Chapter 18 It seems that many incredible things have happened in the past ten years...

It was almost ten o'clock in the evening when we returned to Villa No. 1. The room was pitch black, with only a wall lamp on the living room still on, which looked like it had been left on intentionally.

Gao Xing thought Shen Xingjian would be asleep by now, but when he walked in, he found the light in his room was on. Warm yellow light leaked through the crack in the door, casting a thin streak of light on the corridor floor.

Gao Xing remembered that she hadn't thanked him yet for the clothes today. After hesitating for a moment, she raised her hand and gently knocked on the door.

In the room, Shen Xingjian was sitting on the bed thinking about something. When he heard the knock on the door, he subconsciously wanted to ask who it was. Then he thought, who else could be in this house besides him and Gao Xing?

“The door is not locked.” Shen Xingjian’s slightly tired voice came from the room.

Hearing the response, he happily turned the doorknob. Inside the room, he was half-leaning against the headboard, his slender figure looking particularly thin in the soft light of the desk lamp.

"I saw the light in your room was on, so..." Gao Xing explained why he knocked on the door.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion or something, but Gao Xing always feels that he has been worried lately. I wonder if it’s related to what happened to Xu Jiakai a few days ago.

"Thank you for the clothes..." Gao Xing paused at the doorway, not going in. "I'll return them to you after I wash them."

Gao Xing didn't know that those expensive clothes couldn't be exposed to water and needed dry cleaning. Shen Xingjian didn't mention it specifically, just said, "Leave it there. The housekeeping will come to take care of it in a few days."

Gao Xing didn't insist after hearing that. She thought about what she saw and heard at the hotel tonight and spoke carefully, "Oh, I met Xu Jiakai today."

Hearing Xu Jiakai's name, Shen Xingjian unconsciously sat up straight in bed, his brows slightly furrowed, and he cast a puzzled look.

Gao Xing explained, "He's the sponsor of the anniversary celebration, and his wife seems to be the head of a Xinghai subsidiary."

"His wife?" Shen Xingjian was surprised.

"Well, you should know his wife too. She's the girl who came to your house that day."

“Shi Yunran?” Shen Xingjian’s voice was filled with disbelief.

"Yes, it's her." Gao Xing nodded.

Xu Jiakai and Shi Yunran? Husband and wife?

Shen Xingjian was a little bit unbelievable, ten years later they became husband and wife?

It seems that a lot of incredible things have happened in the past ten years.

At the same time, in a bar in Xinjiehui, Shi Yunran was helped out by Xu Jiakai in high heels. She had delicate makeup on her face and her cheeks were flushed, and she seemed to be quite drunk.

The summer night wind, carrying humid heat, passed through the towering buildings, blowing hard through the narrow gaps, making people's clothes rustle.

"So? Didn't I tell you he would regret it?" Shi Yunran was drunk and leaned on Xu Jiakai.

Xu Jiakai took out the car keys from her bag, helped her to the passenger seat, and when he bent down to fasten her seat belt, she suddenly grabbed his collar.

"You go and tell him... as long as he begs me, I can let him go, let Zhongyue go..." Shi Yunran said vaguely.

At such a close distance, a strong smell of alcohol sprayed on Xu Jiakai's face. He looked at Shi Yunran in front of him and suddenly didn't know how to describe his feelings at the moment.

In her eyes, he never existed. He was obviously a partner of Zhongyue, but she never cared about his thoughts.

"Why are you in Guanya?" Xu Jiakai took her hand away and asked while helping her fasten her seat belt.

If he remembered correctly, Shi Yunran studied art design, not business management, abroad.

Just as Shen Xingjian understood Xu Jiakai, Shi Yunran also understood him. She understood his diligence and gentleness, as well as his inferiority and cowardice, and even more so, the temptation in his words.

Shi Yunran hadn't intended to hide it from him. She closed her eyes, leaned back against the headrest, and said nonchalantly, "Shangcheng Group wants to develop the Mingjing Lake area and needs my dad's help. Guanya did me a favor and asked me to take charge of the project. That's all."

