TGSS - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Deception

"This has nothing to do with you." Liang Zhouyi quickly returned to normal, as if she did not mind at all what Wen Xiaoying had said, and said lightly, "You should worry about your own affairs first. Leave Chu He out of this. Whatever else, I have been more than fair to you. I came to tell you that the grudges between us end here."

Wen Xiaoying fell silent. Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but then she pressed them tightly together. Color seemed to drain rapidly from her pretty face. It turned out she had been making a fool of herself all along.

Liang Zhouyi looked at her for a long moment, as if feeling that the two of them would likely never cross paths again in this lifetime, and with rare patience added, "I have already handed in my resignation. I will not work as a director anymore. No matter which media company you go to, you will not run into me. It's just..." Whether you could still pick yourself up and continue being an influencer was no longer her concern.

"Liang Zhouyi!" Wen Xiaoying suddenly could not stand the way she was acting. Her eyes reddened as she shouted hatefully, as if trying to convince herself, "I do not regret what happened back then at all, not at all!"

Liang Zhouyi felt like laughing a little. She just turned her back to Wen Xiaoying without looking back and waved her hand. None of that mattered anymore. Now she had something truly worth caring about.

Wen Xiaoying stared blankly at Liang Zhouyi, her chest feeling as if a large piece had suddenly been gouged out. Realizing that Liang Zhouyi would never have anything to do with her again left her more lost than when she had worried about revenge after running into Liang Zhouyi again.

Her knees softened, and she had to brace herself against the wall to stay standing, her fingers clawing at it, her head tilted in incomprehension. She recalled how her feelings for Liang Zhouyi had gone from admiration and envy at first sight to affection and jealousy, and then to arguments and resentment, until finally there was no way back.

A few brief sentences could sum up all those years between her and Liang Zhouyi. The thread between them had finally snapped. From now on she could only watch Liang Zhouyi walk forward fearlessly as she once had. She stood rooted for a long time, and in the end could only let out a hollow laugh.

Liang Zhouyi had no idea what was twisting and turning in Wen Xiaoying's heart, but Wen Xiaoying's words that Chu He was already engaged to someone else still cut her until she bled. So when Chu He had said she was busy in S City, had it actually been to see that girl? That was the first time Chu He had lied to her, and every lie after seemed to carry that girl's shadow. She really had no way to treat all of this as coincidence.

In that moment Liang Zhouyi suddenly wanted to look again at the photo Zheng Xinyan had sent back then, but she did not even seem to have the courage to open her phone. Just recalling that image left a bitter, metallic taste in her mouth. After running through countless possibilities of confronting Chu He, she ultimately chose to give up. Before that, she still wanted to confirm it one more time, as if clinging to a fantasy.

When Liang Zhouyi found Tan Qing, he was busy organizing material. He was so focused he did not even notice her arrival. Liang Zhouyi walked up beside him and saw his desktop crowded with folders of videos and photos. She glanced casually and saw a pile of familiar influencer names. No wonder he claimed his material library held photos of more than half the influencers in H City.

"So this is your career plan for the future," Liang Zhouyi asked, out of that tiny bit of friendship she still felt.

"So what if it is?" Tan Qing jerked his head up, startled by her sudden voice. He instinctively locked his computer, his expression a little sour. "Yeah, this is all I am good for. It's not like you didn't know."

He had never liked entering those supposedly prestigious competitions. If it were not for his family, for the need to keep up that little bit of bragging capital, he would not have wanted to win any awards at all. He simply preferred photographing beautiful women and handsome men.

"Do as you like. I didn't say anything about you, why are you so jumpy?" Liang Zhouyi felt unfairly accused, and it almost made her forget why she had come.

Tan Qing's fragile little heart ached a bit. "I know I don't have grand ideals and ambitions like you, and my mind isn't as lofty as yours. In your eyes I am probably just someone who leaves good subjects alone to shoot borderline suggestive stuff. But didn't you also say last time that I had hit a bottleneck? Now I realize I am happiest just staying in my comfort zone doing what I like."

Liang Zhouyi was taken aback. She would not comment on his preferences, just a little stunned that he thought of her that way, and she explained, "I have never thought there is any hierarchy in what you shoot. I want to go to many places only because of my own upbringing. That is not being aloof or noble."

Why did people always think she was trying to pursue some kind of art? She simply wanted to help the child she had been, locked for so long in a dim little room, so that she too could stride boldly in the sunlight.

Pulling back her wandering thoughts, Liang Zhouyi softened her expression and asked Tan Qing, whose face still showed surprise, "Tan Qing, do you consider me a friend?"

"Of course," Tan Qing answered without hesitation, then seemed to sense something ominous and asked tentatively, "Why are you suddenly asking that?"

