Wei Chengran had been a weak person ever since he was a child. When he was in middle school, he loved to cause trouble. Once, he scaled the school wall late at night to go to an internet cafe. After the teacher reported him to his father, Wei Zhenning, Wei Chengran fled through the night, though, in truth, he couldn’t run very far. He was scared too. So every single time, he would run to the small, private villa his mother had bought for him, hiding there until Wei Zhenning calmed down from worrying about him, before tentatively slinking back out. He was simply terrified of getting beaten by his father.
“Yanyan, can you please help me check on things at my house? See if my dad’s anger has dissipated yet. If he’s cooled down, I’ll head back, if he hasn’t, I’ll hide for another couple of days… Ah, Yanyan, you have no idea, I’m about to throw up from eating instant noodles these past few days!”
Although the rain in Ronggang had stopped long ago, the road surface remained gloomy, damp, and cold. The wind blowing past was chilling to the bone. Su Xingyan stood in front of the old villa in the suburbs, but what floated before his eyes was the scene from that summer years ago, when he had brought a food container to visit Wei Chengran here. Delivery services couldn’t reach the suburbs, so Wei Chengran could only beg Su Xingyan to deliver meals to him.
“Yanyan, you’re so good to me! You’re the best person to me in this whole world! Even better than my dad!”
Recalling these memories, Su Xingyan let out a soft breath, clenched his fist, and finally walked toward the villa step by step. The key to the main door was one Wei Chengran had given him many years ago. Wei Chengran had said it was their secret little home, and if he was ever unhappy, they could come here together, just never tell Wei Zhenning.
The living room looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. Dust covered the coffee table and the floor. Su Xingyan walked down the hallway step by step, his footsteps echoing clearly in the empty villa. It wasn’t until he reached the door of the master bedroom that he stopped gently. After a moment of hesitation, he placed his hand on the doorknob.
Click!
The moment the door opened, Su Xingyan saw a tall figure drying his hair while preparing to walk out. The moment his gaze met Su Xingyan’s, the panic in Wei Chengran’s eyes had nowhere to hide. Almost instinctively, Wei Chengran tried to slam the door shut, but Su Xingyan grabbed the doorframe, stopping him. Su Xingyan stared at him coldly. “Four days. No answered calls, no reply to messages, have you been hiding here the entire time?”
Wei Chengran: He didn’t dare to look Su Xingyan in the eye.
From inside the bedroom came the voice of another man. “Chengran, did you put on sunscreen? If you’re ready, we should…”
Tang Songzhi’s voice came to an abrupt halt. Through the crack in the door, Su Xingyan saw a delicate yet sharp and flamboyant face. Although unadorned by makeup, the ambition in the depths of his eyes was almost glaringly obvious. Su Xingyan scrutinized Tang Songzhi, while Tang Songzhi, also drying his hair, stared back unashamedly. He even opened his mouth as if to say something.
“Get out,” Su Xingyan ordered coldly before Tang Songzhi could speak.
Tang Songzhi looked at him at leisure, raising his fine eyebrows slightly as if wanting to refute, but Wei Chengran pulled him with a darkened face. “…You go out first.”
Tang Songzhi’s gaze drifted between Wei Chengran and Su Xingyan. Of course he recognized Su Xingyan, and naturally, he understood the purpose of Su Xingyan’s visit this time. Tang Songzhi curved his lips into a smile, pinched the hand Wei Chengran was using to hold him, blinked, and said, “Alright, take your time talking.” After saying that, he gave Su Xingyan a meaningful look before casually sauntering out of the room.
As soon as Tang Songzhi left, deathly silence instantly descended upon the room. Su Xingyan looked at Wei Chengran in silence, these past few days probably hadn’t been easy for him either. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, his complexion was exhausted and haggard, and he lacked any of the high-spirited ambition he had when he first took over CY. Su Xingyan withdrew his gaze, walked past Wei Chengran, and stepped further into the room.
Wei Chengran followed him inside. Drooping his head low like a high school student who had done something wrong, he waited quietly for Su Xingyan’s judgment.
The room was somewhat messy. On the desk were unfinished instant noodles, and in the trash can lay several used condoms. What had transpired here was almost self-evident.
Su Xingyan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, striving to maintain his last shred of upbringing. But even so, when he opened his mouth again, his voice trembled slightly. “Wei Chengran, don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”
“…What do you want me to explain?”
“Explain everything right now!” Su Xingyan really couldn’t endure it any longer. He abruptly opened his clear eyes and glared at Wei Chengran. “Do you know that the new product your company launched injured someone? The patient is still in emergency care with their life hanging in the balance! And what are you doing right now? Ah? Having an affair with a side piece? Do you even know that person is Yan Chong’s fiancé? They were about to get married!”
With a rustling sound, Su Xingyan threw the stack of photos Yan Chong had given him right at Wei Chengran. Wei Chengran watched as picture after picture fell before him like snowflakes, keeping his head hung low without saying a single word, he knew. He knew everything. He knew it was a storm out there in the city, and he knew that the person he was currently having an affair with was Yan Chong’s fiancé.
Wei Chengran knew it all.
“…Wei Chengran, how did you turn into this?” Su Xingyan felt a sense of powerlessness. “I feel so disappointed in you.”
Wei Chengran finally spoke, he even stole a glance at Su Xingyan before doing so. Wei Chengran’s eyes looked somewhat hollow, and then he lowered his gaze again, letting out a strange, self-deprecating laugh. “The way I am… didn’t you know from the very beginning? Yanyan, deep down, haven’t you always been disappointed in me?”
