First Marriage Then Love

As she was waiting in Huang De Xing’s car, she finds out that the dinner was with Tong Wen Hai. That was a surprise. Xiao Xiao isn’t coming, so it’s no wonder that she said such nonsense in the washroom.

The dinner took place at a very fancy Chinese restaurant. Tong Wen Hai still hadn’t arrived yet, so Huang De Xing went ahead to order some food, but asked the kitchen to wait, because he also ordered a bottle of Mao Tai liquor. An Ran heard the price of it, and bit her tongue with her eyes wide open.

Tong Wen Hai came in alone. Seeing An Ran, he looked surprised. He looks at her, with an inexplicable expression in his eyes.

Huang De Xing enthusiastically greets him to sit, “Bureau chief Tong, sit sit sit. Thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy schedule for this meeting, I am extremely honoured, extremely honoured.”

An Ran also got up to greet him, “Bureau chief Tong.”

Tong Wen Hai smiles at An Ran, then shakes Huang De Xing’s hands, then takes a seat.

Huang De Xing turns his head and signals An Ran to go inform the waiter to serve. An Ran gets up, but the waiter wasn’t outside. She walks along the hallway, until she was almost at the lounge does she finally see a waiter. She lets him know that they can serve now, and when she got back Huang De Xing and Tong Wen Hai were both laughing over something.

An Ran smiles at them and nods, and takes a seat.

In fact, the purpose of this meal with Tong Wen hai was not that simple, but it was too make a deal with him, since Su Yi Cheng’s side isn’t putting their hand in, then he can only look for an opportunity elsewhere. And Tong Wen Hai was Jiang City’s Construction Bureau Chief, now that the committee has decided to develop the new Ke Ji City, even though you should look for the person in charge, but when all is said and done, it’s not a one-man show. These things involve many people, and the number of people a.s.sisting naturally won’t be few. Tong Wen Hai is in charge of the city’s construction, roping him in, is no harm done.

The food was served very quickly, Huang De Xing and Tong Wen Hai ate and chat at the same time, chatted about the current trends and politics, then bit by bit talked about the upcoming Ke Ji City.

Tong Wen Hai has had this position for many years, naturally he’s met all kinds of situations and people; he was well aware of the purpose of this dinner. He will not say too much, and will only speak in riddles, leaving room for speculation.

However, based on the clues he left, Huang De Xing was naturally able to guess the meaning behind his words.

During their conversation An Ran just aptly smiles, not getting into the conversation. Huang De Xing was also intentionally, or otherwise, bringing up Su Yi Cheng, so An Ran can only smile, giving an excuse that Su Yi Cheng was busy, and regarding work he doesn’t mention much about it to her, so she doesn’t really know anything about it.

The meal lasted for over 3 hours, by the time the three left it was almost 9 o’clock. Tong Wen Hai and Huang De Xing had drank, and left their cars at the parking lot. An Ran bids goodbye to the two of them, and walks to the side by herself, to give Su Yi Cheng a call, to let him know that he can pick her up. However the phone had rang for a long time, and wasn’t getting answered. She frowns and calls him again, but still no one had answered.

“Why isn’t he picking up, where did he go?” An Ran muttered to herself.

“Are you calling Special a.s.sistant Su?”

“Ah!” An Ran was startled, and uttered a cry. From behind, she didn’t know when Tong Wen Hai had come over. At the moment, he was smiling as he was looking at her.

“Did I scare you?” Looking at her, Tong Wen Hai asks apologetically.

An Ran forces a smile and shakes her head, “No.”

Huang De Xing went ahead and left. Tong Wen Hai was about to go as well when he caught sight of An Ran standing aside making a call, so he walked over to her side.

“Bureau Chief Tong is still here, are you waiting for your driver to come?” An Ran asks politely, the smile on her face was painstakingly wide.

Looking at her, Tong Wen Hai’s expression became strange, as if he were thinking of saying something, but didn’t dare to say it. Finally he just looks at her and shakes his head slightly, only says, “I drank too much tonight, so I wanted to stand and blow wind.”

An Ran nods, formulating a way of how to politely excuse herself.

When An Ran was still thinking of an excuse, Tong Wen Hai started to look at the neon streetlights down the street. He starts to say, “You and your mother are very much alike.”

An Ran stares at him blankly. She doesn’t say anything, because she doesn’t really know how she should respond to that.

Feeling her gaze on him, Tong Wen Hai turns to look at her. Looking at her, his eyes compared to past affections, looking at her, was as if he were looking at his own children. He softly starts to ask, “These past few years, your mother must have gone through hardship.”

“What does Bureau Chief Tong want to say?” An Ran stares at him as she asks.

Tong Wen Hai then realized that he had forgotten his manners. He quickly turns around, and only says, “Nothing, nothing.”

