Xu Zhao's information was very timely. After being completely rejected by Jiang Tingchen, Su Yao left the cafe in a daze and walked aimlessly on the street.
Fortunately, the weather was good. In the evening, dark clouds gathered and a heavy downpour suddenly came.
Raindrops as big as beans fell with a crackling sound, and pedestrians on the street took shelter with umbrellas and walked hurriedly.
Su Yao seemed to be unconscious.
A black Bentley slowly stopped beside her, the window rolled down, revealing Xu Zhiru's face with just the right amount of worry.
"Miss?" Xu Zhiru's voice was gentle, with a hint of uncertainty.
Su Yao turned her head blankly, the rain sliding down her cheeks, she couldn't tell whether it was rain or tears.
Xu Zhiru opened the car door, held up an umbrella, and walked quickly to Su Yao, tilting most of the umbrella over Su Yao's head.
"Why are you out here in the rain alone? Get in the car! It's raining so hard you'll get sick."
Her tone was full of concern, and she naturally supported Su Yao's cold arm.
Su Yao's body was stiff, and she was almost passively taken into the car by Xu Zhiru, half supported and half invited.
The interior of the car was warm and dry, shielded from the pouring rain outside.
Xu Zhiru immediately took a clean and soft cashmere blanket from the back seat and draped it over Su Yao's shivering body.
"Wipe it first."
She handed over the tissue again, her voice as gentle as the spring breeze.
Su Yao mechanically took the tissue and wiped her face carelessly, her eyes still dull.
"Miss, where do you live? Let me take you home." Xu Zhiru asked softly.
Su Yao murmured to herself, her eyes becoming even emptier, "I don't want to go home..."
A barely perceptible hint of pride flashed across Xu Zhiru's eyes, but her face was still full of sympathy and worry.
"Did something unhappy happen to you? You'll get sick if you do this." She asked tentatively, her tone cautious, as if she was afraid of touching the other person's wound.
"Unhappy?"
Su Yao seemed to have heard a joke, and a smile uglier than crying appeared on the corner of her mouth, "It's more than just unhappy..."
Her tears burst out again, mixing with the rain on her face, making her look miserable.
"Brother Tingchen doesn't want me anymore... He threw away the relationship we've had for so many years for that woman..."
Su Yao choked and spoke intermittently.
Xu Zhiru listened quietly, handed her tissues from time to time, and patted her back gently to comfort her, but she was not in a hurry to ask who that "she" was.
She knew that she had to let the fish take the bait.
"How could this happen..." Xu Zhiru frowned, her face full of heartache and confusion, "Men can be confused sometimes, but how can you just say no to the love between childhood sweethearts?"
Her words were like a key, opening the floodgates of Su Yao's emotions.
"Yeah! Why? We grew up together, everyone thought we would be together! How could he do this to me!" Su Yao became excited, her voice sharp, with a strong sense of unwillingness and resentment, "Just because that woman appeared, everything changed! She is the only one in his eyes and heart! He even forbade me to go to the company again! He was afraid that I would disturb them!"
"That's too much..." Xu Zhiru agreed appropriately, her tone filled with indignation. "Who on earth is that woman? What tricks did she use to overshadow the friendship we've shared since childhood?"
Su Yao bit her lower lip so hard that it almost drew blood.
She raised her head and looked at Xu Zhiru with tearful eyes, her voice sounding like it was squeezed out from between her teeth.
"It's Ning Nanxue! Her name is Ning Nanxue!"
Hearing the name, Xu Zhiru's grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly, but an expression of extreme shock instantly appeared on her face, and her eyes widened slightly.
"Ning... Ning Nanxue?"
Her voice rose several degrees, full of disbelief.
"Miss Su, are you talking about... the one before Fu Chen... Ning Nanxue?"
Su Yao was stunned when she saw her reaction, and then she seemed to have found resonance and became even more excited.
"Yes! That's her! You know her too?"
The shock on Xu Zhiru's face quickly turned into a complex expression mixed with disgust, pain and anger.
She took a deep breath, as if trying to calm herself down, but her voice trembled slightly.
"More than just knowing her..." She smiled bitterly, her eyes slightly red, revealing a bit of vulnerability just right, "Ms. Su, to be honest, I... I was the one who was hurt by her."
"What?" Now it was Su Yao's turn to be surprised.
Xu Zhiru lowered her head and gently pressed the corners of her eyes with a tissue. When she raised her head again, her eyes were filled with tears, but she tried hard to hold them back.
"To be honest, Ah Chen and I... that is, Fu Chen, were originally engaged."
Her voice was choked with sobs. "We've always had a good relationship, and our family was preparing for our wedding. But...but because of Ning Nanxue's appearance, everything was ruined."
She looked at Su Yao, her eyes full of empathy and pain.
"I don't know what means she used to seduce Ah Chen, causing Ah Chen to become increasingly cold towards me. He even...even wanted to cancel our engagement for her."
Xu Zhiru's voice became lower and lower, filled with deep grievance and sadness.
"During that time, I really... almost couldn't hold on. I don't know what I did wrong, and why she wanted to destroy my happiness."
She raised her hand to cover her heart, as if it was still aching.
"I've heard some rumors about her, but I didn't expect...she would actually target Mr. Jiang again..."
Xu Zhiru looked at Su Yao, her eyes full of sympathy and indignation.
"Miss, you...you've suffered. I completely understand how you feel. It's so painful to be betrayed by the one you love and have everything taken away by another woman."
Su Yao stared at Xu Zhiru in a daze. Listening to her "experience", her original anger and unwillingness were mixed with a sense of shared hatred for the enemy.
"She...how can she be so vicious!" Su Yao's voice trembled, and hatred almost swallowed her. "She snatched away your fiancé, and now she's trying to snatch my brother Tingchen!"
Xu Zhiru shook her head, a confused and hateful expression on her face: "Maybe... some people are born to like to snatch other people's things. Seeing others happy makes her feel uncomfortable."
She deliberately guided Su Yao's thoughts and portrayed Ning Nanxue as a psychologically twisted and vicious woman who took pleasure in destroying others.
"Brother Tingchen is such a good man, how could he be blinded by a woman like this!" Su Yao pounded the seat under her, venting her anger, "He wasn't like this before... It's all Ning Nanxue!"
"Men are sometimes easily deceived by appearances." Xu Zhiru sighed, her tone filled with helplessness, "especially those women who pretend to be pitiful and scheming. They are best at gaining men's sympathy and protective desire."
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