Chapter 36

After that, Wen Yan suddenly became very busy. Sang Nian didn't know what he was busy with, but he knew that he left early and returned late every day. Whenever she saw Wen Yan, her attention would be drawn to the dark circles under his eyes and the beard that had sprouted on his chin but he had no time to groom it.

This reminded Sang Nian of Wen Yan's state after Sang Ning's passing.

He had thought about asking Wen Yan what he had been busy with lately, but every time he opened his mouth, seeing Wen Yan's tired expression, he just couldn't bring himself to ask.

What's the point of asking? He can't help at all. Besides, he has something he's keeping from Wen Yan right now, something he doesn't want him to know, as it would only add to his worries.

Knowing that Qiu Yang's death was caused by Sang Yu, Sang Nian had been thinking about how to take revenge on Sang Yu. He had no evidence, and the Sang family would not leave any evidence, so he had no way to bring Sang Yu to justice. Therefore, he could only seek revenge.

Initially, he wanted to use Wen Yan to take revenge on the Sang family. If he were with Wen Yan, Sang Yu and Tao Wanru would surely suffer terribly, and Sang Nian would find pleasure in their pain. However, doing so would hurt Wen Yan. And now, he simply couldn't bear to hurt Wen Yan.

Wen Yan had been so good to him; he couldn't repay kindness with enmity.

Moreover, Wen Yan said he liked him and wanted to take responsibility for him, and even kissed and hugged him, which made Sang Nian have no choice but to rekindle his hope for Wen Yan.

He loves Wen Yan, and Wen Yan loves him now, so he can't bear to part with her.

But he couldn't let go of Qiu Yang's death.

Since this path is blocked, let's try another. He's still young, and he'll surely find a way to make his biological parents suffer a fate worse than death, and make them reap what they sow.

One evening, Wen Yan called to say he would be home late and told Sang Nian to go to bed early and not wait for him. Sang Nian obediently agreed, but then he turned around, changed his clothes, and went out.

Liu Wenyuan had been calling him repeatedly recently, and although Sang Nian didn't answer, Liu Wenyuan didn't give up. Besides calling, he also kept sending messages to Sang Nian. Coincidentally, Sang Nian had something to ask Liu Wenyuan, so after Wen Yan hung up, he answered Liu Wenyuan's call.

Let's meet.

Sang Nian said to Liu Wenyuan.

When Sang Nian arrived at the agreed-upon coffee shop, there was only one person sitting inside, Liu Wenyuan. The owner was nowhere to be seen. Considering the two bodyguards at the door, Sang Nian guessed that Liu Wenyuan had booked the entire coffee shop.

As soon as Sang Nian appeared, Liu Wenyuan stood up instantly, looking at her with excitement in his eyes. How long had it been since he last saw Sang Nian? A week or half a month? He couldn't remember, but Sang Nian in front of him seemed to have gained some weight on her face, and her spirits were much better than before. She was no longer so thin and frail that she looked like she could be blown away by a gust of wind.

He couldn't help but grit his teeth as he realized that all of this was because of Wen Yan. Sang Nian's improvement was all thanks to Wen Yan, and no matter how much he disliked Wen Yan, he had to thank him for finally allowing him to see the normal Sang Nian again.

Perhaps, letting go is the best blessing for Sang Nian.

This idea suddenly popped into Liu Wenyuan's mind.

"Year after year!"

Liu Wenyuan shouted happily.

Sang Nian didn't respond; he just sat opposite him.

So Liu Wenyuan asked again, "What would you like to drink, a cappuccino or...?"

“The boss is gone, who can make coffee? You?” Sang Nian looked up at Liu Wenyuan and saw him laugh awkwardly.

"Year after year..."

"Alright, let's just leave it at that." Sang Nian sighed, but he didn't know where to begin. He had thought about asking Liu Wenyuan questions on the way here, but the moment he saw Liu Wenyuan, he was speechless.

He knew Liu Wenyuan's feelings for him. If Liu Wenyuan hadn't saved him from suicide at the cemetery, he might have missed Wen Yan's tenderness forever.

He was grateful to Liu Wenyuan for this.

He was even more grateful to Liu Wenyuan for telling him the truth about Qiu Yang's death.

