Chapter 13 Whose Green Hat? Yang Mingyuan's words were like bombs dropped from the sky...
After Lin Yuwei finished her call with her mother, her phone screen lit up again. It was a call from Yang Mingyuan. She stared at the long list of missed calls, her fingertip hovering over the answer button, but she hesitated to press it. She knew she owed him an explanation, but her mind was in turmoil, her throat felt like it was blocked, and even breathing became difficult.
The screen went dark and then brightened again as Yang Mingyuan kept calling. Finally, Lin Yuwei swiped to answer.
"Weiwei!" Yang Mingyuan's voice boomed from the other end of the phone, "Thank God, you finally answered! I tried calling you all day yesterday, but I couldn't get through. Do you know how worried I was?!" His tone was filled with obvious relief. Lin Yuwei always looked forward to Yang Mingyuan's calls, but this time, hearing his voice made her feel a tightness in her chest. She managed to keep her voice steady, "Mingyuan, thank you for your concern, I'm fine."
"Nothing? You suddenly told me you wanted to break up and then vanished without a trace. I thought you'd run into some kind of thug!" Yang Mingyuan asked incredulously.
Encountering thugs? Lin Yuwei twitched the corners of her mouth, a dry, cold laugh escaping her throat. Recalling her experiences from the night before last to this afternoon, what she had encountered was far more terrifying than thugs. Unconsciously, her fingertips dug into her palms, and she casually replied, "You have quite the imagination. In this society governed by law, where would you find so many thugs? I'm really fine."
“I’m just worried sick, Weiwei. Are you home right now?” Yang Mingyuan’s voice suddenly softened. “Let me see you, okay? Even if… even if you really don’t want to be with me anymore, at least let me know you’re safe.”
"I'm not home," she replied immediately. "Something happened back home, and I need to be alone. As for our relationship... let's talk about it in a few days. Give me some time, okay?"
"No!" His voice suddenly rose: "I can't wait, Weiwei, why are you suddenly refusing to see me? I'll drive to your house right now! If you don't see me, I'll wait at your door until you're willing to see me."
"I'm really not home!" Lin Yuwei interrupted him abruptly, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest. Gu Qingyan was still at home, and in that state, if Gu Qingyan ran into Yang Mingyuan... who knows what unpredictable things might happen. She absolutely couldn't let them meet!
Lin Yuwei closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, saying, "I'm really not home. I'm at the International Holiday Hotel."
The moment she hung up the phone, she seemed to remember something and almost stumbled into the bathroom. The woman in the mirror was pale, her lips were chapped, and her neck, collarbone, wrists... even her waist were covered with ambiguous marks, like some kind of silent declaration.
She ran back to her suitcase, trembling as she pulled out a turtleneck sweater and covered herself up completely. She then hurriedly applied a face mask and lip mask, trying to conceal everything that was wrong.
There was a knock on the door. Lin Yuwei checked herself in the mirror and found that she had done her best to cover up her appearance. She thought she might be able to get away with it. If it didn't work out, she could just break up with Yang Mingyuan. Things had come to this point, and she wasn't that into Yang Mingyuan anymore.
Lin Yuwei opened the door, and Yang Mingyuan, whom she hadn't seen for many days, stood outside. The moment his gaze fell on her face, Lin Yuwei keenly sensed that his eyes no longer held the same deep affection as before.
"Why...why are you wrapped up so tightly?" He frowned and asked suspiciously.
Lin Yuwei lowered her head to avoid his gaze: "My face is allergic, don't look. Now that you see me, you can go back, right?"
Yang Mingyuan didn't move, and Lin Yuwei felt uneasy under his gaze: "What's wrong? Is there something else?" Yang Mingyuan suddenly took a step forward, almost touching her: "Weiwei, it's been two days, don't you miss me? You're in such a hurry to send me away, is there someone hiding in the room?" Lin Yuwei was startled and unconsciously pushed back, but he had already stepped in and closed the door behind him.
Yang Mingyuan strode into the room and looked around. Finally, he turned around, his gaze sweeping over her body like a knife, and finally settling on her high collar, which she was trying to conceal.
“I’ve investigated.” He suddenly spoke, his voice chillingly cold: “Gu Qingyan and you are not related at all.”
Lin Yuwei's blood froze instantly: "You investigated me?!"
"Otherwise what? Are you just going to happily wear a green hat?" Yang Mingyuan sneered, "The first time I came to your house and saw Gu Qingyan, I had a vague feeling that something was wrong. Plus, on the morning I was planning to move, I called you and I could clearly hear you panting. Heh, were you having a good time with Gu Qingyan at that time? Living together under the guise of cousins, indulging in debauchery in broad daylight, you really know how to play the game, Lin Yuwei."
Yang Mingyuan's words were like bombs dropped from the sky, causing Lin Yuwei's mind to explode with a "buzz".
"I also contacted your apartment building's housekeeper." He continued to approach, his eyes almost burning with anger: "The housekeeper said a young boy opened the door—was it Gu Qingyan? He said the boy was acting strangely, his clothes were disheveled. If I didn't suspect you when I got here, would I be an idiot? Do I look like an idiot to you?"
I see……
Lin Yuwei finally understood why her mother, who was abroad, had suddenly found out about her cohabitation with Gu Qingyan through the property manager. She stared at Yang Mingyuan, her chest heaving violently, and her original guilt was instantly replaced by anger.
"I've already broken up with you, Yang Mingyuan!" She enunciated each word clearly, her voice as cold as ice: "What right do you have to interfere in my family affairs? What right do you have to insult me with such disgusting words?!"
"Why should I?" Yang Mingyuan suddenly reached out and ripped off her face mask. "If you're so capable, then don't try to hide it!"
