Hong Kong Nights of Passion

Chapter 27 Well, I confessed my love to him
Wen Jinnian stuffed the card into Jiang Shu's hand, turned around and sat on the sofa next to him, her voice sounding like it was wrapped in ice: "Brother, it's been four years. I'm no longer the little girl I used to be. From now on... we'll just be brother and sister."

Jiang Shu's expression changed drastically. He slammed the card on the table and half-squatted down to grip her hand tightly.

Wen Jinian struggled to pull her wrist away, but her wrist was squeezed painfully.

"Niannian, don't throw a tantrum like a child!"

Jiang Shu's voice trembled, and an almost obsessive urgency surged in his eyes, "I know very well how you feel about me, and I also..."

"do not talk!"

A cold fire flickered in Wen Jinian's reddened eyes.

She stared straight at Jiang Shu, the joy she used to feel when looking at him gone from her beautiful almond-shaped eyes. She had personally severed all ambiguity and possibilities.

"Can not go back."

"Niannian, you haven't touched the money in the card. These past few years, you..."

Jiang Shu felt a sharp pain in her throat, as if a thorn was stuck there.

"There's no hurdle you can't overcome when it comes to working part-time or doing part-time jobs."

She spoke lightly, but it made Jiang Shu feel even more distressed.

She paused, her voice growing even colder, "Brother, including my feelings for you."

Jiang Shu stared intently at Wen Jinian with bloodshot eyes, his expression filled with disbelief.

The little girl in his memory, whose heart and eyes were filled with her, still had the same clear and beautiful eyes as before, as pure as a white rose untouched by the dust of the world. But the words she spoke were like poisoned arrows, piercing his heart.

"Niannian, I will not marry Zhou Shiyi; that was just a temporary measure!"

His voice trembled, carrying an almost desperate attempt to appease.

Wen Jinnian turned her face away, "Brother, relationships and marriage are not child's play. Let's let each other go."

As she spoke, she abruptly pulled her hand away from his grasp.

Jiang Shu's hand missed its target, and he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

He gave a self-deprecating laugh, a bitter smile: "Niannian, you've become so distant with me..."

He looked up, and when his gaze inadvertently swept across her neck, his pupils suddenly contracted.

"Niannian, you're in a relationship?" His voice was hoarse, filled with suppressed anger and disbelief.

Following his gaze, Wen Jinian touched her neck, her expression darkening.

That damned Chi Yige.

She cursed the person a thousand times in her heart, but what was more troublesome right now was the person in front of her with red eyes.

Jiang Shu staggered to his feet, gripping her wrist tightly: "Who is that man? How dare he..."

Wen Jinian lowered her eyes and stared at the hand he was holding.

It hurt from being pinched.

She took a deep breath, her reddened eyes glistening with tears. Suddenly, she looked up, her eyelashes trembling, and gazed into Jiang Shu's bloodshot eyes. Her voice, however, softened into the tone she used to have when she was a child: "Brother."

Very aggrieved.

Jiang Shu seemed to wake from a dream, let go of his hand, and looked down to see the red mark on his wrist, like a shocking wound.

His Adam's apple bobbed as he wanted to apologize, but Wen Jinian interrupted him: "Brother, you can't escape the family's web, and I can't reach your world. Even disregarding these things..."

She turned her face away, her eyelashes glistening with tiny drops of water. "For the sake of my aunt's future, we were never meant to be."

She gazed at him, and the image of her childhood face surfaced, the one where he always protected her from the teasing of her playmates who called her a "burden."

In a daze, Wen Jin recalled that when she was fifteen, Jiang Shu carried her, who had a high fever, for a long time in the pouring rain to get to the hospital, and even gave up an important exam for it.

At that moment, a flutter of excitement began to sprout in the girl's heart.

However, when her relationship was exposed to the spotlight, she discovered that this affection had become a thorn, leaving her completely wounded.

She once thought that warmth was starlight, but now she understands that it was nothing more than neon light refracted by a glass curtain wall.

The weight of youth will eventually slip through our fingers.

