Chapter 47

Stepping back onto the entryway, Shao Yihuai cast a sweeping glance around Professor Chen’s living room.

It felt as though, simply because she had been here, the very air in the space had altered.

It was permeated with microscopic, jagged fragments, every sharp edge piercing fiercely into his heart.

He was struggling to breathe.

He remembered now. The day he first saw her here happened to be the beginning of winter. At that time, she had gazed at him in a dazed reverie, while he had merely offered a polite, slight nod by way of greeting.

And now, a few years later, spring had arrived, leaving him stranded alone within the space she had briefly inhabited, breathing the air she had left behind.

Inhalation, exhalation—the air entering his lungs, stabbing fiercely at his heart.

A child’s romantic passions were fierce and fleeting, yet their hatred, likely, was enduring and difficult to dissolve.

She had always left such ample room for retreat in her dealings with others, yet she had shown him no mercy whatsoever.

She had detached herself with absolute poise, all the while murmuring that she would remember his kindness. It was only now that Shao Yihuai realized how foolish he had been, actually thinking it was a good thing that she maintained normal interactions with Su Jingwen and accepted his favors as a matter of course.

Being a young person, her emotions ought to have been written plainly on her face. If she had bitterly resented him or hated him outright, it would have meant she had not yet let him go. But speaking of him with such casual, unconcerned kindness actually proved that she truly wanted nothing more to do with him.

That made sense.

She had already harbored a favorable impression of Liang Jiahao to begin with. With them spending their days together and her attention shifting elsewhere, she had undoubtedly cast the three syllables of Shao Yihuai’s name far behind her.

"Oh, by the way, little Shao, Tongtong happened to return your book to me just now." Professor Chen picked up the copy of *The Collected Works of Lü Bicheng* from the desk and flipped through it. "...Ah, your bookmark is still inside."

Shao Yihuai stood frozen in place for a moment before stepping closer to accept the book along with the bookmark.

Throwing it into the trash can would truly be beneath his dignity, so Chu Tong had ultimately retrieved the bookmark and tucked it back between the pages.

She was returning it just as it was, pretending not to care, acting as though the bookmark were nothing more than a mundane object that she had never once held in special regard.

Lowering his gaze, he traced the bookmark with the pad of his thumb. After a long silence, he said, "...I’ll borrow this book and read it through once more."

Only then did Professor Chen Xizhen sense that something might be slightly amiss with him. Studying his expression carefully, she leaned in closer and asked, "What’s wrong with you? You seem preoccupied."

"Did you have a falling out with your little girlfriend?"

Shao Yihuai raised his eyes to meet hers and offered a faint, dry smile. "...Where on earth did you hear that? What little girlfriend?"

"You probably didn’t know, but my sources of information are exceptionally vast," Chen Xizhen said, half-jokingly. "I managed to find out all about Tongtong’s boyfriend with just a few words; finding out about you goes without saying."

Shao Yihuai’s breath hitched, and his heartbeat abruptly stopped. "...She has a boyfriend?"

"Yes, apparently a young man from Hong Kong named Jiahao. Such an obedient little girl, Tongtong is. She studied diligently during her undergraduate years and was admitted to Hong Kong University for her master's. Once she finished her proper business, she went straight into a relationship. Truly a good child, completely effortless to worry about."

"Unlike you, making a fuss with your little girlfriend at your age. You ought to give way to her a bit. What on earth could be so grave that it warrants a quarrel?"

Liang Jiahao.

His breath rushed back into his lungs violently, feeling as though it were laced with rusted iron shavings, embedding themselves one by one into his heart, which wept blood with every single beat.

Shao Yihuai raised a hand to loosen his tie, drew a shaky breath, and said, "Professor, I have some matters to attend to and must be going."

Chen Xizhen looked astonished. "...You haven't even had a cup of tea? And it’s still raining outside."

He was already striding toward the entryway.

