Chapter 332 The Scoundrel Young Master 18 (2/2)

"She ruined herself because she believed in this bullshit love."

"She always told me that love can conquer all, but what happened? She was abandoned and ended up being sold."

Lu Ran's tone was full of sarcasm and deep doubt.

Zi Xi understood something: why he was so resistant to marriage.

So the saying is true: childhood trauma takes a lifetime to heal.

So, I'm sorry.

“I told myself I must never be like her.”

"I don't want any bullshit love. I'll just rot in the mud. Nobody can count on me, and I won't count on anyone."

"This is good for everyone, it's very safe."

Lu Ran turned back to Zi Xi, his gaze falling on her face with a kind of resigned honesty.

For someone like him, staying single is the safest option.

At this point, Lu Ran's gaze once again locked onto Zi Xi, his expression becoming incredibly complex.

"I was originally planning to stay single and live a miserable life, since no good girl would marry someone like me, until you came along."

His voice went hoarse.

He acknowledged that her appearance was a variable.

"The guys I drink with say you're the cowardly adopted daughter of the Shen family."

"But now it seems that someone as charming as you is like a beautiful flower stuck in a pile of cow dung like me."

Lu Ran looked at her, his eyes filled with a thrill that even he himself had not fully understood.

“The way you look at me is different from everyone else’s. They all look down on me or want to take advantage of me.”

He thought of the neatly organized study and the clean blueprints.

"Everyone else sees my pile of stuff as nothing but waste paper, but you treat it as a treasure."

"When I thought I was completely finished, and even wanted to give up on myself, it was your actions that showed me..."

“I, Lu Ran, am not a pile of utter trash.”

"It was you who, in these few short months of being together, managed to pull me out of that quagmire bit by bit."

Lu Ran's voice choked with emotion.

When he was a child, he was sick, and his parents were busy with work, so his older brothers would take care of him.

After he grew up, no one really cared about him anymore.

The only time Aunt Liu ever made him a bowl of ginger soup was when he had a cold.

When he had a fever, his wife was busy wiping his body to cool him down and feeding him medicine.

Zi Xi didn't interrupt him; she just listened quietly.

She never expected to hear such words.

She did feel sorry for Lu Ran, but she couldn't say she liked him.

After all, who would genuinely like someone who has accomplished nothing and has no ambition?

However, Lu Ran was not entirely without achievements.

The mechanical engineering books he read and the notes he took could hardly be considered a lack of ambition.

But she didn't speak; she simply reached out and gently covered his somewhat cold hand with hers.

Her palms were warm and soft; this simple gesture conveyed comfort.

Lu Ran felt her warmth and touch on the back of his hand, and slowly relaxed.

Seeing his red eyes and the emotions he was trying to suppress, Zi Xi couldn't help but give him some chicken soup for the soul.

“Lu Ran, you are not mud, you are just a lump of fire, a newcomer who only knows how to burn yourself and burn others.”

Zi Xi thought of the books she had read and used analogies to describe Lu Ran's behavior.

From a young age, the Shen family treated her like a slave and excluded her from all of them.

"Now you can try to light up other places too."

She paused slightly, her gaze meeting his, filled with comfort and a sense of shared suffering.