Chapter 52
"Come in," the person inside said.
Wu Yanying exhaled a breath of hot air and pushed the door open to enter.
Shen Hanyang was sitting in front of the computer, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers.
"Brother Hanyang, you're here all alone. Is it noisy outside?" Even though she had just been playing with a group of people and had gotten a little carried away, she was still very considerate towards Shen Hanyang.
Shen Hanyang didn't answer her, but asked instead, "Are you enjoying your time with everyone?"
Wu Yanying smiled shyly: "I'm very happy, everyone is very enthusiastic."
Do you enjoy being with them?
Wu Yanying nodded and gave a soft "Mmm." She had drunk quite a bit; her cheeks were flushed, and beads of sweat glistened on her forehead. Before going upstairs, she made a point of looking in the mirror in the bathroom. Her rosy cheeks, glistening beads of sweat, and heartbeat faster than usual, coupled with a slower-than-usual mental processing, gave her a touch of "silly beauty" allure. She said to herself in the mirror: Be a little silly, be a little bolder.
"Brother Hanyang..." Even the tone of her voice when she called him was more charming, "I...I have something I want to tell you."
"What are you saying?" Shen Hanyang didn't look at her; his gaze remained fixed on the computer screen in front of him.
Wu Yanying hesitated again: "I..." She rubbed her face, which was burning from the smell of alcohol, and mumbled: "I'm a little drunk. They're just bullying me and trying to force me to drink..." She scolded the group of people playing wildly downstairs, but her tone became softer and softer. Then, her eyes boldly and directly fixed on Shen Hanyang's face.
Shen Hanyang took a drag of his cigarette and casually asked an unrelated question: "Secretary Gao said you weren't in a good mood and had been seeing a doctor?"
Wu Yanying didn't expect him to bring this up suddenly, and she didn't catch on for a moment: "Before, I... had pressure from studying... and with my major... I was afraid it would be hard to find a job after graduation... and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get into graduate school..." She wasn't particularly quick-witted, and she easily became incoherent when she was nervous.
Listening from behind the purplish-gray barrier formed by the smoke and lights, Shen Hanyang said "Oh," and then added, "Don't worry too much about your studies, just get a diploma. If you really can't find a job, I can ask a friend for help. Oh, by the way," Shen Hanyang added a completely unexpected gift, "I recently reserved a house, brand new, no one has lived there. Now that I don't need it anymore, I can transfer the ownership to you directly, consider it my graduation gift to you."
Wu Yanying was overjoyed. Shen Hanyang had returned to his old self! The generous Shen Hanyang who was willing to give her anything! She loved his overprotective nature; she enjoyed being a canary with a master, free from her previous fate of drifting aimlessly in the wind and rain or scorching sun, letting him build her a completely new world. Yes, he was her whole world. It seemed all her previous doubts were unfounded. How could he so easily abandon a woman he had only known for a short time?
"Thank you, Brother Hanyang. I don't know how to repay you..."
“You can repay me.” Shen Hanyang sighed, his face once again obscured by the purplish-gray smoke.
Whether it was the alcohol or just her imagination, the words sounded so ambiguous and meaningful to her. She lowered her eyes, looking at her toes, and said in a sweet, shy voice, "I'll agree to anything you want..." Nervousness, excitement, anticipation, and ecstasy—so many emotions surged up at once, waiting for his words to unlock them and unleash their power.
However, her joy didn't last long before the purplish-gray smoke dissipated, as Shen Hanyang's words plunged her into despair: "Pack your things and go back to school. Don't come back again."
Wu Yanying almost thought she had misheard, staring at him in disbelief: "What, what do you mean..."
The lights in Shen Hanyang's room were dimmed to their lowest setting, and the computer screen on the desk clearly outlined his deep-set features. A face that was unapproachable.
"Brother Hanyang..."
"Let's change how we address each other." Shen Hanyang stared at the computer, not even bothering to spare her a polite glance.
Wu Yanying, who had just taken the wine glass, gripped her other hand tightly. "I've always called him that..." Even now, she still clung to a sliver of hope, guessing that this way of addressing him had displeased him, so she cautiously asked, "Then how should I call you?"
"Call me whatever others call me."
In all his memory, Shen Hanyang had never spoken with such coldness and brevity as this. She had to be addressed the way others addressed her. So, to him, she was no different from any other passerby? ...Was he clearly placing her outside his boundaries?
Wu Yanying bit her lip, her heart aching.
"Did I do something wrong?" she tried to find the reason for his sudden change of attitude.
"You didn't do anything wrong, and I didn't do anything wrong. We just need to go back to where we belong, and there's nothing wrong with that."
