Ch23 - “It is also Sheng Xinghe.”

Sunnyshies: Ooohh~ one more chapter and the red curtain will finally fall!

Sheng Xinghe’s home is actually quite far away from the company, and it is neither a small one-bedroom apartment nor it’s located close to the subway entrance. It’s completely different from what the two of them had envisioned at the beginning. 

The real estate here has a high level of privacy and security. After entering the elevator by fingerprint, you can directly enter the door of the house, eliminating the need to use the entry gate as a barrier.

The house was bought by Sheng Xinghe two or three years ago, and it hasn’t been long since the renovation has been completed and officially moved in, so there is no trace of life yet.

Shu Jin though, maybe both of them had actually thought of it as a real break up.

Just like how he stopped going to the cinema after their break up. Sheng Xinghe also stopped choosing the future he had originally planned, and instead chose a more appropriate way for himself, trying to move forward to a life where he no longer had each other. 

“A few years ago, I took the driving test, and then bought a car by the way.” Sheng Xinghe said, “When planning to buy a house, it happens that the environment here is good, and the route to work does not get congested, so I bought it.”

In Sheng Xinghe’s situation, it’s not bad to drive a car. Knowing this, Shu Jin nodded.

Seeing that he was standing in an unfamiliar environment, Sheng Xinghe walked over and led him to sit on the sofa, then said, “I’ll go get you a glass of honey water.”

“No need.” Shu Jin grabbed the corner of his shirt, “I can drink very well now.”

Sheng Xinghe raised his eyebrows, then he sat down, expressing his doubts.

Shu Jin said: “When I graduated, the first company I joined was relatively small, and everyone had several jobs. I am a newcomer, not only did I do designs, but I am also the boss’s assistant. So I often accompany him to socialize.”

Shu Jin talked about the past that Sheng Xinghe still didn’t know, “I got drunk a number of times, I don’t even remember exactly how many times. In any case, afterwards I got drunk so easily. Sometimes I even pretend to be drunk, well they can’t tell the difference between real and fake anyway.”

It’s common for newcomers who have just entered society after graduating from college to encounter such things. 

Sheng Xinghe listened to him talk about those things he did not participate in, except for a trace of distress, and didn’t feel sorry for him. Shu Jin is also a strong person, and has never been an idiot. If you listen to him a little bit more, you can get to know him a little bit more.

“At that time I didn’t dare to resign.” Shu Jin said, “Although the salary is not very high, it is enough for me to stabilize. And because the company was just starting out, the more things piled on top of me, the more I learned, which added a lot of points to my resume when I later jumped ship.”

Sheng Xinghe asked: “Why don’t you dare to resign?”

He can hear that Shu Jin was consciously opening up the topic. 

Shu Jin tilted his head and leaned on the back of the sofa, with his legs crossed, while playing with Sheng Xinghe’s fingers one after another:  “Well, no money.”

Saying these three words, Shu Jin blamed him for being embarrassed. He glanced at him before continuing: “Actually, Shu Zhaoyuan left a sum of money for me when he went in, but I didn’t move a single penny.”

Was it because of guilt?

Maybe. 

At that time, Shu Jin who was only 19 years old, couldn’t draw the line between family affection and the law well. He knew that Shu Zhaoyuan deserved it well, but as long as he thought that he was the culprit who indirectly caused Shu Zhaoyuan’s imprisonment, he couldn’t get rid of the torment of his conscience.

In that year, he seemed to owe the world.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Everything that he should pay back, all came in that year.

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But after meeting the person who took the blame for him for more than ten years in the barbecue restaurant, and after seeing the other party’s frostbite covered hands, he couldn’t go on anymore.

Pa lr cba fjrs ab afii atf ageat. Ktf cfkr Vte Alc ygbeuta bnfgaegcfv atja qfgrbc’r qfgmfqalbcr jcv mjerfv j iba bo kjnfr lc atja ojwlis.

The tens of thousands of dollars in compensation to the Sheng family back then were paid by Shu Zhaoyuan for them. The family has always been grateful, and for a long time, they worked in the factory for free, regardless of remuneration. But the high medical expenses also made them unbearable, and they were heavily indebted.

