TCOR CH38

Chapter 38：Celebrate for Me

Yu Xiaoshan’s death became big news.

Someone who was there that day, who knows who, took the video, edited it from Liang Weiren’s trouble to Yu Xiaoshan jumping off the bridge, and posted it online, causing an avalanche of discussion. Someone even wrote a detailed account of the events, as if they had been there all these years.

Liang Weiren, the old prince, had spent a lifetime ruling and was about to rise to the top. Who would have thought that he would meet his personal Waterloo and provoke the wrath of the masses. Not only did everyone on the Internet condemn him, but some even went so far as to protest right outside Baihuitong, demanding that he apologise.

As a result, the Parkway Group’s share price plummeted and the situation became catastrophic.

Had it been an ordinary couple, Cure and Redvein, the reaction would not have been so strong. After all, news of Redvein committing suicide or Cure being killed has been commonplace over the years.

The problem is that Liang Weiran is no ordinary person. He is rich, a member of the privileged class, a true capitalist.

As the incident fermented, more and more people came forward to accuse Leung Wai Yan. They said that he had once slapped a subordinate in public, causing him to suffer from depression; that he had shouted at the chef in front of him because he was dissatisfied with the taste of the food, making the chef lick the food on the floor like a dog; and that he had even said that he had masterminded the car accident between his half-brother Leung Jai and his mother, which resulted in the death of Leung Jai’s mother…

True or false, it no longer matters in this witch-hunt. Some people may really be acting in the name of justice, but many more are just enjoying this rare opportunity to trample on the rich.

Yu Xiaoshan’s funeral was secret and low-key, conducted by Fang Xu alone. After cremation, the body was not buried, but the ashes were scattered at sea in accordance with his last wish.

On the seventh day after Yu Xiaoshan’s death, Fang Xu gave his first interview to the media, saying that he would never forgive Liang Weiren and that he would file a civil lawsuit against Liang Weiren for violating his right to life.

He said that he knew it might be difficult to win the case, but that he would never give up in his life. He also mentioned a fund set up by Yu Xiaoshan for Redvein Syndrome.

Yu Xiaoshan donated all of his inheritance to this fund to help solve some of the problems of Redvein Syndrome patients, such as unemployment or loss of education.

Although the incidence of Redvein Syndrome in the country is not high, the public naturally has a positive impression of people who do charity work. When the news broke, Liang Weiren, who was in the control group, was once again thrust into the limelight.

Liang Weiren has always flaunted the way of the ‘benevolent businessman’, but what he has done is worse than a pig or a dog. He is not even remotely human, let alone ‘benevolent’.

Hypocritical, arrogant, despicable… In the space of a few days, this man, once hailed as the most refined and intellectual bachelor of the century, has collected all the negative labels.

No outsider knows how the situation inside the Baihuotong Group has changed these days. What everyone can see is the result of the final game: the group announcement has been published, Liang Weiren has resigned as acting chairman and general manager, and the position has been taken over by CEO Liang Zai.

It is obvious that Liang Weiren has lost.

On the day the stitches were removed from my forehead, I received a large sum of money – a large sum for me – marked ‘medical expenses’. I didn’t know who the sender was, but I had a strange feeling that they were related to the Liang family.

I told Shen Wunian about it, and he didn’t seem surprised. He told me to just take it.

Before the first half of the year was over, I had already earned two sums of money from medical expenses, which was more than I earned from my part-time job. For a while I was a bit confused as to whether this was good or bad luck.

I always felt comfortable receiving money that I had earned. After receiving it, I sent most of it back to Shen Wunian.

[?]

He didn’t accept it at first and looked very confused.

[This is the money I owe you for the clothes. We’re even. Remember to give me back the IOU.’]

[‘Oh.’]

He accepted it after I explained, but in the following days, every time I thought of asking for the IOU, I was interrupted by other matters. After a few times the matter was forgotten.

I thought it would give me time to visit Pei Huanchen, but Liang Zai’s polite words were unexpected. He really meant it.

After I recovered from my injuries, things were relatively calm. He invited Shen Wunian to visit his villa on the mountain.

To be honest, if Shen Wunian hadn’t taken me there, I wouldn’t have known that such a place existed in Jiang City.

You enter through a large black iron gate on the side of the road, and it is surrounded by lush greenery and a large, sprawling garden. After a few minutes’ drive, you will arrive at the foot of the mountain. At this point you will be asked to get out of the car and give the key to the guard who will park the car for you. The guests will then take a vehicle arranged by the company to the villa at the top of the mountain.

It is said that this arrangement was made because once, on a rainy and slippery day, a guest had an accident in the mountains while driving his own car. But I always feel that this is just a good excuse. After all, they can’t say they’re afraid that guests might be hiding dangerous objects in their cars.

He said, ‘Little Ai, you’ve finally come to play with me! As soon as I got out of the car, Pei Huanchen, who had been waiting outside, came over to me.

It had been a long time since I had seen him, but he looked the same as ever. In fact, I wondered if it was because he didn’t have to endure the early morning torture of the alarm clock that his skin looked even more translucent.

