Returning - Chapter 41
Chapter 41: Addiction
Only after the two outside had been gone for quite a while did Shang Lu and Fei Heng emerge from the cramped stall.
Fortunately, it was lunchtime, and not many people were browsing the first floor. Otherwise, if someone had stumbled upon two grown men hiding together in a women's restroom stall, who knows what kind of misunderstanding would have ensued.
Seeing the grim look on Shang Lu's face, Fei Heng sighed, "If you can't bear to lose her, then go snatch her back. You're no worse than Xue Zi'ang."
Shang Lu didn't answer. He walked in silence for a stretch before turning back to look at him. "No matter how sharp your tongue is usually, don't leak anything about what's between her and me."
"In your eyes, am I that kind of blabbermouth?" Fei Heng shot him a disgruntled glance. "If I weren't afraid you'd end up dying alone, you think I'd willingly meddle in your business?"
Hearing this, Shang Lu actually smiled. "I'm engaged. And in the future, I'll get married."
"To that Eldest Miss Zheng, who'll probably adorn you with who knows how many green hats?" Fei Heng scoffed. "Then I still find Zhao Yu easier on the eyes."
Watching Shang Lu's face darken again in silence, Fei Heng continued shaking his head with a sigh. "I recall a certain someone once said the only two people he trusts in this world are me and Zhao Yu. What a shame—now I'm the only one left. And Zhao Yu's with Xue Zi'ang, no less. Don't you know what kind of person Xue Zi'ang is? Do you believe there's truly such a thing as a prodigal son reforming his ways?"
At this, he pointed at himself quite smugly. "Look, right in front of you stands one. Do you believe I would reform? Don't even say you don't believe it—I fucking don't even believe it myself."
Shang Lu stopped beneath the shade of a tree, gazing from a distance at the pool of blood still within the cordoned area. What surfaced before his eyes was the way Zhao Yu had trembled uncontrollably earlier, the pallid look of her face.
During the three years she had been with him, the number of times she had emotional breakdowns could be counted on one hand. But each time, she needed vast quantities of cigarettes to calm her nerves.
Besides cigarettes, she also needed sex.
Those were the only few times she took the initiative to climb on top of him and make him take her.
So right now, was she doing the same with Xue Zi'ang as she once did with him—desperately writhing her waist, begging him over and over to take her?
After a long pause, Shang Lu turned back to Fei Heng. "You have wide connections. Help me look into someone."
Fei Heng had been standing far from the restroom entrance earlier and hadn't heard what Shang Lu and Zhao Yu said. Having just finished venting about Xue Zi'ang, he assumed that was who Shang Lu meant.
"What's there to look into about that guy? Just casually ask around about his romantic history—definitely wilder than me, believe it or not?"
Naturally, Shang Lu didn't want to investigate Xue Zi'ang. What he wanted to investigate was Zhao Yu—or more precisely, Tang Xi.
He wanted to know in full detail everything she had gone through three years ago. Wanted to know what she sought to gain by following Xue Zi'ang.
But before he could speak, the phone in his palm rang. He looked down; it was his secretary calling.
"President Shang, you weren't here just now. The Chairman came down. He said that starting today, the BTD project will be handed over to President Shang Chen to take charge. We... we no longer have the authority to interfere."
Listening to the voice coming through the phone, Shang Lu's fingers gripping the phone gradually tightened.
The female secretary was too agitated; her voice had already taken on a tearful tone as she spoke. "We worked overtime and slaved away for so long. On what grounds are they saying hand it over, just like that? President Shang, this isn't fair. On what grounds, huh? Please go talk to the Chairman. This is the blood, sweat, and tears of all of us."
Seeing Shang Lu frozen in place, unmoving for a long while, Fei Heng curiously walked up to him, only to find his face pale, his eyes chillingly glacial.
"What's wrong? Trouble at the company? Or is your family at war again?"
Staring fixedly at Fei Heng for several seconds, Shang Lu finally spoke. "Stay out of my affairs. Otherwise, the day I lose, you'll go down with me."
Fei Heng gritted his teeth. "That little bastard Shang Chen is fucking with you again, isn't he? Does he even fucking understand brotherly bonds anymore?"
Shang Lu sneered. "If they still had any brotherly bonds, they wouldn't have tried to kill me three years ago."
Watching his resolute silhouette, Fei Heng strode forward to catch up. "Then... that investigation into Xue Zi'ang you asked for just now..."
"Forget it."
Zhao Yu did not return to the office. She told Xue Zi'ang she felt unwell and wanted to go back to rest. Xue Zi'ang, uneasy about her driving, personally escorted her back to her apartment. But he had an important client to meet and couldn't stay with her.
After feigning sleep to get Xue Zi'ang to leave, she quickly got up from the bed.
Before her eyes was still that piercingly red blood. In her nostrils was still the thick, metallic scent of blood, so strong it made her want to vomit. Yet after dry heaving over the toilet for a long while, nothing came out.
She still craved a cigarette—dying for one.
This feeling, both familiar and foreign, was several hundred times more intense than the day she had come face-to-face with Zhuang Yiqing at the dress center.
But there were no cigarettes in her apartment. She was afraid Xue Zi'ang would find them; Xue Zi'ang didn't smoke, and even more, he didn't like women who smoked.
So, without even changing out of her slippers, she ran down to the convenience store downstairs and bought a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Before she could even make it back to her apartment, she ducked into the dark stairwell and began smoking.
Three cigarettes burned down to ash, and she finally felt considerably calmer.
Yet soon after, her body grew hollow and empty. She urgently craved sex, craved being filled—by a living, breathing person, not a cold, lifeless vibrator.
She knew she didn't have sex addiction, but at that moment, her body truly was beyond the control of reason.
But she couldn't seek out Xue Zi'ang. Because from the very beginning, she had lied. Xue Zi'ang thought he remembered her cycle, thought these past few days were her period, and she had tacitly agreed.
She currently couldn't have sex with Xue Zi'ang.
Then who should she turn to?
A stranger? She didn't want to, was unwilling, and feared the risk.
Shang Lu? She took out her phone, found the number he had called from the day of his engagement, and her fingertip hovered over it for a long time, hesitating. Ultimately, she didn't dial. Their relationship was over; there shouldn't be any further entanglements.
Or go find Ji Sui? But it hadn't reached that point yet. Ji Sui was not the casual type. Her doing this would only ruin everything she'd worked for.
After smoking another cigarette, she returned to her apartment, hurriedly changed her clothes, grabbed a box of condoms, and headed out. She drove straight to the underground parking of Xu Chengyan's company.
She had asked Lu Bin. Xu Chengyan was in the office.
Although, according to her seduction plan, it wasn't yet time to deliver herself to his doorstep, she couldn't wait any longer.
She sent Xu Chengyan a message: I'm on B2. I want to fuck you.
The moment she sent it, she followed up with another: I'll give you ten minutes. If you don't come, I'll go hire a male prostitute.
She couldn't guarantee that man would come. But she could guarantee that if he didn't, she truly would go pay to solve this.
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