Chapter 15
The blue and white ointment lay conspicuously on the dark marble tiles.
Yu Li stood frozen in place, not daring to pick it up or look up at Yan Shiting's expression.
The two remained locked in a stalemate for what felt like half a century before Yan Shiting finally bent down to pick up the ointment and said coldly, "Go eat first, then come to my study and we'll talk."
After saying that, he strode away.
Yu Li turned around to look at Yan Shiting's back and bit her lip.
He originally just planned to avoid Yan Shiting. Anyway, school starts tomorrow, and they won't have any more contact after that. He just wanted to forget about all those things.
Unexpectedly, he accidentally dropped the ointment.
Judging from Yan Shiting's behavior, what he wanted to talk to him about was what happened that night.
He can no longer hide; he has no choice but to face it.
It just so happens that he also wanted to get answers to those questions in his mind.
Yu Li pursed his lips, took a few deep breaths, and walked into the kitchen where he saw the food that the nanny had specially left for him, which was still warm.
For some reason, Yu Li suddenly felt homesick.
These things don't happen at home, in your own world.
Yu Li's eyes welled up with tears, and she buried her head and casually ate a few mouthfuls of rice.
But feeling uneasy, Yu Li really had no appetite. After eating half a bowl of rice, she put down her chopsticks.
He tidied up the tableware, cheered himself up for a while, and then went to the small study of Yan Shiting on the third floor.
The study door was ajar, leaving a crack. Yu Li raised her hand and knocked on the door, then pushed it open and went inside.
Yan Shiting was sitting in a large office chair, looking down at the ointment on the table.
Seeing Yu Li walk in, he looked up and asked, "Have you finished eating? Have a seat."
Yu Li nodded and walked to the desk to sit down.
He pursed his lips and said, "Mr. Yan, I found this ointment in the gap between the bed and the cabinet. Do you know what kind of medicine it is?"
Yu Li still wanted to test the waters again. Perhaps Yan Shiting didn't want to have anything to do with him, so he would pretend not to recognize the medicine and let bygones be bygones regarding what happened that night.
In this way, Yu Li can conveniently "forget" it.
However, Yan Shiting did not give him that chance.
"I know." Yan Shiting had barely finished speaking when he couldn't help coughing a few times.
His words were like a hammer smashing into a mirror, shattering Yu Li's earlier illusions into several pieces.
Yu Li's fingers, which were intertwined on his lap, lowered his eyelashes and asked, "So, you actually still remember what happened that night?"
After he finished speaking, the study remained quiet for a while.
Yan Shiting nodded and admitted, "Yes."
Yu Li could barely control her trembling body again.
He clenched his right hand tightly into his left palm, his brows furrowed in confusion, his voice filled with deep bewilderment: "You remember, but you didn't... Don't you hate me? Why didn't you come looking for trouble? Why didn't you show any sign of it?"
"That night, after I fell asleep, you were clearly awake. Why did you stay in my room and create the illusion that I woke up first?"
Along with all those questions that came flooding back, he couldn't hold back his tears.
The more I thought about it, the more confused I became, and the more confused I became, the more aggrieved I felt.
Yu Li choked back tears, her eyes brimming with emotion: "Then I was filled with anxiety, unsure if you remembered. I racked my brains trying to find ways to test you, but you didn't react. I... I thought you..."
He presumptuously assumed that Yan Shiting didn't remember, so he tried to act naturally like he did three years ago, explaining that he would let go of his feelings for Yan Sui.
While he was doing all this, while he unilaterally believed that they had already talked things out, what was Yan Shiting thinking? Was he silently watching him make a fool of himself?
Yu Li suddenly stammered, and after a long while, he finally found his voice: "Am I funny?"
Her peach blossom eyes were wet with tears, and she looked at him with pain in her eyes.
Yan Shiting felt a sharp pain in his heart.
He didn't want to bring up that incident and upset Yu Li, but he didn't expect that it would only make him more miserable.
However, he was unable to answer Yu Li's question.
Yan Shiting's face was tense as he asked in a deep voice, "Yu Li, why do you think I'm making fun of you?"
Yu Li's smile was bitter, and she lowered her head without saying a word.
He admitted that some of his words were spoken in anger, and that he was taking his anger out on Yan Shiting.
Yes, isn't it all just his "self-righteousness"? What right does he have to blame Yan Shiting for not showing that he still remembers what happened that night?
"You didn't laugh at me; I made a complete fool of myself, and I have only myself to blame."
Yu Li suddenly recalled some of the details and actions Yan Shiting had taken when they spent time together during this period.
She applied medicine to him, helped him play cards, spoke to Yan Sui on his behalf about the inappropriate way of addressing him, and even gave up her bed for him to sleep in while she was sick on the cruise ship...
On the way back at noon, Yu Li fell asleep before even getting on the bus.
He was leaning against the car window at that moment, thinking that Yan Shiting was actually quite good to him.
But now that I think about it, what did those actions represent?
Yu Li wiped her face, chuckled, and asked, "You've been taking such good care of me lately, what do you take me for? Your prospective lover?"
