Chapter 44: The Weight of Their Feelings
Su Nian’s mood was somewhat irritable.
She exited the chat window, slipped her phone back into her bag, and rested her head on the table, sunk in gloom.
The hospital room was quiet; occasionally, one or two people would walk by.
Su Nian, already sleep-deprived, had only dozed off for a short while before falling into a deep slumber. She didn’t wake until seven o’clock the next morning, roused by the commotion of the doctor’s rounds.
She had been sleeping on the adjacent bed, covered with a cotton quilt. As she recalled the previous night, she vaguely remembered Shen Yuxi carrying her to the bed.
Su Nian offered him a faint smile before turning her gaze toward Su Xingye, only to find his bed empty, the bedding neatly folded. A jolt of surprise struck her. “Has Brother woken up?”
“Nian Nian.” Just then, Su Xingye pushed the door open, his eyes soft and tender. “I just went to fetch the medical examination report.”
Su Nian broke into a smile, threw back the covers, slipped on her shoes, and threw herself into Su Xingye’s arms, complaining softly, “You’re finally awake!”
Only now did her heart finally settle.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Su Xingye said with a smile, ruffling her hair. His gaze darkened slightly as he noticed Shen Yuxi, who had already risen. “I heard you’re seeing Mr. Shen?”
The smile on Su Nian’s face froze slightly, her eyes darting about in confusion.
“It’s alright, Nian. As long as you’re happy.” Su Xingye gently comforted her.
Hearing this, Su Nian felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. Whether in the past or now, Su Xingye had always respected her, never once standing in her way.
She hadn’t understood before, but now she was beginning to grasp his feelings.
After completing the discharge formalities, Su Nian hailed a taxi. “Yuxi, continue your investigation. My brother and I will prepare the documents. We’ll have fewer chances to meet in the coming days, so please stay safe.”
The procedures for establishing a company are complicated, and she would likely be busy for quite some time.
“In that case, contact me if you encounter any difficulties.” Shen Yuxi nodded, then glanced at Su Xingye, his gaze growing somber. “Goodbye, Mr. Su.”
In truth, with Shen Yuhuan keeping watch over the Su family, his presence wasn’t strictly necessary. Yet he could see clearly that Su Nian was maintaining her distance only to spare Su Xingye further pain.
Throughout the day, Su Nian visited numerous locations, familiarizing herself with every step of the company registration process, and finally secured an entire floor in a downtown skyscraper.
She rented the sixteenth floor of the building as the company’s base; the interior design was already excellent, requiring no renovation—just the installation of a signboard and the arrangement of office supplies.
After signing the lease agreement, Su Nian stretched her body. “Brother, you should take a break too.”
Starting a company required approval from the Administration for Industry and Commerce, and Su Xingye was busy preparing all the necessary documents, leaving him no time to rest.
Although Su Nian was also tired, her heart felt fulfilled, and the brightness in her smiling eyes was utterly radiant.
She finally had a moment to check her phone and discovered numerous WeChat messages waiting for her.
Tang Shi: How are things progressing at the company?
Xu Qing: Nian-Nian, Auntie Zhou has cooked a whole table of your favorite dishes. Your mother misses you terribly; could you come back and spend some time with her? Don’t worry, A-Chen isn’t at the old estate.
There were two more messages from Shen Yuxi. The first, sent at noon, read: “Nian-Nian, have you eaten? I’ve prepared a meal; would you like me to pack it up and bring it to you?”
The other message, sent three minutes ago, read: “Nian Nian, I’ve prepared dinner. Are you free? I can bring the food to you.”
Su Nian’s heart softened as she read it. She replied: “Sorry, I’ve been busy and haven’t checked WeChat. I’ll be waiting for you!”
Then she sent her location.
Su Nian had originally intended to decline—after all, having someone deliver a meal was quite troublesome—but upon seeing those two messages, she couldn’t bear to turn him down.
What a considerate and gentle man; she didn’t want to disappoint him.
“It’s almost six o’clock. Are you hungry, Nian?” Su Xingye looked up from his desk, his handsome features softened by a warm smile. “Shall we order some takeout?”
