Chapter 152 The White Moonlight and the Substitute
After Zhuang Bieyan left, the room fell into a deathly silence.
Qu He sat on the bed for a long time.
She got out of bed, put on her slippers, and slowly walked towards his study.
The black safe was placed on the second shelf of the bookcase.
Qu He dragged a chair onto it and tried to take it down.
But the box was much heavier than she had imagined, and she couldn't lift it with either hand.
She could only stand on tiptoe in this position and slowly move the box to the side of the bookshelf.
The safe has a four-digit combination; after entering it, you can turn the key to open it.
Qu He's hands trembled slightly as she placed them on the number keys.
She pressed down the numbers one by one, her heart sinking a little deeper with each press.
She pressed the last number, turned the key, and gave it a gentle twist.
A soft sound.
The safe was opened.
The numbers on the display screen were exactly the same as Yan Shu's birthday shown on her phone's search app.
0, 6, 1, 6
The last glimmer of hope was crushed.
The blood in my body seemed to freeze at that moment, and a bone-chilling cold seeped out.
Zhuang Bieyan used Yan Shu's birthday as a code. What does this mean?
A deeply unforgettable memory, or an old feeling that's hard to let go of?
Qu He opened the cabinet door with trembling hands.
There weren't many things inside; the most eye-catching item was a thin booklet.
The edges of the booklet are worn and slightly curled, making it easy to see that its owner frequently reads it.
Qu He carefully took it out.
At this moment, she was surprisingly calm.
Turning to the first page of the booklet, a piece of paper that had been torn in half fell out.
Qu He then realized that the booklet was actually made up of several different sheets of paper bound together.
There weren't many sheets of paper, but they were all covered with drawings of swallows, and next to each swallow was the character for "banquet".
The brushstrokes in the swallow painting are immature and somewhat unskilled, but they are exactly the same as the swallow pattern on Zhuang Bieyan's tie.
It could even be said that the embroidered patterns on the tie were copied one-to-one from these drawings.
So, this is the source.
This swallow design is the inspiration for the swallow motif.
A guess popped into my head: Could this be Yan Shu's original manuscript?
There was also a cowhide envelope inside the safe.
She reached out to take it, but accidentally bumped into the small wooden box standing inside.
The wooden box fell over, the lid came loose, and the contents fell out.
She glanced at it, but could never look away.
Inside the wooden box was a small ceramic swallow.
Qu He's head suddenly started hurting again.
The swallows look so familiar.
She must have seen her somewhere before!
She picked up the swallow and looked it over, finally spotting the letter Y on its little feet.
Y?
feast?
Swallow!
Qu He finally remembered that in the video Qian Zhaoye showed her, Yan Shu was in a pottery studio in England, personally carving a birthday gift for her lover.
That unfinished swallow was almost exactly the same as the one she had in her hand now!
So, this is the birthday gift Yan Shu gave to Zhuang Bieyan?
At the farewell banquet, he collected Yan Shu's handwritten sketches from his youth, bound them into a book, and even designed them into embroidered ties with subtle patterns, which he wore every day.
He then locked the birthday gift she gave him in this safe, which held great significance for him, and set the password to her birthday.
What's this?
Seeing an object reminds me of someone?
Eternal commemoration?
Qu He sneered, finding it utterly absurd.
I feel like a joke.
What else is here?
She wanted to see how much of their dramatic past was still hidden in the safe!
With a resolute "what's the use" attitude, Qu He took out the envelope and was about to open it when her phone vibrated.
The screen lights up.
It was another email from Yan Shu.
It's a video.
The video is shot from above, as if it were taken from a hotel corridor surveillance camera.
In the scene, Yan Shu stands at the door of a room in a long corridor, carrying a thermos.
Not long after, Zhuang Bieyan opened the door and came out.
The two were talking about something, and Yan Shu was very emotional. She threw down what she was holding and hugged his waist.
Zhuang Bieyan in the video did not dodge.
Qu He knew this hotel.
It was the hotel where we stayed during the filming of the show "Chengqi".
So, back then, there were already signs that their old feelings had rekindled?
A new email notification sounded.
It's a photograph.
The theme was six words: I won, he came.
She exited the video and tapped on the photo with trembling hands.
The night was dark.
The background is clearly the balcony of a hotel room.
Yan Shu leaned intimately against the man's shoulder, her arms wrapped around his waist.
The man only showed half of his profile, but the outline looked very familiar.
"Boom!"
Thunder roared.
A pale flash of lightning ripped through the night sky.
A weather warning pops up at the top of the phone screen.
Typhoon No. 79 has made landfall ahead of schedule. Please avoid going out unless absolutely necessary.
Outside the window, the rain was pouring down.
The typhoon is getting closer.
Her world.
It collapsed.
at the same time.
The internet is buzzing.
Trending topics appeared at an astonishing speed.