The complex connections between Guanya and Minghong, Shirun, and Shangcheng are easy to uncover with a keen eye. Xu Jiakai finds it ironic that what ordinary people have to study hard, pool their family's resources, and strive for, to achieve, the powerful can achieve with just a flick of their fingers.

"Was the acquisition of Zhongyue Guanya's idea or yours?" Xu Jiakai's tone was indifferent, but there was a hint of questioning in his words.

For a long time, Shi Yunran had been accustomed to his obedience and was dissatisfied with the sharp edge he suddenly showed.

She slowly opened her eyes, and the pride in her bones immediately rose. "What difference does it make whether it's my opinion or Guanya's? Now, I represent Guanya."

She had thought that once her face turned cold, Xu Jiakai would try to coax her like he did before, but she had never expected that this time he would just say indifferently, "You'll only make him hate you more if you do this."

Shi Yunran was a little annoyed and angry when the secret in her heart was exposed, but what made her even more upset was that Xu Jiakai dared to speak to her like this after only not seeing her for a few years?

She sneered: "Xu Jiakai, what qualifications do you have to say such things to me? Even if he hates me, even if he holds a grudge, he should hate you the most..."

"After all, it was you who broke his legs and made him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, right?"

Shi Yunran's words were like a sharp blade, peeling away the past that Xu Jiakai didn't want to recall.

But she was right, in front of Shen Xingjian, he would always be a sinner.

In fact, Xu Jiakai has always known that he is a completely different person from them. He does not have a wealthy family background, a broad vision, or a smart mind. He was able to enter Mingjinghu and break into their circle only because of his hard study day and night and his obedient nature.

He liked Shi Yunran from the first time he saw her, and all three of them knew this.

Just as poor people are always attracted by the sparkling gems in luxury goods counters, Shi Yunran also has a fatal attraction to him.

She is noble, superior, and beautiful. She always looks at people with a sense of naive pride. Even though she has a little temper, she is still cute and adorable.

For a long time, Xu Jiakai was fascinated by her charm.

He knew that she had never seen him in her eyes, and he also knew that he would never be as good as Shen Xingjian.

If Shi Yunran is the princess, then Shen Xingjian is the prince, and he is just the attendant beside the prince.

So he never dared to reveal his true feelings, but only silently protected the princess, paid attention to her moods, understood her habits, and was considerate to her in every possible way.

He remembered her birthday and would save money to prepare the gift she had wanted for a long time, and give it to her in the name of Shen Xingjian; he remembered her taste and would always take the initiative to help her pick out the green onions and coriander when they ate together, and said that Shen Xingjian told him; he also remembered her temper, and whenever Shen Xingjian was impatient, he would find ways to pull him away and then apologize to her on his behalf.

Xu Jiakai's love was humble and cautious, because he knew that the princess was destined to marry the prince, and the servant's love was not worth mentioning.

He thought they could maintain this seemingly harmonious triangle relationship until their senior year of high school, when Shen Xingjian got a place in Tsinghua University, and Shi Yunran's parents wanted her to study abroad, and they had disagreements on future plans.

Shi Yunran suggested that Shen Xingjian apply for an exchange program after entering Tsinghua University and go to her school, so that they would not have to live in different places. However, Shen Xingjian refused, saying that he had no such plan and asked Shi Yunran not to tell him what to do.

Shi Yunran was very angry about this. For this exchange program, she had been busy for several weeks, looking up information and asking her parents to use their connections to inquire. She finally picked someone who fully met the requirements, but he didn't appreciate it and even scolded her for meddling in other people's business.

Perhaps because she was too immersed in the role of Shen Xingjian's girlfriend, Shi Yunran could not tolerate such contempt.

At this time, a young man was pursuing her. She could have rejected him directly, but thinking of Shen Xingjian's arrogant and rude attitude over the years because of his love for her, she decided to let him taste the feeling of regret after losing him.

