石器盒子

Chapter 482 Su Jianan Was Told the Truth

However, Mu Sijue had been absent-minded on occasion. No one knew what or... who he was thinking about.

After thinking for a while, Ah Guang decided not to tell Xu Youning about that. He said, “Seventh Brother is the same as before. He’s busy with the company and the club. Someone has taken over your job and he does well. Seventh Brother stopped asking us to catch you. Maybe he has decided to give up. You can rest assured.”

He wondered, “Mu Sijue decided not to hunt her down anymore—maybe Xu Youning is looking forward to this answer, isn’t she?”

Xu Youning also hoped that it had been the answer she was looking forward to. In that case, she could have replied “oh” at leisure, to show that she didn’t care.

However, she found it hard to utter the single word “oh,” as if it had been stuck in her throat.

She thought that Mu Sijue hadn’t been affected by her departure at all.

“It’s just as I expected. Then why do I feel disappointed? Why am I saddened by it?”

Xu Youning didn’t come to herself from her thoughts until a long while later. She managed to say calmly, “Mm. Did Mu Sijue punish you after you went back that night?”

“I’m fine.” Ah Guang tried to smile at ease. With the thought of not telling her the truth about the other night, he said, “You know, my father has a close relationship with the Mu family. So Seventh Brother wouldn’t as far as to punish me for such a trifle. He just said ‘never again, or I won’t let you off’.”

With that, Ah Guang sighed. He no longer sounded relaxed, and it seemed that he was either smiling or sadly murmuring, “But... it won’t happen again.”

Xu Youning knew what Ah Guang meant.

She wouldn’t return to Mu Sijue’s side again. The other night at the hilltop, Ah Guang had met and helped her for the last time.

They would never meet again.

Ah Guang was special to Xu Youning.

Ever since her parents had an accident, Xu Youning had no longer trusted any so-called friends. Therefore, she had always been alone during the decades of her school life, without making any close friends.

Later on, she had worked for Kang Ruicheng, whose subordinates had always been competing against each other, which made her distrust them instinctively. Besides, she was used to being alone, so she had never shown up in any team building activities.

In other people’s eyes, she had done that to keep her mystique, while she was simply loath to deal with strangers.

During all those years, she had never thought that being friendless was weird.

Until she met Ah Guang.

Unlike most people, Ah Guang was an energetic, handsome gentleman, whose smile was as bright as sunshine. He was modest and polite, always with a smiling face as if he would never lose his temper; countless girls who worked in the bars and clubs were attracted to him.

However, Ah Guang seemed like a changed person whenever he faced Mu Sijue’s enemies. He acted as ruthless and overbearing as him, always taking decisive actions in his work.

Although he had always shown those two faces, others only had an impression of his nice look while ignoring the ruthless one.

The even more amazing fact was that his subordinates, as well as his colleagues, regarded him as their brother and placed complete trust in him. As long as he needed them, they would all show up as he asked.

Even Xu Youning, who was a loner by habit, couldn’t hold back the desire to make friends with him.

He was Xu Youning’s only friend.

Xu Youning had lost her grandmother and Mu Sijue. At that moment, she realized that she would have to lose her only friend.

She felt as if a needle had pierced her heart. A sharp pain spread from her chest to the rest of her body, while her eyes were suddenly filled with warm tears.

She covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from sobbing aloud. “It’s good that you’re fine. Ah Guang, goodbye.”

Ah Guang said in a low voice, “Goodbye.”

From then on, it was likely that they would never see each other again. Even if they could, they would only meet as enemies.

Therefore, she would rather not meet him anymore.

Xu Youning hung up and buried her face in her hands. However, she failed to hold back her tears, which soon soaked her palms.

She hid under the quilt in order to not give herself away, biting it as hard as she could to drown her sobs.

She had a long way to go in the future. Whether it would be tough or easy, she could only face it alone.

In the study of the Lu Family, Dingya Villas...

As soon as Lu Boyan finished dealing with his documents, he received a call from Mu Sijue.

“Kang Ruicheng has taken her back. She told Ah Guang that she felt happy for getting rid of me,” Mu Sijue said calmly with weariness, “You can tell Su Yicheng that Granny Xu has passed away and about Xu Youning being a mole.”

“I see.” After a pause, Lu Boyan asked, “How about you?”

Mu Sijue said with a wry smile, “I finally know how you felt when Jianan signed the divorce papers. But you’re luckier than me because Jianan didn’t mean to divorce you. As for Xu Youning... she couldn’t wait to leave me.”

As he said the last part, Mu Sijue sounded as if he were sneering at himself.

Lu Boyan seemed to be laughing. “It’s the first time I’ve heard you talk in such a tone. To my surprise, it’s because of Xu Youning.”

Mu Sijue smiled and said, “Ah, I’m surprised, too. It’s because of Xu Youning...”

