Chapter Ninety-Three: Unforgivable Crimes

Lin Yu was organizing her thoughts when a knock on the door interrupted her. She casually brushed her disheveled hair behind her shoulder, assuming it was takeout, and opened the door without a second thought.

The moment the door opened, Chen Guang's tall figure stood outside, carrying a food bag in his hand.

"Why are you here? Aren't you at work?" She instinctively grabbed the doorknob, showing no intention of letting anyone in.

Chen Guang's gaze lingered briefly on the marks on her neck, a dark glint flashing in his eyes. Then, he casually picked up the bag.

"I came to see you during my lunch break." His gaze darted past her shoulder into the house. "What's wrong? Is it inconvenient?"

Lin Yu then realized that his attitude had been somewhat impolite and slightly stepped aside to make way.

She opened the entryway cabinet and saw a pair of unopened men's slippers. These were originally bought for Jiang Chuan as a buy-one-get-one-free deal, and she hadn't had a chance to wear them yet.

She ripped off the tag and threw the shoes on the ground. "Just wear them."

Chen Guang changed his shoes and walked into the kitchen. After looking around, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "It really is exactly the same layout as my room."

“There’s not much room for change in an old neighborhood,” Lin Yu said as he tidied the table, unpacking the takeout containers and arranging the food boxes Chen Guang had brought.

The knocking sounded again; Lin Yu's takeout had finally arrived. As she opened the door to receive it, Chen Guang's gaze fell on the medicine box on the table, his brow furrowing slightly. "He told you to take this?"

Lin Yu turned around, following his gaze, and paused. When she looked at him again, her eyes were devoid of any emotion. "Don't you feel awkward talking about this?"

"Lin Yu, can't you take better care of your health?" Chen Guang said indignantly.

"You don't seem to have any right to criticize me." Lin Yu pulled out a chair and sat down, slowly unpacking his takeout and putting a piece of food in his mouth. "If you want to eat, sit down; if not, get out."

Chen Guang stared at her, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Do you love him that much?"

Although he was unaware of their past entanglements, the marks on her neck and the medicine box on the table were enough for him to conclude that the man didn't respect her at all and didn't take her seriously. He was even willing to harm her body for his own pleasure.

"He treated you like that, and you still insist on marrying him?"

Chen Guang, mindful of Lin Yu's unwell condition, bought only light dishes, but she really had no appetite and only ate a few bites before putting down her chopsticks.

"We've broken up, all thanks to you!" Lin Yu raised her eyes and looked coldly at Chen Guang. "Besides, whether I get married or not, and who I marry, is none of your business."

She grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth, got up to change her clothes and go to the company to get the facts straight. "Don't put on this concerned act. At the end of the day, aren't you men all the same?"

Upon hearing the word "breakup," Chen Guang was taken aback, but he didn't feel the relief he had expected. Before he could even process what was happening, he saw Lin Yu turn around to close the bedroom door.

He instinctively stood up, his hand bracing against the doorframe. "Am I really that heinous?"

Lin Yu pulled her hand away from his, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "I just don't want to waste time with a flawed man."

She rested her fingertips on the doorknob and glanced back at him. "I'm going to change my clothes. Would Section Chief Chen like to come in for a look?"

......

Chen Guang and the others waited downstairs and walked back to the company with Lin Yu. The two tacitly avoided the topic from before and only talked about work-related matters.

He walked beside Lin Yu and kindly reminded him, "I heard there's going to be a major reorganization in your organization, so keep a close eye on things lately."

"What inside information do you have?" Lin Yu turned to look at him, hoping to get something out of him that was not related to the morning meeting.

Chen Guang shook his head. "I'm an outsider too, there's no way I could hear about something like this."

He paused for a moment, then shared his speculations with Lin Yu. "The company has been expanding too rapidly lately; the financial statements probably don't look good."

Regardless of who undertakes the project, Chen Guang will stay here until the end of the year. He reminded Lin Yu to make plans early, and Lin Yu nodded, stepped out of the elevator, and headed straight for the dean's office.

