Xiang Shuyu held his p hone in a daze, feeling as if a basin of ice water had been poured over him. His body was frozen stiff; even his breathing and heartbeat seemed to have stagnated.
After a long silence, Xiang Han spoke: “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
“Wait… wait a minute,” Xiang Shuyu’s eyes were brimming with tears, but he forced the words out one by one. “I will pay back the money I owe you. As for the rest, I won’t agree to any of it.”
Xiang Han frowned. “Five hundred thousand—are you sure you can pay me back? I want to receive the transfer within a week, otherwise, I will sue you. Can you manage that?”
“I can!” Xiang Shuyu suddenly grew defiant, his voice rising enough to startle Xiang Han.
Without another word, Xiang Shuyu hung up the phone.
He would pay the money back, he thought, panting heavily.
He actually still had some money on hand. If he scraped everything together, he could just about make five hundred thousand.
He was simply heartbroken. He huddled on the bed, hugging his knees and crying. The thought that his mother had hastily sold his marriage to someone else for five hundred thousand made his heart ache with a sharp, twisting pain—as if someone had stabbed him and was now turning the blade to gouge his heart out.
He should have known long ago not to expect much from Jiang Xiayue. She challenged his bottom line time and time again; she didn’t love her child at all, she only loved herself.
After crying for a while, he wiped his tears, got off the bed, and went to check the remaining balance in his accounts.
He hadn’t earned much from performances over the last few years. Most of the scattered income had been taken by Jiang Xiayue, who claimed he was too young to manage money. But Xiang Shuyu didn’t trust her; he had secretly kept a portion for himself.
Back then, he only thought that since Jiang Xiayue spent money so recklessly, he needed a reserve for emergencies. He never expected that this money would eventually become his “ransom.” Fate was truly unpredictable.
Xiang Shuyu sighed. There was no point in blaming Jiang Xiayue now. In many things, he could only rely on himself, not others.
He took his bank card, preparing to go to the bank to make the transfer.
Just as he was about to head out, he suddenly received a message from his neighbor, Auntie Zhang.
“Xiao Shu, thank you for the tens of thousands you lent us last time.”
Xiang Shuyu thought she was reaching out to repay him: “You’re welcome, Auntie Zhang.”
“It’s like this, Xiao Shu… for my granddaughter’s illness, we’re still short on money.”
The words “short on money” flashed on the screen, giving Xiang Shuyu a near-instant sense of PTSD. For a moment, he felt dizzy and his vision blurred.
He could guess what Auntie Zhang wanted to say, but he couldn’t blame her. The child’s treatment was important; if they lacked money, they would naturally seek out people to borrow from. Xiang Shuyu thought for a moment—he could probably lend another twenty or thirty thousand; that should be enough for the emergency.
“I can lend you another—”
Before he could finish typing, another message from Auntie Zhang popped up: “I wanted to ask if I could borrow another two hundred thousand?”
Xiang Shuyu’s fingers froze instantly.
Two hundred thousand?
Where was he supposed to get another two hundred thousand?
His fingers began to tremble as he typed: “Auntie Zhang, I don’t have any money left.”
Before he could hit send, a long “essay” of a message appeared.
Xiang Shuyu felt a wave of vertigo. As he stared at the characters, his brain stopped processing them; he could only vaguely see Auntie Zhang saying how good of a person he was, how kind he was. All the praise that had never been bestowed upon him before was now being poured onto him all at once.
His spine suddenly felt weak. He slumped down, eventually squatting by the door, staring blankly at his phone screen.
Money, money, money.
It felt as if he had fallen into a trap of gold—surrounded by abysses on all sides, with money being the only rope that could pull him out.
But he was desperate for money, too.
Xiang Shuyu buried his head in his arms. He felt almost numb. Auntie Zhang was right; he was soft-hearted. He didn’t want to see a young life come to an end. If he could help, he certainly wanted to.
Two hundred thousand was only half of his remaining savings. He could lend it, and still have enough.
