Chapter 68
And this * drum rolls* is my favourite chapter. Let me know what you think …
Yan Liang’s monologue… oh my poor heart..
Chapter 68
Yan Liang put her hand on his forehead. This time, the man was still asleep but stirred slightly. Then he suddenly frowned and moved his shoulder. Before her mind could process this, she had instinctively withdrawn her hand.
Jiang Yu Nan opened one heavy eyelid. His vision was fuzzy at first. As he gradually focussed, he was finally able to recognise the person standing in front of him.
His eyes seemed to flash for a moment, but in the next second the usual coldness was restored .
Jiang Yu Nan sat up straight, adjusted his collar. He stood up, looked at his wristwatch, then finally glanced at Yan Liang , “ Come on, we will eat and talk.”
After he finished speaking he withdrew his gaze and walked around the desk.
Yan Liang looked at him as he very obviously wanted to rush out of the room and ignore what had just happened. Although she couldn’t say what it was, but there was certainly something strange going on. Seeing that he was on the verge of leaving the room, still in deep thoughts , she suddenly couldn’t help but remark , “Your face doesn’t look that good.”
Jiang Yu Nan was startled.
He paused for two seconds , retraced his steps and approached her. With a taunting voice he said, “ This is unusual ! You actually care about me ?”
All her doubts immediately disappeared after seeing his mocking smile. She laughed at herself in her heart. Wiping off all the emotions from her face and heart, Yan Liang was ready to leave the room.
“ It’s so unusual for you to invite me for lunch. So I thought even I should pretend, and pretended to care a little about you.”
It was the perfect counterattack.As she finished the sentence, all the sarcasm on Jiang Yu Nan’s face disappeared instantly .
The restaurant Jiang Yu Nan had selected for lunch as far away from the company.
Offered a seat by the window, Yan Liang hesitated to sit down. But not because Jiang Yu Nan was sitting opposite her. But because …she hadn’t been here in a long time..
The same lunch time, the same seat by the window.. the last time she had been here was just after they had received the marriage certificate.
At that time , to keep their relationship away from prying eyes, they had not dared to eat together at the company canteen. This restaurant had been newly opened, it was quiet so they were unlikely to be disturbed by anyone.
Like now, she sat in this seat, drinking lemonade. She was chatting with the man sitting opposite her about work, and occasionally taking a sip of her drink.
He was looking at her quietly, silently listening to her. Inadvertently, a lock of her hair fell on her forehead. Very naturally, he reached out to tuck that lock behind her ears as she continued to talk.
She looked up at him, and saw the warmth in his eyes, as warm as the sun at the window.
It seemed like all this happened just yesterday.
But now, there was no need for any more hypocrisy, he would no longer tuck her hair.
And she ? She would never be as naïve and soft as she was then.
There was only official business they needed to discuss,” Our second marriage anniversary is coming up soon. Don’t you think it’s necessary to throw a party to dispel all the rumours about us ?”
Yan Liang sipped her juice. Without raising her head, she replied, “ Don’t drag me into all this. The rumours about you are still going on, but I have been very well behaved recently and there are no rumours about me.”
“ Do you think that just because the photos of you going to the hospital to visit Lu Zheng are pixelated, I would be the only one to recognise you? How much you are involved with Lu Zheng is unclear, but if Jiang shi Jin decides he wants to go after you, the results of that won’t be good for you . “
What was he trying to camouflage with the faint trace of smile on his face? Was it intended to disguise his concern for her ?
But unfortunately Yan Liang had already seen this kind of behaviour before. She only responded to him with ridicule, “ It seems you weren’t only busy pulling off your vanishing act this month, you’ve even concerned yourself about my movements. You’re worried about how Jiang Shi Jun will deal with me..shouldn’t you first be worried about whether or not I am two-timing you ?”
Her mocking words were like a sharp dagger thrust mercilessly at the weakest point in his heart. Although he was usually restrained in the display of his emotions, he couldn’t help stiffen. Blood dripped from his wound.
He remained silent.
At a this point, the waiter came to serve them. Yan Liang missed the very visible reaction of Jiang Yu Nan as she glanced at the waiter . By the time she looked back at Jiang Yu Nan, everything was as usual. Jiang Yu Nan’s eyes were like the layer of ice on a frozen lake, no waves and no heat. “ You don’t need to handle anything. Just get dressed prettily and attend the party.”
