Chapter 83: Restless Stench
After being captured this time, Liancheng imagined meeting Shen Lichuan many times.
Feelings of guilt, regret, perhaps sadness, and finally a sense of loss.
Settling into the ordinary reality of acceptance.
But when this moment truly arrived, there were no words.
“Go on,” Bai Ying withdrew her hand, “Three Eyes isn’t here right now, you can at least say thank you to him.”
As Liancheng moved, Shen Lichuan had already walked over before her, passing through the crowd, past the Pikachu decorations in the mall, the dim lights shining, the brighter they were, the more they highlighted how dark and thin he had become, his hair cut into a neat stubble.
He looked travel-worn, his eyes tired and weary.
“I covered Liang Chaosu’s deficit. He doesn’t want to give you freedom, but he shouldn’t force you into a marriage alliance anymore.”
Liancheng’s “thank you” was slow to form on her lips.
“I know there’s Director Liang on that side. He’s in contact with people in the North, but he hasn’t made a decision yet. You should be safe in the short term.”
The questions Liancheng wanted to ask also got stuck.
She hated her clumsy tongue at this moment.
“Liancheng, you don’t need to speak,” there was a smile in his eyes, “Your eyes will tell me everything. I covered the deficit, and the price was high, but from another perspective, it strengthened the Shen-Liang cooperation, so I didn’t lose out. As for Director Liang, I did nothing; it was his decision to marry you that was so grand and widely known.”
“I won’t be back for long, but during this time, I’ll do everything I can to help you, to help you—”
The latter half of the sentence he deliberately omitted.
Was also in her eyes.
I’ll help you, help your child, help you fly to freedom, don’t carry any burden.
…………
Knowing what cannot be obtained suddenly, entrusting the lingering sound to the sad wind.
Liancheng had written this many times in school, stroke by stroke.
At the time, she just found it awkward, difficult to remember, and the strokes annoying.
But now.
Her limited language couldn’t express even one ten-thousandth of what she felt, only this sentence came to mind.
And only this sentence.
It’s not that adults are utterly defeated and unable to feel anything.
Bai Ying also felt uncomfortable.
In high school, Liancheng and Shen Lichuan were, in the eyes of all of them, a dreamlike perfect couple.
They satisfied all imaginations about love, all assumptions about lovers, all expectations of marriage.
“Why don’t we— all go to my place for dinner tonight? We haven’t seen each other in a long time, and I feel like we’ve all become strangers.”
Shen Lichuan slowly shook his head, “No, it would be troublesome.”
All three knew exactly what “troublesome” referred to.
So much so that Bai Ying couldn’t even make a lighthearted joke, like “It’s not troublesome when you cook.”
“Why shouldn’t we go?”
A voice suddenly came from behind, very close, just a few steps away.
Liancheng felt that in the blink of an eye, her back was against a firm chest, rising and falling with his breath. The heat of his muscular body seemed to penetrate her clothes, scorching her, making her want to escape.
“You’ve traveled halfway across the city, haven’t you, just to see her?” Liang Chaosu’s voice was close to her scalp, his breath stirring her hair, “If you’ve seen her and don’t have a meal, it would be a waste of your effort.”
“You guys eat,” Liancheng moved away from him and picked up her suitcase, “I’m going back first.”
Liang Chaosu grabbed her wrist and snatched the suitcase, “Going back where? After being unclear with the husband of the Young Lady of the Liang family, you’re going to brazenly return to the Liang family?”
Shen Lichuan’s expression turned cold, “Bai Ying was just being polite with her suggestion; neither Liancheng nor I agreed.”
“You and?” Liang Chaosu’s smile was sinister and mocking, “When you say the word ‘and’, it carries a scent of unrest that makes one want to vomit.”
“Then what kind of ‘well-behaved’ is Vice Chairman Liang’s?” Bai Ying helped Liancheng pry his fingers open, “Meeting someone you know on the street and just saying hello leads to such serious accusations. Even in ancient times, with strict gender separation, people weren’t condemned to death with just a few words.”
The man’s fingers were like steel bars, and even with their combined efforts, they couldn’t pry them open. Liancheng felt his disgust towards Shen Lichuan for seeing her had reached an extreme.
And this extreme, if she didn’t learn a lesson, didn’t beg for mercy, and didn’t calm the anger in his chest, it would not end well.
She signaled Shen Lichuan and Bai Ying to leave first.
Shen Lichuan was unwilling, but Bai Ying unhesitatingly pulled him away.
Liang Chaosu was not a good person at all; the longer Shen Lichuan stayed, the more he would be like a spark to a fuse, escalating the conflict. She would fool him into leaving first, and then she would come back to save Liancheng.
Liancheng received her subtle signal and lowered her head, contemplating a countermeasure.
This floor, dedicated to women’s shoes and apparel, was relatively more affordable than the luxury brands downstairs. Young men and women walked by in pairs, all dressed casually.
Liang Chaosu, in his suit and leather shoes, exuded a dominant and ascetic aura, his presence as a powerful figure standing out in the crowd.
Liancheng didn’t want to stay with him in public for too long. If they were photographed and recognized by acquaintances, and it got back to Father Liang and Mother Liang, it would be another tough battle to fight.
She turned on her phone screen to check the time, “It’s past five, are you hungry?”
Her attitude was unusually peaceful, and Liang Chaosu paused, his temple throbbing, but he asked, “Where did you get the phone?”
His attitude softened, and he stopped clinging to Shen Lichuan.
Liancheng’s nerves relaxed, and she walked towards the elevator, “I just bought it. In modern society, you can lack anything, but you can’t lack a phone; it would be very boring.”
“Boredom is your own doing.”
Liang Chaosu’s jaw tightened, “If you had been obedient just once, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Liancheng pressed the elevator button.
She felt the sharpness of the man beside her and understood that he was not just referring to this act of dissimulation but to countless times in the past.
Ultimately, it was because she didn’t want to lose her dignity and become a slave.
And Liang Chaosu precisely needed a slave who had no thoughts and didn’t disobey.
Liancheng had exploded once before; this time, she was able to remain calm.
Calmly, she couldn’t speak.
Fortunately, the elevator arrived just in time, the doors opened, and there were already seven or eight people inside.
The cabin wasn’t large, and seven or eight people didn’t make it feel crowded, yet Liancheng hesitated, “Perhaps we should wait for the next one.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the people inside pressed the close button, and the elevator doors slowly began to shut. The man suddenly asked, “Why wait for the next one?”
Liancheng glanced at his face; he was noble and handsome, exuding a sense of aloofness. She glanced again at his attire, his suit impeccably tailored, his outstanding height, and his imposing aura.
In the confined space, he was like a great white shark in a fish tank, his stillness enough to awe and intimidate.
More importantly, it was too crowded, and a great white shark’s anger would double.
“You’re accustomed to using a private elevator; you won’t be used to such crowded situations.”
Others were also not used to standing next to a great white shark.
Liang Chaosu gazed at her in the reflection of the elevator doors. The bright light made her seem like a tranquil lake under the moonlit night, soft, shimmering, rippling gently, and beautiful, yet indifferent.
Only on rare occasions, a gust of wind would carelessly brush past you.
The lake didn’t care, but people remembered.
………………
Upon reaching the underground parking garage, Zhang An was surprisingly not in the car.
Liancheng feared Liang Chaosu would take her to the hospital for a check-up and was dawdling, refusing to get in the car. Bai Ying must have been seeing Shen Lichuan off, also in the underground parking garage.
But the underground parking garage of the mall was endless. She began to regret her hasty decision; finding a coffee shop would have been more sensible than taking the elevator to the underground parking garage.