Assuming he was pressed with work, Chen Xizhen relented, "True, true, matters of business come first. Do hurry along, and tell your driver to take it slow on the road."

He wanted to tear apart and destroy the version of himself from this exact time last year.

Jealousy and bitter longing surged wildly within him, making him want to retch blood.

He wished he could vomit out his bleeding heart so he could look upon it with his own eyes, wondering what on earth it was made of, and how the hell he could have ever hatched such an idea.

Zhuang Wan had called him self-righteous.

She hadn't been wrong by even a fraction.

He was self-righteous to a degree that made him deserve damnation.

He had actually sat there calculating that if she ended up with Jiahao in the future, she would have to address him as a maternal uncle.

If she were to stand before him right now as Liang Jiahao’s girlfriend and call him uncle, the world would likely go black before his eyes and he would collapse headfirst.

Zong Liangzhi stood by the car holding an umbrella, contemplating finding a quiet spot to smoke a cigarette, when he saw his employer emerge from beneath the building entrance.

The umbrella in his hand remained closed, and he was walking straight out into the rain.

Zong Liangzhi hurried over in quick steps, standing on tiptoe to shelter his employer overhead. "Sir, why are you leaving so soon?"

Shao Yihuai did not speak.

Once inside the car, as Zong Liangzhi started the engine, he asked, "Sir, where to?"

Shao Yihuai still offered no reply.

Zong Liangzhi asked no further, intending to head back to Manhe.

Ever since the fierce argument in the old master’s study in mid-April, his employer and the old master had been locked in a cold war, having not set foot in the ancestral residence for the better part of a month.

Even without his employer spelling it out, Zong Liangzhi could more or less guess that it was likely over the matter of the arranged marriage.

That explained why his employer had been so intensely busy lately, as though preparing for a complete break with the Shao family. It was no wonder he had insisted on going to work on his very first day out of the hospital; he must have already made up his mind at that time and was rushing to lay the groundwork in advance.

As the Maybach pulled onto the main thoroughfare, the voice of Shao Yihuai finally sounded from the back seat. "Go to the West Gate."

"Understood."

Zong Liangzhi was long accustomed to it.

The West Gate was his painkiller. His rapid-acting heart rescue pill.

The Maybach came to a smooth halt at the temporary parking zone near the West Gate.

The rear window rolled down, and Shao Yihuai lit a cigarette.

Zong Liangzhi glanced at his expression through the rearview mirror. In the past, he would always stare blankly out the window in a daze, but today was different; his eyelashes were half-drooped, as though deep in contemplation.

Halfway through the cigarette, his phone rang.

Glancing down briefly, Shao Yihuai answered the call, held it to his ear, and listened silently to the person on the other end. After a few seconds, he let out a careless, nasal hum of a laugh. "...You’re too kind."

The words were polite, yet his tone was laced with distinct indifference.

He lifted his wrist to check his watch. "Mm."

After hanging up, he gave Zong叔 an address.

Another private club.

Zong Liangzhi sighed inwardly; his employer would likely get drunk tonight.

-

In early June, the thesis was finalized and published.

Chu Tong happened to be grouped together with her former roommate, Tao Ge. Ever since moving into the graduate dormitory building to room with Lu Zhiyun, she and Tao Ge hadn't seen much of each other in private.

When discussing the order of authorship for publication, Tao Ge quietly pulled her aside, lowering her voice. "Do you remember Ding Xue?"

"...I remember, what about her?"

"I heard she got into trouble in the United States and got beaten up."

Given her personality, getting into trouble anywhere wasn't surprising.

Chu Tong didn't take it to heart.

Noticing her unconcerned expression, Tao Ge added another detail. "Those four guys got beaten up too."

Chu Tong turned her head to look at her. "...When did this happen?"

Tao Ge thought for a moment. "The first time should have been over two years ago, right when they were first sent abroad to the US by their families."

"The first time? What do you mean? There were times after that?"