"But..." she stammered, "But I love you." Fueled by the alcohol, she made a desperate confession. Actually, she had a decent tolerance for alcohol and wasn't that drunk. But she suddenly realized that besides today, she didn't know when else she could be honest with him. So, she rashly decided that there was no time like the present, and she would go all in. She began to pour out her lonely and bittersweet love for him: "From the first moment I saw you, I fell in love with you. But I was too young then, and I was afraid you'd think I wasn't serious and didn't understand love. But over the years, I've become more and more certain of my feelings. I love you, I only love you, and I will never marry anyone else but you."
Her incessant chatter lingered in his ears, buzzing like flies.
"Finished talking?" Shen Hanyang flicked off a bit of cigarette ash. "If you're done, go back and pack your things. You can have the driver take you."
Wu Yanying's surging thoughts froze. She had poured out so much, but had he heard a single word? She had laid bare before him the shameful secret she had held dear for years. And he wouldn't even spare a laugh?
This indifference deeply wounded her pride.
The air fell silent. Silent as if frozen. Even time seemed to stand still. After what felt like an eternity, she finally spoke slowly, "Is it because of Yan Qing?"
She finally asked the question that had tormented her for so long. This question was like an extremely powerful sword, existing only in legends. The more mysterious it was, the more it stirred the imagination and instilled fear.
Shen Hanyang finally looked up from the computer screen and silently stared at her. Her heart pounded; she didn't know if this silence was impatience or a silent acknowledgment.
Before she could answer, Wu Yanying asked a more direct question, "Is she... your girlfriend?"
Shen Hanyang smiled, his expression unreadable. Only after he finished his cigarette and the last bit of tobacco had burned out did he say, "No."
Wu Yanying's heart, which had been pounding wildly, calmed down slightly. At least, if it wasn't Yan Qing, she felt half as much better. After all, Yan Qing had long been like a dangling sword, manipulating her emotions. In unseen corners, her jealousy and hatred towards Yan Qing had reached their limit. Now that Yan Qing had been eliminated from the list of candidates, perhaps… she still had a chance? After all, there was still Secretary Gao… after all, Shen Hanyang and Secretary Gao were still entangled…
As Wu Yanying was lost in thought, a somewhat unreal voice drifted through the cold air of the room, spreading like smoke: "But I really hope she is."
Wu Yanying was stunned. It seemed that the information he had thrown out that night was too dense for her to process.
"Then what should I do?" she asked instinctively.
“You need to learn to grow up,” Shen Hanyang said.
Growing up? She murmured to herself, unable to grasp the meaning of those two words. What did growing up mean? Was it telling her to leave, to become independent? But shouldn't he be responsible for her to the end? Ever since she first met Shen Hanyang as a teenager, her heart, soul, and spirit had been frozen in that year, that day, that moment; she could never grow up again. And now he was demanding that she grow up?
Was he indulging in wishful thinking, or was it just my own foolish irony?
Her legs went weak, and she swayed precariously. "But I really can't live without you... What's the difference between leaving you and being dead..." She wasn't exaggerating; to her, Shen Hanyang's order to leave was truly a sentence that banished her to the brink of despair. She struggled to breathe, clutching the clothes on her chest, and soon began to weep bitterly.
"Brother Hanyang, I beg you. I know I've bothered you for too long this time, and I can go back to school right away. But in the future..."
"There will be no future." Shen Hanyang remained unmoved. "Today is the last time we will meet. I will entrust my assistant to handle all other matters related to you."
There was no turning back, it was the last time… In less than five minutes, he completely severed ties with their years-long relationship, his attitude resolute and without a trace of lingering affection. Surprising? What was so shocking? Wasn't this the real Shen Hanyang—the Shen Hanyang she had always known in her subconscious, seemingly affectionate, but actually heartless? She had always hoped that her relationship with Shen Hanyang would progress further, but how could she not know deep down that between her and Shen Hanyang, it wasn't a matter of a single step, but rather an insurmountable chasm? He had never seen her, she just refused to admit it.
I remember her saying to Yan Qing outside the gate of this villa: "This is not Cheng Jiaming's home, but it may become my home."
Looking back now, how ridiculous! Yan Qing won, she must be smug and secretly waiting to see me make a fool of myself, right?
In an instant, the alcohol in my body ignited, and the flames of jealousy, anger, and hatred danced wildly like golden snakes, devouring the last vestiges of reason.
Wu Yanying burst into hysterical sobs:
"Why should I go back? You have no right to kick me out! You sponsored me, thinking you'd done a great deed, but you've ruined my life! I was just a country girl, I accepted my fate. But you showed me what the outside world is like—living in a three-story house, even the servants' rooms are bigger than my old ones! Having a car to pick me up wherever I go, always at my beck and call! Every time I walk into a high-end shopping mall, a bunch of people fawn over me! You made me feel like I was in heaven, then threw me into hell! You self-righteously sponsored a poor girl, letting her dream unrealistic dreams. Then, when she was completely lost in them, you slapped her on the head. You think you're so great? No, you're a hypocrite! A scoundrel! You've ruined me, I've lost the ability to be a normal person!"
