Chapter 53 This sentiment, I...
Xie Tang turned to look at Zuo Meng: "Is something wrong?"
"Could I have your business card?" Zuo Meng asked, her head down, avoiding eye contact. "My family... has run into some trouble and would like to consult you."
Xie Tang noticed that the arrogance she had shown when they first met had vanished, leaving only unease and anxiety.
What type of dispute?
"It's just... some family troubles." Zuo Meng's eyes flickered, and she spoke vaguely.
Xie Tang took out a business card from his bag and handed it over.
Zuo Meng took it, staring intently at the handwriting: "Specializing in marriage and family matters, civil and criminal disputes..."
"If you need any help, you can call this number," Xie Tang said, then turned and left.
After buying the gifts, she made a detour to the villa to visit her grandparents.
My mother's complexion has improved significantly, and she has resumed her work as a lecturer in history and culture at S University, leading a fulfilling life.
The Xie couple have also adapted to city life, taking their country dog for walks in the scenic area of the villa district every day.
Seeing that his family was safe and sound, Xie Tang returned to Chu Song's home.
Aunt Yu brewed her a cup of warm Earl Grey tea.
Xie Tang nestled on the sofa, enjoying this rare moment of peace and quiet: "Where are Brother Song and Xiao Xin?"
"Ah-Song is in the study. The nanny took Xiao-Xin to get his vaccinations. Where did she go just now?"
"I went back to the villa for a look around and bought a gift for a friend." Just then, the doorbell rang.
Aunt Yu opened the door and led Gu Chang and Yin Xi inside.
Both of them were dressed in formal business attire.
“A-Tang…” Gu Chang’s voice rang out.
Xie Tang put down the full-moon photo album of Shin-chan in her hand, looked up and saw them, "What brings you here?"
This question is somewhat like asking a question you already know the answer to.
Yin Xi waved the manila envelope in her hand, her tone indifferent: "Working overtime. You haven't forgotten that we are the legal counsel for Huasong Group, have you?"
Xie Tang ignored Gu Chang's burning gaze and calmly picked up her teacup: "I know. Please sit down."
After serving tea to the two of them, Aunt Yu went to the kitchen.
“No need,” Gu Chang said, glancing at Chu Song coming down from the second floor. Her voice turned cold. “We should report on our work.”
Chu Song looked at Xie Tang and asked gently, "Are you still feeling unwell?"
“Much better,” Xie Tang replied.
"What's wrong?" Gu Chang noticed that she looked tired as soon as she entered the room and couldn't help but ask with concern.
Chu Song's gaze fell on Gu Chang, taking in the undisguised tension and concern he showed when looking at Xie Tang, and a trace of displeasure swept through her heart.
"I'm fine." Xie Tang glanced at Gu Chang calmly, composed and unperturbed.
What needed to be said had already been said; how he viewed her was none of her business.
Chu Song's eyes narrowed slightly as he turned around and said, "Come on up."
Gu Chang then looked away and followed him upstairs.
Aunt Yu brought over a fruit platter and, seeing that she was looking bored, reminded her, "The okra you planted is ready to be harvested; we can stir-fry a plate of it tonight."
Xie Tang's eyes lit up: "I'll go take a look!"
Walking into the backyard, the okra seeds I casually sowed back then are now standing tall and graceful.
Time flies. Back then, she and Gu Chang were still...
Eight years of friendship vanished in the blink of an eye; it would be a lie to say I'm not regretful.
"Did you plant them?" Yin Xi's voice came from the doorway.
"Yes." Xie Tang turned around. "Finished talking?"
Yin Xi approached. "Yes, I'm just here to deliver some documents."
"Come in and have some tea." Xie Tang placed the okra he had picked aside, led her to sit down in the hall, and brewed her another cup of black tea. "How are you settling in at the new law firm?"
Yin Xi took the cup and smiled: "It's great. Gu Chang takes good care of me, and I've learned practical skills and ways of dealing with people that I couldn't learn at Yingzheng."
