After Breaking Up With the Scheming Bad Woman 76

Chapter 76: Everything About Her Was Under Huai Xing’s Control.

The wind in the cemetery carried the fragrance of flowers, drifting everywhere, but it would not stop for anyone.

But seeing the two women in front of a tombstone again after five years, it was also shocked to realize what it had witnessed—

Everything had changed. The person in the passive position was now Chu Wantang.

Back then, she had looked at Huai Xing’s appearance and had felt her heart stir, thinking that the girl’s lips would be very nice to kiss. But now, her tears were falling, and all she got was Huai Xing’s “such sweet tears.”

-“Still very sweet.”

-“What?”

-“The tears you shed for me are very sweet.”

The scenes from the past replayed in front of her eyes again. She didn’t even have time to savor the kiss Huai Xing had planted on her eyelid, and her heart was once again filled with a dense stinging pain.

Her forehead pressed down, landing on Huai Xing’s shoulder, and she cried with great restraint.

Huai Xing’s hand was still on Chu Wantang’s neck and had not been withdrawn. Her palm could feel the rising temperature and the movement of the woman’s neck as she choked.

She lowered her eyelids, clearly smelling the familiar woody scent, and asked in a low voice, “Why aren’t you answering me?”

“I’m sorry…” Chu Wantang maintained this posture, and even raised her hand to grab Huai Xing’s waist, her voice muffled, and she tried to enunciate her words clearly.

The weather was relatively hot, and Huai Xing was wearing a round-neck knitted vest today. A large part of her shoulder was exposed, and Chu Wantang’s tears fell bit by bit, soaking the fabric on her shoulder and the exposed skin.

A strange passerby looked over from a distance, and might have thought that one of them was crying in grief, while the other was comforting her.

The sun was a little scorching, and Chu Wantang’s tears were also scorching, making Huai Xing close her eyes.

Seeing that she was not struggling, Chu Wantang ignored the pain in her knees and confessed intermittently, “I used to feel very happy when I saw you cry, because I wanted you to live the same life as me. But… unconsciously, I would feel heartache when I saw your tears. I don’t want to see you cry anymore, Xingxing.” She did not look up, and her arms wrapped around Huai Xing’s waist bit by bit. “If you would feel happy to see me cry now, I can…”

“There’s no need,” Huai Xing said, feeling the force of the arms around her waist gradually tightening, and she did not push the person in front of her away.

“There’s no need for anything, Chu Wantang. I’m meeting you today just to settle the past. You used to treat my love as oxygen that you could take at will, and you took it for granted with every breath. But I don’t want to treat you like that… and is there a possibility that you don’t actually have feelings for me, but it’s just out of guilt? You’re asking for my forgiveness so that you can live a better life. Then there’s no problem. I forgive you, really.”

Huai Xing smiled. “Unlike the forgiveness I said that night in Jingcheng, I really forgive you now. In front of my mother, I can let go of the past.”

Hearing this, Chu Wantang was completely panicked. She lifted her head and replied with teary eyes, “Don’t forgive me, Huai Xing.”

“I hurt you. I’m asking for your forgiveness not so that I can live a better life, but because I want to be with you again. I admit that I feel guilty towards you, but I can’t admit that what you said is not love…”

Huai Xing’s words just now were clearly very calm, and the content was also filled with a sense of relief, but it stimulated Chu Wantang’s cerebral cortex.

Because she smelled the taste of a complete end.

But if Huai Xing forgave her just like that, then what was left between them? Nothing.

She didn’t want there to be nothing between her and Huai Xing.

Huai Xing stared at her, the pad of her finger on her neck quietly caressing it twice.

Her lips were lightly closed, and she couldn’t say anything.

“Please…” Chu Wantang said, feeling her silence, her breathing extremely difficult, and she had no strength to flutter her long lashes. She freed a hand to cover the back of Huai Xing’s hand, feeling Huai Xing’s body temperature.

