Do You Mind?

Cai Lenghan felt a soft hand gently patting the back of his hand, and his sharp, cold face quickly softened.

Cai Lenghan felt a brief wave of vexation. He had shown yet another ugly side of himself to Zhao Wanrou. He wondered if she was frightened. What if... Cai Lenghan's hand, which had briefly relaxed, clenched tightly again.

Zhao Wanrou was also deeply vexed. She knew her family's silly block of ice was overthinking things again. Thus, Zhao Wanrou gently reminded him, which was also an indirect way of showing Cai Lenghan that she cared deeply about him:
"Be careful, don't let your emotions get the better of you and end up hurting yourself."

Cai Lenghan obediently relaxed his tightly clenched hand. However, under the force of a block of ice who possessed the nature of a "mad dog," the fragile white porcelain spoon still shattered. Zhao Wanrou's eyebrows furrowed. Cai Lenghan's heart leaped into his throat. Was she angry? Or disgusted? Yet, Zhao Wanrou's gaze, as she looked at Cai Lenghan's hand, was filled with worry. She saw that a deep red mark had been pressed into Cai Lenghan's rough palm. Fortunately, it was not bleeding yet.

Zhao Wanrou gently pried open Cai Lenghan's palm, rubbing it and blowing on it a few times before muttering petulantly:
"See? I told you so, but you wouldn't listen. It's left such a deep mark; you almost hurt yourself. Honestly..."

While Zhao Wanrou was still grumbling, Cai Lenghan's hand suddenly exerted force, squeezing her hands gently within his palm. Zhao Wanrou was startled for a moment, looking up in surprise at the man opposite her.

Cai Lenghan did not know why he had acted this way. Perhaps Zhao Wanrou's fingers in his palm just now had left such a lingering sensation that he could not help but want to hold onto it. Met with Zhao Wanrou's surprised gaze, Cai Lenghan kept a straight face and continued the unfinished topic:
"Do you mind?"

"Mind what?"
Zhao Wanrou did not react in time. She was still shaken by the rough sensation transmitting from his hand, which felt both ticklish and itchy. Cai Lenghan did not let go, repeating his question once more:
"The rumors about me being an illegitimate son. Do you mind?"

So it was this issue. Actually, Zhao Wanrou had already thought about this in her past life. In fact, ever since she married Cai Lenghan, rumors about him had intentionally or unintentionally reached her ears. For every bit of mockery and laughter behind his back regarding his background, there was an equal amount of gossip that Zhao Wanrou had to marry an illegitimate son. Even after they divorced, rumors continued to spread. Things like:

"Look, Zhao Wanrou finally couldn't take it anymore. As expected, she still divorced that illegitimate son."

"Look, a lowly illegitimate son really can't be brought to the table. No matter what underhanded methods he used to force her, no one could tolerate him."

"Look, even someone as good-natured and family-oriented as Zhao Wanrou insisted on a divorce despite Cai Lenghan's revenge. Perhaps the illegitimate son of the Wan family really has too many bad habits."

And many, many more such gleeful jeers.

But actually, not many people knew that the divorce in her past life was actively proposed by Cai Lenghan to Zhao Wanrou.

It was absolutely true that Zhao Wanrou had reluctantly married Cai Lenghan for the sake of the Zhao Group, but during their years of living together, Zhao Wanrou highly appreciated the man before her. He was steady, resilient, talented, wise, and possessed a very elegant demeanor. If she hadn't known that he loved someone else in his heart, Zhao Wanrou felt she might have abandoned everything to love this cold iceberg.

Up to this point, her past-life appreciation had been upgraded to include admiration, respect, empathy, and love. Therefore, Zhao Wanrou never wanted Cai Lenghan to suffer those malicious jeers like in his past life again. At the very least, she would not allow him to feel that she would mind, look down on, or despise him because of those vicious rumors. After thinking for a moment, Zhao Wanrou spoke:
"Do you still remember the time Wan Tianbao claimed I assaulted him?"

Cai Lenghan nodded, remaining silent. Of course he remembered. Back then, he had been scared out of his wits. But why did Zhao Wanrou bring that up now? Furthermore, she had even switched her form of address back to "I."