Returning - Chapter 204
Chapter 204: Even
On the day she left the hospital, Zhuang Yiqing was taken away for further investigation.
The Xu family had been closely monitoring the Zhuang family's every move, so naturally, they learned of it immediately.
Xu Chengyan had been awake all night. When he pulled open the door and stepped out, it was not yet mealtime. The entire villa was silent and empty.
He did not take the elevator. Step by step, he walked slowly down the stairs to the first floor. Just as he reached out to open the door, the old man's voice came from behind him. "Where are you going?"
Xu Chengyan paused. "Back to my place."
The truth was, he had not been back to the villa he normally stayed in for a very long time. It was the only one of his residences Zhao Yu had ever visited. Perhaps it was because she had been there too many times, but that place seemed to carry her scent everywhere. The moment he stepped inside, he would be uncontrollably flooded with memories of their time together, and of the disgusted, cold look in her eyes when she had seen him at the hospital.
That look always made him want to escape.
"Lawyer Qian called me. What were you consulting him about?"
"Nothing much." Xu Chengyan's tone was flat. "Just asking around."
Before his hand, poised to open the door, could touch the handle, the old man's sharp voice rang out again. "Were you planning to turn yourself in?"
Xu Chengyan stopped moving and said nothing.
The old man drew closer, his gaze growing colder. "Answer me. Yes or no?"
"Yes."
Slap! The crisp sound of the slap echoed as his words fell.
Xu Chengyan did not dodge, but the force still knocked his head to the side.
Though the old man was advanced in years, his body remained sturdy. This slap was delivered with full, unsparing force, causing the struck side of Xu Chengyan's face to swell rapidly.
Yet he remained silent, continuing to stand there expressionlessly.
"Have you come to your senses yet? If not, I'll beat you until you do."
Xu Chengyan still did not make a sound.
"If I'd known you'd turn out to be this kind of worthless waste, I might as well have raised a dog back then. I raised you, gave you the company, and in the end, it's all so you can push the entire Xu family into a fire pit?"
The numbness on his face gradually gave way to a searing, stinging pain. Watching the old man's face flush and pale with fury, Xu Chengyan slowly lowered his head, still silent.
"Weren't you going to turn yourself in? Go then, go right now!" The old man pointed a trembling arm straight at the window. "Do you think this ends with just you turning yourself in? Do you think you won't drag the entire Xu family down with you? Or are you planning to expose everything the Xu family has done over the years? Shall we see if the Xu family ends up even worse off than the Zhuangs? Shall we see if this whole family can even survive?"
"Since when did Young Master Xu become so high and mighty? Disgusted by the Xu family's dirty dealings, finding our money tainted? Everything you've eaten, worn, and used since you were a child—which part wasn't bought with the dirty money I earned? Without my dirty money, would you have been able to enjoy your life as a carefree rich playboy out there?"
"The Xu family isn't clean. But tell me this: when a business has grown to this stage, which family is clean? The Xues? The Lings? The Shangs? You think they're truly innocent? They aren't clean either, but they have brains. Unlike you. All these years of living, and you've thrown your brain away!"
Having scolded him in one long, furious breath, the old man was somewhat out of air. Only his labored breathing echoed through the vast villa.
Xu Chengyan still kept his head lowered, staring at the floor in silence.
The old man glared at him fiercely for a few seconds, then turned and left. Only when he reached the staircase did he throw back another sentence: "Do you really think the distinction between black and white in this world is so easy to make? Over thirty years old and getting more naive with age."
Silence returned to the entire first floor. After who knows how long, Xu Chengyan suddenly stepped back two paces and leaned weakly against a cabinet.
He had been thoroughly awake from the moment that slap landed.
But the more awake he was, the more a choked-up feeling clogged his chest, leaving him completely ill at ease.
The distinction between black and white in this world is indeed not so easy to make, but in his heart, he knew very clearly: in the matter of Cui Lan, the Zhuang family was wrong, and so was the Xu family. The same was true for all the tragedies Zhao Yu had experienced.
Even though he had not been involved in Zhao Yu's situation four years ago, it made little real difference. He was, from the start, exactly the type of person she detested most. And now, even he himself had begun to detest that version of himself.
"This soup was personally brewed by my sister-in-law. It's very good and incredibly nutritious. Try some."
The hospital room door was not fully latched. Ling Jianwei's voice came clearly from inside. Xu Chengyan stood hesitating at the doorway for a long while, but still could not bring himself to push it open and enter.
He did not even know why he had come to the hospital again. But it was very clear he should not go in. He believed Zhao Yu would not want to see him either.
Furthermore, he lacked even the courage to straighten his back and turn himself in, so what right did he have to see her? She had just returned from death's door, wounded in both body and spirit. Seeing him would probably only worsen her condition.
He stood there silently for a long time, so long that the person inside had finished the soup. Only then did he lower the hand he had prepared to push the door, turning to walk away.
But at that very moment, Zhao Yu's voice came from inside: "If you want to come in, then come in."
There was no one else outside the door. She could only be addressing him.
Xu Chengyan hesitated for a few seconds, turned back, and slowly pushed the door open.
Zhao Yu signaled Ling Jianwei to leave first. Only after the door closed again did she ask, "Does President Xu have business with me?"
The way she looked at him no longer held that previous gaze filled with hatred. Whether her eyes or her tone of voice, everything was very calm. Yet this calmness, Xu Chengyan felt, was somehow more piercing than her prior disgust and coldness.
His gaze shifted to her wrist, still in a cast. He asked, "Are you feeling better?"
Based on her previous tone, full of sarcasm and mockery towards him, she might have said something like, "It's only been one night since you last saw me. How much better could I possibly be?" Instead, she merely said blandly, "Much better. Thank you for your concern."
Xu Chengyan stood quietly by the bed, looking at her. From the moment she chose to attempt suicide until now, this was the first time they had been alone together. And he found himself utterly at a loss for words.
After another long pause, he finally heard her voice again. "The things I said—I take them back."
He did not catch on immediately. "What?"
She smiled faintly and turned her head to look out the window. "Right now, I don't want to hate anyone. Xu Chengyan, you never did anything to wrong me personally. I have no grounds to judge you. It was I who constantly deceived and used you. You should be the one hating me. If you're willing, let's call it even. If not, whether you want revenge or anything else, do as you please."
Xu Chengyan continued to stand quietly by the bed, watching her, watching the faint smile on her face, watching her eyes devoid of any ripples.
Before, her words of disgust towards him had made him feel unwilling to accept it. Her cold gaze had made him feel as if sitting on pins and needles.
Now, all her loathing for him was gone. Yet he felt an even greater suffocating tightness in his chest.
So, from here on out, they were strangers?
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