In that exact moment, Song Xuan actually really wanted to say. Maybe that’s exactly how it is.
When someone who used to try and sabotage you suddenly changes their tune and starts doing favors for you out of nowhere, anyone would naturally become guarded.
Let alone someone as deep thinking and cautious as Xu You.
The fact that she had even tolerated having Song Zhi around her for this long was what genuinely astonished Song Xuan.
He knew perfectly well that Xu You wasn’t the type of person to let bygones be bygones just because of a few apologies, so he wasn’t surprised at all that Song Zhi’s romantic confession had been rejected.
It was just that at a time like this, it wasn’t appropriate for him to say anything sarcastic.
It was better to just be a silent listener.
Song Zhi had a terribly low tolerance for alcohol to begin with. After just a few sips, she was completely drunk and started throwing a drunken tantrum.
“Tell me, why hasn’t she replied to my messages yet? Does she not like me anymore? Does she hate me?! Waaah… No, wait, it seems like she never liked me in the first place.”
“Clearly, we agreed at the very beginning that feelings have nothing to do with gender… Big fat liar… No, Xu You isn’t a liar. It’s my own fault. I used to do bad things all the time back then.”
“Waaah… I get it now. She just doesn’t like me! It’s because I’m not good enough!”
“I’m not good at all, that’s why she doesn’t like me, waaah…”
Song Xuan didn’t show even the slightest hint of impatience. He listened to her venting quietly, only hoping in his heart that their parents downstairs wouldn’t hear anything. He really didn’t want to help his drunk sister accidentally come out of the closet.
It wasn’t until Song Zhi finished crying and making a fuss that she voluntarily crawled onto the bed and fell asleep.
Song Xuan let out a sigh, pulled the blanket over her, and left the room.
After leaving the restaurant, Xu You immediately sent a message to Gu Yao.
【Come pick me up.】
【Address】
Gu Yao replied instantly. 【On my way.】
About ten minutes later, Gu Yao drove up to the location.
The young girl, sporting a vibrant streak of dyed red hair, was behind the wheel. The moment she caught sight of Xu You, her expression changed instantly.
“Boss, what’s wrong? Why do you look so awful?” Gu Yao rushed over to support her.
Xu You couldn’t help coughing a couple of times, traces of blood appearing at the corner of her lips. “Take me back.”
Gu Yao helped her into the car. She wanted to ask what happened, but seeing Xu You’s face white as a sheet and her eyes tightly shut through the rearview mirror, she could only let out a heavy sigh.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, Xu You could no longer hold on and lost consciousness entirely.
Gu Yao panicked completely, watching frantically as Xu You was wheeled straight into the emergency resuscitation room.
The scene from eight years ago gradually overlapped with the present. Gu Yao remembered that back then, Xu You had looked exactly like this, her face completely gray and lifeless, as if she could slip away at any given moment.
Her hands shook uncontrollably.
Overwhelmed, she collapsed into a crouch on the floor.
Xu You was successfully pulled back from the brink. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Fu Nian sitting right by her bedside.
Fu Nian’s face was filled with the smugness of someone who had everything under control, his tone laced with absolute nonchalance. “I told you a long time ago, provoking me won’t do you any good.”
Xu You turned her head away, refusing to look at him, and said coldly. “Get out.”
“I think you still haven’t grasped one crucial detail,” Fu Nian said unhurriedly. “Right now, you’ve completely lost any bargaining power with me.”
“I’ve been indulgent enough with you over this past half-year, haven’t I? It infuriated me just watching you hang around that Song Zhi every single day. Oh, I forgot to mention, your father and mother are already planning our wedding.” Fu Nian smiled at her and said, “It’s scheduled for next month. Are you looking forward to it?”
Xu You stared at him with an icy expression, pronouncing every single word with deliberate venom. “Fu Nian, what a shame you didn’t burn to death.”
Hearing this, a flash of rage and agony crossed Fu Nian’s eyes. He smiled bitterly and said, “Yes, but I’m still alive. And it was you who chose to save me, Xu You.”