As Lin Yu left the office, her steps unconsciously slowed, her heart heavy. Although she had a premonition, she was still caught off guard when the news of layoffs actually came from the dean's mouth.

That's the downside of private companies; the chairman's decisions are like imperial edicts, unpredictable and subject to change at any moment. A agreed-upon one-year period can be broken with a snap of the fingers.

The dean's attitude was not optimistic, and it differed greatly from his promises at the beginning of the year. He spoke tactfully, but the meaning was crystal clear: the project would continue, but it was unclear who would lead it.

If the job were to be changed to project management, each specialty would basically retain one technical staff member, but the control specialty would likely be absorbed by electrical engineering.

After all, the initial document review does not require much technical expertise, and the company has no obligation to employ an idle person for no reason.

The dean's idea is that being laid off now is actually a good thing. The company will consider her long-term employee and will give her an extra two months' salary on top of the market rate. The bonuses and professional title subsidies that were owed in the middle of the year will also be settled first.

This amount of money is indeed considerable, enough to give her a buffer for a while. Even if she doesn't look for work for the time being, she won't have too much trouble making a living.

The dean gave Lin Yu two months to consider. If she accepted the company's arrangement, her compensation would be approved immediately, and the termination procedures would be handled very smoothly.

At the same time, he promised to write Lin Yu a letter of recommendation, recommending him to several companies he knew in the industry. It sounded nice, but Lin Yu knew in his heart that this was just a polite way of discouraging him from pursuing the relationship.

Thinking of the patent that Jiang Chuan had asked her to withdraw, her emotions were in turmoil.

Back at her workstation, Lin Yu didn't immediately contact Xiao Zhao. She hesitated, wanting to find the right opportunity. Besides, the National Day holiday was just around the corner; she wanted to wait until everyone had a peaceful holiday before making a move.

Lin Yu scrolled through WeChat and sent messages to several former colleagues he had been in contact with, arranging interview times after the holiday.

The other party replied quickly, and the situation seemed more optimistic than she had expected. After all, she had experience, certificates, and an unpublished patent.

Without even realizing it, she seemed to have begun to learn to think about problems calmly and weigh the pros and cons using Jiang Chuan's way of thinking.

Suddenly, the words he had once spoken echoed in my ears: he said he would always have my back. It seems that "always" is just a relative concept.

As it was nearing the end of the workday, an unfamiliar number called. Lin Yu assumed it was a business partner and answered it without thinking.

"Hello!" A soft female voice came from the other end of the phone, polite yet distant.

Lin Yu instantly remembered the number ending in 666 that she had seen at Jiang Chuan's house. Although they had never met, she was certain of the other person's identity in an instant.

Lin Yu didn't know her purpose, and just silently waited for her to make a move.

“Jiang Chuan gave me your contact information.” The other person’s tone was calm, as if they had already anticipated her silence. “You probably already guessed who I am. I think we can talk calmly, Ms. Lin.”

Lin Yu found it very interesting. It seemed that the two of them hadn't had time to communicate, or perhaps there was a time difference between Beijing and Shanghai, and Miss Bai didn't even know that she had been downgraded from ex to ex-ex.

"What do you want to talk about?" Lin Yu asked in a calm tone, casually pushing open the fire door of the stairwell.

Bai Qianhe seemed surprised that Lin Yu would be so calm, and her prepared lines seemed to have been useless.

She paused noticeably before continuing, "You haven't known him for very long, so you may not know about our past."

"Our breakup back then was unavoidable, and now that we have the chance to start over, neither of us wants to miss it. It's just..."

She lowered her voice and said, word by word, "Jiang Chuan seems to feel very sorry for you."

"Miss Bai, I want to ask you a question." Lin Yu leaned against the cold wall in the stairwell, interrupting her reminiscence.

"What?"

Are you divorced?