Her tone was almost pleading. “Don’t break up with me completely, okay?”

“If you think that what I’m saying is a disturbance to you, I won’t mention these things in front of you in the future.”

Huai Xing’s knuckles slowly loosened, and she did not answer, but only said very calmly, “Don’t kneel anymore.”

If she continued to kneel, she was afraid that Chu Wantang’s knees would hurt a lot.

“…Can we be friends?” Chu Wantang asked again.

“I’ll give you an answer after you get up,” Huai Xing said, standing up first herself, and then supporting Chu Wantang’s arm, pulling her up to stand.

Chu Wantang was wearing black casual pants. No matter how clean this place was, her knees were still stained with some dust.

Huai Xing thought for a moment and still bent down to gently pat the dust on them. Feeling Chu Wantang’s knees unconsciously flinch, she couldn’t help but ask, “Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t,” Chu Wantang replied with a thick nasal voice.

She was telling the truth. In the past few years, she had knelt in front of Huai Zhao and Chu Lingyi’s graves many times, and she had long been used to this level of pain.

And this time, Huai Xing had even asked her if it hurt to kneel. While she felt a sourness in her heart, she also felt a little satisfied.

After patting for a while, Huai Xing stood up.

She turned her head and gave a smile to her mother in the photo, saying lightly, “Mom, I believe you and Auntie Chu would not want to see us like this…” She then looked at Chu Wantang’s pitiful appearance and paused for a few seconds. “Don’t worry. Wantang Jiejie and I can be friends in the future, right?”

Wantang Jiejie…

Hearing this form of address, Chu Wantang just felt that it was jarring. It had always been others who had called her that, such as Tu Zhaoyu and the others.

Huai Xing would either call her “Jiejie” or “Chu Chu,” or call her by her full name.

She had never thought that Huai Xing would call her that one day, but did she have a choice at this stage?

The reality was in front of her. She had no choice.

Her tears stopped, but the bitterness was spreading.

Chu Wantang had no choice. She needed this position of a friend too much at the moment. She had no choice but to cooperate with Huai Xing, nod at the tombstone, and with difficulty, spit out a word, “Yes…”

“Mom,” Huai Xing said, bending down to stroke her mother’s photo again. “Then we’ll be leaving. We’ll come and see you next time.”

Chu Wantang bowed deeply and followed Huai Xing’s steps.

The tear stains on her face were still there. Before she had walked far, a handkerchief was handed to her from the side.

Huai Xing’s expression was calm as she said, “Wipe it.”

Chu Wantang took it. “Thanks.”

She forced a smile, and as she wiped the tear stains, she asked, “Was what you just said true?”

“What?”

“Friends…”

“I never lie to my mother.”

“You clearly have…” In front of the grave five years ago, she had liked her but had lied to Huai Zhao.

Hearing her bring up the old matter, Huai Xing glanced at her. “You said you wouldn’t mention these things in front of me.”

Chu Wantang’s vision was no longer blurry, and she could clearly see the calm expression on Huai Xing’s face when she said this.

She showed an apologetic look and said, “I know.” She then continued to ask, “Where are you going now?”

Huai Xing said slowly, “To eat.”

“Together?”

“…”

“The first meal after becoming friends,” Chu Wantang said, the dimples on her lips finally appearing like the sun breaking through the clouds.

Huai Xing was a little dazed by her dimples, and then she nodded.

More than ten minutes later, the two of them arrived at the parking lot.

Huai Xing directly opened the driver’s door. Chu Wantang looked at the passenger door that she had to open herself, was silent for half a second, and once again faced reality, getting in.

The black car slowly drove out of this area. Outside the cemetery was a wide road, with rows of green trees planted on both sides. The shadows of the trees were mottled in the sunlight, and their traces were reflected in the car through the window.

Chu Wantang held the handkerchief and used her peripheral vision to look at Huai Xing. No one was talking, but the atmosphere was quiet.

