Chapter 108: Disaster Strikes

After Xin had eaten her fill, Xu Shu ordered her to wash up and go to bed, then led me into the study. I watched her sink deeply into the sofa, pressing her fingers lightly at the corners of her eyes; she seemed a little weary. Her breathtakingly beautiful face carried a trace of languor, so tender that it made one ache.

This was the woman I truly loved!

Standing before Xu Shu, tenderness surged through me in endless waves, and yet I felt immensely comforted. At last, beside her, I had found the feeling of normalcy. I no longer thought my fondness for the little she-devil was anything more than the sort of affection one has for a younger sister, nothing worth making a fuss over.

In my heart, Xu Shu had always been the one and only. I was not twisted, nor had I fallen under some spell.

We sat across from each other in silence, neither of us speaking. I gazed foolishly at that body perfected to the utmost, and thought that if time could stand still, allowing me to look at her like this forever, how blissful that would be.

At last, after a long while, Xu Shu spoke first. She lifted her eyes to me and said, “Jingjing told me you’re helping to run a bookstore now?”

I smiled. “Yes. So Hua Jingjing finally confessed to you?”

Xu Shu smiled, drew both feet up onto the sofa, and leaned sideways against the armrest. “How could she not confess? Didn’t you see how red her face got? Such a vain person, suffering just to save face.”

I said, “You can’t really blame her. She never truly meant to deceive you. She was only trying to save face.”

“I know! But we were deceiving her too, and not for any matter of face at all!”

I was silent for a long while before sighing. “Yes, this really is a headache. I’ll find the right time and explain it to her.”

Xu Shu seemed to see through my thoughts. She smiled. “Will you?”

I had nothing to say. I truly did not know how to tell her. Seeing the teasing hint of a smile at the corner of Xu Shu’s mouth, I could not help blurting out, “What I was going to say was that you stopped me!”

Xu Shu hurriedly looked away and coughed softly. “Wasn’t I doing it for you, too?”

“Is that so?”

Suddenly, we both realized how ambiguous that sounded. My eyes lit up, and I kept looking at her face. Xu Shu shifted uncomfortably beneath my gaze, and a faint blush quietly crept over her cheeks.

But she only fidgeted for a moment before quickly regaining her composure. She looked back at me and said, “Honestly, Jingjing really does like you. What are you planning to do about her? If you dare hurt her, I won’t agree to it. And my sister, too—my heavens, how did they both end up liking you? You look so honest, not like some heartless playboy.”

I gave a bitter smile. “I don’t understand it myself. I’m a nobody, poor, without money, power, or looks. How did I end up attracting them?”

Xu Shu smiled again. “Maybe being a nobody has its own advantages. Still, I just don’t understand why you’d turn down a good job. Why insist on quitting just to watch over someone else’s little shop? Didn’t I already apologize to you? Could it be you’re still holding a grudge, and doing this just to put on a show for me?”

I sighed. “No. In fact, I quit later on. It wasn’t about you anymore. By then I had only just realized Hua Jingjing liked me, and I had also promised my girlfriend I’d stay out of Hua Jingjing’s sight. There was no way to change things after that. I had no choice but to resign.”

Xu Shu said, “Oh,” and did not ask further. After a while, she asked softly, “What kind of person is your girlfriend?”

My heart lifted. Could it be that you care about this too? So I said, “Are you interested in her?”

Xu Shu put on an indifferent air. “Just asking. It’s not as though I’m interested or not interested. If you don’t want to say, then don’t.”

I studied Xu Shu’s expression carefully, but for a moment I could not read anything from it. Truly, she was a big star; her acting had reached perfection, and her mind was deep. When one was with her, one could never guess what truly lay in her heart.

I thought about it and said, “My girlfriend’s name is Qiu Jieqin. She was my classmate in high school and now works at the city gymnasium. She’s a very ordinary woman.”

As soon as Xu Shu heard this, she frowned. “She works at the gymnasium? That night...”

I knew what she wanted to say and laughed. “That night I really did go to pick up my younger sister. At that time I hadn’t even started anything with my girlfriend yet!”

“Hadn’t started anything? Didn’t you say she was your high school classmate?”

“She was, but after graduation we lost contact completely. I only ran into her again when I was getting tickets for my sister’s concert.”

“Oh! So I should thank you, then, for you and your girlfriend falling in love?”

I silently sighed. How could I tell her that ever since that night, the only woman I had fallen in love with was her?

Then Xu Shu seemed to remember something. “No, that scarf you lent me that night—wasn’t it a gift from your girlfriend? That means you were already together then. You treasured that scarf of hers as if it were your life. Hmph! Caught in another lie!”

I could only smile bitterly. “But at that time, we truly had not started anything. If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do.”

Xu Shu sniffed. “Fine! I don’t care when you got together. Say whatever you like!”

The look on her face was actually rather amusing to me. She kept saying she didn’t care, yet questioned so clearly and refused to let even the smallest inconsistency pass. Could it be that she really did care after all?

But Xu Shu was forever impossible to fathom. She immediately changed the subject. “You’re helping someone watch over a bookstore now. Don’t you think that’s a waste of talent? How much do they pay you a month?”

