Chapter 48

As he approached the car, he saw that the Bentley’s doors and windows were still tightly shut. Mi Zhao glanced inside, but it was too dark to see anything. Left with no choice, he reached out and knocked on the window.

After knocking for a long time, the window finally lowered slowly, revealing Li Sipei’s face—still impossibly handsome even in the dim light.

Li Sipei cast a cold glance at him, lips lightly pressed together.

Mi Zhao’s heart tightened at once. Sure enough, the other was angry. He hurriedly explained, “I was in a rush just now and didn’t see your car.”

Li Sipei’s gaze remained icy, his tone light: “Do you think I believe that?”

His soft voice struck Mi Zhao’s head with sharp precision, leaving him momentarily stunned. His face instantly heated up.

His excuse did sound rather suspicious.

After a long silence, he forced out a quiet “Sorry.”

Clearly, this apology wasn’t enough to appease Li Sipei, but he didn’t say much more. He simply ordered, “Get in.”

Relieved, Mi Zhao immediately opened the car door and climbed inside.

Ruan Xin, who should have been in the driver’s seat, was nowhere to be seen—likely dismissed by Li Sipei. Inside the car, it was just the two of them. The only sound breaking the silence was the faint hum of the heater.

Mi Zhao was bundled up in thick clothes with a scarf wrapped around his neck. After sitting for a while, he started to feel hot. He removed his scarf and coat, hastily folding them and placing them on his lap.

Li Sipei silently watched him.

Looking around with his belongings in hand, Mi Zhao finally noticed that Li Sipei was not sitting in his wheelchair but was seated on the car seat just like him. His eyes immediately lit up. “You don’t need a wheelchair anymore?”

Li Sipei hummed in acknowledgment. “Most of the time, no.”

“That’s great!” Mi Zhao was genuinely thrilled for him. His first instinct was to reach out and touch Li Sipei’s leg, but halfway through, he hesitated, awkwardly pausing midair.

After a few seconds, he withdrew his hand and sheepishly rubbed his nose.

But just as he lowered his hand, Li Sipei suddenly grabbed it.

Startled, Mi Zhao flinched, but he didn’t pull away. He let Li Sipei’s warm hand envelop his own.

Li Sipei placed Mi Zhao’s hand on his leg, but unlike before, he didn’t interlock their fingers. He merely held his palm lightly against his own.

“Why did you avoid me earlier?” Li Sipei asked.

“….” Mi Zhao had known he wouldn’t get away with it.

Li Sipei waited for a while, but when he didn’t get an answer, he seemed to give up. The grip on Mi Zhao’s hand loosened slightly.

Thinking that Li Sipei was about to let go, Mi Zhao was caught off guard when something thin and rigid was suddenly pressed into his palm.

He froze for a moment before looking down.

It was a card.

Holding it up to the faint light from outside, he examined it closely—it was a black card, looking high-end.

Although he had never seen a card like this before, given the circumstances and Li Sipei’s status, it was obviously no ordinary card. But why was Li Sipei giving it to him?

Frowning slightly, Mi Zhao waved the card in his hand and looked at Li Sipei in confusion.

“You’ve given me a lot of things. I don’t know what to give you in return,” Li Sipei said. “Keep this card. There’s no spending limit.”

As he listened to these words, a thought slowly took shape in Mi Zhao’s mind. “You came to see me just to give me this?”

Of course not.

The main reason was that he wanted to see Mi Zhao again. Since their last meeting, it had already been half a month.

But no matter what, he couldn’t bring himself to say that.

Li Sipei pursed his lips, hesitated, then simply responded with a quiet “Mm.”

Mi Zhao studied his expression, half certain, half doubtful. The card in his hand suddenly felt like it was covered in spikes, pricking his palm.

It felt like he was holding a burning coal. Flustered, he shoved the card back toward Li Sipei. “I don’t want it.”

Li Sipei didn’t move, but his gaze turned colder. “Why?”

“All the gifts I gave you before were because I wanted to. I never expected anything in return.” Seeing that Li Sipei wasn’t taking the card back, Mi Zhao simply placed it on his lap. “And this is too expensive.”

Li Sipei lowered his gaze to the card on his lap.

Outside, the wind rustled the trees by the roadside, their shadows casting jagged patterns across his face, obscuring his expression.

But Mi Zhao could tell—his expression was far from pleasant.

After a long silence, Mi Zhao hesitantly asked in a small voice, “Are you trying to end our relationship?”

Li Sipei’s body stiffened abruptly.

