Chapter 56. Slapping. I want to go somewhere where no one is around. ...
When Xia Chan entered the female staff room of Ya Hai Tian Ze, it was just past lunch break. Inside, Du Na and a few others were lounging on the sofa, chatting and scrolling through their phones, looking rather bored.
Seeing her come in, he was surprised. "Eh? Manager Xia? Didn't you say you were supposed to take half a day off today? Why are you here?"
"I got stood up!" Xia Chan smiled nonchalantly as she went to her storage box to change her clothes. She then counted the reports she hadn't finished. "I had nothing else to do, so I came over."
"Why not just take half a day off as a holiday?"
"I still have some monthly reports to finish. I want to take advantage of the free time to finish them so that I can rest more comfortably when I finally have a holiday."
After the reports were checked and found to be correct, Xia Chan waved to her and actually took off her coat and put on a suit. The others couldn't help but sigh with admiration.
That's why they're capable of being managers. Many of them are veterans of Tianze Store in Yuhui District, but if you ask who works the hardest at Tianze Store, Xia Chan would be second to none.
To this day, no one in the entire store, past or present, has ever surpassed Xia Chan's overtime record.
Xia Chan smiled noncommittally. Yu Lianxin, who was silently applying her makeup, glanced at her in the mirror without saying a word.
Xie Xuan arrived at this time.
She arrived at the staff room door in a hurry, her face tense as if suppressing some anger. She suddenly opened the door and searched with her eyes.
Everyone in the room was surprised to see her. Yu Lianxin's eyes lit up and she stood up immediately, "Ms. Xie?"
Xia Chan also frowned in surprise.
She went straight to Xia Chan, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her outside, saying, "Come with me!"
Xia Chan was stunned for a moment and was about to break free, but then she worried that if she had a conflict with her while her colleagues were there, it would cause gossip. So she had no choice but to suppress her anger and go with her first.
As I passed by Du Na, I gave her a subtle look to calm her down and tell her not to talk nonsense.
As the two left, Duna and her group couldn't help but burst into surprised whispers.
Yu Lianxin seemed to be deep in thought.
In a secluded, dark corner of the Tianze store complex, Xia Chan finally shook off her hand, her brows furrowed with a hint of malice, "What's wrong with you!"
Xie Xun, her face pale and suppressing her emotions, asked, "I'm asking you... Bo Han, is he pursuing you?"
Xia Chan paused for a moment, vaguely guessing what was going on, and raised an eyebrow with an ambiguous expression.
Xie Xun gripped her shoulders tightly, her breathing heavy. "You knew about my relationship with Bo Han all along... didn't you? Did you deliberately get close to Bo Han? You wanted to... use Bo Han to get revenge on me!"
"Chanchan... why are you in Shanghai? Why are you standing in front of me? How did you and Bohan meet, and what is your relationship with him? What do you want to do in Shanghai?!"
Her fingers tightened, her nails almost digging into Xia Chan's flesh. Xia Chan frowned slightly. "So what if it is?"
She brushed her aside without any politeness and sneered:
"He came to me on his own, it wasn't me who let him. What does it have to do with me? Adults have to be responsible for their own actions. Who he wants to pursue is his business, what can I do? Instead of questioning me here, why don't you question your own good son! You don't dare to ask him, so you come here to cause trouble for me. What are you hiding? You must feel guilty towards them too!"
"Xia Chan!" Xie Xun was on the verge of a breakdown, gritting her teeth as she called her name. She tried to close her eyes again to calm herself, her voice trembling.
"Are you trying to ruin my life right now...?"
Her eyes were slightly red, and her tone carried a hint of pleading, "Chanchan, I know... I was very sorry to you back then;"
"But what can I do... tell me what I can do!"
"Have you forgotten what your father was like? I've really been like that for so many years... I finally had a chance to get out of that quagmire, and I'm really scared, Chanchan!"
“I know I can never make up for what I owe you, but I really beg you to have mercy! It’s my fault… I shouldn’t have abandoned you, but I was so focused on getting rid of things that things have come to this. I have no other choice, Chanchan! You want money, right? How much do you want? I’ll give you as much as you want! Just please stop bothering Bohan and don’t show your face in front of me anymore! Okay, Chanchan?”
As Xia Chan stared at her increasingly reddened eyes, her heartbeat suddenly slowed to an extremely slow pace, as if a lone boat adrift at sea had finally broken its last plank and was slowly sinking.
Even though she had thought that they would go their separate ways and never have anything to do with each other again, she still wanted to preserve their last bit of dignity and not tear each other apart.
Even if their final impression of each other is resentment.
