Chapter
132.1
Chu Qianmiao asked: Why did you pretend not to remember me
on the Hanhai Home Textiles project?
The sky outside the window gradually grew overcast, the sun
obscured by a growing cloud. It was only a little after three in the afternoon,
but the room was already as dim and gloomy as evening. The waiter came over and
turned on the lights.
The darkness was driven out by the light, and the gloomy Ren
Yan became bright. His handsome eyebrows and eyes could withstand the direct
rays of every light from every angle.
He looked at Chu Qianmiao and said: "Before I returned
to China, Tan Shen warned me that I'd better stay away from his ex-girlfriends,
especially you. If I have too deep contact with you, he has many ways to make
it difficult for everyone. I don't want you to be involved in our relationship.
Tan Shen and I are an inseparable knot. Whoever gets involved will be
hurt."
So, he chose to pretend not to remember her.
Ren Yan told Chu Qianmiao that after returning to China, he
joined an investment bank. Because he was not distracted by other things and
only knew how to work, he quickly made achievements. He was promoted every year
and quickly became the head of the department in a shorter time than others.
He lived a self-disciplined life, without emotions or
entertainment, like an ascetic monk. Therefore, the word "happiness"
would never reach Tan Shen's ears. So, for the past few years, he and Tan Shen,
one in China and the other abroad, lived relatively peacefully.
It seemed that everything was set in stone. He lived a
self-disciplined and austere life, his work the only thing in his life. That
way, he wouldn't be bothered by Tan Shen.
But to his surprise, he ran into that girl again on the
Hanhai Home Textiles project.
That day in the parking lot, he sat in the back seat of his
car, watching a kind-hearted woman volunteering to direct traffic in a traffic
jam. After catching a glimpse of her face, he quietly lowered the window. He
heard her voice again after so many years.
It was crisp, melodious, vibrant, colorful, as bright and
beautiful as sunshine.
For a moment, he wondered what her reaction would be if he
opened the car door and stepped out. He quickly restrained himself from this
absurd action.
—That was his cousin's ex-girlfriend. He reminded himself.
Then he quietly rolled the window back up.
Later, the girl had a minor altercation with a man who had
taken her parking spot. Fearing she'd get hurt, he asked Qin Qianyu to get out
of the car and protect her.
But he had underestimated her cleverness. She
single-handedly dealt with the man who had taken the parking spot. The man
eventually drove away, freeing up the spot.
She began directing Qin Qianyu to reverse.
He sat in the car the entire time. The windows were covered
with thick film, so she couldn't see inside. But he sat there, watching her.
She had grown older, more beautiful. Her youthfulness had
faded, replaced by a boldness and grace.
He sat in the car, thinking calmly, "Let's just let it
go. There's no need to meet again. This would be the best outcome." But as
he sat in a private room, chatting with Zhou Hanhai, the two bamboo doors swung
open. He looked up and saw her walking in. It was her.
Ren Yan said to Chu Qianmiao, "The moment I saw you
walk in, I realized I couldn't hide from this side of me. I told myself, 'It's
okay, just be indifferent to her. Don't get involved with her. We'll go our
separate ways after this project.'
As long as I'm not involved with you, it won't stir Tan
Shen's evil spirit."
They worked on the Hanhai Home Textiles project together.
He was as stolid as ice, while she was passionate as fire.
Sometimes he thought their names were reversed.
He pretended to forget her, treating her with extreme
indifference, trying to distance himself from her.
But she was truly abominable, like she held something that
drew people in. He always mentally prepared himself the night before to stay
away from her, only to find himself driving to the Hanhai Home Textiles due
diligence site the next morning. Actually, given his position, he shouldn't
have to spend so much time at the project site.
But she had a magic that drew him in. She could color the
world around her. Staying by her side, listening to her coax him into a daze,
he thought that each day could actually pass quickly, not as agonizing or drawn
out as before. A day with her passed in the blink of an eye.
Her mind was filled with so many eccentricities. She always
managed to irritate him, yet also make him laugh.
He had originally wanted to leave her alone, to distance
himself from her. But day by day, for some inexplicable reason, his energy
drifted uncontrollably towards her. He knew she was smart and clever, a
promising talent, and he couldn't help but want to teach her, to guide her, to
make her better.
But he also wanted to stay away from her. He was tormented
by the contradiction. Every time he was in the struggle between "stay away
from her" and "let her be this time", he lost to himself. He
caught her making mistakes during the meeting and told her about them. He
thought she would cry. He hoped she would cry. He hated girls crying. He wished
he could hate her more. But she didn't cry. She came to thank him and asked him
to be strict with her and teach her more in the future. She finally told him
that she would never cry even if he taught her a lesson. Whoever cried was a
donkey. ( Chapter 08) He looked at her beautiful face and lively expression and
thought to himself, what can he do? Why can't he hate her a little? Not only
was she not hateful, she was also very perceptive. When he pointed out the
problems in the Hanhai Home Textiles project, she would immediately figure it
out. Not only did she figure it out, but she also had a tacit understanding
with him. Sometimes, with just a glance from him, she would immediately
understand what he meant. Qin Qianyu had been with him for so long, but he
still couldn't do this. Before her, no one could understand him so well.
