Chapter 14 A Woman’s Mouth, A Needle at the Bottom of the Sea (Revised)

She walked out and saw a figure in the kitchen, wearing an apron and holding a soup ladle.

Tang Man couldn’t help but smile. She walked over and hugged Si Jiahe, teasing, “Is this the Thumbelina I bought? How come you’re so diligent?”

He was making soup so early. Judging by the aroma, it must have been cooking for a while.

She suspected that Si Jiahe had gotten up at five or six o’clock to prepare. Calculating this way, he had only slept for one or two hours after having a nightmare last night. Could it be that he didn’t sleep at all afterward?

A guess flashed through her mind carelessly.

Si Jiahe was startled when the woman hugged him from behind. He paused for a moment before reacting, turning his head slightly, “You’re up?”

He continued, “I’ve already prepared breakfast. I remember you like Chinese-style breakfast, so I specially made the porridge you like.”

Tang Man nuzzled Si Jiahe’s back, placed her hand on his abdomen, and gently pinched his waist, laughing, “My Jiahe is so virtuous. Whoever marries you will be lucky.”

Si Jiahe’s hand holding the soup ladle paused, his eyelashes fluttering a few times, and his entire body stiffened.

Tang Man’s mind was still a bit hazy after waking up early in the morning. She said whatever she thought, with her mouth being faster than her brain. However, almost a second after she said it, she realized that she was simply dancing on a landmine, stepping on it precisely.

For the relationship between the two of them, mentioning the word marriage was obviously not a wise choice.

Moreover, she had no intention of getting married now.

The saying that marriage is the tomb of love was not a false statement for her. Most of her relationships basically couldn’t even reach the tomb, getting buried in the mass grave before reaching the stage of marriage.

However, Si Jiahe quickly recovered his composure, as if he hadn’t heard anything. He put down the soup ladle, turned around, and naturally hugged Tang Man, kissing her face a few times.

Since she had just woken up and hadn’t groomed her hair, it was fluffy, making her look even smaller. But the boy’s expression was gentle and soft.

“Man Man, go wash up first. I’ll put the breakfast on the table, and you can eat it when you come out.”

Si Jiahe tucked Tang Man’s stray hair behind her ear. He took the initiative to gloss over the previous topic to avoid awkwardness between them, or rather, his own awkwardness.

Tang Man was obviously stunned by his reaction and movement, but she still left as Si Jiahe said.

As she walked towards the bathroom, she suddenly realized that two years was enough time for a person to undergo some changes. These changes could be subtle or they could be on the surface.

Si Jiahe was different from the young boy in her memory who wore everything on his face.

The boy in the past was simple, expressing everything on his face. If it were the Si Jiahe of the past, when she mentioned the word marriage, he would probably turn around smugly, hug her, and pester her, using a pretentious aggrieved tone to say:

“Man Man, do you want me to marry someone else? I only want to marry you. Will you marry me after you graduate from university…”

And then there would be a string of fantasies about future life, such as where to buy a house, a three-bedroom apartment, preferably keeping a long-haired cat or a large dog that wouldn’t play coquettishly, because having him being coquettish at home was enough… Such fantasies wouldn’t be too many.

But now, this former young boy had become much more reticent. He had learned to conceal his sadness, loneliness, and thoughts in front of Tang Man, striving to build a ladder where both of them could save face.

He had understood the sense of alienation and propriety that modern people understood.

This was something the boy in the past didn’t understand, or rather, he never showed it in front of Tang Man. He always showed her the most sincere part of himself, exposing his weaknesses to her so vulnerably.

And she picked up a sharp knife and stabbed it without hesitation. No… she had hesitated, but in the end, she still did it.

Tang Man stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, looking at her disheveled self. She tugged at her messy hair and touched her chin, thinking.

She might just be a bad person.

What did people say nowadays? A scumbag? A player?

On this morning, in front of the mirror, Tang Man once again sighed at the good genes of Old Tang and Madam Yang, reflected on her own character issues, and then firmly remained the same in her heart, quickly washing up and walking out.