"Yeah, I only heard about it recently too. Word is that after that bunch arrived in the US, they still banded together and tried to throw their weight around. But no matter where they went to hang out, they kept getting beaten, so that whole group hasn't dared to show their faces lately."

Had it been Shao Yihuai?

Was he really that vindictive?

Chu Tong couldn't help recalling her previous meeting with Su Jingwen, during which she had caught glimpses of Mr. Shao's true character between the lines—seemingly gentle, yet possessing ruthless methods and a hard heart.

No wonder; to build such a vast enterprise, lacking ruthlessness was simply impossible.

In the past, the only sides of him she had witnessed were gentleness and attentiveness. To her, he had merely shown the tolerance and magnanimity of someone in a position of high authority.

Not only in status and age, but in emotional matters as well.

It was always her alone who was flustered and chaotic, while he remained forever poised, forever in complete control.

That was precisely why, when he finally cast her aside, he could calculate everything so thoroughly and sever ties with such clean, ruthless efficiency.

Chu Tong shook her head, banishing those thoughts from her mind.

Dwelling on them any longer held no meaning whatsoever.

Just as the second young lady of the Lin family had once calculated, she, Chu Tong, was merely a passing visitor in his life.

With the thesis successfully published, the graduation ceremony followed closely behind.

Departmental ceremonies, university-wide ceremonies—one after another.

KK, Liang Jiahao, and Shang Yunmeng had all rushed over. On the day of the university-wide graduation ceremony, they took pictures together with Chu Tong across the campus of A University, clad in her bachelor’s graduation gown.

Four years of youth drew to a close.

She had grown from eighteen to twenty-two.

Standing on the campus grounds and gazing at the familiar scenery, Chu Tong could not hold back the hot tears welling in her eyes.

She had let no one down—neither the cultivation of her high school, the protective care of Chu Qinghe, the fortuitous guidance of Professor Chen Xizhen, nor the sincere friendships of classmates like Cheng Mai and Lu Zhiyun, alongside the help Shang Yunmeng had extended during her early days at university...

Least of all herself. She had failed herself the least.

She had studied with relentless diligence, fighting through night after night in the library. Throughout her four undergraduate years, her academic standing had remained consistently in the top three; she had swept up scholarships at both the departmental and university levels. Beyond her coursework, she had studied English, participated in activities and projects, and juggled internships...

She had completed her undergraduate studies as an outstanding departmental graduate and secured an offer for a master's degree in journalism at the University of Hong Kong.

Every single minute and second of these four years had been intensely fulfilling.

So fulfilling that she felt a deep sense of pride in herself.

She had seized every single opportunity that fate had extended to her.

Even her romance had been no exception.

The bravest moment of her life had been that night at the suburban Beijing hotel, when she knocked on the door of Shao Yihuai’s suite.

The most reckless moment of her life had been inside the private box at Baisen, when Shao Yihuai offered the simple statement, "I've never been this serious before." Without a formal confession, without even a single "I like you," she had plunged blindly into the fire like a moth, pouring her whole heart and soul into the flames.

She had no regrets.

She did not regret having experienced such a chapter.

After all, this was Shao Yihuai, the man who had infatuated her at first glance beyond any hope of rescue. A man she hadn't even dared to dream she could truly possess.

It had been worth it.

Toward him, she had devoted every ounce of her devotion, offering a sincerity and passion that stemmed straight from the depths of her soul.

Even after he pushed her away, she had still harbored the desire to express her love for him.

She had given him everything she possessed.

Her absolute all.

Therefore, she had no regrets.

Not a single shred of regret.

Squatting beneath the pine trees in front of the Chinese Department building, Chu Tong wept uncontrollably.

She was about to bid farewell to this city.

The city that held him.

KK and Liang Jiahao stood nearby at a complete loss, while Shang Yunmeng, holding a camera, could only let out a silent sigh.