"That's good," Xie Tang said sincerely.
After a brief silence, Yin Xi's gaze inadvertently swept over the stroller in the corner of the living room, then landed on Xie Tang's flat stomach. She asked suspiciously, "Whose stroller is this? You wouldn't...?"
Before the words were even finished, the nanny returned carrying Xiaoxin.
Looking at the baby in the nanny's arms, Yin Xi asked in surprise, "Whose child is this?"
“Song-ge’s.” Xie Tang did not explain that the child was adopted; this was a secret that the Chu family had to keep.
"Then you mean..." Yin Xi's face was filled with disbelief, "...are going to be a stepmother?!"
“Uh…” Xie Tang was speechless for a moment. Strictly speaking, she was his adoptive mother.
But she didn't need to explain anything further.
"Are you crazy?" Yin Xi almost jumped up, both anxious and angry. "You're only 26! You're willing to be a stepmother just to marry into the Chu family?"
Xie Tang was amused by Yin Xi's words.
In her eyes, did she become such a greedy person?
Yin Xi said urgently, "A Tang, the waters in wealthy families run deeper than you can imagine. Don't get trapped any further."
Xie Tang admitted that Yin Xi's words made sense.
These days, she has seen too many spoiled brats, Dou Xiao's cynicism, and Xiang Shaoyun's violent and deep nature.
But Chu Song was different. He was gentle and refined, pure and innocent, and he did not have that innate sense of superiority and arrogance in his bones.
After spending time together, she felt that they got along very well.
The unprecedented comfort and sense of security she felt when she was with him was something she couldn't ignore.
She realized that she was truly in love, deeply immersed in her affection and admiration for Chu Song.
Xie Tang was grateful for Yin Xi's concern, but she clearly had a deep misunderstanding of herself: "My marriage to him did start as a transaction, but now... I'm very sure I like him, and I won't look back on that feeling."
"And what about Gu Chang?" Yin Xi pressed on, "For Chu Song, you're willing to abandon a friend of eight years?"
This is a terrible topic.
Xie Tang frowned slightly, suppressing the surging emotions in her heart, and tried to keep her voice steady: "This is something that can't be had at the same time. The problem with Gu Chang and me reaching this point is not mine. Relationships are never a simple matter of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division."
"Eight years... He liked you so much, I don't believe you had no feelings for him at all!"
"No means no!" Xie Tang looked directly at Yin Xi, her words resolute.
"I think you're bewitched, greedy for his money and status!" Yin Xi blurted out.
Xie Tang's heart skipped a beat, feeling both annoyed and wronged.
She didn't understand how falling in love with someone could be considered bewitching.
“You’ve changed…” Yin Xi looked at her, her eyes filled with disappointment, “You’ve become the kind of person I hate.”
Has it changed? Xie Tang was filled with mixed feelings and couldn't answer for a moment.
Perhaps... things have changed.
But she denies the charge of "vanity".
She took a deep breath and tried to explain, "I just like him and am pursuing my happiness. I haven't violated my principles or hurt anyone..."
Yin Xi's face still showed deep suspicion.
Xie Tang said no more, took out the prepared gift box and handed it over, "Happy birthday in advance."
Yin Xi took the box, glanced at the logo on it, and a cryptic smile played on her lips: "This brand isn't cheap. You're always fair, one for me and one for Tang Zhi, it must have cost you a lot, right? You earn that much a month now?"
Yin Xi's words were so barbed that Xie Tang felt dizzy.
She took a sip of tea, suppressing her discomfort, and said in a flat but weary tone, "The commission from last month's case was alright. The gift I gave you was bought with my own money."
The case involving Mao Lan did bring in substantial rewards, but her team only encounters cases with a value of tens of millions of dollars two or three times a year.
Yin Xi sensed the distance and displeasure in her words, and without even looking at it, stuffed it into her bag, saying, "Thanks."
Xie Tang felt a pang of sadness when her friend suspected her and even slighted her feelings.
