Chapter 37
She hesitated for a long time, then asked, "Does this include Sylvia?" After a moment of silence, Meng Zixuan replied, "I'll make it clear to her."
Chen Huan pinched the edge of the blanket. She asked sadly, "Do you feel any regret?" Her voice broke at the end of the sentence, as if it had been cut off.
Meng Zixuan's steady breathing paused for a second, and he asked why he should regret it?
Chen Huan said nothing. She wiped her tears and snot on the shoulder of his expensive sweater.
Meng Zixuan lowered his head to look at her, but with the top of her hair facing him, he couldn't see Chen Huan's face. She was still clutching the glass. A layer of mist had formed on the wall near her palm. She wiped it away with her right thumb. But there was still ice in the half-glass of water, and the mist quickly condensed again. Chen Huan still didn't speak. She wiped the wall of the glass with her thumb again.
Meng Zixuan asked, do you want me to explain it to her clearly now?
Shen Huan laughed and sat up straight. No, no, she put the cup on the coffee table and wiped her face with her sleeve. I'm sorry, of course I didn't mean that.
There was no smile on Meng Zixuan's face. He asked, "Then why are you crying?"
Shen Huan wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Sylvia looks like a very good woman.”
Meng Zixuan asked doubtfully, "Have you seen her?"
"Oh, a real person? Of course not." Chen Huan took a piece of tissue from the tissue box on the coffee table and wiped his nose. "But I went to her Facebook and looked through all her photos since the fifth grade dance. I know she wore big glasses in junior high school, and after she went to Yale, I don't know if she had surgery or wore contact lenses. I also found her resume in the professor profiles at N University, and I clicked on every one of her papers, published and unpublished."
Shen Huan rolled up the tissue and threw it into the trash can, then looked up at him. Tears still welled up in her eyes, and she smiled and said, "Maybe I know Sylvia better than you do."
Meng Zixuan also laughed. Without looking at Chen Huan again, he picked up the glass of ice water, drank it, and put it back on the coffee table.
"I know you want a thoughtful answer, but with your situation, I don't get that most of the time," he said. "When Sylvia stood at my door yesterday afternoon, I was hoping to continue with the conversation."
He coughed lightly and continued, "She's an excellent partner—smart, beautiful, and easy to communicate with. Last month, she went to Washington to attend a hearing on the Department of Defense's mental health spending budget. She was originally assigned as an observer. She came to me, and I called Cindy Kruger at the department and recommended her as an expert spokesperson."
"A few months ago, I reviewed a medical technology investment. Sylvia told me that the project had a compelling narrative, but the sample size was limited. Given current regulatory and ethical standards, it wouldn't be commercially viable within 15 years. So I didn't invest.
"Of course we dated and slept together, but that was pretty much it. She's an adult, she'll understand."
Chen Huan looked at him sideways and said, "Although I secretly and selfishly hope that you can't be together, I'm not happy to admit this. It makes me feel like a very bad person." Chen Huan said.
"So you have a moral burden." Meng Zixuan leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and crossed his arms in front of his eyes. "When you and Li Ting were together, he hadn't divorced yet."
Shen Huan remained silent for a long time. The only sound in the room was the sound of branches hitting the screen window. After a while, Shen Huan said, "So my ending was not good."
Meng Zixuan smiled softly and said nothing more.
Shen Huan stood up and asked him if he wanted to go upstairs to sleep.
He said I planned to sleep downstairs.
Shen Huan asked why.
He moved his arm away, looked at her sideways, then turned his head back, his eyes fixed on a corner of the ground. He said, "I won't touch you anymore. Making love with me is like a sacrifice for you."
Shen Huan laughed out loud and came to pull his hand. She said it was very cold upstairs and the quilt was a bit thin. Meng Zixuan was pulled up by her and followed her. As he went upstairs, he said, "Don't have any ideas. We've run out of condoms." Shen Huan raised his finger and swore.
Not long after entering the bedroom, Meng Zixuan went downstairs again and drove to a 24-hour convenience store to buy condoms. When he returned home, she was already asleep. He clung to her and held her to sleep.
At first, he couldn't sleep because the air conditioner was too high, and she'd covered him with the quilt, making him feel queasy. Then he fell asleep, a deep sleep. He didn't wake up with a cough at four in the morning, and the alarm at five thirty didn't wake him. He didn't go for a morning run or the gym. He opened his eyes again because Shen Huan had wriggled out of his arms. She jumped out of bed, picked up her underwear and jacket from the floor, and said it was too late; she had to rush to the airport.
Without the person in his arms, he felt like half of his world was missing. His will and guilt had forced him to live a cold and empty life for the past ten years. He longed to hold her in his arms as he slept, but every time they got too close, they hurt each other. He didn't know how to solve this problem, and perhaps only Chen Huan knew.
