Compatibility - Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Although Liu Zhaoran no longer wanted to keep up a false front with Zhang Kai, she still had to avoid a real clash with him until she formally resigned. Tonight's banquet was nominally a celebration Zhang Kai was throwing for Luo Ning, but the real center of attention was herself, who had just closed the deal with the foreign company.

The entire company was required to attend. On the surface, no one was forced, but behind the scenes, department managers were quietly arranged to note down any employee who didn't show. Openly, it was all freedom and democracy; secretly, no one was excused unless absolutely necessary.

Song Nanyin was one of those forced to attend. For one thing, she had no interest in Zhang Kai's party and didn't want to see Luo Ning either. Of course, the most important reason was that in this kind of setting, she simply couldn't avoid Liu Zhaoran.

"Team Leader Song, this is the cake you like. I got it especially for you." Song Nanyin stood there speechless, watching Liu Zhaoran come over again and again to feed her the things she liked to eat.

How to put it? If the two of them were alone, Song Nanyin wouldn't just refuse these little cakes; she would have slammed them straight into Liu Zhaoran's radiant face. Unfortunately, this wasn't in private, nor was it Liu Zhaoran's home, so Song Nanyin could only accept them and poke a bite into her mouth with her fork.

Mm, they really were quite good.

"I heard Team Leader Song took leave the day before yesterday and went out of town. What did you go there for?" Liu Zhaoran rarely found a chance to get close to Song Nanyin, so of course she wasn't willing to let it go. She couldn't be bothered with the other employees trying to chat her up, and she had no mind for Luo Ning, who she was supposed to be hosting.

Her own Little Lion was angry. She didn't have time for anything but coaxing her, so what mood could she possibly have for anyone else?

"None of your business." Song Nanyin ate her cake and cast a sideways glance at Liu Zhaoran. Although some time had passed since that affair, Song Nanyin's anger toward Liu Zhaoran was no longer as strong as it had been at first.

But disappointment and anger were different. When you were angry at someone, you just needed to let it out. But if you were truly disappointed, even venting left you feeling exhausted.

You only felt disappointed because you cared, and when disappointment piled up, it became despair. It was a vicious cycle. Song Nanyin didn't want to deal with Liu Zhaoran because she was afraid of being disappointed by her time and again. If that happened, Liu Zhaoran's presence would form a scab over her heart that would be hard to scrape away.

Song Nanyin had thought that if only her memory were a little worse, if only she had a goldfish's seven-second memory, she could calmly forget how Liu Zhaoran had ignored her and toyed with her. Unfortunately, she remembered it all too clearly.

"Team Leader Song, can we go over there and talk? There are some things I want to say to you." Liu Zhaoran felt this wasn't the right place for a conversation. She had thought it over for a long time and planned to give Song Nanyin one more formal apology.

"I don't think we have anything to talk about." Song Nanyin turned to leave, but Liu Zhaoran grabbed her just then.

"Nanyin, please. Just give me a few minutes, okay?"

Liu Zhaoran was skilled at moving people with words, and she knew exactly how much weakness to show. Seeing the sincerity and pleading in her eyes, Song Nanyin frowned slightly and, noticing that colleagues nearby were watching them, agreed anyway.

The two of them walked to a corridor in the hotel. No one usually came here, making it the quietest place around the banquet hall. Song Nanyin crossed her arms over her chest, a self-protective, strongly guarded posture.

"Whatever you want to say, say it. You have four minutes." Song Nanyin was counting the time. She felt there was nothing to say between her and Liu Zhaoran. The two had already parted, or rather, they had never actually been together at all. It had always been nothing more than her own one-sided pining.

That being so, it was time for her to end it.

"Nanyin, I'm sorry. I think I still owe you a proper apology. In the days since you moved out, I've thought a lot, and only now do I realize how ridiculous my behavior was."

"I'm not someone with a strong sense of security. Here, I'm an orphan. I have no roots sunk into the ground, and there was a time when I didn't even know where to go. When I was little, my adoptive mother took me in from the orphanage. That was the most at ease I have ever felt."

"But later, my adoptive mother died. My adoptive father found a new lover and threw me out of the house. That was when I understood that anything I wanted to have, I had to fight for myself."

"I admit that when it came to Luo Ning, I thought about having it both ways. I even had the despicable thought that after getting together with Luo Ning, I could still maintain my relationship with you."

"But I got scared. I was afraid that if I did that, you would completely hate me, that you would loathe me so much you wouldn't even want to look at me. Nanyin, I like you. I care about you. When I discovered that my feelings for you ran deeper than I'd imagined, I was terrified, even at a loss."

"Nanyin, can you give me a chance to earn your forgiveness?" Liu Zhaoran knew that saying these things at this moment was untimely, but she could no longer find any chance to talk to Song Nanyin.

This was a past she didn't want to mention, and the thoughts Liu Zhaoran considered most unbearable. But now, she was willing to tell all of it to Song Nanyin. For a moment, Liu Zhaoran couldn't lift her head to look at Song Nanyin's expression.

She was like a clown whose act had ended. She didn't dare look at Song Nanyin's reaction, afraid of seeing even deeper disgust in the other woman's eyes.

"Liu Zhaoran, what do you want from me by saying all this? To be honest, I really don't know how to treat you anymore. Can I still trust you?"

Song Nanyin looked at Liu Zhaoran with reddened eyes. This was the first time she had heard Liu Zhaoran speak about herself, and she never expected that Liu Zhaoran, who looked like the daughter of a wealthy family, was in fact an orphan.

"Nanyin, I'm not asking you to forgive me right now. I... I just hope you'll stop avoiding me. Once this job is over, I'll resign. I've also made things clear with Luo Ning. I won't have anything more to do with him."

