After Breaking Up With the Scheming Bad Woman 50p1

Chapter 50: Only the Heartache of This Moment Was the Clearest. p1

On the last day of June, Huai Xing met Lu Xianyue.

The two of them were rivals for the next few years. Lu Xuerong had specially arranged for them to live on the same floor, opposite each other. Originally, after learning that Lu Xianyue had moved in a few days ago, Huai Xing had taken the initiative to knock on her door with a gift she had bought while shopping in Haicheng, but Lu Xianyue had never opened the door.

So be it. Huai Xing was very open-minded about everything now. She would not force any relationship. She would prioritize her own feelings.

Today, she had woken up early as usual and done a set of fasted cardio. In the past half a month, she had not slacked off on her exercise and would go out to wander around Haicheng every few days. Her stamina had recovered a lot.

She couldn’t deny that she was doing this at this stage to distract herself, so that she would think less of Chu Wantang. But so what if that was the case? Forgetting someone takes a process, doesn’t it? Give her a little more time, and she believed that she would remove Chu Wantang from her life.

At this moment, the doorbell rang.

She came back to her senses and went to open the door. She didn’t have to guess who was standing at the door. It was Lu Xianyue.

Lu Xianyue was about the same height as her, with sharp brow bones, like a crescent moon carved from a cold peak. Her features were bold, but very different from Wen Shiwei’s. Her temperament was much sharper. At a glance, you could tell that she was a proud young lady from a young age.

“You’re Huai Xing?” Lu Xianyue crossed her arms and also sized up the person in front of her, feeling that this rival looked like the type who was easy to bully.

Huai Xing nodded. “I am.”

“I’m Lu Xianyue,” Lu Xianyue said, lifting her chin slightly. “I only realized you had knocked on my door a few days ago when I checked the video doorbell. I was out with my bad friends that day. I came here to tell you this.”

Who would call their own friends “bad friends”? Huai Xing found it funny and nodded again. “Okay, I know.”

“What gift did you want to give me that day?”

“A museum cultural and creative ornament.”

Lu Xianyue held out her hand. “Give it to me,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s not good for me to go back empty-handed.”

Every sentence was unexpected. Huai Xing invited her, “Do you want to come in and sit for a while?”

“Not for now. Our relationship is not that good yet. It’s awkward to sit together.”

“You’re right. I was just being polite,” Huai Xing said, adapting to her speaking rhythm, and suddenly her lips curled up. “I heard from Auntie Lu that we’ll be roommates at the factory for the next three months. Let me tell you in advance, I have very bad sleeping habits, Miss Lu.”

Lu Xianyue smiled faintly. “My sleeping habits are not good either. I grind my teeth, snore, and sleepwalk. You’d better be prepared for insomnia.”

After getting a feel for this person’s temperament, Huai Xing went in and got the prepared gift for Lu Xianyue. No one took the initiative to exchange contact information. This subtle exchange melted into the plum rain season of Haicheng.

When Huai Xing returned to the living room and sat down, she was reading a book when she wasn’t out.

Most of the books she read were related to silk fabrics. When she picked up the book again, the phone screen on the side lit up, indicating that she had a new WeChat message.

She pressed her lips together, unlocked it, and opened it.

It was a message from Wen Ruyu: [Tell her you’ve gone to Xuecheng, Xiao Huai.]

Huai Xing looked at the short line of words and lowered her long lashes.

Had her departure reached the point where Chu Wantang had to go to Wen Ruyu? This was the last link in her plan.

It seemed that this little pet of hers was not so insignificant in Chu Wantang’s heart. Thinking about it, it made sense. After all, she had been raised for six years.

If she had raised a cat for so long, she would also look for it.

[Okay, Auntie Wen.] Huai Xing typed her reply.

Wen Ruyu didn’t say much else and immediately asked with concern: [Have you had breakfast?]

[Of course I have. I’m very healthy.]

The two of them chatted for a while. Huai Xing put down her phone, wanting to continue reading.

But her attention was a little hard to concentrate at this moment. The words in front of her kept changing, becoming her thoughts: Chu Wantang was so smart. If she realized that her departure had been planned in advance, would she not believe that she had gone to Xuecheng? Because if she thought back carefully, the things she had said back then were very deliberate.

After a long while, she closed the book, not forcing herself to continue reading, and returned to the master bedroom on the second floor to take a nap.

Chu Wantang did not rush to Xuecheng. After kneeling at Huai Zhao’s grave for a long time, she immediately returned to Jingcheng and contacted her aunt, Xu Congyun.

The two of them met at a luxury store. This was the bait she had sent to Xu Congyun.

“I don’t believe you’d suddenly be so nice to me, Wantang,” Xu Congyun said, trying on a new bag and looking for an angle in the mirror. “If there’s anything you want to know from me, just ask.”