**** ****
The event organiser responsible for organising the party kept sending dresses to Yan Liang. She returned them all , the packaging intact- she had no time to waste on a party that was intended to showcase some sham of a happy couple. Discerning people could already see how unhappy their marriage was, why should she indulge in self deception ?
Contrary to expectations, on the eve of their second marriage anniversary, Yan Liang did not anticipate receiving one good news after another. The frequency of the police summoning Zhou Cheng had reduced considerably. Although Zhou Cheng was not disclosing anything to Yan Liang, she could guess that the police were suspecting someone else. And from the frequent visits of Lawyer Gao to the police station recently , it wasn’t difficult to guess who that ‘someone else ‘ was – Xu Ziqing.
Jiang Shi Jun had finally given in, he was no longer adamantly holding on to the 2.56 billion number. It was likely that he would soon be able to reach an agreement with Liang Ruiqiang. The signing of the deal was naturally just around the corner.
Who would think that she was the one behind Liang Ruiqiang?
On the day she succeeded, she would probably buy a bouquet and visit her father’s grave. She would tell him, “ the daughter you hated the most is the one reviving the family fortunes now.”
But before that, she would need to continue to be in the shadows..
Her secretary knocked at the door. “ Ms Yan, the event organisers sent someone to meet you again.”
She guessed they had sent a dress again.
Yan Liang had just finished speaking to J’appelle. She put down the handset and instructed her, “ Just ask them to leave the stuff and go.”
“ Sure.” The secretary tried to close the door as she left when she suddenly screamed out , “Ah!”
Yan Liang looked up as a figure pushed the secretary and barged in the room.. it was Xu Ziqing.
Yan Liang stood up and watched as Xu Ziqing angrily approached her.
She came to her side , her eyes glaring.
Before she would understand her intentions, Xu Ziqing raised her hand and slapped Yan Liang hard.
The sound of the slap crisply rang out through the room..
The secretary had chased Xu Ziqing into the room. Now she changed direction and came to Yan Liang’s side. There was an angry red mark on one side of Yan Liang’s face.
Xu Ziqing tried to slap her again, but this time, Yan Liang unerringly caught her wrist.
Xu Ziqing yanked away her hand from Yan Liang’s grip. Yan Liang moved away from her to avoid her, but Xu Ziqing lost her balance due to the momentum and leaned heavily on the table.
She regained her balance and approached Yan Liang once again, but this time she was finally stopped by the secretary.
“ You would be very happy to see me in jail, isn’t it ?”, Xu Ziqing screamed at her as she realised she couldn’t hit Yan Liang.
Yan Liang looked at her coldly, “ What craziness brought you here ?”
“ Haven’t I made a financial loss because of you and your foolishness? So you think I don’t know that you are the one who reported me ? Finally , after two years you want to implicate me? All this time you were just looking for the right opportunity to stab me !”
Yan Liang did not bother answering her. The secretary was struggling to hold on to Xu Ziqing. Yan Liang quickly picked up the phone and called security. “ Send two guards to my office immediately.”
Xu Ziqing furiously interrupted her, “Considering that you are my sister , and also because of Zhou Cheng’s earnest request, I had originally thought of concealing this matter from you for the rest of my life, but now seeing that you want me to die, I must tell you that you have no right to punish me on behalf of the Xu family.”
Yan Liang was stunned. She looked up to see Xu Ziqing arrogantly looking down on her.
Her heart twisted. She walked towards Xu Ziqing, raised her hand and..
“ Snap!” Yan Liang slapped her hard.
The slap split her lip and blood appeared in the corner of her mouth.
Xu Ziqing was stunned for for a few seconds, then strangely, she calmed down. She looked at Yan Liang and actually smiled, “ Dad left me a letter. In that, he wrote clearly that you are not his child.”
…the whole world was shrouded in a deathly silence…
***** *****
Late at night was a good time to get drunk.
Yan Liang had her head down on the bar. Her eyes were closed. In her hands, there was an empty glass.
The loud music and the flickering lights had woven an intricate net around her, this is where she wanted to stay.
The voice of Xu Ziqing echoed over and over again in her ear, “ When your mother heard about our father’s affair with my mother, and the fact that he also had a daughter with her, she angrily aborted her own child. She adopted you later to conceal this matter. Dad never exposed this, because he felt bad for your mother.”