But in the end...
She suddenly chuckled, as if it were something absurd.
Back then, he abandoned her there, completely defenseless, and went off alone to pursue her new life of wealth and luxury... How could she still have the nerve to mention that person?
How dare she mention him?!
"And what about me?!" Her eyes, now damp with cold tears, suddenly questioned, her voice trembling with barely suppressed hatred. "And what about me?!"
Xie Xun's face stiffened slightly for a moment.
Xia Chan pointed to her chest with one finger.
“If you don’t know what to do, what about me! I was only fourteen or fifteen years old at the time… You were able to disappear so easily to avoid Zhang Guozhong, but did you ever think about what would happen to me? Did you ever think about Grandma!”
"Aren't you afraid she'll come back for me and Grandma, or that she'll take revenge on us! You're only thinking about whether your new life will be affected... You've never thought about whether we're still struggling in that quagmire, but only about whether your wealthy life will be shattered. What makes you think you can ask me to fulfill your lies now? What makes you think you can! From beginning to end, have you ever thought about us? Have you ever thought about us?!"
Her emotions grew increasingly agitated, and a cold, angry red tinge appeared in her eyes. Xie Xun listened silently, her emotions calming down as tears streamed down her face. She whispered, "I'm sorry."
Xia Chan sniffed and chuckled, but tears quickly slid down her cheeks. She wiped them away, clenching her teeth to hold back the tears, and said coldly, "Didn't you ask me how much money I wanted?"
She said, "No, not even a little!"
Xie Jun paused for a moment and looked at her in surprise.
She smiled brightly at her, her eyes completely stained with tears, dark and cold, seemingly filled with a lot of resentment as she lightly said, "At first... I wanted money."
"But now I suddenly feel... wanting people seems more valuable than wanting money."
Xie Jun's eyes were filled with a daze.
Xia Chan smiled coldly at her, her voice as sweet as orchids.
“What’s the point of money? Hundreds of thousands, millions… no matter how much I have, I’ll eventually run out of money. But people are different. That’s Guan Bohan… a big star! And the only son of your Guan family. If I could be with him, wouldn’t I be set for life?”
"Then when I'm actually with him, I can still openly call you 'Mom,' which is perfect. Why not? You've already married into a wealthy family and become a rich wife, so why not let your daughter enjoy this blessing too? Heh, it's strange, do you think the Guan family father and son owed our family something in their past life? That's why this family keeps running into rotten people like you and me..."
Xie Xun's expression grew increasingly shocked and incredulous as she looked at her as if she had never known her before, unconsciously shaking her head slightly and saying, "You..."
“Chanchan…you…” Her voice was extremely hoarse.
Xia Chan seemed quite pleased to see her expression, her smile growing wider and wider, but her gaze growing colder and colder.
"You want me to stay away from Guan Bohan? I won't!"
You want me to stay away from you? I won't!
"I want to be in front of you every moment, reminding you... reminding you who Xie Xun is, reminding you what you've done and what you've abandoned, becoming your nightmare every moment! I want you to never be able to get rid of me, nor to escape the shadow that quagmire cast upon you for the rest of your life!"
"I'll make you pay back what you owe me, a debt you'll never be able to repay in this lifetime! I'm going to ruin your life, so what? Why should you, as mother and daughter, be able to live a good life while I suffer like this? If I can't have it, then nobody else can! Xie Yun, I'm going to get my revenge on you, and you'll never get rid of me! I—"
Xie Xun suddenly raised her hand and slapped her!
It was an extremely heavy slap, so hard that Xia Chan's face suddenly turned to the side, and after a moment of numbness came a burning pain.
Xie Xun's hands trembled violently, and her chest trembled with anger. Xia Chan tilted her head and stared blankly for a moment before slowly licking her lips and suddenly laughing.
She turned her head and met Xie Xun's bloodshot eyes, which were filled with anger, her own eyes glistening with tears.
At this moment, his emotions seemed to calm down, and he silently smiled at her for two seconds—
But suddenly he raised his hand and slapped her back!
The slap was far less forceful than the one she had received earlier, but Xie Xun was still stunned.
He looked at her, incredulously covering his face, "You..."
"Do you still remember... Zhang Guozhong?" Xia Chan's tears finally fell silently, and something seemed to be dying in her eyes.
Mentioning Zhang Guozhong... Xie Jun's throat felt like it was being gripped tightly by a hand.
She sighed softly, her tone flat, but her sorrowful eyes held a strange unfamiliarity. She slowly raised a hand towards her, "Back then... I used this hand to protect you..."
