Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
Compared to before, the curve on the monitor now had clearly larger fluctuations.
Fu Yun’s gaze was strange, the heat in it mixed with deep resentment and jealousy.
This man before him had everything, born into a good family with good parents, he had everything ordinary people could only dream of.
Money, power, status, and women.
He had been just one step away.
If the one who saved Jiang Se had been him, the Cen family’s gratitude and Sese’s affection would have been enough for him to rise. If he proposed to her, he would no longer be the b*stard everyone in the Fu family despised.
The Cen family would support him, and that old man would also put him to use.
His and Sese’s children would not be like him. From the moment they were born, they would be above others.
“You’re talking about the kidnapping seven years ago? How do you know I was the one who saved her? Were you at the scene? How exactly were you planning to save her?”
Lu Huaiyan stood with one hand in his pocket, leaning against the wall. His tone was light, unmoved by anything Fu Yun had said.
As if Fu Yun, as a person, wasn’t worth spending even a shred of emotion on.
Fu Yun stared at him silently.
Arrogance was in this man’s bones. Even Fu Jun couldn’t get into his eyes.
Fu Yun even knew that Fu Jun had always envied Lu Huaiyan.
Human nature gravitates toward strength.
While the rest of them were still listening to their fathers and walking the paths arranged for them, Lu Huaiyan was already seizing power, forcing Lu Jinzhong out of the company, and taking his father’s seat.
He did what many wanted to do but never dared, and he succeeded.
He had every reason for arrogance.
No wonder he had never looked at him directly.
Even now—knowing full well that he was the one who had kidnapped Jiang Se back then, he was still condescending, not taking him seriously at all.
Fu Yun laughed out loud abruptly and, instead of answering, asked: “Chairman Lu, guess when I fell in love with Sese?”
He lowered his chin, looking at Lu Huaiyan with open provocation.
“It was during those three days. I specially picked two habitual violent offenders to be Zhao Zhicheng’s helpers. I thought a girl like her, raised in a castle and never having suffered any real setbacks, if I threw her into filthy mud for a while and dirtied her thoroughly, I could break that proud spine of hers. Those two men did try to bully her. They failed the first day, and continued the second. But do you know? She didn’t beg for mercy even once, not even cry.”
His voice gradually softened, and the look he gave Lu Huaiyan became hazy and gentle, as if he had fallen into a memory.
“Not only that, when those people removed the cloth from her mouth to force her to drink medicine, even when she choked and coughed, she still insisted on saying she would find them. Everyone here. She would find every one of them. She really did find them all, including me. Such a resilient girl. Tell me, how can someone like that not make a person fall in love?”
The air fell into dead silence.
Fu Yun held a smile at the corner of his lips, waiting to admire Lu Huaiyan losing his calm, losing his reason, losing all composure, burned ugly by fury.
Yet the next second, the words that man spoke made the smile on his face freeze.
“So this counts as voluntarily confessing?” Lu Huaiyan turned his head to look at Mo Jichen with an indifferent expression. “He admitted he arranged for people to kidnap Jiang Se.”
Mo Jichen gave an “mm.”
Lu Huaiyan nodded calmly. “Good. Then I’m heading back to the company.”
He slowly straightened his body, cast a careless glance at Fu Yun, and lightly smiled. “Truly unable to hold it in. No wonder you can only rely on killing, rely on kidnapping to get what you want. Back then Fu Jun said you were a toad who could never get on the stage. He really wasn’t wrong. Also—
“Even if it had been you entering that abandoned factory back then, she still wouldn’t belong to you. She would drag you out just like now. The place at Jiang Se’s side, even if you managed to stand there for a moment by luck, I would take it back. Someone like you, a coward, has no right to covet, shouldn’t covet, and isn’t worthy of coveting someone you shouldn’t.”
The manner he spoke with was clearly casual and composed, but it still made one feel his contempt for Fu Yun.
A contempt he couldn’t hide, rooted deep in his bones.
That word “coward” hitting the ground gave Fu Yun a feeling of being utterly seen through.
As if his subtle desire to see Jiang Se and his intention to provoke Lu Huaiyan were completely laid bare before that man, with nowhere to hide.
He had seen through everything.
Fu Yun slowly withdrew his smile.
