Chapter 146 Abandoned She Loves Many People
After the tutoring session ended and everyone left one by one, Zhu Yingning wanted to find a chance to talk to Xu Sirui.
But if you really try to find the right time, you'll find it never comes. He returned to his bedroom, and she followed him. Before she could say anything, he said he was sleepy and wanted to take a nap. She couldn't let him sleep, so she could only wait for the next opportunity.
The weekend passed by in this wait.
She wanted to talk to him in the middle of the week, but she couldn't find a chance because Xu Sirui was either listening to music or playing games with headphones on.
By Wednesday, she couldn't stand it anymore, so she knocked on his door and asked him if he had been in a bad mood recently.
Xu Sirui took off his headphones and said no, then pretended to put them back on.
Zhu Yingning quickly grabbed his earphones and before he closed his eyes and ears again, she asked, "Is it because you don't like me calling Zhang Jiacheng over?"
He said, "No."
She ignored his answer: "I already told him not to come."
Xu Sirui was stunned for a moment, his eyes moved slightly, and he glanced in her direction.
He thought he'd be delighted to hear her say that, but that didn't seem to be the case. Those eyes, usually pure and black, now looked at him with a hint of unconscious flattery and pleading. Her thoughtfulness was like a gentle knife, cutting through the rotten flesh of his heart, forcing him to confront the wound within.
No one had ever told him that liking someone could be such an embarrassing feeling.
I hate her being close to others, but I also can't stand her forcing herself to do something she wouldn't do for such a small matter.
He didn't want to see her associating with people he disliked, but compared to this, he seemed to not want to make things difficult for her, and didn't want her to compromise just to accommodate him.
In just a few seconds, Xu Sirui thought a lot, but for some reason, he couldn't say a word.
Until her back disappeared at the door of his bedroom, he was unable to say the words lingering in his heart: "You don't have to do this for me."
Deep in his subconscious - a place beyond the reach of poetry, books, etiquette and any rationality, he enjoyed her unique indulgence and devotion to him as if grasping at a life-saving straw.
**
This Saturday, Zhang Jiacheng did not come again.
Xu Sirui didn't know exactly how Zhu Yingning explained it to him, but the result still made him feel somewhat relieved.
It wasn't until Sunday that he belatedly felt a little guilty—not towards Zhang Jiacheng, of course, but towards her. He specifically asked the hourly worker not to come that day and asked her for cooking tips, wanting to cook a meal for her himself.
As the most lazy and incompetent person, he couldn't even make the simplest egg fried rice on his own. However, Xu Sirui thought he could give it a try because the cooking process looked similar to a chemistry experiment. As long as he strictly followed the dosage and steps in the recipe, he didn't believe his food would be bad. But after he carefully reviewed the recipe, Zhu Yingning hurriedly announced that she needed to go out.
"I'm going to Sister Weiwei's place. I made an appointment with her before. We have some things to deal with today. I won't be back for lunch or dinner."
Xu Sirui said nothing. He stood at the door wrapped in a blanket and watched her leave.
The door snapped shut, and silence returned to the house, so still that the clock on the wall could be heard clearly. Tick-tick—seconds rushed by, coming and going in a hurry.
He returned to his room and sat in front of the turned-on computer, the blue light of the screen illuminating his face.
He pursed his lips and couldn't help but let out a low laugh.
He had known for a long time that she loved many people and had many relatives and friends who cared about her.
From the first day they met, he knew that she had this bodhisattva-like temperament.
He thought he was unhappy only because he cared about Zhang Jiacheng... But why did he feel abandoned now, even when she wanted to help Zhu Zhiwei?
**
Zhu Yingning went to see Zhu Zhiwei because of Huang Yuliang's matter. Ever since Zhu Zhiwei called her late at night last year and told her that she needed to think about it carefully, they tacitly did not talk about this issue for a long time.
Zhu Yingning didn't talk about it because she didn't want to give Zhu Zhiwei an aggressive feeling. She knew that some things could only be figured out by herself. No matter how cleverly others said it, redemption could only happen to herself.
In addition, in order not to burden Zhu Zhiwei's shop, she resigned from her shop and found a part-time job as a tutor, so she was even less aware of what happened in Zhu Zhiwei's shop.
It was not until the first day of the Lunar New Year, not long ago, when she went to her home to pay New Year's greetings, that she heard her mention Huang Yuliang again.
For the past six months, Huang Yuliang had been hiring people to maliciously manipulate her store, doing so once or twice every month. Even though Zhu Yingning had already exposed Huang Yuliang's true nature during that late-night phone call, the thought of him revealing his true colors to her perceived benefactor was too much for Zhu Zhiwei to bear. Protecting him and shielding him had become her habit, and she couldn't get over it, nor could she get over her feelings.
