Lu Yanchu's words should have been a spark dropped into boiling oil, instantly igniting Ji Yanzhi's fury.
But instead of angering him, they seemed to have flipped some icy switch deep inside him.
"Lu Yanchu, whether Ji Ting and I get married, when we get married, or even whether we never get married at all-that's between him and me.
"And you will always be nothing more than a complete outsider."
Ji Yanzhi's icy words echoed through the cramped space, carrying absolute rejection and lofty contempt. "Because no matter how many years pass, no matter how long you hang around him, you don't even have the right to touch this place at his side."
"If you don't believe me," he leaned forward slightly, the cold curve of his lips deepening, "you're welcome to try."
Lu Yanchu's expression faltered for a moment, but soon his lips curved into an equally cold smile.
"Ji Yanzhi, I think you've misunderstood something." His voice was quiet but perfectly clear. "The reason you get to stand beside him isn't that you're special or indispensable. It's simply that Ji Ting's world is too pure-so pure that it contains almost nothing but two things: his scientific work and his ideals."
"You just happened to be incredibly lucky at a certain moment and squeeze into that remaining one percent."
"Heh. You're certainly good at making excuses for yourself." Ji Yanzhi sneered, his voice practically dripping with mockery. "You say I squeezed my way in. What about you, then? You've been around him for so many years. Why haven't you managed to touch even the edge of that 'one percent'?"
"Or is it-" He deliberately drew out the words, driving them straight into Lu Yanchu's most deeply buried cowardice and resentment. "That you're so afraid confessing would cost you even