Chapter 296: Turning Point
The phone call was silent for a long time.
His breathing was almost imperceptible. Snyder glanced at the screen; they were still on the call. He added, “The attending doctor at the hospital and I will also go. If you decide to go to Singapore, you can contact me then.”
Liang Chaosu’s expression turned extremely sinister. He hung up the phone, narrowing his eyes at the documents on the desk.
The page Xiao Da was discussing lay open, the characters “Jin Tai” glinting under the light.
His murderous aura intensified, rising in wisps, reaching a boiling point, almost crushing the paper.
Xiao Da dared to close it. “Feng Shien was chosen by Lin Xianzi to accompany Madam. Madam is smart and realized she was using him to achieve her goals.”
Aggression spread across Liang Chaosu’s eyes. For the first time since arriving in Europe, his voice was layered with thick ice, “She wouldn’t exploit someone’s feelings.”
Xiao Da’s heart skipped a beat.
Liancheng never thought Liang Chaosu liked her before. His sweet words and vows were delivered swiftly and decisively.
Now, she recognized it, and he was even more stingy. When problems arose, he never made promises. When Liang Chaosu wanted to take her for a medical examination at the Hong Kong villa, he pushed her to a dead end. She asked for tomorrow, but he didn’t specify with whom.
This time, knowing Feng Shien’s affection, she still spoke, which was probably why Lin Xianzi didn’t object.
………………………………
The next day, Liancheng woke up early. The room was dimly lit, and Lin Xianzi’s face was close to her pillow, still fast asleep.
After agreeing last night, she went to see someone else and rushed back in the early morning. She encountered Liancheng’s bone pain, and mother and daughter slept together.
Liancheng was reluctant to wake her, so she tucked a pillow into her arm bend and, inching her way out of bed on the right side, went to Bai Ying’s room to wash up.
“Is your holiday almost over?”
Bai Ying, groggy-eyed, squeezed toothpaste. “Family business, flexible holiday.”
Liancheng, a step ahead, started washing her face. “Did Uncle Bai tell you when you can go back?”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
Bai Ying’s eyelids lifted a sliver before closing again.
“Not rushing you.”
Liancheng realized that their usual telepathy was useless when Bai Ying was still sleepy. “Did Liang Zhengping get the recording? Does Uncle Bai have an estimate for when their father and son struggle will be decided?”
Bai Ying jolted awake, fully alert now.
“You know my dad—”
“Uncle Bai has always been astute. He has his suspicions about the Liang family’s movements even without evidence. He sent you to Europe for a holiday because he was afraid Liang Chaosu might involve the Bai family due to your relationship with Xiao Da, and even more so, he feared Liang Zhengping might have designs on you and set a trap to observe your reaction.”
Bai Ying looked guilty. “Do you blame me for hiding so much from you?”
Liancheng leaned down, washing off the foam. “No, you were just afraid that after I finally endured it, I would turn around and forgive him.”
Bai Ying mumbled, hesitating to speak.
“Is the outcome not good?”
“More or less.” Bai Ying bit her lip. “It’ll likely be a mutual destruction, or perishing together. Liang Chaosu’s good reputation over the years will be ruined. Liang Zhengping’s methods are unclean, and Su Chenghuai has vaguely exposed those crimes. Zhou Dazhi took the fall, but the higher-ups aren’t fools; the Liang family will inevitably fall.”
Liancheng breathed out a long sigh. “He still kept his promise.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” Liancheng gave a stiff smile.
“Liancheng,” Bai Ying studied her in the bright light from above. “Once the recording is released to a certain extent, my father will support you in never looking back. He says there are no parents in the world who could forgive a scoundrel who violated their daughter. Liang Chaosu may have a thousand good points and countless hidden reasons, but as long as you are unwilling, he is in the wrong.”
“And you asked Feng Shien to go to Singapore last night. I thought you had made up your mind.”
Liancheng wiped away the water droplets, revealing a clean face. Pure, vulnerable, and firm, a complex ruthlessness mixed together, startling to behold.
