Chapter 93 - Negotiation

After Tong Siqi left, Wang Weixi stood there, lost in thought for a long time. He didn’t know how to express his feelings, but Wang Weixi knew that he would never allow Chen Kexin to get hurt. But… If Tong Siqi really wanted to do something, would he really mercilessly debunk her? The answer was no! She said that he owed her this, and she also said that she would not allow him to be happy. She also said that she had given him a chance, and now, the only thing she wanted was to retaliate severely against him… In fact, when he heard this, he knew that in order to make him sad, Tong Siqi had to cause misunderstanding between him and Chen Kexin, and he was afraid to think because of guilt… because of guilt… “Weixi…” Worried about Wang Weixi, Yi Duanfang had rushed to the company and barged into Wang Weixi’s office. When he opened the door, he saw Wang Weixi standing there like a log. Today he looked even gaunter than yesterday. Yi Duanfang shook his head helplessly, closed the door, put the breakfast on the coffee table, and lightly said, “Haven’t you had breakfast yet? Come and eat.” Wang Weixi returned to his senses, looked at the busy Yi Duanfang and asked lifelessly, “Duanfang, why do you hate Siqi so much?” Wang Weixi once asked the same question before going on the business trip. He knew Yi Duanfang too well. Friends recognized by Yi Duanfang would not be rejected and hated by him without any reason. Although he would smile at her, Wang Weixi could see that his face was hypocritical, even perfunctory. Whenever Yi Duanfang used such a face in front of a person, it meant that he hated that person very much. However, Wang Weixi did not think that Yi Duanfang would hate Tong Siqi just because he broke up with her. Yi Duanfang’s hand paused in mid-air. Outside the window, there was thunder in November. Then, it rained heavily. Yi Duanfang raised his head, frowned slightly and asked, “Was Tong Siqi just here?” Wang Weixi nodded and looked at the hesitant Yi Duanfang. He was more and more sure of his guess. Yi Duanfang lowered his eyes and said after a moment of silence, “Sit down and eat. You can’t even speak without eating.” Wang Weixi smiled helplessly, then sat down and looked at the delicious meal, but he had no appetite. The wind mingled with raindrops and trickled in. Yi Duanfang went over to close the window, drew the curtains, turned on the light, and sat down. “Eat more, you look gaunt.” Yi Duanfang said with concern. Wang Weixi nodded and said, “I see, don’t worry.” Yi Duanfang nodded. He knew that he was unable to fob Wang Weixi off today, so he tried to ask, “What did Tong Siqi tell you?” Wang Weixi frowned as he remembered what Tong Siqi had said.

Yi Duanfang naturally understood what Wang Weixi’s expression meant. He helplessly said, “It seems that you’ve found out all about Tong Siqi.”

Wang Weixi raised his eyes, looked at Yi Duanfang with a complicated expression and asked, “When did you find out? Why didn’t you tell me? ”

Yi Duanfang shrugged his shoulders, lowered his head, put a steamed stuffed bun in his mouth and chewed it without saying a word. He could feel Wang Weixi’s complex gaze and knew his eyes held questions. He swallowed the steamed stuffed bun helplessly and took a sip of soya-bean milk. Then he raised his head and said, “Don’t look at me like that.”

Wang Weixi frowned and said, “Why on earth is that?”

“If I had known about it on the day you two broke up, I would have told you. I don’t think you would have cared, and because you stood her up and something happened to her, you would have been responsible to the end.” Yi Duanfang smiled wryly while speaking. He then looked remorsefully at Wang Weixi and said, “But when I found out about it, she was no longer the Tong Siqi I knew. She kept saying that she wanted to seek revenge on you and wanted you to have a painful day. Facing her like that, I suddenly felt disgusted. So, I didn’t tell you this. Why should she blame you for everything? Why did she trust others so easily? She was wrong herself. Moreover, she gave up on you herself. She drove herself to a dead end, but she always wanted to retaliate against you. Therefore, I thought it was not worth it for you. Even if I defended you, it would have been in vain.”

Wang Weixi shook his head. Of course, he knew that Yi Duanfang would take his side. “He was also afraid that I would feel sad and even more afraid of what I would do on impulse. However, I was wrong. Really, it was me.”

Looking at Wang Weixi’s painful expression, Yi Duanfang sighed lightly, put a steamed stuffed bun in front of him and said, “Okay, eat first.”