Su Nian hesitated for a moment, choosing her words with care. “Yu Xi has already cooked dinner and will be bringing it over, so there’s no need to order anything.”
“Alright,” Su Xingye replied gently, lowering his head to fill out the forms again. “Takeout isn’t that clean; it’s better to cook at home.”
He paused his pen, his lips parting slightly, yet the words surging within him ultimately lodged in his throat, just as they always had.
Su Nian smiled and nodded, stretched lazily, then collapsed onto the sofa, waiting hungrily for the meal.
Until the doorbell rang, she rolled off the sofa and rushed to the door. “Yu Xi, you—”
Su Nian’s smile froze on her face, vanishing instantly as she asked expressionlessly, “Miss Shen, what wind blew you over here?”
“Is it really you? This office floor you’ve rented belongs to me.” Shen Wanrou’s gaze fixed firmly on Su Nian’s face. “I heard you’re starting a company? Yi Chen truly spoils you, letting you squander money just for fun.”
A hint of jealousy flickered in her expression.
Su Nian tilted her head with a light laugh. “Goddess Shen, I have surveillance cameras at my entrance. If they capture your fierce demeanor and your fans see it, your perfect image will shatter instantly.”
In truth, no cameras had been installed; she was merely bluffing to intimidate Shen Wanrou.
Shen Wanrou’s delicate features shifted slightly before she quickly resumed her elegant and gentle demeanor, but the speed of her expression change made her appear stiff and comical.
Blocked by Gu Yichen and left with no way forward, seeing Su Nian again caused her emotions to spiral out of control. “I won’t give up on Yichen! If I could snatch him from you once, I can do it again.”
“You’ve got the wrong person.” Su Nian briskly shut the door. “We’re divorced.”
She swiftly unlocked her phone and activated the recording function.
Ding-dong, ding-dong! The doorbell rang incessantly.
When Su Nian opened the door again, she found Shen Wanrou standing there, her face a mixture of excitement and shock. “What did you say?” Shen Wanrou asked in disbelief. “You and Yichen are divorced?”
Shen Wanrou was utterly bewildered.
The misunderstanding from that snowy night on Qixia Mountain had already been cleared up. Gu Yichen clearly cared for Su Nian; how could he possibly bear to divorce her?
“It’s all thanks to you.” Su Nian sounded deeply resentful. “Yichen treated you so well, yet he was cold toward me. I couldn’t take it anymore, so we divorced. Miss Shen, I don’t know what tricks you used to make the whole world believe you and Yichen are a perfect match, when I was his wife and you were the mistress!”
Shen Wanrou’s eyes sharpened dangerously; she opened her mouth to retort but stopped herself, fearing onlookers. She forced down her anger, her expression twisting slightly in restraint.
“There’s no need to dwell on who was right or wrong in the past.” She took a deep breath. “Since you’re already divorced, stop clinging to Yichen.”
Her mood had been heavy these past days, but finally, some good news had arrived.
Without Su Nian, she was fully confident that she could have Gu Yichen.
Su Nian tilted her head, casting a sidelong glance with a faint smile. “But Yichen is desperately begging for reconciliation. He flew all the way to the US just to fight for me, raging like a king for the sake of his beloved. This entire floor under your name? It was rented with his money. How come, given how close you two are, he never told you?”
“Oh, I forgot,” she added with a laugh, deliberately stoking the flames of resentment. “The misunderstanding from that snowy night on Qixia Mountain has already been cleared up. You deceived him, falsely claiming you once saved his life. A few days ago, he learned the truth, and now you’ve completely fallen out.”
Su Nian drove the point home: “From heaven to hell—how does it feel to have your four years of painstaking deception exposed?”
“Su Nian, don’t get too cocky!” Shen Wanrou held back for a moment, but days of pent-up frustration had already overrun her reason; now she cared about nothing else. “Yichen is just temporarily angry. We have four years of history between us—you can’t compare!”
Su Nian didn’t argue; she simply took out her phone and dialed Gu Yichen’s private number.
Although she had blocked him, that string of digits was already etched into her memory.
“Nian Nian?” Gu Yichen’s voice carried a clear note of surprise; he hadn’t expected to receive a call from Su Nian.