Su Xingyan looked at Wei Chengran, momentarily at a loss for words. He had originally intended to refute him, but looking at that face that still possessed a touch of youthful innocence, a thought inexplicably struck Su Xingyan. Actually, Wei Chengran knew everything.
“…Yanyan, to be honest, you’ve always known very clearly that I’m just an incompetent spendthrift, haven’t you? Before we got married, my dad told me that you were amazing, that you had a very keen eye for people.”
“…You actually knew all along that I was just such a worthless person.” Wei Chengran lowered his eyes, staring quietly at the tips of his shoes. Su Xingyan had never said these words to him, nor had he ever brought them up himself. Yet over these years of sharing a bed, it was a tacit understanding between them.
Su Xingyan closed his eyes, feeling an unexplainable wave of exhaustion. Perhaps because they had reached the point of open conflict, even Su Xingyan’s last remaining dignity completely evaporated. Su Xingyan asked him in return. “So, just because we are legal partners, I have the obligation to approve of everything you do? Wei Chengran, is this your way of proving yourself?”
The question Su Xingyan asked was calm yet sharp. But Wei Chengran was not surprised. He knew Su Xingyan was originally this kind of person. Su Xingyan admired strength, was distant and cold, and at the same time, despised fools.
“Su Xingyan, all these years with me… it must have been very exhausting for you, right?” Su Xingyan was never an understanding, gentle, or submissive person by nature, yet all these years he had trapped himself in such a role.
Su Xingyan frowned in annoyance, not understanding why Wei Chengran was suddenly bringing all this up. “Wei Chengran… the fact that I love you doesn’t conflict with the fact that I don’t agree with many of your ways of doing things.”
Wei Chengran suddenly asked, “Do you really love me?”
The bedroom suddenly fell dead silent. The abrupt rainstorm had stopped long ago, and sunlight poured through the floor to ceiling window, yet it was so cold it made one feel chilled to the bone. In all the years they had been together, it had always been Wei Chengran who was clingier. Ever since middle school, ever since he knew Su Xingyan would be his wife in the future, he had constantly trailed behind him, calling him “wife” one time after another.
Su Xingyan was beautiful, noble, hardworking, and driven. Teachers all liked him. There was no reason for Wei Chengran not to love him either. Wei Chengran did love him, back in those years.
“…Yanyan, actually, sometimes I wonder too… I probably didn’t like you that much either. It’s just that you… you were good, you were so good. But… but later I thought, were you really that good? Yanyan, actually, you aren’t that great either.” As Wei Chengran spoke, he buried his head even lower. Outside the window, rain started to fall again at some point, pitter-pattering against the glass like scattered beans. Wei Chengran softly sniffled his sour nose, then walked over to the nightstand and pulled out the divorce agreement that had long been prepared.
“…Yanyan, let’s get a divorce.”
Rumble!!!
A muffled clap of thunder exploded across the cloud covered sky of Ronggang. Like the first cry of a newborn baby, it was sharp and loud. Looking at the divorce agreement thrust in front of him, Su Xingyan froze for a moment before slowly raising his eyes to look at the suitcases beside the nightstand. There were two of them, one red and one blue. The blue one was probably Wei Chengran’s, Su Xingyan thought.
“…You’re leaving this place? With that person?” Su Xingyan looked at Wei Chengran in disbelief, looking at this man he had known for nearly half his life. In this instant, he suddenly felt an immense sense of unfamiliarity, as if he had never known him at all. “Do you love him?”
Wei Chengran merely kept his head hung low, then shook it gently. “No.”
Su Xingyan stared at him and asked again, “Then does he love you?”
Wei Chengran imperceptibly bit his lip, but still shook his head. “…No.”
The rain outside grew heavier again, pitter-pattering against the window pane as if a torrential downpour was about to burst through the door. A breath seemed trapped in Su Xingyan’s chest, unable to go up or down, suffocating him in an instant. After a long silence, he heard his own voice, extremely faint, almost inaudible. “Then why?”
“For no reason.” Wei Chengran’s reply was even fainter, like a soft sigh amid the howling storm. Yet Su Xingyan still heard it and understood it completely. The rain outside rattled relentlessly. Su Xingyan closed his eyes wearily. Wei Chengran wasn’t doing it for anything. Wei Chengran simply wanted to leave this place. To leave him.
“…Yanyan, just sign it.”
The rain in Ronggang fell continuously, as if it would never end. When Su Xingyan walked out of the villa holding the divorce agreement, the dark rain dripped steadily onto his head. He didn’t try to hide from it, he just walked forward quietly, looking like his very soul had been hollowed out.
Yan Chong sat in the back seat of the Rolls Royce, resting his arm on the window frame, narrowing his eyes as he quietly watched Su Xingyan walk away step by step. He hadn’t known Su Xingyan for long, but in his memory, this person had always been proud and unyielding. He had never seen him like this, completely dazed and despondent, like a shell stripped of its core.
“Mr. Yan, should we get out of the car?” Tang Chao sat in the driver’s seat, preparing to turn off the engine.
Yan Chong didn’t turn his head, staring at Su Xingyan walking away into the distance through the curtain of rain. After a long moment, Yan Chong raised his hand slightly. “No need.”
Yan Chong instructed in a low voice. “Drive slower. Follow him.”