For them, it was a rare quietness.

It was as if it had been a one-key return to the half hour at the hotel in Haicheng, even though in fact, it had only been a little over ten minutes.

The white clouds were floating carefree under the blue sky, and Chu Wantang’s heart also seemed to be swaying with them, even though she was not willing to be friends with Huai Xing.

She knew very well whether her feelings for Huai Xing were love or not.

If it wasn’t love, why would she still have the urge to kiss Huai Xing after seeing her again after five years?

She liked Huai Xing’s almond eyes, missed the sensation of hugging Huai Xing, and was even jealous of Lu Zhenyue, whose situation with Huai Xing she didn’t know…

Today, she could confirm from Huai Xing that she was an “old love.”

Then… was Lu Zhenyue really a new love? Or, in the past few years, had Huai Xing actually had a beautiful love that she couldn’t even imagine?

The thoughts in her mind kept popping up, making Chu Wantang’s breath stagnate. She gripped the handkerchief, and only then did she remember to ask, “When did you come to the cemetery in the past five years, Xingxing?” She paused and then said in an uncertain tone, “Wen Shiwei and Su Cheng can both call you Xingxing. Can I also call you that now?”

Huai Xing: “…”

She was too lazy to answer the last question and only answered the first one. “Any time, any holiday.”

“The anniversary, the Qingming Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival…” Chu Wantang counted. “I’ve been here, but I’ve never run into you.”

Huai Xing flicked her hair with one hand and said nothing.

In fact, there had been two very coincidental times. Even though she had avoided the anniversary and the Qingming Festival, she hadn’t expected that Chu Wantang would also choose other times to come. And on those two times, she had seen Chu Wantang kneeling or sitting in front of Huai Zhao, staying for a long time. In the middle, Chu Wantang had seemed to sense something and would look around, and she would hide behind a tree and not be discovered.

She didn’t know what Chu Wantang was saying to Huai Zhao, but Chu Wantang was right. She had called her to Yuncheng, and apart from the cemetery, they had no other place to meet without notice.

This place had actually become a place to verify their tacit understanding.

The atmosphere in the car fell silent again, and the traces of crying on Chu Wantang’s face also gradually dissipated.

The road was a bit congested. More than half an hour passed, and they arrived at a restaurant on a high floor in the city center.

After the front desk received the information Huai Xing had given, they confirmed, “Miss Huai, right? You booked for two last night. Okay, this way please…”

Chu Wantang stood next to Huai Xing and followed her in. As the ends of her hair swayed, she turned her head and looked at Huai Xing, unable to help but ask, “You booked for two last night?”

“Mm.”

“Was it me?”

Huai Xing’s head did not even turn a little. “Mm.”

Chu Wantang couldn’t help but laugh. “What if I hadn’t come? Because when I was at the cemetery yesterday, you weren’t there.”

“You wouldn’t have not come,” Huai Xing said, her voice very light, but very certain, as if everything was within her expectations.

As soon as she finished speaking, the waiter also led them to a seat by the window. The location was not sunny, but the view was open, and you could see the bustling crowd in the business district.

The restaurant was playing melodious music, and the air was filled with the fragrance of food, whetting one’s appetite.

Chu Wantang sat opposite Huai Xing. The handkerchief was put away in her bag. Hearing Huai Xing’s answer, she looked at the young woman opposite her. This seemed to be the first time the two of them had had a meal alone since their reunion, and it also made her seriously observe Huai Xing’s changes for the first time.

Not only did she look a little more mature in appearance, but she was also good at manipulating people’s psychology.

Then could it be that Huai Xing could guess some of her thoughts and ideas, her absurd behavior and practices in the past?

The answer was yes. For example, she had deliberately stepped on a seashell fragment and drank iced coffee. She had known then that Huai Xing’s observation was very sharp. Now, she once again deeply realized this. She took a sip of the warm water on the table, her long lashes trembling.