The fact that Shu Zhaoyuan took the initiative to compensate the poor workers and assisted the victim Sheng Xinghe received the attention of the government. Even if they had to leave for a long distance in the end, they often buy things and send them to Sheng Family, and they visited often on Chinese New Year and other holidays. 

Because of that incident, that family paid a lot.

Shu Jin only wanted to compensate them at that time.

He took out all the money he had saved over the years to treat the sick mother of that family, and he has been supporting them until these years. But at that time, he never thought that the family would report Shu Zhaoyuan’s illegal business after learning about the truth.

Perhaps at first Shu Zhaoyuan, as he himself said, had to let others take the blame for reducing compensation because of financial difficulties, but this was only the first thing he did to corrupt his morals. 

But after his “good deeds” were taken seriously, everything went from bad to worse.

After he tasted the sweetness, he continued to fund Sheng Xinghe, and was continuously supported by the government as a “charity entrepreneur”. He used this identity to grow stronger and usher a boom in business.

Then the human heart cannot withstand comparison.

When the family, who had been wronged, saw the culprit getting better and better, the more difficult it was for them to control their anger inside. 

Shu Jin’s so-called compensation was only wishful thinking. Just as he was beginning to rectify the matter, just one month after he and Sheng Xinghe confessed the truth, Shu Zhaoyuan was formally detained for inspection by administrative detention.

Shu Jin didn’t do anything right.

“To rectify”, it doesn’t exist in this kind of love-hate entanglement. Everything happened because of him. He couldn’t control it or reverse it. So when Sheng Xinghe came to him, he couldn’t answer his question, “Have you ever loved me?” 

At that time, Shu Zhaoyuan didn’t know the reason, but this time when he met his enemy on a narrow road, he finally knew what Shu Jin did.

The money he left was a legitimate income. And the reason why Shu Jin did not move it was because of guilt rather than filial piety and wanted to keep it for his father to make a comeback. He smashed the cup to Shu Jin, scolded Shu Jin for eating in and betraying his laozi, and he asked Shu Jin why he disregarded his family affection for a man. 

In winter, Shu Jin’s forehead wound has not yet healed, fortunately, it’s not big at all, and there is only a shallow mark.

Sheng Xinghe saw it a long time ago. Maybe when he was in the hospital, he already knew where the wound came from, but he didn’t ask anything, giving Shu Jin the chance to confess himself.

After speaking these words, Shu Jin was a little tired.

He may be drunk, or perhaps he had taken too long to say these words. His body was growing soft as he leaned back on the sofa, and his eyelids were so tired that he could barely open them. 

Sheng Xinghe stroked his wound with his thumb, and asked: “Why didn’t you tell me these things before?”

Shu Jin was quiet for a while before telling him: “I don’t want you to know that…all that warmth is fake.”

There is no one else in Sheng Xinghe’s house.

Shu Zhaoyuan brought him to Shu’s house and took care of him, so even if he was unwilling to appear in a newspaper interview, he would still agree to Shu Zhaoyuan’s request. There was a time when Sheng Xinghe showed a kind of admiration for Shu Zhaoyuan that even Shu Jin had never shown him. And as Sheng Xinghe had said before, Shu Zhaoyuan had played the role of his “father”. 

“It’s already too much for you that he’s been hiding the truth and lying to you for so many years, and I don’t want you to find out that even all that guilt and compensation he’s giving is fake.” Shu Jin finished speaking and laughed at himself, “Brother, do you think I am being a saint? I just think, anyway, since we had broken up and can’t be together anymore, keeping such a good thing is not bad, ah.”

In fact, Shu Jin still saved some money, and planned to transfer it to Sheng Xinghe if he had the opportunity. But seeing the other party developed better and better, he knows that saying more will just appear more pretentious.

Of course, he didn’t dare to say this, Sheng Xinghe would be angry.

Sheng Xinghe went silent for a long time. 

Shu Jin was a bit flustered, so when he looked up and met Sheng Xinghe’s gaze, his heart subconsciously jumped, and he looked away.