He had thought that he would never fall in love with anyone in his life. Beyond his expectation, however, he had fallen in love with a mole who had managed to get close to him with ulterior motives.

After thinking for a while, Lu Boyan said, “I used to think that Jianan and I would never find our happy ending. But now, we are happy together. Maybe you and Xu Youning...”

“There’s no happy ending for us,” Mu Sijue interrupted Lu Boyan with a low, hoarse voice as if he was trying to belie his feelings. “You and Jianan are happy together because you love each other. But Xu Youning...” Mu Sijue suddenly paused and asked, “How long can you hide it from Jianan?”

“She will find out by the time Yicheng and Xiaoxi get married, at the latest,” Lu Boyan said, “I don’t want to hide it from her for too long. She has always regarded Xu Youning as her friend. I’d rather tell her the truth than have her find out on her own.”

Mu Sijue said, “All right.”

After a few more words, Lu Boyan hung up. He turned and saw Su Jianan standing at the door of the study.

Su Jianan looked just as usual, as if she hadn’t heard anything that she wasn’t supposed to know.

Lu Boyan went out of the study and asked, “Weren’t you sleeping in the bedroom?”

“What’s wrong with Youning?” Su Jianan asked, with one hand on her belly. She gave Lu Boyan a calm look and said, “I heard you talking on the phone. What’s going on?”

Lu Boyan knew that he couldn’t hide it from her anymore. He held Su Jianan’s hand and walked into the study with her. After helping her sit on the sofa, he briefed her on how Xu Youning had worked undercover for Kang Ruicheng.

“There are two more things you should know,” Lu Boyan said, “It was Xu Youning. She was the one who handed over the document to Kang Ruicheng, and he used it to threatened you half a year ago.”

“What?” Hearing that, Su Jianan asked with disbelief, “Why did she do that?”

Because of her good relationship with Granny Xu, along with a good first impression of Xu Youning, Su Jianan had always regarded Xu Youning as her friend, without expecting that she would do anything harmful to her.

However, only then did she realize that, except for losing her mother, Xu Youning had made her suffer the most...

She couldn’t feel more disappointed.

“But Xu Youning also helped prove that Lu Enterprises was innocent,” Lu Boyan said, “She betrayed Kang Ruicheng and handed over the explosive that had caused the collapse at the Fanting Garden. Because of that, the police announced that Lu Enterprises were not to blame for the accident. Otherwise, it couldn’t have bridged over its difficulties.”

Su Jianan shook her head and asked, “What happened to Youning?” She wondered, “She hurt me, but she helped Lu Enterprises. Was that how she redeemed herself?”

Lu Boyan said, “A lot of things happened to Xu Youning. It’s more complicated than we could imagine.”

“... Will Mu Sijue do anything to Youning?” Su Jianan sounded anxious, and she found it hard to hate Xu Youning.

Lu Boyan said, “According to the rules, Sijue should get rid of her.”

Su Jianan knew what “get rid of” meant. She subconsciously grabbed Lu Boyan’s hands and said, “No! Granny Xu is old. She lost her daughter when she was young. Youning is her only family. She can’t bear that.”

“Jianan,” Lu Boyan held Su Jianan’s hands and said sadly, “Granny Xu passed away.”

“...”

Su Jianan was stunned for a long time. Her eyes misted over as she looked at Lu Boyan in a daze.

“Don’t cry.” Lu Boyan held Su Jianan in his arms to make her head rest on his chest. “Granny Xu wouldn’t want you to be sad.”

“What on earth happened?” Su Jianan looked up and gazed at Lu Boyan with her runny eyes. “Granny Xu was just fine when we were on the island.”

On the island, she and Xu Youning had called Granny Xu, who had talked with them on the phone at City G back then. She wondered, “It’s only been a few days since I called Granny Xu. Why is he telling me that she passed away?”

“Jianan, it’s a long story. I can’t tell you all about it for the time being.” Lu Boyan wiped Su Jianan’s tears. “I will tell you the whole story as soon as the problem is solved. All right?”

Although Su Jianan was eager to know the truth, she knew that she should listen to Lu Boyan at that moment. She nodded and asked, “How about Youning? Where is she?”

Xu Youning and Granny Xu had depended on each other for survival since she was a child. With Granny Xu’s passing, this would be her most difficult time.

“Xu Youning is in City A.” Lu Boyan said, “She has returned to Kang Ruicheng’s side.”

Su Jianan was first happy while her eyes were lighting up, only to dim down when she heard the second half of his words.

“Did Youning choose to do that?” Su Jianan asked.

Lu Boyan nodded.

Su Jianan hesitated for a while and then sighed. “Forget it.”

She thought to herself, “Everyone has the right to choose. Xu Youning must have her reasons to return to Kang Ruicheng. I’m not her, how could I judge her?”

She didn’t figure out why Xu Youning had made that choice. She could only think that no one had ever known Xu Youning well...