0096 Desire (6)
He Lingling had seen this woman before; her bright face and domineering demeanor were unforgettable.
However, she never imagined that the person in front of her was Wanqi Fuze's older sister.
In fact, she knew nothing about Wan Qifuze's past. From the time she met him, he was Chen Yixu, living alone in a large, empty house in J City. She didn't know he was from B City, let alone that he had an older sister.
But everything has its clues. For example, she had seen similar superior looks and aristocratic air about him before.
At this moment, however, she felt a deep sense of dread. Perhaps it was the shadow cast by Shen Yan's accident years ago, a genuine fear of such an imposing presence. Or perhaps it was the deeply ingrained idea instilled in her by the inferior literature of her childhood—that if her boyfriend's family came to see her alone, they would surely urge her to leave. Even though they were no longer living together.
So she spoke first: "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Wan Qiqi didn't seem to be in a hurry to get to the point. She pushed the coffee in front of her toward He Lingling. Just moments ago, she was lost in thought and reflection, but now she had a faint smile on her face. To Lingling, the person in front of her seemed to have a much gentler demeanor.
"Cappuccino is Aze's favorite coffee."
Lingling was stunned. These magical words made her raise her coffee to her lips and take a small sip.
"Miss He, don't you know my brother very well?"
The aroma of coffee fills the throat, first bitter then sweet, and finally transforms into a mellow bitterness in the heart.
She didn't know how to answer the question. She had met him when she should have been just beginning to experience romantic feelings, and they had been together for ten years. She should know him well, but now she didn't even know his favorite type of coffee for the first time, and he seemed like a complete stranger.
Cappuccino is the sweetest type of coffee, doesn't it seem a bit out of place with him? Wan Qiqi seemed to be able to see through her heart.
She chuckled softly, lost in her memories once more. Little Yao didn't like coffee at all! As a child, he was a precious treasure; the whole family couldn't bear to let him suffer even a little. But wasn't it himself who made him suffer? While his father was busy with work, he would climb onto his lap, grab the steaming cup of coffee on the table, take a big gulp, and then burst into tears from the bitterness. The whole family teased him about it for a long time. Even when Little Yao reached an age where he was beginning to understand things, he would secretly get angry whenever the family mentioned coffee. If guests came over and coffee was served, he would always choose the sweetest kind—a cappuccino, with lots and lots of sugar before he could even grimace a little… She smiled bitterly. How much suffering had Little Yao, who disliked bitterness so much, endured over the years? She couldn't bear to imagine it.
When I saw my younger brother in the hospital room, he was so thin and unrecognizable. I wondered how much bitter medicine he must have been drinking to get to that state.
When she heard her younger brother say "give up treatment," she was so angry she wanted to slap him across the face. It wasn't until the next day, when she saw the empty hospital room, that she realized how unfamiliar she was with the little brother who used to save chocolates for her when they were children.
Finding Xiaoyao wasn't difficult; her father and grandfather both possessed extraordinary abilities. However, when she saw the empty ward filled with the smell of medicine, she couldn't bring herself to leave.
She suddenly realized that what had trapped Xiaoyao in her youth was not just physical pain, but also the mental illness that had tormented her repeatedly over the years.
So when the doctor repeatedly told her that she needed to have surgery as soon as possible, she chose to spend this precious time seeing someone first.
Xiao Yao, in her teens, carried the pain inflicted by her father and still flew back to J City to see the person she desperately wanted to see. In her twenties, even knowing that Wan Qizheng's wedding was a family banquet, she insisted on bringing a person from another family.
The person he had tried so hard to hide, even at the cost of his life, was brought to his cousin's wedding and exposed to the world after he discovered he was ill. It was all to leave her with the greatest possible protection after he was gone.
He was certain that his family would forgive his lover out of guilt towards him.
Wan Qiqi looked at the young woman opposite her again, hoping to see through her the years she had missed being by her younger brother's side, but found in vain that she could not see anything.
All she saw was a girl with eyes as clear as a deer's.