“I have,” Liancheng met Bai Ying’s gaze in the mirror, and her own. “So I want to end things with him completely.”
Bai Ying froze. “If you want to verbally ward him off, he won’t listen to you. Besides, I deleted Xiao Da, and I’ve also moved on from heartbreak last night. I don’t want to go back.”
“It’s not about Xiao Da,” Liancheng shook her head. “Last night, I overheard Doctor Snyder secretly reporting to him. He’ll likely be at the airport on the afternoon flight. I was hoping you could help me cover for me.”
“Okay.”
Bologna Airport was not far from the hospital. Secretary Huang drove Lin Xianzi and Bai Ying. Liancheng walked towards the car behind them.
Feng Shien was buckling his seatbelt when he saw her figure. He stopped abruptly, then released the buckle and got out of the car.
“Liancheng,” he strode around the front of the car, his thin trench coat billowing elegantly. He stopped about a meter in front of her, his scent carried on the wind.
Green leaves, morning dew, and pine mint.
Not cold, not strong, a peaceful middle note.
Liancheng took a step closer. “Master Feng, can you give me a ride to the airport?”
Feng Shien was slightly surprised and couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course, passengers, please get in.”
He leaned over to open the car door. Liancheng didn’t move aside, her shoulder brushing against his chest as if nothing. Her hair caught on his arm.
A gust of wind swept in at the opportune moment.
Slender and strong, long hair and handsome features. Feng Shien’s gaze was intense. It was an ambiguous intimacy that reached its limit. In a blink, they separated, silently vanishing amidst the strong floral scent by the roadside.
Snyder, pushing luggage, witnessed this scene, his camera acting suspiciously, at a skewed angle.
Liancheng looked up, and Feng Shien bent his head, their jaws meeting on their foreheads.
Ambiguity sparked tension, restraint deepened into affection.
By the familiar rose trellis, they intertwined passionately.
At that moment, Liang Chaosu felt as if he were at the bottom of a cold, silent abyss. The suppressed volcano erupted with immense power, the seawater boiling rapidly. He was between ice and fire, losing his self-control, his reason, everything that constituted his soul.
After Iceland, he truly had no expectations.
Liancheng loved him.
He was thirty years old and didn’t seek passionate declarations or mutual love, but he forgot that Liancheng was only twenty-three.
Her prime years were just beginning. Beside him, she had never been moved. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him. Now that the dark clouds had cleared, every day was clear skies. A man who knew her past, didn’t care about it, and fit her aesthetic ideal, accompanied her daily, resembling Shen Lichuan. Why wouldn’t withered feelings blossom and flourish?
Her decision to sever ties with the past was precisely for this day of rebirth and return to brightness.
Xiao Da heard a muffled sound from the back of the car. He lowered the partition. The coppery taste surging in Liang Chaosu’s throat made his pupils form dense bloodshot streaks.
Like a blazing inferno, burning others and himself, a silent hysteria, a violent melancholy and sorrow.
Xiao Da was horrified, his face ashen. He frantically turned the steering wheel and pulled over.
Liang Chaosu snapped at him, “Go to the airport.”
Xiao Da glimpsed the screen in Liang Chaosu’s hand in the rearview mirror. Beneath the myriad of rose flowers, Liancheng clearly showed affection and tenderness. He thought that in this desolate, desperate situation, as long as Liang Chaosu didn’t die, and walked through the years, perhaps a dead tree could spring back to life, and bitterness would turn into sweetness.
Feng Shien’s progress completely shattered his delusion.
Looking back, this had been the case since his return. Every opportunity for Liancheng to loosen up was quickly thwarted by another hand.
From the paternity test to the marriage, from the bullet in Hong Kong to Feng Shien’s kiss.
Liang Chaosu had schemed and schemed, sacrificing his bones for his life. Fate seemed tired of his forceful demands, and the favor shown to him grew increasingly scarce.
If, in this meeting, Liancheng admitted to loving Feng Shien, it would be like a verdict.
Liang Chaosu would either head towards extreme destruction, starting over after four years.
Or he would go from one extreme to another, transcendence, or ruin.
