Chapter 36
Bo Muyu seamlessly began living with Jiang Chenyin, her own car parked in Jiang Chenyin’s garage. Since their routes to and from work overlapped for a stretch, Jiang Chenyin insisted on driving her.
She still remembered the scene at the old Jiang residence that day, when Xu Zijun had sternly stopped Sun Ruowei from saying more. She understood in her heart that there must be something she wasn’t supposed to know, so she carefully recalled the keywords in Sun Ruowei’s words.
Romance novel, Jiang Chenyin, fan fiction, yuri, blogger.
During a break from work, Bo Muyu opened Weibo on her phone and searched for Jiang Chenyin’s name. Since Jiang Chenyin’s return, there had been more related news. She carefully sifted through the recent posts, slowly scrolling down, and finally saw another keyword from Sun Ruowei’s words: “fan fiction.”
She clicked on the Weibo homepage of the blogger who had posted the Jiang Chenyin fan fiction. All of this person’s popular posts were in the form of articles, and they were all Jiang Chenyin fan fiction.
Bo Muyu felt curious and puzzled. She clicked on one of the articles, but after a short while, she exited with a frown.
A blush appeared on her face. She knew about homosexuality, but why did this blogger write about Auntie Yin in such a… wicked way? She could handle a gun and flirt with people. Even with a great enemy at hand, she was still cuddling with the second female lead in a dark corner…
“Xiaoyu, what are you looking at?” a colleague suddenly leaned over.
“Nothing, it’s nothing…” Bo Muyu’s cheeks grew hotter, and her movements as she put away her phone were a little flustered.
“Tch, I clearly saw you looking at something, lines and lines of words,” the colleague whispered to her slyly. “Have you started reading something not suitable for children? What’s there to hide? Your big sister has plenty. Want me to give you some?”
Bo Muyu quickly and calmly refused, “No, thank you. I was just searching for a celebrity’s topic on Weibo. A lot of things came up.”
Only then did the colleague let her go, sitting back down and sighing, “Weibo is full of celebrities. The popularity of celebrities has overshadowed the current events that should really be paid attention to. Even the old, trivial matters of celebrities can be talked about for a long time.”
Bo Muyu had been trying to calm the slight embarrassment she felt after seeing Jiang Chenyin’s yuri fan fiction, but her colleague’s words sparked an idea in her mind.
That’s right, search. Why didn’t I think of that? When Jiang Chenyin had left back then, the news hadn’t been blocked. There must have been some rumors, more or less. Perhaps she could get some information from there.
She glanced at the time, immediately closed the work file on her desktop computer, and packed up her laptop to go to the pantry.
“Hey, Xiaoyu, where are you going?”
“The pantry,” Bo Muyu said without looking away, packing up and leaving with her water cup.
The colleague called out to her from a distance, “Call me when it’s time for lunch…”
The pantry was empty, which was just what she wanted.
Bo Muyu found a chair and sat down, opened a search engine, and entered keywords based on the information she currently had. From single keywords to combined keywords, she searched one by one, line by line.
The pantry was very quiet. The calm-faced girl’s eyes were pure yet filled with deep doubt, her gaze locked on the laptop screen in front of her.
A moment later, her brow suddenly furrowed, and she recited softly, “Gao Yan’s pursuit of Jiang Chenyin was relentless. Both the gifts and surprises he gave were very lavish. The two were a good match in terms of family background, and they were a handsome couple. They should have been a very suitable pair, but Jiang Chenyin never accepted Gao Yan’s pursuit, even going abroad to escape. Gao Yan’s infatuation ultimately came to nothing.”
This information had just been posted in the last two months. It clearly showed that Jiang Chenyin had had dealings with this Gao Yan before she went abroad. But Bo Muyu remembered that she had never heard Jiang Chenyin mention this Gao Yan even once four years ago.
In other words, this person clearly did not have Jiang Chenyin’s heart. So, for Jiang Chenyin to choose to leave while he was pursuing her, could it be related to this person?
Bo Muyu shuddered and quickly continued to search for Gao Yan’s name.
The web results showed that Gao Yan was a rich second-generation heir, but there wasn’t much gossip about him. In recent years, only two things were worth mentioning. One was his pursuit of Jiang Chenyin four years ago, and the other was the news of his marriage to a famous domestic model four months ago.
This didn’t seem to be very useful information…
Bo Muyu sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair, a sense of powerlessness washing over her.
He had pursued Auntie Yin four years ago, and had gotten married before she returned. What other useful information was there in this?
Bo Muyu felt frustrated and turned to look at the floor-to-ceiling window, her eyes dazzled by the sunlight.
She subconsciously raised her hand to shield her eyes, and at the same time, a chill ran through her heart.
Jiang Chenyin had left after being pursued by Gao Yan, and Gao Yan had not given up his pursuit before she left. Also, Gao Yan had gotten married a few months ago, and not long after, Jiang Chenyin had returned to the country!
This was the connection! There couldn’t be such a coincidence in this world. There must be something she still hadn’t figured out.
Bo Muyu didn’t want to delay. She quickly focused on a few key pieces of information in her mind, intending to continue her search. But just as she sat up straight and her hand touched the keyboard, she heard a light, pleasant laugh.
“President Su?” Bo Muyu’s sharp gaze softened. Before Su Man could get any closer, she discreetly closed the web page.
“Mmm, you just noticed me?” Su Man leaned against the door, a smile on her face as she looked at her.
Bo Muyu cleared her throat and took a sip of water from her cup.
