Chapter 45 Chapter 45 The wedding was held as scheduled
Ye Yinuo dragged Wen Yu to the tea area, but after a moment's hesitation, she decided it wasn't safe, so she took her to the fire escape. They stood between the upper and lower floors. Still uneasy, Ye Yinuo climbed up like a thief, pressed her ear against the fire escape door, and listened for a moment. Then, she climbed back down and repeated the same thing. Then, she sprinted back to the middle of the two floors and said to Wen Yu, "No one's there now. It's safe."
Wen Yu watched her running up and down with no expression, his eyes as blank as a mannequin with its soul sucked out.
Ye Yinuo pulled out her phone and showed Wen Yu the dozen or so small groups she joined at work. She said, "Look! These people who like to watch the fun and stir up trouble have shared the same photos in so many groups! How can they be so gossipy? I hate gossipers the most!"
Wen Yu: “…”
Ye Yinuo was furious. Scrolling through WeChat, he complained to Wen Yu, "Do you know how many gossip groups I'm a member of in our company? Do you know how many of them are gossiping about you and Mr. Pan right now? Oh my god! I don't even dare to count."
Wen Yu took Ye Yinuo's phone and clicked into several gossip groups with over 99 messages. Sure enough, the atmosphere was as lively as Spring Festival. They were discussing Wen Yu and Pan Xianchen. When the news of Wen Yu's upcoming marriage surfaced, the rumors of her relationship with Pan Xianchen lit a fuse, instantly setting off these eager, gossipy firecrackers. They were betting on whether Wen Yu had seduced Pan Xianchen first, given Pan's status. They speculated on how far the couple had progressed, whether they had checked into hotels several times without Wen Yu's fiancé's knowledge. They excitedly discussed the situation, making obscene fabrications...
Ye Yinuo observed Wen Yu's expression. At one point, she suddenly snatched back her phone, clicked the lock screen, and said, "Don't look at them! These people's mouths stink so much, it's irritating me."
Wen Yu lowered his head and said nothing.
Ye Yinuo comforted Wen Yu: "Many of the things they said were just rumors. If they were in the entertainment industry, they would have already issued a lawyer's letter of warning."
Wen Yu nodded, pursed her lips, and said in self-deprecation, "But a lot of what I said is true. It was indeed me who seduced Pan Xianchen first. If I hadn't been drunk that day, we wouldn't have started so casually."
Ye Yinuo retorted: "Why do you say that! Kissing is a matter between two people, right? How can you kiss without him? It's obvious that you are attracted to each other, how can you say it's seduction?"
Wen Yu smiled, walked up the stairs without saying a word, pushed open the fire escape door and walked back to the office.
The people in the office seemed to be talking about something, but when they saw Wen Yu come back, they all became quiet again. Ye Yinuo asked her quietly from behind: "Why are you walking so fast? Is there anything wrong? Do you need me to talk to you? We can continue to the stairwell."
Wen Yu was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Thank you, but no thanks."
My colleagues in the office also know about this. They were just gossiping about her, right?
Wen Yu feigned ignorance and returned to her workstation with forced composure. She'd been unable to concentrate on any work this morning. Whenever she heard a rustling sound, she'd become alarmed, straining her ears to see if they were commenting on her. At lunch, sitting amidst the dense crowd, she felt like countless eyes were watching her.
Her colleagues were all very decent and smiled as usual when communicating with her about work in person, but she clearly saw that the colleague who smiled at her was guessing her measurements with other male colleagues in one of Ye Yinuo's gossip groups.
Wen Yu took deep breaths, but no matter how many times she repeated it, she still felt a tightness in her chest.
During lunch break, her mother called her. Wen Yu ran to the stairwell to answer it, but fearing being overheard, she climbed up, floor after floor, until she reached the top floor. Opening the fire escape door from this floor revealed the sun terrace on the top floor of the office, where no colleagues were present.
Mom learned from Wen Yu that the wedding candy hadn't been distributed today, so she called to check on Wen Yu. From her mom's reaction, Wen Yu knew Wen Yu hadn't revealed anything about Pan Xianchen. Why? Perhaps he was too embarrassed today to reveal anything that hurt his pride. Or perhaps, despite this humiliation, he still wanted to brave the storm and live with her...
No matter what the reason was, Wen Yu found it ridiculous.
Mom said, "It's just handing out wedding candy. Don't be so reluctant even for such a small thing. Wen Yu said he took half a day off to accompany you to hand out wedding candy, but you sent him away... Since you don't want him to accompany you, then do it yourself. You must complete this task today. Mom will call you again before leaving get off work."
Wen Yu smiled bitterly and said, "Mom, I don't have any wedding candy."
Mom said, "Where's the wedding candy? Where is it? Is it at Wenyu's place? Then you can take half a day off and go to Wenyu's place to get the wedding candy and give it out."
Wen Yu didn't say anything.
