Long Time No See (GL) - Chapter 36

When Shen Hanyue’s gaze fell on Yun Shu’s face, her eyes brightened, then dimmed, and then became chillingly intense. In that instant of mutual gaze, it was as if they had experienced all four seasons—the complex and rapidly changing emotions were hidden in her bottomless pupils.

Yun Shu’s face was too similar to that person’s. So similar that Shen Hanyue was momentarily lost, thinking she was still in the green, youthful years, infinitely longing for the future, drawing up beautiful blueprints. But in the end, it had become a simple, solitary life for herself.

She withdrew her stare and said plainly, “Long time no see. You are becoming more and more beautiful, not inferior to your mother at all.”

When her mother, Yun Xiwei, was mentioned, Shen Hanyue lowered her eyes, as if concealing the deep-seated emotions within them.

The phonograph in the corner of the second floor started playing, and Teresa Teng’s lighthearted singing drifted over, as if freezing time in the 1960s or 70s. Yun Shu poured a cup of tea for Shen Hanyue. She picked it up and put it down, looking at the ordered morning tea with no appetite.

“Let’s get straight to the point. Do you know why I’m looking for you?” Shen Hanyue pushed the tea aside and looked up again, facing Yun Shu directly.

“It’s for Yan Yan, isn’t it?” What else could make this rarely seen Shen Hanyue appear, if not her beloved daughter?

“I came back and found her distraught, washing her face with tears. I asked her for a long time, but she wouldn’t say. It was Old Ming who told me she had fallen for you. Ha, I really don’t know if it’s my sin or hers.” Shen Hanyue’s last sentence was practically squeezed out from between her teeth. She was suppressing her emotions. The resentment that had accumulated in her heart for years had turned into a swamp, and that mire had long muddied her heart.

“I apologize. This was not my intention, and I never expected her to feel this way. The unknowing are innocent. Please don’t blame her. I have already taken steps to deal with it, hoping to mend the fold before it’s too late.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Hanyue’s face darkened, like a sudden cold wind or an emerging dark cloud, sweeping in with a suffocating current.

“Your way of dealing with it is to give my daughter the silent treatment? Your way of dealing with it is to let her fall in love with you, then abandon her, pushing her alone into the abyss? Do you know what kind of pain and harm that is?” Her voice grew louder and louder, as if there was a ferocious beast in her heart, ready to break out of its cage with her true feelings.

Her years of restraint and control were easily disintegrated by Yun Shu. She saw herself in Ming Yan.

Yun Shu and Shen Hanyue knew each other, but rarely met. Shen Hanyue had been traveling all over the world. It was said that Mingde’s overseas businesses were built by her. Everyone thought she was a career-driven woman, but only she knew what she was looking for all over the world.

Similarly, even while she was not in the country, she could still manipulate things single-handedly. She was like a born strategist, cleverly using her power and money to remotely control Mingde, making her position deeply entrenched.

“Please don’t get agitated. I also didn’t expect that my kindness to her would be misunderstood, that it would make her develop such feelings. Initially, I was genuinely happy just knowing of her existence, and I sincerely wanted to be good to her. It was very pure.” Yun Shu’s sincerity did not earn Shen Hanyue’s understanding. She snorted coldly and countered, “Purely good to her? Do you know that your so-called good deeds were unconsciously seducing her? Do you know that the cold treatment approach is the most hurtful?”

“Chairwoman Shen, please calm down.”

Shen Hanyue could not calm down. She was like a car with failed brakes, unable to stop.

“You have no right to tell me to calm down. You and your mother are of the same ilk—fickle and promiscuous, seducing people without realizing it, and in the end, only knowing how to evade!”

Shen Hanyue’s loss of composure was highly unbefitting of her status. Her uninhibited words were a release of long-suppressed emotions. Ming Yan was like a mirror, repeating the tragedy of the past.

Yun Shu’s anger seemed to flow out of her eyes. The raging fire in her chest spread to her face, turning it crimson. Even though she resented her mother, she could not tolerate such insult from others.

She glared at Shen Hanyue, her hands tightly clenched, nails digging into her flesh. Negative emotions attempted to drown her reason but failed. In just ten seconds, Yun Shu’s expression had returned to normal, “I thought you came today for Yan Yan, but it turns out it was to vent your own dissatisfaction.”