Lin Yu sarcastically posed the question, receiving the expected emotional response. "Does your husband know that you two have rekindled your old flame? What does he think about being cheated on?"

Bai Qianhe was momentarily speechless, all her moves seemed to hit cotton, so she had no choice but to casually change the subject.

"I only found out a few days ago that we actually share the same birthday." She tried her best to hear a crack in Lin Yu's calm tone.

"I don't know if he told you who he was with that day."

Lin Yu had seen her Weibo posts and knew that Jiang Chuan had gone to Beijing on her birthday and had a meal with Bai Qianhe. She didn't know the story behind the photos, but it was enough to leave room for speculation.

"Miss Bai, I'm just a tech guy, I don't understand your intricacies, so please speak frankly."

Don't you understand?

"Understand what?"

"I understand you're actually my substitute! He never really cared about you; everything before was just an act." Bai Qianhe, like a vicious rattlesnake, spat venom at Lin Yu without reservation.

"...Is that so?" Lin Yu bit her lower lip, her nails digging into the white plaster on the wall. She suddenly felt sorry for Jiang Chuan, for having such a hypocritical and two-faced first love.

There was silence on the other end of the phone, before a long pause was followed by a sentence: "You can be so calm, which means you don't love him at all. Why can't you let go and let us be together?"

"As you wish." Lin Yu smiled softly, "I have nothing to do with him anymore."

She had no intention of continuing this cat-and-mouse game with him. "If he's willing to go back to you, then I wish you two star-crossed lovers a long and happy marriage, and may you be forever united in heart."

Lin Yu immediately hung up the call and added the number to his blacklist. A sudden wave of intense nausea washed over him. He was thankful he had only eaten a few bites of food at noon; otherwise, vomiting would have been quite a sight.

She stood in the shadows of the stairwell, calming her breathing.

Thinking about how cautious I am even when asking for leave, how I always have to be subservient and try to read my boss's mood, and even those sleepless nights spent worrying about love, all of that seemed to lose its meaning in that instant.

Lin Yu bent down, resting his forehead on the back of his hand that was supporting him against the wall. His mind was a mess, but he suddenly remembered something completely unrelated.

She remembered that when she was in elementary school, Lin Min had bought her a pink butterfly headband. Its design was exaggerated and gaudy, but she loved it dearly. She wore it to school every day and didn't even want to take it off while sleeping.

But the headband was of poor quality, and she accidentally broke it after only two days. She was both sad and scared, afraid that her mother would scold her for not taking care of things, and sad that she had lost her beloved treasure. Clutching the two pieces of plastic, she cried so hard she couldn't breathe.

But when Lin Min saw this, she just smiled, wiped away her tears, ruffled her hair, and said nothing.

The next day after school, her mother came to pick her up as usual. In the bicycle basket lay an identical headband, its pink rhinestones sparkling in the cheap plastic bag.

Later, the headband also met its untimely end. She couldn't remember Lin Min's subsequent reaction, but she could never forget the smile in her mother's eyes when she first handed the headband to her.

Looking back now, it seems that apart from academics and health, Lin Min has always been very forgiving of me.

Time is like a gentle sieve, filtering out all the sharp edges of emotions. Those harsh reprimands and trivial arguments have all turned into lighthearted conversations between mother and daughter, becoming an inevitable part of their relationship's adjustment process.

Perhaps in the end, the only one who will truly accept me forever is my mother. Only with her can I be a child who never has to grow up.

At that moment, she suddenly missed that cheap pink headband terribly, and the confidence that came with being forgiven no matter what she did. The adult world is too tiring; even a breakdown has to be timed carefully.

Lin Yu suddenly wanted to be impulsive and didn't want to weigh the pros and cons anymore. To hell with her career crisis, to hell with her ex-lover. Even if she fell to the bottom and never recovered, at least when she got home, she could lean on her mother's shoulder.

Thinking of the trip that had been put on hold due to the breakup, Lin Yu had a bold idea, and his fingers dialed Yao Fangfang's number before reason could even register.