Chapter 68. She liked Jiang Muzhou. She loved Jiang Muzhou. ...
Su Cheng leaned against the bar, sniffing uncomfortably.
Because of her stuffy nose and runny nose, she repeatedly wiped it with tissues, causing her once smooth nose tip to become slightly chafed and noticeably red.
Hot water slowly flows from the spout into the glass, and the rising steam blurs the view.
The stinging sensation in my throat intensified, and my stomach also started to ache slightly with spasms.
But she didn't seem to feel any pain.
Because the most unbearable pain at this moment comes from the place in my heart that is silently collapsing.
Scenes from her reunion with Jiang Muzhou kept replaying in her mind.
They did desensitization training for Yuanbao together, went grocery shopping together to pick out ingredients, and took walks side by side under a sky full of stars...
His reappearance brought life to a vibrant, monotonous existence, a life that had been dull and dreary day after day.
Those ordinary moments, because of his companionship, have all become sweet and unique memories that she secretly treasures in her heart.
He once held her tightly in his arms, and she once kissed his cheek lightly.
When she first got close to him, she repeatedly reminded herself to respect the boundaries of friendship and to hide any inappropriate thoughts.
But the brief sweetness ultimately led her astray, causing her to develop unrealistic and delusional fantasies that she shouldn't have had.
A burning pain shot through the back of my hand.
She abruptly pulled her hand back, only to realize with a start that the water had already overflowed the cup, leaving a mess on the countertop.
The moon wanes after it is full, and water overflows when it is full.
How come she only realized such an obvious truth now?
The little warmth and companionship he offered her was like the stingy winter sun; though it warmed her fingertips, it would eventually dissipate.
Whether it was seven years ago or today, seven years later.
He is not hers.
Stolen happiness must eventually be returned to its rightful owner.
The more full and sweet her heart was then, the more bitter and astringent it felt now that her heart was hollowed out.
She shouldn't have allowed herself to sink deeper and deeper into despair, letting this hopeless relationship grow wildly like a vine until it completely entangled her heart, leaving her breathless and cutting off all her escape routes.
Back when he had no one else by his side, she was able to weave some beautiful lies to deceive herself, telling herself that it was okay, as long as she could stay by his side, that was enough.
Having tasted the unique tenderness he gave her and seen the light that shone in his eyes for her, she could never go back to the position where she was content with just his company.
Having truly embraced the sun, how could one willingly return to the cold and endless polar night?
Su Cheng recalled that afternoon, the flowing slanting sunlight, and Xu Zhisui's question to her:
"And what about you? Do you like him or not?"
She likes Jiang Muzhou.
Liking someone is so selfish that you can't share it with anyone else.
She loves Jiang Muzhou.
When you love someone, you simply can't bear to watch them turn around and embrace someone else.
But what's the use of this belated confirmation?
"Yuanyuan, why did you get up by yourself?" Lin Wei'an's gentle voice sounded from behind. She noticed the water stains on the bar and quickly grabbed a rag to wipe them up. "You can just call Mom if you want some water."
Su Cheng arrived home suddenly in the middle of the night yesterday. When Lin Wei'an asked her what happened, she only vaguely said that she was not feeling well. When her temperature was taken, she found that she had a high fever.
Worried about her daughter, Lin Wei'an took a day off to take care of her at home. She wiped the table dry and gently pressed Su Cheng back onto the sofa, saying, "Lie down and watch TV for a while, don't fuss over it."
Perhaps because of her illness, she felt that her daughter was different this time. Usually, she would see her holding her phone and laughing to herself, but today she didn't touch it all morning, only absentmindedly playing with the little tabby cat.
Lin Wei'an reached out and touched Su Cheng's forehead. Fortunately, the fever had subsided, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She asked, "What do you want to eat tonight? Send Dad a message and ask him to bring it back on his way home from get off work."
"Okay." Su Cheng replied in a hoarse voice, her fingertips groping in her pajama pocket until they touched the cool phone case.
She stared at the black screen for a long while, took a deep breath, and finally pressed the power button.
Almost at the same moment the screen lit up, she quickly switched to airplane mode.
It was as if she had hastily built a thin wall to temporarily block out the slander and abuse that were suffocating her.
But the little red dot in the notification bar still lit up glaringly.
As soon as the signal was connected, all the information that had been piling up when the phone was off came flooding in.
The number of missed calls jumped to over a dozen, and the number of text messages exceeded three digits, like a silent tide, washing over the defenses she had just built up.
All of this stems from the video she uploaded early this morning.
Thinking about what she heard on the monitor, she tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, feeling as if something was stuck in her chest, making it hard to breathe.