“Why don’t you look at me?” Sheng Xinghe reached out and turned his face back, his gaze burning. “You considered and took care of everything, but why don’t you dare to look at me?”

Bad.

Shu Jin secretly said, no good. 

“Speak.”

Shu Jin breathed a little sharper and whispered: “I didn’t…”

“Shu Jin.” Sheng Xinghe loosened his chin, stood up and looked at him condescendingly, “No one likes your thoughtfulness, and no one likes your self-sacrifices! You’re doing the right thing by trying to right the wrong and to make up for that family, and that’s fine, but I don’t need it.”

After speaking, Sheng Xinghe turned around coldly and left the living room. 

Shu Jin sat on the sofa in astonishment. He didn’t expect him to react like this. After a while, tears fell from his eyes.

A few minutes later, he abruptly got up from the sofa, he didn’t even wear slippers, and directly went to look for Sheng Xinghe’s figure barefooted. This house is very large, and there are several rooms. After Shu Jin pushed open two doors in a row, he still did not find Sheng Xinghe.

Did he anger the person away?

Shu Jin became more and more panicked. He didn’t come here to mess up this time.  He came to seek reconciliation. They both developed very well before, how come it became like this all of the sudden? 

When he came to the last room, messy clothes fell all over the place.

This room is quite large, and it looks like a master bedroom. And there were splashing sounds coming from the bathroom.

Shu Jin held back his tears, he pushed open the bathroom door and rushed in without thinking about it. Then he hugged Sheng Xinghe’s waist.

The hot water poured down on his head, wetting Shu Jin’s entire body in a blink of an eye, and even his sweater was almost soaked through. He called out to Sheng Xinghe over and over again, saying helplessly, “Don’t be angry,” not knowing what to do. 

Sheng Xinghe didn’t intend to talk to him. After being soaked in the water for a while, he turned around and pushed the man against the wall to kiss him deeply.

Shu Jin was kissed to the point that his whole body was soft, and after a few sips of water, Sheng Xinghe stripped him naked on the spot. Then he pinched Shu JIn’s face with his fingers relentlessly, and said bitterly: “Look at me!”

Both of them are in a mess. After Shu Jin drenched his hair, the water constantly flowed from the tips of his hair down his body.

The tip of Sheng Xinghe’s nose and eyelashes were dripping with water, and his gray eye was also soaked, looking like a broken glass ball. 

Shu Jin was panting. His face hurt from being pinched, so water mist appeared in his red eyes.

He looked at Sheng Xinghe for a moment, and looked at the eye that was destroyed in his own hands, and for the first time he stared at it so directly that he could not stop his teeth from trembling.

“Look at it.” Sheng Xinghe gritted his teeth, “You did this eye, but I don’t want you to pay for it, I don’t want you to compensate for it, and I don’t need you to arrange my life’s experience for me!”

Shu Jin’s body shook, and tears fell in big globs. 

Sheng Xinghe wanted to carve these words into Shu Jin’s mind: “What ‘we broke up, and we won’t be together anymore’? That’s only what you’re thinking. I never thought of that, I do not want to keep what you think is better, I only want to keep one thing, and that is you.”

Shu Jin cried and nodded desperately: “I know, I know now!”

Sheng Xinghe gradually calmed down, he let go of his face, then rubbed his lips with his thumb, and he said with a hoarse voice: “…so you can now look at it, you can look at it with a flat, normal gaze.”

“It is a part of me.” 

“It is also Sheng Xinghe.”

Shu Jin’s arms were wrapped around the person in front of him, and he was forced to stare at his gray pupil. He still couldn’t control his trembling, but was still holding on.

Before Sheng Xinghe could say anything, Shu Jin raised his hand and stroked his right eye, gently feeling the temperature of his eyelid.

The hot water splashed, and Shu Jin’s cold hands became hot. 

He pulled Sheng Xinghe down a bit and imprinted his soft lips, sealing them with a kiss.

The author has something to say:

There’s probably one or two more chapters.

Although I knew it was a bland little story before I wrote it, I didn’t intend it to have much ups and downs, but when I got to the end, I still felt lonely writing it. 

This is quite flat, but also good ……………………(Escape)