LBC |Love Beyond Control/Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ever since the day he met Xiang Zhufeng, Xin Yuan had become used to waiting.

In university, he waited for Xiang Zhufeng, who was still a senior then, to get out of class, waited for him to finish his part-time tutoring job, waited for him to have free time so he could tell him a little about those literature materials Xin Yuan was actually not interested in at all.

After graduation, Xin Yuan became used to Xiang Zhufeng being busy, got used to him following Xin Jianye on business trips and meetings every few days, got used to him being so busy that he would go several days without replying to messages.

Xin Yuan knew that Xiang Zhufeng’s family background was poor, knew that he cherished the chance to be entrusted with important work by Xin Jianye, and knew even more about the unwillingness and restraint deep in his heart, so he always waited quietly, waited for Xiang Zhufeng to have time, to need him, then rushed to Xiang Zhufeng’s side at the first possible moment.

But after so many years, when Xiang Zhufeng first took the initiative to send him, “How exactly are you going to be willing to reply to my messages?”, Xin Yuan’s first reaction was actually laughter.

So all this time, in Xiang Zhufeng’s eyes, he had been this amusing.

“Brother Xiaoyuan, President Xiang said this is your favorite restaurant. I stood in line for a long time to buy it.”

Xiaonuan crouched beside Xin Yuan, fussing repeatedly at his sleeve. “Just eat one bite. The next few days are the most important scenes. If you don’t eat anything, and then end up dragging out some problem like before, President Xiang will fire me…”

Xin Yuan only blinked. His ears seemed to hear nothing at all as he hugged his knees and curled up on the sofa, continuing to stare at the crumpled script in his hands.

Xiaonuan stood up in a panic, then crouched back down. Just as she was struggling over how to keep persuading Xin Yuan, a sudden “beep” of a card swipe sounded from outside the door.

Xiang Zhufeng appeared at the entrance with a gloomy face.

Probably because he had rushed over too hastily, even his usually meticulous suit had wrinkled a little, and his expression had completely lost its usual gentleness. Heavy shadows fell across his brow, making his eyes look incomparably cold and sharp.

Xiaonuan tactfully stepped back two paces, and before Xiang Zhufeng could start scolding anyone, she quickly slipped out.

Without any explanation needed, just by looking at the untouched food spread across the table, Xiang Zhufeng knew what had happened again.

“You don’t want to see me, you don’t want to talk to me, I’m not forcing you, but is this really how you’re going to torture yourself?”

Xin Yuan still had his head lowered, as if he had sealed himself inside an invisible cocoon. Xiang Zhufeng’s nameless anger flared up at once, and he grabbed Xin Yuan’s arm, forcibly dragging him down from the sofa.

However, after seeing Xin Yuan’s deathly pale face clearly, Xiang Zhufeng froze in place in an instant.

He subconsciously loosened his grip. Only a few seconds later did he pick up the unsteady Xin Yuan, lay him flat on the bed, then rush to the suitcase to look for medicine.

“Sit up, take the medicine first.”

Xiang Zhufeng tried his best to make his voice gentler, but Xin Yuan still acted as if he had heard nothing, shrinking into the blanket with his lips tightly pressed together.

He knew Xiang Zhufeng was angry, and he also knew that if he kept doing this, Xiang Zhufeng would only get even angrier, but he just did not want to take medicine, and even more did not want to look at Xiang Zhufeng even once.

“Do you not hear me when I’m talking?”

Endurance had long since become a habit carved into Xiang Zhufeng’s bones, but when it came to Xin Yuan tormenting his own body, his anger was something that could ignite at the slightest touch.

Xiang Zhufeng no longer bothered with words. He directly lifted the blanket, grabbed Xin Yuan by the collar with one hand and pinned him against the headboard, while the other hand forcefully pried open Xin Yuan’s mouth, shoving the water and medicine straight inside.

Xin Yuan still wanted to struggle, but Xiang Zhufeng’s palm pressed tightly against the lower half of his face, not even giving him a chance to breathe. He could only swallow that mouthful of bitterness hard.