She channeled her grief and anger into motivation, staying up all night to edit a video to speak out for the little white cat and publicly condemn the cruelty of the perpetrators.
In the video, the little white kitten was soaking wet, its front paws bent, and it was curled up weakly in the corner of the basket. But when someone approached, it stubbornly raised its head and made a weak but persistent meow. Its wet blue eyes shone with an unyielding tenacity.
The poignant scene of life and death quickly ignited the sympathy of countless netizens, and the number of reposts continued to climb.
However, trouble ensued.
Not long after, the "No Abandonment" sign at the entrance of the rescue station was taken out of context and posted online.
Marketing accounts, like sharks smelling blood, swarmed in and began to embellish the stories.
They posted screenshots of sales figures from the rescue station's online store as so-called "evidence," accusing Su Cheng of exploiting the public's kindness towards stray animals to set up a scheme to make money. They also released a candid photo showing Su Cheng holding a black long-handled umbrella with a Bentley logo.
Netizens have made accusations against her, saying that she made a fortune by exploiting the "cat's blood" incident. Some even fabricated stories, saying that the dying white cat was a staged act she orchestrated to attract attention and make money.
Her phone number was maliciously published online by someone, and she was bombarded with harassing calls and text messages, along with all sorts of vulgar and offensive language.
Unable to bear it any longer, she could only turn off her phone, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, trying to escape from this overwhelming malice for a moment.
Clearly... Clearly, the original intention of making videos was to help more stray cats and give them a warm home, so how did it turn out like this?
She asked herself the same question repeatedly, but couldn't find the answer.
She forced herself to look away from the suffocating notification bar, and as soon as she switched to WeChat, Wendy's message popped up:
Don't take all the blame; those maliciously spreading rumors and marketing accounts are the real culprits.
But if she hadn't been so clever as to think that posting that notice outside the shelter would clarify responsibilities and reduce trouble, how could she have given the marketing accounts the opportunity to take things out of context?
If she hadn't posted that video advocating for the little white cat, how could the rescue station have been dragged into this inexplicable public opinion vortex?
She was like a paranoid interrogator, repeatedly recalling every word spoken in the video and every word written on the notice in her mind.
I carefully considered every word, so why did I still get such a complete misunderstanding?
This is completely illogical.
What upset her even more was that the malice had spread to the shelter, and the surrounding shops that everyone had worked so hard to build up were flooded with bad reviews from unknown sources almost overnight.
At the same time, she also received a message from Jiang Muzhou, asking her to make sure to return the call.
He must have seen those rumors too, right?
Su Cheng stared at that familiar profile picture, a bitter feeling rising in her throat that she couldn't suppress.
In order to garner more attention for the rescue station, Su Cheng accepted the suggestion of that business partner.
Looking back now, all that remains in my heart is a heavy sense of regret.
Under the guise of business, two originally unrelated names were artificially linked together, becoming a "pair" in the eyes of others. Some people would naturally think of Jiang Muzhou when Su Cheng was mentioned.
This incident will inevitably implicate him as well.
Su Cheng couldn't help but wonder what he would be doing right now if this hadn't happened.
He might be on a date or taking a walk with his sweetheart, or enjoying a rare moment of leisure after returning from a business trip. But now, because of her, he has to devote his energy to dealing with this conflict that has arisen because of her.
It was all because she impulsively decided to make a video, which not only implicated the rescue station but also dragged in the people she cared about most.
Su Cheng felt as if she had been pricked by a needle; this guilt was more painful than the foul language.
Just as I was lost in thought, my phone suddenly vibrated.
[ease: You said you'd tell me something important when I got back. No matter what happens, I want to hear it from you in person.]
Su Cheng's eyes welled up with tears, and a single tear fell onto the screen, landing precisely on Jiang Muzhou's arms in the chat background—arms that seemed to be about to embrace her, yet remained suspended in mid-air, never actually touching her.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she typed and deleted in the chat box, then typed and deleted again, finally typing out a single line:
[Let's end this collaboration between the two companies.]
Su Cheng dragged her heavy steps and slowly moved back to her bedroom.
The light pink walls exude a girlish dreaminess, a crescent-shaped ceiling light hangs from the ceiling, and several plush toys are piled up beside the bed.
After starting university, she rarely came back to live there and didn't add much new stuff to the little apartment, so most of the furnishings are still exactly the same as when she was in high school.
The Decepticon was a little cautious at first, but with Su Cheng by its side, it quickly became more at ease.