(Chapter 11) But she was an overly emotional girl. When dealing with the Hanhai
Home Textiles patent incident, she witnessed the reversal of human nature and
was deeply shocked. He watched from the sidelines and felt that her emotions
were too abundant. He tried to give her some advice and told her that human
nature was not something worth trusting. But he found that his words seemed to
have hit her harder than the incident itself. He looked at her disappointment
in human nature and was a little confused. Was he going to make her like him?
However, she quickly recovered her energy and came to tell him that she still
believed that it was better for people to have human touch.
He was not interested in human touch at all. He still wanted
to teach her that it was better to be rational, calm, or even a little
indifferent when working on projects, so that she would not have the chance to
get hurt. But seeing her lively appearance, he thought he would teach her these
things slowly later.
Later, Hanhai Home Textiles completed its restructuring, and
Zhou Hanhai invited everyone to dinner. That night, he blocked a lot of wine
for her and drank a little too much.
She took advantage of him being drunk and started to ask him
again: Senior, do you really not remember me?
When she asked him, she looked up at him, her fair and clean
face full of expectation, and her eyes were also bright, flashing with joy and
clean light.
He thought she was really hateful. She disturbed his mind,
but became his brother's girlfriend. Now she used this face and this look to
continue disturbing him.
But he couldn't mess around this time. Whether it was for
himself or for her. He answered her: Well, I don’t remember. The expectation on
her face was immediately replaced by a slight sense of grievance, and the light
in her eyes gradually dimmed. But she immediately became lively and bright
again, her eyes curved with a smile, reflecting the clean and clear moonlight.
She said to him: Forget it, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are
destined to meet again after thousands of miles! Come on, senior, let’s get to
know each other again! That night he looked at her in the moonlight and
thought, she is really a beautiful girl. Pretty and lively, it is hard not to
be moved. (Chapter 18) But that faint feeling of excitement was immediately
washed away by a tank of fortune fish. Later one day he took her and Qin Qianyu
to Zhou Hanhai’s office for a meeting. There was a tank of fortune fish in Zhou
Hanhai’s office. As soon as she entered the room, her eyes were fixed on the
fortune fish. He looked at her calmly, thinking of what Tan Shen had said to
him: I pressed her against the fish tank of fortune fish in my room, and I
f*cked her hard from behind. She was pushed forward again and again by me, and
her voice was particularly beautiful towards the fortune fish...
Her gaze turned and collided with his. He looked away, and
his heart was like a desert.
He thought he had really lost his mind before. He should
have kept his distance from her. (chapter 20)
After that, he always talked about her. Once he said that
her laxity had come back, and she did not refute it. She looked at him with
grievance and accepted all his criticism. He later found out that she was lazy
because she was sick. (chapter 21)
He wondered how this girl could torture people's hearts. He
wanted to be indifferent to her for no reason, but she made him feel guilty and
heartbroken. Then one day, Tan Shen suddenly told his grandmother he wasn't
planning on pursuing a doctorate—that had been Tan Shen's goal: to surpass his
academically. He'd always dreamed of something that would surpass him. But Tan
Shen suddenly announced he wasn't going to continue studying and was planning
to return home.
He later learned that Chu Qianmiao had mentioned to Tan Shen
during a video call that she was working on a project with Ren Yan.
Tan Shen, upon learning that he and Chu Qianmiao had not
only met again but were working together daily, immediately became wary. Before
returning home, Tan Shen even told him, "Don't go after Chu Qianmiao.
She's mine. If you do, I'll tell her you're my brother and I slept with her.
And you'll see if she'll still be with you. If you don't want to embarrass her,
stay away."
At this point, Ren Yan decided he wouldn't see her again
after finishing the Hanhai project. With Tan Shen involved, things wouldn't end
well. For her sake, and for his own, he absolutely couldn't have anything to do
with her again.
By the time Ren Yan reached this point in her story, Chu
Qianmiao realized that it was really from the moment she told Tan Shen that she
and Ren Yan were working on a project together that Tan Shen's contact with her
suddenly increased. His expressions of longing and attachment to her became
more pronounced, and he began to want to pursue her again.
When they had just broken up, all the reactions he should
have displayed—reluctance, longing, and a desire to reconcile—only began to
manifest after he learned she and Ren Yan were collaborating on the project.
