Chapter 282: Don’t Cross My Bottom Line

She felt awful again when she thought about him being married.

“20 years already?” Mo Yesi nodded calmly, but still sounded distant. “Then you should know me well enough to know that even my closest friends, or my family, in fact, can cross my bottom line.”

Shen Rou’s expression changed instantly.

She blinked tentatively. “Ah Si...”

Mo Yesi cut her off unpleasantly. “I don’t know what you said to Mianmian; she didn’t tell me about it. But I hope you weren’t finding trouble with her. If our years of friendship still matter to you, then you’d better be good to her.

“She’s someone I care about. I don’t expect you to treat her the way I do, but at the very least, I hope you treat her well on my account.”

“If you can’t even achieve that, then it’s best we don’t see each other often.”

Shen Rou clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palm. “So... she’s your bottom line now?”

Mo Yesi did not deny it, nor did he respond to her directly. “Shen Rou, don’t touch my bottom line. I don’t wish to use unkind means to deal with my friends.”

He emphasized the word “friends”.

“I hope we’ll remain friends for the rest of our lives, the way we are now.”

Mo Yesi furrowed his brows slightly as he recalled what Qiao Mianmian had just said. He tried to get the point across tactfully.

Shen Rou was a very smart girl.

If she really had an interest in him that way, she should be able to get the subtext.

“Friends for the rest of our lives?” Shen Rou repeated this statement as her face got increasingly pale.

Mo Yesi looked at her with his clear eyes. “Yes, friends for the rest of our lives.”

“Ah Si, you...” Shen Rou’s lips quivered like she was losing control of her emotions and was about to spill a secret she’d kept for years.

But Mo Yesi didn’t give her a chance to do that.

Before she went on, he said, “I still have something to attend to, you can go first.”

Shen Rou bit her lip. The coldness on his handsome face was like a stab to her heart. She went a few shades paler as tears began to well up in her eyes.

She turned away the moment her first tear rolled down her cheek. At the very least, she wanted to preserve her dignity.

“Alright, I won’t hold you up then.”

With that, she turned around and left.

...

After settling this, Mo Yesi did not actually feel any better.

In fact, he felt as bothered as before.

As if there was some unfinished business, some unresolved conflict that gnawed at him.

He unbuttoned his shirt in frustration.

The thought of Qiao Mianmian’s red and swollen eyes really upset him.

He wondered if she was still crying.

She was still on her period and shouldn’t get too agitated. What if her stomach started to hurt again because of her sudden mood shift?

Was he too harsh with the last few words he’d left her?

He’d never said anything harsh to her since they got married.

Was she able to bear with it?

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he got. His heart throbbed with pain as images of her teary face and her curled up figure flashed through his mind.