She said to the young man, “Don’t you have that kind of drag racing competition in private? As long as you beat Shen Xingjian, I will agree to you.”

The young man naturally knew Shen Xingjian's name, and the next day he brought a group of people to the school gate to issue a challenge.

"There will be a mountain road race at Mingtai Mountain next Sunday night. Do you dare to come?" Xiao Kai, wearing a motorcycle suit, challenged in a nonchalant manner.

At that time, Shen Xingjian was just coming out of the school gate with a basketball under his arm. When he heard his words, he didn't even look at him.

"If you don't come, Shi Yunran will be mine!" Xiao Kai shouted behind him, and the gangsters next to him also started to make noises and whistles.

Hearing Shi Yunran's name, Xu Jiakai's heart tightened. He hurriedly pulled Shen Xingjian and wanted to say something, but Shen Xingjian still didn't react. He didn't even turn his head and said, "Whatever you want!"

If the story could end here, there would be no regrets for everyone later, but there is often only a fine line between the innocence and stupidity of youth.

Xu Jiakai went to persuade Shi Yunran to stop being angry and associating with those gangsters, but Shi Yunran was completely enraged by Shen Xingjian's indifferent attitude. She just wanted to see whether he had her in his heart!

Shen Xingjian's attitude was also very firm. If Xu Jiakai hadn't been stopping him, he would have wanted to make it clear to Shi Yunran long ago. At most, they had some family acquaintance, and they had never had any feelings for each other. After graduation, he didn't want to be involved anymore. He would never play such a childish game with Shi Yunran.

The princess and the prince both had their own tempers, but the servant couldn't bear to see the princess fall into the hands of the dragon, so he went to ask the prince for help, using their friendship as a bargaining chip.

Shen Xingjian truly regarded him as a friend, which Xu Jiakai knew very well, so he was certain that he would compromise.

Sure enough, he agreed.

Shen Xingjian was a natural at racing, having been offered a job as a professional racer for less than three years. However, his grandfather had always disapproved of him pursuing a career in racing, so he gave up. With his skill level, competing against a young man who only cared about racing and buying equipment would be like overkill.

At that time, Xu Jiakai was delighted to think that this matter would be solved soon, but he didn't know that fate suddenly played a huge joke on them.

On the day of the Mingtai Mountain Road Race, many people from the society gathered beside the mountain track to watch the excitement. Shen Xingjian was already sure of victory, but just as he was crossing the finish line, the young man heard the boos from the people around him, and became angry and suddenly accelerated without caring about his life, slamming Shen Xingjian, who was slowing down to turn, into the mountain wall.

In a flash, the hum of the motorcycle stopped abruptly with a "bang", a flash of fire appeared, and the young man and his motorcycle flipped over the highway guardrail and died on the spot.

Shen Xingjian was knocked to the ground, and both he and the car flew several meters away. The sharp sound of metal rubbing against the ground almost pierced the eardrums of everyone present. When he opened his eyes again, a horrible mess of blood mixed with leaking gasoline covered the dark asphalt road.

Xu Jiakai was so scared that his legs felt like they were filled with lead and he couldn't move them. He didn't expect that his stupidity would cause his best friend to lose his legs and all his brilliant life in the future.

Those unbearable past events were entangled in Xu Jiakai's heart like vines, and became tighter and tighter as time went by.

Every day after that, whenever he saw Shen Xingjian lying on the hospital bed or in the wheelchair, he would uncontrollably think of his former carefree and unrestrained life. That feeling made him feel painful, suffocated, and want to escape.

And now, Shi Yunran's accusation was like a loud slap in the face, waking him up from his pretense of peace and ruthlessly tearing apart his timidity and cowardice.

"You're right, I am guilty..."

Xu Jiakai raised his eyes, and his sword-like brows were filled with a cold light that Shi Yunran had never seen before. It was like a sharp scalpel cutting through flesh, mixed with raindrops that had fallen from the sky at some point, making people shudder.

"And you, don't you?"

They are clearly accomplices.