Chapter 48. If you ask me, you can't let go. ...
Pity.
Shang Shu felt that the regret between them seemed to be a fait accompli, but deep in her heart, she secretly harbored a trace of expectation that she herself refused to admit.
She stopped getting drunk and instead invited Lin Lang over, because she found that chatting with people could slightly shift her attention, allowing her to escape the pain of losing Gu Sui for at least a second.
There has been progress.
She thought she should give herself an award, at least this time she wasn't thinking about suicide, but about saving herself.
Before Lin Lang arrived, she made a point of tidying herself up so that she wouldn't look too disheveled.
But things didn't seem to go as she imagined. The moment Lin Lang stepped into Yijing Bay, she hugged him and started crying.
"What happened?" Lin Lang was also startled by the scene. Looking at the panda-like dark circles under his eyes that were almost touching the ground, and the haggard face that even foundation couldn't cover, he quickly helped him into the room.
Shang Shu cried for a long time before she finally finished telling the story, her sobs choking her.
"Alright, alright, look at yourself in the mirror. Or should I ask Grandma Chanel to send you some money?" Lin Lang handed over the tissues while looking at the white tears streaming down the man's face, finding it inexplicably funny.
"I...I'm heartbroken. Are you even listening?" Shang Shu sobbed, glancing at her face in the mirror before turning away and removing her makeup, which only served to cover up the obvious pain.
Heartbroken? But it seems like we haven't even officially started dating yet.
Lin Lang leaned back on the sofa with his legs crossed, too embarrassed to expose him for fear of being beaten.
After hearing the whole story, and seeing that the young lady still had time to pay attention to her image, her intuition told her that this matter was different from that of three years ago, and shouldn't be as bad.
Recalling her confident vows at Scarlet Gu Sui last time, and then thinking about her current silence, she was a little confused.
"What is it that can't be said..." Lin Lang stroked his chin, as if talking to himself, but also as if speaking to Shang Shu, "In the past three years, could she have secretly gotten married?"
As a novelist, she analyzed things with her wild imagination. Although it sounded dramatic, it wasn't entirely impossible. She rattled off a bunch of outrageous options to Shang Shu, such as marriage of convenience, fake marriage, and secret marriage, all while secretly glancing at the other person's reaction.
"Impossible." Shang Shu blew her nose forcefully and glared at Lin Lang. "She couldn't possibly be that kind of person."
She'd rather believe a sow could fly than believe Gu Sui would do such a thing.
Seeing that the person was still defending him, Lin Lang bit his cheek and complained, "If you trust someone so much, why do you still criticize them to their face, saying that they might have someone else?"
Shang Shu sniffed guiltily. She had acted rashly in a moment of panic, and besides, she was genuinely unsure about the matter. This didn't mean it was entirely equivalent to Lin Lang's wild guesses. So she protested softly, "This... this is a different matter from her keeping it from me."
Lin Lang gave a soft "tsk" and fiddled with her nails: "If you ask me, you can't let go."
She figured Shang Shu was only angry because she'd been kept in the dark. This time, the situation was different from last time. At least Gu Sui hadn't disappeared. With Gu Sui right there, she didn't believe Shang Shu would just sit idly by if something really happened to him. Based on her experience as a childhood friend of over twenty years, she knew that no matter how heartless Shang Shu was, the more stubborn she was, the more she cared about him.
Shang Shu's sadness had almost been worn away by everyone's words. She sat down on the bench at the back and crossed her arms over her chest: "I came to you to help me out of my troubles, not to make things worse, okay?"
She couldn't pretend to be deaf and dumb for a lifetime, but she also found it difficult to simply become indifferent.
It was precisely because it was true love that she finally made up her mind to fix the relationship and push away someone she loved so much. This was like peeling off a layer of skin for her, so she was very dissatisfied with Lin Lang's cold-dampening behavior.
Lin Lang pondered for a moment, then looked at Shang Shu meaningfully: "You really want me to be your confidante?"
Shang Shu glanced at the person and gave a confused "hmm".
Lin Lang subtly curved the corners of his lips and said with certainty, "Okay."
"What do you mean, 'can't'..." Shang Shu was completely confused.
"Don't ask any more questions, just listen to me." Lin Lang was quite pleased with herself as she plotted her perfect plan. "I'll help you get over your pain. First step: let's have some fun."
Upon hearing this, Shang Shu immediately sensed that Lin Lang had no good ideas, and quickly waved her hand, saying, "I'm not in the mood to go..."
Besides, she has "turned over a new leaf" and settled down for so many years, so why would she have the mind to go to parties or clubs?
"President Shang is a busy person. You finally got a half-vacation, and you've already wasted several days lying at home crying and sobbing, without getting anything out of it. Do you still want to continue?" Lin Lang said, pointing randomly at Shang Shu's beautiful face, which had been tortured beyond recognition.
“You have to go, whether you like it or not. I’ll make the arrangements. You just need to follow along.” She was firm because she knew her childhood friend too well. She was the kind of person who would only move forward if she was whipped when she was down. Sometimes, she had to use some extreme measures.