So, was it truly her that he had finally realized after all
the ups and downs, or was it that he had discovered she was in contact with Ren
Yan and didn't want them to be together, which led him to pick her up again?!
Chu Qianmiao felt increasingly unable to understand Tan
Shen. She had once believed that even though Tan Shen was paranoid, he still
had some sincerity towards her. But now, she was unsure.
Perhaps, she wondered if Tan Shen's sincerity was only for
Ren Yan, that he genuinely didn't want him to have an easy life. And she had
inadvertently squeezed herself between them, and she wondered what role she
truly played.
Suddenly, she felt a sense of desolation. Why her? Because
she fell in love with Ren Yan when she was a freshman? Is it a sin to like
someone? Why should she bear all these painful things? If she could turn back
time, what would she do? Would she still choose to like Ren Yan? Or stay away
from these two brothers? She sat quietly in the chair, not saying a word,
listening to Ren Yan continue. Ren Yan told Chu Qianmiao that he had decided to
stay away from her after completing the Hanhai Home Textiles project and never
wanted to have anything to do with her again. Later, when reviewing the project
application materials, he always criticized her. Once, he criticized her so
badly that she felt wronged and said that she never wanted to work on a project
with him, Ren Yan, again. He even said to her harshly: Okay, I will satisfy you
and I will only cooperate with you on this project. (chapter 23) After that, he
saw that she was more obedient, more hardworking, and more docile. He thought
she was truly a nasty girl, too good at exploiting guilt. She was so obedient
and hardworking, but the thought of the harsh words he'd once spoken to her
made him feel suffocated.
In the end, the project was successfully submitted. After
that period, they stopped seeing each other every day.
Without her bright eyes watching him, he found each day
incredibly long.
He soon had a new project: Jialeyuan's IPO. When the
chairman of Jialeyuan asked him which law firm to partner with, he blurted out
the one she worked for.
After that, he was filled with regret. He had made such a
resolute decision to distance himself from her, but when it came to actually
implementing it, he went against his will.
He could only comfort and convince himself that fortunately
Tan Shen had not returned yet. Then he would take her to do another project,
the last one. After finishing this one, they would definitely have nothing to
do with each other.
After preparing himself mentally, he suddenly felt relieved
- at least for a period of time, every day would pass quickly again, not so
long and so difficult.
Ren Yan told Chu Qianmiao that he had wanted to be cold to
her on the Jialeyuan project. But this time she went even further, ignoring his
coldness even more. She even encouraged everyone to celebrate his birthday.
Since his parents passed away, he had not celebrated his
birthday for many years. He always blamed himself for his parents' death. If he
had not looked at his mother with such affection before she left, his father
would not be angry, and they would not have quarreled on the highway and died.
And that day was his birthday.
That day was so special. To his uncle, his grandmother, and
everyone else, they could only remember that it was the anniversary of the
death of his sister, brother-in-law, daughter, and son-in-law. They could no
longer remember that behind the death anniversary was his birthday. But the
girl remembered to celebrate his birthday. His heart went from cold to warm, so
warm that it itchy and numb. He finally couldn't resist the warm itch and
numbness and went to the birthday party she had arranged for him. (chapter 32)
That night, he had to face the fact that she really had a different kind of
attraction and influence on him. But this discovery made him a little
desperate. Because he knew that if he wanted to treat her well, he had to stay
away from her. He wanted to stay away from her every day, but he was attracted
to her every day. Day by day, he was caught in his own contradictions and
didn't dare to think carefully about the future. He thought as if to escape,
just live one day at a time. He would deal with the future after finishing the
Jialeyuan project. Later, Lei Zhenzi came back and learned about Chu Qianmiao's
existence and felt her unusual influence on him.
At that time, Lei Zhenzi already knew all of his past family
affairs and Tan Shen's pathological exploitation of him.
Lei Zhenzi knew that because of Tan Shen, he lived a
self-disciplined life like an ascetic monk, not dating or interacting with
women. But at that time, Lei Zhenzi believed that the biggest reason for his
behavior was that Li Tang was cheated on by Tan Shen, and he was devastated by
it.
So, Lei Zhenzi asked him: Do you plan to carry that
emotional baggage with you for the rest of your life? How long has it been?
(chapter 32)
So, when Lei Zhenzi learned that Chu Qianmiao appeared next
to Ren Yan, he felt that this girl was the one who could save Ren Yan from his
emotional baggage. In order to stimulate him to admit his feelings for Chu
Qianmiao, Lei Zhenzi even went so far as to stimulate him: You don't want to
pursue her, right? Then I will.