But for Liu Wenyuan, besides gratitude, he felt mostly fear and dread. After all, Liu Wenyuan was Liu Jinyuan's younger brother, and they both had a madness running through their blood, so Liu Wenyuan would always have people watching him.

"Liu Wenyuan, the reason I asked you to come out today is to find out about what happened between Sang Ning and Liu Jinyuan."

After hesitating for a long time, Sang Nian finally asked the question.

Liu Wenyuan's tightly clenched hands suddenly trembled violently. He lowered his head, his eyes bloodshot. The day had finally come; he thought he could keep it a secret forever.

"You know what happened that day, right? Before you found me in the garden, you were actually following Sang Ning, weren't you?"

All of this was Sang Nian's speculation. He still remembered what Wen Yan had said to him on Christmas Eve.

Sang Ning's death may have been more than just an accident.

Liu Wenyuan wiped his face, then finally looked up at Sang Nian and chuckled.

"Where should I begin..." Liu Wenyuan's voice was soft, trembling, and incredibly hoarse. He sighed, took a big gulp of the cold water on the table, and then opened his mouth again.

"I told Liu Jingyuan about the drug den. You know I'm an illegitimate child. In the Liu family, as long as Liu Jingyuan is around, I'll never have a chance. Besides, does that scumbag Liu Jingyuan deserve to marry you? He doesn't. So at Grandpa's funeral, I wanted to make a scene, ideally until everyone knew. He does drugs, he murders, he deserves to die. Liu Jingyuan's men have been looking for you. I was afraid he might be intoxicated and harm you, so..."

"So you had Sang Ning replace me?" Sang Nian suddenly asked.

"Heh..." Liu Wenyuan lowered his head and gave a bitter laugh, and Sang Nian clenched his fists instantly. When he learned that Liu Jingyuan was looking for him that day, he had tried to make Liu Jingyuan's men mistake him for someone else, which is why he kept circling around Sang Ning, trying to confuse the other party with their incredibly similar faces in the eyes of outsiders.

But he genuinely never imagined things would turn out that way. If Liu Jingyuan hadn't been using drugs, perhaps he could have recognized the person as Sang Ning and let her go out of respect for the Sang and Wen families.

But……

The color drained from Sang Nian's face, turning deathly pale. He beckoned with his finger and lowered his head helplessly.

It turns out it really was because of myself.

Wen Yan is right.

“Nian Nian…” Liu Wenyuan called out softly to Sang Nian, “I didn’t let Sang Ning replace you. No, I did have that idea, but before I could put it into action, Sang Ning had already gone upstairs with Liu Jingyuan’s men…” Then he followed them up, and after confirming that the person was Sang Ning, he immediately went downstairs to find Sang Nian. Then, in the garden, he had just exchanged a few words with Sang Nian when tragedy struck.

“Not you?” Sang Nian retorted, then took a deep breath, slumped back on the sofa, and said, “Whether it was you or not, Sang Ning’s death was indirectly caused by you and me.”

Sang Ning is wicked, just as wicked as Tao Wanru and Sang Yu. When Sang Nian was little, he was so dependent on Sang Ning, yet he and Tao Wanru conspired to abandon him. Later, Sang Ning even took one of his kidneys. Even so, when Sang Nian closes his eyes and thinks of Sang Ning lying in a pool of blood, his brains splattered, his limbs tremble uncontrollably. He feels incredibly cold, as if he's about to die.

Suddenly, a familiar scent enveloped him, and his face was pressed tightly against someone's chest. With each breath, Sang Nian's nostrils were filled with the familiar citrus aroma, which made him feel incredibly at ease.

Sang Nian closed her eyes and reached out to hug Wen Yan tightly.

Liu Wenyuan's face contorted for a moment at the sudden appearance of Wen Yan, before returning to normal. Seeing the two people embracing tightly before him, Liu Wenyuan chuckled self-deprecatingly to himself.

“Brother Wenyan, Sang Ning’s death was really because of me,” Sang Nian said in a low voice.

“It’s not you,” Wen Yan comforted her.

“It was me. Liu Wenyuan told me everything. What happened that day was caused by Liu Wenyuan and me. You’re right, I’m the one who killed Sang Ning.”