"Don't go too far..." Shang Shu looked at the person opposite her, who was talking animatedly, and felt a little uneasy.
"Tsk, who do you think you are?" Lin Lang put down her crossed legs. Suddenly remembering something, she blinked and asked, "By the way, why did you leave without saying a word at Shang Zhiyi's engagement party?"
She thought back carefully. At that time, Gu Sui was still abroad and had not returned. Shang Shu could not have gone to see him. Since she had already come, why did she leave without even taking a seat?
Mentioning this, Shang Shu frowned. She had almost forgotten about it; she needed to find time to see Shang Wei.
"What... what's going on?" Lin Lang exclaimed in disbelief. "She's had everything she could want all these years, why is she suddenly starting to make trouble now? Could it be that your dad did something to displease her, and there's some kind of conflict between them?"
After all, she lives in this circle. Although Lin Lang's family is a rare harmonious family that doesn't mess around, it doesn't mean she's not sensitive to these intricacies.
Of course, her dissatisfaction doesn't just refer to emotional matters like having someone else on the side; it could also involve the division of assets.
What is the conflict between Feng Yuan and Shang Wei?
Shang Shu was blinded by her own involvement. Hearing this, she seemed to be suddenly awakened. But when she thought about it more deeply, she couldn't think of any specific possibility. At least when she went back before Shang Zhiyi's engagement party last time, the two of them seemed to be doing normally. It was just that she had been away from home for so many years and was still too unfamiliar with the internal workings of the Shang family.
"No way..." Shang Shu murmured. There was no point in guessing; she still needed to find an opportunity to see for herself.
"Anyway, you can tell me if there's anything the Lin family can help with." Lin Lang didn't want to directly meddle in other people's family affairs, especially since it involved property issues, so he could only leave it at that for now.
"Mm." Shang Shu responded, accepting Lin Lang's kindness. It was indeed inconvenient to trouble others with this kind of thing, and in the end, she would probably have to rely on herself.
"Then...did you tell Gu Sui about this?" Lin Lang asked subconsciously.
Shang Shu shook her head. When she first learned about this, Gu Sui was still in Luncheng. Later, she became busy with the jewelry exhibition. In addition, she didn't want Gu Sui to know about this shameful matter. So, looking back, she really didn't reveal anything to Gu Sui.
There seem to be too many things between them that cannot be balanced, such as her pride and Gu Sui's concealment.
Anyway... it doesn't seem to matter whether I said it or not now.
Shang Shu sighed softly. She had agreed to ask someone to distract her, but after saying so much, she still couldn't avoid mentioning Gu Sui. Even when she wanted to gossip about Lin Lang, she had to remember that Gu Xiangyi was Gu Sui's niece.
"After talking about me for so long, what about you and Gu Xiangyi?" She decided to clear her head, and then she added generously, "It's okay, if you two really get together, you don't need to consider me."
After all, Lin Lang was a good childhood friend who would go to great lengths for her, and she was genuinely worried that Lin Lang might have reservations because of her relationship with Gu Sui.
"Miss Shang has quite the influence," Lin Lang teased.
Ever since she rejected Gu Xiangyi at Scarlet, she felt that there was no chance for the two of them. To be precise, she didn't think there would be any follow-up between them.
From childhood to adulthood, she has had no shortage of men and women pursuing her, both inside and outside the entertainment circle. However, she knows in her heart that most of these people are either lustful or after her money. The longest they pursued her was no more than a year, and the shortest was that they gave up on the same day after they found out that she didn't want to sleep with anyone. Moreover, most of the people who pursued her chose to spend money on her, but in her eyes, this was the cheapest way.
As for Gu Xiangyi, she felt it was normal for a child to be fickle. Today he might think she was pretty, but tomorrow he might realize he was blind yesterday. Today he might say he likes her, but tomorrow he might think she's his goddess. Therefore, she didn't take this relationship, which wasn't even a "fleeting affair," to heart.
But she found that this child was really persistent. Not only would she ask about her well-being every day, but when they were abroad, she would also calculate the time difference so that they could chat a little longer. Later, they talked about everything under the sun. Gu Xiangyi would ask her what songs she liked and then play them for her on the harp. She also started to share her own creations with Gu Xiangyi. Gu Xiangyi would even write her long reviews of several thousand words, which inevitably moved her.
Seeing that the person was staring at her, Lin Lang swallowed and said stubbornly, "Can you stop staring at me like that? It's kind of scary. You know I'm not like you. Love is just a tiny, insignificant part of my life. If it's a good match, we'll take it slow. If it's not, I'll still be a sophisticated single lady."
She was stubborn, but there was some truth to it. Although she wrote novels full of sweet romance and ambiguous relationships, dating wasn't a necessity for her in real life. If she was going to start a relationship, she had to choose the best one. As a result, she often wondered if it was because her family was too happy and she had already been greatly satisfied in terms of relationships that her standards were too high.
Shang Shu also knew Lin Lang well. If there really was no possibility, Lin Lang would have just given a word or two to brush it off. But after hearing this long explanation, she had a better understanding of the situation.
But then she suddenly remembered something, exclaimed "Ah!" and stood up abruptly.
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