Su Man guessed she was right, walked closer, and asked curiously, “What were you looking at so intently? I wasn’t deliberately tiptoeing just now.”
Bo Muyu slowly shook her head but didn’t answer.
Su Man came to her side, pulled up a chair, and sat down. She looked at her computer screen and couldn’t help but ask with a smile, “What? Is it too noisy in the office? You have to come to the pantry to work?”
On the computer screen was the research material for the script Bo Muyu was writing. She had quickly opened the document just now.
“Not really. I just suddenly felt like coming here for a bit,” Bo Muyu replied vaguely.
Su Man nodded and let out a sigh of relief. Without saying much more, she leaned back in her chair, pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers, and closed her eyes, her face looking a little tired.
Seeing this, Bo Muyu lowered her voice slightly and asked, “Are you very tired, Senior? Why don’t you rest in your office?”
Su Man’s lips curved up. “I’m okay. I just came out for a walk during my break. I didn’t expect to find you here.”
Bo Muyu paused, her gaze shifting to her computer screen. After a few thoughts flashed through her mind, she asked, “Senior, do you know a person named Gao Yan?”
“Gao Yan?” Su Man opened her eyes. “I know of him, but we’re not familiar. What’s wrong?”
Hearing that Su Man knew him, Bo Muyu’s instinct to seek knowledge made her subconsciously grip the armrests of her chair. She quickly pressed, “What kind of person is he?”
Su Man noticed Bo Muyu’s small action. After weighing the situation, she temporarily put aside her doubts and answered, “He knows my dad. As far as I know, he’s a relatively clean person in this circle. He doesn’t have any bad habits, and his character is decent. It’s just that…”
Su Man trailed off, hesitation evident in her brow.
Bo Muyu hadn’t heard any useful information yet and couldn’t help but say, “Senior, please continue.”
Su Man sighed. “I don’t know if I should tell you, because it’s just a rumor. I’m not sure. It’s said that Gao Yan’s wife only agreed to be with him because of his relentless pursuit a couple of years ago. There’s a private rumor that his methods of pursuit were very extreme.”
“Extreme?” A hint of surprise appeared in Bo Muyu’s eyes. “How extreme?”
“I really don’t know the details of that,” Su Man shook her head helplessly. “Not many people know about this. Even those of us who know him can’t be sure.”
With things having come to this, Bo Muyu couldn’t ask any more and could only nod thoughtfully.
Seeing her so concerned, Su Man couldn’t suppress her doubts and asked, “Xiaoyu, why did you suddenly ask about this Gao Yan?”
Bo Muyu glanced at her, her tone light as she replied with the excuse she had prepared before asking, “I just saw some gossip related to Gao Yan, so I wanted to ask you.”
“You read gossip?” Su Man looked at her as if she were a rare and precious creature. “I remember you never read these things. In the past, when I mentioned some things about the industry to you, you were always uninterested.”
Bo Muyu was silent. She took a sip of water before saying, “I’m not interested now either. I just happened to see it.”
Seeing her natural demeanor, Su Man smiled faintly and didn’t think much of it.
Before getting off work in the afternoon, Bo Muyu received a WeChat message from Jiang Chenyin, saying that she had a social engagement in the evening and couldn’t pick her up to go home. She was planning to have someone pick her up.
Without a second thought, Bo Muyu sent a message back, refusing. She was not a lazy person. She commuted with Jiang Chenyin only because it was Jiang Chenyin. If it were someone else, it wouldn’t matter if she took the car or not.
She would rather take the subway back. She could use the time on the way to sort out the thoughts that had been jumbled in her mind these past few days.
She had planned it well, but she didn’t expect to have plans of her own. After chatting with Jiang Chenyin on WeChat for a bit, Lin Chuwan sent a message, saying that her mother was going out to meet friends in the evening, and it was very boring at home. She asked if Bo Muyu had time to come over.
It just so happened that Jiang Chenyin had a social engagement, and Bo Muyu felt that she probably had some questions that Lin Chuwan could answer, so she quickly agreed.
Lin Chuwan had her family’s driver pick up Bo Muyu and also instructed the kitchen to prepare her favorite dishes.
It was only when Bo Muyu arrived at the Lin family’s house that she realized that not only was Mother Lin not at home, but even Song Muqing was not there. No wonder Lin Chuwan had asked her over. In such a big house, with only the butler and the maids, it still felt a little cold and lonely no matter how many people there were.
After dinner, Lin Chuwan wanted to take her to her room, but her steps stopped in front of another door before reaching Lin Chuwan’s.
Lin Chuwan turned around with her. “Xiaoyu, what’s wrong?”
Bo Muyu kept looking at the door, no smile in her eyes, but rather a hint of nostalgia.
“It’s nothing. I just suddenly remembered that in the past, when I went to your room, your door was not closed, and Brother Youfan’s door was not closed either. He called our names from inside. He said that he was going out for a meeting, and if we wanted snacks, we could just go to his room and get them.”
Her tone was leisurely, her expression deep and sad.
Lin Chuwan murmured in a low voice, “He also said, did we want him to bring them over for us, to save us a trip.”
Bo Muyu’s body shuddered, her thoughts breaking free from her memories. She finally saw the door clearly.
There was no light coming from under the door, making it easy to imagine how dark and cold the room must be. There would no longer be a warm, rich male voice calling their names with a smile. There would only be an endless silence in the future.
This was the first time Bo Muyu had felt the impermanence of life. Faced with an irresistible force like death, they were completely powerless to stop it. Even if they wanted to exchange everything they had at the moment, it would be of no use.
