The door opened with a bang, and Meng Ya rushed in, her chest heaving up and down in breathlessness. As soon as she got to talk to Lihua, she left everything and ran towards her home.
"Lihua…"
Tears plopped out on her cheeks as she finally got to meet her best friend after a whole six months.
"Yaya!"
The two friends hugged hard and burst into tears.
"Oh God, we finally met!" Meng Ya sniffled. "Do you know how much I missed you?"
Lihua's heart felt brimmed upto emotions, and she lowered her head. "I...I cannot even say that I missed you because I had forgotten about you. Will you forgive me?"
"No! I won't forgive you!" Meng Ya cried. "How dare you leave like this and make me worried so much. I-Idiot!"
"En. I am really an idiot…" Her voice was low as she spoke.
Meng Ya looked at her from head to toe, and she couldn't express how relieved she felt seeing her safe. She thought that Lihua was helplessly trapped in Wei's mansion all this time.
"Thank God that you are alright. This whole time, I had all bad thoughts running in my mind about how Jiang Wei was keeping you. He suddenly took you away, and I couldn't help but think of him as a demon who might be hurting you!"
Lihua trembled, and her tears fell.
"Demon? He was nothing like a demon. He used to dote on me so much that I would feel overwhelmed…"
Meng Ya kept silent.
Fu Renshu had also said the same thing. Wei's love for Lihua knew no bounds, and he would do anything but hurt her. Now she believed it.
For Lihua to look so heartbroken, he must have loved her a lot. He must have taken utmost care of her. That's why it was more painful to bear his betrayal.
Lihua guiltily said, "I am sorry. Yaya. You-you got in trouble because of me," she slightly paled in anticipation as she asked, "D-Did Wei hurt you?"
Meng Ya quickly shook her head. "He didn't. Though I was imprisoned in Renshu's house."
She looked at him, shocked. "A-Assistant Fu?"
"En."
Lihua blinked her eyes. "Wei... didn't take you to the base?"
She had imagined that Wei must have tortured her just like he did to other traitors in his base.
"No. Renshu said that on Jiang Wei's orders, he never took me to the base," she hesitated, "It was because I am your best friend that he didn't want to hurt me. So Renshu gave me a choice to take the money and leave this city. Of course, I didn't accept it."
Lihua trembled.
If it were the old Wei, he would have definitely killed Meng Ya without even batting his eyelid just like he did to Jia.
It meant that Wei had slowly changed. For him to not consider killing somebody to protect his secret, he had taken a big step towards this change.
Now that she thought about it, he didn't kill Mo Huojin or Xia Nuan either.
"I am sorry that you had to go through all this because of me...But why didn't you leave the city?"
Meng Ya flicked her forehead. "Stupid. How can I leave my best friend when I know that Jiang Wei did something bad? I know that you wouldn't have left either had you been in my place!"
Lihua coughed and couldn't deny it.
"Assistant Fu...How was he to you? He didn't trouble you, right? I mean, you were imprisoned…"
Meng Ya's face darkened. How could she forget her sufferings? She was imprisoned and then played by him and his sister. She unknowingly cursed Tian Meirong that she shouldn't have, and Fu Renshu had loads of fun seeing her in that situation.
Then they had also spent the night together…
Meng Ya's face turned red in embarrassment.
Then it turned redder in anger, remembering the next morning when the bomb dropped on her.
Fu Renshu, you hooligan, I will never forgive you for this!
Lihua placed her hand on her forehead. "Do you have a fever?"
"N-No! I am fine."
For now, Meng Ya didn't say anything about their relationship. It wasn't the right time.
She gritted her teeth. "Don't worry, bestie. I will have my revenge on him one day…"
Meng Ya quickly made her sit on the couch and asked, "Now you tell me everything from the beginning. What happened in these six months, and how did you learn the truth?"
Lihua shook hard, and with great difficulty, she somehow explained what happened. The mention of Jia's death crushed her heart into pieces.
Meng Ya could only dumbfoundedly listen to her.
Sis Jia is dead?
She couldn't find the right words to console Lihua. What was she supposed to say when the man she loved wholeheartedly had murdered her sister? She married the man who had harmed her family.
She simply pulled her into her hug and brushed her fingers through her hair. Lihua cried hard as she buried her face. "Yaya...my sister...she-she will never come back now…"
Their muffled sobs echoed in the room.
"I don't know what to do now. I am pregnant, and I-I cannot think of how to raise-"
"You are pregnant!?" Meng Ya sharply asked.
Lihua tearfully nodded. Now Meng Ya felt even more terrible.
She left Wei at such a crucial time…
She quickly wiped her eyes and brightly smiled. "It's good news, dummy. Oh my God, I am gonna become an Aunt!" Her eyes sparkled in delight, and she squealed.
"Oof. Why do you look so troubled? You are not alone because I am with you! We will shine through our poor misery together!" Her nostrils flared in determination.
For the first time today, Lihua was able to laugh. She felt extremely touched. There was the Zhang family and now Meng Ya to support her.
"Thank you, Yaya," she pursed her lips. "But I don't know how to start. I will need to look for a job, but I couldn't complete my degree. Without graduating, it will be tough to get a job…" her shoulders drooped.
Meng Ya knew that she had a job in Jiang Industries when Wei had hired her during their campus recruitment. But of course, working there wasn't an option now.
"So what's the problem? Complete your degree right now if you couldn't do it earlier. Join college once again!"