The provocation and excitement in his eyes instantly vanished without a trace, returning to the expressionless face he had at the beginning.
The heart-rate curve kept fluctuating, drawing sharp, narrow angles on the screen before slowly calming again.
Lu Huaiyan, however, could not be bothered to look at him anymore. The corner of his lips held a faint, cold smile as he left the ward with an indifferent expression.
Mo Jichen followed right behind him, his eyes sweeping past the tight line of Lu Huaiyan’s jaw. He drawled, “Just now I almost thought you were going to hit him. His body wouldn’t survive your punches right now.”
Just after Fu Yun finished speaking those things, Mo Jichen had sharply sensed that fleeting murderous intent passing through Lu Huaiyan.
He stayed in the ward not only to record their conversation, but more importantly to prevent Lu Huaiyan from making a move on Fu Yun.
Lu Huaiyan loosened his back molars, looking at Mo Jichen with a half-smile. “With you standing there like a post, even if I wanted to make a move, I couldn’t. Besides—”
His voice suddenly chilled. “Someone like that isn’t worthy of me lifting a hand.”
Mo Jichen still felt puzzled. “How did he lose his composure and confess like that? Before, his mouth was tighter than a clam shell. You couldn’t pry a single word out of him.”
Lu Huaiyan lowered his gaze, voice bland. “He probably doesn’t even have the desire to live anymore.”
The two separated in the parking lot. After getting his car, Lu Huaiyan didn’t start it right away. He sat in the driver’s seat like a statue, staring unblinkingly at the entrance of the inpatient wing.
Every word Fu Yun had spoken echoed in his mind, one by one.
—“I specifically picked two habitual offenders to be Zhao Zhicheng’s helpers.”
—“Those two really did try to bully her. They failed the first day, so they tried again the second. But you know what? She didn’t beg for mercy even once. Not even a cry.”
Mo Jichen was right. When he heard those words, he really did want to make a move.
Because in that moment, he remembered eighteen-year-old Jiang Se’s tear-stained face.
Lu Huaiyan rested his head against the seat back and squeezed his eyes shut.
—
Jiang Se did not know that Lu Huaiyan went to see Fu Yun. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t care.
Fu Yun was the rat Zhao Zhicheng spoke of, destined to live his whole life in the filthy darkness of a sewer.
She had already caught him. His end would either be rotting in prison or death. Whichever it was, Jiang Se could accept it.
Everything she promised herself she would do, she had already done.
Every day from now on, she would only look forward, with no need to carry the past anymore.
“Sese, zoning out again?”
At the Cen family’s old residence, Cen Li dropped a rose sugar cube into Jiang Se’s tea. He was about to sprinkle a bit of rose salt when Jiang Se suddenly said, “No need for salt.”
Cen Li paused, amused, and looked at her. “Didn’t you used to like adding a little salt to black tea when you ate desserts?”
“That was a habit I formed at sixteen.” Jiang Se looked at the sugar cube sinking in the tea. “It’s a habit I should drop now.”
Between sixteen and eighteen, she often had fevers. Every time she had one, she was drenched like she’d been pulled from water. Aunt Zhang couldn’t get electrolyte drinks into her, so she added sugar and salt to the tea she liked to coax her into drinking.
Over time, she got used to that taste.
Eating something sweet, she always added salt to the tea, afraid she’d forget that flavor if she had too much sugar.
She hadn’t said much, but Cen Li naturally thought of how that habit was surely related to the kidnapping when she was sixteen.
He set down the enamel jar of salt. “We’ve heard about Fu Yun. Sese, I’m sorry. Back then, we didn’t do enough.”
Jiang Se lifted her tea and took a sip, then suddenly brought up an American movie that had nothing to do with it.
“I once saw a movie where an excellent girl in a military academy was assaulted by a group of men jealous of her. Her father was a general with enormous power. When she barely survived and woke up in the hospital, she thought her father would investigate the case thoroughly. But that father, who had doted on her all her life and been proud of her, chose silence. For his career, power, and the interests of his family, he asked his daughter to stay silent with him. He thought she would understand. But in the end, she chose to expose the case through her own death, completing her final act of revenge against her father. Because to her, worse than suffering was the betrayal and abandonment by her own family. Older Brother—”
The gentle voice paused slightly, and Jiang Se lifted her eyes to look at Cen Li.
