Chapter 20
Sang Ning died at Old Master Liu's funeral. Liu Jingyuan, who was delirious from drug use, pushed her off the fifth floor, killing her instantly.
Before Old Master Liu passed away, the Liu family was already embroiled in a bitter dispute over the distribution of his estate. After this incident, everyone stood by coldly, unwilling to intervene. After all, this time was different; this time, it was Sang Ning who died. Although the Sang family was not as powerful as the Liu family, they were still influential in Haishi, especially with the subsequent involvement of the Wen family.
Liu Jingyuan was quickly arrested and imprisoned. No one could protect him, despite his cries of innocence. The facts were undeniable: drug use, attempted rape, and accidental murder. Furthermore, Wen Yan submitted evidence of a man who had intentionally killed Liu in bed years earlier. Therefore, Liu Jingyuan's death sentence was a foregone conclusion.
This tragedy that caused turmoil in Shanghai's stock market came to an end the moment Liu Jingyuan's verdict was announced, and Sang Nian's long-held anxiety finally subsided.
But when he turned around and looked at Wen Yan, he suddenly felt a pang of sadness.
When Sang Ning was alive, Wen Yan only had eyes for him. Now that he was dead, in order to punish Liu Jingyuan, who had harmed him, Wen Yan actually took over a part of the Wen family business that Sang Ning had always refused to take over. He suppressed the Liu family with thunderous force, so that they could not be distracted by defending Liu Jingyuan or giving false testimony, let alone arrange for him to go abroad to avoid the storm as they had done a few years ago.
Therefore, in Sang Nian's view, Wen Yan truly loved Sang Ning. Without the Wen family, Liu Jingyuan would not have been sentenced so quickly. Although the Sang family was powerful and influential, going head-to-head with the Liu family would be a Pyrrhic victory.
Wen Yan had been working on this for several months, lost a lot of weight, and looked exhausted.
He can't compete with the living, and it's even more impossible with the dead.
Sang Nian truly did not expect things to turn out this way.
He had deliberately taken a roundabout route while Liu Jingyuan was relentlessly pursuing him, intending to escape by using Sang Ning's identity based on his resemblance to her. However, he did not expect that the man would take Sang Ning away after making a mistake, leading to this tragedy.
He thought Liu Jingyuan would stop and let Sang Ning leave once he realized she wasn't his, but he didn't expect Liu Jingyuan to be so intoxicated by drugs that he wouldn't listen to Sang Ning at all. Sang Ning's fierce resistance angered Liu Jingyuan, and in his rage, he increased the force in his hands, pushing Sang Ning out of the French windows.
When Sang Nian saw Sang Ning's body lying on the cold ground that day, he was somewhat dazed. He even thought that the person was himself. If he hadn't dodged at the time, if Liu Jingyuan's men hadn't mistaken him for someone else, then the person lying on the ground would only be him.
So, is Wen Yan going to avenge himself?
The answer is naturally no.
The death of an insignificant person was nothing to Wen Yan. The Sang family would care even less about him; they would only use his death to gain more benefits from the Liu family.
Sang Ning died, and Sang Yu aged considerably overnight. Tao Wanru fell seriously ill and has been in a daze ever since. When not receiving treatment in the hospital, Tao Wanru locks herself in Sang Ning's bedroom and can stay there all day without leaving, very quiet, like a normal person.
But if she saw Sang Nian, she would become extremely agitated and violent. No one expected her first episode. She was just passing by Sang Nian's bedroom door when it was accidentally blown open by the wind. The moment Tao Wanru saw Sang Nian, her eyes turned bloodshot. She almost immediately rushed to Sang Nian, slapped him twice, and then grabbed a vase and smashed it against him, yelling, "Why wasn't it you who died! You should have died! It was you, you killed my Ningning!"
Blood gushed from his forehead instantly. While he was losing consciousness, Sang Nian saw Sang Jing pull Tao Wanru away and take him to the hospital for treatment.