Chu Wantang stood to the side. “What happened between my mother and Huai Zhao back then?”

“This question is a bit expensive. It’s not just a bag.”

“A hundred thousand.”

“Not enough,” Xu Congyun said, rarely taking advantage of her niece, and laughed very happily. “Another hundred thousand.”

Chu Wantang didn’t even blink. “Okay.”

“Transfer it first.”

“Okay.”

In less than a minute, Chu Wantang had transferred the money. Xu Congyun looked at the account information and smiled for a long while before trying on another bag and saying, “Actually, I’m not very clear either. Since you’re so straightforward, I’ll just tell you everything I know.”

“The Huai family and the Chu family used to be family friends, and both their businesses were doing well. But later, the Huai family’s business suffered a major setback, and the family fell into decline. I’ve forgotten the specific reason. I wasn’t very old then either. But in order to protect themselves, the Chu family had no choice but to cut ties with the Huai family, and the two families had much less contact.”

“But Chu Lingyi and Huai Zhao were very close. They were childhood friends, the same age, and grew up together. They were both outstanding and beautiful. There were many people in their circle who liked them back then. My brother, your father, was also one of them. He was their high school classmate, and they were on good terms.”

Chu Wantang pondered, “Did he like Huai Zhao?”

Back then, Xu Zhixun had been very happy when he received Huai Zhao’s invitation to remarry, saying that his “dream had come true.”

“Yes…”

“But the Chu family was rich, and he didn’t want to give that up.”

Xu Congyun turned to look at her and sighed. “Can’t you not think so fast, big niece? Do you want me to continue?”

“Please continue, Auntie.”

At this moment, Xu Congyun smiled at the sales assistant who was listening to the gossip seriously. “Hello, I’ll take this one. My big niece is treating me. She’s paying.”

After leaving the store with the bag, Xu Congyun continued as she walked, “Their relationship was really good. Your father even brought me along when he went to play with them. I saw the two of them always sitting together, next to each other. Later, it was rumored in their circle that they were…” She lowered her voice. “Lesbians.”

“Was that in 1990 or 1991? I think it was ’91. You were born at the end of ’92, so ’90 is a bit too early.”

Chu Wantang listened quietly and said no more.

“They were in their early twenties, and I had just started university. Those three words were explosive news to us. The environment back then was not like now, where young people online can openly say they’re gay,” Xu Congyun said, also a little sad. “I don’t know if they really were or not. Anyway, at that time, the pressure from all sides came down. It’s not an exaggeration to say it was a ‘strangulation’ or ‘siege’… You know, the rumors were very nasty. Your grandmother heard about it and would talk about it at home every day, saying what kind of friends your father had made. Could homosexuals even exist in the world? How disgusting.”

“You see, even your grandmother said that. Then everyone’s saliva could drown people, not to mention that the Chu family was a prestigious family.”

“The Chu family couldn’t stand the pressure and proved your mother’s innocence, saying that they had known each other for many years and were just good friends. How could they be lesbians? There must have been a misunderstanding.”

“But no one believed it. It seemed that the only way to break the deadlock was to marry a man.”

“Why did she marry Xu Zhixun?” The fragrance in the mall clung to them. Chu Wantang had difficulty breathing, and her chest ached. Her voice was heavy.

“I don’t know the specific situation. Not long after that, Chu Lingyi married my brother, and a few months later, she was pregnant. Those rumors were self-defeating, and no one talked about it anymore.”

“Self-defeating…” Chu Wantang chewed on the idiom.

Xu Congyun’s footsteps paused, and she remembered to ask, “What about that little girl with the surname Huai?”

“She’s at home,” Chu Wantang said, her eyes flickering.

Xu Congyun was curious. “Is she really Huai Zhao’s daughter? Then it seems they really weren’t lesbians. How could someone spread such a rumor?” She was then puzzled. “But how did this little girl end up with you? I remember Huai Zhao had an older brother, right? I’ve even seen him…”

“Auntie, I have something to do,” Chu Wantang said, having gotten the information she wanted, and was not going to continue chatting with Xu Congyun.

Xu Congyun understood what she meant and reminded her, “Go on then. By the way, don’t tell your uncle and your grandmother about the money you gave me.”

Chu Wantang nodded. She didn’t care about the Xu family at all. Even if Xu Congyun hadn’t said this, she wouldn’t have said anything.

She came to the underground garage. The cool air crawled all over her. She sat in the driver’s seat, held the steering wheel, and pressed her forehead against the back of her hand, closing her eyes.

She didn’t cry, but her breathing was heavy. Recalling what Xu Congyun had said, her heart was clenched.

After calming down for a long while, she drove to the house where Chu Lingyi had lived.

Since her mother’s death, she had rarely come here. She usually had a familiar cleaning lady come to clean and tidy up regularly, but she had always kept the key to the house in her bag and had never forgotten it.