So she tolerated it again and again, filed complaints when she saw bad reviews, argued with customer service, repeatedly called the phone numbers left by those who brushed the reviews, and went through various procedures to try to save her store's rating.
The customer service girl worked overtime with her until the dark circles under her eyes became increasingly obvious. The two looked at each other in silence, and seeing each other's sallow faces was like looking in the mirror.
For six months, the store struggled to survive, with no sign of a breakthrough. Zhu Zhiwei's feelings for Huang Yuliang gradually faded amidst the vicious competition. However, what truly woke her up was the day the customer service girl said to her, "Boss, this job is so boring."
The reason why she dared to speak frankly was that she had already started looking for a new job. After all, she was a naive young person and could not sit still and look for another one. After thinking it over again and again, she sincerely told the reasons for her resignation.
The four words "very boring" were much more harsh than "I want to resign". They were so honest that they seemed sharp. These four words were like a steel wire, running through Zhu Zhiwei from left to right, grinding her chaotic brain until it bled.
Even rabbits will bite when they are cornered, let alone she is a living person.
She has seven emotions and six desires. She can love and hate.
She asked herself, why did she have to endure it? Did she really have to endure it until everyone left her, and she was forced to flee back to the mountains like a drowned dog? Had she escaped from the mountains, escaped her abusive husband, only to trap herself in a cage created by another man?
Fuck him!
She asked the customer service girl to stay and asked her not to leave. The next day she called Huang Yuliang to make an appointment.
Before calling, she'd assumed Huang Yuliang had at least blocked her number. The fact that she could still get through was almost ironic, making Zhu Zhiwei realize just how powerless she truly was in his eyes. He was worried she might leak secrets, yet he also disdainfully felt her personality wouldn't allow her to cause any trouble. So much so that he'd arrogantly kept her number, like the trophy of a battle known only to the two of them.
She asked Huang Yuliang to meet her in a restaurant and for the first time in her life, she spoke harshly to him, asking him to stop and not be so shameless, otherwise she didn't know what she would do.
As she spoke, she clenched her hands tightly together, so tightly that the veins on the back of her hands bulged, because only in this way could she stop her body from trembling and prevent him from seeing her inner fear.
Did she really not see through her?
Zhu Zhiwei couldn't explain it clearly. After all, she was still too young compared to Huang Yuliang, and youth was always accompanied by impatience.
She forced herself to finish this tough performance. Later, recalling the scene, she only remembered Huang Yuliang smiling the entire time, serving her food, and gently urging her to eat more meat, eggs, and dairy. He said, "You've lost a lot of weight, Xiaozhu."
She was uneasy, not knowing whether her threat had stirred even a trace of fear in his heart.
It turned out she wasn't, she was just too naive. After a relatively peaceful New Year, she spent her life in anxiety. Everything remained the same; the fraudulent fraud hadn't stopped, but had intensified. She called Zhu Yingning, but this time she didn't cry. Instead, she was overwhelmed by a deep sense of failure.
"You're probably wrong, Ningning. He's not afraid of me at all. I'm weak and incompetent, and in his eyes, I'm probably no different from an ant on the ground. Why would he be afraid of someone like me?"
Zhu Yingning was silent for a long time on the other end of the phone, then said to her, "Sister Weiwei, it's not that he's afraid of you, it's that he doesn't believe your threats. I have to ask you a question: can you really put your threats into action?"
This question was even more pointed than "very boring". Zhu Zhiwei froze completely, as if he had been split apart and reassembled by a thunderbolt. His outer shell was charred and shattered, revealing the horrific truth inside.
Can she do it?
She found herself unable to answer the question, much less imagine herself carrying out her threat. If she herself didn't believe she would act, why would Huang Yuliang? He saw through her bluff before she did.
"Then...what should I do?" She asked Zhu Yingning blankly, completely forgetting that the other party was a child younger than her.
But Zhu Yingning supported her weakness and said, "Do it, not just talk. Just make those threats come true."
"I'm a little scared... If he gets even worse and retaliates, will my death be even more miserable than it is now?"
She didn't answer the question because she had no way to assure Zhu Zhiwei that Huang Yuliang wouldn't do something desperate. The only thing she could say was, "I'll be with you."
Companionship is the most useless, yet it has infinite power.
The spring breeze is like rain, moistening everything silently.
Zhu Zhiwei's eyes were sore, and she held the microphone and choked for a long time before she whispered, "Okay, then come and stay with me, Ningning. I want to meet Huang Yuliang's wife again."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