His upper body leaned forward slightly, and in the dim light, his gaze grew sharp and cold. “End? When did I say I wanted to end things?”

Mi Zhao looked at him, bewildered. “Huh? Then this card…”

Li Sipei’s voice grew even frostier. “What about the card?”

Shrinking slightly under his gaze, Mi Zhao hesitated for a moment before finally saying, “Didn’t you give it to me to pay me back for all the things I gave you? I thought… I thought this meant our relationship was over.”

Li Sipei fell silent.

He stared at Mi Zhao, his expression unreadable. His gaze roamed slowly over Mi Zhao, scrutinizing him until the tension on Mi Zhao’s face became impossible to ignore.

Something had felt off for a while now. But since he had no prior experience in relationships, he hadn’t dared to jump to conclusions.

Until he heard that word.

Relationship?

End their relationship?

Why hadn’t Mi Zhao just said “break up”?

This might seem trivial when applied to someone else, but in this situation, it stirred up a flood of memories. Li Sipei recalled the shift in Mi Zhao’s attitude over time, as well as all the little details in how he treated him.

His brows furrowed, his expression darkening. His voice was slightly unsteady. “What… do you take me for?”

Now that his thoughts had been set loose, more ideas came rushing in.

He realized that Mi Zhao had never spoken about their future. Whenever others mentioned their relationship, Mi Zhao never denied it—but in private, he never brought it up himself.

Then there was the way Mi Zhao kept giving him money and gifts.

So what did that mean?

Was he just a convenient pastime?

A fleeting distraction?

Or—was he merely a stand-in for forgetting Li Yan?

An unprecedented anger surged through him, mingled with resentment. He took a deep breath, then suddenly knocked the card off his lap and grabbed Mi Zhao’s wrist, yanking him forward.

Caught off guard, Mi Zhao lurched forward, nearly crashing into his chest.

“Mi Zhao.” Li Sipei narrowed his eyes, his gaze piercing. “Are you just playing with me?”

Their breaths intertwined in the close space, and Mi Zhao’s heartbeat pounded so loudly he could hear it in his ears.

His wrist was pinned beside his shoulder, and his face was only inches away from Li Sipei’s chest.

Li Sipei’s breathing was also rapid, his chest rising and falling slightly.

When Mi Zhao looked up and met Li Sipei’s cold gaze, his face turned pale, a chill seeping from his bones—he sensed danger.

“I—I didn’t…”

The grip on his wrist tightened, and Li Sipei twisted his arm behind him.

It wasn’t actually painful, but the situation itself was terrifying enough that Mi Zhao let out a startled cry. He gasped for breath, eyes wide with panic as he stared at Li Sipei in fear.

Li Sipei leaned down, bringing his face closer. The pressure of his presence pressed down from above, his broad shoulders blocking out all the light coming in from the window.

“I’m willing to listen to your explanation.”

Mi Zhao had never seen Li Sipei like this before. A deep fear rose from within him—despite the warmth of the car’s heater, his entire body felt cold.

“I…” He only managed to say one word before his voice got stuck in his throat.

Li Sipei’s voice was low. “Explain.”

“I—I just…” Mi Zhao was truly scared to the point of tears. His eyes stung, his vision blurred, and it felt like something was about to spill out. His mouth opened and closed, his mind growing fuzzy. “I just thought we had that kind of relationship.”

“That kind of relationship?” The mere phrase made Li Sipei’s headache worsen, and the coldness in his eyes deepened. “What kind of relationship?”

Mi Zhao no longer knew what he was saying. He had been tormented by his own thoughts for days, bottling up a thousand words, and now they all rushed out in a flood. “A sugar relationship. I thought we had a sugar relationship!”

The atmosphere in the car fell into a long silence.

When Li Sipei finally spoke again, his voice carried a hint of disbelief. “Who… is the sugar baby?”

The term wasn’t unfamiliar, yet saying it burned his tongue, making his speech falter.

“I was sponsoring you!” Mi Zhao shut his eyes tightly and blurted out in one breath, “Back at the villa, I misunderstood your relationship with that person. I thought you two were… that kind of relationship. Later, that person left, and I had just been dumped, so I thought I’d take their place and—”

Mi Zhao stammered for a while but couldn’t bring himself to say the word “support,” so he changed his phrasing. “So I thought I’d take their place and take care of you.”

As Li Sipei listened, it felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head.

In an instant, all sound vanished except for the buzzing in his ears.

His grip on Mi Zhao’s wrist slowly loosened. His expression was blank, almost numb, as he watched Mi Zhao hurriedly sit back against the car door, putting distance between them in an instant.