An Ran doesn’t know what he’s hiding, but regarding him, she doesn’t want to get involved with him too much. She always has this feeling of fear, this feeling that she’d be happier being ignorant. She just faintly says, “My mother has been through great happiness, even though our household may not be prosperous, but my father treats her very week, really loves her. I believe that she’s happy, blessed.”

“Is that so.” Tong Wen Hai steadily says. After a while, he slowly starts to say, “Your father is a good man.”

An Ran nods, “My father is not only a good husband, but he is also a good father.” After saying that, she looks at him in the eye, and says, “Bureau Chief Tong, please continue to blow wind, I will take my leave first.” Saying that, she turns around and walks towards the taxi parked to the side.

“An Ran!” Tong Wen Hai calls out from behind.

An Ran turns around startled, and looks at him puzzled, “Is there anything else Bureau Chief Tong?”

Tong Wen Hai looks at her, and starts to open his mouth, but then hesitates. Finally he can only force a smile, shake his head, and just says, “Be careful on the road.”

An Ran looks at him for a while, and slightly nods, “En.” Then she opens the door to the car and gets in, and gives the address to the driver, so he can leave right away.

In the car, An Ran calls Su Yi Cheng once again. As before, no one answered. She finally gives up, guessing that he is probably still in the shower. She compiles a text to say that she is taking a taxi and is on her way back, and sends the text. The flickering neon lights outside, dazzled the entire city. To her, it was beautiful.

The taxi slowly stops in front of the neighbourhood. She pays the fare, and gets out of the taxi. She presses the elevators to go upstairs. Compared to the day, the elevator in the evening was a lot more free. She didn’t wait, and it came immediately. It arrived at the 10th floor, and she gets out of the elevator, walking towards her flat, only to see that the door was slightly ajar. A golden light from inside was sprinkling out, and you can see a dusky outline of a person walking past it. An Ran pushes the door open with suspicion, only to see that the living room was a mess. On the small coffee table was a broken cream cake, and it seemed like something had fallen and broken on the floor. An Ran looks at the scene in shock for a while, and then recognizes that the fragment on the floor was the blue and white porcelain vase that used to sit beside the TV.

An Ran’s first thought was that a thief had broken in, but this a.s.sumption was immediately proved wrong, because the door did not seem to have any trace of being pried open. The living room was in a sorry state but it was just the ruined cake on the table, and because of the broken vase, a little bit of water stained the floor, and rose petals were scattered on the floor. Besides that An Ran could also see Su Yi Cheng’s dropped phone. There were 5 missed calls, 3 of them belonged to her, and of the two of them one was from Ye Zi Wen, while the other was from his family courtyard landline.

“Su Yi Cheng?” An Ran called out softly. She avoids the fragments of porcelain on the floor, at the same time calling out while walking over to the room, “Su Yi Cheng?”

He wasn’t in the studio, nor was he in the master room. She even checked the bathroom, but he wasn’t there.

An Ran doesn’t know where he had gone, even his cell phone was left at home, so even if she wanted to call him to find him, no one will even answer.

An Ran started to panic, everything in the room made her somewhat scared. She doesn’t know what had happened tonight, but she couldn’t find him in the flat. Taking a seat on the sofa, because of worry, she could hear her heart thumping.

Only a while later does her emotions start to stabilize. At this time, she had Su Yi Cheng’s phone in her hand and it started to go off. It was from Ye Zi Wen.

She connects the call, and Ye Zi Wen started to spit out, “Ah Cheng, I just called you why didn’t you pick up, right now I’m at ‘Ye Se Mi Ren’, why don’t you come out and give me the chance to treat you to a drink, let me properly wish you a happy birthday!”

So today was his birthday, that was why he had asked her to come home early. The cake on the table, was that something he had prepared so that he could celebrate it together with her?

As An Ran was thinking of that, Ye Zi Wen hadn’t heard anything from Su Yi Cheng, so he looks at his cell phone. Certain that he didn’t call the wrong person, he says once again, “Ah Cheng, you still there?”

She regains her attention, and she faintly replies, “It’s An Ran.”

“Uh.” On the other line, Ye Zi Wen was clearly taken a back, taking a few seconds to react. Then he recalls that Ah Cheng had gotten married, so hearing a woman on the other line isn’t something that was baffling. He opens his mouth and carefully asks, “Is Ah Cheng out with you?” If that was the case, then as expected he values s.e.x over friendship.

An Ran looks about the messy floor, and says, “I don’t know what happened either, I just got home, only to see that the living room is a mess. Su Yi Cheng isn’t here at all.”

“Uh.” Ye Zi Wen was speechless, not expecting that type of answer, “Where did he go? Isn’t it his birthday today? He didn’t tell you?”

“I don’t know, I ……” An Ran was about to say something, when she hears the sound of the door being opened by keys. She turns to look at the door.

