Chapter 113: Spiritual Faith Part 1

She was insane.

That was the only thought left in Ming Li’s mind. She stared at Gu Qingshuang in sheer shock. “Do you even have any idea what you’re saying, Gu Qingshuang?”

Her voice rose instinctively as she spat out the other woman’s name.

But Gu Qingshuang only tilted her head back. Her eyes were clouded with a watery mist, the rims a bloodshot scarlet filled with nothing but resentment and sorrow. “Of course I do.”

Ming Li stood by the car door. The cold wind whipped at the hem of her clothes in gusts. Her lips parted, yet she found herself speechless.

Every argument she had prepared beforehand felt like a cruel joke in the face of Gu Qingshuang’s absurd suggestion.

After a long silence, Gu Qingshuang locked eyes with her and spoke, her voice dry and rasping. “What other choice do I have? Ming Li, you tell me. What else can I do?”

Ming Li remained silent, staring at her blankly.

She had never expected things to escalate to this point. She thought her own exit from their marriage had been pathetic enough, yet every encounter since then seemed determined to sink even lower.

Even though Gu Qingshuang was the one asking for a way out, Ming Li felt as if she were the one being slapped across the face, over and over again.

Her skin stung with a phantom heat.

Fate is fickle; life plays cruel tricks.

Those eight words summarized the first half of her life with terrifying precision.

They stood there in a silent standoff for a long time.

Ming Li’s eyes began to ache. Steeling her emotions, she lowered her head and spoke softly. “I don’t need you to do anything. It’s all futile.”

“Isn’t doing something better than doing nothing at all?” Gu Qingshuang countered. “Why can’t you just give me one chance?”

This was the one point Gu Qingshuang could not wrap her head around.

She truly believed that the feelings between her and Ming Li hadn’t reached a dead end. She just wanted a single chance at redemption, but Ming Li refused to grant even that.

Ming Li gave a cold, mocking retort. “Then why didn’t you give Shen Lideng a chance after she went abroad?”

At the mention of that name, Gu Qingshuang froze for several seconds.

Ming Li had no desire to stay here and debate their relationship like they were in a competition. How much they loved each other, how much pain and suffering they had endured—it was all in the past. To keep circling back to that scrap of affection was a waste of breath; it would never lead to a resolution.

From start to finish, the two of them had been trapped in a loop. She was trying to get Gu Qingshuang to let go, while Gu Qingshuang felt she had ten thousand reasons to persist.

She was even willing to propose such a shameless arrangement.

It was clear that the Eldest Miss Gu rarely lost anything she valued. When she wanted something, she would use any means necessary to obtain it. Even for a friendship she had lost, she was willing to throw away her pride to scrape it back together.

Ming Li felt she was seeing a new side of her.

And she didn’t like it.

It was profoundly disturbing.

Perhaps Ming Li had always possessed a casual nature. She had never encountered something she felt she must have at any cost, which allowed her to cut ties cleanly most of the time.

She had only stumbled when it came to Gu Qingshuang.

During that marriage, she had wavered constantly. Every few months, she would find herself trapped in the same loop, encountering the same problems and hoping that time would be the cure.

In the end, she had only succeeded in dragging herself through the thorns until she was covered in wounds.

And now, Gu Qingshuang was repeating the path she had once walked—only with even more obsession.

“You see?” Ming Li took a deep breath. “That was how you treated Shen Lideng. Why is it wrong for me to do the same?”

“But it’s different,” Gu Qingshuang said urgently. “By the time she decided to leave, I didn’t love her anymore.”

“And by the time I decided to leave, I didn’t love you anymore,” Ming Li said.

The atmosphere turned stagnant. Upon hearing those words, Gu Qingshuang’s spirit seemed to plummet. Her eyes were wide with disbelief. “Why?”

“There isn’t always a ‘why’!” Ming Li suddenly screamed. “I didn’t have a reason when I fell for you, and I don’t have a reason now that I haven’t!”

Looking at Gu Qingshuang in this state made Ming Li incredibly uncomfortable. Her mind kept flickering back to the silhouette she had seen when they first met.

Back then, even though Gu Qingshuang was taller than her, her gaze had been gentle.

She was cold and proud, yes, but she was kind.

But now?

She was a complete madman.

She was like a child throwing a tantrum because they didn’t get their candy, unreasonably demanding to shove that candy into their pocket.

But looking at her, Ming Li realized the woman probably didn’t even notice it herself.

“Then what did you like about me before?” Gu Qingshuang asked. “I don’t feel like I’ve changed.”

“I’m the one who changed,” Ming Li said. “Can you please stop obsessing over these questions?”

“But these questions are exactly why we changed, aren’t they?!”

“No!”

Ming Li finally reached her breaking point. She roared in a collapse of patience, “Gu Qingshuang, do you realize you’re a completely different person now? You keep saying you love me, but have you ever asked me what I like? Have you ever tried to put yourself in my shoes? You are perpetually self-centered! You think that because you love me, I owe you my love in return! Do you even know what love is?!

“You don’t understand it at all! You haven’t respected me, and you haven’t tried to understand me. You only think about forcing me to keep loving you. How am I supposed to love you like this?!

“Look at yourself right now. Are you even worth loving?!”

Ming Li let it all out in a single breath. Her voice cracked on the final words, her throat stinging.

When you argue with a child, you eventually become one yourself.

Ming Li found herself unable to control her emotions when caught in Gu Qingshuang’s warped logic.

A person who was usually emotionally stable was now flushed red from shouting. Ignoring Gu Qingshuang’s pale, stricken face, she said grimly, “Do we really have to torture each other until we both wither away?”

Gu Qingshuang couldn’t process it all at once. The garage fell into an oppressive silence.

After a moment, Ming Li looked away. “Gu Qingshuang, when people are sick, they need to see a doctor.”

“What do you mean?” Gu Qingshuang asked slowly.

Ming Li said, “You’re ill. Your current state is dangerous.”

“I’m on an IV drip,” Gu Qingshuang replied. “I’m going back to the hospital soon.”