“Xiao Wu, you can criticize me however you want, I don’t care. But honestly, I’ve done right by you. I’ve arranged everything for you: your studies, your job, even your house. You’re already much better than most young people. I’ve said it before: relying on yourself is worse than relying on anyone else. The world is fair. If you study hard and strive for success, you’ll have a bright future.”
"What bright future?!" She sobbed, yet laughed in a strange voice. "Tell me, how many years of schooling do I need to live in a house like this? How many years of schooling do I need to be on equal footing with you? Schooling? You're kidding me!"
"Big houses, cars, high-end shopping malls—you can live very well without them. Xiao Wu, desire is a devil; don't let the devil control you."
"When did you become a saint?" Wu Yanying was probably completely drunk, having shed all her shackles, and only spoke the sharpest words, "When you're enjoying wealth that ordinary people could never enjoy in a lifetime, why don't you tell yourself that desire is the devil, and that I should donate all my money to the poor, that's what's noble!" She looked at him and laughed loudly, "What, speechless?"
Shen Hanyang's expression was unreadable, but he clearly had no intention of continuing their conversation. He picked up his phone and answered Secretary Gao's call: "Come up."
Secretary Gao quickly entered. Seeing Wu Yanying's face, disheveled from crying, a cloud of sorrow clouded her brow. She wanted to say something several times, but seeing Shen Hanyang's cold expression, she ultimately remained silent and led Wu Yanying out of the bedroom. Wu Yanying, tears still streaming down her face, kept turning back to look at him. Upstairs, Shen Hanyang's door finally slammed shut without a trace of mercy.
She followed Secretary Gao through the first-floor living room, looking utterly lost. Several girls glanced at her discreetly, but the group of young men seemed unfazed, not even sparing her a second look, continuing their lively and joyful revelry. No one understood her coldness.
After getting into the car, Secretary Gao started the engine, and the gate of Binjiang Jiuli Villa District receded further and further away in the rearview mirror.
"I have no hope?" Wu Yanying seemed to be asking Secretary Gao, but also seemed to be talking to herself.
Secretary Gao held her breath, swallowing hard for a long time before calming herself down: "Don't think about this. You're still young. Didn't President Shen promise to take care of your studies and work? And that house, I've inquired about it. It's in a high-end community, a large 300-square-meter apartment. Do you know that owning a house like that in S City beats countless people?"
Wu Yanying remained unmoved. Suddenly realizing something, she questioned Secretary Gao, "You knew all along? He contacted you beforehand?"
Secretary Gao was both amused and exasperated. Wu Yanying had truly let her emotions cloud her judgment, losing even her basic analytical abilities. If Shen Hanyang hadn't informed her in advance, how could she have happened to be at Binjiang Jiuli at this exact moment?
"So," Wu Yanying's voice trembled, "he plans to abandon me completely?"
While keeping an eye on the road, Secretary Gao couldn't help but frown slightly: "Don't say that. Sometimes I think maybe we're being too greedy. President Shen has done more than enough; others might not have been able to do the same..."
"What do you mean by being extremely kind and righteous! Didn't your father save his grandfather's life?! If it weren't for your father, his grandfather's body might not even be found anywhere!"
"So what? It's been so many years, what's the point of bringing it up all the time? Besides, over the years, hasn't President Shen helped us a lot, both openly and secretly? People should be content."
Wu Yanying shrieked, "Now you're telling me to be content?! Where were you all before? Who was it that encouraged me to get close to Shen Hanyang? Who was it that encouraged me to become Mrs. Shen?! Now you're all waking up?"
Secretary Gao's ears ached from her shouting, but she had to be patient: "I don't want to discourage you, and I certainly want to see you doing well. But President Shen is a man of his word. Once he's rejected something, he won't change it."
Yes, Secretary Gao wasn't exaggerating. Shen Hanyang wouldn't change his mind.
But why was Shen Hanyang so cruel? He had always been her sun, the monarch she willingly worshipped! This sun coldly withdrew its light, and the mirages collapsed with a crash… Wu Yanying covered her face and sobbed uncontrollably: “I hate you… I hate you…” In the end, it became: “I hate you… Gao Meiyun, I hate you…”
Secretary Gao felt as if she'd been electrocuted, her muscles jerking. It had been a long time since anyone had addressed her by her first name.
The car had driven quite a distance from Binjiang Jiuli, and noise had replaced the quiet. Gao Meiyun silently gazed ahead.
Perhaps Wu Yanying is right; she herself is the most hateful one.
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