Tao Wanru hated Sang Nian intensely, blaming him for everything. If it weren't for Sang Nian, none of this would have happened, and his Ningning would still be by her side. He would be engaged to Wen Yan, then married, and live a happy and fulfilling life.
He shouldn't have suffered such pain and then died alone.
When Tao Wanru was lucid, she wanted Sang Nian to pay for Sang Ning's life at all times. Therefore, after Sang Nian was discharged from the hospital, he did not return to the Sang family's old house, but moved out on his own at Sang Wenhua's instruction.
This was what Sang Nian had longed for for a long time. He felt suffocated day and night in the old Sang family house, except for the week he worked at Wenyan Design Studio when he was free.
He didn't move back to the rented room in the west of the city. Sang Wenhua kept his promise and gave Sang Nian a fully furnished apartment and a large sum of money. It seems that after Sang Ning left, this once powerful old man finally admitted that he was getting old. He suddenly realized that he only had this one grandson left, so he never pressured Sang Nian again.
Sang Nian finally had a rare chance to catch his breath.
But in the dead of night, he still had nightmares. It wasn't just Qiu Yang he dreamed about anymore; Sang Ning would sometimes appear in his dreams too. Sang Nian felt jealous and resentful towards his twin brother, who easily possessed everything he had always longed for and should have had, and he even won Wen Yan's love.
Even though he is dead, he lives on in the hearts of all those who loved him.
But his death became a thorn in Sang Nian's side that was hard to ignore, like a thorn in his flesh, often making it difficult for him to breathe and causing his heart to ache.
The Sang Ning who appeared in his dream was completely broken, covered in bright red blood, and opened her mouth to call out Sang Nian's name, demanding that he pay for her life.
Startled awake, Sang Nian gasped for breath, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. Afraid that Sang Ning would enter his dream again, he dared not go back to sleep, so he could only keep his eyes open until dawn.
Liu Wenyuan had come several times, but Sang Nian had never let him in. He didn't want to see anyone related to that matter, because it would remind him of Sang Ning lying in a pool of blood.
Liu Wenyuan didn't insist. After Liu Jingyuan went to prison, he joined the company and took over Liu Jingyuan's work. When Liu Jingyuan was alive, he was just an unknown illegitimate son. Now that Liu Jingyuan was gone, he was the only bloodline of the Liu family, and everything and the future of the Liu family belonged to him.
Including the mulberry year.
He didn't regret it. That day, when he saw Liu Jingyuan's men searching the whole house for Sang Nian, a strange feeling crossed his mind. Later, when he saw Liu Jingyuan go up to the fifth floor and into his usual bedroom, he became even more certain that Liu Jingyuan must want to do something to Sang Nian.
He inadvertently revealed the place where Liu's father had hidden the drugs Liu Jingyuan had previously used, and Liu Jingyuan, without any suspicion and overjoyed, opened the safe.
His first step was to get Liu Jingyuan to take drugs, and then bring Sang Ning, who looked exactly like Sang Nian, over... Just as he was racking his brains about how to bring Sang Ning over, he saw Liu Jingyuan's men leading someone over. At first glance, he thought it was Sang Nian, and he couldn't help but get nervous. He was about to stop them, but then he realized that the person was not Sang Nian, but Sang Ning, who had been pampered by the Sang family since childhood.
He was overjoyed and watched the elevator go up to the fifth floor before turning around and leaving to look for Sang Nian.
However, what happened next was beyond his expectations.
Sang Ning is dead! That idiot Liu Jingyuan accidentally pushed Sang Ning down. He had no time to think about what happened afterward. He needed to explain to the group and family, face public opinion, and deal with pressure from the Wen Group.
He wasn't surprised at all that Wen Yan had taken action. After all, the person who died was his childhood sweetheart and fiancé, and he didn't stop him. Getting rid of Liu Jingyuan effortlessly had been his long-held dream.
