Chapter 192

Chapter 192 - 192 185 Exposing the Fake Benefactor Xie Shang Learns Chapter 192: 185: Exposing the Fake Benefactor, Xie Shang Learns the Truth About the Drowning (Second Update) Chapter 192: 185: Exposing the Fake Benefactor, Xie Shang Learns the Truth About the Drowning (Second Update) Wen Changling’s irritation spiked instantly, it took all her effort to suppress the urge to lock Fang Jiyin back in her room.

It must have been Wu Yue who drugged Fang Jiyin. Or perhaps, it was Jiang Chengxue.

In any case, the result was that Fang Jiyin couldn’t walk steadily and ended up kneeling on the ground, blocking Xie Shang’s path, panting, clutching her skirt, enduring the itch that emanated from her bones.

“Wen Changling, she,” she was in extreme discomfort, tears falling heavily, “she drugged me and even threw me... into a strange man’s room. How could she do this to me?”

Her sobs and tears choked her as she cried bitterly, “Fourth brother, you see her, see her true face.”

Xie Shang was looking at Wen Changling.

If Wen Changling guessed right, Fang Jiyin probably wanted something to happen between her and Wu Yue. Even if nothing happened, as long as something was captured or someone saw something, it was enough for the situation to be ambiguous and unclean with a man and a woman alone in a room.

Wen Changling glanced at Wu Yue lying on the ground, still breathing, not dead. She made a phone call, calling for an ambulance.

After roughly confirming, Xie Shang deduced that Wen Changling was not the one at a disadvantage. It didn’t matter to him how Fang Jiyin ended up; what he cared more about was the audience to this drama.

Jiang Chengxue raised her eyebrows, eagerly meeting Xie Shang’s gaze.

Xie Shang walked past Fang Jiyin, continuing forward.

Fang Jiyin, kneeling, lunged forward, grabbing onto the suit jacket on Xie Shang’s wrist: “Fourth brother.” The drug was taking effect; her eyes, brimming with tears and suggestive like silk, she looked up at Xie Shang with longing and obsession, “Please help me, take me away from here. I can’t let others see me like this, I can’t disgrace the Xie Family.”

Her dress straps were torn, one arm blocking her chest, half-covered.

She had been knocked out midway, and upon awakening, she had felt a strange reaction in her body. She couldn’t help but stare at Xie Shang’s Adam’s apple, feeling so itchy, crying in a soft voice, “Fourth brother, I feel so uncomfortable.”

Xie Shang did not look at her: “Let go.”

She remembered Xie Yanli’s words, to take initiative. As long as Xie Shang was willing to take her away, as long as they had a chance to be alone, as long as something happened...

She didn’t need face, she didn’t need dignity, this was the man she had admired for years. She clung tightly to Xie Shang’s clothes, “Please help me, consider it repayment for the time I saved you from drowning.” The beauty knelt, clothes disordered, looking up at him with heaving breaths, eyes swimming in tears, pleading softly, “Fourth brother, take me with you.”

Xie Shang threw his coat aside and walked up to Wen Changling, “Want to go back first? I’ll handle it here.”

Fang Jiyin cried out, “Fourth brother...”

Her calls were like those of a cat in heat, grating on Wen Changling’s ears. She was annoyed. She had intended to keep this secret forever, but she really despised other women getting frisky in front of Xie Shang.

She walked past Xie Shang, approaching Fang Jiyin, “When did you ever go into the water? When did you ever save Xie Shang? Are you talking about that time at the Guan Family, thirteen years ago?”

Fang Jiyin stopped her crying, picked up the coat from the ground and wrapped it around her. Leaning against the wall, she stood up.

“Wasn’t there a book by the side of the swimming pool?” Wen Changling asked.

Fang Jiyin, clutching her torn gown at her chest, could not cover the scratches on her neck, she retreated timidly, barefoot and shorter than Wen Changling, taking on the fragile stance of a victim, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, why are you harming me?”

Don’t know?

Wrong answer.

Wen Changling looked at Xie Shang, slowly but clearly mentioning the name of the book: “The Column of Weeks.”

Xie Shang’s heart tightened suddenly, “Changling, who told you about this?”

Wen Changling deflected the question, “Fang Jiyin didn’t save you, don’t let her morally blackmail you.”

Xie Shang grasped her hand, knuckles taut, his gaze fixed intently on her eyes, “Why do you know about ‘The Column of Weeks’?”