He had originally suspected that Mi Zhao simply wasn’t taking their relationship seriously.

But the reality was far worse than he had imagined.

To Mi Zhao, their relationship had been nothing more than a transaction.

He didn’t even have a proper title.

This revelation came too suddenly. Li Sipei didn’t know how to react—his chest felt hollow, like a gaping hole had been torn open, allowing the cold wind to rush in, chilling him to the bone.

“Li Sipei, I…” Mi Zhao clenched his fists and forced himself to continue. “I’m really sorry. I misunderstood before. I heard from my classmates that at the villa—”

“Enough.” Li Sipei interrupted him indifferently, his expression still blank. “I don’t want to know why you misunderstood.”

Mi Zhao’s voice stopped abruptly. His nails dug into his palms—it hurt. He bit his lip tightly, then slowly let go. “I’m sorry…”

“So you’ve been avoiding me not because of my relationship with Li Yan, nor for any other reason, but because you never intended to be with me in the first place.”

He had finally voiced the thought he had been suppressing, but Mi Zhao’s nerves only grew more tense. He didn’t dare look in Li Sipei’s direction—just meeting his gaze made him unbearably uncomfortable. It felt like a thin wire was wrapping around his heart, tightening with every second, making it hard to breathe.

Stammering, he asked, “Then what about you? If you don’t need money, why did you agree to my offer?”

Li Sipei looked at him and answered slowly, “I thought you were pursuing me. I thought you were asking me to be with you. I thought we were in a relationship.”

Mi Zhao was struck speechless. He frowned in confusion. “How is that possible?”

“I have no reason to lie to you.”

“Then why do you never talk about your personal life?” Mi Zhao started counting on his fingers. “Your family, your parents, your past—I know nothing about any of it. You said that apartment was borrowed from a friend, but we’ve known each other for so long, and I don’t even know that friend’s name or whether they’re a man or a woman. How does that look like we’re in a real relationship?”

The more he spoke, the more aggrieved he felt.

At least he had shared everything with Li Sipei. He had shown him photos of his parents and even introduced him to Yan Qinting and the Publicity Club members!

Li Sipei was silent for a while before he finally said, “I don’t have friends.”

Mi Zhao didn’t believe him. “If you don’t have friends, then who lent you that apartment? You’re from A City, aren’t you? How could you not know a single person here?”

“I used to have friends. After my car accident, they all drifted away.” Li Sipei’s voice was calm, as if he were recounting someone else’s story. “The person who lent me the apartment isn’t a friend—just someone who needed a favor from me.”

“A car accident?” Mi Zhao asked. “Is that how your legs got injured?”

Perhaps because they had distanced themselves, Mi Zhao couldn’t see Li Sipei’s expression clearly.

Outside, pedestrians came and went, while inside, Li Sipei sat motionless like a statue.

He didn’t answer Mi Zhao’s question. Instead, he continued, “My mother is extremely controlling. She and my father were deeply in love when they married, but over time, she became more extreme. She tracked my father’s every move, down to the minute. If he ever missed a single call from her, she would become suspicious and investigate everyone around him, scrutinizing everything he had done in the past forty-eight hours.”

Mi Zhao took a sharp breath—just hearing about it felt suffocating.

“You’d never guess what she once did.” Li Sipei chuckled, though Mi Zhao was sure his face carried no real smile. “When I was in third grade, it rained one day after school. My father picked me up and offered to give my classmate a ride home. That classmate came from a single-parent household—his mother worked hard to support him. But after my mother found out, she made sure that woman lost her job. Under a storm of rumors and slander, she and my classmate were forced to leave A City forever.”

Li Sipei paused, then continued, “By the time I was studying abroad in college, my father’s depression had worsened. He wanted a divorce, but my mother refused. She didn’t just threaten suicide to stop him—she also cut him off from me while telling me he was too busy to contact me. It wasn’t until he jumped to his death that she could no longer hide the truth.”

Li Sipei lowered his gaze, looking at his own legs. “That’s when I had my car accident.”

Mi Zhao sat frozen, unable to say a word.

Li Sipei picked up his phone and made a call. “You can come now.”

A short while later, Ruan Xin—who had been waiting outside, shivering—got into the driver’s seat and fastened her seatbelt. She turned back and asked, “Mr. Li, are we heading home?”

“Mm.” Li Sipei turned his head toward the window. “You can leave now.”

It was clearly directed at Mi Zhao.

“As you wished—this is the end.”