Chapter 104 He was wrong from the start

The business meeting that evening took longer than expected.

When Shangqiu Zhu returned to the hotel and opened the door, the small figure who should have been curled up on the sofa reading documents did not appear, as expected.

The room was empty and unusually quiet.

"Yan Shuang?" he called out, but there was no response.

An ominous premonition instantly enveloped him.

He strode into the bedroom, bathroom, and balcony, but no one was there.

Her suitcase was still open in the walk-in closet, but her handbag and passport were missing.

Shang Qiuzhu took out his phone with a gloomy expression and dialed a number.

Just a few minutes later, Lin Sheng called back, "Mr. Shang, I found out. Secretary Yan used the hotel's ride-hailing service an hour ago to go to the private jet terminal at Changi Airport. Then, she boarded a private jet registered under the Lin Group and flew to Hong Kong."

Hongkong?

Shangqiu Zhu immediately understood.

Yan Shuang's grandmother was recently hospitalized in Hong Kong due to illness, which was enough for Yan Shuang to fly there without hesitation.

He took every precaution to prevent the Yan family from directly contacting Yan Shuang, and also blocked Lin Chengyu's way to Los Angeles.

Unexpectedly, the two companies secretly joined forces and took advantage of this loophole.

That's a brilliant move to cut off the enemy's supply lines.

The Yan family must have revealed Yan Shuang's grandmother's situation to Lin Chengyu, and Lin Chengyu seized this opportunity precisely, using Yan Shuang's presence in Singapore to directly use his private jet to take her away from right under his nose.

Yan Shuang was extremely anxious the whole way. When she arrived at the VIP ward of the private hospital in Hong Kong, she found her grandmother leaning against the headboard in good spirits, chatting with the nurse with a smile.

It wasn't nearly as dangerous as Lin Chengyu had described on the phone.

Her heart sank suddenly, and the feeling that something was wrong instantly reached its peak.

Sure enough, the next second, the ward door was pushed open, and Zhou Yaqin and Yan Zhenye walked in.

"Shuangshuang is here? Come on, look at your grandma, she misses you so much." Zhou Yaqin warmly stepped forward and tried to take her hand.

Yan Shuang abruptly took a step back, avoiding her touch. "What do you want from me by lying to me here? Grandma is perfectly fine."

Zhou Yaqin's smile froze for a moment, then she put on a worried expression: "Shuangshuang, something terrible has happened at home. Shangqiu Zhu has gone mad for some reason. He not only broke off his engagement with your sister, but also suspended all projects with the Yan family. The cash flow is about to dry up, and the Yan family is about to collapse."

"The contract was terminated...?"

Yan Shuang murmured and repeated those three words.

He... broke off his engagement with Yan You?

He didn't tell her a single word about this.

Seeing her stunned, Zhou Yaqin assumed she had been persuaded and immediately pressed her advantage, her voice even more sorrowful: "Yes, Shuangshuang. Now, only the Lin family can save the Yan family. Lin Chengyu is very kind to you, and the Lin family has made it clear that as long as you agree..."

Yan Shuang was suddenly jolted awake from the huge daze brought on by the contract termination.

Looking at the man and woman before her, who had given birth to her yet repeatedly pushed her into the abyss, her voice trembled violently with extreme anger and despair: "So, you went so far as to fabricate the lie that my grandmother was seriously ill to trick me into coming back. Just to sell me off again, to use my marriage to exchange for your profits? Selling me once wasn't enough, do you want to sell me a second time? Back then, to curry favor with Shangqiu Zhu, you didn't hesitate to send your own daughter to someone else's bed. Now that the boat is about to capsize, and you can immediately find another buyer, you can't wait to pack me up and send me to the Lin family again?"

She laughed in anger, a laugh filled with sorrow and irony, yet tears welled up uncontrollably again: "In your eyes, besides the Yan family, besides interests, what else is there? What am I? A commodity to be traded at any time?"

The grievances, resentment, and pain she had accumulated over the years finally burst forth at this moment.

"Did you ever ask me if I was willing? Did you ever think about whether I would be in pain? Did you, even for a moment, treat me as your daughter, instead of a bargaining chip?"

Zhou Yaqin was taken aback by her daughter's resolute attitude, a hint of embarrassment flashing across her face. But she quickly put on a painstakingly earnest expression, as if saying, "It's all for your own good." She continued, "Shuangshuang, how can you think of your parents like that? We... we had no choice. But this time is different! Lin Chengyu really likes you. He comes from a good family, his character and looks are impeccable, and he's gentle and considerate towards you. If you marry him, you'll be the young mistress of the Lin family, living a life of endless glory. Isn't this a perfect match?"

"A good match?" Yan Shuang cried even harder, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world. "When you sent me to the bamboo bed in Shangqiu, whose good match was it for? Why? Didn't you see how scared and disgusted I was?"

"Do you know how desperate I felt that night after I drank what you gave me? Do you know how I felt lying in the hotel room? I felt utterly filthy."

She cried so hard she could barely breathe, each word sounding like it was being ripped from her heart: "You think you can erase all my pain with a casual remark that I wasn't wronged?"

"Do you know how long it took me to barely convince myself to accept reality? You have no idea. You only see the projects you got, and you only see that the Yan family has caught its breath."

Her desperate cries and tearful accusations completely tore open that unbearable past.

Her words, each one filled with anguish, echoed through the hospital corridor.

Outside the ward, Shangqiu Zhu's tall figure stood frozen in place, as if in a moment of stillness.

