“Miss, we’re here.”
“Miss?! We’ve arrived!”
Only when the taxi driver called out to me for the second time did I snap back to reality? I took out my wallet, paid, and got out of the car.
Before me was Lin Yusen’s residential complex.
After leaving my meeting with Father, I had unhesitatingly taken a taxi here, but now, standing at his doorstep and staring at the wooden door, I couldn’t bring myself to press the doorbell.
I stood there studying the grain patterns on the wooden door for a full half hour.
What was I afraid of?
Was I afraid the truth would be too unbearable?
No, no, I believed in him. This kind of thing could never happen with Lin Yusen. Even if I didn’t trust his character, I should at least trust his intelligence.
But why was Father so certain?
I took a deep breath, deciding to stop overthinking myself. Just as I raised my hand to press the doorbell, the door suddenly swung open from inside, and several people walked out. The tall man in front was speaking.
“Hey, using their force against them, this time we’ll make sure they can’t—”
Seeing me, his voice abruptly stopped. Everyone turned to look at me. Lin Yusen was at the back, looking somewhat surprised. A hint of a smile appeared in his eyes as he stepped forward, “Xiguang? Why are you here?”
My gaze fell on his clothes. “There’s something I want to ask you.”
He paused for a few seconds and made a sound of acknowledgment.
Seeing the situation, the others bid farewell. Lin Yusen saw them out, then returned to study my face before sighing.
“You’ve seen President Nie?”
Instead of answering, I asked directly: “Lin Yusen, do you know Ma Nian Yuan?”
I didn’t ask if he had “pursued” Ma Nian Yuan because I was so repulsed by the possibility that I couldn’t even bring myself to say it.
His brows immediately furrowed tightly: “Who is that?”
The tension inside me suddenly released, and I almost smiled. But something still felt off. Why would Father tell such an easily disprovable lie? Similarly, Lin Yusen wouldn’t engage in such basic deception.
So where exactly was the problem? Although mentioning that mother and daughter made me sick, I forced myself to explain.
“You must know about my family situation, right?”
Lin Yusen nodded, “I’ve heard some things.”
“So, Ma Nian Yuan… is sort of my father’s goddaughter. Father said you met at my godmother’s party two years ago, and then she invited you to view plum blossoms in Wuxi…”
His expression suddenly turned terrifying.
I was startled by his reaction and couldn’t finish speaking.
He suddenly gripped my shoulders tightly. “What did you say?!”
I was so frightened I couldn’t speak. He stared at me intensely, practically spitting out each word: “The one who invited me to Wuxi wasn’t you?!”
I recovered from my shock, “How… how could it be me? I didn’t even know you then.”
His gaze searched my face as if trying to confirm something. Then his grip on my shoulders slowly loosened, as if he had understood everything, but still asked with a trace of hope: “Two years ago, we met at Madam Yu’s party. I went with my grandfather. Think carefully, don’t you have any memory of it?”
Did we… meet?
My godmother’s parties were always lively affairs with guests coming and going. There were so many people; I really couldn’t remember.
“Heh.” He seemed to get his answer from my expression and completely dropped his arms.
He clenched his fists, apparently trying to control his emotions, but ultimately failed, punching the wall hard before slowly uttering four words.
“What an utter humiliation!”
A cold glint flashed in his eyes. After several breaths, he took out his phone and dialed a number.
I didn’t know who he was calling, but I could hear his voice was frighteningly cold.
“Where are you?”
…
“I’m coming over now.”
He hung up the phone and came over, directly grabbing my hand.
“Come with me.”
His manner and attitude were impossible to refuse, and his pace was quick. I stumbled along behind him, being practically dragged to his car. Everything was developing far beyond my imagination. We had driven quite a distance before I gathered myself enough to ask, “Where are we going?”
“We’ll be there soon.”
He drove in silence, soon getting on the highway. Judging by the road signs, I guessed we were heading to Shanghai. After more than an hour, as dusk was falling, the car stopped in front of a villa in Songjiang. Lin Yusen took out his phone and coldly uttered two words: “Come out.”
Soon, a young man ran out while hastily buttoning his clothes.
“Vincent, if you’re coming over, you should give me some notice so I can properly welcome you.”
The man looked familiar. Looking closer, I realized it was my godmother’s son, Shao Jiaqi. Though he had gone abroad very young and lived overseas for a long time, only recently returning, so we weren’t very close.
“Jiaqi?”
“Xiguang?” He was also surprised. “How did you…”
He looked between Lin Yusen and me, seemingly confused about the situation.
Lin Yusen cut off our reunion, “Shao Jiaqi, two years ago, before my car accident, didn’t you call me asking me to go to Wuxi?”
Jiaqi’s face immediately fell: “Ah, why bring this up again? I know I wronged you for life.”
“Repeat what you said to me on the phone that day.”
“God, brother, please spare me. I know I was wrong, isn’t that enough? If I had known that woman was that type, I would never have tried to set you up. Damn, I’ve already cut off all contact with her. Hell, when I told her you had a car accident, she didn’t even come to see you.”
“Enough. Just repeat what you said, word for word.”
Jiaqi scratched his head in frustration, “How could I remember?”
Lin Yusen’s gaze was icy, “Fine, I’ll say it, you confirm if it’s correct.”
“You said, ‘Brother, you’re in luck. At Mom’s party the other day, we’ve got a beauty who’s taken a fancy to you. She’s inviting you to Wuxi to view plum blossoms. You’re free this Saturday, right? Come to Wuxi first, I’ll take you to meet the beauty.'”
He repeated these somewhat frivolous words in an ice-cold, calm voice, creating a strange atmosphere.
“I said: ‘Not interested, I have an important surgery scheduled for Saturday.'”
“Is that right?”
Shao Jiaqi nodded repeatedly: “Brother, your memory is too good. That’s exactly right.”
“It’s not that my memory is good. After the car accident, lying immobile in the hospital bed, I replayed these words countless times,” Lin Yusen said, “Then you said: ‘She’s a real beauty, Nie Chengyuan’s daughter.'”
I suddenly looked up at Shao Jiaqi. He glanced at me and said dejectedly: “Yes, I had just returned to China then. That woman acted all pitiful, and I was misled. I thought she was Uncle Nie’s illegitimate daughter.”
At this point, he gave me another apologetic look, then suddenly seemed to realize something, his expression changing: “Damn, holy heaven, how did you two end up together? You didn’t think it was Xiguang who invited you, did you?! Damn, you haven’t been taking revenge on her, have you!”
I was at a loss for words and involuntarily looked toward Lin Yusen. He looked back at me, his gaze filled with undisguisable complexity and pain.
Perhaps affected by our mood, Shao Jiaqi also fell silent. A heavy silence fell between us.
After a while, Lin Yusen started the car and said, “I’ll take you home.”