"Miss He, would you like to hear Aze's story?"
He Lingling looked up at Wan Qiqi, whose deep, ocean-like eyes seemed to belong to another person. Her heart pounded like a drum; this was an immense attraction for her.
The boy who suddenly appeared in her life, the man she had loved for many years without realizing it, she couldn't wait to hear from his closest family members what he looked like, a man she had never seen before.
-
On this not-so-warm winter afternoon, Wanqiqi began her story about Aze with a question.
That was a complete stranger.
Unlike Chen Yixu's initial violentness, and also unlike Wan Qiqi's coldness that often accompanied her later, the "Xiao Yao" in Wan Qiqi's mouth seemed to have a magical power, making her unwilling to look away for even a moment, her whole heart rising and falling with the movement of her lips.
Wanqiqi asked her, "Did you always think that Aze was this charming and shrewd person?"
Lingling couldn't answer.
She knew that Wanqi Fuze, who was not by her side, was a completely different person—extremely capable, intelligent, and spirited.
Sophie didn't seem to want an answer; she just used the question as a starting point to begin a long story.
In the summer of 2012, I was interning at one of the top firms on Wall Street. That day, my supervisor gave me a new case. The weight of the stack of documents I received foreshadowed that if I did well, I could make a fortune. But the names on the documents made my heart soar to the top one moment and plummet to the bottom the next.
Yixu Chen.
If I might hesitate a bit about whether this name is the right one, then the English name that follows completely confirms my suspicions.
When the supervisor saw me standing there dumbfounded, she called my name. I apologized and told the thin, shrewd Asian woman that I couldn't answer.
She was naturally very angry, though she would never show it on her face; she just gave me a look of incomprehensible disdain. The goodwill and impression I had built up with her over six months of internship completely crumbled.
But how can I tell her how absurd this is?
The person she wanted me to deal with was my own younger brother.
I didn't know that Xiao Yao had taken this path, nor did I know that he had such amazing business talent and vision. With just a glance at that thick stack of documents, I could tell how much assets he already had and that he had become a leader in the industry.
You probably wouldn't believe it, but after learning this fact, what welled up in my heart as the older sister wasn't pride, but rather a deep sense of self-reproach and pain. Because I knew he must have suffered a lot.
That afternoon, I was glued to the name "Yixu Chen." Oh, are you curious why Xiao Yao has two names? Hehe, I think you've guessed a bit. The surname Wanqi is too uncommon, it's indeed quite conspicuous in D province. So Dad changed the name to "Chen Yixu" on his temporary ID.
"Yi Xu" means to remember Xu Yi.
Xu Yi was our mother. The name may sound unfamiliar now, but I think we never stop missing her. She was the most beautiful and best mother in the world, willing to give up her career for her beloved husband and her life for her children. She left us forever at the age of 42. That accident not only took away my mother and Xiao Yao's mother, but also my other younger brother, A Zhan.
A-Zhan's departure even plunged the Wan and Xu families into a prolonged period of intense conflict.
That was Xiaoyao's sixth birthday. You would never guess that Xiaoyao used to be the apple of our Wan family's eye. His grandparents, parents, and other relatives took turns spoiling him. It's amazing that such pampering didn't turn Xiaoyao into a spoiled brat.
At that time, my father's career was on the rise, and he spent three-quarters of the year away from his wife and children. I was also studying in the United States. On my youngest son's birthday, my mother took her two sons, who were with her, to Malaysia for a vacation. We even video-chatted with each other on the computer. At that time, my six-year-old son was already as tall as my father.
I pride myself on the fact that my family has never done anything wrong, yet fate has played a cruel joke on us. My youngest son has been eager to try surfing for a long time, and this trip to Malaysia was a birthday gift from his mother.
Professional equipment, professional coaches. Even the weather forecast told us it was going to be a sunny and windless day.
Weather forecast, that awful weather forecast. I haven't believed it for a long time, and I think Xiaoyao hasn't either...