“I might as well share another piece of good news with you. My laboratory is on the verge of developing a drug that can completely cure your illness. It will be ready in three months at the earliest.”
Fu Nian continued, “I will give you one more opportunity to choose. Either you marry me and I give you the antidote, or else…”
Xu You closed her eyes. “Get out.”
Fu Nian’s face stiffened. “What did you say?”
Xu You spoke no further.
Fu Nian walked out with a dark, brooding expression. At this moment, two bodyguards stood stationed just outside the ward door, one on each side.
Before leaving, Fu Nian instructed: “Keep a close eye on her. If that Song Zhi shows up again, kick her out immediately.”
“Yes, sir!”
He spoke very loudly, intentionally making sure Xu You could hear him inside.
Inside the room, Xu You clenched her fists tightly, cursing herself silently for being so useless.
She turned on her phone and stared for a long time at her pinned WeChat contact, whose nickname was set to “Idiot” and whose profile picture was a little golden retriever.
Song Zhi had sent her a barrage of messages.
Song Zhi, I’m sorry about yesterday.
She typed out those seven words, but her finger hovered over the screen for a long time, unable to press send.
After an unknown amount of time, Xu You slowly deleted the message.
Forget it.
She probably wouldn’t live much longer anyway, so sending these things was entirely meaningless. It would be better if Song Zhi just forgot about her.
Otherwise, when the time came, it would only cause her even more heartbreak.
Xu You placed a phone call to Gu Yao instead.
Gu Yao’s voice was frantic. “Boss, how are you doing?”
Xu You’s voice remained flat. “I’m fine.”
Upon hearing her voice, Gu Yao burst into loud, sobbing tears. She was just a young girl not even twenty years old yet; her nerves had been stretched to their absolute breaking point up until now.
“Boss, you scared me to death yesterday. I thought… I thought…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. Xu You comforted her: “I’m fine, don’t worry.”
It took Gu Yao quite a while to soothe herself and stop hiccuping. She said, “I was originally supposed to stay and watch over you in your ward yesterday, but Fu Nian had me kicked out. He really is as selfish and dictatorial as always.”
“Boss, guess what I discovered yesterday?”
Xu You: “Go ahead, tell me.”
“I found out through an informant that on the surface, the Fu Corporation claims to be doing medical charity work, but in reality, they are pocketing all that money. The medical equipment they send to those impoverished areas consists entirely of defective experimental units. Furthermore, the operational costs for using them are astronomical. However, because those regions are hidden away in remote mountains and the local population’s education level isn’t very high, nobody has exposed it yet.”
In truth, even if someone did know about it, they wouldn’t dare expose it. The Fu Corporation practically ruled the sky with one hand in A City, and anyone capable of unearthing this kind of information certainly wouldn’t be ordinary, no one wanted to cross them.
Even if someone spoke out, they lacked concrete evidence. The Fu Corporation could easily deflect blame by claiming it was merely a surgical malfunction.
Most crucially, to capitalists like them, the lives of ordinary citizens were worth absolutely nothing.
Xu You replied indifferently, “Understood.”
Gu Yao continued, “Boss, I went back to question those people during this past period, but they still refuse to utter a single word. It’s blatantly obvious they’ve been bribed! There was definitely something fishy about Auntie Xu’s death back then!”
“Yes,” Xu You said. “I know.”
Back then, her mother had been young, radiant, and dazzling, single handedly managing the Xu Corporation with soaring success.
Yet during the year Xu You turned 15, her mother suddenly contracted leukemia. From the initial onset of the disease to her passing, only a single short month had elapsed.
At that time, Xu You had already been early admitted to a top national university, her future exceptionally bright.
When she received the news and rushed back in a frenzy, her mother had already fallen into a deep coma.
Brilliant as she was, once Xu You calmed her mind and analyzed the situation, she sensed that something was terribly wrong. While searching for evidence around the house, she had run right into Xu Jie. She still vividly remembered the slight panic written all over Xu Jie’s face at that moment, a panic born of the fear that his deeds would be exposed. Furthermore, Xu You had detected the distinct scent of women’s perfume on him.
