Chapter 40: Her Hatred Solidified Permanently
“Mr. Liang asked for clarification. Shi En is also here for a blind date; the woman’s surname is Liang. I checked the corridor surveillance. Miss Lian Cheng entered the room proactively. For the entire twenty-plus minutes, the door was closed, so no one knows what they talked about.”
Lian Cheng’s scalp tightened.
She had entered the room under a misunderstanding, but in Zhang An’s words, it sounded like she was eager.
Liang Chaosu waved for Zhang An to move away.
He didn’t let the driver get into the car.
Lian Cheng’s body tensed into a taut string, stretched to its limit, trembling uncontrollably.
“Dressed up so provocatively, you thought the blind date partner was someone like Shi En?” His face was dark and gloomy in the backlight. “No fuss, no resistance, you sat for twenty minutes, and the partner turned out to be Liu Qingsong. You got scared and wanted to run, so Shi En saved you, conveniently falling into his arms to seduce him into stepping up for you.”
Lian Cheng said coldly, “I didn’t seduce him.”
“Then why did you call his name so suggestively? Love at first sight, couldn’t wait?”
Lian Cheng clenched her fists.
The privileged family background, the power, and the wealth of the wealthy elite created their arrogant, overbearing capital.
Liu Qingsong, in that manner, was a known degenerate, openly corrupt and utterly wicked.
But Liang Chaosu, a prominent heir who commanded influence, would at least maintain some decorum, no matter how bad he was.
Insulting words that could be used against him were rare, let alone this kind of slut-shaming.
Today, her unwillingness to comply and to ruin the blind date must have touched a nerve.
Liang Chaosu’s figure leaned over. “He’s merely the illegitimate son of the director of the Northern Wantai Group. They haven’t officially acknowledged him. What can you marry into?”
Lian Cheng’s fingernails dug into her palm. “If I get married, I can’t look at moral character, only benefit?”
To be so protective of a blind date partner she’d just met.
Liang Chaosu’s suppressed rage, like pouring hot oil, completely exploded.
“Moral character?” He grabbed Lian Cheng’s arm, forcing her closer, to face him directly. “What is moral character? Moral character confirmed at first meeting, moral character discussed for twenty minutes? Do you have the right to judge moral character?”
Each word was a piercing jab. The probing in one sentence confirmed his intention to use her for a marriage alliance.
Lian Cheng’s back collapsed. Her internal organs felt like an emptied ant nest, filled with boiling aluminum water, a searing pain that, along with all her past brokenness and chaos, became permanently set and solidified.
Unforgettable, unerasable.
“I don’t look at moral character.”
Lian Cheng’s tone was no longer trembling; it was cold and devoid of emotion.
“My mother prepared the clothes, and I wore them; makeup was to be applied, and I applied it; I also went on the blind date with Liu Qingsong. He has AIDS, and I couldn’t accept it immediately, my reaction was excessive. I will apologize to him next time.”
“Next time?” Liang Chaosu’s temple twitched, his tone more mocking. “Sounds eager. So you accept it now?”
Liang Chaosu’s suspicion was ingrained in his bones. He would confirm one question from every angle repeatedly, provoke her, probe her, and infer her true intentions from the slightest reaction.
Lian Cheng suppressed the surging hatred in her heart and replied obediently to him, “Yes, I’ve thought it through. Liu Qingsong is sick and reckless, but Director Liu is shrewd. If I marry him, for the sake of the Liu family’s reputation, it’s highly probable that Liu Qingsong won’t touch me. Only if I am healthy and living well will the rumors about AIDS in the Liu family appear false.”
The man stared at her expressionlessly. “What do you stand to gain?”
Lian Cheng knew exactly how to answer, but her mouth opened in silence. She had to take another deep breath to find her voice again. “Wealth and status. The Liu family will keep me as a mascot, and I won’t lack anything I should have.”
The grip on her arm tightened, and Lian Cheng felt his fingers digging into her skin, as if he would snap her bone in the next second.
“Do you understand AIDS? After Liu Qingsong was diagnosed, Director Liu never let him come home. When you get married, you’ll live separately outside. Can Director Liu still control whether you two sleep together?”
Liang Chaosu’s palm landed on her face, and he forcefully tilted it up. “When you get sick, your whole body will fester and ooze pus, you’ll have endless fevers, your muscles and joints will feel like countless hornets drilling into them, with unending internal pain and unbearable external itching. At that time, the Liu family won’t save you, and neither will the Liang family.”
