Water and Fire~Chapter 132.2

 

Chapter 132.2

The next day, he decided to be a little more indifferent to her and stay away from her.

--Heh, he was trapped in a vicious cycle again: stay away from her, can't help being attracted to her, think of her past relationship with Tan Shen and Tan Shen's warning, and decide to stay away from her...

Soon after, there was a cocktail party for the listing of Hanhai Home Textiles. Lei Zhenzi also arrived that night. Lei Zhenzi asked him what he thought of Chu Qianmiao.

He told Lei Zhenzi: I think of her as a sister. (chapter 44)

Lei Zhenzi scorned his cliché. At the same time, Lei Zhenzi was very puzzled by his hesitation.

By the way, he hadn't told Lei Zhenzi that Tan Shen was her ex-boyfriend.

At the cocktail party of Hanhai Home Textiles, she wore a black V-neck dress. She was so beautiful that night. The first time he saw her, he was almost saddened by her beauty.

He ordered himself not to look at her any more. If he continued to look at her, his self-control would definitely be lost. Things would also develop in a direction that was out of control. If he took advantage of the moment and looked at her less, he could still get away from her.

He would definitely be able to.

Just when he was mentally keeping his distance from her, her childhood friend picked up a kitten. When he went to her apartment to sign the house lease contract at her request, he saw the kitten. It was small and yellow. (chapter 46)

The first time he saw it, he felt that it was very similar to her. It was lively and cute. If he teased it too much, it would get angry. After a while, it would come to him again and circle around him. It always had a way to make him happy.

He couldn't express his emotions too much to her. So, he released all these emotions on the kitten. It was like her incarnation, even the names were the same: its name was Miaomiao and hers was Miaomiao.

He had originally made up his mind to distance himself from her, but this time, a cat broke his resolve.

Later, she chatted with him and talked about the relationship between Gu Miaoyu and Shao Yuan. She said she was worried that Gu Miaoyu and Shao Yuan were secretly dating behind Dong Lan's back, which might be a temporary pleasure, but if it didn't work out in the end, Gu Miaoyu would be heartbroken. He was writing on a piece of paper at the time, and when he heard her words, his hand trembled and the tip of his pen actually scratched the paper. (chapter 46) He thought her words had reminded him. He really should stay away from her, otherwise, in order to seek temporary pleasure, he might end up hurting her heart. Shortly after that day, Shao Yuan said he would treat everyone to a meal at a barbecue restaurant. He clearly wanted to refuse Shao Yuan, but because she was going too, he agreed. Later, when he thought about that meal, he felt that he really shouldn't have eaten it. It was during that meal that he left in front of Shao Yuan and Gu Miaoyu. From their perspective, he'd left the table to pick up his ex-girlfriend at the airport, even though he was drunk, and had a designated driver drive him straight to Beijing Capital Airport.

How heartbroken she must have been.

But the truth was, his grandmother had called him, telling him that Tan Shen was about to land at Beijing Capital Airport and asking him to pick him up.

How could he refuse his grandmother's orders? He had no choice but to call the designated driver.

Coincidentally, Li Tang had also just landed that day. While abroad, she'd remotely arranged to buy a house through a domestic real estate agency. The house, recommended by Tan Shen, was in the same complex where Tan Shen lived.

Since it was on the way, Li Tang got into his car as well.

So, the real story that day was that he was picking up Tan Shen at his grandmother's behest, and Li Tang had just gotten a ride.

But this incident caused Tan Shen to change his story. He wrote: Ren Yan had gone to the airport specifically to pick up his ex-girlfriend, Li Tang, and by chance, I ran into them and got a ride.

Chu Qianmiao looked at Ren Yan with her mouth half-open.

The real reason he'd left the table midway through that meal was surprisingly this.

At that moment, she didn't know what to feel. It turned out that the heartbreaking sadness she'd once felt was all wrong.

Who could now pay for her unjust grief?

She looked at Ren Yan with resentment. She resented him for not saying anything before.

But then she thought, what could Ren Yan do? He was in such an awkward position. His family's affection was a shackle and a price to pay, and even happiness was a luxury for him.

How could she still resent him? Forget it.

Chu Qianmiao sighed, half-closed her eyes.

Ren Yan asked her what she was thinking about.

"I'm thinking back to that time at the overseas returnee gathering."

Shortly after returning to China, Tan Shen took her to the gathering. Ren Yan and Li Tang were there. She recalled the four of them, sitting around a small table, chatting away.

