I sighed, opened my phone, and played a recording.

It was a conversation between Li Mengyao and Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan said, "Yaoyao, can you have a child for me? My mom is putting a lot of pressure on me, and I don't know what to do! Maybe I should just end it all."

Li Mengyao's voice came through, comforting him, and she agreed to his request without hesitation. Then Zhang Xuan pretended to be worried, saying, "Wouldn't that be unfair to Lu Tao?"

Li Mengyao replied indifferently, "Lu Tao loves children the most. He would love the child I have even more! Besides, I'm not planning to give him one. If I don't, who will inherit all his wealth? He should be thankful that you're even considering having a child for him."

But faced with Zhang Xuan's appeal, Li Mengyao suddenly hesitated, "Ah Xuan, we can't do this. It's not right to Lu Tao. We should go for a medical procedure to have a child instead."

After listening to the recording, everyone present had different expressions. Li Mengyao angrily said, "What are you trying to say by playing this recording? I wasn't wrong. I'm not planning to have a child with you, so who do you want to benefit from your wealth... "

Before she could finish, Mrs. Li raised her hand and slapped her.

She held my hand, her face full of guilt, "I'm sorry, Lu Tao, we failed to raise Mengyao properly."

They knew my feelings for Li Mengyao and assumed she initiated the breakup.

The two elders worried I was upset and came to talk to me, trying to comfort me.

But who would have thought we'd hear such explosive news?

Mr. Li was furious, continuously scolding Li Mengyao, who was too ashamed to speak.

Until Mr. Li mentioned Zhang Xuan, Li Mengyao suddenly stood her ground and said defiantly, "I won't let you speak badly about Ah Xuan. He's not at fault!"

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Li, who was tending to my wounds, turned pale. She looked at Li Mengyao in disappointment, "Zhang Xuan is not at fault? He knew you were going to marry Lu Tao, yet he asked you to have a child for him. How could I have such a foolish daughter?"

"Li Mengyao, how did we teach you? Be faithful in relationships, yet you asked Lu Tao to donate a kidney to Zhang Xuan? Do you know how Zhang Xuan bullied Lu Tao back then?"

Li Mengyao gritted her teeth, defending Zhang Xuan.

But hearing Li Mengyao's words, Mr. Li and Mrs. Li grew increasingly disappointed.

Mr. Li scolded, "Zhang Xuan is just a rascal. He approached you only for the Li family's money! Do you really think he wanted to be friends with you? What kind of friend meddles so heedlessly in your relationship?"

Listening to Mr. Li and Mrs. Li's protective words towards me, I suddenly felt a wave of grievance.

Li Mengyao erupted in anger, "Lu Tao, Lu Tao! You only care about Lu Tao! You only know Zhang Xuan bullied Lu Tao! Ah Xuan even tried to cover for Lu Tao, but do you know that when Lu Tao was young, he was dishonest and disrespectful to Aunt Zhang, which is why Ah Xuan hit him!"

"You only care about money! You use your dirty minds to think of the pure friendship between me and Ah Xuan. You truly disgust me!"

"Lu Tao is just a hypocrite. He claims he loves me, but if he loves me so much, why won't he let me have a child for Ah Xuan? Ah Xuan is near death, why won't he donate a kidney for him? Is this what he calls love?"

Listening to Li Mengyao's audacious claims, Mr. Li and Mrs. Li's eyes widened in disbelief.

Li Mengyao's words grew increasingly outrageous, even saying my mom shouldn't have given birth to such an ungrateful son. Thankfully, she divorced my dad early and left me with him; otherwise, I would have been the death of her.

She accused me of being disrespectful to elders, watching my mom kneel in front of me without offering help.

Hearing Li Mengyao's words, Mr. Li was so angry he couldn't catch his breath, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

After taking Mr. Li to the hospital, Mengyao Li wore a stern expression and was about to leave when Mrs. Li called out to her, "Where are you going?"

Mengyao, her face cold and impatient, replied, "I need to go over to Xuan. He's waiting for me, and I have to take care of him."

Watching Mengyao, I felt she was becoming more and more unfamiliar to me.

Seeing the hurt in Mrs. Li's eyes, Mengyao grew even more impatient. "Why are you staring at me like that? Don't you have a good son, Lu Tao? I'm not comfortable leaving Xuan alone, and anyway, Dad gets annoyed with me. I might upset him even more if I stay."

With that, Mengyao turned and walked away, ignoring Mrs. Li's calls to her.

Mrs. Li held her chest in emotional pain, clearly upset by Mengyao's behavior.

I quickly poured her a glass of water.

Mrs. Li looked at me with a guilty expression, "It's better this way, it's better this way... You deserve someone who truly appreciates you."

Listening to Mrs. Li's words left me feeling lost.