The man’s description was too vivid, too ruthless, as if he were unashamedly laying out her fate after the benefit exchange.
The parts of Lian Cheng that Liu Qingsong had touched seemed to feel tiny hornets crawling, stinging her with shock and pain, causing her to twitch. She completely lost strength and slumped into Liang Chaosu’s arms.
The man lightly stroked her back as if teasing her, and his voice softened. “Scared?”
Scared?
Lian Cheng’s ears rang.
Pushing her into a fire pit, coercing her to obey, then telling her the outcome, and frightening her, was all to expose her weakness.
Lian Cheng’s mind was a roaring thunder. One part screamed to be clear-headed, to endure; another part was filled with intense hatred at being looked down upon from above and arbitrarily manipulated and toyed with. Her emotions were like fire and oil, burning her heart to ashes inch by inch.
“Are you scared?” She tilted her head up, pulling his hand, their fingers interlacing. “Your hands, your arms, your chest, your legs – every inch you’ve touched me with, Liu Qingsong has also touched.”
She leaned forward, pressing closer against him. “Can you feel it? That stinging sensation of swarming bees. It’s on me, and it’s on you. If sores fester and ooze pus, you won’t escape either.”
She moved closer proactively, their fingers still tightly intertwined in an intimate embrace. Liang Chaosu’s expression had just softened when he heard her defiance, her lack of remorse, and he became furious. “AIDS isn’t spread through touch. If you marry a dirty thing like Liu Qingsong, do you think I’d still touch you?”
Lian Cheng looked at him, silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed even louder. “Then I suppose I should thank you for letting me off.”
As soon as she said this, Liang Chaosu’s expression turned as cold as ice.
The distance between them was so close that his eyelashes were distinct, and his neatly trimmed stubble revealed a barely perceptible bluish trace.
The sharp, fierce masculine aggression, in their eye contact, was brutally overpowering, tearing her apart.
Lian Cheng sensed an extreme danger.
Never before.
It was a danger she hadn’t seen even after her repeated failed escape attempts.
Just as the tension was about to erupt, Zhang An suddenly returned, rescuing Lian Cheng.
“Mr. Liang, Madam is here.”
Lian Cheng immediately pushed him away, her back pressing firmly into the car, creating distance.
Liang Chaosu’s gaze was fixed on her, with no intention of retracting.
Not only did he not retract, but his expression grew increasingly sinister with time, piercing into her bones.
Lian Cheng shivered.
She quickly opened the car door and jogged to meet Mother Liang.
Mother Liang had come to find her anyway.
If it were just Hai Ying’s connection, she could have made excuses to catch up, but helping Shi En apologize and mediate was something Mother Liang couldn’t refuse to her old friend’s face. This delay had made her rush here anxiously.
“You didn’t leave with Chaosu first?”
Lian Cheng heard the hidden meaning in Mother Liang’s words and lowered her head. “He doesn’t care for me. I’ll wait for you.”
Mother Liang looked at her deeply and walked to the car. Liang Chaosu had already rolled down the window, his hand resting on the window frame.
Mother Liang opened her mouth to continue interrogating about the suspicions in the private room, but her gaze suddenly froze, and she grabbed his hand. “What happened to this injury? Didn’t it heal a few days ago?”
Liang Chaosu glanced at the newly added cuts and said nonchalantly, “An accident.”
Mother Liang was angry he didn’t take care of himself. “Does the Liang family’s business require the Executive Vice Chairman to be injured every day? If you don’t give me an explanation today, I won’t let you leave.”
Liang Chaosu glanced at Lian Cheng, who stood motionless, and let Mother Liang examine his injuries. “Aren’t you angry with me? Why are you still concerned about my injuries?”
Mother Liang glared at him. “What are you saying? Are your injuries more important, or is that trivial matter more important?”
Upon discovering two long, narrow gashes on the pad of his index finger, the skin and flesh peeled back, with blood spreading around.
She first felt heartache, then a lightning bolt flashed through her mind. She abruptly turned and stared at Lian Cheng’s off-white dress.
On the inside of her left arm, a few spots of congealed, bright red blood were vaguely visible.
Mother Liang’s face clearly showed surprise, and then she fixed her gaze directly on Lian Cheng.