As soon as the plane landed in Hancheng, Chen Huan received a call from Xi Yuhui. Xi Yuhui's attitude towards her was no different from before: polite but not overly attentive, and every word was measured, but not respectful.
He said the driver was waiting at the arrival gate and could take her to the hotel first. He then casually mentioned that his brother-in-law had an empty apartment in Binshui New City that had just been tidied up, and asked Shen Huan if she wanted to stay there.
Chen Huan understood what he meant. Xi Yuhui, convinced that the 7 percent stake had already gone into Qingyu's pocket, didn't want her to return to Li Ting's place. She didn't understand why her decision to break up with Li Ting and move out of Yunjingli had become so public. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone else, but Meng Zixuan had heard about it the night he came to see her. Xiao Jun seemed to know about it, too, and now it seemed even Xi Yuhui knew.
She felt that Chang Yueqing had contributed to this. Chang Yueqing disdained to mess around with Li Ting's mistresses, but she acted quickly when faced with practical benefits. The sooner she secured her title as Mrs. Li, the more weight her words would carry when she returned to the company.
Shen Huan thanked Xi Yuhui and said that she had a place to live in the east of the city and had already moved her things there.
"I understand, I understand." Xi Yuhui answered immediately. After a while, Xi Yuhui said that he had not been able to call Meng Zixuan just now. Did Meng Zixuan come back with her?
No. Shen Huan said.
There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds. Shen Huan watched the driver load her luggage into the car and open the back door for her. Shen Huan nodded to the driver and got in.
Xi Yuhui continued, saying that he heard that Meng Zixian met with several partners of leading hedge funds in Manhattan today. Xi Yuhui joked that he might be looking for a new employer and planning to hand over the Xuan Tao business to Wu Ruifeng?
Shen Huan said she didn’t know.
That must be hearsay. Xi Yuhui said with a smile, otherwise, even if no one in the company knew about it, how could you not know about it?
He was trying to trick her. She still said she didn't know.
The driver took Chen Huan to Wenyin Street in the east of the city. She hadn't been here in over six months. Cars were still densely parked at the entrance to the residential complex. Chen Huan told the driver to park here, as it would be inconvenient to turn around inside. She walked slowly, dragging her luggage. When she boarded the plane yesterday, her left foot hadn't fully subsided, and after a twenty-hour flight, she could barely fit her ankle into her sneakers.
The corridors of the residential building were narrow and cluttered with miscellaneous items from various households. She climbed up the stairs, carrying her luggage. Finally reaching the third floor, she could hear the clatter of cooking pots and pans through the door before she could even pull out her key.
When she walked in, she saw a table full of food. Chen Huan knew it was made by Jin Tuo. Jin Tuo was very happy to see Chen Huan. She said I couldn't stay long because Mrs. Chang was waiting for me to go back and cook. I took advantage of her going to the company's stall and quietly slipped out.
Shen Huan stood still at the door, leaning against the pile of boxes that had just been moved in. She thought Jin Tuo wouldn't come all the way here just to cook, she probably had something to say.
Chen Huan chatted with her for a moment, asking about her family life. Jin Tuo was her usual self, always complaining about Li Ting. She explained that Li Ting had misaligned his head when he went to the toilet that day and had urinated all over the edge of the toilet bowl. She hadn't had time to clean up, and when Li Ting saw the pee stain herself that afternoon, she turned around and scolded Chang Yueqing, saying she couldn't even clean up her own bathroom, so how could she possibly clean up the office? Chang Yueqing then turned around and scolded Jin Tuo again.
Shen Huan quickly said, “Don’t tell this to anyone else.”
Jintuo took off his apron, pulled out a chair and sat down, waving his hand and saying, "I know, I'm just telling you."
Perhaps because Chen Huan interrupted him, Jin Tuo opened his mouth several times but couldn't get another word out. Chen Huan pretended not to notice Jin Tuo's conflicted expression. She didn't want to know what was going on in Yunjing. How Li Ting was doing, whether Chang Yueqing was a more competent wife, whether that family was in turmoil or harmonious. She didn't want to know.
Jin Tuo said nothing more. She finished her meal with Shen Huan and then stood up to say goodbye. She walked to the front door and turned back to face Shen Huan. She said, "I resigned from my employer two days ago. I don't want to work there anymore, but my husband gave me a raise." She paused here, emphasizing that the salary had doubled.
Shen Huan nodded, “That’s a good treatment.”
"So I stayed." Jin Tuo slung the bag over his shoulder, thought for a moment, and then said, "But if you want me to work here and pay me according to my original salary, I will come too."
Shen Huan smiled and said, "You can see the situation here. I'm alone in a two-bedroom apartment and don't need any help. Besides, I can't afford to hire you in the future."
Jin Tuo's face showed a complex expression, disappointment and surprise. Shen Huan was not sure whether she believed what she said, but this was not a lie to please Jin Tuo.
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