“……” “…”
“ Haven’t you always thought that I was the interloper in the family and looked down on me ? In fact..”, Xu Ziqing cried out fiercely, her fingers poking at her shoulder, “ you are!”
“……” “…”
“ I’ve shown Zhou Cheng the letter. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him.”
“……” “…”
“You are not our father ‘s daughter at all.
“……” “…”
“ Isn’t it ironic ? I have true Xu blood in my veins, and yet I didn’t want revenge, only a stable life. And you.. you sacrificed all your life’s happiness to avenge the Xu family!”
“……” “…”
” You are such an idiot!”
She finally pulled out the last bits of her strength. With shaking hands, she took out the phone from her bag. She pulled out Zhou Cheng’s number on her address book. But before she could press dial, her finger shook and her vision blurred. She shook her head to clear her vision , but she still couldn’t see the phone screen.
The bartender poured a glass of water for her. He saw her looking crazily at the phone and couldn’t help but ask her, “ Can I help you with something ?”
Yan Liang very slowly raised her head and hiccuped, “ Help me ..call..him..” as he finished, her head dropped, and she lay down drunk on the bar.
She didn’t know how long she was in a daze, but she regained consciousness as she felt someone helping her out of the high chair at the bar.
After a moment, she was in a car. The door closed with a bang in her ear.
Yan Liang heard a man sitting in the driver’s seat. The car started. She was drunk, where was he taking her ?
A part of her brain that was still functioning panicked. But though she tried desperately, she couldn’t open her eyes. The man leaned over to fasten her seat belt. Through the haze of alcohol, a familiar breath hit the tip of her nose. Whoever was in the car was someone she knew.
“Zhou Cheng ?” ! She murmured.
The other person placed his hand on the back of her hand and shook her, “ It’s me .”
This finally calmed her down.
The car started.
Yan Liang, with her arms around the seat belt , suddenly laughed, “What she said, is it true ?”
The man in the car ignored her muttering. The driver was so quiet it was as if there was no one else in the car.
Yan Liang thought of why Zhou Cheng was silent, and the smile on her lips disappeared.Even she did not know how bitter her laughter was, “ What’s the point of my existence ?”
He didn’t respond.
“ My whole childhood and adolescence, I hated my father, my sister…now I’m told he is not my father, she is not my sister..”
Yan Liang continued to smile. Silently , a tear slid down from the corner of her closed eyes and over the smile on her lips.
“ I always thought that it was for me that my mother was tolerating all sorts of grievances to maintain the integrity of the family. Turns out I am just a pawn she used to maintain her dominant position in the family.”
The tears were now flowing steadily down her face.
“ If I weren’t the daughter of the Xu family, what would I be now?”
“……” “…”
“Poor ? Just an ordinary person ? A boring but contented life ?”
“……” “…”
“ I wouldn’t have to envy Xu Ziqing till I went mad, I wouldn’t have to hide in New York on the pretext of studying with no home to go back to; I wouldn’t have to give up what I really liked doing ; I wouldn’t have to become this Yan Liang who is only full of hatred and darkness.”
Alcohol was really a good thing in that it allowed her to say things she would not dare admit when sober. “ Jiang Yu Nan would not rack his brains to get close to me, he would not lay so many gentle traps to ensnare me… I wouldn’t … I wouldn’t have fallen in love with him…”
The car suddenly stopped.
Zhou, or whoever this man was, gently raised her chin with his hand. Was it because of the tears streaming down her face that his hand could not stop trembling ?
But Yan Liang didn’t notice this, she was immersed in her own thoughts, “ If I never met him in this life, would I be … happier? Or , would that be even more unfortunate…”
Her words were interrupted by a vicious kiss. Her lips were caught. This man kissed her so desperately, so hard…
But there was no heat in the kiss, only despair….
As if struck by a thunderbolt, Yan Liang suddenly realised this man..this man was not Zhou Cheng.. he was..he was..
Yan Liang could taste the saltiness of tears, but she wasn’t sure whose tears they were, hers or his ?
But the alcohol had paralysed all her senses. Yan Liang couldn’t even open her eyes. It was too late for her to try and identify this man who was kissing her so deeply. She was completely intoxicated and passed out…