In Her Name, I Fell into Eternal Slumber

Love Can Shift

“Don’t you know that love can flow and change?” she asked with an almost desperate tone.

I couldn’t help but laugh, albeit bitterly. “What about Li Rongrong? We’ve been divorced for so long now. Even if I remarried, that’s perfectly normal.”

“I thought, considering your flirtatious nature, you would have been remarried by now. You’ve had plenty of time, haven’t you? You could have married and divorced a few times over. Why would you still come to find me? What’s so special about me that you can’t forget?”

Her voice quivered with a strange mixture of bitterness and hope. “You can’t marry someone else. You said you loved me, that you only loved me. You should be with me, not anyone else. And our daughter… Don’t you care about us anymore?”

Li Rongrong’s face was a picture of panic and desperation. “I was wrong, Wang Peng. I truly made a mistake. Everything that happened, it was all my fault. I understand now. Please forgive me. Can we reconcile? Can we make things right again?”

“I haven’t looked for anyone else during this time. My heart has only been with you. I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve always been waiting for you to come back to me. I truly know I was wrong. Can you come back and be with me? We had such a great relationship before, we were the perfect couple. You can’t just throw that all away.”

I looked at my ex-wife with a strange, detached amusement. I was about to marry someone else, and here she was, rushing over to put on a performance, hoping to make me laugh at her desperate plea.

I shook my head. “Li Rongrong, don’t you think it’s pathetic that you’re begging me to love you? You look like a dog trying to beg for affection. How desperate for love are you?”

The words were like a boomerang, coming back to hit her. She had once looked at me with contempt, mocking me for being the one begging for love. Now, it was her who was crawling back to me, desperate, pleading for another chance.

Her face turned pale, likely unable to believe that one day she would end up on her knees before me, asking for mercy.

But it didn’t matter if she believed it or not. The fact was undeniable—the truth, as cold as it was, was now inescapable.

If this had been the old Li Rongrong, she would have been furious at such an insult. She would have turned her back on me, slapped me across the face, reminding me of my place. She would have made it clear who had the upper hand in this relationship.

But now, she was not in a position to do so. With her hidden motives exposed, she could only lower her head, ashamed, and beg me like an animal desperate for a scrap of affection.

“Wang Peng, I was wrong. But we still have our daughter. Please, you have to tell your father not to marry someone else. Otherwise, you’ll lose your father forever.”

At that moment, Wang Jiajia rushed to cling to me, tears welling in her eyes. “Daddy, please don’t marry someone else! Step-mothers are always bad. Are you really going to let her bully me?”

I stood still, pushing Wang Jiajia gently aside. “When did you ever consider me your father?” I spoke with calm detachment. “Are you only here because the alimony from the divorce is running out?”

Both mother and daughter shared the same uncomfortable, awkward expression. Yes, what else could they want from me? What was it that they needed? It was only money, of course.

When we divorced, I had paid a lump sum for Wang Jiajia’s support until she turned eighteen. After that, there would be no more money coming her way.

“Daddy, do you really not want me anymore?”

“No,” I replied coolly, ushering them both out of my life once and for all. It felt almost like an unpleasant weight lifting from my shoulders.

Just then, Zhao Yue appeared behind me, her laughter light and teasing. She wrapped her arms around my neck. “I didn’t expect you to be so charming. Even after all this time, your ex-wife still can’t let go.”

I shook my head, a small smile forming on my lips. “You know well enough how she treated me before. But don’t worry, I’ll treat you better.”

Zhao Yue then kissed my cheek, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Our wedding might have to be postponed.”

“What?” I was suddenly alarmed. “Why postpone it?”

For a moment, I thought she might be having second thoughts. But instead, she pressed a hand to my mouth, quieting me.

“Listen to me first. I’m pregnant. The wedding will be two months later. By then, my belly might be too big to fit into a wedding dress. It would be better to wait until I’ve had the baby and then hold the wedding afterward.”

“You’re pregnant?” The words were like a burst of light in the darkness. I could hardly believe my ears.

I pulled Zhao Yue into my arms, holding her close, feeling the warmth of joy flooding over me. I hadn’t expected such luck. To have a lover, and now to be expecting a child together. It felt as though life had finally unfolded in the best way possible.

When I stopped craving love, love came to me. When I stopped begging for affection from others, I finally found the security and happiness I had long sought.

Months later, our son was born, and my heart felt complete. This was what family truly meant—being together with those you loved and who loved you back.

Zhao Yue’s eyes were filled with love whenever she looked at me. Our son grew day by day, always reaching for me with trust and adoration. The pain from the past seemed to fade with each passing day, until it no longer had any hold on me.

Then I heard the news: Li Rongrong had gone overseas to find her former lover, Chen Cheng, but had been thrown out by his wife. It turned out that Chen Cheng’s wife had ties to the underworld, and Li Rongrong met her end on a foreign street. Wang Jiajia, left with no one to care for her, was sent to her grandmother’s home.

I could have let her stay with me, but I didn’t. I could not bring myself to care for someone who carried Li Rongrong’s blood. I had no faith that such a person could love or be loved. I wouldn’t waste another minute on her. My family, the one I had built with Zhao Yue, was too precious to be disrupted by her.

She and her mother had once laughed at me, calling me desperate, saying I was pitiful. But now, I no longer lacked love. The ones who lacked love were them.

I didn’t laugh at them; I didn’t feel the need to rub it in their faces. But I would not be swayed. Not one bit.

And so, with my son in my arms and Zhao Yue by my side, I finally understood what true happiness meant: love, trust, and security. The things that had once been elusive were now firmly in my grasp.