Chapter 39: Care to Make a Deal?
For a moment, only the subtle hum of the air conditioner remained in the car.
Wen Yan lowered his eyes to look at the phone screen. His fingertip hovered over Cheng Shangshi’s friend request for a moment before finally locking the screen.
“No need,” his voice was very low, as if speaking to himself.
Shen Yao caught a glimpse of his side profile in the rearview mirror. His Adam’s apple moved, but in the end, he didn’t reply.
Streetlights swept past the window. Wen Yan’s fingers unconsciously picked at the edge of his phone case, but his tone was cold and hard. “Doing these things behind my back, not even giving me a chance to refuse, and now expecting me to be grateful?”
The knuckles gripping the steering wheel turned white.
Shen Yao opened his mouth, but met Wen Yan’s raised eyes in the rearview mirror.
They were clean, devoid of anger or gratitude, holding only a weary calm.
In the end, he said nothing.
Upon returning home, Wen Yan found everything related to Gu Yulan and packed it all into a box.
Small gifts from their time working in the school department, the model given to him on his birthday, items bought later to take care of Father Wen…
One by one, they were all stuffed into the box.
It took two years to accumulate these things, but less than half an hour to pack them away.
Wen Yan hesitated for a long time.
He placed the items at the door, planning to throw them away tomorrow.
There was no need to return them; his relationship with Gu Yulan from now on was simply that of debtor and creditor owing two million.
Thinking of this, he transferred the 210,000 yuan from the card, which included the contract termination compensation, via Alipay.
[I will pay back all the money I owe you into the card.]
He then deleted and blocked the last contact method on Alipay.
Late at night.
Wen Yan dreamed of Pei Zhouye again, but this time it wasn’t that ambiguous dream, but a brand-new scene he had never seen before.
It was pouring rain outside. Darkness was before his eyes; he couldn’t see anything clearly.
The sound of thunder, rain, and low, hoarse sobbing mixed together.
He struggled for a long time before opening his eyes. In the dream, he had no emotions, his heart completely empty.
The scene before him was a dark sky, with a bolt of lightning lighting up and then dimming.
In the instant the lightning flashed, he saw a much younger Pei Zhouye. Rain soaked his hair and eyelashes; he was kneeling beside him, looking utterly wretched.
There seemed to be banging on the door outside.
Before Wen Yan could figure out why he had such a dream, he was woken up by the noise.
The residential area near the back gate of A University was old, with poor soundproofing. The violent banging was coming from his own door.
Wen Yan scrambled out of bed in a hurry. Picking up his phone, he realized he had many missed calls.
He called the police, told them his location, and then moved to the door to call the number back.
Sure enough, a ringtone rang out from outside the door.
“Hello?” Wen Yan’s heart was still palpitating from being startled awake, his voice weak.
“Wen Yan.” The voice on the other end was hoarse and exhausted. “Why did you put the things I gave you at the door? Are you going to throw them away?”
It was Gu Yulan’s voice.
Wen Yan wanted to hang up, but the person on the other end seemed to guess his next move and spoke first:
“If you hang up, I’ll keep banging on the door.”
The motion to hang up paused.
Wen Yan: “What do you want to say?”
Gu Yulan’s voice was raspy. “I forgive you for the matter with Pei Zhouye. Yan-yan, I can pretend nothing happened.”
At these words, Wen Yan was stunned, subconsciously repeating, “Forgive me?”
“Yes. Let me in now. Pack your things, and we’ll leave.” Gu Yulan’s tone grew more irritable.
Wen Yan tugged at the corner of his mouth, finding he didn’t even have the strength to sneer.
“No need. I made it very clear; there is no possibility for us anymore. Gu Yulan, you’ve never felt that you did anything wrong.”
“There is nothing left to say between us. I’ve already called the police; do as you please.”
Gu Yulan stared at the disconnected phone, stunned for a moment.
He kicked the security door viciously and roared, “Wen Yan, I’ll make you regret this!”
Wen Yan heard Gu Yulan’s roar. His footsteps paused for a second before he continued back to his room.
He bought a train ticket home.
Linjiang Penthouse.
Outside, the sky was already turning bright. Pei Zhouye hadn’t slept all night.
He had been on a conference call with lawyers he had contacted in advance all night.
For a month and a half since finding out Gu Yulan was lying to Wen Yan, he had been preparing for this day.
As long as Wen Yan gave up on Gu Yulan completely and broke up with him.
Everything Gu Yulan coveted—reputation, profit—would backfire on him.
The next morning, Wen Yan sat on the high-speed train back to Nan City.
The person next to him was watching a financial news report video with the sound on speaker.
Wen Yan closed his eyes in exhaustion.
He had hardly slept last night.
[Tomorrow Group, a subsidiary of Gu Corp, has imploded. Partners have collectively withdrawn investment, capital chains worth hundreds of millions have broken, and stock prices have evaporated by 70% overnight.]
[Chairman Gu Zhen suffered a sudden heart attack and has been hospitalized. The eldest son, Gu Yuqing, has taken emergency control and reported his stepmother for embezzling public funds.]
Wen Yan’s body went stiff for an instant.
[Gu Corp’s second son, Gu Yulan, did not attend the board meeting. Insiders claim he has “left the country.”]
An overwhelming sense of unease rose from the bottom of his heart.
After what Gu Yulan said last night, it was impossible for him to go abroad without doing anything.
His phone rang suddenly. Wen Yan stood up abruptly, grabbing his phone and earphones, and went to the aisle between the train carriages to answer.
On the other end, Mother Wen’s tone was panicked as she asked urgently, “Yan-yan, what happened to Yulan?”
The unease grew stronger. Wen Yan forced his voice to remain steady. “He’s fine. Did something happen?”
Mother Wen finally couldn’t hold it back anymore, her voice carrying sobs. “Yan-yan, your father followed Yulan into some investment. I only heard him mention it today. Your father isn’t in a good state right now; he just went into the emergency room. I don’t understand this stuff. Yulan wouldn’t harm us; I’m just a little worried…”
Wen Yan’s heart went completely cold; he couldn’t say a word.
The metallic taste of blood spread in his mouth.
His phone received a message.
[Wen Yan, care to make a deal?]
[Be with me. You don’t need to worry about the things Gu Yulan did.]
It was a strange number, but the sender’s identity was obvious.
“Yan-yan, what’s wrong on your end? Why aren’t you saying anything?” Mother Wen’s voice was punctuated by sobs.
“It doesn’t matter.” Mother Wen suppressed her crying. “It doesn’t matter. Even if something happened, it’s okay. Us three, our family, can shoulder it together. There’s nothing we can’t get through. Mom just wants you and Dad to be well. There’s nothing we can’t get through.”
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be deceived. It was your father being too impulsive, not discussing anything with us. Did it implicate you?”
Wen Yan stared at the message, his voice dry.
“Mom, it’s fine. Nothing happened.”
“When Dad wakes up, tell him nothing happened. Everything has been arranged in advance.”
Mother Wen was skeptical. “Then how come Yulan… is he okay?”
Wen Yan tried to force a smile, but couldn’t manage one no matter what.
“Mom, I’m busy right now. I’ll contact you later.”
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