Kong Xiuyun fell silent for a moment before speaking.
"I answered him right then-if you really get divorced, I'll marry you immediately."
She paused.
"I said, I've liked you for a long time, since before you liked me. And I still do."
Wang Xiaoliang thought, That confession came late, but it was probably the best possible time.
"He froze for quite a while. Then he said, why didn't you tell me sooner? It was all my fault. I was too thin-skinned back then."
"Only later did I understand what he meant by that."
"Zhou Qiang fell ill that night. A high fever. It was probably his emotions, combined with taking a cold shower when he was already weak. The fever wouldn't break. So I didn't leave. I stayed at the hotel to look after him. He was delirious with fever until the middle of the night, when he pushed his phone into my hands and said, look through the photo album.
"I spent almost the whole night looking through it. Often, after reading just a few sentences, I'd sit there in a daze for a while. One thought kept coming into my head: how could someone like this exist?"
Wang Xiaoliang had felt the same while listening. Similar thoughts had popped into his head too.
"I asked him why he didn't get Dahuang and Xiaoliang to help figure something out."
"He said it wasn't time for a showdown yet. Li Lanxiang wouldn't be back for several months. If he confronted her now, he wouldn't be prepared enough. He'd call them in to discuss it just before the showdown. They couldn't know yet, especially Xiaoliang-Zijin had been drawn into the scheme too. If Xiaoliang found out, he definitely wouldn't be able to hold back. Once Zijin knew, she wouldn't be able