Su Nian asked directly, “Do you love Shen Wanrou?”
Shen Wanrou’s heart tightened, a flicker of hope rising despite her certainty that the answer would disappoint her. Yet, when the two crisp, cold words “No” reached her ears, her heart was pierced all the same.
“Nian Nian, from the past until now, I have only ever loved…” Gu Yichen continued his confession, but Su Nian ruthlessly hung up the phone.
The tenderness on his face froze, and a chill settled in his eyes.
“Four years of love? Heh, Miss Shen, it was merely your own wishful thinking.” Su Nian’s eyes curved into a smile.
Back then, Shen Wanrou was just like this—carrying herself with an air of superiority, elegant and composed, watching others unravel in agony. Now, the wheel of fortune had turned.
Shen Wanrou’s heart bled with hatred, but fearing the surveillance camera above and wary of Su Xingye, she forced herself to swallow her rage, turning away to leave in haste.
She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she wouldn’t be able to resist slapping Su Nian across the face.
“Brother.” As Su Nian turned around, she saw Su Xingye standing there. She knew he had been unable to rest easy, which was why he had stood behind her all along, bolstering her courage.
Shen Wanrou, seething with frustration, had just stepped out of the building when she collided with Shen Yuxi, who was carrying a thermal food container.
“Looking for Su Nian?” she asked, maintaining an air of reserved elegance. “Nian has no shortage of suitors; I doubt you’ll stand out among them. In fact, we could cooperate.”
Shen Yuxi stopped in his tracks and spoke calmly, “Miss Shen, please stop disturbing Nian. Runfeng Company operates in the entertainment and film industry, and its newly launched project appears to involve money laundering. Perhaps you should focus more on your company’s affairs.”
“Don’t speak nonsense,” Shen Wanrou frowned. Matters concerning the company were handled by her father; she herself knew little about them.
Moreover, in the entertainment industry, using film and television productions to launder money is a common practice; it’s just something that cannot be openly discussed, as it is illegal.
“Ru Yue.” Shen Yuxi’s tone was calm. “If Miss Shen is unclear, she can ask her father.”
He had no intention of wasting time; picking up the insulated food container, he pressed the elevator button.
Shen Wanrou frowned as she watched. The elevator doors opened, Shen Yuxi stepped inside, and disappeared from her sight.
Nian Nian, I’ve arrived.
Shen Yu Xi sent the text message first. After waiting a few dozen seconds, he finally rang the doorbell. Looking at Su Nian as she came to greet him, he asked, “Busy day today?”
“Swamped.” Su Nian smiled, took the thermal lunchbox, and pulled him inside. “Let’s eat first.”
The dinner atmosphere was pleasant, and the food was delicious.
Su Nian finished the entire jar and curled up on the sofa, unwilling to move.
“Nian Nian, I’m heading back now.” As Shen Yuxi finished washing the thermal lunchbox and was about to leave, Su Nian extended her pinky finger and lightly scratched his palm.
Shen Yuxi knew this was yet another reward from her.
But just as joy began to swell within his heart, it was immediately weighed down by a heavy bitterness—the lingering emotions of Shen Yuhuan.
“What’s wrong?” Su Nian’s mind raced. “Is it Yuhuan?”
She hesitated, troubled. “Yuxi, perhaps we shouldn’t meet for now? I’m afraid of upsetting Yuhuan, and I don’t want my brother to suffer either.”
Although Su Xingye restrained himself and showed no emotion on the surface, if he truly loved her, witnessing her sweetness with another man would surely leave a bitter ache in his heart.
Su Nian felt a pang of regret.
In truth, she should never have agreed to this relationship; it brought nothing but harm and no benefit whatsoever.
“I understand.” Shen Yuxi paused for a few seconds before asking directly, “I will keep my emotions in check and avoid provoking Yuhuan. To prevent Mr. Su from feeling hurt, may we meet in private?”
Su Nian let out a helpless, light laugh. Glancing toward the inner room, she buried her face in Shen Yuxi’s embrace and nuzzled against him. “Wouldn’t that make it an illicit affair?”