TCOR CH35

Chapter 35: Blame It On Him… Carelessly

Above the fireplace, Blackback stood in a narrow-necked glass vase, basking in the morning sun and looking as beautiful as a never-fading magic rose from a fairy tale.

I glanced into Shen Wunian’s bedroom and knew he wouldn’t be home until after four. He should be fast asleep by now, so I was careful to keep my movements as quiet as possible so as not to wake him.

The Tube was unusually crowded on Monday morning. Most people were drowsy, while a small number of people were oblivious to others around them, playing their phones at full volume so that the content being played was clearly audible to passengers around them.

According to the official website of the Baihuotong Group, Chairman Liang Huiyun was recently urgently hospitalised due to a sudden deterioration in his condition.

Mr Liang Huiyun was diagnosed with lymphoma last year and has been battling the disease ever since. We don’t know if this admission is related to the cancer. He is currently receiving full treatment at the hospital and the specific situation is still being investigated. The company has stated that the Group’s operations will not be affected, so everyone can rest assured…”.

Liang Huiyun is in hospital? I silently took out my phone and searched for news.

Recently, there have been speculations that Liang Huiyun’s situation is not optimistic, and it is feared that he may have only a few months to live, as the quarrel between his two sons is becoming more intense and it is almost impossible for them to get along within the group.

Whether it is the eldest prince, Liang Weiren, who will inherit the throne as he wishes, or the younger son, Liang Zai, who has accumulated a lot of strength over time and will ultimately win, there are many related inheritance betting games on the internet. At the moment, the old prince has a slightly better chance of winning, and people generally do not look favourably on Liang Zai, who is young and has no foundation.

If Liang Zai loses, I wonder if it will have any effect on Pei Huanchen?

Since he had a fit in the canteen and was taken away by the bodyguards, he hasn’t come back to school and doesn’t respond to messages. The only way I can find out about his situation is to ask Shen Wunian. According to Shen Wunian, he is fine, but Liang Zai is more cautious and wants him to rest at home for a few days.

I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now that I’ve seen the news, I wonder if Liang Zai is afraid that Pei Huanchen will have another health scare and is keeping him at home, or if it’s because the succession battle has reached a critical moment and no mistakes can be made, so Liang Zai has simply hidden Pei Huanchen, who is the easiest target?

What about Shen Wunian? Will he be in danger for siding with Liang Zai?

I couldn’t stop thinking about Shen Wunian during class. I wondered if he had woken up and what he was doing. I was so distracted that I didn’t hear what the teacher was saying at the podium.

In the afternoon, in the Huiyun Building next door, there will be an anniversary celebration for a business start-up camp. Many famous entrepreneurs have been invited to give speeches. If you’re free, you should go and listen to them to broaden your horizons. After the international business professor finished his lesson, he used the last two minutes to promote an event at the business school next door.

Do you know who donated the Huiyun Building? Yes, Mr Liang Huiyun donated it. In the afternoon, his eldest son, Mr Liang Weiren, will also give a speech. This is a rare opportunity, so don’t miss it…’.

The Liang family has been very present lately.

I rested my chin, not really interested. Anything to do with finance doesn’t interest me. Until the old professor took a sip of tea from his thermos and lightly added, ‘There might be a final exam.

‘…’

I quickly checked the university website and found that I happened to have no classes at the beginning of the event, so I could go and join in the fun.

The Memorial Hall in the Huiyun Building is divided into two floors, and I registered late, so I only had a corner seat on the second floor.

The event was more or less what I expected, very long and boring. First the leaders spoke, then the instructors, and only after an hour or so did the specially invited entrepreneur take the stage to give a speech.

The longer I listened, the heavier my eyelids got. I would wake up from time to time to the sound of applause, only to fall asleep again during the speech, repeating the cycle over and over again.

Next, we have the last guest, Mr Liang Weiren, Vice Chairman of Parkway Group and a well-known entrepreneur, who is going to give a speech!

I abruptly woke up to the thunderous applause, wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth and looked down dazedly.

