Chapter 65: The Late Truth
No, impossible. Liang Sheng quickly denied the thought. Shen Xingyu must be trying to use things from the past to make him change his mind. He wouldn’t fall for it!
Shen Xingyu also realized he had said something he shouldn’t have. He was afraid that his lie of being amnesiac for several years would be exposed, which would lead to even more irreversible consequences. After all, his current relationship with Liang Sheng was already on thin ice.
He hurriedly changed the subject, turning his attention to the aromatics: “Ahem… how much incense did Lao-ye-ye ask you to blend?”
“Three jars.”
Liang Sheng didn’t even look up as he turned to adjust the proportions of the aromatics, clearly not wanting to talk to him.
The more Liang Sheng didn’t want to acknowledge him, the more persistent Shen Xingyu became. He followed him and questioned: “Can you finish so much?”
Looking at Liang Sheng’s skilled movements, those incense-making steps were things he was all too familiar with. So Liang Sheng really knew how to make incense? He had underestimated him before.
“I can finish. I don’t have anything else to do anyway.”
Liang Sheng gave a perfunctory answer. As he turned with the aromatics powder he had blended to mix with water, Shen Xingyu happened to be blocking his way. He had no choice but to walk to the right. The man seemed to want to give way to him as well, instinctively stepping to the right. Their bodies almost collided.
“Can you please stop being in the way here?”
Liang Sheng looked up and glared at him, then walked past him.
“I…”
Shen Xingyu knew he was in the wrong, but because he was used to being pampered, he couldn’t fully lower his head to him for a moment:
“How dare you speak to me that way.”
“I wouldn’t dare, Young Master Shen.”
Liang Sheng said sarcastically. Being able to annoy the man was also a form of revenge; you couldn’t just follow this kind of person’s lead.
The title “Young Master Shen” was distant and cold. Shen Xingyu felt very uncomfortable hearing it. He didn’t care if others called him that, but Liang Sheng couldn’t.
“You used to call me A-Yu.”
He looked at Liang Sheng dejectedly, desperately wanting to see a trace of love for him in the other’s eyes.
However, there was none.
Nothing was left.
“A-Yu…”
Liang Sheng murmured softly, then gave a sarcastic smile. “I told you I don’t love you anymore, so naturally, I won’t call you what I did before.”
Shen Xingyu lowered his head. He didn’t speak. His handsome eyes were filled with a thick sorrow. His usual arrogance seemed exceptionally powerless at this moment.
Forget it. It was only right that Liang Sheng hated him.
It was his fault; he was always hurting that person.
He hadn’t wanted it to be this way, but every time he saw that Liang Sheng didn’t care about him or did anything that was detrimental to their relationship, he couldn’t control his possessiveness. He stubbornly wanted the other to have eyes only for him.
Thinking this, the mad impulses in his body began to stir again, screaming for him to plunder that person.
His eyes suddenly turned blood-red.
But in the next second, the image of Liang Sheng being covered in wounds on the island barged into his world without warning.
And the despair and fear he felt while waiting outside the emergency room.
No, he couldn’t do that again.
He couldn’t hurt Liang Sheng anymore…
Shen Xingyu shook his head forcefully, shaking off those terrifying thoughts. His reason slowly began to return.
It would be better to go outside to the door and get some air.
If he stayed here, especially facing the way Liang Sheng completely disregarded him, he feared he would truly lose his reason and wouldn’t be able to control what he might do.
Seeing him actually leave, Liang Sheng felt he should be happy to be rid of this annoying guy.
But for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to be happy.
It was as if his heart… was very reluctant?
Was it reluctance, or was he lacking a sense of security without the man? He didn’t know, and he didn’t dare to admit it.
Shen Xingyu’s back looked a bit lonely, a look he had never seen before. He hurriedly withdrew his gaze, forcing himself not to look and not to let his heart soften.
In the past, it was because he was too soft-hearted that the man had been able to toy with his feelings at will. He had to be resolute now!
Only then would Shen Xingyu be unable to do anything to him.
Liang Sheng cautioned himself in his heart a thousand times, ten thousand times. The focus he had when he first started making incense gradually began to fade because of Shen Xingyu, and his movements unconsciously slowed down.
“Shengsheng, the water proportion for this incense has exceeded the limit.”
A sudden reminder from the Old Master came from behind.
Liang Sheng’s heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly looked at the aromatics in the porcelain bowl, only then discovering he had added too much water.
It was too thin and couldn’t be used anymore.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I—I’ll do it again!”
He hurriedly bent over in apology. His hands were clasped awkwardly in front of him, and his fair face turned beet red.
How could he have been thinking about that jerk Shen Xingyu just now!
Seeing that his expression wasn’t good, the Old Master said out of concern: “Why don’t you stop for now, Shengsheng? Go back and rest for a bit. Did you not sleep well last night?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine! Lao-ye-ye, it’s no trouble. I just got a bit distracted just now… it wasn’t because I didn’t sleep well.”
Liang Sheng scratched his cheek awkwardly. He hurriedly poured out the waste from the porcelain bowl and adjusted the water again.
“Distracted?”
The Old Master looked slightly surprised, his brow furrowed: “Shengsheng, you’ve always been very serious and focused when making incense. Why would you get distracted? Are you still thinking… about the photos?”
Speaking of the photos, Liang Sheng felt sad. If it weren’t for the fact that he was mentally strong, could endure, and wouldn’t easily give up on himself, he probably would have committed suicide long ago upon seeing those indecent photos of himself being made public…
“Lao-ye-ye, have you found the person who framed me?”