“In the three days I was kidnapped, on the first day, you were busy dealing with Teacher Ji’s scandal and didn’t look for me. Back then you thought I was upset with her because of what happened, and I understood. On the second day, after you received the call, you chose not to call the police, because the Cen family couldn’t afford a scandal, and I couldn’t afford a stain on my name. I understood. On the third day, you went to Grandpa Lu and Old Master Fu for help, and still didn’t choose to call the police. I also understood. After I was rescued, you stopped me from calling the police, blamed me for being willful, decided everything I said was just my imagination. I understood all of it. But understanding does not mean forgiving. That one sentence of ‘I’m sorry’ on behalf of the Cen family, on behalf of Teacher Ji, on behalf of the Chairman, I don’t accept it.”
Their difficulties, their past struggles, some people would choose to forgive, and some people simply didn’t want to.
It had nothing to do with right or wrong, only with following one’s heart.
And Jiang Se chose not to forgive.
“Sese…”
Jiang Se took out the wooden block she had brought from Beiyu Residence, placed it on the table, and said softly, “The block castle you built with me has already collapsed by the time I left the Cen family. This is the block I took with me. I’m giving it back to you now. I no longer need you to build any castle for me.”
The promises from their youth were still echoing.
The scene of the siblings building a castle block by block was still vivid.
But ultimately, they could not go back.
When she returned to Ruidu Huafu, the sky had not yet darkened.
At this hour, Lu Huaiyan was usually still at the company working. But today, when the elevator doors opened, Jiang Se smelled that familiar fragrance.
It was her favorite plum ribs.
What mattered in this dish wasn’t the ribs, but the plums.
When they left Tongcheng, Jiang Chuan had packed them a full jar of marinated plums. Tonight, Lu Huaiyan used the right plums for this dish, so naturally it tasted good.
The man was cooking with his sleeves rolled up. When he heard her come in, he didn’t even lift his eyelids and said succinctly, “Go shower. Eat after.”
As Jiang Se walked past the counter, she glanced at him twice.
Lu Huaiyan caught her gaze, moved his eyes sideways, and asked with a smile, “Can’t move because you see me?”
Jiang Se: “…”
After she finished showering, the plum ribs had just been transferred from the wok to the plate. The fragrance rushed out, stirring up her appetite.
Lu Huaiyan only cooked this one dish. The other dishes were fresh ones delivered by the housekeeper.
Even though he had only cooked one dish, he still carried a bit of oil and smoke on him.
“I’ll go rinse off. You eat first.”
Jiang Se had eaten poorly at lunch. Smelling the food made her hungry, so she gave a soft “mm” and picked up a plum to eat.
Lu Huaiyan showered very quickly. When he came out, three neat plum pits were already arranged on the dish beside her bowl.
He laughed. “Your teeth aren’t sore? How’s the taste?”
Jiang Se said it was delicious.
This girl had a picky palate. If she said it was good, then it must truly be good.
Lu Huaiyan went to the bar to pour a glass of whiskey. As he drank, he watched her cheeks puffed out by the plums.
Jiang Se spit out the plum pit, looked at the drink in his hand, and said, “Let me have a sip.”
Lu Huaiyan fed the drink to her mouth. “Whiskey after eating plums?”
Jiang Se lowered her eyes and picked up a piece of rib. “I want to drink.”
Lu Huaiyan simply placed the whole glass in front of her and poured himself a new one.
After dinner, he smoothly placed the dishes into the dishwasher.
Holding her glass, Jiang Se leaned against the counter, watching his familiar movements loading the dishwasher, and asked subconsciously, “When you were in England, did you do a lot of things yourself?”
“Other than someone coming every week to clean the house, I did pretty much everything myself. I don’t like too much of other people’s presence in the place I live.” Lu Huaiyan washed his hands, lifted her wrist, and drank from her glass. “Why, curious about my life in England?”
Not quite curiosity, more like surprised he had such a domestic side. And that this side was unexpectedly sexy.
Jiang Se’s gaze drifted toward his hand. Earlier, when he rinsed the dishes under the faucet, the veins on the back of his hand had slightly risen, his long fingers dripping water, carrying a sort of damp, restrained allure.
When he lifted her wrist, his fingertips still carried a faint dampness.