The large electronic screen on the stage showed a close-up of Liang Weiren, dressed in a sharp suit, walking up to the podium. He must be in his fifties, but he looks well-groomed, and his appearance and figure appear to be those of a man in his early forties. Only a few white hairs at his temples betray his age.

His speech, entitled ‘Benevolent Business’, was largely off the cuff.

As a business, while we enjoy the resources of society and the dividends of the market, we must also actively give back to society and shoulder our social responsibilities. We can set up charitable funds, provide financial assistance to poor students, donate medical equipment, support environmental protection projects, participate in various social welfare activities, and provide help and support to socially disadvantaged groups…’. He spoke with a smile, eloquently explaining the path of the ‘benevolent businessman’. Whether or not it was his own heartfelt conviction, it certainly sounded impressive.

I looked down to check the time and tried to send Shen Wunian a message to see if he had woken up.

He quickly sent a photo of what looked like very ordinary spaghetti.

[He’s up and eating.]

Between the boring speech and chatting with my friend, I chose the latter without hesitation, completely blocking out Liang Weiren’s voice.

[Are you going to the exhibition hall again later?]

[It’s the last two days, you should be more careful. Is your mouth feeling better?]

I can imagine the expression on the other person’s face when he asks this question.

I can’t help but lick the corner of my already scabbed lip. It doesn’t hurt anymore, but the wound is so obvious that whenever people look at me twice, I feel guilty, afraid they’ll see that I’ve been bitten while kissing. I kept my head down today, afraid to face people directly.

[It is better.]

After thinking about it, I still felt that I couldn’t go on like this, so I continued typing.

[Let’s negotiate, can we… stop for a few days? Let me heal a bit before continuing?]

I never expected Shen Wunian’s kissing technique to be so bad that he would bite me and make me bleed at the slightest provocation. If this keeps up, my mouth will be in tatters before I’m officially hired.

[Sure, of course. Your health is more important. You don’t need to go to the exhibition hall today, just go home this afternoon and rest.]

I thought it would take some convincing, but Shen Wunian agreed without any fuss.

You’re a hypocrite full of moral nonsense! Liang Weiren, do you dare to tell everyone what you did to Yu Luo?

Suddenly there was a commotion downstairs.

I stopped typing and looked in the direction everyone was looking. I saw a familiar figure rising from the crowd, pointing at Liang Weiren on the stage and scolding him.

The long, slightly parted bangs, the awkward but stocky figure – it was Fang Xu.

“Give me back Yu Luo’s ashes, you son of a bitch! Twenty years, where have you been hiding them?

Liang Weiren glared at him with cold eyes. Without any instructions, his bodyguard walked through the crowd to Fang Xu’s side, pulled him out of his seat and roughly led him out of the auditorium.

I stood up quickly and rushed downstairs. Behind me, I could vaguely hear Fang Xu shouting, ‘Haven’t you always wanted to know Yu Luo’s last words? Do you dare to come to Teacher Zhan’s exhibition? If you come, I’ll tell you!

You spineless coward, don’t you dare come! You’ll never know what Yu Lu said before he died!

I followed the sound and ran out of the Huiyun Building. From a distance, I saw Fang Xu being beaten up by several black-clad bodyguards in the small forest.

‘Stop…stop!’ I fumbled with my phone, filming them from a distance of four or five metres, ‘If you hit me again, I’ll call the police!

The bodyguards looked at me, unafraid, and kicked Fang Xu two more times before slowly straightening their clothes and leaving the grove in an orderly fashion.

‘Mr. Fang, are you all right? I rushed over to check on Fang Xu’s condition.

‘I’m fine…’ Fang Xu covered his bleeding nose and slowly sat up, leaning on a tree trunk.

‘It’s you, kid.’ He narrowed his eyes as if he had just recognised me.

I dug through my pockets for some handkerchiefs, took out four or five and handed them to him, explaining, ‘I’m a student here.

Fang Xu stuck the handkerchief up his nose and nodded, ‘I guessed as much. You look about the same age as my younger brother.

A flash of nostalgia crossed his eyes, hidden beneath his fringe, but it was fleeting, like the embers of a cold night that have dispersed their warmth, and it faded completely.

