Chapter 76: This Photo, You Are Not Allowed to Keep
Liang Sheng remained expressionless. “It’s fine.”
Su Nian was tactful. Realizing the atmosphere was awkward, he quickly stood up and offered the gift to Liang Sheng.
“Young Madam, this gift should go to you. It’s quite alright; Miss Shen and I are close, so there’s no need to stand on such ceremony.”
“But I worked so hard to buy that, why give it to him…” Shen Tingwan muttered discontentedly.
“I appreciate Miss Shen’s sentiment! It’s just that the gift is too precious; I can’t accept it. It is more suitable for the Young Madam.”
Su Nian pretended to be magnanimous, his face wearing an innocent, harmless smile, but in truth, his heart was itching with hatred.
His priceless necklace…
Handed over just like that…
He was so unwilling!
Liang Sheng lowered his eyes, looking at the gift box in his hand. It felt like charity. It would have been better if they hadn’t given it at all; now that it was forced upon him, it only made him feel unsettled. There was no point in holding onto something that didn’t belong to him, so he proactively placed it back on the coffee table.
“What do you mean by that? Are you looking down on it?”
Shen Tingwan didn’t care that the Old Master was present. She hadn’t wanted to give it to Liang Sheng in the first place, and seeing him act so indifferent after receiving it made her even angrier.
“No, I just don’t like necklaces.”
Liang Sheng explained plainly, offering her a polite smile.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t like it! It wasn’t for you anyway. Blehh, I’m giving it to Brother Su Nian!”
Shen Tingwan stuck out her tongue provocatively, grabbed the gift box, and placed it happily into Su Nian’s hands.
Seeing her target Liang Sheng so directly, Su Nian was overjoyed internally, but on the surface, he still had to maintain a reserved appearance.
He gripped the gift tightly, only to look up and collide with Shen Xingyu’s cold, sharp gaze. His happy mood instantly turned stiff, and the gift became like a hot potato—he didn’t know whether to keep it or put it down.
“Alright, it’s just a gift. Sheng-sheng, later, let Xingyu accompany you to go shopping. Today is your birthday; buy whatever you want. The Shen family isn’t short of money; we can’t let you be mistreated.”
The Old Master spoke up to break the stalemate.
He looked at Liang Sheng, kind as always.
“Thank you, Grandfather…”
Liang Sheng felt a bit better in his heart.
For all these years, only the Old Master would remember his birthday and prepare gifts for him.
Then, the Old Master remembered something important:
“Oh, right. Today, I might have to go with the company veterans to attend a Dragon Boat charity event, so I won’t be able to spend the birthday with you. Besides, an old man like me can’t really fit into you young people’s parties. I’ll have Xingyu invite a few friends over to celebrate for you!”
“Mm… It’s okay, Grandfather. You go ahead with your work.”
Liang Sheng nodded sensibly. Only in front of the Old Master did he remain consistently gentle and well-behaved.
“Grandfather, I want to go too! Will there be dragon boats?”
Shen Tingwan, looking for novelty, hugged the Old Master’s arm and acted spoiled with sparkling eyes.
“There will be, but don’t go complaining about the heat once we’re there.”
The Old Master reached out and dotingly pinched her nose.
“I won’t! It’s not every day I get to watch dragon boats with Grandfather!”
Shen Tingwan smiled with innocent joy. Compared to her resentment toward Liang Sheng just moments ago, she seemed like a completely different person. Her personality was direct; she couldn’t hide her likes, nor could she hide her dislikes.
“Alright, alright, you have such a sweet tongue.”
The Old Master laughed merrily.
Shen Tingwan was still clinging to him just like when she was a child, trying to please him. He spent most of the year as a lonely man living in this vast estate with no one around to chatter or laugh; it was truly lonely.
Thankfully, this little angel had come back to keep him company.
Watching the close relationship between the grandfather and granddaughter, Su Nian felt hope ignite in his heart again. As long as Shen Tingwan stood on his side, he wouldn’t have to worry about lacking opportunities to defeat Liang Sheng!