Jiang Shu felt as if a wad of cotton was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't make a sound.

With red-rimmed eyes, he bent down and hugged Wen Jinian, lying on her lap.

Wen Jinian looked down at the figure whose knees were trembling violently. His hands were wrapped around her waist, like a drowning person grabbing the last piece of driftwood.

The damp warmth seeped through the fabric, mingling with suppressed sobs, shattering the stagnant air in the bedroom. Her fingertips hovered above his head, seemingly within reach, yet frozen in mid-air as if burned.

The man, who was always as upright as a pine tree, was now burying his face between her legs, crying like a child who had lost a precious treasure.

Seeing the bloodshot eyes and the broken state of Jiang Shu, all the memories they had shared suddenly flooded back, and she realized that she could not be too cruel to him after all.

She sighed, and her tone softened.

"Brother, you will definitely be fine."

Wen Jinnian sincerely hoped that he would be well.

Jiang Shu shook his head.

"I'm not in a relationship, the one on my neck..."

She paused, then said, "It was just an accident."

Chi Yige was someone she could never reach, a fact she was well aware of.

Wen Jinian's body was trembling as he held her like this.

Jiang Shu seemed to realize this, and then slowly let go of his hand.

"Brother, go and rest!"

Jiang Shu lowered her head slightly, the shadow of her hair falling down just enough to cover her eyes that betrayed her emotions.

His voice was hoarse.

"Niannian, I'm sorry. We'll still be good friends, right?"

"Of course, you and Aunt will always be my closest relatives in the world."

These words were like a dull knife, causing both of them to feel a sharp pain in their hearts at the same time.

Jiang Shu took a deep breath, staggered to his feet while holding onto the edge of the table, his knees numb from squatting for so long, and he leaned forward uncontrollably.

She instinctively reached out to support his elbow. Jiang Shu steadied himself and forced a smile, his fingertips trembling as he brushed across the top of her head, the ink seeping into her hair: "I also hope you're doing well. You'll get the best."

The phrase "Only I can give you the best" was ultimately crushed into dust, disappearing behind the half-closed door as he turned away.

The moment Jiang Shu closed the door, Wen Jinnian's tense nerves relaxed. The suffocating pressure she felt when she was alone with Jiang Shu, especially his obsessive gaze, always made her feel breathless.

She mechanically got up and went into the bathroom.

Trying to extinguish the turmoil in my heart with cold water.

The cold water splashed on her face, and she looked up at herself in the mirror, where the pink mark on her neck was particularly noticeable.

Wen Jinnian bit her lower lip, feeling angry just thinking about it.

She was angry at herself for being seduced by beauty, and even more angry at herself for falling into such a complicated emotional vortex.

"Chi Yige, what kind of person are you exactly?"

She muttered to herself, her eyes filled with confusion and helplessness.

She knew that Chi Yige was unapproachable, but last night's unexpected incident had left her unable to calm down.

At that moment, the person who was causing her distress was in the president's office of the Chijiang Building.

The man sat on the leather sofa and sneezed several times in a row. Shen Yu leaned against another sofa, twirling a pen between his fingers and chuckling, "Could it be that Wen is talking about you?"

Chi Yige loosened his tie, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and with his other hand he pulled out a tissue to wipe the reddened tip of his nose.

As he rolled up his sleeves, the cold light reflected from the silver watch on his wrist swept across Shen Yu's astonished face: "Yes, I confessed to him."

"Pfft!" Shen Yu sprayed the Pu'er tea he had just poured into his mouth all over the expensive Persian carpet. "What did you say? You... you confessed your feelings?"

The clicking sound of the keyboard abruptly stopped.

Duan Jiayan froze on the spot, holding his mug, spilling tea all over his laptop. "It's over, it's over, my code!"

He frantically grabbed tissues and tried to resuscitate the equipment, but his ears were perked up: "You guys continue, I'll just listen in..."

Chi Yige: "Why is there such a big reaction to my confession?"

Shen Yu: "..."

Nonsense.

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(End of this chapter)