Noticing where her eyes were looking, Lu Huaiyan’s gaze shifted slightly. He brushed aside the hair by her cheek, his fingers playing with her earlobe, and said slowly, “How about I take you to see the place where I studied, this Christmas?”
His voice was husky, the kind that only came after drinking strong liquor.
The whiskey in her glass had long been diluted by the ice. What he had just drunk was more water than alcohol.
Jiang Se lifted her eyes to him, her gaze colliding with his deep, oppressive one.
Her earlobes were sensitive. His fingertips were calloused, and when he rubbed them, he deliberately applied pressure, and soon they were hot with a tingling itch.
Lu Huaiyan stared at her directly. Then he lowered his head and replaced his fingers with his lips, sucking and teasing her earlobe. His hand slowly moved downward, lifting the hem of her nightdress.
“What were you thinking about when you were staring at my hand?”
Jiang Se didn’t speak, closing her eyes to feel the roughness of his fingertips.
The dishwasher hummed quietly, the water rushing inside. The image of water dripping from his fingertips at the sink slowly invaded her mind.
The last time they were intimate was that night in Tongcheng.
Jiang Se didn’t know if people in love were all like them, intensely drawn to each other’s bodies, intoxicated by that feeling of blending together.
They started early and ended late. Perhaps because they hadn’t done it for days, he was especially unrestrained tonight.
The counter, the living room, and then the bedroom.
By the time they lay down on the bed in the master bedroom, Jiang Se had no strength left, yet he still wouldn’t stop.
She bit her lip, eyes hazy as she gasped for breath, her long hair spread over the pillow, the damp strands clinging to her cheeks, a beauty both fragile and resilient.
Lu Huaiyan’s gaze on her was as heavy as his breathing.
Fu Yun had said one thing correctly.
A woman like her indeed made people like her easily, the kind of liking that forces out the madness buried in one’s bones.
There had always been many people who liked her and coveted her.
From those few wastrel second-generation sons of the Gu family to a p*rvert like Fu Yun, the more they understood her, the more they were unable to stop, trapping themselves like silkworms in a cocoon.
If the matter of her and Cen Yu being switched at birth had never been exposed, if she were still Cen Se, if she had married Fu Yun, he could even imagine how obsessed Fu Yun would have been with her.
Dark tides surged in Lu Huaiyan’s dim eyes. He lowered himself, pinning her wrists above her head, and lowered his head to kiss her, rescuing her lower lip from between her teeth.
Their entwined breaths were full of the mellow fragrance of fermented wheat.
Jiang Se sucked in a few breaths, feeling he was even crazier than just now.
After it ended, he still refused to let her go. Their two sweaty bodies were tangled together, and Jiang Se was completely locked in his arms.
Only when she recovered her strength did she, belatedly, kick him once: “You drank on purpose tonight.”
He knew she liked his voice after he drank, also knew that his alcohol-tinged voice could stir her desire, so he had deliberately drunk the whiskey.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t deny it, though in the end it was his hands that worked, not his voice.
He did truly want her.
If she hadn’t needed to visit the Cen family that afternoon, he would have already come back to find her when he left the hospital that morning.
After making a sound of “mm,” a laugh rose from his chest: “After enjoying yourself, you kick me?”
Jiang Se tilted her head to look at him: “You just hurt me.”
“I know, but didn’t you like it?” Lu Huaiyan said. “Who was it just now who called me ‘Older Brother Huaiyan’ again?”
It was only at times like this that she couldn’t help calling him “Older Brother Huaiyan.”
At all other times it was “Lu Huaiyan.”
Lu Huaiyan pinched the ticklish flesh at her waist and said with a laugh: “Coaxing you into calling me ‘Older Brother Huaiyan’ is really difficult.”
Jiang Se squirmed from the ticklish feeling, like being shocked by electricity, and simply kicked him again: “Lu Huaiyan.”
Lu Huaiyan let out a low laugh and loosened his hands. If she moved again, he’d have to put out the fire.
They embraced for a moment.
He lifted his hand and brushed the hair from her face, saying, “I went to the hospital today to see Fu Yun. He may not live until the day of the trial. If you can’t see him convicted in court, will you feel it’s a pity?”