Large tears welled up and spilled out, crashing onto Xiang Zhufeng’s hand, like grievance boiling to a thousand degrees before splashing out. It burned so much that Xiang Zhufeng could only let go.

Xin Yuan’s expression was still so defiant, but his body was like a little shrimp dehydrated on the shore. The moment Xiang Zhufeng let go, he curled into a ball and started coughing, one after another.

That muffled coughing from deep in his lungs stabbed hard at Xiang Zhufeng. He was already regretting not having suppressed his temper when Xin Yuan stubbornly straightened up again and widened his eyes to stare at him.

Those wet, red apricot eyes were very bright, very clear, with the dark pupils trapped within them, like a deep pool that was pure to the extreme yet forever impossible to see the bottom of, leaving Xiang Zhufeng not knowing what expression he should use to face him.

In the years after the two of them officially got together, there had been almost no conflicts. The main reason was that Xin Yuan seemed born without something like a temper. Sometimes, even when Xiang Zhufeng felt that he had neglected Xin Yuan for too long, Xin Yuan still would not take the initiative to complain.

So when faced with Xin Yuan like this now, all the schemes and means Xiang Zhufeng had used in the business world felt like a feather.

But Xiang Zhufeng quickly calmed down after all.

After all, in love, the one who did not love was always the one in the stronger position.

“I didn’t explain in advance about me and Xin Hui, and it made you upset. That was my fault, so now you’re doing this to yourself, and turning around to make me upset, is that it?”

Xin Yuan’s eyes turned even redder. He simply turned his body away, not wanting Xiang Zhufeng to see how pathetic he looked.

“You know better than anyone that Xin Hui could never possibly like me. Xin Jianye arranging for the two of us to get engaged was only to ensure the company’s stability. No one and nothing can change the relationship between us.”

Xiang Zhufeng’s voice carried thick helplessness. Half coaxing, half apologizing, he sat beside Xin Yuan. “I know what I did was wrong, but I never told you because I was afraid that after you knew the reason, you would only feel even worse.”

“In your eyes, am I really that useless?”

Xin Yuan finally spoke, but it was filled with self-mockery. “For so many years, you’ve kept saying you want to protect me, that it’s for my own good, but do I not even have the ability to bear the truth? Have you ever thought that I would worry about you too, and that I also wanted to help you share the burden of your difficulties?”

Xiang Zhufeng did not answer for a while. Only after half a minute did he use the remote to turn on the television and switch it to a replay of the evening news.

The female voice on the television was reporting:

“According to the latest official announcement on March 26, the cause of the construction accident at Hanhai Group has now been fully investigated. The cause of death of the three employees at the site was that, in order to save construction time, they illegally operated machinery on their own, resulting in a partial collapse at the site.”

“Out of humanitarian spirit, Hanhai Group will no longer pursue the joint liability of the migrant workers, and will provide basic condolence payments to their families, demonstrating the social responsibility of a large enterprise…”

Hanhai Group was a real estate company built by Xin Jianye with his own hands. Not only did it construct commercial housing and contract major engineering projects, in recent years it had even crossed into entertainment, a giant in the industry that others could only look up to.

And just last month, Hanhai Group suddenly had a construction scandal explode. It was said that, in order to save money, it had provided workers with shoddy temporary dormitory board houses, causing the dormitory area to collapse and leaving many dead and injured.

Xin Yuan had only found out not long ago. At that time, around the New Year, Xin Jianye, Xiang Zhufeng, and his mother had all disappeared for nearly half a month, all to deal with this matter.

But rumors were ultimately just rumors. Now that the official announcement had been released, no one could pursue Hanhai’s responsibility anymore.

Xiang Zhufeng stared fixedly at the television. With every word the host said, the hatred in his eyes deepened by another degree.

Xin Yuan vaguely guessed something, yet he did not dare think any further.

“But the people who actually died were not just 3. There were 11 living, breathing people.”

Xiang Zhufeng turned off the television and stared at the corner of the wall with his deep, dark eyes. “The rumor wasn’t wrong either. The accident happened because Hanhai wanted to cut costs.”