He tracked her down to the hospital, but he never expected that as soon as he stepped outside the ward, he would hear words that would tear his heart apart.

He heard Zhou Yaqin eagerly promoting Lin Chengyu, calling him a "perfect match," while Yan Shuang inside the door did not immediately deny it.

However, immediately afterward came Yan Shuang's question, which was clear yet tinged with sobs.

"What about the bamboo from Shangqiu?!"

"When you sent me to the bamboo bed in Shangqiu, why didn't you say it was a perfect match?!"

Why didn't you ask me if I wanted to?! Why didn't you see how scared and disgusted I was?!

"That's a nightmare I'll never forget! It's a shame that makes me tremble just thinking about it!"

Shangqiu Zhu closed her eyes.

He heard her desperate sobs, heard her describe her fear and disgust at the time, heard what she called that shameful night.

That night.

No one knows what that night meant to him.

In his meticulously planned and cold-blooded world, that unexpected night, the girl who stumbled into his arms by sheer chance, was an unexpected ray of light in his life.

She appeared in his barren emotional world, something he hadn't expected but found sweet.

He regarded it as a gift from fate.

He once thought it was the beginning of love, but he never expected that for her it would be fear, disgust, a shame she could never wash away, and a nightmare she could not bear to look back on.

It was the torment she had to endure in order to repay that ridiculous debt of gratitude for being raised.

It turns out that he had been indulging in a self-indulgent fantasy from the very beginning.

Shangqiu Zhu's usually upright figure slumped slightly, unable to support its weight.

All his later closeness and possession, and even his earlier gazes and concern that he himself was unaware of.

In her eyes, was it nothing more than a continuation of the humiliation of that night? Was it tainted from beginning to end by the original sin of coercion and depravity?

Shangqiu Zhu leaned against the cold wall. The chill of the marble seeped into his skin through his shirt, but it was nothing compared to the coldness in his heart at that moment.

He had never experienced this feeling before.

It wasn't a gunshot wound, nor a stab wound, yet it was more violent and thorough than any physical injury.

It was as if countless poisoned arrows pierced his heart with pinpoint accuracy at the same time.

-

Lin Sheng waited quietly outside the hospital gate and saw Shang Qiuzhu walk out alone.

The boss's face was deathly pale, and his jawline was taut.

Lin Sheng's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately got out of the car to open the door for him.

He had never seen President Shang like this before. What puzzled him even more was, where was Secretary Yan?

The car door closed, shutting out the outside world. A heavy silence fell over the car.

Shangqiu Zhu didn't indicate the destination; he simply leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

Lin Sheng didn't dare to ask any more questions and could only wait patiently.

After an unknown amount of time, Yan Shuang finally appeared at the hospital entrance.

She walked very slowly, as if all her strength had been drained away, her thin figure swaying precariously in the wind.

She stared blankly ahead, as if she couldn't see anyone or sense any direction, just wandering aimlessly.

Lin Sheng's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately looked in the rearview mirror.

Shangqiu Zhu had opened her eyes at some point and was quietly looking at the girl with tears streaming down her face.

Lin Sheng assumed that President Shang would get out of the car immediately; however, Shang Qiuzhu simply sat stiffly in the back seat.

The air inside the carriage solidified into a heavy, oppressive mass, making it hard to breathe.

"President Shang?" Lin Sheng asked tentatively in a low voice.

"Follow me," Shangqiu Zhu finally said.

Lin Sheng was stunned.

Follow? Just follow? Looking at Secretary Yan's distraught appearance, is it really just following?

But he dared not disobey the order, and released the brakes extremely slowly, driving at the slowest possible speed.

The black sedan followed closely behind the sorrowful figure walking alone on the street.

He watched her stand blankly at the crossroads, as if she didn't know where to go.

He watched as her thin shoulders trembled uncontrollably in the evening breeze, and as she raised her hand, futilely trying to wipe away the tears that kept rolling down her face, only to find that the more she wiped, the more tears flowed.

As she walked, Yan Shuang finally stopped, her steps unsteady.

As the neon lights begin to illuminate the streets of Victoria Harbour, their reflections shimmer on the dark water.

There happened to be a small open-air bar nearby, and she staggered over and sat down in the dimmest corner.

Yan Shuang didn't even look at the wine list. She just said something to the waiter, and soon a glass of strong liquor was brought to her.

She picked up the glass, and without hesitation, tilted her head back and took a big gulp. The strong alcohol burned her throat, causing her to cough violently and choke on even more tears, but she seemed oblivious to it all, and then took another sip.

The black sedan stopped silently a short distance across the street. The window was rolled down a crack, and Shang Qiuzhu's gaze passed through the bustling street and the flowing crowd, landing on her.

Her back slowly slumped down, and her body, which had been holding on tightly, was being disintegrated inch by inch by the alcohol.

Her head began to droop little by little, about to hit the cold tabletop, when a hand with distinct knuckles suddenly reached out from the side and gently placed it under her forehead.

Shangqiu Zhu maintained the posture of leaning over and supporting her, and with his other hand he gently brushed away the stray hairs that fell beside her cheeks, revealing her face covered with tear stains.

He gently brushed his fingertips across her cheek, his eyes brimming with overwhelming heartache.

He looked at her for a few seconds, and then carefully lifted her up from the chair and held her tightly in his arms.

Lin Sheng had already alertly opened the back door.

Shangqiu Zhu put her in the back seat of the car, let her rest her head on his lap, and took off his suit jacket to cover her.

"Let's go to the hotel."