“What?” Shen Hanyue frowned.

Yun Shu calmly took a sip of tea. She could not be impulsive like Shen Hanyue. Today’s confrontation was expected. Whoever lost control first would lose.

“Over the years, I’ve been pondering what kind of person you truly are. Since I joined Mingde, you have helped me both openly and secretly, finding every way to transfer me to the headquarters and elevate me quickly. My path to promotion was smooth and easy, and Old Ming took great care of me, but soon rumors spread that I was his mistress. What is your status? Such a strong and proud person, how could you tolerate your husband having an official mistress?”

Shen Hanyue unnaturally picked up her tea and took a sip. Yun Shu continued to speak slowly: “You pushed me to the forefront several times, even into the public eye, not hesitating to reveal my flight information, which nearly cost me my life. Your hatred for me is truly extreme, isn’t it?”

In recent years, Yun Shu had investigated both openly and secretly. She had always known that the mastermind behind the obstacles was Shen Hanyue. Initially, she thought it was due to the emotional entanglement of the previous generation. Coupled with Shen Hanyue being Ming Shangdong’s legitimate wife, Ming Yan’s biological mother, and having immense power, it was difficult to challenge, so she endured it.

But later, after talking with Ming Shangdong, she realized that things were not as they appeared on the surface.

The intricate entanglement between the three of them was more complex than the vines crisscrossing around the teahouse.

“Continue,” Shen Hanyue put down her cup. Her initial guilt transformed into composure. She watched Yun Shu with a slight smile, very curious about what she would say next.

“I heard that you, Old Ming, and my mother were university classmates. I’ve always wondered, originally my mother and Old Ming were a couple, and you were the third party who intervened, so why can you be so self-righteously hateful towards her and go to such lengths to take revenge on me?”

Shen Hanyue’s expression slightly changed. That untouchable nerve in her heart was struck by Yun Shu and began to fray.

The corner of Yun Shu’s mouth lifted. She stirred the tea in her cup and said slowly, “This question troubled me for a long time, until I met a friend whose first love was a woman. After her unexpected death, she suffered from depression and hasn’t been able to let go for ten years.” She then looked at Shen Hanyue. Nothing was more painful than tearing open a wound and dragging out the bloody reality.

At this moment, Shen Hanyue’s eyes revealed an unspeakable pain. The wound in her heart had never healed, ready to be ripped apart at any moment.

As long as it related to Yun Xiwei, a few words could stir up a storm, plunging her world into gloom and heaviness.

Yun Shu noticed the change in her expression and continued, “Some people are obsessed for a lifetime, others desperately run away. After searching for so many years without results, you tried to use her daughter to force her out? But you miscalculated. If she valued sentiment and loyalty, she wouldn’t have abandoned me and left. If she cared about you, she wouldn’t have chosen to completely disappear from this world.”

“Hehehe, Yun Shu, you are smarter than I imagined. Your talent and ability are obvious to all, but unfortunately, I cannot allow you to continue hurting my daughter. As for your mother, even if she hides to the ends of the earth, I will find her!”

“What if she’s dead?”

“She’s not dead! It’s impossible for her to be dead. She’s just hiding from me, I know it! I must find her in this lifetime.”

This was Shen Hanyue’s only reason for living. She exhausted every means, utilizing vast human, financial, and material resources, even expanding Mingde’s presence overseas under the guise of business, all to search for the woman who had caused her a lifetime of resentment.

Her entire life revolved around Yun Xiwei. It was regrettable that she missed her daughter’s growth, and in that absence of companionship, she discovered that her daughter not only followed in her footsteps but also fell in love with Yun Xiwei’s daughter—her own half-sister.

The slap of fate was too harsh, more powerful than all the pain, and it had pushed Shen Hanyue’s patience to the breaking point.

“Chairwoman Shen, you are tired after all these years, and I am tired too. There is no conflict of interest between us, nothing to fight over. Once the performance agreement is completed, regardless of the outcome, I will leave Mingde. I will no longer be a tool for you to force my mother to appear, nor will I give Ming Yan any chance to approach me. You can rest assured on that point.”

“Rest assured? You truly have copied your mother’s coldness and heartlessness. Do you think disappearing is being good to Yan Yan?” Shen Hanyue stood up, glaring at Yun Shu. “I will not be like Xiwei, neglecting my own daughter. Yan Yan is the apple of my eye. No matter how you handle it, if you deepen this hurt, I will absolutely not let you go.”