‘Are you curious why I have a problem with Liang Weiren?

‘Because of… Yu Luo?’ I wasn’t really curious, but looking at him, I could tell that he really wanted to talk to someone.

‘Yes, because of Yu Luo.’ Fang Xu sighed, wiped the blood stains on his face with the remaining handkerchief, and then wiped his hands. Then he sat down on the damp grass and told me about his younger brother Yu Luo’s past.

When Yu Lu was 22 years old, he inexplicably fell ill with a strange disease. The illness was extremely debilitating. It started in his chest, as if every blood vessel had been injected with molten lava, leaving him in constant pain. Even taking all kinds of powerful painkillers could not alleviate the pain in the slightest.

Redvein Syndrome? I immediately guessed the name of the disease.

Yes, it’s Redvein Syndrome. At the time, the disease had just been discovered and no one knew what caused it, and there was no cure. We were all just feeling our way, taking it one step at a time.

The only thing that was clear was that the person on the other side of the red line, as long as they had their bodily fluids, could relieve the pain of the Redvein Syndrome sufferer. If the other person could be loved, this desperate disease could be cured even without medicine.

Yu Luo’s cure If Yu Luo were an ordinary person, Yu Xiaoshan could still pay money to buy his blood to relieve the pain, hoping it would last until the medical community developed an effective drug. However, Yu Luo’s cure is Liang Weiren, Liang’s crown prince and one of the men with the least money in the world.

Yu Luo is a man who takes everything in his stride and doesn’t like to force things. He has long accepted the fact that he will not live long. Yu Xiaoshan, however, refuses to accept his fate. Somehow, he manages to get Yu Luo to work as Liang Weiren’s assistant.

Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps it was the play of Redvein Syndrome, but for the first time in his life, Yu Luo, who takes everything in his stride, developed a strong love for someone – Liang Weiren.

My younger brother never saw Liang as his antidote. He was so stupid that he thought it didn’t matter if Liang didn’t like him, and that just being able to experience love once before he died was enough to make his life complete…”.

Yu Luo and Liang Weiren became lovers for a short time. In Fang Xu’s words, Yu Luo seemed happier than when he was not ill.

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long. It wasn’t long before Liang Weiren found out that Yu Luo was a patient with Redvein Syndrome. What had once been a romantic encounter turned into a calculated plan, and what had once been considerate care became deliberate seduction. Liang Weiren no longer believed anything Yu Luo said. He resented Yu Luo for hiding it and hated that he had ever been moved by this person.

Wait,” I interrupted Fang Xu, “if he was moved, shouldn’t the Redvein Syndrome have been cured? Why hasn’t Yu Lu recovered?”

Fang Xu patiently answered for me: “Being moved doesn’t mean ‘love’. Love is a very deep emotion. My understanding is that the Redvein Worms may want love, which is the accumulation of many likes. Once they have accumulated to saturation, they can reproduce by producing more spores and infecting more people…’.

A disease that spreads through ‘love’, if you don’t love, you die… On a sunny afternoon, I shivered uncontrollably and rubbed my arms.

Liang Weiren’s revenge was a hundred times more painful for Yu Luo than Redvein Syndrome, but because he still loved the other person deeply, Yu Luo could never convince himself to just walk away.

One day, he will believe in my love for him again. With this belief, Yu Luo endured Liang Weiren’s inhuman torture and humiliation for two years. In the worst cases, Liang Weiren would even invite others to join him in abusing Yu Luo. Witnessing the pain of the person he once betrayed seemed to become Liang Weiren’s greatest joy in life.

The prolonged torture not only weakened Yu Luo’s health, but also extinguished his once deep feelings. When he found out that Liang Weiren was going to marry another woman, Yu Luo stabbed her in despair and escaped from the prison where he was being held.

He drove off in a red sports car, speeding down the motorway and plunged headlong into the sea.

Passers-by rescued him and took him to hospital, where he was resuscitated for three days and nights, but his life could not be saved. He was only 24 when he died.

On the day of Yu Luo’s cremation, Liang Weiren took his ashes, and over the years Fang Xu has asked for them from time to time, and getting beaten up has become commonplace.