Liang Zhouyi braced one hand on his desk, her eyes glinting coldly, and asked, "You told me that day that Chu He was being forced by her family. You knew about this long ago?"

"I..." Tan Qing was stunned for a moment and mumbled, "Actually, it wasn't that long ago."

"But as early as when we were on the business trip in A City," Liang Zhouyi said with absolute certainty.

"How did you... know?" Tan Qing's eyes widened slightly, looking rather shocked.

Having confirmed what she suspected, certain matters were settled. Liang Zhouyi's fingers tightened, as if she might flip Tan Qing's desk over. A gloomy shadow colored her eyes, and it was a long moment before she spoke again.

"So she was already planning to get engaged to this girl back then. How interesting."

Tan Qing immediately grew anxious, as if he had finally thought of something to defend Chu He with, and said loudly, "No, that's not it. Back then it was about my childhood friend, Wen Xiaoying's ex-boyfriend. Chu He must have turned him down later!"

Although Tan Qing knew very well why the engagement had been called off, at this moment he just wanted to calm Liang Zhouyi down quickly. He felt her expression was terrifying, as if she might grab a knife and go after someone the next second.

"Turned him down, huh," Liang Zhouyi said thoughtfully. "Turned down that man and then chose this girl instead, is that it? Oh, so that's how it is..."

Tan Qing was a little confused, but with his incomplete information he kept trying to comfort her. "Since she turned down my childhood friend, she she she... will definitely turn down this woman too!"

Hearing those words that lacked any confidence, Liang Zhouyi let out a short laugh, her voice icy cold, teeth half gritted. "How do you know she didn't turn down the others precisely so she could choose this woman?"

The certainty in her words left Tan Qing with nothing to say. He looked a little pitiful, stunned and not knowing what to say to make up for his slip. In fact, Chu He's attitude that day had not seemed resistant to Chu Ze's proposal at all, and even he was starting to be unsure what Chu He really took Liang Zhouyi for.

Liang Zhouyi gave Tan Qing a faint glance. She had already gotten the answer she wanted and did not intend to tangle with him further. Just as she opened the door, Tan Qing made one last desperate suggestion. "Zhou Yi, Chu He really does like you. You two... talk it out properly. I think there must be some misunderstanding in all this."

What misunderstanding could there be? The deception was real, the concealment was real. And of all the promises Chu He had once made to her, how many had been jokes and how many had been serious?

Thinking this, she still tried to soften her expression and turned back with a smile. "I understand. I will find a time to talk with her. Just don't tell her I came to see you today, absolutely don't, okay?"

Liang Zhouyi's tone was very serious, with a stern warning in it, as if this were something that could not allow the slightest slip. Tan Qing nodded instinctively, but on second thought found Liang Zhouyi's expression very strange. She no longer showed even a trace of anger, as if she intended to let the matter pass lightly. But was she really that kind of person?

Unlike Liang Zhouyi, Chu He was in a very good mood. She had finally finished all her work and could leisurely go grocery shopping and cook with Liang Zhouyi.

Sitting in the car, she tugged at the hem of Liang Zhouyi's clothes, her eyes bright with a proud, kitten-like desire to be petted. "I am starting to hand over my work today. Once I wrap things up, I will have a long stretch of time to go with you wherever you want to go."

Liang Zhouyi showed a timely flicker of delight, then curved her lips and asked her, "How long is a long time?"

Thinking of the little time she had left, Chu He felt a pang of discomfort, and the corners of her mouth dipped unconsciously. Liang Zhouyi, who was watching her closely, naturally caught it.

"Until you get tired of being with me," Chu He joked about herself.

"What if I never get tired of it?" Liang Zhouyi pressed.

"Then of course I will stay with you always," Chu He said with a bright smile, her face without a trace of shadow.

Liang Zhouyi's heart sank further. Her posture remained relaxed and casual as Chu He held her, and hearing those words she even managed to show a happy smile.

"This weekend is my birthday. What about the birthday gift you promised?" Chu He suddenly leaned in close in the cramped space to ask her, her brows and eyes full of anticipation. She was so curious about it she felt almost restless.

Liang Zhouyi raised an eyebrow. She had actually checked later about the birthday, and Chu He's birthday was indeed not this weekend as she remembered. But perhaps there was an issue with the date registered on her ID, so she had not dwelled on it further.

"Don't worry, it will probably be a surprise you will never forget for the rest of your life," Liang Zhouyi said in a lowered voice, her originally clear tone taking on a clinging, ambiguous softness.

Chu He seemed not to notice at all. She looked at Liang Zhouyi with a teasing smile, taking it as Liang Zhouyi just being mysterious with her.

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