But that was before what happened today.
Now, he had intended to use that money to buy his freedom.
Otherwise…
Otherwise, he would have to marry Xiang Han, or, as Xiang Han said, if he refused to marry and couldn’t pay the debt, Xiang Han would send him to prison. His record would be permanently stained.
The thought of it filled him with terror. He was shaking all over.
He wanted to cry again. His vision was blurry. He checked his phone over and over, his body feeling faint. After a moment of haze, when he regained clarity, he realized he had opened his chat window with Duan Yue.
Duan Yue…
Xiang Shuyu sobbed as he looked at the previous messages, remembering what Duan Yue had said before.
Duan Yue didn’t actually mean to break up, right?
He just wanted him to cool off, right?
With trembling hands and without further thought, Xiang Shuyu dialed the number.
Duan Yue was at a dinner party. Having just had a fight with Xiang Shuyu, he was in a mediocre mood, feeling vaguely irritable. He showed little interest in the dinner, not initiating conversation and barely responding to others.
He fiddled with the wine glass on the table. A bit of red wine remained; he didn’t want to drink it, so he just swirled the glass, watching the crimson liquid coat the rim.
After a while, his phone vibrated.
Duan Yue looked down and saw the familiar word “Baby” on the caller ID. In an instant, the dark clouds vanished, and his mood brightened.
He knew Xiang Shuyu didn’t really want to break up. See? Just leave him alone for a bit, and he couldn’t help but come crawling back to beg for reconciliation.
Wanting to punish Xiang Shuyu, Duan Yue intentionally let it ring for a while without answering. On the other end, hearing the ringing go on, Xiang Shuyu grew more anxious, his tears already falling uncontrollably.
He had spoken to Duan Yue like that earlier; Duan Yue must be very angry now.
He really was…
He really was…
Useless. He couldn’t do anything right.
Xiang Shuyu wiped his tears. His heart was sinking straight down, as if falling into a bottomless pit.
Then, a second before the call would have automatically disconnected, Duan Yue finally deigned to answer: “Hello?”
At the sound of that familiar voice, Xiang Shuyu felt like someone drowning who had finally grabbed a piece of driftwood. He couldn’t hold it back anymore and sobbed out: “Duan Yue…”
“Alright, alright,” Duan Yue’s emotions had cooled down. Hearing Xiang Shuyu’s pitiful sobbing, he felt a bit of heartache. “Feeling that wronged, baby? Why did you have to fight with me earlier?”
“I’m sorry,” Xiang Shuyu only wanted to apologize. Since he was the one asking for a favor, dignity had become unnecessary. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have fought with you.”
Seeing his good attitude in admitting his mistake, Duan Yue finally laughed and comforted him: “I’m not mad at you, Xiao Yu baby. Good boy, don’t cry. When are you coming back to North City?”
“Next week…” Remembering the time Duan Yue had told him to return earlier, Xiang Shuyu subconsciously blurted it out.
As soon as he said it, he felt a bit of regret. He hadn’t actually planned to return to North City that early, but now that he needed Duan Yue, telling a small lie to comfort him seemed okay.
He felt a twinge of guilt.
Xiang Shuyu sobbed, weighing his words and analyzing Duan Yue’s tone and mood. He whispered: “I want to… ask if I can borrow some money?”
As soon as those words came out, Duan Yue froze.
Borrow money?
Xiang Shuyu called to reconcile just to borrow money?
This realization made Duan Yue unhappy for a moment. He suddenly felt that Xiang Shuyu’s desire for reconciliation wasn’t sincere. But then he changed his mind—Xiang Shuyu still needed something from him. It was just money, something he could give away easily; there was no need to be stingy.
Xiang Shuyu was surrounded by wealthy people, yet he knew to come to him for this. It showed that he still trusted him in his heart.
Duan Yue quickly talked himself back into a good mood and said generously: “No need to borrow. I’ll just give it to you. How much?”