Did Yu Luo really leave a will before he died?’ I asked.

Fang Xu stared blankly at the blood-stained handkerchief in her hands for a long time before she said quietly in the breeze, “No, he didn’t leave a word.

It was only 3pm when I returned to the flat from school and it was still bright outside. As soon as I walked through the door, I saw Shen Wunian standing in the living room with a roll of tape in his hand and two large empty cardboard boxes at his feet.

The story of Yu Luo and Liang Weiren had made a big impression on me, and I couldn’t get over it for a long time. Seeing Shen Wunian was like finding a saviour at last. I took off my shoes and sprinted to meet him, not even taking the time to put down my rucksack. When I was almost there, I remembered that I was still on trial and shouldn’t make any sudden movements, so I slowed down a little and, feeling a little embarrassed, I asked him, ‘Can I… hug you?

Shen Wunian didn’t say anything, just tugged at the tape and moved his arms in my direction. I immediately slipped between his arms and took it as a yes: ‘Thank you.

Snuggling into his arms, I took a deep breath and let it out, instantly feeling much more at ease.

‘Redvein Syndrome is really scary…’

‘Splat,’ Shen Wunian pulled a piece of tape behind me.

‘Why did you bring this up all of a sudden?’ he asked.

‘Today, Liang Weiren came to our school to give a speech, and then Fang Xu…’ I told him everything that had happened that afternoon, then looked up and asked, “Do you know about Yu Luo?”

‘Well, I know a little.

‘Don’t you find it frightening?’

Shen Wunian lowered his eyes, “What do you mean?

‘This whole thing. I heard more tape being pulled, but I didn’t care. “Yu Luo is so pathetic. How desperate he must have felt when he died…”

Misunderstood, hurt and hated by the person he loved, he died in the cold sea. He didn’t say a single word before he died, as if he hated the world so much that he had no attachment to it and just wanted to die quickly.

Fang Xu is Yu Luo’s senior and will definitely be biased in favour of Yu Luo in this matter. His words are one-sided. Only Yu Luo himself knows what his real intentions were when he approached Liang Weiren. Shen Wunian is much more rational than me. In this world, no prey will ever trust a hunter. It’s his own fault… He carelessly revealed himself too soon.

His words sounded harsh, but on reflection there was some truth in them. I opened my mouth, but found that I had nothing to say in response. I let out a long sigh and changed the subject.

What are you doing? What are those two boxes for?

Lately, Shen Wunian seemed to have cut down on his smoking, and I no longer noticed the sweet floral smell on him.

Shen Wunian looked at the cardboard boxes on the floor and said, ‘The season is changing, so I’m going to collect all the clothes I don’t wear and donate them one day.

I stared at him with big eyes. Does changing season mean throwing away clothes? Doesn’t that mean buying new clothes every season? The lifestyle of the rich shocked the poor me once again.

Why are your eyes so wide? Shen Wunian seemed to find my expression very interesting, his lips curled slightly as he leaned towards me.

I thought he was going to kiss me, and although I had said in the morning that we were going to take a break, I unconsciously opened my lips. But before my eyes could fully close, he suddenly stopped and stood up as if nothing had happened.

Where are your old clothes?

No kiss? I opened my eyes in disappointment. I had made it clear that we were going to take a break for two days, but I didn’t get a kiss. I felt sorry for myself and I really was easily distracted by lust. I despised myself a little.

I don’t want to donate my clothes. I’ll need them next year. I’ll be wearing them for years! With that, I let go of the arm around Shen Wunian’s waist, intending to turn a blind eye and go to the bedroom to calm down and check if my precious clothes were still there.

Before I entered the bedroom, I turned back to look at Shen Wunian in the living room.

He was standing in the bright light, the expression on his face gone. He was staring indifferently at the two cardboard boxes on the floor, and the tape on his hands had been pulled out a long way, twisted into a knot by him somehow.

In a daze, I had the illusion that there was a limp body on the floor, and Shen Wunian was thinking about how to bind and restrain it.

I shook myself, a little impressed by my own imagination.