Chapter 13
Wen Yan didn't let Sang Nian go to the parking lot with him. Instead, he drove the car over, got in, turned on the navigation, and asked Sang Nian where she was staying.
Sang Nian then realized that Wen Yan's coldness towards him might be related to the Sang family. He lowered his eyes and smiled, sighing inwardly, before giving an address.
It was an old, dilapidated apartment in the western part of Shanghai, far from the design institute. While driving, Wen Yan once again affirmed Tao Youmin's stated purpose for Sang Nian's work at the design institute.
They remained silent the entire way.
But this was not what Sang Nian wanted. He had hoped to take this opportunity to talk more with Wen Yan and get closer to her, but he was disturbed by the thoughts that kept rising in his mind.
After leaving the Sang family, he paid no attention to anyone else, focusing all his attention on Wen Yan. No one from the Sang family contacted him either; life was as quiet as it had been during his time abroad.
But he felt it was too quiet, which was illogical. If Tao Wanru could find ways to make him uneasy in the M country thousands of miles away, there was no reason why she wouldn't move an inch when they were so close.
Could it really be that Sang Wenhua did something? This thought had barely formed in his mind when Sang Nian suppressed it. He couldn't do what Sang Wenhua wanted him to do, so naturally, she wouldn't be so kind to him anymore.
The Sang family has always been like this, driven solely by profit.
When they got out of the car, there was already a layer of snow on the ground. Wen Yan didn't get out, seemingly not intending to escort him upstairs. Sang Nian naturally couldn't ask Wen Yan to escort him upstairs, since even if he asked, he would most likely only get a refusal.
He does have that much self-awareness.
So he thanked Wen Yan again, and after Wen Yan rode off into the distance, he slowly turned around and went home. His rented apartment was on the third floor, and climbing the stairs was usually an easy task, but now that he had twisted his ankle, it was harder than climbing to heaven.
He sighed again, thinking to himself that his move today was too clumsy, hurting himself and making Wen Yan dislike him.
That's really lame.
But there was no turning back now. Sang Nian glanced at the dark staircase, then slowly climbed up step by step, supporting himself against the wall. He didn't know how long it took, but when he finally opened the door, he was still panting, his hands were trembling, and a thin layer of sweat covered his back.
The soaked clothes clung to his body, causing him great discomfort. Sang Nian glanced at his swollen left foot and, without the slightest hesitation, walked into the bathroom as if in self-torture.
It's just a shower, there shouldn't be any major problems.
With a carefree heart, I took a very pleasant shower, but when I woke up the next day, I saw that my ankle was even more swollen and red, so my mood naturally became very bad.
"I thought the swelling would go down overnight," he muttered to himself. After changing his clothes, he opened the window and found that it was raining outside. The world was shrouded in a gray haze. The heavy snow of last night seemed like a dream, disappearing without a trace after he woke up.
But the pain in his left foot reminded him that what happened yesterday was real—the snow was real, the fall was real, and meeting Wen Yan was real. Thinking of this, Sang Nian's mood brightened again. He hummed a song, opened his phone, and called a car.
When they arrived at the cemetery on the outskirts of Dingzhou, the rain had not stopped; in fact, it was pouring down. Sang Nian asked the driver to wait for him in the parking lot, while he got out of the car alone, holding an umbrella and carrying flowers.
Qiu Yang is buried here.
Sang Nian still couldn't believe that Qiu Yang had left like that, without leaving a single word, and had quietly departed from this world.
He didn't even have a chance to see him one last time.
At that time, he was lying in a hospital bed. Sang Yu confiscated his phone. He couldn't contact Qiu Yang at the time, but he didn't think much of it. He thought that as long as he obeyed Qiu Yang, nothing would happen to him.
But Qiu Yang still got into trouble, and all of his chat history with Qiu Yang was deleted.
Sang Nian didn't believe this was just an accident; his intuition told him that this matter must be related to the Sang family.
But there was nothing he could do. After questioning the truth, he was sent abroad, his passport confiscated, and he could never return. During his five years in the United States, he survived only because of his will to return to China to find the truth and avenge Qiu Yang. If it weren't for these things supporting him, he probably wouldn't have lasted even a month.
The tombstone only bears Qiu Yang's name and birth and death dates, nothing else. There is no record of who erected the tombstone, nor is there a photo of Qiu Yang.
There won't be any photos; Qiu Yang is an orphan.
Aside from him, probably no one else will remember that there was such a pitiful wretch in this world. The child he raised became his death warrant. Illness couldn't take him away, but he lost his life because he was a member of the Sang family.
Sang Nian solemnly placed the flowers in his hand before the tombstone, then reached out and touched it, his fingertips slowly tracing the two characters "Qiu Yang." He felt an icy chill, just like the moment he learned of Qiu Yang's accidental death in a fire abroad, a chill that made him shiver. He bit his lip hard, the taste of blood filling his mouth, but he seemed oblivious, his fingertips still gently stroking the cold tombstone.
"Brother, I've come to see you."
The sobs that had been stuck in her throat finally escaped from between her lips. Sang Nian squatted down and buried her head between her knees.