It’s really scary to think about it. Even so, Ren Yan and Tan Shen’s cousin relationship still didn’t reveal any clues. They acted like two seniors and juniors who didn’t know each other well. Chu Qianmiao thought she was not stupid, and Li Tang was also a cold and arrogant person. But neither she nor Li Tang could see through the relationship between Ren Yan and Tan Shen.

So how good are their acting skills? So, they really repel each other from the bottom of their hearts, so that outsiders don’t notice their blood relationship at all.

"What happened that time?" Ren Yan asked.

Chu Qianmiao rubbed the goose bumps on her arms again and said: "Now when I think back to that time when you, me, Li Tang and Tan Shen were sitting together and chatting, I feel that except for me, you three really didn’t say a word of nonsense, and everyone’s words were full of pearls."

At that time, Tan Shen pulled her to Ren Yan and Li Tang. (chapter 50) Tan Shen first shook his glass and said to Ren Yan, "Thank you for giving us a ride that day!" To her, Tan Shen meant that Ren Yan went to pick up Li Tang and gave him a ride, and he was grateful because he got a ride. But the reality was that Ren Yan went to pick him up, and Li Tang was the one who got a ride. He said this to play a clever word game. She remembered that Li Tang said to Ren Yan, "I never had time to thank you, and then I wanted to have dinner with you, but you were always busy. Since Tan Shen brought it up, I want to say, Ren Yan, thank you!" Now that she thinks about it carefully, she will find a logical problem in it - if Ren Yan really left the table in the middle of the dinner to pick up Li Tang, and Li Tang was so important to him, why would he not give Li Tang a chance to have dinner with him after picking her up? But no matter how smart she was at that time, she could not figure out that this was because Ren Yan and Tan Shen were brothers. Later, at that overseas returnee gathering, Li Tang asked her about her relationship with Tan Shen.

Tan Shen replied that she was his ex-girlfriend. He emphasized the word "ex-girlfriend" with particular emphasis. Now, thinking back, it was clear that Tan Shen was addressing Ren Yan with those words. He was reminding Ren Yan of his relationship with her.

What had Li Tang said then?

Li Tang swirled her red wine glass, chuckled at her, and said, "I know Tan Shen well. He's excellent in every way. You'd be very happy to be his girlfriend." He raised an eyebrow after saying this.

Now, thinking back, those words held a deeper meaning, as did her expression. Li Tang said, "He's excellent in every way." "You'd be very happy."

She now understood that Li Tang had been flirting with Tan Shen in code, right in front of her and Ren Yan—in essence, saying that Tan Shen was exceptional in that area and that she would be very happy with him.

Chu Qianmiao was increasingly confused by Li Tang. What kind of woman was she? What was her true attitude toward Ren Yan and Tan Shen?

Oh, right? That day, after Li Tang said, "Being his girlfriend would make you very happy," she remembered Ren Yan sloshing the wine out of his glass, spilling it on his hands.

—He was probably thinking about that damned fortune fish again.

But she didn't intend to tell him the truth about the fortune fish just yet. As long as he cared in the slightest, she wouldn't tell him. She wanted him to be completely indifferent.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She looked up and asked Ren Yan, "I remember later that day, you and Tan Shen went to the beverage area. I saw Tan Shen talking to you, and you glanced at me, but then you looked away. Then you just left. When Tan Shen came back, Li Tang asked him what he and you were talking about. Looking back now, Li Tang seemed a little nervous—perhaps she was afraid Tan Shen would tell you that they had s*x."

Chu Qianmiao paused, then continued, "Tan Shen said at the time that he was discussing work with you and hoped you would secure project resources for him. He also said you were called away at the last minute by the company."

Ren Yan looked at Chu Qianmiao with a deep gaze, saying, "That day in the beverage area, I asked him why he brought you there. He said he brought you to see me."

Tan Shen had said to Ren Yan with a smile that day, "My dear cousin, I'm going to be honest with you. Of all the girls, I treat Chu Qianmiao differently. I wanted to win her back, but she said she wasn't thinking about it right now. I know you don't want her to get hurt, right?" So, what about you? Stay away from her from now on, and I'll stay away from her too. If you don't want to date her, then I won't either of us. Okay? But if you want to take things further with her, I'll be pissed. You know, I can't stand seeing you happy with any woman. What if you choose Chu Qianmiao again? Do you think I can make things easy for any of us three?

As Tan Shen said this to him, he looked up at the booth, at Chu Qianmiao.

