Feng Shui - Capítulo 34
"roll!"
“I know this is too sudden for you, and I also know that Zhang Jiru has always been very good to you. It’s hard for you to accept what I’m saying right away, but everything I’m saying is true. If needed, I can do a fertility test with you right away.”
Zhang Hanwen jumped off the bed and rushed outside without even glancing at him. But he was caught by Long Xinsheng after only two steps.
"Get out of here! I won't believe anything you say. Stop spouting your lies and let me out!" Zhang Hanwen struggled, glaring at him with eyes that seemed to be spitting fire.
“If you want to leave, I won’t stop you, but you must listen to what I have to say.” He threw her onto the bed again. “Be rational, Wenwen. If you keep getting agitated like this, you’ll never get out. Don’t forget that I taught you how to fight.”
"Don't even think about intimidating me! So many people saw you forcibly bring me in here. The police will be knocking on the door in less than an hour!" She knew that her fists and feet, which were usually used to deal with ordinary arresting officers, would be useless against him, but she was confident that the city's police would not dare to ignore her.
“That’s right, but I can absolutely guarantee that no one will find you.” His voice wasn’t loud, but his tone and expression were full of absolute confidence.
Zhang Hanwen clenched her fists. She had calmed down considerably. The explosive news had temporarily quieted down in her mind. Her first priority now was how to get out, and that was all she was thinking about.
"You said I can leave as long as I listen to everything?" she asked, trying to remain calm and controlling her breathing.
“That’s right,” he smiled slightly, “You can leave once you’ve listened to everything. I’m not afraid that you will tell Zhang Jiru my identity and purpose.”
"Then let's not waste time, Mr. Long. The thought of living on the same planet as someone like you disgusts me, let alone having to face you!"
Long Xinsheng smiled again, unperturbed by her disdainful expression and tone. He simply said in a caring tone, "You really need to change your temper, Wenwen. Even if you hate someone, don't say it to their face, or you'll get yourself into trouble."
Volume Two, Chapter Thirteen: Father's Last Words
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"Is this all you wanted to say? Now that you're done, may I leave?" she said, standing up again.
Long Xinsheng stopped her: "Still so impatient. Sit down, I'll start now. Would you like something to drink?"
Zhang Hanwen glared at him, his expression as if he was about to spit in his face. Long Xinsheng shrugged, sat down on the sofa chair by the window, and tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest. The air seemed to freeze with his expression.
Zhang Hanwen involuntarily took a deep breath. She could have used this opportunity to rush to the door or shout to express her impatience, but she felt as if she were frozen in place by some magical spell. Her heart was racing and her breathing was becoming more and more rapid.
“Our father is…” Long Xinsheng finally spoke, his voice low and devoid of emotion, yet his seemingly calm tone revealed an indescribable pain.
He spoke calmly, his tone steady, without much elaboration, recounting a historical event in extremely concise language. When he finished, he placed his hand on his chin, his eyes fixed on her, offering no further comment.
"Ha!" After a moment of silence, Zhang Hanwen sneered, "Ridiculous! What third-rate plot? A good friend steals his wife and company. You can see stories like this on TV almost every day. Mr. Long, you really have no creativity."
Long Xinsheng remained silent, his eyes deep and bright, like a gleaming ancient well.
"I don't believe it!" Zhang Hanwen stood up abruptly. "Your story can't even fool a three-year-old. I'm going to tell Dad right now!"
She walked toward the door, expecting Long Xinsheng to stop her, but she didn't hear a sound until she left the room.
She went outside, and a waiter held her purse and the shoes she had thrown off in front of the elevator. She put on the shoes, took the purse, went downstairs, got into her car, and put her hand on the keys but seemed to have forgotten how to start the engine. It wasn't until the security guard knocked on the glass and asked if she needed help that she seemed to wake up from a dream and turned the key.
How ridiculous! What a ridiculous story! Did he think I wouldn't expose him with such a cliché plot? Just wait, he'll be kicked out of this city tomorrow.
She thought this, but the car still didn't head towards the Zhang family mansion. She knew why her hands wouldn't obey her commands, but she dared not think about it.
I need to talk to someone first. Yes, I can't tell my dad right away. He's always liked him a lot, and I can't just tell him like that right away.
She desperately tried to find reasons for herself, but who could she talk to, and what was there to talk to? If she didn't want things to get out of control, she had to tell Zhang Jiru immediately. She knew that, she knew what to do, but the car ended up in a mid-range residential area.
The old elevator creaked and slowly carried her to the seventh floor. She took out her key and turned the iron door, and a familiar scent immediately rushed towards her.