Wen Changling faintly heard the sound of an ambulance.

It arrived so quickly.

“I don’t remember who mentioned it.” She lied poorly and pulled her hand from Xie Shang’s burning palm, “It’s late, I need to leave.”

She didn’t want to say. If she did, what would Xie Shang do? All she wanted was for Xie Shang not to be bound by that so-called favor; she didn’t want him to know the rest.

Ignoring Xie Shang’s almost interrogative gaze, she turned her head and went ahead, leaving him behind, hastening away.

Xie Shang did not rush to follow her. From a distance, his piercing gaze fell on Fang Jiyin’s face.

She felt an inexplicable fear: “Fourth brother.”

“Was it you who rescued me?”

She dared not hesitate, “It was me.” She timidly stepped forward, tormented by the effects of the medicine that made her head spin and starved her brain of oxygen, her body both hot and agitated. Xie Shang didn’t leave with Wen Changling; did that mean he still cared about their childhood friendship? She tentatively reached out to him, “Fourth Brother, I feel awful.”

Xie Shang avoided her.

“I don’t care if it was Wen Changling who did this, but you,” he stayed to handle the aftermath for Wen Changling, “had better not talk nonsense.”

For the first time, Fang Jiyin saw a terrifying murderous intent in Xie Shang.

His words and expression conveyed one message: for Wen Changling, he would do anything, could make her unable to speak ever again.

Fang Jiyin felt as if she’d been frozen in place until Xie Shang left, after which she collapsed weakly to the ground.

The show was over, the main characters had gone, but the audience had not yet dispersed.

Jiang Chengxue was in a good mood after watching an excellent drama, her steps leisurely as she approached Fang Jiyin, closely examining a clown’s ridiculous yet pitiful expression.

How interesting.

Fang Jiyin suddenly looked up; that scent of perfume...

A hand covered the light above her head and pressed forcefully against the spot on the back of her head where she’d been struck.

“Yingying!”

It was Xie Yanli rushing over.

The hand was forceful, pushing Fang Jiyin’s head into the shadows, and Jiang Chengxue asked in a low voice, “Does it hurt?”

After the plan had been executed, Fang Jiyin was originally hiding around the corner, planning to witness, planning to capture something, but suddenly she was hit on the back of the head by something heavy and passed out. When she woke up, she found herself lying next to Wu Yue, her body feverish.

She hadn’t seen who hit her, but she remembered the scent of a man’s perfume, light and cool yet with a sharpness that jarred the senses.

“It was you...”

Jiang Chengxue smiled, then stood up, turned her head to look at Xie Yanli, who was running over in a hurry, and let out a slightly regretful exclamation, “Madam Fang, your daughter seems quite frightened.”

Fang Jiyin lost her voice, unable to speak a single word.

*****

Xie Shang asked the manager of Yangguang Building, and the manager said the surveillance had malfunctioned half an hour ago.

It must have been that Jiang person, but Xie Shang couldn’t attend to him right now. He drove to the Qin Family’s mansion where the lights were still on. His last shred of reason constrained him from barging in and he dialed Wen Changling’s number.

Wen Changling hung up three times.

He kept calling.

At last she answered irritably, “What do you want?”

“I’m outside the Qin’s place.”

She said fiercely, “Go back.”

“You can’t do this.” Xie Shang was gazing toward the direction of the second floor of the mansion, the calmer he appeared from the outside, the more turbulent the emotions he was suppressing, “If you make me go back like this, I won’t be able to do anything, I’ll always dwell on the words you said.”

His voice was so tightened, “Changling, please, come out and see me.”

Wen Changling hung up the phone.

After about ten minutes, she came out.

The night was cold, she wrapped herself in a thick coat and shuffled out in cotton slippers, seeing Xie Shang standing under the streetlight, wearing a black shirt, she complained irritably, “Why are you so annoying, we have already broken up.”

The early winter moonlight was cold, and he, bathed in the chill, his beautiful amber pupils shone with an intense light, “Who told you about ‘The Column of Weeks’?’

Wen Changling turned her face away, not answering.

Xie Shang grasped her shoulder, his tone forceful, and he lowered his head to see her, yet in a pleading posture, “Tell me, Changling.”

Wen Changling pushed his hand away, “You’ve guessed it, haven’t you?”