He knew that what Lei Zhenzi said was not true, but he still
could not help but warn him: You are not allowed to touch her. He later thought
that he had really hidden his feelings for that girl too precariously, and the
slightest stimulation would reveal it all. (chapter 33) Lei Zhenzi later told
him earnestly that he understood his concerns. "Aren't you just afraid
that if you find Chu Qianmiao as your girlfriend, Tan Shen will come to seduce
her again, and she will become the second Li Tang? But you also have to think
that Chu Qianmiao is different from Li Tang. Maybe she can withstand Tan Shen's
seduction! Don't tell me that all the girls in the past were successfully
seduced by Tan Shen without exception. Maybe Chu Qianmiao is an exception! I
think she is different from other women. I think she can withstand the
temptation of eroticism. So, Ah Ren, I beg you to give it a try. Don't let
yourself live like an ascetic for the rest of your life, okay?" Lei Zhenzi
advised him earnestly. He understood his painstaking efforts.
Unfortunately, Lei Zhenzi assumed Chu Qianmiao was a girl
unrelated to them, and that even if Tan Shen tried to woo her in the future,
she wouldn't necessarily be moved.
Unfortunately, Lei Zhenzi didn't know at the time that this
girl had another identity: she was Tan Shen's ex-girlfriend.
So, Tan Shen didn't need to woo her. Her past with Tan Shen
was already the chasm between him, Ren Yan, and her, Chu Qianmiao.
From then on, he fell into a strange cycle.
He wanted to be more indifferent to her, to distance himself
from her. He always found excuses to be mean to her. After being mean, he felt
suffocated, and then he couldn't help but care for her and make amends.
Sometimes, he couldn't tell whether his actions were right
or wrong, whether he was torturing her or himself.
Sometimes, he felt sorry for her. She was such a good girl,
never really arguing with him. When he was mean to her, she'd only feel a
little aggrieved for a moment, but then she'd still be around him, calling him
senior, asking him questions, and looking at him with admiration in her eyes.
She was so good, so good that it broke his heart. Why did
Tan Shen let go of such a good girl? And why did she have to get caught between
them?
Later, her childhood friend was bullied online and they had
nowhere to live, so he took them to live in his vacant apartment.
He took her to the study in the apartment to work overtime
to write feedback for Jia Leyuan.
At this time, Tan Shen sent her a video. He heard Tan Shen
and her joking in the video, and Tan Shen asked her if she was going to
rekindle her love for him.
At that moment, he didn't know why his hand loosened and the
pen fell to the ground.
He heard her tell Tan Shen that she was now living in the
apartment of her senior. Tan Shen immediately guessed it was him. He was sure
that Tan Shen yelled at her in the video: You must move to my house because I
am your ex-boyfriend, but he is not! (chapter 38)
--He was sure that Tan Shen's words, which sounded like he
was throwing a tantrum at her, were actually directed at him. Tan Shen was
warning him: Ren Yan, remember, she is my ex-girlfriend, she was once my woman,
don't touch her.
He immediately stood up and left the room. After she
finished her video call with Tan Shen, she went to find him outside the study.
She even apologized to him for Tan Shen's rudeness. He thought at the time that
the world was full of ironies. She was an innocent girl, caught between
cousins, apologizing to his cousin on behalf of his younger cousin. She later
introduced Tan Shen to him. He thought she was so innocent, so innocent that it
was unbearable. She actually introduced Tan Shen to him. He said to her coldly:
You don't need to tell him who he is, what his name is, and why you say so
much. (chapter 39)
——Because I know more about him than you do.
That night he received a call from Tan Shen. Tan Shen asked
him why he brought Chu Qianmiao home and what was your relationship. Tan Shen
provoked him again with obscene words: Don’t you think it’s disgusting to touch
the women I’ve slept with? Then do you want me to describe to you the other s*x
positions besides doggy style?
He couldn’t stand his dirty talk, nor could he accept the
image his dirty talk represented. He hung up Tan Shen’s phone.
After a while, Tan Shen sent him another message.
This time, Tan Shen didn’t say any dirty words. In the
message, Tan Shen even sounded a little humble and pleading.
Tan Shen said to him: I really like Chu Qianmiao, and I
decided to pursue her again. I’m going back to China soon, and we’ll be
together again. I’ll call you cousin, don’t fight with me for her, give her to
me. Besides, she was mine!
Chu Qianmiao glared at Ren Yan at this.
Based on the timing, she knew Ren Yan had made the decision
to give in. After that, he became cold towards her again.
She had sometimes been puzzled, unable to understand why Ren
Yan's attitude towards her was like a woman's period, fickle and unpredictable.
Now she understood. After he decided to give her up to his cousin, he became
cold and distant, distancing himself from her.
She glared at him resentfully.
Ren Yan apologized to her under her glare. He continued.
After reading Tan Shen's message, he didn't reply and tossed
his phone aside.
0 Comments