She sat there quietly and beautifully, deserving the best man to offer her the best love and happiness. How could he drag her into this mess?

If staying away from her meant Tan Shen would stay away from her too, then he was willing to do it. He wanted a better man with a clean family background who could give her a happy life with his whole heart.

So, after hearing Tan Shen's words, he left.

Chu Qianmiao remembered that after that overseas returnee gathering, Ren Yan's attitude towards her had obviously changed - he obviously avoided her and distanced himself from her. He only came to Jialeyuan when he had meetings, and he had not petted Miaomiao for a long time.

Later, she was working overtime at Jialeyuan to write materials, and her computer broke down. She was so upset that she wanted to jump off the building. (chapter 52)

It was Ren Yan who appeared in front of her like a god.

He drove her to get her computer repaired.

She was discovered by him. She had secretly saved a photo of him in a folder called "Important".

That night, she could not resist the tenderness of the moonlight, nor could she resist the tenderness of him taking her to fix her computer and eat KFC. She confessed to him.

In the end, he rejected her so thoroughly and airtightly.

"Two questions." Chu Qianmiao asked Ren Yan who was sitting opposite her. "How did you feel when you saw me put the secretly taken photos of you in the 'Important' folder on my computer?"

Ren Yan looked at her with a deep gaze: "I like you very much, but because of my love, I am also very sad."

Chu Qianmiao felt a pang in her heart.

"Second question," Chu Qianmiao asked Ren Yan, "When you rejected my confession, what percentage of your rejection was due to your anti-marriage mentality? What percentage of your rejection was due to Tan Shen?"

--If there was no Tan Shen, would you reject me because of your anti-marriage mentality? Reject me who still had beautiful dreams of marriage at that time.

Ren Yan looked at Chu Qianmiao and said: "Rejecting you is something I regret so much that I dare not think about it."

After the overseas returnees' gathering, he was having dinner with his grandmother and Tan Shen on a weekend, and his grandmother pleaded with him again.

Grandma said: Your brother told me that there is a girl in your current work partner, and you seem to be interested in her? But she is your brother's girlfriend, the one I mentioned to you before. She has come to your house and spent the night with your brother. You can't date her. Listen to grandma and find someone else, kid. After dinner, Tan Shen stopped him again and said to him: Don't keep Chu Qianmiao hanging around. Tell her directly that you don't like her and don't plan to be with her. Just reject her and let her stop thinking about you. Otherwise, if I find out you two are together again, none of us three will have a good life! So, he rejected her confession. The rejection was so painful that it felt like blood was being lost. So, when Gu Miaoyu called her, she said: Please don't keep Qianmiao hanging around. (chapter 53) He sneered at himself. This was the second person besides Tan Shen who said this to him. They all thought he was keeping Chu Qianmiao hanging around. But he actually wanted to keep her at the top of his heart. Hearing this, Chu Qianmiao's eyes turned red. Saddened by Ren Yan's difficulties and forbearance, and by the sadness he was unaware of,

Ren Yan leaned forward and raised his arm. His fingers gently brushed across her cheek, wiping away the tear that had rolled down her cheek.

"Don't cry. I'm most afraid of you crying. When you cry, I lose my focus." He touched her cheek and said, "It's all over. Don't cry, okay?"

He rejected her confession, thinking that from then on, they had drawn a line in the sand, distanced themselves, and could both return to their own paths in life.

Later, she acted just as she'd said. She treated him like a dish on the menu and moved on. She truly moved on. She treated him with the utmost respect, only discussing work with him, never again displaying any romantic attraction.

She kept her word and let him go, only for him to worry about her.

Later, Jia Leyuan's project application was approved, and they each returned to their respective units, never seeing each other again.

He thought he wouldn't ask her law firm to collaborate on the next project and would definitely avoid her.

With no chance of meeting again, he'd slowly let it go. Time would make everything fade.

He thought this, comforting himself.

But just then, Zhang Teng's affair was exposed. He couldn't stay at her previous law firm anymore, so she left.

She had a clear distinction between love and hate, and she refused Zhang Teng's offer to take her with him. She stayed at Xinfeng Law Firm, becoming a leaderless soldier, facing a difficult situation.

He wanted to let her go, but at the same time, he couldn't help but care about her. But he didn't let anyone know his concern for her, suppressing it and hiding it.

Until the night that bastard Qiao Zhixin tried to bully her. That night, he made a desperate decision: No, he had to keep her by his side. Only by keeping her by his side would she be safest.