“Old Master, the time is getting late. Several high-level executives from the company are already waiting for you at the charity site.” At this moment, the butler stepped forward to remind him.
“Alright, let’s go.” The Old Master nodded.
“Brother Su Nian, you come too!” Shen Tingwan looked expectant.
Su Nian’s mouth twitched awkwardly. He was embarrassed to refuse. He had wanted to use the chance of staying at the Shen residence to get closer to Shen Xingyu, and he was unwilling to leave the man alone in a room with Liang Sheng.
“What are you thinking about? Brother Su Nian, hurry up!” Shen Tingwan called out, seeing him dazing.
“Coming, coming!” Su Nian followed with a forced smile.
Forget it, the days ahead are long.
I will surely win back Shen Xingyu’s heart.
Liang Sheng stood up to see the Old Master out.
The noisy living room suddenly became quiet.
Shen Xingyu stood beside him, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. For a moment, he felt at a loss. “Sheng-sheng, I…”
Liang Sheng’s gentle gaze instantly turned cold.
He didn’t want to breathe the same air as this man. He turned and left without listening to a single word.
“Where are you going?”
Shen Xingyu grew anxious. He had been perfectly normal in front of Grandfather, so why did his face turn dark as soon as Grandfather left?
“None of your business.”
Liang Sheng quickly headed upstairs.
This kind of avoidance made Shen Xingyu feel agitated. Since the Old Master had spoken, he had a reason to invite Liang Sheng out for a stroll alone.
Yet, the other party wouldn’t give him a single chance.
He wouldn’t even acknowledge him, choosing to hide away once more.
Was he really that unbearable?
He couldn’t even say a word to him.
Shen Xingyu felt exhausted. Now that everyone was finally gone and only the two of them remained, he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
Could Liang Sheng use his birthday as a chance to ease the relationship between them?
Thinking this, he followed him upstairs.
Since the guest room was occupied by Su Nian, Liang Sheng had nowhere else to go. Other rooms hadn’t been lived in for a long time; although they were cleaned, the southern climate made them dark and damp. He couldn’t stand it, so he was forced to return to the master bedroom with great reluctance.
He sat at the desk, unlocked a drawer that had been closed for a long time, and carefully took out a photo frame.
Seeing his mother’s gentle smile from the past, Liang Sheng still couldn’t control the stinging in his eyes; he wanted to cry.
Don’t cry.
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, and it’s his birthday. If Mom sees him crying, she’ll be worried.
He sniffled and forced a strained smile.
“Mom, I wish you health and peace this festival.”
“I miss you so much.”
He murmured, gently caressing his mother’s face in the photo, but tears still fell uncontrollably.
The glass became wet.
Liang Sheng quickly pulled out a tissue to wipe it away.
He couldn’t let this last photo get dirty.
“Grandfather’s estate has many plants, so I can’t burn spirit money for you. I brought the zongzi I wrapped today; please have a taste! They are the sweet ones you like, filled with bean paste~”
He set the photo frame up and then began to peel away the layers of the zongzi he had just brought. His vision blurred once more.
“But… Mom can’t eat them anymore. Sheng-sheng will eat them for you…”
The sadness in his heart could no longer be suppressed.
He took a slow bite and swallowed it with difficulty.
Tears mixed with his food.
It didn’t taste right at all.
In past festivals and birthdays, his mother would always be by his side. Even later when her mind became unstable and she didn’t remember him, she would still clamor for him to eat cake and zongzi. Now that she was dead, everything was gone.
Liang Sheng cried until he could barely breathe.
He suppressed his voice, gasping for air. The zongzi was clearly sweet, yet it felt so incredibly bitter.
Outside the door, because Liang Sheng didn’t dare to cry out loud, Shen Xingyu didn’t know he was weeping. He could see through the crack in the door that Liang Sheng had his back turned to him, eating something.