I said helplessly, “Eight hundred yuan a month.”

“Eight hundred?” Xu Shu stared in astonishment, her mouth slightly open. I knew that to Xu Shu, that sum was hardly worth mentioning, so small as to be almost negligible. But for the job I was doing, that was all I could get.

Xu Shu knit her brows. “Tang Qian, what future is there in that job? No matter how many books they sell, the bookstore still isn’t yours. I’m not looking down on your occupation, but I think doing that will only waste you away. After all those years of studying, surely you didn’t mean to become nothing more than a book peddler? If you don’t mind being wronged, I invest in several companies and happen to be short-handed right now. Come help me. I wouldn’t trust just anyone, but you’re different. I trust you.”

Hearing those words, I trust you, from Xu Shu, I was truly moved beyond measure. It felt as if all the hardship and pain of loving her in secret had not been in vain. If it had been someone else saying that, I would have been willing to devote my loyalty and life to her. But since it was Xu Shu, I could not. She was the woman I loved; I did not want to rely on her to support me.

After all, I was still a man. My pride would not let me accept her charity, even though she meant well, even though what she offered was never meant as charity.

I smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate your kindness. Don’t worry, I won’t be doing that job for much longer. I have confidence that I can support myself. As a man, I must make my own way in the world with my own hands, not rely on others. No matter how hard or exhausting it is, I will not give up. Please forgive me.”

Xu Shu looked at me for a long while without speaking. I thought she was angry and was just about to say something else when she let out a soft sigh and said, “If you have that resolve, then I have nothing more to say. I only hope that in the future I can help you somehow.”

I swallowed back what I had been about to say. Then I saw that Xu Shu had fallen silent as well. Her eyes were lowered, fixed on the floor, lost in a daze. For a moment I could not tell whether she was upset, so I too said nothing.

The study fell into silence. We each sat there in our separate thoughts, not knowing what the other was thinking. To break the stillness, I searched for something to say. “Didn’t you keep me here to settle accounts with me? I’m still waiting.”

Xu Shu lifted her gaze and gave a sweet laugh. “At first I wanted to have you work for me as punishment, but since you refused, what can I do?”

I knew she was speaking in reverse. In truth, she really did want to help me. I could not find the words to thank her, but I engraved it in my heart. I would not let her down.

I stood up. “In that case, I’ll take my leave. Can you send a car to take me?”

Xu Shu glanced at her watch and also stood. “All right, wait for me a moment.” She went out the door, then returned shortly after and said, “My sister’s already asleep. I’ll take you home tonight. You shouldn’t go to that old superior’s house tonight, should you?”

I smiled. “No, I won’t go. But you don’t need to send me yourself; just find anyone. You really do seem a little tired. Go rest early.”

Xu Shu said, “You may not be able to become my subordinate, but you’re still my friend, aren’t you? As a friend, isn’t it only right that I see you off?”

I did not insist further. In my heart, I admired Xu Shu all the more. As a star high above the rest, she truly treated me, a friend, with generosity beyond words. If I had not harbored such tangled feelings for her, I would have long since wanted to become her confidant and closest companion.

But in my heart, all I wanted was to have her. I did not want to be her friend.

After getting into Xu Shu’s Lamborghini, she fastened her seat belt and said, “Let’s keep things from Hua Jingjing for now and think of a way to solve it slowly later. Didn’t you see how panicked she looked when I exposed her lie today? I even pretended to be angry on purpose. Back when we were studying, we really were so close that we never hid anything from each other. Now, for your sake, she and I have to deceive each other. Sigh. I wonder what Jingjing will think after she learns the truth?”

I said, “I know. Hua Jingjing told me about the two of you before. You’re such good friends; it really isn’t worth making things unpleasant over me.”

Xu Shu started the car. A trace of panic flashed across her eyes before she hurriedly pretended to be casual. “Is that so? She told you about me and her from before? What did she say?”

I said, “Just that you had the same interests, that you were like sisters, that sort of thing. Anyway, she said you were closer than anyone could possibly be.”

The car soon rolled out through the iron gates and onto the mountain road. Xu Shu hesitated for a long time before finally asking again, unable to resist, “Then... did she say anything else?”

“Anything else? Let me think...”

Xu Shu grew tense, turning her head repeatedly to look at me. Suddenly, I recalled something and could not help laughing. Xu Shu’s voice trembled. “W-what are you laughing at?”

I had thought it was just something Hua Jingjing had made up to confuse people, only meant to tempt me into holding her, nothing to be taken seriously. So I said with a laugh, “Hua Jingjing also said that your first kiss was given to her! Heh heh!”

All at once, Xu Shu let out a frantic, angry cry and quickly covered her embarrassed face with both hands. I was startled. “What’s wrong?” Then I saw that ahead was a sharp bend in the road, and Xu Shu, utterly at a loss, had not slowed the car at all. I hurriedly shouted, “Watch out!”

But it was already too late. At sixty miles an hour, the Lamborghini shot straight out of the curve, and beside that curve was a cliff fourteen hundred meters high.

In that instant, a single thought flashed through my mind: today, Xu Shu and I are going to die here?