Fortunately, this process didn't last long. However, Sang Nian didn't seem to be doing well after leaving the Sang family, probably because he was frightened by what happened that day.
However, he would wait for Sang Nian to recover. He thought that when that time came, he would make Sang Nian understand his feelings for him, and Sang Nian would definitely accept him.
Sang Nian found a job online, not a proper one, just taking on design work to pass the time. Her first job was designing a flower shop. The owner was a very romantic woman, and she shared many of her ideas with Sang Nian.
Sang Nian drew a first draft based on her ideas, and unsurprisingly received lavish praise from the shop owner. So they arranged to meet and discuss the details of the contract.
When Sang Nian arrived at the agreed-upon coffee shop and saw the woman in the blue dress, she realized that she was Ye Shu, the heiress of the Ye Group, and also Xu Muze's blind date.
Ye Shu lived up to her name, "beautiful in appearance, a quiet and graceful woman." Just sitting there was a beautiful sight to behold. Sang Nian was a little late because of the crowded subway and apologized after sitting down. Ye Shu just smiled gently, indicating that she didn't mind, and then asked Sang Nian what he liked to drink. After receiving his reply, she ordered him a cappuccino.
Ye Shu was very satisfied with Sang Nian's design. She compared the design drawings with her own, her eyes filled with wonderful anticipation.
"Now I'm finally going to have the flower shop I've always dreamed of. Thank you so much, Sang Nian."
She thanked him more than once, making Sang Nian feel quite embarrassed. As the client, she had paid the money and could have done whatever she wanted, yet she remained very humble and easygoing, which made Sang Nian suspicious of the online posts complaining about clients.
“I went to see Wen Yan before, but that guy refused to paint anymore no matter what, so it was delayed until I saw you online.” Ye Shu gently shook the metal coffee spoon, complaining incessantly, “It’s a pity I missed the peak bloom of spring.” After saying that, she realized her slip of the tongue, then glanced at Sang Nian and, seeing that he didn’t react, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Wen Yan stopped painting because of Sang Ning's death. As for the person in front of him, although the Sang family has never publicly revealed his identity, he looks so much like Sang Ning that anyone with eyes can tell who he is at a glance.
However, she had never heard that Sang Ning had a twin brother.
After the collaboration was finalized, Sang Nian refined the design draft, and Ye Shu added some other elements before finally completing the design perfectly.
A wealthy family's flower shop isn't just a rented shop; Ye Shu's flower shop rents an entire villa, located on Xiheng Street, not far from Puning Road. The old villa is quite old, with a large garden outside, somewhat similar to Wen Yan's design studio.
All the interior decoration was designed by Sang Nian. He came to the construction site more than once with Ye Shu's help, just to complete his first work perfectly.
On the day the flower shop opened, many people sent flower baskets. Ye Shu appeared very happy, but secretly complained to Sang Nian, "What? I clearly run a flower shop, how can they order flower baskets from other flower shops to send to me?"
Sang Nian just smiled and shook his head.
These three months of contact made him realize that the real Ye Shu was not as dignified and virtuous as everyone said, but a girl who liked drinking, loved racing cars, and also had a romantic heart.
Sang Nian asked her why she opened a flower shop, but Ye Shu's explanation made him both laugh and cry.
"Men who like to buy flowers must be very romantic, so I'm doing this for my romance and my love."
"Didn't you ever think that the reason they came to buy flowers was because they have a partner?"
Ye Shu was speechless for a moment before punching Sang Nian's shoulder, "Niannian, why did you have to say such a terrible reality?"
Sang Nian smiled helplessly.
They sat by the fountain in the garden, looking at the flowers that had already faded. After a long while, Ye Shu sighed and said, "Winter is coming."
Yes, winter is coming again.
As Sang Nian watched the leaves gradually fall from the treetops, the joy in his heart was replaced by an unnamed sense of melancholy.
Before we knew it, it was already late autumn.
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