Chapter 24 She is my wife,...
In the rearview mirror, Shen Yuan's staggering figure in high heels was distorted and elongated under the streetlights, her face contorted and terrifying with anger and despair.
A chilling fear gripped Xie Tang's heart.
She looked at Chu Song; his face was ashen, and his jaw was clenched.
Being entangled with such a paranoid person... she dared not think too deeply about it.
The car was deathly silent, with only the low growl of the engine.
The fear from before had not yet subsided, and the oppressive aura emanating from Chu Song made her feel even more suffocated.
Xie Tang was silent for a few seconds, then asked softly, "Want to listen to some music?"
She just wanted to break the suffocating silence.
Chu Song assumed she wanted to listen, so he simply gestured for her to operate it herself.
Xie Tang lowered the car window, letting the wind rush in.
Amidst the howling wind, she recalled Mingwei's words—he was a man who could endure to the extreme, always keeping his thoughts buried deep inside and processing them alone.
He was clearly a terrible person, yet he still cared about her.
This is not a good habit.
But she hasn't truly entered his heart yet, nor become the person who can share his burdens.
A clear and gentle voice flowed through the gaps in the wind as Xie Tang gazed out the window and hummed softly.
The voice was like a clear spring, quietly flowing into Chu Song's restless heart and calming his violent temper.
Shen Yuan's distorted face gradually faded from his mind.
He recalled Chu Yun's words: "Xie Tang is a very good girl."
He should have listened to Chu Yun and gone to see her sooner.
Now... it doesn't seem too late?
This thought, carrying a touch of unfamiliar warmth, gently brushed through his mind.
My tense nerves finally got a break over the weekend.
Xie Tang slept until the sun was high in the sky.
The huge villa was quiet, with only the sounds of a few maids cleaning around.
"Get up, the vegetable and lean meat porridge is keeping warm in the pot," Aunt Yu reminded her with a smile.
"Okay. Song-ge went to the company?"
"No, I'm in the study. There are guests."
The kitchen connects to a vibrant little courtyard.
Xie Tang served the porridge and leaned against the sliding door, watching Aunt Yu loosen the soil.
"Aunt Yu, what are you planning to plant?" she asked while eating.
Aunt Yu looked up, her smile kind: "There are enough flowers in the front yard, this plot is perfect for growing vegetables. Ah Song loves okra, so let's plant some ginger, scallions, and garlic too..."
Upon hearing that Chu Song loved okra, Xie Tang quickly finished her porridge and said, "Let me help you!"
"Oh dear, you're all so clean, it'll be a hassle if you get it dirty!" Aunt Yu tried to stop her.
"Don't worry! My mom loves planting flowers the most. I was her best helper when I was little!" Xie Tang picked up a hoe and leveled the land without saying a word, a little proud on his face.
Seeing her stubborn yet clever demeanor, Aunt Yu chuckled and shook her head: "Growing flowers and growing vegetables are not the same thing!"
"They're pretty much the same! Besides, aren't you here?" Xie Tang said with a smile.
Aunt Yu was amused by her and stopped trying to stop her. She just thought that this girl was kind and lovable from a young age.
Just then, the aunt came to announce that the guests had arrived.
Aunt Yu urged Xie Tang, "Hurry up and wash your hands so you can go greet the guests."
Xie Tang was carefully burying the sprouted okra seeds into the small hole, and was so engrossed in playing that he didn't want to leave.
"Aunt Yu, you go ahead, I'll finish planting these!"
Aunt Yu let her have her way and turned to go to the main hall.
Xie Tang sprinkled fine soil on the soil, feeling quite pleased with himself, and unconsciously began humming a little tune.
Footsteps came from behind her. Thinking it was Aunt Yu, she didn't turn around and boasted, "Aunt Yu, look! I've finished planting!"
Gu Chang stood a few steps away, his gaze fixed on Xie Tang.
Her face was covered in mud, and her trouser legs were smudged, but her radiant smile was more beautiful and captivating than the warm spring sun.