Su Yi Cheng enters, his whole body exhausted. With one hand he expertly ma.s.sages his brows, with the other hand he starts to take off his coat. His white dress shirt, had a few opened b.u.t.tons. His sleeves were also tucked up, additionally, An Ran noticed, his shirt seemed to have a stain on it, and it wasn’t a small one either.

No longer wanting to talk to Ye Zi Wen anymore, she hangs up the phone. An Ran gets up from the sofa, and starts to softy call out to him, “Yi Cheng.”

Su Yi Cheng only then notices An Ran in the living room. He smiles distractedly, and walks over to her while smiling, “You’re home.”

An Ran nods, and hands over the phone in her hand to him. She says, “I gave you a call, and sent you a text. You didn’t respond, so I took a taxi back.”

Hearing that, Su YI Cheng apologetically strokes her face, and says, “Sorry, something happened this evening. When I went out I didn’t have time to grab my cell phone.”

“What happened, why did the house become like this?” An Ran examines the room, and turns to look at him suspiciously. She notices the stain on his shirt, and as she walked closer she then sees that the stain wasn’t some kind of oil or any other stain, but it was blood!

“W-why is there blood!” An Ran was alarmed, she quickly pulls him to examine him up and down, “Where did you hurt yourself? Why is there blood?” Just what on earth happened, why is the home such in disarray? Even if it was his birthday, they shouldn’t be this violent!

Su Yi Cheng reaches out and settles his arms on her shoulder, to let her calm down. He fixes on her, and says, “I’m not hurt. The blood isn’t mine, don’t worry.”

Hearing that, An Ran was relieved. She lets out a big sigh, and looks at him for a while. Then she asks again, “Then whose blood is it?” Also, why is the living room like this. Ye Zi Wen just called and said that today was your birthday, why, why is it like this?”

Su Yi Cheng pulls her and seats her down on the sofa. He prepares to tell her the outline of the not-so-simple events of tonight. Today was his 32nd birthday, and originally he wanted to celebrate it with her with a meal, but didn’t expect that because of her work, she had a dinner party tonight.

Actually he wasn’t a romantic person. Birthdays, in the past he had always just gone out with Ye Zi Wen to a quiet place and had drinks with him, then they would go to their respective homes and sleep. But this year was different, this year in this life a woman appeared, and that woman was very important to him. She’s a person who he’ll spend the rest of his life with, from now on he will spend every birthdays with her. Thus, even though he was regretful that due to her work she couldn’t come home early so they could go out and eat, but, he will still order a cake for when she comes home from work, thinking that, at least she could eat cake with him.

As he was waiting for her he wasn’t idling about either. He returned to his studio to deal with a few doc.u.ments that he didn’t get to earlier in the day. The committee has been pretty busy these past few days, with Ke Ji City’s construction going into full motion next month, at that time when the bids go up, the committee’s publicity, and foreign investments, all of that needs to be fully launched. And according to Secretary Zhang’s opinion, his promotion had already been approved, and the doc.u.ments should be coming down in a few days. When the moment comes he will also have piles of work.

While he was conscientiously examining the doc.u.ments, at this time the doorbell had rung. He doesn’t know who would come this late. He left the studio, and through the peephole he could see Ling Ran outside the door. He couldn’t help but frown, and doesn’t open the door immediately. He doesn’t welcome her arrival. Perhaps he shouldn’t open the door so she could think that there was no one home and would leave herself.

However Ling Ran did not get the message. She continued to ring the doorbell for a long time, not seeing him open the door, she uses her hands to knock on the door as she yells, “Ah Cheng, I know you’re home. Can you open the door?”

Su Yi Cheng was helpless, and does not want to draw other people’s attention because of her, so ultimately he opened the door to let her in.

Ling Ran smiles as she looks at him, and holds up the cake in her hands as she steps forward. She sweetly calls out to him, “Ah Cheng, happy birthday.”

He stares at her for a while, not reaching out, not saying anything, but just looks straight at her.

Ling Ran felt unnatural being stared at, and because her arms were holding the cake they were starting to ache, she looks at him and acts coquettishly, “Ah Cheng, my arms are aching, are you not planning to accept this?”

Su Yi Cheng just looks at her straightly. He expressionlessly says, “Ling Ran, can we not do these boring things? Doing this, what’s the point?"

He said it so bluntly, and it made Ling Ran incredibly embarra.s.sed, but she still was able to react to it. She forces a smile and puts her hand down, carries the cake into the living room, and then puts the cake down onto the low table. As she opened the packaged box she says, “I know you don’t like sweet things, so I bought one that’s not too sweet - hazelnut cake.” She uses the plastic knife that came with the cake and slices a piece, places it on the plastic plate, and hands it over to him. She smiles as she says, “This cake isn’t sweet, I tried it when I bought it. You’ll like it.” Looking at him, Ling Ran’s eyes seemed to be begging, “Eat a bit okay, today’s your birthday, I know you don’t like celebrating birthdays, but just have a bite, okay?”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, and helplessly shakes his head, “Ling Ran, you need to go back. I will celebrate my birthday, but not with you.” Saying that, he turns, wanting to go into the studio.