“It wasn’t you, Niannian, it wasn’t you, please believe me?” Wen Yan kissed the top of Sang Nian’s head and said softly. Then he looked at Liu Wenyuan opposite him and said, “I remember telling President Liu that you should never appear in front of Niannian again, but it seems that President Liu did not take my words to heart.”

Liu Wenyuan waved his hand dismissively and said, "It was Niannian who invited me, how could I stand her up? Besides, I really didn't take President Wen's words to heart. I don't care if you want to deal with the Liu family, anyway, I don't care about all this rotten stuff. But there's something I still want to say." At this point, Liu Wenyuan looked deeply at Sang Nian and said with a smile, "All of this is my fault. If you want revenge, come at me. But Niannian is innocent, I hope you won't hold a grudge against her."

“You can’t call him Niannian, and besides…” Wen Yan grabbed Sang Nian’s hand and held it tightly. In front of Liu Wenyuan, he lowered his head and gently kissed the back of her hand before saying to Liu Wenyuan, “No matter what happens in the future, Sang Nian will always be my number one priority. I will never hurt him again, and you can rest assured about that, Mr. Liu. In this world, you are not the only one who loves Niannian, but Niannian will only love me, and I will love him even more than Niannian loves me.”

As soon as Wen Yan finished speaking, he saw Sang Nian's ears slowly turn red. He lowered his eyes and chuckled, and Sang Nian's ears twitched twice.

Seeing their interaction, Liu Wenyuan finally resigned himself to his fate. Sang Nian had never liked him, and no matter how hard he tried, he would never win her heart. Fine, Liu Wenyuan, first come, first served; you've arrived too late.

Liu Wenyuan chuckled softly, then gestured to Wen Yan. Wen Yan accepted, then lowered his head and said to Sang Nian, "Nian Nian, wait for me here for a moment."

Sang Nian held Wen Yan's hand tightly and did not let go.

"Don't worry, it's right outside the door, you can see it."

Hearing Wen Yan say this, Sang Nian slowly let go of Wen Yan's hand, then nodded obediently and said, "Then I'll wait here for Brother Wen Yan to come back."

Liu Wenyuan left the house before Wen Yan. He lit a cigarette as soon as he stepped outside. When Wen Yan came out, he held up the cigarette pack and asked if he wanted one. Wen Yan glanced back at Sang Nian and shook his head. Liu Wenyuan's hand froze in mid-air, but he quickly withdrew it. He took a deep drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke.

“There’s something else on Niannian’s mind. Although as an outsider I don’t have the right to talk to you about it, I’m afraid Niannian will keep it to herself and not tell you. So…”

"I know."

Before Liu Wenyuan could finish speaking, Wen Yan interrupted him. At this moment, Wen Yan took a cigarette from Liu Wenyuan's cigarette case, did not light it, and just held it to his nose and sniffed it.

“After being abandoned by the Sang family, Niannian was taken in by a man named Qiu Yang. Niannian called him brother and lived with him for eleven years. Later, Niannian was taken back by the Sang family, and Qiu Yang also died in an accident in a fire.” As he spoke, Wen Yan glanced at Liu Wenyuan and continued, “However, it was not an accident. Or rather, the fire was an accident, but that night, even without that fire, Qiu Yang would have died from carbon monoxide poisoning. This was the work of the Sang family, and I investigated it a few days ago.”

Liu Wenyuan was amazed by Wen Yan's ability to execute the plan. After all, he had been investigating this matter for a long time before he had a few clues, but he did not expect that Wen Yan had already understood everything in just a few days.

So what are you going to do?

Wen Yan turned around and met Sang Nian's gaze. He raised his hand, smiled and greeted Sang Nian, then replied, "I will get back everything that Nian Nian has lost, one by one."

"About Sang Ning's death..."

“It has nothing to do with Niannian.” Wen Yan threw the crumpled cigarette into the trash can, turned and walked into the coffee shop. The wind chimes on the door swayed as he pushed the door open, making a crisp ringing sound, and then Wen Yan’s voice finally reached Liu Wenyuan’s ears.

"Without you, Sang Ning would have died that day too."