She couldn’t let herself be deeply trapped in a relationship that she wasn’t comfortable with just because she was soft-hearted and kind. The example of Old Tang and Madam Yang told her that the cheapest thing in the world was love.

There were some people in this world who were born with no shortage of love. Tang Man might be one of them because there was too much love surrounding her. The girl had seen even more bizarre and unreal love in her mother, so she gradually became like a fortress.

After walking a few steps, she stopped, remembering something, and then went back to the bedside in the room to pick up her phone.

The number of eight missed calls from Du Henian yesterday was so vividly displayed on the phone that she couldn’t ignore it.

She sighed, picked up the phone, and walked towards the dining room, following the aroma of food.

The table was filled with dishes. In addition to the porridge, there were also some other Chinese-style breakfast items. There shouldn’t be enough time to make these in the morning. Tang Man guessed that Si Jiahe must have gone out earlier.

After sitting at the dining table, she thought for a second and decided that she still needed to meet with Du Henian, at least to have a final decision. Otherwise, that man would probably find her with different phone numbers.

Given Du Henian’s personality, this might actually happen.

So she picked up the phone, and as soon as she dialed, the call was answered. Tang Man’s guess was confirmed. The man on the other end had indeed been waiting for her call.

It was such a gentle stubbornness, not giving up until the goal was achieved.

The man’s slightly hoarse voice came through, a bit distorted.

Tang Man even had the interest to suddenly think that this man’s voice was usually clearer, not so deep. It was a bit distorted, not as pleasant to hear as the original.

“Man Man.”

Tang Man hummed in response only after the other person called her name again. The apologetic words naturally welled up, “Henian, I’m sorry. I went to sleep right after I got home from the hospital last night. My phone was on silent, so I went to bed early and didn’t see your calls.”

“But I called you back as soon as I woke up.” Tang Man picked up her chopsticks and poked at the steamed bun, asking the other person with concern, “Did you not sleep well last night? I can hear fatigue in your voice.”

You see, she was such a person. Even though she proposed a breakup, blocked the other person’s number, she could still shamelessly say these caring words in a gentle manner.

At this time, Du Henian was sitting in the car. He pressed his temple, listening to the woman’s concerned voice coming from the other end of the phone. His voice subconsciously softened a bit, but his gaze fell on the exit of her apartment. His other free hand couldn’t help but tighten on the steering wheel.

Last night, he had driven to the apartment Tang Man rented near the school and even prepared some seafood that had been cooked at home. Tang Man liked to eat seafood, but seafood was cold in nature, and her body had always been weak. Du Henian couldn’t help but care more about her in life, setting some rules, not allowing Tang Man to eat too much.

He originally thought that they hadn’t seen each other for about a week, and Tang Man saying to break up was just because he was too strict with her, and it was just something said in a moment of anger.

In his mind, he had prepared a lot of words to explain why her phone was tampered with that day, nothing more than accidentally spilling coffee on it and wiping it, and other similar excuses.

He also wanted to give her a surprise, but after waiting for a night, Tang Man didn’t come home at all, and her phone couldn’t be reached. He was even blocked. The original surprise unexpectedly turned into suspicion.

He began to doubt the true purpose of her breakup.

Listening to the woman’s voice on the other end of the phone, when the sanctimonious caring words came out of the receiver, his heart couldn’t help but soften, but at the same time, he profoundly realized:

She was lying to him.

Du Henian was not a fool. He had long ago felt Tang Man’s occasional neglect towards him, which made him suspect that she was not with him because she liked him. Instead, at that time, she had just ended a not-so-successful relationship and was feeling down when he took advantage of the situation, and that’s how they got together.

Regarding this breakup incident, he thought it was a joke, but deep down, he had already taken it seriously. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sat downstairs in her apartment building all night.

In relationships, some people are good at deceiving others, but they are also good at deceiving themselves.