The atmosphere between the two surged from a calm sea into a storm of waves, suddenly flashing with lightning and thunder, as if a fierce downpour was imminent. Shen Hanyue’s unrestrained aura burst forth, forcing Yun Shu to stand up with her.

“You know that Yan Yan and I have no possibility. Severing ties is the only way.”

“Then I ask you, do you like her?”

A flicker of surprise crossed Yun Shu’s eyes. She shook her head speechlessly: “Even if I liked her, would you still advocate for us to be together?”

“Why not?”

“Are you insane? We are half-sisters.”

“Don’t use morality and ethics as an excuse. Is the world lacking in absurd things?” Shen Hanyue’s extremism made Yun Shu involuntarily draw a cold breath. Her thinking was incomprehensible, and her fanaticism was puzzling. Yun Shu calmed her tone, casting a cold gaze over Shen Hanyue’s face and eyes, saying, “Alright then, I’ll tell you. I don’t like her, even if we weren’t sisters.”

Her tone was remarkably similar to Yun Xiwei’s in the past. This sentence seemed to use the same phrasing as years ago: “Alright then, Hanyue, I’ll tell you. I don’t like you, even if you were a man.”

What a desperate sentence, casually erasing everything between them.

Looking at this face that resembled her so closely, the bitterness in Shen Hanyue’s heart spread endlessly, corroding that scarred heart and igniting an uncontrollable fury. She picked up the teacup and abruptly splashed the contents onto Yun Shu’s face.

Gu Weiran, who was secretly watching, was stunned by the action. She saw Yun Shu calmly wipe the water from her face, casually picking off the tea leaves clinging to her temples, yet showing no sign of distress or embarrassment. A chilling smile crossed her lips, stinging Gu Weiran’s heart.

After splashing Yun Shu, the woman angrily walked away. Gu Weiran immediately grabbed a cup of hot water, lowered her head, and deliberately bumped into her.

The slightly warm water splashed onto Shen Hanyue’s sleeve. She gasped and looked furiously at Gu Weiran.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Auntie, I didn’t mean to. Are you okay? Did it burn you?” Gu Weiran apologized repeatedly. Looking up, she saw Shen Hanyue’s exquisitely beautiful face and was momentarily stunned, but was quickly drawn back by her clouded expression.

She was prepared to be scolded, but Shen Hanyue saw that the girl was about the same age as her daughter. She couldn’t bring herself to scold her, so she suppressed her anger, “I’m fine. You didn’t burn yourself, did you?”

“No…”

She had intended to “get revenge” for Yun Shu, but the woman’s magnanimity and elegance made her feel guilty. Why wasn’t the situation unfolding as she had imagined?

“Well, it’s good that you’re fine.” As soon as Shen Hanyue finished speaking, she saw a bodyguard rushing up the stairs. She waved him off, looked deeply at Yun Shu again, and then left.

Gu Weiran touched her forehead and walked towards Yun Shu. Water droplets still clung to Yun Shu’s eyebrows. Her heart ached beyond words.

She didn’t know how this peaceful conversation had turned into this. Gu Weiran caught a few key phrases during their confrontation but couldn’t piece together the whole story.

Yun Shu looked at her without saying a word. Gu Weiran nearly buried her head in her chest, feeling like she could foresee her own fate.

But she didn’t regret it.

“Go ahead and scold me!” She closed her eyes, waiting for the verdict.

“Who told you to come here?”

Yun Shu gently wiped her forehead with a tissue, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with her.

Gu Weiran gritted her teeth, summoned her courage, and met Yun Shu’s gaze, “Perhaps you have reasons and difficulties for being patient, but I’m different. I’m a stickler for details. Others can bully me, but they can’t offend you. I have nothing I care about or worry about. Anyway, she doesn’t know me. If I don’t vent this anger, I’ll suffocate.”

“So you think what you did was right?”

“I was right. If you want to scold me, I’ll accept it, but I won’t apologize.” Gu Weiran was stubborn as a rock. Yun Shu looked at her calmly and said, “I wanted to say…”

Gu Weiran’s heart tightened, utterly terrified, but Yun Shu revealed a delighted smile, “Well done.”