His left foot ached terribly, but no matter how much it hurt, it couldn't compare to the pain in his heart. Qiu Yang was his only refuge when he lost all his memories and had nowhere to go, but now the thread holding him back had snapped, and Sang Nian could never find his way home again.
He had eagerly anticipated returning to life in the Sang family, but little did he know that returning to the Sang family would be the beginning of real suffering.
Nothing is more hateful than the Sang family.
The rain poured down harder and harder, plunging the world into a hazy, colorless expanse. Finally, Sang Nian stopped crying. He took a box of chocolates from his pocket, placed it next to the bouquet, then opened it, peeled one and placed it before the tombstone, before popping another into his mouth.
Chocolate is bitter, but Qiu Yang didn't know that. He thought chocolate was sweeter than candy, so the only birthday present he wanted was a box of chocolates. As for Qiu Momo, he also worked day and night to earn a box of chocolates in the mall, which seemed like no burden to others but was a real burden to them.
He was supposed to buy Qiu Yang a box of chocolates before returning to the Sang family home, since Qiu Yang's birthday was coming up, but he was too excited and forgot.
I wonder if Qiu Yang has ever bought chocolate for himself since he became rich.
"Brother, I won't leave after I come back. I'll come to see you often. Please don't blame me, okay?"
No one could answer his question; only the sound of the rain pattering in the cemetery echoed in his ears.
Having squatted for too long, Sang Nian's vision blurred when he stood up, and he trembled. He closed his eyes in discomfort, took a few deep breaths, and only after he felt a little better did he slowly open his eyes, a smile on his lips, and said to the tombstone, "Low blood sugar, don't worry, brother." After saying that, he looked up at the empty cemetery and felt extremely desolate.
Finally, he turned around, his vision blurred, and he couldn't even clearly see the two characters "Qiu Yang" on the tombstone.
He said, "Brother, I'm leaving now. Don't miss me too much."
She added, "Brother, you should think of me more often. No one else will think of me except you."
The voice was indistinct, as light as a breeze, and dissipated as soon as it was spoken.
Sang Nian did not leave directly, but went to the cemetery management office. He explained his purpose, and the administrator opened the computer to search for him.
"Qiu Yang, let me check... Qiu Yang... found him!" The administrator turned the computer screen slightly toward Sang Nian, then said, "You're the only one who's come here in the last five years. There's no one else. You see, the visitor list here is blank. But the files from five years ago don't seem to be on the computer. Back then, everything wasn't upgraded to computers; they were all paper records. I'll have to look for them..."
As he spoke, he went to the shelf behind him to look through the old files. He found them in no time, opened the booklet, and started searching for names. Finally, he found the only record after Qiu Yang's burial on the last two pages.
When Sang Nian saw the name on it, his pupils contracted sharply.
Sang Jing.
It was his uncle who took him back to the Sang family, where he had no power or influence.
Sang Nian kept muttering Sang Jing's name the whole way until the driver stopped the car on the side of the road. Sang Nian opened the car window and let the rain pour in. He looked at the construction site surrounded by high barriers in front of him, and felt a dull pain in his heart.
Even his and Qiu Yang's last memories were erased.
There's nothing left.
He slumped back into his seat, clutching his mouth tightly to stifle a sound. A mournful groan escaped through his fingers, and the driver shook his head, deeply saddened by the thin, frail, yet strikingly handsome boy. He pulled out two tissues and handed them to him, whispering words of comfort, "The dead cannot be brought back to life. Hang in there, young man."
Sang Nian took the tissue and thanked him. After calming down, he suggested going to the hotel. He planned to stay overnight in Dingzhou, since the round trip had been too rushed, the journey was long, and the driver needed to rest.
Back at the hotel, sitting on the sofa, the pain that had been ignored suddenly surged up, turning his face pale instantly, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead one after another.
Sang Nian rolled up his trouser leg and discovered that the previously red and swollen area had turned completely bruised and purple, looking much worse than yesterday. He gritted his teeth, took out his phone, and ordered several boxes of medicine on a food delivery platform.
He left in a hurry in the morning and didn't bring the medicine the doctor prescribed.
However, the weather was terrible; the temperature plummeted after nightfall, and freezing rain began to fall outside, so no one accepted the delivery order. Sang Nian had no choice but to cancel the order, put her shoes back on, grab her umbrella, and go downstairs to buy the food herself.
Fortunately, the nearest pharmacy was not far away, only 600 meters away, but he was stopped by the hotel receptionist when he was about to leave the hotel.
"Sir, are you going out?"
Sang Nian nodded, holding the umbrella.
The receptionist then said, "Sir, it's freezing rain outside, which isn't good for going out. If you're not in a hurry..." The pause was just right, but the meaning couldn't be clearer: it was a kind reminder. Sang Nian clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides, glanced at the dark doorway, and then smiled.
"Okay, thanks for reminding me."
He didn't go out, afraid of falling again. He limped towards the elevator, pressed the up button, and when the elevator doors opened, an unexpected person appeared before him.
He saw Wen Yan raise her eyebrows in surprise and smile silently.
After laughing, he greeted Wen Yan, whose face had already darkened.
"What a coincidence, Brother Wenyan."
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