She bit her lip, hating herself for being cowardly, but at this moment, who else could she turn to but him?
She closed the door, waited a moment, and realized that no one was inside.
“Yes, of course he’s not here, he’s at the company…” she murmured, gave a nervous laugh, and then sat down on the long sofa in the living room.
The room was not brightly lit, all the curtains were drawn, the room was clean, but there was a pack of cigarettes on the coffee table.
Volume Two, Chapter Fourteen of Father's Last Words
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At this moment, Zhang Hanwen's gaze was fixed on the red cardboard box. Feng Nian'en didn't smoke, nor did he have the habit of preparing cigarettes for his guests—of course, he didn't have any other guests either. She was even certain that he hadn't bought a single pack of cigarettes in the past three years, but now there was a pack on his coffee table, and it was an opened, used pack.
At any other time, she might have just laughed off the pack of cigarettes. But in a company, interpersonal relationships are complicated, and it's common to offer each other cigarettes to get closer to colleagues. Even if she doesn't smoke herself, it's reasonable for her to keep a pack at home just for socializing.
But now this pack of cigarettes means a change for Zhang Hanwen—Feng Nian'en has changed! He has changed, she thought tremblingly, the world has changed, everything has changed.
It's ridiculous. Just a few hours ago, she was feeling disheartened and distressed by her unchanging life, but now that things have really changed, she feels terrified.
Zhang Jiru is no longer her father, Long Xinsheng is no longer her fiancé, and now even Feng Nianen is no longer the simpleton she knew who only called her "Miss." Her world has undergone a complete transformation.
What should she do?
She gripped her purse tightly, her fingernails digging deep into the leather.
She was no longer Miss Feng Nianen, but she was nothing at all.
For a fleeting moment, Zhang Hanwen almost grabbed her purse and stormed out the door. A mocking voice continued to tease her maliciously: "Happy, happy, the change you wanted has come. You're not a 'Miss' anymore, happy, right? But what are you? Hehe, hehehehe, hehehehehe... What are you?"
She sat stiffly, breathing heavily, forcing herself to ignore the sounds, repeatedly telling herself that she was Zhang Jiru's biological daughter, that her father and mother loved each other deeply, otherwise her father...
She wouldn't have stopped remarrying after her mother's death, otherwise she wouldn't have had no other brothers or sisters.
But this alone does not prove that what Long Xinsheng told her was wrong; in fact, there are many more examples that prove Long Xinsheng was right.
For example, there are very few photos of the parents together in the house. The only one is a wedding photo—a very simple and shabby photo, in which the mother is not even wearing a wedding dress.
For example, the father rarely talked about the mother, how they met, how they fell in love, and how they got married; he never said anything about it.
Aside from Feng Mingqian, there were no other elderly people in her family or even in the company who had been with her for more than twenty years, and Feng Mingqian had never told her anything about her mother.
She had noticed these places before, but hadn't paid them any attention, even finding many romantic reasons for them. But now, the answer Long Xinsheng gave her made a more reasonable explanation than she had thought.
She sat upright, her face stiff and expressionless, but her mind was a chaotic mess.
Long Xinsheng, Zhang Jiru, Feng Nianen, her mother who died a little over a month after giving birth to her, and Long Pengxiang, the man she had never met and who was supposedly her real father, appeared before her one after another.
Several dozen days ago, she sat here like this, feeling angry and sad. She thought it was the worst that could happen, and that it was the limit of her mental endurance.
She cared so much about Feng Nian'en, even choosing biology, a subject she had no interest in, for him. But he pushed her towards another man.
Volume Two, Chapter Fifteen of the Father's Last Words
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What could hurt a woman more than this? What could be more heartbreaking for her?
He told her nothing, said nothing, even kept from her the fact that he almost died in a car accident.
She couldn't hold back any longer and ran over, demanding an answer. He gave her: her identity.
She was heartbroken, she was angry, she wanted to beat him up, but at the same time, deep down she was also happy: he wasn't heartless towards her, he just didn't dare.
He suffered the same pain.
Because of this, all the pain took on a licking edge. Therefore, she could go on with her life, and she didn't completely succumb to grief.
But what about now? What's the situation now?
Long Xinsheng was wrong. Her life might continue as before, but what if he was right? What would she do if he was right?
She couldn't think of a solution, couldn't organize her thoughts; her mind was filled with endless question marks: What to do? What to do? What to do! ...