In the five years she had been absent, Huai Xing’s change was not small. Or rather, Huai Xing had always been this kind of person. It was just that she had grown up in love in the past and had chosen to hide her sharpness and not expose herself too much.

The Huai Xing in front of her in the past was obedient and submissive, simply because she liked her and thought that she liked this appearance, so she had always been like that in front of her.

And the current Huai Xing had flown out of the cage she had set up, and was soaring high in the sky, bright and confident.

Everything had switched—

Everything about her was under Huai Xing’s control.

So Huai Xing understood that the identity of “friend” was just a pretense, right? But she had still agreed because of her mother’s relationship.

And that was also equivalent to agreeing to her approach.

The warm water went down. Chu Wantang lifted her eyelids. The left eye that had been kissed by Huai Xing in the cemetery, the warmth of Huai Xing’s lips on it had long since disappeared.

She looked at Huai Xing, who was replying to someone’s message, and looked at Huai Xing’s pressed lips, a hint of a smile slowly brewing in her eyes.

The Huai Xing of five years ago had made her emotions uncontrollable, and the ideas she had insisted on for so many years had taken a big turn in the end.

The Huai Xing of five years later still made her feel charming, and her gaze could not be moved away for a moment.

No matter what time, no matter how long had passed, Huai Xing’s attraction to her would never be less.

She knew this.

She was also willing to live in the net that Huai Xing had woven.

A friend was much better than a stranger.

“Chu Wantang,” Huai Xing said, after replying to Lu Xianyue’s message, she lifted her eyelids to look at the person opposite her and called out softly.

Hearing the name, Chu Wantang felt a little more comfortable and replied, “Mm.”

She flicked her hair and replied seriously, “I’m listening.”

“…” Huai Xing looked at her shining eyes, was silent for a few seconds, and then didn’t want to talk anymore.

She shouldn’t have said they would be friends. Looking at Chu Wantang’s expression at this moment, she knew that this was a reward. But she also needed this time to transition, until the day she could really treat Chu Wantang as a friend.

Chu Wantang pushed the fruit platter on the table forward, the smile in her affectionate eyes not diminishing as she said, “This summer orange is a little sweet.”

Like the summer orange we once ate, like the time we once had.

Huai Xing received her hint and nonchalantly said, “I don’t want to eat it for now.”

“Oh…” If Chu Wantang had phantom ears, they would have drooped.

Seeing this, Huai Xing: “…”

The waiter brought the dishes to the table, and they did not communicate during this period.

After a long while, Huai Xing took a summer orange. Before she put it in her mouth, she said, “Actually, in the matter of my mother and Auntie Chu, there’s another very important point…” She frowned. “Was it Xu Zhixun who spread the rumor that they were together?”

This was also one of the reasons she had agreed to be friends with Chu Wantang. She wanted to figure out what had happened between Huai Zhao and Chu Lingyi. She didn’t want the story of these two late elders to be broken like this. And Chu Wantang, as Chu Lingyi’s daughter, should naturally not be excluded.

Chu Wantang analyzed seriously, “In my guess, it was indeed Xu Zhixun who spread it.” She paused. “My aunt said that the three of them used to be very good friends. Xu Zhixun liked Auntie Huai, but he was also reluctant to give up the Chu family’s money… The most likely thing is that Xu Zhixun first spread the rumor, and then took the opportunity to propose to my mother as a ‘delaying tactic,’ and then divorced her after the storm had passed.”

If that was the case, then everything made sense.

Huai Xing swallowed the summer orange, her brows tightly furrowed. Chu Wantang’s thoughts coincided with hers, and at the same time, she felt even more sad for Huai Zhao and Chu Lingyi’s past.

At this moment, Chu Wantang’s phone rang. It was Wan Yi.

She looked at the still-thinking Huai Xing opposite her and answered with some guilt.

“Help! Chu Wantang! What kind of mouth do you have! I was forced to be a third party! I’m on the hot search right now!”