Chapter 59: Six years have passed quickly...
Six years passed quickly. In the beginning, Zhou Ci often sent text messages to Song Yu, but Song Yu never replied. Maybe she didn't have the habit of reading text messages, so Zhou Ci stopped sending them later.
Several major events occurred in the past six years.
Chuzhuo successfully went public and its market value increased 800 times.
Old man Zhou was critically ill. After Zhou Ci took over the Zhou family, he carried out strong reforms and got rid of a group of disobedient people. His biological father Zhou Ting'an was the first to be hit hard. After that, even his uncles and cousins became much more obedient, and whatever Zhou Ci said was what they did.
And, Shen Zhiyan's death.
Shen Zhiyan died unexpectedly when he encountered an emergency while on official business abroad.
His death caused a turmoil in the wealthy circle of City B, and no one dared to believe the truth of this matter.
When I first heard the news, Mr. Shen was driving home when he was in a car accident. Grandma Shen fainted on the ground, and Grandpa Shen fell down the stairs and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He died that night.
At his funeral, Shen's mother could not even stand steadily and was supported by others all the way. She almost cried and kept saying "he is not married yet", "he is still so young", "how can he be so cruel".
On the day when Shen Zhiyan's ashes were buried, many people went to see him off, including Zhou Ci, but he arrived late. He waited until all the mourners had left before arriving.
Zhou Ci brought a bouquet of double-petaled lilies to Shen Zhiyan and placed it in front of his tombstone. It stood out among the white chrysanthemums. This was Song Yu's favorite flower.
"I received your generous gift." Zhou Ci looked at the photo of Shen Zhiyan on the tombstone with no expression on his face. "Although I can do this myself, I still want to thank you for helping me deal with Zhou Tingan's family and make them disappear from my world sooner."
When Mr. Zhou was admitted to the hospital due to a sudden heart attack, the attending specialist issued several critical illness notices, but Mr. Zhou survived. The first thing he did after waking up was to drag his sick body to the ward to hold a video conference and officially hand over Zhou's family to Zhou Ci.
The first one to jump out to oppose was Zhou Ting'an. Relying on his identity as Zhou Ci's biological father, he thought that Zhou Ci would not dare to do anything extreme to him. He joined forces with several nephews who were dissatisfied with Zhou Ci and danced the most happily in front of Zhou Ci.
Zhou Ci was busy with Chuzhuo's listing at that time and had no time to deal with them. After Chuzhuo went public, his net worth soared, and he finally had time to deal with a group of people.
The first thing he did was to remove Zhou Ting'an from his position and send him to a place with poor conditions, where he was in charge of a subsidiary with poor performance. He had no share of the dividends from the head office and had to rely on that meager salary every month to support his family.
Zhou Ting'an was, after all, a wealthy second-generation, used to spending lavishly. Naturally, he wasn't satisfied with being made an example of by his own son. He brought his current husband and his two children, crying and making a scene, right in front of the ailing Mr. Zhou. Mrs. Zhou, fearing they might upset Mr. Zhou, refused to even let them into the ward. They had come with such fanfare, and now they were leaving in disgrace.
Zhou Ci anticipated the various plans of his uncles and cousins, and he courted those who were needed and dealt with those who were not. He had originally built Chu Zhuo from scratch, successfully taking it public, and that had caught the attention of many of Zhou's shareholders. While they kept silent, they secretly hoped he would take the helm. Since it wasn't their turn anyway, letting someone who could help them earn more dividends was the best option.
Only then did his uncles and cousins see through Zhou Ci's true colors. Although he didn't work for Zhou Corporation, he was supported by his close associates, the old man's special assistant, senior executives of important departments, from a receptionist or a security guard to shareholders. Zhou Corporation was full of people who supported him to take the top position.
Such people are too capable and too scary. Zhou Ci still has their handle in his hand. He uses both kindness and force to arrest those who should be arrested and release those who should be released. The rest of the people become obedient and follow Zhou Ci to do business.
"I still have to say sorry to you. I have taken care of the things you left behind. At least for the rest of my life, I will not let these things appear in front of her."
"I won't tell her your difficulties, all the things you can't say to her. Let these secrets be buried here forever with your ashes." Zhou Ci squatted down in front of the tombstone and looked straight at the smiling Shen Zhiyan in the photo. That was the happiest time for Shen Zhiyan, and his smile at that time was really unrestrained.
This photo is also Song Yu's favorite one. She has secretly kept it in one of her favorite books. She forgot to take it with her when she left, and it was found by Zhou Ci when he was packing up.
Shen Zhiyan probably knew this, so he chose this photo as his posthumous portrait. Or perhaps, he hoped to return to his best time. If he could start over again, would he make another choice?
No one knows, his time is forever frozen here.
"The biggest difference between you and me is that I can let go of my pride, but you can't." Zhou Ci stood up after patting Shen Zhiyan's tombstone. "Your life was too smooth. You were born with everyone's expectations, grew up being pampered, and excelled in your studies. The women who have been by your side since childhood are all your most beloved women. That's why you can't accept your own flaws. I don't have a family as good as yours. I have to fight, grab, and calculate everything on my own. I take every step very cautiously because no one will give me the opportunity to make mistakes. If I couldn't even let go of my pride, I might have died quietly that year."
