Song Boyuan felt he could agree to anything Jing Qiao asked, but upon hearing the number and types of pets she ntioned, he was sowhat horrified.
He was silent for a long while.
Then he said, "One dog, or one cat."
He didn’t like small animals, which was not surprising since, having lived for thirty years, he didn’t have any particular likings, except for Jing Qiao. The rest were either extrely detested, very disliked, sowhat disliked, or slightly disliked.
After thinking it over, Jing Qiao said, "One dog, two cats, one Corolla duck, or one parrot."
Song Boyuan’s temple throbbed. He coughed lightly, "One canine, one feline, and one avian. That’s my final offer, Qiaoqiao, be good."
"Deal," Jing Qiao said. She had intentionally asked for a lot initially just so she would have more room to negotiate.
Song Boyuan sighed in relief, but still decided to ask her, "Anything else?"
Even if she might propose terms he found hard to accept, he still wanted to know, to accommodate, to indulge.
"And you have to volunteer with every month, either at an orphanage or an animal shelter."
Jing Qiao played with Song Boyuan’s nerves like they were elastic bands, bouncing around on them.
He asked, "Do I have to go? Can’t I just donate money?"
"No, you have to go," Jing Qiao said. "Small animals and children are gifts from heaven. You need to interact with these soft beings; it helps with your guidance and recovery."
"I’m already in contact with soft you," Song Boyuan murmured under his breath.
Jing Qiao didn’t speak and just looked intently at him.
Song Boyuan t her gaze for a mont and sighed softly, "How many tis a month?"
"Once a week, but if you’re too busy at work, at least twice a month," Jing Qiao said.
Song Boyuan nodded, "All right. Anything else?"
"I like children," Jing Qiao looked at him. "A lot."
Song Boyuan thought she was referring to their unborn child, which made his heart sink, and a surge of hatred toward Liu Jiarong and her sons welled up inside him, his eyes filled with dark and violent emotions.
"But my health isn’t great, and I don’t know if I can still have children. So, if I can’t, we’ll have to adopt two, either gender."
Jing Qiao laid out these conditions, not only to set clear terms but also to present him with a vision of a future he could see now.
To give him hope, to keep him from being pessimistic, perhaps then he wouldn’t act so drastically.
Song Boyuan watched her quietly. In Jing Qiao’s eyes, he saw the complex and deep emotions weighing down on her, almost suffocating her.
After a while, Song Boyuan said softly, "Baby, is it really okay for a sinner like to be this happy?"
His voice and words revealed his pessimism, "What if one day, you feel it’s not enough, and you leave ? Wouldn’t it be too cruel to make happy and then leave? I wouldn’t be able to handle it."
Song Boyuan didn’t want to be unhappy; he was just scared.
He didn’t hide his fear from Jing Qiao.
He had been so happy once, he thought he was blessed by the heavens.
Then, his happiness was shattered.
It was a painful fall from grace into an abyss. It might be better to just stay in the abyss.
"Why not treat a little worse but never leave ? At least, even if you hate and ignore , although it hurts, I’m... sowhat used to it."
His voice remained calm, emotionless, cold with a tallic edge.
Yet, his words made him sound so lowly, downtrodden to the dust.
Jing Qiao felt as though her heart was broken into pieces, bleeding and leaking air.
"Why can’t we be happy? You are a sinner, true, but isn’t that my way of punishing you? If you think the punishnt isn’t enough, then let have two dogs, three cats, a pair of ducks, and a pair of parrots."
As Jing Qiao spoke, she quickly lowered her head to wipe her eyes.
Song Boyuan gently touched her face.
Jing Qiao took a deep breath and continued, "It’s not all for you. I, myself, also want sothing to look forward to. Is that so bad?"
"Good," Song Boyuan always pampered her without a complaint, but after a pause, he added, "Two dogs, three cats, a pair of ducks, a pair of parrots is not okay."
Jing Qiao couldn’t help but want to smile, her lips curving slightly.
She glanced at the ti, "Let’s go, let’s head back."
Song Boyuan inquired, "Going to visit your uncle in the hospital?"
"No, let’s just go back. Ji Ning already had soone handle your discharge, didn’t he?" Jing Qiao thought for a mont, "I still need to stop by the store to buy so stuff, we have no groceries at ho. Just have the driver drop off there."
"I’ll co with you," Song Boyuan said.
Jing Qiao looked at him, "You’re still injured, and the concussion needs more rest. Plus, you don’t like going to stores, do you?"
"Now I do," Song Boyuan said.
He took out his cell phone and called the driver, instructing concisely, "At the entrance."
Then he walked with Jing Qiao towards the hospital entrance. Seeing the young driver in the driver’s seat, Jing Qiao couldn’t help but turn to Song Boyuan, "We’ll need to buy sothing for the driver to visit him, because of your unreasonable demands, he had to be hospitalized."
Song Boyuan pursed his lips, his voice softening, "I paid him."
"Is money omnipotent?" Jing Qiao challenged him.
Song Boyuan couldn’t help but retort, "Isn’t it?"
"If it were, with all your money, why did I still leave you before?" Jing Qiao looked at him.
Song Boyuan conceded with a nod, "It’s not omnipotent. I’ll go with you to visit him."
"That’s good because if anything life-threatening had happened to him, how would you explain it to his wife and children?" Jing Qiao said.
Song Boyuan wanted to say that he could pay them a lot of money, but rembering what Jing Qiao had just said, he held back.
Jing Qiao sighed softly, "If it were you, put in danger by soone else’s instigation, no amount of money could make it right, no amount at all."
"I understand," Song Boyuan indeed lacked empathy and was significantly poor at relating to others.
But if he thought from Jing Qiao’s perspective, it suddenly beca much clearer to him.
So he added, "I know I was wrong."
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