Soon after, Chu Song and Gu Chang came downstairs.
Xie Tang noticed that both of them looked unwell, especially Chu Song.
He was usually gentle and polite, but now his face was ashen, and he simply gestured to his aunt to see the guest out.
Before leaving, Gu Chang's gaze locked onto Xie Tang with a deep intensity, and the stubborn, even obsessive, unwillingness in her eyes made Xie Tang's heart skip a beat.
Chu Song noticed that the aura around him instantly turned even colder.
After the two left, Xie Tang looked at Chu Song across from her and tentatively asked, "You two... didn't have a pleasant conversation?"
"We had a fight." Chu Song glanced at her, then hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Xie Tang found this rare hesitation amusing: "Is it a conversation you can't have talked about? Did he upset you?"
Chu Song remained silent for a moment, and seeing Xie Tang's eager gaze awaiting an answer, he whispered, "He said he wants me to return you to him."
"Huh?" Xie Tang was stunned and speechless for a moment.
She hadn't expected Gu Chang to be so stubborn as to say such things in front of Chu Song, and she felt it was absurd and childish.
"He also said that he would wait no matter how long it took," Chu Song continued, his voice filled with an indescribable complex emotion.
As he spoke, he carefully observed Xie Tang's expression, trying to discern her attitude towards this "eight-year friendship."
Eight years of entanglement... could not be without the possibility of transforming into other feelings.
However, Xie Tang remained unusually calm.
This calmness, however, only made Chu Song's heart sink deeper.
Gu Chang's intense emotions did not seem to stir up the expected waves in her heart; instead, they were dismissed so lightly.
A strange sense of unease quietly began to grow.
"What exactly is your attitude towards him?" he finally asked.
Xie Tang met Chu Song's gaze without flinching: "I made it very clear to him that we could either be friends or strangers. He didn't choose either, and I respect that. So, for me, he can only be a stranger."
Chu Song's tense nerves relaxed slightly, and he nodded: "Don't you think it's a pity?"
"If we're talking about this friendship... it's truly a pity." Xie Tang sighed softly, the regret she had been trying to suppress finally showing.
How can one not feel pain when something is lost that cannot be recovered?
——————
On Monday evening, Xie Tang attended Tang Zhi's 27th birthday party.
Tang Zhi invited university alumni with whom she had good relationships in Shenzhen.
During the meal, she and Zhou Ziheng held hands tightly and sweetly announced the good news that they were no longer single: the two planned to have a wedding trip after the New Year and would not hold a banquet. This meal would be their engagement party.
Xie Tang was somewhat surprised that Tang Zhi had decided on her life partner so quickly.
But looking at this perfect couple, handsome man and beautiful woman, so well-matched that it's pleasing to the eye, no one would doubt their compatibility.
After a satisfying meal, the group moved to a bar that Tang Zhi had already booked out.
People kept coming to offer toasts, and Tang Zhi smiled as she dealt with them, but gradually she became exhausted.
Zhou Ziheng stood silently by her side, shielding her from all the wine glasses.
Xie Tang watched as her friend linked arms with Zhou Ziheng, her face beaming with happiness.
Yin Xi, sitting at the bar, was behaving strangely, chugging one glass of wine after another without any order.
Xie Tang recalled Yin Xi's ill-fated engagement with Yao Xinyu and worried that Tang Zhi's happiness might have touched upon her painful memories.
Just as she was about to go over, she saw that Gu Chang had already sat down next to Yin Xi, and the two of them started chatting and laughing.
Tang Zhi finally got away, drank some mineral water, and handed Xie Tang a bottle.
Xie Tang poured water into an empty glass and then threw in a bubble tablet.
Tang Zhi chuckled upon seeing this: "Haven't you given up this habit yet?"
"I'm used to it." Xie Tang smiled, shaking the bubbling glass, then glanced at the mineral water bottle beside Tang Zhi. "But you, you haven't touched a drop of alcohol tonight..."
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