From childhood to now, I had always revolved around Mengyao, blind to other girls. To me, Mengyao was the best woman in the world.

She was beautiful, self-assured, and passionate.

I never imagined I would love anyone else, as my world only had Mengyao in it.

I think I probably won't fall for anyone else.

Loving someone is exhausting, and it's too much of a compromise.

After confirming Mr. Li was alright, Mrs. Li urged me to go home and rest. Although I wanted to stay in the hospital with them, Mrs. Li insisted I leave, saying they couldn't face me right now because of what happened.

I had no choice but to leave.

Just as I was about to exit the hospital, I spotted Mengyao and Zhang Xuan.

I quickly hid, not wanting to face them or see Mengyao's indifferent gaze and Zhang Xuan's smug demeanor.

Not far away, Mengyao was carefully supporting Zhang Xuan. Seeing her so cautious made my heart ache.

Mengyao had never treated me like that. Even when I had a high fever, she remained calm and indifferent, sitting by my side.

I always thought she was spoiled and sheltered and didn't know how to care for others.

Witnessing this scene, I could no longer deceive myself.

It wasn't that Mengyao was spoiled and sheltered and didn't know how to care for others; it was that she didn't love me, so she didn't want to care for me at all.

I initially wanted to avoid them, but before leaving, I overheard Zhang Xuan telling Li Mengyao, "My dear Mengyao, I really want to always be with you."

Li Mengyao, with tears in her eyes, hugged Zhang Xuan's head and resolutely said, "Ah Xuan, don't worry. Lu Tao listens to me the most. I'll definitely make him donate his kidney to you."

I couldn't help but sneer.

I'd rather die than donate a kidney to someone like that.

I'll always remember the time when Zhang Xuan's family came to my house, showing off their authority.

They drove me out of my room into the servant's quarters and destroyed all of my dad's belongings.

Zhang Xuan crushed my fingers underfoot, grinning as he said my dad deserved to die, that they should have died sooner.

Later, he and Li Mengyao became best friends. Out of respect for Li Mengyao, I didn't want to make things difficult for her, so I didn't hold grudges against him. I just wanted to stay away.

But Li Mengyao not only wanted me to be the scapegoat but also wanted me to treat Zhang Xuan's illness. Impossible!

Not far away, Zhang Xuan was still speaking, "My dear Yaoyao, can I kiss you? I've never kissed a girl... I don't want to have regrets."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Mengyao kissed him.

I watched them kiss passionately with cold eyes. I imagined that if Zhang Xuan asked to sleep with Li Mengyao, she'd probably hesitate only briefly before undressing and lying on the bed. After all, she was already pregnant with Zhang Xuan's child. Nothing she did for him would surprise me.

I didn't look at them again and turned to leave.

Returning to the ward, Li's father was already awake. After exchanging a few words with him and seeing his exhausted expression, I left.

Just as I stepped out of the hospital, I bumped into a girl. She held her head in pain and cried out.

I quickly apologized, but she waved it off, saying, "It's okay, I wasn't paying attention."

I watched her gather up the scattered fruits and quickly bought a large bag of fruit from a nearby store to give to her.

Before she could say anything, I heard Li Mengyao's angry voice, "Lu Tao! What are you doing?"

Before I could react, Li Mengyao stormed over in her high heels and slapped the girl. "How dare you try to be the other woman!"

Li Mengyao's voice was loud, drawing everyone's attention to the three of us, and they began to point and whisper.

The girl was stunned, looking at us helplessly, her eyes quickly filling with tears.

I sighed again, pulling the girl behind me and handing her a tissue.

Seeing this, Li Mengyao became even angrier. "Oh, so that's why you wanted to break up with me, because you have another woman!"

Li Mengyao lunged at me, trying to hit me, but I grabbed her flailing wrist and pushed her aside.

Li Mengyao screamed, "Lu Tao! I'm carrying his child!"

Hearing this, the crowd's disdainful glances swept over me and the girl. The girl's face turned bright red, clutching the hem of her shirt. "I don't even know him."

But the crowd only believed what they heard.

Looking at Li Mengyao's distorted face, I said angrily, "Li Mengyao, don't you know why we broke up? You got pregnant with your best friend's child to carry on his lineage and then asked me to donate a kidney to him."

"And now just because I'm talking to another woman, you do this to me? What about when you were so biased towards Zhang Xuan? Did I say anything then?"

As soon as I finished speaking, the crowd's disdainful eyes immediately turned to Li Mengyao.

Li Mengyao's face turned red with anger, but I couldn't be bothered with her.

Seeing the girl's swollen cheek, I felt a pang of sympathy and took her back to the hospital.

Behind us, Li Mengyao screamed, "Lu Tao! If you leave, we're done!"

I didn't look back.

Li Mengyao still couldn't see it; I was no longer the puppy dog who revolved around her. We were already finished.