Returning - Chapter 95
Chapter 95: Blurred Lines
The Donghai under the smog was a blanket of gray.
Even the slightly more distant buildings were indistinct, and looking out, one only felt oppressive heaviness and suffocation.
After standing in contemplation for a long time by the floor-to-ceiling window of the lounge, Xue Zhan finally turned slowly, his gaze falling on the woman still unconscious on the bed.
She had completely broken down, crying until she fainted. Song Xuan, who had come to confront her, had also broken down.
This was originally what Xue Zhan had wanted to see. He had been ready to watch the show, waiting to witness her exposure, waiting for a woman so scheming and calculating to have her mask thoroughly torn off.
Yet the final scene was vastly different from what he had imagined, and the outcome was completely beyond his expectations.
Was she still acting? Had she found someone with superb acting skills to cooperate with her?
But his suspicions had clearly been intensifying precisely because of Song Xuan.
At the banquet that night, Xue Zhan hadn't clearly heard what Zhao Yu and Song Xuan said, but watching them converse from a distance, he felt something was off.
One entangling with anger, the other forcing calm while evading—it didn't look at all like what Zhao Yu had described: her meddling in other people's business and Song Xuan's ingratitude.
Having navigated the business world for years, Xue Zhan was most skilled at reading people. Just the information revealed by Zhao Yu and Song Xuan's body language convinced him that their relationship was more than just old classmates. Moreover, when she noticed him standing in the distance, Zhao Yu had clearly been startled—he interpreted that as guilt.
The slight suspicion left by Zhao Yu's allergic reaction at the annual meeting, the abruptness of her using him to provoke Xue Zi'ang, and now Song Xuan's appearance—these things successfully led him to re-examine this woman from a different angle.
So that very night, Xue Zhan contacted the friend hosting the banquet for the guest list data, successfully identifying Song Xuan. With just one phone call to his superior, he learned that from his university graduation until now, Song Xuan had remained single. No matter how outstanding the women who pursued him, he rejected them all. Rumor was he couldn't forget his university girlfriend. And when he was in university, he was in the same year, same major as Zhao Yu.
Considering the abnormal scene of them standing and talking together, Xue Zhan's intuition told him Zhao Yu was the woman Song Xuan couldn't forget.
So he carefully reviewed Zhao Yu's detailed resume, and sure enough, suspicious points abounded.
A person who completed both secondary and university education domestically, yet went directly to work in the United States the year she graduated. And she wasn't a top-tier professional in her field; foreign companies had no reason to recruit her from across the ocean and sponsor her visa for going abroad.
Especially since she traveled so far to the U.S. to work, only stayed at the company that hired her for two months, then jumped to Huacan's North American division.
A careful review of the entire resume essentially pointed to one thing: Zhao Yu's departure abroad wasn't for work.
And someone from an ordinary family background, without overseas study experience or cutting-edge expertise, was unlikely to have the means to get herself out of the country. There must be someone behind her.
Xue Zhan had no concrete evidence that Zhao Yu wore another mask and hid many secrets. But he was almost certain that this woman was far from as simple as she appeared on the surface—including her involvement with Xue Zi'ang.
After reaching this conclusion, Xue Zhan was, in fact, angry.
Not only because of his naive and easily deceived nephew, but also because of the flicker of compassion he had once felt for Zhao Yu, and the guilt stemming from how his private matters had caused her hand injury and a life-threatening allergic reaction.
Thus, Xue Zhan began his probing. Skilled at gauging human hearts, he enjoyed playing this game. He wanted to tear the mask from Zhao Yu's face with his own hands.
When Song Xuan's superior explicitly confirmed that Zhao Yu was indeed the woman who had heartlessly dumped Song Xuan, based on the behaviors of scheming women he had often witnessed, he could mostly piece together Zhao Yu's past:
In university, she dated the tall and handsome Song Xuan. After graduation, she latched onto a wealthy man, decisively dumped Song Xuan, and went to America with someone else.
After things didn't work out well in the U.S., she returned to China and targeted him.
As for Xue Zi'ang, he was merely Zhao Yu's stepping stone to get close to him. After all, anyone with a real brain knew that Xue Zi'ang relied on his family, while the future master of the Xue family, the future ruler of Huacan, was him—Xue Zhan.
Although his nephew was simple-minded and couldn't read people, for a man whose heart belonged elsewhere yet was so promiscuous to surrender his true feelings, Zhao Yu could be considered quite capable.
Unfortunately, her ambition was too great. She didn't understand contentment and still delusionally hoped to climb higher.
Believing he had seen through everything, Xue Zhan began to wait—waiting for Zhao Yu to make her move, waiting for the perfect moment to rip off her mask.
For the Qingming business trip, he originally intended to take Gu Shuyang.
But he deliberately told Gu Shuyang to just pick anyone. As expected, Zhao Yu couldn't wait and volunteered.
Unsurprisingly, she developed a fever that very night. The weather in Yandu wasn't that cold, she was dressed warmly enough, the hotel room had heating—how could it be such a coincidence that she fell ill on the first day of the business trip?
When Zhao Yu knocked on his door without wearing a bra, everything became self-evident.
But Xue Zhan had to admit, her acting was truly impressive. Already so weak from illness, she still performed flawlessly before him. If he hadn't already seen through everything, he would have almost felt compassion for her again, just like last time.
Whether it was truly some coveting of her body, or simply a desire to toy with her and take revenge, making her believe she had succeeded before sending her plummeting from the peak—when he entered her body, Xue Zhan didn't hesitate.
And that sexual encounter did indeed bring him dual physical and emotional satisfaction.
He watched coldly as Zhao Yu continued to perform diligently beneath him, as she displayed that appearance of being chilled and resentful toward him yet not daring to truly distance herself. He found it utterly ridiculous, even somewhat admiring this woman's persistence.
He certainly had enough patience to spar with her. He just hadn't expected that on the very first day back at work, Song Xuan would come chasing to the company.
But he was also very willing to watch Song Xuan help expose Zhao Yu's hypocrisy.
However, what happened next was even more unexpected.
Rubbing his brow, Xue Zhan let out a long breath. Having pondered too many things, with too much truth and falsehood impossible to distinguish, he suddenly felt somewhat weary.
Zhao Yu on the bed still hadn't woken. He had summoned a doctor to examine her; it was indeed a fainting spell caused by excessively intense emotion and sorrowful crying. This couldn't be faked before a professional doctor.
And the reactions of her and Song Xuan at the time also seemed far too real.
If it was all an act, just how good would their acting skills have to be to achieve this?
But if everything was true, then had he wronged her?
Thinking of that most brutal sexual encounter of his life in Yandu, Xue Zhan couldn't help but frown slightly.
If that was truly the case, it was not merely a misunderstanding, but harm—irreparable harm he had inflicted upon her.
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