the time, was quite jealous and often argued with him.

However, at that time, Li Ze was a straight man with no feelings for Ruoran.

He always rejected Bai Qianyue, and later even avoided her whenever he saw her to avoid suspicion.

After Li Ze's assurances and actions, Ruoran gradually felt relieved.

By her senior year, Bai Qianyue seemed to have come to her senses and gradually stopped contacting him.

Everyone thought that the matter was over and done with.

Did not expect ah did not expect.

This name, long forgotten, unexpectedly planted such a huge time bomb for him on the very day he left.

"That girl is a troublemaker too."

Li Ze sighed.

He spent eighteen years in America, built a huge business, and had connections in every industry.

But he had never actually heard of Bai Qianyue.

Perhaps she went to another city, perhaps she got married and changed her name, or perhaps...

Li Ze shook his head, trying to clear these chaotic thoughts from his mind.

Who cares where she went, who cares how she's doing.

This has nothing to do with him.

It's all an old almanac from the past eighteen years, so there's no point in dwelling on the truth anymore.

The focus now is not on investigating Bai Qianyue.

Instead, the goal is to win Ruoran back and mend this broken family.

As long as I treat Ruoran with sincerity in the future, time will tell.

This misunderstanding will be cleared up sooner or later.

Li Ze threw the cigarette butt on the ground and carefully crushed it out with the toe of his foot.

Then he raised his head and glanced at the bright, full moon overhead.

Tomorrow is the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

"We need to visit the graves tomorrow."

Li Ze muttered to himself:

"It's time to go and kowtow to my mother-in-law and father-in-law and say sorry."

"No matter what, I, as the son-in-law, am to blame for making their daughter suffer such a great injustice."

"After I finish here, I'll have to go back to Lijia Village again this afternoon."

Thinking of the two deceased parents in Lijia Village, Li Ze felt another pang of sorrow.

"Father, Mother."

"He hasn't come back for eighteen years; it's my fault for being an unfilial son."

"When I come back this time, I will definitely renovate our family's ancestral graves in a grand and magnificent way."

"So that you down there can finally hold your heads high."

Li Ze straightened his clothes and turned to walk towards the dilapidated old house with the lights on.