"How old are you, still playing in the mud?" He teased familiarly, but his eyes held a barely perceptible tenderness and bitterness.
"It's you." Xie Tang patted the dirt off her hands, somewhat surprised. "Are you here to see Brother Song?"
"Yeah, I brought you something." Gu Chang walked closer, his gaze sweeping over her face, and held out his hand. "Look at you, all dolled up like a little kitten..."
He wanted to brush the dirt off her cheek with his fingertips.
Xie Tang subconsciously took two steps back, raised her hand to block, and laughed, "It's just dirty, you can wash it off."
She wiped her face haphazardly.
Gu Chang's hand froze in mid-air, and the tenderness in her eyes instantly dimmed.
He casually withdrew his hand and asked her, "What are you planting?"
"Okra! Aunt Yu said Song-ge likes it." Xie Tang picked up the watering can and sprinkled water on the seeds, her eyes full of satisfaction. "Did I do something wrong?"
Chu Song had somehow found himself standing in the shadows of the corridor, quietly watching the scene unfold in the courtyard.
Gu Chang's focused gaze at Xie Tang's retreating figure felt like a tiny thorn piercing his heart.
He was forced to confront the cold, hard truth once again—she was someone else's wife.
The belated, overwhelming pain, regret, and resentment nearly overwhelmed him.
He couldn't remember when he started to be obsessed with her.
All I know is that during my three years of studying abroad, every day without any news from me left me feeling empty.
Her smile and her voice constantly stirred his heartstrings.
His longing burned like wildfire, scorching his days and nights.
This burning affection ultimately missed its chance, turning into unspeakable bitterness.
"Why is Ah Chang in the kitchen? I made your favorite tea." Aunt Yu's voice broke the silence, and she turned to urge Xie Tang, "Ah Tang, go wash up and change your clothes!"
"Oh, good!" Xie Tang smiled with satisfaction at her "masterpiece," humming a song as she turned and went back to her room, her cheerful voice drifting in the spring breeze.
Aunt Yu watched her retreating figure and smiled at Gu Chang, saying, "This child's character is rare, isn't it?"
Gu Chang's gaze followed the retreating figure until it disappeared, and he murmured, "Yes, I've never seen her like this before."
In his memory, Xie Tang was always gentle, considerate, and understanding, making people unable to help but rely on her.
"That means you don't understand her enough." Aunt Yu's unintentional words struck Gu Chang's heart like a hammer blow.
Eight years ago, when they first met, he began to rely on her kindness, but he never really tried to understand the landscape of her heart.
Is this belated realization the root cause of missing out on her?
A tremendous sense of loss instantly gripped him.
Xie Tang changed into a loose shirt and long skirt, and walked out looking fresh and clean with her hair in braids.
Gu Chang sat on the sofa, her gaze seemingly drawn by an invisible thread.
He still looked as beautiful as I remembered, but the smile in his eyes was now covered by a deep, unyielding sadness.
After meeting him that day, Gu Chang's world shattered once.
First came a burning anger, like magma surging in her chest—why should Chu Song marry her?
What followed was overwhelming sadness, like suffocating from drowning.
Finally, a sharp, piercing heartache gnawed at him day and night, whipping his dullness again and again.
Did he hate her? Yes, for a moment, he hated that she would rather submit to a stranger than look back at him.
But this hatred, as thin as ice, was instantly swallowed up by a deeper, more bitter regret.
He hated himself even more!
Eight whole years! More than two thousand days and nights of mutual support...
Why?
Why does he seem completely blind?!
Why couldn't he have seen clearly the vine called "love" that had already grown into a towering tree in his heart a little earlier, even just a day earlier?
If only... if only he had reached out and grabbed that vine a little earlier...
I missed it.
These three words were like cold iron nails, driven deep into his heart.
She needs money to save her mother!
Although his family was not as prominent as the Qin or Chu families, they were still enough to support her.
This should have been his battlefield, his place of protection!
This was supposed to be the bridge that led him to her.
That night, facing the boundless darkness, he repeatedly chanted his only hope like a believer:
Her marriage to Chu Song was out of necessity, a sacrifice born of the deep pain between mother and daughter.