“Are you saying that you’re going to celebrate it with Gu An Ran? But she doesn’t even know it’s your birthday, don’t tell me that’s not so. I know that she’s not even home.” Ling Ran says from behind.

Su Yi Cheng turns, looks at her, his gaze so sinister it made people shiver. He looks at her straightly, his tone deeply displeased, “You’ve been tailing An Ran?”

Ling Ran turns her head, doesn’t look at him. Feeling wronged, she just faintly says, “I didn’t. But I know she’s not here tonight. I actually don’t want to destroy anything between you two, so I specially chose a time when she won’t be here, because I don’t want her to misunderstand that there"s something between you and I. I don’t want to intervene your lives, if today An Ran is here, then I wouldn’t have come up. But she isn’t here today, so that’s why I’m here, and only to celebrate your birthday together, that’s all, there’s nothing else.”

Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng’s expression doesn’t change much. He says indifferently, “No need. You can go back.” After he was done speaking he turns towards the studio.

Behind, Ling Ran watches him. The piece of cake she was holding rustles, and smashes onto the floor, her eyes turning red with tears. Then they spill over, each of them rolling down like pearls. She says indistinctly, “Why, why won’t you give me a chance, don’t tell me that one mistake, just sends you to 18 stratums of h.e.l.l?”

Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng pauses his steps, but doesn"t turn to look back.

“I truly do love you, ever since I was a child til now, the person I’ve liked has always been you. That time I was too lonely, it was a long time since you’ve come back to see me. If I went to find you, and you always gave me an excuse saying that you’re busy. I don’t know if you really were busy or you didn’t want to see me, because you were always so unenthusiastic with me, I don’t have a sense of security.” Ling Ran slowly says, explaining everything about that year, “That day, on account of the shop front’s decoration my head was big, and for that period of time you didn’t even contact me, that day Zhou Han came to find me. I said I wanted to drink, so he went to go buy a pack of beer and came back. The two of us drank like that, I don’t know how things became like that after, maybe because of the alcohol, I mistook him for you, but when you appeared from the doorway, I then realized that I was dead wrong. I really don’t know how things became that way.” As she was speaking, she squats down, burying her face into her palms, crying mournfully.

Su Yi Cheng does not turn back. Really, regarding that incident, he was always brooding over it. But hearing her bring it up, he doesn’t feel an ounce of heartache over it anymore. It turns out time truly is the best antidote. He’s long forgotten it.

“What’s the point of going over the past. We cannot return to the way we were, now I have my life, and I am very satisfied with it.” Su Yi Cheng just says so faintly, “Go back. It’s late, I don’t want others to misunderstand.” This time, he directly goes into the studio.

Just as Su Yi Cheng entered the studio, he hadn’t even closed the door yet, when he heard a thump from outside, as if something had smashed.

Hearing the noise Su Yi Cheng comes out of the studio, only to see on the living room floor, the blue and white porcelain vase had been smashed to pieces, and the cake on the small table was also ruined. Ling Ran looks at him with hatred, and roars at him, “Why don’t you give me a chance, in which way is that Gu An Ran better than me! I was with you for 10 years, don’t tell me because of that one mistake you sentenced me the death penalty? Don’t tell me over the last 7 years, my punishment is not enough? What more do you want me to do?”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her coldly, and just faintly says, “It’s all too late. Ling Ran, we shouldn’t live in the past. You’re no longer the Ling Ran of the past, and I’m no longer the past Su Yi Cheng. Time changes, people also change. There is no need to cling to the past.”

“Cling... ha, I’ve loved you for so many years, even if we parted for 7 years my heart has only you. Now you tell me not to cling, Su Yi Cheng, how could you be to ruthless to me!” Ling Ran shrieks at him.

Su Yi Cheng just fixes on keeping a distance from her and looks at her. He doesn’t advance. A while later, seeing that her emotions had calmed down a bit, does he faintly say, “Go back.”

Ling Ran looks at him, suddenly grabs the fragment of ceramic on the floor, and presses it against her wrist. She smiles at him and says, “You don’t want me, then there’s no point in my return from America.” Smiling, that fragment firmly cuts into her wrist. Blood trickles down from the opening of the cut.

Upon seeing this, Su Yi Cheng mutters a swear, “d.a.m.n it!” He rushes towards her.

Ling Ran leans against his chest, a smile hangs from the corner of her mouth. With her pained expression, she says, “You don’t want me, there’s no need for me to live.”

---END OF CHAPTER---