Liu Zhaoran confessed plainly. Song Nanyin was a little puzzled to hear she would resign, but thinking of her ties to Zhang Kai, she understood. The two stood facing each other in silence for a long time. Neither of them noticed that, since their conversation began, a figure had been lurking at the other end of the corridor, hidden in the doorway.

Zhang Kai clutched the phone in his palm tightly, veins standing out along the back of his hand. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared hard at Liu Zhaoran and Song Nanyin. He finally understood why Liu Zhaoran had rejected Luo Ning, and he also figured out the reason she had always refused him.

So she and Song Nanyin were actually in that kind of relationship. Thinking of the several times he had sent the two of them out together to talk business, and of the heads-up Li Ran had given him before, Zhang Kai let out a suppressed roar. He turned and left, went to the restroom, and hurled his phone hard at the glass, shattering it across the floor.

"Team Leader Song, can you take me back? I drank some wine and I feel a little dizzy." Seeing that Song Nanyin's attitude toward her had softened a little, Liu Zhaoran tried to push her luck.

Song Nanyin had meant to refuse, but looking at the pale gold evening gown Liu Zhaoran was wearing, she felt that if she didn't take her, it wouldn't be appropriate for another male colleague to do it either. And Liu Zhaoran was so annoying that probably no female colleague would want to take her either...

A subtle feeling kept Song Nanyin from refusing. She gave an "oh," and Liu Zhaoran smiled and fell into step behind her, following close at her heels, looking quite obedient.

Once they were in the car, neither of them made conversation. Seeing that Song Nanyin had no intention of speaking, Liu Zhaoran sat quietly to the side. Anyway, Song Nanyin was already willing to be near her again. All she had to do next was slowly win back her Little Lion.

Thinking this, Liu Zhaoran curved her lips into a faint smile. She propped her head on her hand, leaned against the passenger seat, and watched Song Nanyin out of the corner of her eye.

"Team Leader Song, what about the little lion stud earrings I gave you? You didn't throw them away, did you?"

"Once you gave them to me, they're mine. What I do with them is none of your business, is it?"

"Mm, it may be none of my business, but... that was a gift I had custom-made for you. If Team Leader Song threw them away just like that, I really would be a little sad."

Liu Zhaoran tapped the door frame lightly with her fingertips, her tone dejected. While waiting at the red light, Song Nanyin stole a glance at her. She hadn't looked closely these past few days. Liu Zhaoran seemed to have gotten thinner; her face, already small, looked even smaller now.

Tonight she had pinned up her hair, revealing a long, slender neck that looked as if one light squeeze could snap it. Perhaps she noticed Song Nanyin's gaze, because she looked back and smiled at her, eyes crinkling.

Her smile was lovely. The lights flashing past outside the window swept over her head, as if she had melted into the brilliant neon herself.

But no matter how hard her words were, Song Nanyin couldn't deny that being with Liu Zhaoran still felt good in her heart.

"Nanyin, I..." Liu Zhaoran was about to say something when their car was slammed forward by a violent impact. The tremendous shock nearly sent Song Nanyin's head into the steering wheel.

Before the two of them could recover from their fright, before the car even stabilized, the vehicle behind rammed them again. The force was even greater than the last time.

Liu Zhaoran saw the car behind them in the rearview mirror. It was Zhang Kai's license plate, and the driver of the car behind was Zhang Kai himself.

"It's Zhang Kai. Has he lost his mind?" Song Nanyin hadn't expected Zhang Kai to drive into them like a madman. The two had just left the hotel, and the hotel happened to be on a fairly secluded mountain. Right now, the car was still on the winding mountain road, in a very dangerous position.

"Nanyin, I'll call the police first. Do your best to keep him from hitting us." As she spoke, Liu Zhaoran dialed the emergency number, reported their current location, and then called Zhang Kai. She had thought he wouldn't answer, but Zhang Kai picked up with a laugh.

"Hello? Now you know to call me?"

"Zhang Kai, what you're doing right now is premeditated murder."

"Hurting people? That's really funny. When you were toying with me, you bitch, didn't it ever occur to you that this day would come for you?"

Zhang Kai's voice was a bit hoarse, and his words made Liu Zhaoran more or less guess that he had probably found out about her and Song Nanyin. She still wanted to say something, but Zhang Kai's car slammed into them violently once again.

This time it was swifter and fiercer than the previous two. Song Nanyin's car skidded on the mountain road and, out of control, careered toward the guardrail at the side. If they really smashed through the guardrail, they would likely go over the edge, car and all.

"Zhaoran, hold on tight." A layer of cold sweat broke out on Song Nanyin's forehead. She hastily cranked the steering wheel all the way and turned to the right. Because the car was out of control, she couldn't manage the force well. She dodged the guardrail but crashed straight into a streetlight at the side.

Under the violent impact, Song Nanyin was knocked dizzy. She vaguely heard the streetlight groaning as it swayed, and then saw the pole she had hit toppling straight down toward them.

"Nanyin..." Liu Zhaoran stared at the falling streetlight. In that instant, time itself seemed to slow to a halt. The pole was positioned right over Song Nanyin's driver's seat. Given its weight, if it came down, the car would surely be crushed flat, and Song Nanyin would be in great danger.

In that moment, Liu Zhaoran had no time to think about the consequences. Her body made the choice before her mind did. Seeing Zhang Kai ramming toward them again and the streetlight about to crash down, she rose and threw her arms around Song Nanyin, shielding her beneath her.

"Bang!"

A violent impact was accompanied by the dull thud of the streetlight collapsing. The windows shattered, and bright blood-red dripped down in a trickle.

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