After Lin Qingzhu said those words, the side hall fell silent for a long while.
Zhou Xuan did not answer immediately. He looked at the woman across from him, countless thoughts turning over in his mind.
When he had left the Fengqin Kingdom ten years ago, he had thought he was making the best possible decision.
Leaving the business to her, leaving safety to her, and thrusting himself onto the knife's edge of the road ahead.
Yet when they met again ten years later, he finally realized how presumptuous that decision had been.
He pushed the ten Storage Rings back across the table, leaving not a single one before him, returning them all to Lin Qingzhu's side.
Lin Qingzhu froze.
"I don't want your things," Zhou Xuan said, his voice a little hoarse.
The smile on Lin Qingzhu's face stiffened for an instant, and her fingertips had already begun to turn white.
Seeing her reaction, Zhou Xuan inwardly cursed himself for getting his words in the wrong order and hurriedly added the rest: "What I mean is, these things were yours to begin with. From today onward, you're not just the proprietor of the Cloud Pavilion. You're also the woman by my side. Your things are still yours to manage."
Lin Qingzhu's hand stopped in midair. She looked as though someone had struck her pressure points and immobilized her.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me."
"Say it again."
Zhou Xuan took a deep breath and repeated those words.
He discovered that saying them a second time actually made him more nervous than the first. His heart hammered against his chest with heavy thuds. This was nothing like fighting.
Lin Qingzhu finally failed to hold back her tears. One struck the tabletop with a soft patter.
She fought desperately to