His brow furrowed slightly as he stood there silently.
How should he say it…
How should he invite the other out for shopping?
To be honest, from the time they married until now, the number of times he had proactively accompanied the other to go shopping for things could be counted on one’s fingers.
In previous years, he had been too mad. To test whether Liang Sheng would leave, he had pampered Su Nian. Thinking about it now, he felt he truly owed Liang Sheng.
Would buying a few gifts count as compensation?
Thinking this, Shen Xingyu pushed the door open and entered.
Liang Sheng was startled by the movement behind him. He had just swallowed a mouthful of food, and it made him let out a sudden hiccup.
He hurriedly wiped his tears and stood up, glaring at the man with red, fierce eyes. “You… why didn’t you knock before coming in!”
Shen Xingyu was taken aback. He saw Liang Sheng’s tear-filled eyes as the other sobbed and gasped for air, looking both soft and innocent.
“What’s wrong?”
Aching with pity, he instinctively reached out his hand to touch Liang Sheng’s face, only to have it slapped away forcefully.
“Nothing!”
“What are you eating?”
Shen Xingyu looked behind him. On the table was a half-eaten zongzi, and… a photo of that woman.
In an instant, several blood vessels appeared in his eyes.
His calm expression also sank.
Why was there still a photo of that woman…
Hadn’t he secretly thrown them all away?
Liang Sheng clearly noticed the change in his expression and instinctively blocked the photo. “What… are you looking at?”
Shen Xingyu didn’t speak. With a dark face, he walked to the table and directly reached out to take the photo frame.
Liang Sheng couldn’t protect it in time and hurriedly reached out to grab it back. “Give it back! That’s my last photo!”
From the first moment he saw the woman in the photo, Shen Xingyu’s emotions had soured. He held the frame high above Liang Sheng’s head and instinctively said something cruel: “Why are you keeping a dead person’s photo?”
“None of your business! Give it back! You’ve already… thrown all my mother’s relics into the sea. This is the last thing I have left of her…”
Liang Sheng’s eyes were red with anxiety, but he couldn’t reach the frame no matter how hard he tried. He could only stand there sobbing.
“Shen Xingyu! What exactly do you want to do!”
Seeing him cry so miserably for this wicked woman, Shen Xingyu grew even more agitated. “You are not allowed to keep it!”
After stating his harsh command, he directly pulled the photo out of the frame and reached for the lighter on the desk.
Seeing that he was about to burn the photo, Liang Sheng was so terrified that he knelt on the floor. He piteously grabbed the hem of the man’s trousers and pleaded:
“Don’t! Don’t burn it… I beg you… I’ll agree to anything, just don’t burn it…”
He didn’t know that Shen Xingyu hated his mother; he thought the man simply wanted to destroy his only source of hope…
Seeing him so distressed, crying like a rain-battered pear blossom, Shen Xingyu’s heart softened slightly.
However, thinking of the various torments from twenty years ago, his hatred ultimately outweighed his love.
He didn’t want Liang Sheng to mourn a piece of human trash.
In the past, he had often heard Liang Sheng talk about how good his mother had been to him. Although he didn’t believe it and had many times wanted to shatter the image of this supposedly “merciful” adoptive mother, looking at Liang Sheng’s happy appearance, he had suddenly… found himself unable to be that cruel.
He was a man of swift and decisive action, yet when it came to Liang Sheng, he repeatedly found himself struggling.
“I beg you…”
Liang Sheng’s voice was hoarse.
His tear-filled eyes were shattered.
“I’m sorry.”
Shen Xingyu spoke coldly. He still pressed down on the lighter, and with a click, the photo was set ablaze.
Liang Sheng’s eyes widened in horror, and he broke into heart-wrenching wails. “Don’t burn it, ahhhh… sob…”
The firelight reflected his pale face. His mother’s face was swallowed by the flames, turning into ash.
Despair and collapse spread silently across his face.
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