“What else do you know? Why did you suddenly stop talking?”

At the critical moment, Jiang Feng suddenly seemed to have choked on his words—not a single syllable would come out. Ming Yue, growing a bit impatient, couldn’t help but ask.

Jiang Feng pulled the person in his arms even closer, planted a few light pecks on her lips, then grabbed her tightly and fixed his sharp eyes on her pure, clear gaze without blinking.

After a brief pause, he mustered the courage to say to the one in his arms: “I also know that I’ve fallen in love with you. I know that just thinking about the possibility that you might one day reject me makes my heart ache, fills me with anguish, and even leaves me feeling as though I’m suffocating!”

The air instantly froze.

He gazed at Ming Yue with deep affection.

Ming Yue tilted her head up to look at him as well.

In each other’s eyes, they could see their own reflections.

After another brief moment of stillness, Jiang Feng pressed the small hand he was holding tightly against his chest.

“Ming Yue, can you hear it? Somewhere along the way, this place stopped beating according to its old rhythm. Now it changes its pace at any moment because of you—it responds to every word, every action, every little movement of yours!”

Ming Yue still didn’t speak, but she didn’t move a bit either; she was quietly listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

Jiang Feng took a deep breath, tightened his grip on Ming Yue’s hand, and said above her head, “Ming Yue, I, Jiang Feng, am officially telling you today: I like you, I love you, and I can’t live without you! For your sake, I’m willing to change everything. For your sake, I’m even ready to let go of all grudges!”

There was one more thing Jiang Feng didn’t say.

That was: if I lose you, I’ll very likely swing to the opposite extreme—I might start plotting against Fu Qiancheng and the Fu Family even more viciously, and I might even…

“When did it start?”

Ming Yue finally spoke.

Jiang Feng was taken aback, clearly caught off guard.

So Ming Yue simply put her question more directly: “When did you first start liking me? And when did you really fall in love with me?”

“I don’t know.”

Jiang Feng answered honestly, without hiding anything.

As for exactly when he began to like her—and when he truly fell in love with her—he really had no idea at all.

Maybe it was those years spent by her side, honing himself through her faith and resilience, that stirred something in his heart.

Maybe it was the countless intimate moments over the years, when his body and soul underwent a profound transformation.

Or maybe it was a single instant, when he—who had once believed no one in this world had ever loved him—unconsciously found a way to pour out his love.

In short, he had thought about it, but couldn’t figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it altogether.

After all, when he fell in love doesn’t really matter.

How he fell in love doesn’t matter either!

What matters is that he truly has fallen in love; that this love has quietly taken root and sprouted deep in his heart, where it can never be eradicated; that after falling in love, he seems to have rediscovered the beauty of this world; and that he longs so deeply for this love to be reciprocated, to blossom into happiness, and to bear the fruit of bliss!

So when Ming Yue gave him an opening, he resolved to be brave and finally confess the love he’d kept hidden in his heart.

Ming Yue frowned slightly. “You don’t know?”

“I really don’t know.”

“I’m not lying—you truly don’t know. But I do know that for the rest of my life…”

Before he could finish, Ming Yue reached out and covered his lips. “I believe you. Let’s leave the rest for now.”

End of Chapter 170: Counterattack 96