Xu You had always looked down on her lazy, good for nothing, and indecisive father. With bloodshot eyes, she had curled her lips into a mocking sneer. “Xu Jie, you absolute piece of trash.”
Xu You became increasingly convinced that her mother’s death was no accident. She was desperate to uncover evidence, but less than half a month after her mother passed away, she was involved in a massive car accident. When she finally woke up, her body was hooked up to countless medical instruments inside the ICU. She couldn’t move an inch, and the area outside was crawling with bodyguards monitoring her every move.
Lying on that hospital bed with dead, lifeless eyes, Xu You knew right then that everything had changed.
Xu You remained bedridden in the hospital for over half a year. It was only upon her discharge that she learned her father had publicly announced that Xu You had crashed due to reckless late-night speeding out of overwhelming grief for her mother.
Furthermore, he had already remarried. His newly wedded wife was none other than her mother’s best friend during her lifetime. To make matters worse, that stepmother gave birth to a child less than a year after marrying into the Xu family, giving her a stepbrother in name.
Additionally, her father had become the controlling head of the company, effortlessly inheriting the corporate empire her mother had worked so painstakingly to build from scratch. Xu Jie had even torn down their original house and rebuilt a brand-new mansion on the plot, completely and impatiently erasing every single trace of her mother’s existence.
Xu You hated them to the core, but that car accident had completely shattered her health. Even walking just a few steps would leave her gasping heavily for air.
Xu Jie remained deeply wary of her. After having her brought back home, he kept her under strict surveillance. Every single day, Xu You could do nothing but lie on her bed, staring blankly at the dense green leaves outside her window.
This confinement lasted for eight long years.
Over those eight years, everyone sighed over how drastically Xu You had changed. The Xu You who used to be described by others as high-spirited, possessing boundless potential, and early admitted to a national key university at the age of fifteen had completely vanished from the face of the earth since then.
People who came later only knew that the Xu family possessed an sickly, frail eldest young lady who had poor health and almost never stepped out to meet anyone.
Xu You ripped the IV needle out of her hand, threw on a coat, and walked out slowly.
The bodyguards outside the door reached out to bar her path. “Miss Xu, you cannot leave without President Fu’s permission.”
“Step aside, or I will call the police and report you for unlawful detention.”
Xu You’s voice was quiet, yet it carried an undeniable authority.
The two bodyguards glanced at each other, hesitated for a brief moment, and then stepped aside to clear a path for her.
Xu You walked out of the hospital entirely alone and hailed a taxi. After getting into the car, she glanced at the vehicles secretly tailing her from behind and closed her eyes wearily.
Upon reaching her destination, she stepped out of the vehicle and walked slowly along a narrow path.
When she reached a certain spot, she brought her footsteps to a halt.
It was a very magnificent cemetery. Xu You walked slowly up to one of the plots. The woman depicted on the tombstone possessed breathtakingly beautiful features and a radiant smile.
“Mom, I’ve come to see you. How have you been doing lately?”
Xu You gently brushed away the dust in front of the tombstone, asking in a low murmur.
She even raised her hand to trace the contours of her mother’s photograph.
Kneeling before her mother’s grave, she said softly, “Mom, I recently fell in love with a girl. She seems to like me quite a bit too. Actually, I originally intended to give it a try with her, but my illness is deteriorating too rapidly. I probably won’t survive much longer.”
Her voice dropped to a tiny whisper: “I don’t want to hold her back.”
The woman in the photograph continued to look back at her with a gentle smile. Xu You let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Mom, I feel like such a failure. During this recent period, I keep asking myself why I can never seem to keep hold of anything. It was true for you, and it’s true for her too.”
Xu You’s eyes were slightly red at this moment. She kept her head lowered and blinked rapidly a few times, but in the end, she still couldn’t stop herself from covering her eyes with the palm of her hand.