"Yu Li," Yan Shiting said, his eyes dark and unreadable, "Don't say such things."
"You were drugged that night, I'm so sorry."
"Also, I have never hated you."
Yu Li subconsciously asked, "You don't dislike me, so does that mean you like me?"
After saying that, he chuckled self-deprecatingly and denied it: "Impossible."
The distance between them was so great that he knew his place; Yan Shiting could never possibly like him.
However, Yu Li did not notice the sudden change in Yan Shiting's expression when he asked the question about liking him.
Hearing his self-deprecating humor, Yan Shiting pursed his thin lips and asked, "So what are you thinking now? Do you want me to take responsibility for you?"
Yu Li's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
"Take responsibility? I want you to take responsibility for me?" He muttered twice, looking at Yan Shiting: "So, you think I want you to take responsibility for me today?"
So, that's how Yan Shiting views him?
Did you not show any reaction at first because you were worried he would demand responsibility?
Yu Li leaned on the desk and slowly stood up.
"Believe it or not, I never intended for you to take responsibility."
He forced a smile and said, "We're all adults here, talking about taking responsibility is too childish."
He just wants to leave now and doesn't want to have anything to do with Yan Shiting or the Yan family anymore.
He and the Yan family were from two completely different worlds.
“Yu Li…”
With a vacant look in her eyes, Yu Li casually interrupted Yan Shiting: "Let's just pretend nothing happened."
The soft light in the study flickered suddenly.
Yan Shiting clenched his fist and remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he abruptly released his clenched fist. He said, "If this is what you want, I promise you."
"Thank you, Mr. Yan."
Back in her room, looking at the place she had lived in for more than half a month, Yu Li felt a chill run through her body.
He shouldn't still be here.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Yu Li wiped her face, pulled out her suitcase, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and quietly left the Yan family home.
He took a taxi to the hotel he had booked, went into the room, and without inserting the room key, slowly squatted down and hugged his suitcase in the pitch black.
He didn't know why he was crying. He was internally mocking himself, thinking, "What's there to cry about?" but the tears just wouldn't stop.
It's okay, it's alright, school starts tomorrow.
After school starts, I won't have any more contact with Yan Shiting.
Once he returns to his own world, everything will be alright.
...
A heart-wrenching cough came from the third floor of the Yan family's house.
Butler He brought the lung-nourishing soup prepared by the nanny to Yan Shiting's small study and knocked on the door.
"Come in," a hoarse voice said.
Butler He pushed open the door and saw Yan Shiting staring at something in his hand.
He walked to the desk and found it was a box of throat lozenges.
Butler He placed the lung-nourishing soup on the table and said, "Young Master, I just saw Xiao Yu leave with his luggage."
Yan Shiting's body stiffened, and he finally looked up from the throat lozenge box, asking, "Do you know where he went?"
Butler He shook his head.
When he saw her, Yu Li had already reached the gate of the manor.
By the time he chased after Yu Li out of the manor, Yu Li had already gotten into a taxi.
Yan Shiting withdrew his gaze, coughed a few times, and said, "You may leave."
Butler He stood still.
He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Young Master, did you and Xiao Yu have a fight?"
Otherwise, why would Xiao Yu leave with her luggage so late at night when she was staying there perfectly fine?
Yan Shiting took off his glasses, rubbed his temples, and remained silent.
Seeing this, Butler He didn't dare to offer any further advice. He glanced at Yan Shiting with a complicated expression and left the study.
Silence fell once again in the small study.
As Yan Shiting looked at the box of throat lozenges, the image of Yu Li's tearful, painful eyes flashed through his mind when he closed his eyes.
Those questions were accompanied by tears of pain.
Why is there no indication of anything? Why create the illusion that Yu Li has woken up first?
Yan Shiting pursed his lips.
He didn't dare leave before Yu Li woke up that night, and he didn't dare mention the incident afterward.
He knew in his heart that if Yu Li found out that he remembered what happened that night, it would only push Yu Li further and further away from him.
But is the current situation any better than that?
...
Yu Li finally got into bed and went to sleep in the middle of the night.
He had a dream that on the night of the party, when he was drugged and fell into Yan Shiting's arms, Yan Shiting frowned and pushed him away with a look of disgust and impatience.
Then, Yan Shiting's icy voice rang out: "Trying to use this method to forge a connection with the Yan family?"
[Don't you even consider whether you're good enough for her?]
Yu Li felt a pang of anxiety and wanted to deny that she had such thoughts.
But then, he stared blankly at Yan Shiting, whose face was indistinct in his dream, and froze again.
He knew that Yan Shiting was not the kind of person who would do or say such things.
Those were all things he hoped for in his heart.
He hoped that Yan Shiting really hated him, would push him away, and call him disgusting.
That way, what happened that night wouldn't have happened, and he wouldn't be in so much pain now.
However, he now knows that Yan Shiting is actually a very nice person, so he can't even deceive himself in his dreams.
Yu Li woke up crying.
He stared blankly at the stickers on the hotel room window.
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