Qin Yan handed Xiaohua over to me. I held her carefully in my arms. She looked at me with curious eyes as beautiful as Yan Yan’s. She neither cried nor made a fuss. I wiped the milk from the corner of her mouth and gently held her tiny hand. I felt that this little person was warming my heart like a small furnace… I couldn’t put her down. I wanted to become a father! I had also grown tired of the endless work and social obligations in life, so recently, I often unconsciously recalled the life centered around family during my time in Xuzhou. If it hadn’t been for those unexpected events, the child of Mi Cai and me should have been born before Xiaohua!
I handed Xiaohua back to Yan Yan. The look in Yan Yan’s eyes was so doting, as if this child had become her entire world. Because of this, I felt a sense of sorrow for Fang Yuan. If it hadn’t been for his uncontrollable desires that led to such a cruel situation, who could have been happily living the life that he and Yan Yan once had…
Fortunately, Yan Yan met Qin Yan and had Xiaohua. She would definitely recover from this shadow. Yet I also knew that when she occasionally thought back to that child who had been sacrificed because of the broken relationship between herself and Fang Yuan, she must feel heartache… and that child was the most innocent of all. But he never had the chance, like us adults, to express his feelings or hatred with a stance!
…
In the week following, my assistant Ye Luo and I frequently contacted the Director Xu who was in charge of operations at Wansen Online Mall. We offered a salary he couldn’t refuse, and with Ye Luo’s existing personal relationship with him, we finally convinced him to make the decision to join our company… Although we ended up paying a million yuan in breach of contract compensation for him, once the resignation happened, the operational project that Wansen was working on fell into stagnation. Later, even though Fang Yuan personally took over the project’s operations, due to the missed opportunity, it was severely impacted again by our competitive actions. During a major sales event, we broke the daily sales record of 200 million yuan, while Wansen failed to break the 100 million yuan mark in their subsequent promotional activities.
From that point on, our website officially gained a foothold in the luxury goods sales industry. Indeed, right from the beginning of our operations, we successfully completed several milestone sales events…
People change, and the seasons continue their cycle. Soon, autumn was coming to an end again. It seemed as if the rain had come to welcome winter. Recently, there had been quite a lot of rain, which I found very annoying because it caused many outdoor events on the Cultural Arts Path to be postponed. Personally, I also disliked rain. I still remembered last autumn when, due to my negligence, I didn’t bring the flowerpots indoors, and a heavy rain ended up drowning many of the carefully cultivated plants, which made me sad for a long time…
This evening, it started to rain heavily again. I put aside my work and hurried back to the old house, because there were a few flowerpots I had left on the balcony outside and hadn’t brought in. I was afraid of repeating the same mistake.
It only took me 20 minutes to rush back to the old house. However, when I was driving my car towards the empty space behind the house, I unexpectedly noticed a red Audi R8 had already taken the parking spot. I naturally recognized it as Mi Lan’s car. I parked my car a bit farther away than usual, and then walked toward the stairwell with confusion…
As expected, Mi Lan was sitting at the entrance of the stairs. I inevitably made eye contact with her… Due to our longstanding discord, the atmosphere was very awkward.
Finally, I asked her, “Are you waiting for me?”
Mi Lan looked up at me. Her eyes no longer held the arrogance of the past; instead, they showed more anxiety. She lowered her head again before softly responding, “Mm!”
Looking at her pitiful expression, which bore some resemblance to Mi Cai, I couldn’t possibly be harsh with her. I just gently said to her, “If you have something to say, come inside the house.”
Mi Lan stood up from the stairs. She nodded, then walked ahead of me up the stairwell toward the floor where the old house was located, taking steps more familiar than mine.
After entering the house, the first thing I did after turning on the lights was to bring the flowerpots still caught in the rain indoors… Then, I finally had time to pour Mi Lan a cup of hot water. On this late autumn night, she was dressed far too lightly, and the gusts of cold wind at the stairwell entrance had chilled her badly!
In my opinion, she had always been a woman with lofty ambitions but little ability. She couldn’t even manage the basics of warmth and food in her own life, which was all caused by the excessive indulgence from her parents, the Mi Zhongde couple…
She held the hot water I handed her and took a sip. I went to Mi Cai’s room to find a thick coat for her to wear to keep warm. At that moment, the look in her eyes finally lacked the usual disdain and contempt. For the first time in her life, she said the word “thank you” to me.
I sat on the chair across from her, separated by the coffee table, and asked her again, “What did you come to see me for?”
Her expression was full of hesitation. She started with an “I,” but couldn’t continue…
I was willing to give her some time and space, so I deliberately looked out through the balcony glass at the rain falling outside. Although this rain was heavy, the sound of the drops was so rhythmic, as if carrying ancient truths, warning us who were seeking our way through the mundane world!
Mi Lan finally looked me in the eye and softly asked, “Will you only ever marry my sister?”
Her question caught me off guard, so much so that I hesitated before asking in return, “What do you mean by that?”
“You will definitely end up with my sister. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have kept this old house for so long…” After saying this, she fell silent again. I thought she seemed somewhat neurotic, and I still couldn’t understand the purpose of her saying these things to me.
Suddenly, she seemed to gather her courage and said to me again, “Brother-in-law… In the future, we will definitely become family. But do you really have to completely destroy Fang Yuan and Wansen Group?”
Her sudden outburst startled me a little, and I stared at her for a long time before replying, “Did you come here today just to claim family ties with me?”
“I… I just hope you can remember some of the old feelings… I’m so tired of this life now. Please, let Fang Yuan go and let us live together peacefully… I know I made so many terrible mistakes before, but I really love Fang Yuan. I don’t want to see him under so much pressure, and I don’t want him always bringing the stress from the company into our lives… I’m about to break down!”
Mi Lan began by sobbing, and by the end, she was covering her face and crying silently. At this moment, I saw a woman powerless against life, but I couldn’t convince myself to pity her, even though she was my sister-in-law. Because the feud involving Zhuo Mei couldn’t be resolved by a single plea for reconciliation based on familial ties. This had already escalated into an unstoppable commercial war, involving too many interest groups. I, alone, couldn’t halt it.
Moreover, back then, she and Fang Yuan had shown no regard for the blood ties with Mi Cai. They used despicable means to completely control Zhuo Mei, making Mi Cai and me endlessly endure the agony of separation. Therefore, her plea for reconciliation at this point was truly unacceptable!
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