After an unknown amount of time, the iron gate opened with a click. Zhang Hanwen jumped up, but at the same time, she also saw a woman behind Feng Nian'en.
She was a woman of ancient times, as if she had stepped out of a painting. Her eyebrows, eyes, nose, skin, even her hair and expression, all conveyed a sense of exquisite detail. Yes, her eyebrows seemed a bit thick, but that only accentuated her delicate and graceful figure.
She was wearing a beige suit, which Zhang Hanwen immediately recognized as Armani's latest product. There were no bright colors on her clothes, and her long black hair was simply draped neatly behind her back, delicate, refined, and beautiful.
Zhang Hanwen's mind went blank.
Her worst fears came true: Feng Nian'en had really changed!
"Since you have friends, I won't bother you any longer." The woman nodded and politely turned to leave.
Feng Nian'en hadn't expected to see Zhang Hanwen so soon, and he certainly hadn't expected her to come back. He was momentarily at a loss for words, only regaining his composure after Ruoya left and closing the door.
"Miss?"
Zhang Hanwen shuddered, staring straight at him without saying a word.
Feng Nian'en, feeling awkward under her gaze, swallowed hard before taking two steps forward: "Miss, is there something you need?"
Zhang Hanwen's lips moved, and finally he uttered a sound: "Smoke..."
"What?" Feng Nian'en took two more steps forward. "What did you say, Miss?"
"Yan, when did you start smoking?" Zhang Hanwen bit her lip, staring at him with red eyes. "How come there are cigarettes in your house?" she asked again, her voice choked with emotion.
"I...I didn't, well, just...just occasionally..." he mumbled, unsure how to explain. He never smoked, regardless of whether it was a symbol of masculine charm as his friend claimed. Cigarettes were bitter, pungent, and harmful to the body; he never believed they had any benefits. But Siwen smoked, and Ruoya even smoked.
But when he first saw those bloodless lips skillfully exhaling smoke, he was even more surprised than when he saw her at Zhang's house.
He clearly remembered the scene: Ruoya pursed her lips, said nothing, but skillfully took a cigarette from the pack and tossed it to him.
It was an ordinary cigarette, not the kind specifically for women. He was somewhat curious about this. Everything about Ruoya was meticulous and sophisticated. She wore no adornments, not even a watch, but her shoes, clothes, and handbags were all from world-class brands.
Even though he knew nothing about cigarettes, he could tell from the somewhat rough packaging that this cigarette wasn't high-end.
Volume Two, Chapter Sixteen of Father's Last Words
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He didn't smoke it; he simply placed it back on her desk, making it clear that he didn't smoke.
Ruoya didn't force him, she just smiled gently, a smile that was quite meaningful, but she didn't say anything more.
Later, he discovered that she smoked a lot and very heavily, and never cared about the brand; in fact, she liked to smoke different brands.
Gradually, he became curious about cigarettes and couldn't resist smoking one. It was still bitter and pungent, but he finished it and fell in love with the feeling, or more precisely, he fell in love with the feeling of looking at things through the rising smoke.
Of course, he didn't smoke much; his respiratory system hadn't yet adapted to the smoke. But when Ruoya tossed him another cigarette, he would catch it, light it, and watch the thick cloud of white smoke slowly thin, disperse, and dissolve into the air.
He also understood why Ruoya didn't care about brands; in her unchanging life, different brands of cigarettes were almost the only variation.
Things had changed. Zhang Hanwen's tears finally flowed. She didn't make a sound, her eyes still wide open, but large tears rolled down her beautiful face.
Feng Nian'en immediately panicked. He acted like a child who had done something wrong, declaring that he would never touch cigarettes again. He knew that Zhang Hanwen was not crying because of this, but in his panic, he didn't know how to comfort him.
Zhang Hanwen finally spoke up: "Suck! Suck! Suck yourself to death!" she shouted as if filled with extreme hatred, covering her face with her hands and wailing.
"Miss! Miss!" Feng Nian'en stepped forward, pressed her shoulders, and said anxiously, "What happened? Is it the master...?"
Zhang Hanwen shook her head without answering, and cried even harder. She hadn't cried so unrestrainedly in a long time. She never believed that tears could solve any problems, but now she just wanted to have a good cry.
She cried. She never knew she could shed so many tears. Large tears kept seeping from between her fingers, and her heart grew sadder and sadder. She felt as if all her emotions had been drained away. Her feelings, everything about her, had turned into tears and flowed out of her body.
She didn't know how much time had passed, or perhaps her tears had finally dried, but she stopped crying, raised her face, and Feng Nian'en silently handed her a tissue.