After a long moment, Liang Jiahao bent down, scooped her up, pulled her into his embrace, and patted her back gently. "Don't cry, Tongtong."

Chu Tong wept even harder, burying her face in his shoulder as muffled sobs wracked her frame.

Not far away, a Cullinan was parked.

In the driver's seat, Ren Mingyuan, wearing sunglasses, lowered the window, peered out for a long moment, then pulled his head back, rolled the window up, and turned to look at the front passenger seat.

Sitting in the passenger seat was his childhood best friend, the haughty, unimaginably aloof Mr. Shao in the eyes of others, who was currently gazing quietly out the car window.

"...What are your plans?"

Ren Mingyuan asked.

Plans were plentiful, and quite a few had already been put into motion.

Most importantly, Shao Yihuai felt that he would never again act as a gentle gentleman.

If necessary, he would resort to the most underhanded methods imaginable.

-

After graduation, Chu Tong made a trip back to Jiangcheng to spend a few days keeping Chu Qinghe company before setting off on a graduation road trip with KK and Liang Jiahao.

For two months, the trio traveled through nearly ten countries.

They took countless photographs, bought endless local apparel and trinkets, and tasted countless culinary delights.

They left everything else behind.

September.

Autumn.

She landed in Hong Kong, carrying her entire worldly possessions in her luggage.

Her state of mind this time was entirely different from her previous visits for entrance exams.

She was about to spend at least two years of academic life here.

A new page of her life was about to turn.

A brand-new, glittering future.

While standing by the baggage carousel waiting for her luggage, her gaze inadvertently drifted to a large LED screen not far away.

It was playing a men's fragrance commercial.

A line of text gradually materialized: What should a man be?

Accompanied by a low, seductive backing track, the screen displayed a handsome, striking Western man, followed by close-up shots focusing in turn on the man's wrist, the prominent veins tracing across the back of his hand, his tailored suit as he stood before a floor-to-ceiling window, then him raising a glass at a banquet, driving an off-road vehicle through the wilderness, and finally sitting in solitude on a sofa late at night...

The deep, magnetic soundtrack chimed in once more with the commercial's tagline for a luxury brand's men's cologne.

The implication was clear: wearing this fragrance would endow one with the same irresistible allure as the man in the advertisement.

Chu Tong let out an inward chuckle, lowering her eyelashes, though the image that floated into her mind was none other than Shao Yihuai.

If the commercial's protagonist were to be replaced by an Asian man, they would simply need to film him directly.

No, he far surpassed the protagonist of the commercial in his effortless poise and nonchalant grace.

Radiating intense masculine charm while remaining gentle, elegant, handsome, alluring, attentive, and tolerant, peppered with occasional moments of forceful dominance—and above all, utterly ruthless and heartless.

She realized with a sudden jolt that her entire understanding of men stemmed from Shao Yihuai.

So be it.

Chu Tong thought with detached indifference, burying this man along with those two years of time.

Burying them far away in Beijing.

She was going to start a new life.

Dragging her suitcase, she scrolled through her phone to check a message Su Jingwen had sent.

Su Jingwen, still far away in Beijing, had worried that she would have too much luggage to handle conveniently, so she had personally dispatched a car to pick her up, sending over the parking spot location and license plate number.

Following the directions in the text, she made her way into the parking garage, navigated through a maze of turns, spotted the license plate through a gap, verified it, and ran over in quick strides.

Rounding the blind spot of her field of vision, she froze in her tracks.

Standing beside the black Rolls-Royce was a tall man clad in a tailored suit.

He emanated an overwhelming sense of oppressive authority, fixing his unwavering gaze directly upon her—a gaze so heavy it felt capable of nailing her to the spot.

Numb all over, a mixture of anger and exasperation rising in her chest, Chu Tong glared at him with reddened eyes. "...Why is it you?"

Shao Yihuai maintained his customary composure, though his eyes were just as red as hers. Staring at her unblinkingly, he replied, "Why couldn't it be me?"