Her mother kept giving her the same advice, and her ears were almost callused. She felt as if she were deaf. Her mother was chattering away, so why couldn't she hear anything?
The sound of her mother's voice was drowned out by gusts of howling wind. It was a cloudy day, and the wind was very strong. When Wen Yu opened the fire escape door and walked towards the sun terrace on the top floor, the coming and going wind enveloped her.
She walked toward the fence, the short iron bars standing before her. It must have been so long ago, the bars were covered in rust. Wen Yu reached out and touched them; they were cold and prickly. She thought her mother's voice was too loud, like three thousand ducks stomping through her head, like the evil spirits that had come to haunt her in countless nightmares. She leaned over to look under the railings. It was so high up there that the cars and pedestrians below seemed as small as a ladybug.
If she went downstairs directly from here, would the strong wind blowing down as she fell blow away all the ducks in her head?
Wen Yu tried to step onto the fence.
Without the railings, her vision was clearer. She was completely engulfed in the wind. She couldn't help but look down at her feet, which were trembling. A gust of wind lifted the hem of her dress, revealing a corner of her skin, which was cold and gave her goose bumps. Her heart was pounding, and tears were blown into her eyes.
With a thud——
She fell. Her already bruised back collided with the hard floor a second time, exacerbating the injury. Her phone had gone off at some point, and her mother had hung up. She sat on the ground, staring blankly at her still-trembling feet, a wave of fear welling up inside her.
Wen Yu didn't dare to jump. She fell back to the ground on the platform.
She didn't go downstairs right away. It was nice here, close to the sky, surrounded by the wind, and completely devoid of any noise. She didn't want to go back to the office and hear her colleagues whispering behind her back, and even less did she want to see them saying one thing to her face and another behind her back, both in front of her and on their phones.
Wen Yu cleared his mind on the platform. If he could stay here forever, like a small pebble or a nameless speck of dust, he would be free.
The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her wandering thoughts.
Pan Xianchen asked her on the phone: "Why aren't you in the office? Where have you been?"
Wen Yu replied: "What's wrong?"
Pan Xianchen paused, then slowly asked, "Did you see those photos?"
"Yeah." Wen Yu said, "I saw their discussion as well."
Pan Xianchen was silent for a long moment. After a while, he said, "Those photos will no longer be circulated. All discussions about you have also been deleted. I will silence them all."
Wen Yu smiled and didn't answer.
Pan Xianchen tried to discern the meaning of her smile. After a moment, he pleaded, "Can I see you now? I want to see you."
"What do you want to see me for?"
Pan Xianchen moved his lips, but said nothing. He wanted to hug Wen Yu, to cover her eyes and ears, to tuck her into his arms, to keep her safe and protected. But did she want to see him? She must hate him now, right? Pan Xianchen regretted arguing with the man in the parking lot. He should have let Wen Yu go back to the office, then led the man to a deserted corner and kicked him hard in the face, hands, feet, and chest.
He actually pushed Wen Yu against the metal door of the distribution room in front of him?
Such a loud noise. How painful!
At this thought, Pan Xianchen's calm heart began to beat violently again. Why hadn't he moved faster to pull Wen Yu off the car, instead being stopped by Xiaobai and the security guard? He wanted to shove the man's head to the ground, then ride on him and punch him again and again. This was how he dealt with the youths who came to provoke him in middle school. He fought three or four of them, and they beat him up badly, but he still rode on the youth viciously, holding his collar with one hand and punching him with the other. He beat him until his face was covered in blood.
The young man gave in and no longer dared to block him and Ning Kai in the alley or ask for money. Pan Xianchen was not afraid of a fight; he would rather get his head broken and bloodied than not beat Wen Yu into submission, make him kneel and beg for mercy, and make him withdraw voluntarily.
"Pan Xianchen?" After waiting for a long time without any response, Wen Yu asked, "Is he still there?"
"exist."
Pan Xianchen took a deep breath, pushing those violent thoughts out of his mind. He heard Wen Yu's light voice, and for some reason, he felt an itchy and painful sensation in his heart.
"I'm sorry," he said, feeling the tight pain in his chest. That's what loving someone is like: your heart can ache, then sometimes it can bubble with joy like it's been soaked in cola. This cycle repeats over and over again, until even the pain becomes exciting and memorable.
Wen Yu didn't say anything else. They were silent on both ends of the phone. After a long while, Wen Yu said, "My mom called me. She hung up on you."
She answered Yu Xianyun's call.
"Wenyu." Mom's tone was serious, and there seemed to be a hint of fatigue. She called her full name, which usually meant she was going to talk about something important. "If you really don't want to give wedding candy to your colleagues at work, then don't do it. It won't affect your marriage to Wenyu anyway. Come back to the villa this Friday. I've asked Wenyu's parents to come over, and our two families can get together to discuss your marriage. Let's finalize all the details, and your wedding will be held as scheduled."
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