Mr Shen, Mr Liang is waiting for you in the study,’ said a middle-aged man in a butler’s uniform standing behind Pei Huanchen, bowing slightly to Shen Wunian and making a ‘please’ gesture.

Shen Wunian turned and instructed me, ‘I have something to discuss with Mr Liang. You go and play with Huanchen. Be careful.

That tone of voice again.

I held myself back, but I couldn’t help it: ‘I… We’ve been grown-ups for a long time.

He obviously understood what I meant and laughed: ‘I know, two adults, go and play.

“You…

‘Little Ai, let’s go and play in the greenhouse, shall we? I’ll show you my tree house!”

I was so astonished I couldn’t say anything else, and Pei Huanchen, this big kid, dragged me away by the arm.

Pei Huanchen said he wanted to take me to the greenhouse for a tour, and I thought he meant a small glass greenhouse. But when we got there, I saw that the Tropical Greenhouse in the largest botanical garden in Jiang City was nothing like it.

The spherical glass greenhouse, 20 to 30 metres high, is filled with all kinds of strangely shaped plants – giant nepenthes, cacti four or five metres high, water lilies big enough for a person to sit on, and giant taro plants that smell incredibly bad when they flower… These plants grow in an orderly but chaotic way in the greenhouse, creating a strange but harmonious landscape that would never exist in nature.

There are many intersecting corridors above the greenhouse, one of which leads to a tree house in the middle of the greenhouse.

The tree house is built on the supporting pillars of the greenhouse, covered with plants, quite large in area, with no bed, a plush carpet, some blankets piled on top and a few books. But there are only three walls.

Where there should be a fourth wall, there is nothing, it is completely open, and Pei Huachen is sitting right on the edge, his legs dangling in the air, which makes me feel scared.

If you fall from this height, you will definitely die.

‘Little Ai, come sit over here too, the view is great,’ Pei Huanchen said, patting the seat next to him.

No… no, I’m fine sitting here, I can see just as well from here,’ I shook my head repeatedly, only daring to sit on the carpet away from the edge.

I like to sit here for the view,’ Pei Huanchen pointed outside the greenhouse at the distant, hazy cityscape, ‘I can see for miles.

The weather has warmed up today, and perhaps because he spends most of his time in the greenhouse, he is wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt. So I can easily see the obvious needle marks on his raised arm.

Huanchen, what happened to your arm? Some of the marks have faded, but others are still bruised, as if someone had taken blood from them. ‘Are you sick?

Pei Huanchen looked at his arm with my gaze and said nonchalantly, ‘Oh, this is…’ He paused, ‘a physical examination.

I was relieved to hear it was a physical examination. They are rich people, so they must take great care of their health, and it is not unreasonable to have regular blood tests.

The view from up there is really good, and as I looked down, my heart unconsciously calmed. I hugged my knees and admired it for a while, and suddenly I thought of Shen Wunian.

I want to show him this view too, he’ll like it.

Speaking of which, when are things going to get better? I want to like him a little more, but how much more?

Huanchen, have you ever liked anyone? I asked, a little desperate.

Pei Huanchen looked back and thought hard. ‘Yes, I like Mr Liang, I like you too, and Manager Xin, and Mama Yin…’ He counted on his fingers and began to list the family’s cooks and bodyguards.

‘No, no, not like that!’ I interrupted him quickly. “What I mean is… do you have that kind of unique existence? Someone who makes your heart beat faster, who makes you want to rush over and smile unconsciously? Do you have that?”

Pei Huanchen tilted his head and covered his heart when he heard this and said, “No.

I was a little surprised. You don’t feel that way about Mr Liang either?

Mr Liang is not unique. He is not unique to me, and I am not unique to him.

Pei Huanchen’s answer was firm and clear, and I was impressed by his clarity.

I knew you couldn’t help me,’ I sighed heavily and lay back.

The tree house had a small skylight in the roof, through which you could see the blue sky outside the glass dome.

Today is a clear day, without rain or clouds. The sky is exceptionally blue, and occasionally a few curious birds can be seen falling from the dome, looking in before taking off with flapping wings.

The tranquillity and pleasant temperature make me close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

I have a rather strange dream.

In the dark room, two black figures were sitting on the sofa. Both had a long red thread running from their chest to the floor.

How is your illness under control?’ one of the black figures asked, tapping the arm of the sofa with his index finger.

‘I’m doing quite well. I’m almost there, I’ll be rid of this damn bug for good,’ the other shadow said, raising his teacup and making a distant toast to his companion, whose mouth had split into a crescent shape. “Celebrate with me. And what about you? Will you continue to use the wrong one?”

Don’t talk about him like that,” the tapping stopped, and the first shadow asked again, “What are you going to do with the child when you’re cured?

The crescent grew a little smaller, and the black shadow holding the cup paused for a moment, looking down at the clear tea in the cup.

After it was used up, of course it was… thrown away. The rising crescent quickly took the opposite arc, ‘He and I were people from two different worlds.’