His movements were rough and swift. In the next second, he had grabbed her wrist and violently rolled up her sweater sleeves—the dense hickeys on Lin Yuwei's arms and the marks on her wrists were exposed to the air, a shocking sight.
Yang Mingyuan's eyes instantly turned to utter disgust: "Playing such a game, and still pretending to be innocent? I thought I'd met my soulmate." He flung her hand away as if shaking off something filthy: "Lin Yuwei, you disgust me."
Lin Yuwei stood there, trembling, but this time, it wasn't from fear, but from anger.
"Get out." She pointed to the door, her voice trembling terribly. "Immediately, right now."
Yang Mingyuan gave her one last look: "Lin Yuwei, a scumbag like you doesn't deserve anyone's love in your entire life!" After saying that, he turned around and slammed the door shut as he left.
Silence finally returned to the room. Lin Yuwei slowly slid down to sit on the floor, her fingertips sinking deep into the carpet. Scenes of breaking up with her ex-boyfriends flooded her mind. She had cursed them as scumbags. She kept saying she was looking for true love, but in reality, she was no different from them, despite her fastidiousness about relationships.
From the very beginning, there were no winners in this absurd farce.
Lin Yuwei spent several days in a daze in the hotel, with the curtains always drawn, unable to distinguish between day and night, until her counselor called and she vaguely realized that she had been skipping classes for many days.
"Lin Yuwei, your assignment is overdue. If you keep putting it off, it will affect your final grade." The counselor's voice was businesslike, but it was like a blow to her senses.
She answered mechanically, hung up the phone, slowly opened the class group chat, and searched for the assignment requirements, but her attention was drawn to a series of messages. Her classmates were enthusiastically discussing the school competition of the National Web Design Competition.
"Wow, that team from Mingchuan University is too strong this year!"
"Gu Shuai is absolutely unstoppable! He completely crushed the opponents in the semifinals!"
Gu Shuai? Lin Yuwei glanced at it with little interest, but froze the moment she saw the photo.
She clicked on the photo in the group chat, and her pupils suddenly contracted!
Gu Qingyan stood under the lights of the competition venue, dressed in a simple white shirt and jeans, which made his figure look tall and slender. He lowered his head slightly to adjust the equipment, his profile was clean and neat, and his eyebrows and eyes were focused and calm, completely different from his crazy appearance that day.
A new message popped up in the class group:
"Gu Shuai and Qi Qi are such a good match!"
"I heard that Qiqi is the most beautiful girl in their department, and she and Gu Shuai often stay up all night coding! The IT duo!"
"I have to say, they're a perfect match in terms of looks, they're locked in!"
Lin Yuwei's fingertip hovered over the screen, momentarily stunned.
sad?
She frowned and scrolled up the records, only to find out that "Qiqi" was a girl in Gu Qingyan's team named Qi Xueqing.
She opened the photo again and finally noticed that there was a girl with a ponytail standing next to Gu Qingyan. She was also wearing a white shirt and jeans, with an oval face, big eyes, and shallow dimples on her cheeks when she smiled. She was very youthful, beautiful, and full of energy.
Gu Qingyan tilted his head slightly, seemingly listening to what she was saying, his expression relaxed in a way she had never seen before.
They're a perfect match.
These two words were like a thorn, piercing Lin Yuwei's heart. She slammed down her phone, a strange, bitter feeling welling up in her chest, dull and astringent, as if someone were slowly scraping her flesh with a blunt knife.
Why? Why is she the only one in such a sorry state, while Gu Qingyan can stand with others as if nothing happened? Why does he laugh so easily, while she is trapped in this damned emotion and can't get out?
Gu Qingyan could only be hers. Even if she didn't want him anymore, he absolutely couldn't be with anyone else! This thought burned away her reason like wildfire. Lin Yuwei grabbed her phone and dialed Gu Qingyan's number directly.
"Sorry, the number you dialed is busy..." She hung up and dialed again. "Sorry, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable..."
Once, twice, three times... Lin Yuwei dialed more than ten times in a row, but the call was either busy or she couldn't get through. She finally realized that she had been blocked by Gu Qingyan.
Lin Yuwei gritted her teeth, then opened her social media app and sent a message to Gu Qingyan. Finding that the message could still be sent, she immediately typed:
What is your relationship with Qi Xueqing?
"I'm warning you, you're not allowed to be with other girls!"
The message showed as read, but a full hour passed without any reply.
Lin Yuwei dialed the voice call again, but after a long wait, the system automatically disconnected.
Damn it! How dare he ignore her?! Lin Yuwei was completely enraged. She stood up abruptly, hurriedly packed her luggage, checked out of the hotel, and took a taxi home.
When I got home and opened the door, the apartment had been cleaned up and was spotless, just like before.
Lin Yuwei's heart suddenly raced. She hurried toward Gu Qingyan's bedroom, still clinging to a sliver of hope that perhaps he hadn't moved out yet.
When the door was pushed open, the bed and the desk were still there, but his clothes in the closet, the books he often read on the desk, and even the bedside lamp he often used to read by were gone.
He's really gone.
Lin Yuwei staggered onto the bed, burying her face deep in the pillow. The faint scent of cedar lingered in her nose, the smell of the laundry detergent that Gu Qingyan usually used.
Her eyes suddenly stung, and her chest felt hollow, as if a piece of it had been ripped out, letting in a blast of cold air. The apartment suddenly felt vast and empty, and even her footsteps echoed. For twelve years, Gu Qingyan, the little shadow who had always silently followed her, the one who would always come back no matter how much she pushed him away, truly didn't want her anymore.
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