With a death wish, she stabbed the man three times; at that moment, she didn't actually want to live.
"..." Xie Jun was having difficulty breathing and couldn't speak.
"But now... you're using it to hit me."
Her eyes were completely lifeless. Looking at her, her gaze and voice were devoid of emotion as she said calmly, "Xie Yun... I've returned everything to you."
“Actually, I should have known long ago, no matter who you are. Xie Jun or Xie Mei…”
"They don't even deserve to be my mother."
-
After saying her last words, Xia Chan turned and left, afraid that she would lose control of her emotions and burst into tears.
She had just hurriedly left this dark corner when she bumped into someone outside the recessed wall of the corner and paused.
Sunken boat crossing.
No one knows when Chenzhou Ferry appeared here, nor how much it has heard.
He seemed to still bear the marks of a hurried journey, his breathing was heavy, his lips were thin and tightly pressed into a line, and his light brown eyes were dark and deep. His figure was almost swallowed up by the shadow of the high wall in the afternoon.
Xia Chanshen was stunned. She looked at him for two seconds, then quickly looked away and wiped away her tears.
I didn't want him to see my current disheveled state.
Xie Mei, who was right behind him, also saw him and was stunned. She was almost choked, "Zhou...Zhou..."
Chen Zhoudu simply stared intently at Xia Chan for a moment, then silently stepped forward to her side and gently took her stiff, icy hand in his.
He gently warmed her fingers little by little and then carefully pried open her fingertips, his fingers slipping between hers to intertwine with hers.
In an instant, Xia Chan's palm felt as if it had been branded by something, the heat spreading all the way to her heart.
It made my nose suddenly feel even more sore.
Xie Xun looked even more shocked, stammering, "Boat, boat ferry...you...you all..."
"Auntie Xie." Shen Zhoudu smiled at her, just like he always did when he saw her. "Don't worry, I won't tell Uncle Guan anything."
But there was no smile in his eyes. "But please, have some self-respect."
After he finished speaking, he turned around, took her hand, and walked away. His warm palm felt like a warm cloud enveloping her.
Xia Chan looked at their intertwined hands and let him lead her away.
At this moment, Xie Xun, the hotel, his celebrity status... she seemed to care about none of it anymore. She only wanted him to take her far away, wherever they might go.
-
It wasn't until she was inside the car at Chenzhou Ferry that Xia Chan finally let herself cry.
The crying was very soft at first, clearly as if she was trying hard to hold it in. She buried her head in the passenger window and sobbed carefully, with occasional broken sobs.
Chen Zhoudu drove aimlessly along the road, occasionally glancing at her between traffic lights.
He felt a pang of sadness, but he couldn't say anything.
All I could do was leave her all the space to vent her frustrations.
The sobs gradually grew louder and louder, as if she could no longer suppress them. She gripped the hem of her clothes tightly with her fingertips, biting her teeth and trying to hold back her tears, but the increasingly frequent and intense crying could no longer be suppressed.
Her hair was a mess, and the five finger marks on her face were clearly swollen, but she could no longer feel the pain.
Tears streamed down her face, soaking the front of her clothes. Her numb fingertips clutched her chest as she sobbed uncontrollably.
Chen Zhoudu's heart pounded heavier and heavier, and his fingers gripped the steering wheel more and more tightly. Finally, he couldn't help but stop by the roadside and gently take her stiff and numb hand in his.
She met his eyes through her tear-filled gaze, but was too sobbing to speak.
With red eyes, Chen Zhoudu looked at her and smiled as he gently tucked her disheveled hair under his arm. Then he turned on the stereo, and a soothing melody flowed out.
The cicadas' chirping harmonizes with the strings
Turning back to that summer
Recalling memories
Yet, I couldn't find a way to sleep through the night...
The singing gradually filled the entire carriage, and her emotions gradually calmed down. Although she was still sobbing, she stopped crying.
"Where do you want to go?" Chen Zhoudu asked in a hoarse voice, trying to smile at her.
"Go..." she seemed to hesitate for a moment, then choked back sobs, her voice hoarse, "to a place where there's no one..."
"I want to go somewhere where there are no people..."
Anywhere is fine, as long as there's no one around...
Even if we bury her in sand or drown her in the sea;
As long as she has no further connection with anyone in this world, as long as she can stay alone until the end of time; as long as there is such a place...
Chen Zhoudu pondered for a moment, as if he had vaguely thought of something, and after a while, he gently wiped away her tears and started the car.
After turning a corner, the car drove off in a certain direction.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you so much to the fairy "wangggg" for the nutrient solution! [Sprinkling flowers]
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