He learned the chilling truth from his father—a "marriage of convenience" for a period of three years.
These few words became his lifeline.
Three years.
My heart still aches and swells, the bitterness almost bursting through my throat, but a stubborn flame ignites in the ashes.
He understood her heavy burden of suffering, and he understood how the filial piety that brought her to the brink of death had bent her back.
He told himself: Wait.
He was willing to wait as long as she was at the end of the road.
——————
Exquisite Kyoho grapes gleamed with an alluring purple light in the sunlight, next to which sat an unopened box of mother-of-pearl inlaid chess pieces.
"My mom picked them early this morning, and my brother likes them," Gu Chang explained calmly.
"Oh~" Xie Tang nodded, silently noting down Chu Song's preferences.
"This is a gift for you. I shouldn't have lost my temper with you that night."
Xie Tang's gaze swept past the fruit and landed on the jewelry box that Gu Chang handed over—it was that expensive brand again.
She didn't answer, saying, "I'm not angry with you."
I don't know when it started, probably from the time he went abroad to study, but his "heartfelt wishes" have been persistently crossing the ocean and have never been absent.
She had never worn it before because its hefty price tag was incompatible with her hectic life.
Now, it is the weight of the gift itself—too precious, too ambiguous, like a thorn that could easily pierce the calm surface of the water.
"Take it." Gu Chang extended her hand forward another half, stubbornly saying, "If it's offered to me, just accept it."
"It's too expensive, it's not appropriate." Xie Tang's voice was soft, but it carried a deliberate distance.
She is now Chu Song's wife in name only.
Even though this identity was wrapped in the shell of an agreement, it still drew a line that he could not cross.
Gu Chang's eyes darkened instantly, and a cold smile curled at the corners of her lips: "What? Now that you're married, even gifts from old friends have become a burden?"
His voice suddenly rose, filled with barely suppressed sarcasm, "Xie Tang, are you in such a hurry to distance yourself from me?"
Xie Tang stared at him in astonishment. The calm and reserved Gu Chang in her memory was like a shattered mirror, and the man in front of her was unfamiliar and out of control.
She tried to figure out the source of his anger, but her thoughts were a jumbled mess.
"What are you holding in your hand?" Chu Song broke the silence, naturally sitting down next to Xie Tang. His gaze swept over the grapes and finally landed on the box that Gu Chang was clutching tightly.
Gu Chang took a deep breath, forced a near-perfect smile, and said with a frankness bordering on provocation: "It's a gift for Atang. Second Brother probably doesn't know, but Atang and I were best friends in college, we've known each other since we were 18..."
“Sister-in-law.” Chu Song looked directly at him, her voice not loud, but with an undeniable tone, “She is my wife, you should call her sister-in-law.”
Gu Chang's gaze was fixed on Xie Tang's face as he slowly and clearly uttered, "Sister-in-law!"
Chu Song noticed the barely suppressed anger surging in his eyes, and her gaze grew even colder: "Thank your aunt for the grapes for me, and go back."
"Okay!" Gu Chang gave Xie Tang a deep look, and the next second, he suddenly raised his hand and smashed the box that carried his heartfelt wishes into the trash can next to him!
"This gift was originally intended for my sister-in-law, but she won't accept it, so there's no point in me keeping it."
He forced a light laugh, but his voice trembled as he said, "Throw it all away. Goodbye."
The moment he turned around, the veins on his clenched fists bulged, and his knuckles cracked as if he wanted to crush all his resentment and tearing pain in his palms.
He couldn't understand how the person who had been with him for so many years and gave him the only warmth in his life had become his "sister-in-law".
He couldn't understand why it was Chu Song—his cousin—who had taken all of this away.
-----------------------
Author's Note: I really couldn't get up to update this morning. If I don't update this morning, I'll update tonight.
Thank you to all the lovely people who were willing to save and comment. Sending you love! I look forward to seeing you all, and I also hope that I can write this story well, find my shortcomings, and strive to improve.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
