Volume 1, Chapter 37: If You Want Someone to Comfort You, Go Find Chu Yan
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“Manman?”
Lu Xiaoman shuddered all over, as though an invisible needle had been driven viciously into her flesh.
That nickname was a poison-coated hook, instantly catching on the most secret wound in her heart.
She jerked her head up and found herself staring into Shang Linyuan’s eyes, filled with scrutiny and a trace of tenderness so faint it was almost imperceptible. The sight struck her as both absurd and deeply ironic.
Who was he calling?
Of course—Su Manman.
The woman whose name contained the word “Man,” the moonlight of his youth whom he had kept hidden in his heart for years.
So that was it.
The sudden flutter in her heart just now, that vague sense of familiarity—all of it had been nothing more than her own illusion.
He had merely mistaken her for that woman’s substitute, using her face to reminisce about the beloved he had long yearned for.
A fury mingled with grievance surged uncontrollably into her head, burning her eyes red.
Shang Linyuan watched the emotions flicker across her face, his Adam’s apple shifting slightly.
Driven by an impulse he had never felt in the past six years, he slowly lowered his head.
His warm breath drew nearer and nearer, carrying the clean, cool scent of cedar from his body, nearly enveloping her.
“Smack!”
The crisp sound of a slap exploded through the cramped car, striking with considerable force.
Shang Linyuan’s head was knocked to the side, and a distinct set of fingerprints quickly surfaced on his left cheek.
He froze. The tenderness in his eyes was instantly replaced by astonishment, followed by deeper confusion and hurt.
“Why?” His voice was hoarse, carrying a tremor even he failed to notice.
Lu Xiaoman’s chest heaved violently. Her palm burned with pain, yet her heart hurt even more.
She bit down hard on her lower lip, forcing back the moisture in her eyes, and twisted her mouth into a scornful smile. “Mr. Shang, have you made a mistake? I’m not someone just anyone can touch.”
She deliberately thrust out her chest, the mockery in her voice as piercing as an icicle. “If you want someone to keep you company, go to Chu Yan. Isn’t she your legitimate girlfriend? No one stops you from singing and dancing through the night with her, so why come here looking for trouble?”
“For something as vulgar as satisfying your desires, wouldn’t it be more convenient to find your own girlfriend?”
Every word was coated in ice, striking Shang Linyuan squarely in the heart.
The color drained from his face by degrees. His chest felt as though it had been crushed beneath a massive boulder, leaving him stifled and aching.
He looked at the woman before him, bristling with thorns, and found her both strange and distant.
“Lu Xiaoman.” He clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened, as though he had to summon every ounce of strength to force out the words. “Where were you that night six years ago?”
Lu Xiaoman’s heart gave a violent leap, like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on.
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She feigned composure and answered as naturally as she could. “Six years ago? Who remembers something that happened so long ago?”
The moment the lie left her lips, her heart thundered wildly inside her chest, almost bursting through her throat.
Shang Linyuan’s gaze was as sharp as a blade, locking firmly onto her. “You used to wear a jade pendant around your neck, carved with a little carp. Where is it now?”
Lu Xiaoman’s breath caught.
That jade pendant was a keepsake her mother had left her.
She instinctively touched her neck, where nothing remained.
Avoiding Shang Linyuan’s gaze, she replied stiffly, “It broke. I threw it away long ago.”
“Is that so?”
Shang Linyuan suddenly pulled something from his pocket and opened his palm.
It was a broken piece of jade carefully tied with a red cord. Though split in two, the pattern of the little carp carved upon it could still be seen clearly, its edges worn smooth and warm from years of handling.
Lu Xiaoman’s pupils contracted sharply, and all the blood in her body seemed to freeze.
It was hers!
The jade pendant that had slipped from her neck and shattered during that chaotic night six years ago!
How had he gotten it?
He had actually carried it with him all this time?
Countless thoughts exploded through her mind. Panic seized her, and her fingertips turned cold.
No. She could not admit it!
The moment she did, Mingxi’s identity would no longer remain hidden.
She could never allow her son to become a piece in Shang Linyuan’s calculations. Nor would she let herself become Su Manman’s replacement, wagging her tail and begging for affection at his side!
She forced herself to calm down and spoke casually. “Oh, that? I gave it to Chu Yan a long time ago. She probably broke it by accident. Who knows where she threw it afterward? How did you happen to find it, Mr. Shang?”
She deliberately made it sound insignificant, as though it were nothing more than a worthless little trinket.
Shang Linyuan studied her open, unguarded expression, then lowered his eyes to the broken jade in his palm.
Its lingering warmth seemed to carry the remnants of memories from years ago.
But Lu Xiaoman’s words poured over him like a basin of cold water, extinguishing the final, feeble spark in his heart.
So that night six years ago… it really had been Chu Yan.
The faint sense that something was wrong, the inexplicable familiarity—all of it had been nothing but wishful thinking on his part.
Slowly, he closed his hand around the broken jade.
His fingertips rubbed over the cold fragments, and indescribable disappointment and bitterness welled up inside him.
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The air inside the car fell silent once more, colder and heavier than before.
Shang Linyuan said nothing. He merely watched her in silence.
Under the weight of his deep, inscrutable gaze, Lu Xiaoman could not help wanting to flee. Her right thumb and forefinger unconsciously rubbed against each other, as though trying to find some small source of steadiness.
The man saw the motion in its entirety.
Why was she so nervous?
Shang Linyuan remembered Lu Xiaoman’s little habits with perfect clarity.
Whenever she lied, she made this habitual rubbing motion.
Which lie had she told?
About that night six years ago? Or about giving the jade pendant to Chu Yan?
“Mr. Shang, if there’s nothing else, may I get out of the car?” Lu Xiaoman suddenly interrupted.
She feared that if she stayed any longer, she would eventually give herself away.
Shang Linyuan’s fingers tightened abruptly around the pendant, his knuckles whitening.
An incredulous agony surged through his eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbed for a long moment before he finally spoke in a hoarse voice. “Chu Yan said she was the woman from that night, and you said you gave the pendant to her… So the person I’ve kept in my heart for six years really was her.”
Lu Xiaoman’s heart felt as though it had been seized in a fist, but she turned her face away. “Who else would it be? Did you really think it was me?”
Shang Linyuan suddenly laughed, the sound steeped in icy self-mockery. “I was a fool.”
He leaned closer, his searing breath brushing over the shell of her ear. “But Chu Yan never knew that the inside of the pendant was engraved with the character ‘Man.’”
Lu Xiaoman went rigid, her fingertips digging deeply into her palm.
When her mother had put the pendant around her neck all those years ago, she had specifically warned her that the character was a talisman for peace and safety, and that she must never let outsiders see it.
So Chu Yan had only seen her wearing the pendant. She had never known there were words engraved inside.
“You said you gave the pendant to her?” Shang Linyuan held the broken jade before her eyes. At the fracture, half of the character “Man” was clearly visible. “Then how does she explain where that character came from?”
“I never told her there was writing on the pendant. She may not have noticed…” Lu Xiaoman’s voice grew weaker and weaker, the end of her sentence nearly swallowed by the stagnant air inside the car.
She could feel Shang Linyuan’s gaze like a searchlight, pinning her trembling profile in place. Even the breath she deliberately held was exposed beneath it.
“Heh.”
Shang Linyuan suddenly let out a low laugh.
There was not the slightest trace of warmth in it.
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