Jiang Se was silent for a few seconds before replying: “At the very beginning, I didn’t even want to give him the chance to walk out of the basement alive.”
Lu Huaiyan hummed in response and didn’t bring up Fu Yun again.
A month later, Jiang Se heard from Huang Jia that Fu Yun had committed suicide.
“He tried more than once. The first time he hid a fruit knife. The second time he injected air into his IV. The third time, when Lawyer Fang stepped out to take a call, he used his hospital gown to tie his neck and fasten it to the bathroom door handle. The first two times, he was saved in time, but the third time, by the time Lawyer Fang returned, he was already gone. When we went in, there was still a smile at the corner of his mouth.”
Jiang Se had actually long expected Fu Yun to kill himself.
Not only her, Lu Huaiyan had guessed it as well.
That was why he had gone to the hospital that day, so Fu Yun would personally admit that he had planned her kidnapping.
A madman who believed he had climbed to the peak would never allow himself to fall back into the mud, nor allow himself to be judged like a clown by others.
Fu Yun was that kind of madman.
He was determined to die. Even if others wanted to prevent it, they couldn’t.
“His lawyer had actually arranged for an authoritative institute to conduct a psychiatric evaluation, and records of the abuse he suffered during childhood had all been found. Captain Mo always doubted that he would kill himself because that lawyer’s specialty is handling such cases.” Huang Jia said, “The fact that he chose to commit suicide is surprising, but the result…”
She didn’t finish the rest.
Jiang Se understood what she meant and smiled: “Thank you, Officer Huang.”
“What are you thanking me for.” Huang Jia smiled. “This is our job. Now that Fu Yun is dead, this case can only end here. Of course, Miss Jiang, if you wish to pursue civil liability, you can still file a lawsuit in the People’s Court.”
A criminal suspect who dies cannot be pursued for criminal responsibility, but civil responsibility can still be pursued.
“No need.” Jiang Se said, “This case has also ended for me.”
Almost at the same time Huang Jia called Jiang Se, Lu Huaiyan also received a call from Mo Jichen.
His attitude was as calm and detached as Jiang Se’s.
That evening, when Lu Huaiyan returned from the company, he heard Jiang Se on the phone discussing the winery as soon as he entered.
He tossed his suit jacket onto the sofa and leaned against it, listening to her call.
When Jiang Se hung up, he said with a faint smile: “In such a hurry to handle the winery? When are you leaving for Tongcheng?”
Jiang Se walked over to hug him. He pulled her into his arms and sat down on the sofa.
“The day before my birthday, let’s go back to Tongcheng. After my birthday, I’ll go with you to South Guanyin Mountain to visit Auntie Han. I’ll stay in Tongcheng for a while. Once I get the winery and the qipao studio running, then I’ll have time to come to Beicheng.”
Her birthday was June sixteenth. June was right around the corner.
They could still cling to each other for another half month.
“I know,” Lu Huaiyan said. “Go do what you need to do. Don’t worry about me. For me, seeing you is just a plane ride away.”
This girl threw herself into everything. She had always been like that since childhood, everything had to be done to perfection. Once she committed to projects like “Fuchun Riverside” and “Zhang Xiu,” she would surely achieve results.
Lu Huaiyan never wanted to break her wings and trap her at his side.
She never needed to make any compromises for him.
Jiang Se wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the corner of his mouth: “Lu Huaiyan, let’s go to England together for Christmas. I want to see your past.”
He had left Beicheng for England before he even turned thirteen. At that time, Jiang Se had only been seven years old.
When he came back again, she was already fourteen.
In the following years, he devoted himself to taking revenge on Lu Jinzhong and taking back everything in Lu Jinzhong’s hands. He had no mind for anything else, so naturally there wasn’t much interaction between the two of them.
Between them, you could call it childhood sweethearts. That was also fair enough.
But when it came to their past, they weren’t all that familiar. They hadn’t shared much.
During those seven years Lu Huaiyan spent in England, Jiang Se didn’t know a single thing.
Her lips brushed against the corner of his, carrying a hint of rose. The man removed the glasses on his nose bridge, turned his head, and kissed her lips.
“Alright. Whatever you want to see, I’ll take you to see.”
Although those seven years in England were hardly anything worth remembering to him, whatever she wanted to know and wanted to see, he would make sure she got her wish.