[Mr. Z's identity confirmed]
[A Farewell Banquet at Yanshu Manor for Childhood Sweethearts]
[A love triangle in a wealthy family: the unrequited love and the substitute]
Qu He cheated on her boyfriend with her ex-boyfriend.
Yan Shu's account posted two videos ten minutes ago.
One is a video of Yan Shu learning pottery and making swallows for Zhuang Bieyan back then, and the other is a collection of paintings she has given to Zhuang Bieyan over the years.
Both videos are captioned with the same sentence: "To my dear Mr. Zhuang."
Meanwhile, multiple anonymous accounts released photos showing Qu He and Qian Zhaoye entering and leaving a movie theater's couples' section this afternoon.
Weibo is completely overwhelmed.
During the typhoon, everyone was stuck at home with nothing to do but surf the internet. Her two Weibo posts quickly garnered over ten thousand comments:
[As expected, Zhuang Bieyan is the Mr. Z that Yan Shu mentioned! These two definitely have a close relationship; Yan Shu has actually harbored a secret crush on Zhuang Bieyan for so long.]
[Everyone, go watch the end of the second video! So Yan Shu confessed her feelings to Zhuang Bieyan at his birthday party. They really were together. Yan Shu is Zhuang Bieyan's ideal woman.]
[Is Yan Shu back this time to rekindle her old flame with Zhuang Bieyan? What about Qu He?]
Am I the only one who thinks Yan Shu's actions are unethical? Even if she was with Zhuang Bieyan before, he's now married to Qu He. Isn't that being a mistress?
[Isn't Qu He also guilty? Don't those photos also prove that Qu He cheated? Maybe Qu He cheated first, and then Zhuang Bieyan sought comfort from his first love, his white moonlight.]
...
A black Maybach sped through the night.
With the typhoon about to make landfall, there were almost no pedestrians or vehicles on the roads.
The trees on both sides of the road were fitted with tripods, and the glass of the shopping mall was covered with cross-shaped tape.
Xiao Li's presence was kept at bay, and Zhuang Bieyan drove quickly towards Wanhua Garden.
The phone kept playing a cold, robotic notification: "The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later..."
The green light turned red.
He slammed on the brakes, his body lurching forward due to inertia.
Zhuang Bieyan picked up his phone and dialed again, but it was still the same.
He clenched his fist and pounded it twice on the steering wheel.
He tossed his phone onto the passenger seat.
The phone rang suddenly. When I picked it up, I found it was Tan Cong calling.
The glimmer of hope that had just risen in his eyes was instantly extinguished.
"Mr. Zhuang, your call finally went through!" Tan Cong's voice was urgent.
"What is it?" He just wanted to hang up all the calls right now, afraid of missing any news about Qu He because of this.
“Those trending topics on Weibo just won’t come down. Our people have negotiated with Weibo multiple times, but their attitude is very tough.”
Zhuang Bieyan's expression changed instantly.
He stared at the pitch black outside the car window.
Someone is manipulating all of this behind the scenes.
“Call Yu Shan, he has a way.” He said firmly, “No matter what method you use, I want to see those trending topics disappear within half an hour.”
"yes!"
After hanging up the phone, Zhuang Bieyan immediately checked the missed calls.
There was no phone call from Qu He.
As the green light countdown ended, he slammed on the gas.
The car's tires left a water trail on the road as it headed straight for Wanhua Garden.
The elevator was still slowly descending.
He couldn't wait a second longer, so he pushed open the fire escape door and ran up and down the stairs.
Seventh floor, I've arrived at my doorstep.
His hands were shaking as he typed the password, and it took him two tries to get it right.
The door opened, and he was greeted by deathly darkness and the sound of his own breathing.
"Ahe?"
He called out, and his voice echoed in the living room, but no one responded.
He pressed the switch, and the light illuminated the entire house, but it couldn't reach his empty heart.
He searched the bedroom, the dressing room, and the second-floor studio, turning every corner upside down, but still couldn't find Qu He.
Qu He's clothes, shoes, and all her daily necessities were still there, but she was nowhere to be found.
The glass door to the balcony wasn't closed properly, and the wind, carrying rainwater, rushed in, making a rustling sound.
The vase on the coffee table ultimately couldn't resist.
The pink lychees were scattered all over the ground, as if they had lost all their vitality.
The nutrient solution in the vase dripped down the edge of the coffee table, spreading a dark patch on the carpet.
Zhuang Bieyan stood in the center of the living room, feeling as if a piece of his heart had been ripped out, leaving only a hollow that let in a gust of cold wind.
For the first time, he realized how big the house was, big enough to completely engulf a person.
The wind continued to blow, and the study door was wide open, slamming against the doorframe repeatedly.
Zhuang Bieyan suddenly remembered something and rushed inside.
The chair that was originally placed next to the desk was dragged to the front of the bookshelf.
The safe on the second shelf of the bookshelf showed obvious signs of having been moved.
Did she...see everything?
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