“When the accident happened, it just so happened to be New Year’s. Those workers, in order to save a little travel fare, chose to stay in the temporary dormitory board houses that didn’t even have air conditioning, and then that batch of utterly unqualified, shoddy board houses collapsed on New Year’s Eve…”

Xiang Zhufeng’s voice suddenly stopped. After a moment, he continued, “Actually, those people originally had a chance to survive, but because Xin Jianye wanted to seal off the news, he did not find professional rescue personnel at all. When I rushed to the scene, I could even hear someone inside shouting, help me.”

Xin Yuan slowly sat up straight. He wanted to see Xiang Zhufeng’s expression clearly at this moment, but he could only see his tense back.

“I clearly knew they were all still alive, but because I was Xin Jianye’s subordinate, my duty was to protect Hanhai Group’s interests, so I could only listen as those screams grew weaker and weaker, weaker and weaker.”

“Even on the second day, after I watched those corpses with their eyes wide open being carried out, the first thing I did was draft the compensation coordination letter for Xin Jianye, to seal the mouths of those victims’ families, to make sure they had no chance to speak again.”

Xiang Zhufeng’s clenched fist suddenly slammed toward the corner of the wall, carving a scratch through the air.

“And the gift Xin Jianye rewarded me with was Xin Hui.”

Xiang Zhufeng braced himself against the wall and let out a faint laugh. “All these years, I’ve done countless dirty things like this for him, because only then would he fully believe that he and I were on the same boat. If I refused, my ending would only be even worse than those people’s.”

“I’m sorry…”

Xiang Zhufeng’s lower back tightened. Xin Yuan’s thin hands wrapped around him from behind, his face gently rubbing against Xiang Zhufeng’s back as he kept apologizing nonstop, “I shouldn’t have forced you like this. Don’t think about it anymore, don’t think about it anymore…”

Don’t think about it?

Xiang Zhufeng stared at Xin Yuan’s hands, and a smile that could almost be called horrific appeared on his face.

If eyes could turn into blades, then Xin Yuan’s fingers, wrists, and tendons right now would definitely be cut apart by him piece by piece.

Because the person in this world least qualified to say that to him was Xin Yuan!

No one knew that when he was ten, Xiang Zhufeng had lost his parents forever in an accident.

A distant cousin’s aunt took him in for the sake of the family house, but her husband hated him very much and only let him sleep in the storage shed on the rooftop. Fortunately, with the elderly grandmother next door secretly supporting him, he got through one after another severe winter and scorching summer.

Xiang Zhufeng studied and worked desperately, all for the day when he could escape that family that did not love him at all, and properly repay the kindly neighbor grandmother, as well as the cute little girl from the grandmother’s family.

But just three years ago, when he was about to graduate from his master’s program and had finally almost saved enough money for the grandmother’s surgery, the grandmother and the little girl died in a car accident.

A car accident personally created by Xin Yuan and He Ye.

The matter was naturally suppressed by Xin Jianye single-handedly.

From the time of the incident to the closing of the case, it took only three days, and the grandmother and the little girl turned into a handful of ashes, with no way to ever prove the truth, dying with injustice.

The reason behind it was also very simple.

At that time, Xin Yuan had already received Wang Muge’s script, and Xin Jianye wanted, at all costs, to turn Xin Yuan into a big star.

Xiang Zhufeng spent a full three years gradually gaining Xin Jianye’s trust and securing his current position.

But that was still far from enough.

Xin Jianye’s power was like tangled tree roots. The longer he had contact with Hanhai Group, the more he understood how deep its dark side was.

If he wanted to completely bring down Xin Jianye and make Xin Yuan and He Ye receive the punishment they deserved, he still had to dig deeper and obtain more evidence before he could take revenge without the slightest mistake.

And Xin Yuan was the source of all this sin, as well as the best stepping stone for his revenge.

Xiang Zhufeng knew clearly that many times his methods were still far from clever enough, and his lies were not complete enough either, but fortunately, he was certain that he had the greatest chip of all,

Xin Yuan loved him unconditionally.