When was the last time she had come? She had forgotten. Now, pushing open the door and looking at the scene in the house, her legs were weak and she was rooted to the spot.

She remembered when she was seven, her mother had had a big fight with her grandparents. She didn’t know what had happened.

But soon, her mother had booked a flight to Yuncheng and said she was taking her to Yuncheng.

Mom, what were you thinking then?

Were you thinking that after so many years, maybe Auntie Huai would forgive you, so you gathered your courage and took me, wanting to see Auntie Huai again, but seeing that Auntie Huai had a child, you knew you had come too late and didn’t want to disturb her?

So you could only find time year after year to come to the coffee shop opposite the law firm and sit there for a whole day.

You watched the fine lines at the corners of Auntie Huai’s eyes gradually increase, and I watched Huai Xing grow from a little girl to almost as tall as me.

But Mom…

Chu Wantang walked to the living room with difficulty and saw the photo of Chu Lingyi in the frame. She said with great difficulty and a thick nasal voice, “Auntie Huai knew whose daughter I was when she saw my face. She knew my surname was Chu. She knew you had gone to see her. She had been waiting for you to appear…”

In the photo, Chu Lingyi was holding out a bouquet of begonias, smiling brightly at the camera, a faint dimple on her lips.

You didn’t have to think to know who had taken this photo.

Chu Wantang held the photo frame and sat down on the sofa. She lowered her head, and her tears still fell. She couldn’t help but ask, “She came to see you six years ago. Did you… see each other?” Her tears blurred her eyes again. She held the photo frame tightly, her sobs no longer suppressed, her shoulders trembling violently. “I also want to see Huai Xing again.”

But even if she knew that Huai Xing had gone to Xuecheng, how could she find her in the vast sea of people?

Not to mention that Xuecheng was a pretense that Huai Xing had set up for her. The Huai Xing after May 15th had been acting in front of her, acting happy and joyful to hide her sadness and sorrow, and the things she said were also deliberately misleading.

But she had no choice. Although there was no hope, she would still go to Xuecheng according to what Huai Xing had said.

They had had a promise. When they had a short holiday, they would go to Xuecheng together. When winter came, they would also be in the snow there.

She remembered it all. She would not forget.

Having made up her mind, Chu Wantang asked CEO Mei for a month’s leave.

In the years that CEO Mei had known Chu Wantang, she had always felt that Chu Wantang was not relaxed enough and was too hardworking. Now, seeing Chu Wantang ask for leave with a haggard face, she immediately agreed.

She then asked with concern, “Did something happen?”

“I…” Chu Wantang said with a pale face, “I’ve lost the most important person to me. I’m going to find her.”

Actually, she had had a chance to explain. On the day she had gone to Nancheng, at the airport, when Huai Xing had brought up this topic, she could have said everything at that moment. It was her own arrogance that had made her unwilling.

Now she was suffering a cruel punishment. Just the thought of missing Huai Xing but never being able to see her again was enough to make her want to die.

CEO Mei pondered, “Is a month enough, Wantang?”

“…I don’t know,” Chu Wantang said, looking at the boss in front of her. “I’ll resign then…”

“No, I’ll keep this position for you. I believe you’ll find her.”

Chu Wantang stood up and bowed to CEO Mei. “Thank you, CEO Mei.”

CEO Mei looked at her appearance, thought for a moment, and said, “There’s something I think I need to tell you.”

“What?”

“Your mother and I were old acquaintances,” CEO Mei said with a smile. “Before you came to ‘Lan Ling,’ she had recommended you to me. She said that you had extraordinary talent and vision in this area since you were a child, and that you would definitely have great achievements in this industry in the future. She would be proud of you, because you are her daughter.”

In a daze, she returned to her office. Chu Wantang looked out the window in a daze, only feeling that the sunlight was very harsh.

She remembered when she had just come to “Lan Ling,” she didn’t have her own independent office yet and was sitting in the public area by the window. Before long, she had witnessed several birds hitting the glass and dying on the spot.

So she had found an opportunity to ask her superior if they could change the glass. Her superior had not agreed, thinking that she was being troublesome. “It’s just a bird’s life. Is it necessary to go to so much trouble?”

She had not given up and had found an opportunity to see CEO Mei, and had explained the matter to her again.

CEO Mei had looked at her steadily, silent for a few seconds, and then agreed with a smile. “Okay, I’ll have someone arrange for special materials to be replaced.”

She then asked her, “Your name is Chu Wantang?”

At that time, she had been a little surprised, but not too surprised. She had just thought that, like in school, it was her face that allowed many people to remember her.

It turned out that it wasn’t. In CEO Mei’s case, it was because of Chu Lingyi…

After a long while, she let out a deep breath and called her subordinate in to assign work.

…