That day, a sudden storm arose, and the moment Xiao Yao was swept into the sea, her mother went into the water before the rescue team arrived. A-Zhan was only a child under ten years old, yet he remained rational in such a dangerous situation, dialing rescue numbers in order to notify his family... Shouldn't I be proud to have such a brave and outstanding younger brother? But even after not seeing his mother and brother for ten minutes, he still went into the sea without hesitation.
The storm took away our family members, but how lucky we were that it left our youngest child with us.
Whether Mom and A-Zhan found Xiao Yao at the last moment and said their final words to him, we will never know. Xiao Yao fell into a long coma and developed a serious mental illness after waking up.
Yes, you probably don't know, but Aze, who seems so normal, has a very serious mental illness, right? When he was six years old, he went from being unconscious all day to being unable to fall asleep again once he woke up. Even the top hypnotist his father hired couldn't do anything about him. Later, he was sent to J City, where he still had to undergo regular rehabilitation training, but the effect was getting worse each time, even the experts shook their heads. It wasn't until he was in high school that he suddenly improved, and the extent of his recovery was simply unbelievable... Perhaps that was when you met each other? Ms. He, I'm completely baffled, but I think this is one of the reasons why he has always been so devoted to you.
I apologize, but the reason why Aze was sent to Province D by his father involves some confidential information that I cannot disclose. At that time, I was devastated by the sudden collapse of my happy family and retreated to my apartment in the United States, too afraid to come back. My father also did not stay in City B for long. My youngest son was sent to Province D, thousands of miles away. It was a truly unbearable winter.
I failed in my responsibilities as the eldest sister. It might sound laughable, but back then I was a princess, pampered by the whole family. This sudden change turned me into an ostrich burying my head in the sand. But running away wasn't an escape from everything. For years, I was consumed by endless self-blame and self-questioning. I naturally had little access to information about my youngest sister's life in D province, but I wasn't completely unaware of it.
Miss He, you had a conflict with Xiao Yao. Perhaps you've been well protected by Xiao Yao and only see the surface, but I must tell you that the incident alarmed not only the Guan and Wan families. You must have complained more than once that Xiao Yao treated you like some kind of object, but you should also know that allowing you to live a normal life in B City, where the Guan family is eyeing you covetously, using your original identity, is by no means an easy or safe matter.
I've thought more than once, wouldn't it be perfect to erase your identity and give you a new one? But I gradually realized that the guy wanted to protect you both physically and mentally, so you wouldn't suffer any injustice from others.
Please allow me to apologize again. After learning of your existence, I repeatedly doubted whether you were a good match for my brother, or what kind of magic you possess that could make him willing to go against his closest relatives for you. I really wanted to see who you were. In fact, I remembered who you were the first time I saw you.
The girl in the photo was in the inner pocket of the coat that Xiaoyao took off during the Chinese New Year.
Xiao Yao, you, and a dog.
Later, he placed this photo on his desk in his study, and I think he also placed it in his heart.
These are things I shouldn't be telling you. But I know that if I don't tell him, he will never tell you.
When the incident happened that year, Miss He, while you were safe and sound in D Province, did you know that someone knelt in front of the Guan family's door all night just to ask for justice for a boy with the surname "Chen"? Did you know that someone was beaten by his own father until he was covered in blood and bruises? And did you know that the silly boy was in so much pain that he couldn't get out of bed, yet he risked breaking his leg to fly back to D Province in the middle of the night just to see you?
Actually, he's not as smart as you think, right? Haha, I think he's incredibly stupid. This silly boy has been blaming himself for so many years, only knowing how to atone for his sins, loving a girl for so many years without ever expressing it... He didn't even want to tell his family when he was sick...
If after hearing all this you still cannot forgive him for the ten years he imprisoned you, could you please do me a favor for the last few days?
Perhaps all you need to do is persuade him—please forgive my selfishness, but as his older sister, I cannot watch Wanqi Fuze, the wicked man you imagine, leave—he loves you, perhaps with a love that is even deeper and greater than you and I can imagine.
So I'm wondering, if you let him live, would he listen to you?
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