“It has to be a loan,” Xiang Shuyu said seriously. “I will find a way to pay you back later.”
Duan Yue was almost amused to the point of laughter by this. “Fine. Then how much do you want to borrow?”
“Two hundred thousand…” Xiang Shuyu hadn’t expected Duan Yue to be so easy-going. “Is… is that okay?”
“Of course.” To Duan Yue, two hundred thousand was merely the price of a watch.
He turned to send a message to his assistant, then belatedly remembered something and asked: “Why so much? Did you get involved with loan sharks?”
If it was a loan shark, that would be serious. With such high interest and Xiang Shuyu being so “dim-witted,” how could he ever pay it back?
Duan Yue’s tone became serious: “Tell me the truth, is it loan sharks? Or was it a ‘naked loan’?”
“No, it’s not…” Xiang Shuyu finally couldn’t stop himself from crying. “My mother sold me to Xiang Han for five hundred thousand. She wants me to marry him. If I don’t agree, Xiang Han said… he’ll send me to prison.”
Duan Yue’s face darkened instantly. He was still at the dinner party; everyone at the table was watching his expressions to gauge how to act. Seeing his face change, everyone fell silent, wondering if they had said something wrong.
Noticing the eyes on him, Duan Yue waved his hand and said, “Making a call. Excuse me.”
He then got up and left the table.
On the other end of the phone, Xiang Shuyu’s crying hadn’t stopped. He felt wronged to the extreme. After all these years, he finally found someone he could vent to, and he poured out all the things he had endured at the Xiang house in one go.
The more Duan Yue heard, the darker his expression became, but he didn’t interrupt. He waited until Xiang Shuyu’s sobbing subsided before asking: “Is that all?”
“That’s it,” Xiang Shuyu sniffled, whispering. “Later I went abroad to study. No one bullied me when I was abroad.”
“Fine, I understand,” Duan Yue comforted him. “I’ll pick you up next week. I’d like to see where this Xiang Han gets the nerve to threaten people like that.”
After a pause, he added: “Are you still mad at me?”
“No…” Xiang Shuyu’s voice was very soft. “I’m not mad at you.”
He wasn’t lying; he really didn’t have anything to be angry at Duan Yue about. Being together or breaking up wouldn’t actually change much for either of their lives.
But today’s events made Xiang Shuyu realize that until he completely escaped his current situation, there were many places where he needed to rely on Duan Yue.
Being with Duan Yue was indeed “beneficial” for him.
Duan Yue didn’t know what he was thinking; he only knew that Xiang Shuyu was easy to coax. His irritable mood lightened up. “Then I’ll hang up for now, baby. Go handle your work. Remember to video call me tonight.”
He lowered his voice and said: “I really miss you, Xiao Yu. How could you just leave? I was really sad.”
In an instant, Xiang Shuyu’s cheeks felt hot. He stammered; he thought he should say something to please Duan Yue and make him happy, so he followed along with a lie: “I miss you too.”
He heard Duan Yue laughing on the other end, and the heart that had been hanging in his chest finally settled back into place.
Coaxed.
As he hung up, Xiang Shuyu thought that Duan Yue always felt he was the one who was easy to coax, but in reality, the easy one was Duan Yue himself.
Duan Yue just hadn’t realized it yet.
He felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted. He received the bank transfer notification. Feeling weak, Xiang Shuyu sat on the floor, hugging himself, and transferred the two hundred thousand Duan Yue had just sent him to Auntie Zhang.
“Clatter!”
Duan Lin slammed his phone face down on the desk, the veins on his forehead throbbing.
He rarely cursed, but now he let out a “Damn it!”
He had worked so hard only to play matchmaker for others. After all that effort, he had actually caused the two of them to reconcile.
Duan Lin was so frustrated he wanted to throw things, but he was used to self-restraint and didn’t do so. He struggled to calm his breathing.
He had been too lenient. If he had known…
He looked at the unnamed folder on his desktop. The light reflected off his glasses, hiding the look in his eyes.