He sniffled and asked with a bit of a sob.
“Not yet, but I’ve interrogated Su Rao, and she said…”
The Old Master’s face suddenly turned dark.
Liang Sheng also noticed his abnormality. His heart leaped into his throat as he asked carefully:
“What did she say?”
His impression of Su Rao was better than his impression of Su Nian. Although she didn’t speak much, based on his feeling, Su Rao’s personality was similar to his; she probably wouldn’t smear him like her brother did.
“That this was all your plan.”
The Old Master raised his eyes to look at him, his gaze extremely cold. A conscious or unconscious test landed on Liang Sheng’s face.
“Su Rao told me she saw you plotting with a strange man in the back garden. You didn’t hesitate to ruin your own reputation and take a risk with indecent photos just to force Xiao Yu to divorce you, bringing shame to the Shen family.”
Liang Sheng’s face turned deathly pale. The hand holding the items began to tremble uncontrollably due to intense emotion:
“That’s not true! Lao-ye-ye!”
He cried and shook his head. He put down the mortar and crouched to grab the Old Master’s hands. “I have never done that, nor have I ever wanted to bring shame to the Shen family. Su Nian framed me; you must investigate thoroughly, Lao-ye-ye! How could I… how could I possibly make a joke of my own reputation…”
“Don’t cry. I believe you. You’ve been wronged.”
The Old Master wiped the tears from his face. “However, this wasn’t done by Su Nian.”
“Why…”
Liang Sheng was in disbelief, as if struck by lightning. How could it not be Su Nian? Then who could it be…
“It was his sister, Su Rao.”
The Old Master answered the question in his heart.
“How could it be…”
Liang Sheng was shocked.
“Su Rao has already admitted that she swapped your U-disk. What she told me before was a lie.”
There was anger in the Old Master’s eyes. “She also admitted that those photos were taken after she drugged you.”
Hearing this, Liang Sheng only felt a coldness throughout his body.
No wonder he had fainted in the back garden that day but remembered nothing… it was the effect of the drug!
“How could it be Su Rao? I—I have no grudge against her. Why would she frame me like this? Is there someone behind her instructing her!”
He still didn’t believe Su Rao would do this.
She must have become Su Nian’s scapegoat!
“The colleagues at the company found her diary. It was filled with jealousy and hatred toward you.”
The Old Master sighed, feeling angry and disappointed that his own company actually had such a scumbag employee.
He picked up a cup of hot tea and blew on it, took a sip, and said amidst Liang Sheng’s disappointed gaze:
“She probably had a wild fantasy about marrying into the Shen family to be the young madam, so she used such a vile method to frame you, hoping Xiao Yu would divorce you!”
“I didn’t expect her to treat me this way…”
Liang Sheng lowered his hands weakly. He didn’t know if he should believe this truth. His image of Su Rao was completely shattered. How could Su Rao be so sure that if she framed him and made him leave the Shen family, Shen Xingyu would marry her?
This contradiction pointed more toward Su Nian.
After all, Su Nian was Shen Xingyu’s favorite.
Had she done this to deal with him for her brother’s sake?
His mind was a mess. He could no longer distinguish whether it was Su Nian or Su Rao…
Seeing him in pain, the Old Master also felt ashamed. He could only pat his shoulder helplessly and comfort him:
“Let bygones be bygones. Live in the present. The culprit has been brought to justice, and those rumors about you will naturally be disproven. Don’t have too much of a psychological burden.”
“I understand… thank you, Lao-ye-ye…”
Liang Sheng couldn’t accept this truth, especially thinking that Shen Xingyu had placed all the blame on him without distinguishing right from wrong, throwing him onto the island to fend for himself. He felt even more pain and almost cried out.
He blinked forcefully, desperately suppressing his emotions. In a trembling voice, he said: “Lao-ye-ye, today… I probably won’t be able to help you make incense. I—I’m a bit tired.”
Knowing he had suffered during this period, the Old Master nodded very sympathetically: “Good child, go ahead.”
Liang Sheng stood up. As he turned, a tear he had been holding in his left eye finally rolled down his face—a suffocating pain.
He hurriedly covered his mouth and ran out.
Shen Xingyu was sitting in the pavilion in a daze, stroking Xiao Man in his arms. He muttered to himself: “Tell me, have I really been bad to him? He won’t even acknowledge me now.”
Xiao Man gave two “meows,” turned over, and continued to sleep.
Shen Xingyu let out a heavy sigh.
Liang Sheng was like his cat. However, he truly liked the cat; his feelings for Liang Sheng had already exceeded his feelings for the cat. His possessiveness was strong enough to override all other emotions.
He didn’t know why he couldn’t let go of Liang Sheng.
It was probably because of twenty years ago.
Back when he was thrown into an orphanage by his stepmother.
At that time, he had already been tortured to the point of being sensitive and reclusive. He would show his fangs to intimidate anyone who approached him just to give himself courage. Thus, he was out of place among the other children in the orphanage and was often bullied. Having cockroaches thrown into his food or urine and feces splashed on his bed was a common occurrence.
Shen Xingyu thought he would continue to be bullied and tortured endlessly, until a small figure appeared, standing in front of him and protecting him.
Clearly, that little fellow was also very afraid—his legs were even shaking—but he would still drive away those bad children for him.
Recommended Reads