No one responded to his words, only the rustling of leaves in the wind. Zhou Ci turned to look at the mountains in the distance. "I originally thought that Shen's was in your hands. I thought it would take some effort to take it away. Since you are dead, I will accept Shen's. In the end, you didn't intend to keep it anyway."
Someone walked up to Zhou Ci from behind. It was Fang Hao, Zhou Ci's special assistant. He had followed Zhou Ci all the way from the emerging Chuzhuo to the Zhou Corporation, a well-established group with complex interpersonal relationships. The environment had honed him, and he had become much more calm. "Boss, it's time to go. I have a meeting later."
Zhou Ci retracted his gaze from the distance, took one last look at Shen Zhiyan's tombstone, and walked away without looking back.
-
The day Song Yu learned of Shen Zhiyan's death, she had just returned from inspecting work in an area with poor signal. She had been gone for more than half a month and no one could contact her. At that time, a full month had passed since Shen Zhiyan was buried.
Everyone knows that she is the person that Shen Zhiyan can't let go of the most, but she is also the last person to know about Shen Zhiyan's death. All her and Shen Zhiyan's mutual friends kept it secret from her because of the agreement with Shen Zhiyan or for her own good.
That day, she washed off the dust, dried her hair, half-lying on the soft sofa, lying in a comfortable and cozy position, turned on her fully charged mobile phone, and checked the messages as usual.
She hadn't been online for more than half a month, and a lot of messages suddenly flooded into her phone. This was all within her expectations. She read through them one by one and replied to them one by one.
The chat history in the small group reached 999+. Seeing her pop up, her friends joked with her as usual, and tacitly did not mention a word about topics related to Shen Zhiyan.
But coincidences happen all the time. Song Yu, who rarely reads text messages, suddenly decided to clear the spam messages from her phone. She was quite relaxed, reading through them one by one, deleting them as she went. Then, she saw the message from Xiao Ruohan, which had been lying there for a long time.
Xiao Ruohan didn't have her social contact information, but he got her phone number from somewhere. A month ago, he sent her a text message:
"Miss Song, I'm Xiao Ruohan. I don't know if you'll attend Shen Zhiyan's funeral, but I hope you won't come. People who know nothing are the happiest. This is cruel to him. Please don't disturb his peace after death."
At that moment, it was hard to tell what was going on in Song Yu's mind. She didn't even think of questioning Xiao Ruohan's identity and position in saying this to her.
She didn't call Xiao Ruohan back. Her expression didn't even change. She just deleted the message like a spam message, and then calmly asked in the small group:
【Chen Zhiyan is dead? 】
It was already late at night in Huachao. The sisters in the small group had all washed up and were getting ready for bed. Song Yu suddenly asked this question, and all the sisters' sleepiness disappeared immediately. Even those who were in the late stages of pregnancy jumped out to comfort her:
[According to the Shen family, it seems he died in the line of duty while on official business abroad. The details are unclear, and the Shen family hasn't disclosed any details.]
[So Shen Zhiyan is really dead? I thought it was the coldest joke I'd heard this year.]
Her reaction was too calm, and the other sisters were worried, but they still tried to comfort her:
【Ruru, please accept my condolences! 】
"I'm fine. It's been so many years since Shen Zhiyan and I started dating. We're all over it now."
What makes me sad is that I was probably the last one to know about his death. After all, we grew up together, lived next door to each other for so many years, and yet I didn't even attend his funeral. Everyone kept it a secret from me for my own good.
Xia Zhi spoke out:
[Ruru, this was all my idea. They didn't tell you because they listened to me. If you want to blame someone, blame me.]
[I don't blame you. I know you all mean it for the best, but I just don't think it's necessary. In my heart, I've already let go of Shen Zhiyan, whether you believe it or not.]
As early as the night when she went to find Shen Zhiyan, she saw Shen Zhiyan and Zhou Nian hugging each other with her own eyes, and the obsession that had troubled her for many years disappeared silently in the night.
The three words "Chen Zhiyan" finally could no longer evoke any emotion in her.
But it is true that they grew up together, their friendship is real, and it is also true that the two families have been friends for so many years. It is reasonable and emotional that she should go to see him off for the last time.
After you go there, say goodbye to him properly.
Separated by life and death, the two will never have the chance to meet again in this life, but she will continue to move forward.
Chen Zhiyan is just a passer-by in her life, a fellow traveler on a journey, and will eventually become a memory of hers.
Perhaps when she has a head full of silver hair, she will recall the best years of her life, the time she spent with Shen Zhiyan. Because these memories are long enough, they will lose the pain that cannot be ignored and the regrets that linger on her mind, and become vivid and interesting.
I believe that at that time she must have been an old lady with a broad mind, strong tolerance, and enough elegance.
The love, hate, resentment, infatuation and anger of her youth seemed to be hidden in her relieved smile and in the elegance of her eyes.
At that time, maybe she would really want to ask: Chen Zhiyan, are you really happy over there?
And now, she can only say to him: Shen Zhiyan, have a good journey!
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