It paced around the room, then lightly leaped onto the bookshelf, where it found a pure white porcelain jar on the top shelf. It was round and plump, with two small cat ears standing upright on top.
The Decepticon curiously leaned forward and sniffed gently, as if trying to figure out what was inside the delicate little jar.
Su Cheng turned around and happened to see this scene, and was suddenly stunned.
That small white jar contains the ashes of Little Fold's ear.
In reality, so-called cremated remains are not the fine powder one might imagine, but rather fragments of bone that have been burned in a fire.
That once lively little life is now reduced to just a handful of tiny white bones.
The kitten, weighing a full ten pounds, was eventually reduced to ashes measured in grams.
She vividly remembers its cold, stiff body before cremation.
I also clearly remember the warm touch when I received the ashes.
This was the first kitten she had rescued in her 22 years of life, and the first life she had raised with her own hands.
My gaze slowly shifted to the headboard, where the star-shaped ornaments swayed gently.
She hung this up herself excitedly after listening to Jiang Muzhou's speech as a freshman representative during her first year of high school.
At that time, she naively believed that she was like these tiny, scattered lights; though small and weak, as long as they gathered together, they could illuminate the entire night sky.
The small patch of world she initially illuminated belonged to her and Little Fold Ear.
Her fingers unconsciously tightened, her nails digging deep into her palms, the sharp pain jolting Su Cheng out of her emotional quagmire.
She almost got completely overwhelmed by negative emotions.
A cold and fever made her dizzy and disoriented, and the failed confession that ended in heartbreak left her in a state of turmoil. So, with a storm brewing, she simply couldn't calm down and think things through.
Now that the hype has finally died down, my thoughts are gradually clearing up.
She forced herself to calm down and analyze the whole thing objectively.
Logically speaking, there are many animal rescue accounts on the internet with more followers and greater influence than her, some even with millions of followers. Why did she become the target of public criticism?
There must be someone behind this stirring things up.
But what exactly is their purpose? Is it merely to destroy her? Or do they have other motives?
"Yuanyuan, come and try some strawberries." Lin Wei'an walked in carrying a plate of washed strawberries. Looking at her daughter's pale lips, she couldn't help but nag, "You live alone outside, with no one to take care of you. Your parents are so worried."
She carefully removed the strawberry stems, stuffed the bright red flesh into Su Cheng's mouth, and continued while her daughter couldn't speak, "I see a tall and handsome young man living next door. Have you said hello to him?"
Su Cheng's heart skipped a beat.
She bit into the strawberry, and the tart juice instantly spread across her lips and teeth.
We shouldn't be in a hurry to harvest fruit before it's ripe.
She found the response unappealing and didn't know how to respond.
“If you have nothing to do, you can go out more often. Handsome guys are a rare resource. If you meet one, you should take the initiative. It would be great if it works out, but if it doesn’t, there’s no loss. Just looking at his face every day makes me feel comfortable.” Once the topic of handsome guys came up, Lin Wei’an couldn’t stop talking. “Old Wang is really lucky to have such a handsome son. That kid should be about your age. I think his name is… Wang Yue Meng.”
“Wang Yuemeng?” Su Cheng read out the name, a hint of surprise flashing in her amber eyes.
"Oh yeah, you don't even know his name?" Lin Wei'an gently patted her daughter's thigh, looking at her with a disappointed expression. "We bought this house together with your Uncle Wang back then. Later, we heard that the child went to study in Beijing, and the house has been empty ever since. You don't know, he was chubby when he was little, but now he's grown into a handsome and well-proportioned young man..."
Lin Wei'an was speaking enthusiastically when she was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the telephone in the living room.
She stomped her foot reluctantly, but quickly walked over to answer the phone.
These days, very few households still have landline phones, but they always feel that having a real telephone line connecting them, as if they can feel the warmth coming from the other end of the line, gives them that sense of intimacy that allows them to chat leisurely.
Su Cheng couldn't hear what her mother was saying on the other end of the phone, but she heard her mother suddenly raise her voice and call out to her, "Yuan Yuan, come and pick me up, she's looking for you."
Su Cheng answered the phone with suspicion, guessing that it might be her grandmother calling to check on her.
But when that person's voice came through the receiver, her breath froze, and she felt as if she were on a desolate, icy island.
That was the voice she knew best, yet also the one she least wanted to hear at that moment.
"Susu, can you come and see Yuanbao?"
Author's Note: Ah Zhou is finally going to bravely pursue his wife! The sweet moments are about to begin!
Red envelopes are dropping in this chapter! [cat emoji] Thank you all for your continued support of Mu Yi Cheng Zhou! [shy][shy]
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