Wang Weixi looked at Yi Duanfang. Although his unruly face had a seemingly relaxed smile at the moment, Wang Weixi felt that he had never been more serious. For so many years, Yi Duanfang seemed to be the only friend who put himself in his shoes.

Actually, Wang Weixi somewhat blamed Yi Duanfang, but after hearing his explanation, how could anyone blame him?

In the end, he just shook his head helplessly and ate the steamed stuffed bun. At last, a happy smile appeared on the corners of Yi Duanfang’s mouth. Sometimes he was like a child.

“I know that no matter what I say, you will blame yourself, and I won’t say anything like ‘You don’t need to blame yourself too much,’ because it’s useless to say it. But I hope you know that even if you are sorry for her, you can’t allow her to hurt you or even the people around you—especially Kexin.” Yi Duanfang’s smiling face changed as he said this very seriously.

Wang Weixi was stunned there and their eyes met. He had never seen Yi Duanfang like this. Thinking of Chen Kexin lying in the hospital, his mood became more complicated than before.

Yi Duanfang knew that when Chen Kexin was mentioned, he should be sad again, and what he did yesterday was embarrassing. Thinking of this, Yi Duanfang sheepishly said, “I didn’t work much today. I called Keren in the morning and apologized to Kexin… I’m sorry, I did this on impulse.” Although there was dissatisfaction yesterday, Yi Duanfang knew very well that there would never be a woman in this world who would love Wang Weixi as deeply as Chen Kexin did.

He sometimes thought that if Chen Kexin and Tong Siqi had gone through the same thing, Chen Kexin would not be like Tong Siqi. Maybe she would hide like Tong Siqi and disappear from Wang Weixi’s world, but she would never think of revenge on Wang Weixi all the time. Instead, she would lick her wounds silently. Chen Kexin was such a silly woman—so silly that it made people love her dearly.

Wang Weixi smiled helplessly and said, “Are you not too embarrassed to say that?”

Yi Duanfang touched his nose, it was indeed quite embarrassing.

Wang Weixi stopped smiling as he turned his head and looked out the window and saw the heavy rain. The thunder was rolling. Was she alone in the hospital, afraid?

“I was going to ask for leave to accompany her, but she probably doesn’t want to see me right now. I really didn’t know that I would hurt her like this one day.”

Yi Duanfang bowed his head and very apologetically said, “I’m sorry.”

Wang Weixi shook his head and said, “It’s time to work. You can go.”

What else could Yi Duanfang say? After thinking about it, he said lightly, “Alright. I’ll tidy up.”

Wang Weixi shook his head and said, “No, I’ll clean it up.”

“Then… then I’ll go.” After some hesitation, this was all Yi Duanfang managed to say.

Wang Weixi nodded, so he left.

Just as he stepped out of the office, his cell phone rang.

…

The heavy rain was like waterfalls accompanied by thunder and lightning. The day was as dark as night and the air was cold everywhere.

Yi Duanfang and Tong Siqi were seated across each other in the innermost booth of a coffee shop. He looked at Tong Siqi and saw a sly smile on her mouth, suddenly making him feel uncomfortable.

“What can I do for you? Do you have to say it here?” Yi Duanfang insipidly asked. Since learning that Tong Siqi had told Wang Weixi about the incident, Yi Duanfang felt that there was no more need to pretend, so he directly expressed his dislike of Tong Siqi to his face.

Apparently, Tong Siqi had long known that Yi Duanfang didn’t like her at all. Seeing Yi Duanfang’s current expression, she didn’t show much surprise.

“Wouldn’t you feel embarrassed if I said this inside the company?” Tong Siqi lightly said with a smile. This kind of nonchalant attitude, not rushing but not slow, really blew Yi Duanfang’s lungs.

Yi Duanfang frowned and asked, “What do you mean?”

Tong Siqi smiled mysteriously and asked, “Have you forgotten what you told me?”

Recalling the midsummer when they had met again, Tong Siqi couldn’t help laughing. In this world, apart from Yi Duanfang, probably only Tong Siqi knew about it.

Sure enough, Yi Duanfang’s face became extremely ugly. He looked at the proud Tong Siqi and gnashed his teeth with hatred but did not know what to do. That thing… he blurted it out only out of excitement. Yi Duanfang was not afraid of anything, and he had never felt ashamed of doing things, but it happened that this one thing was his Achilles’ heel.

“What do you want?” Yi Duanfang frowned and asked solemnly.

“Why are you so nervous?” Tong Siqi smiled as she asked.

Yi Duanfang didn’t speak but just mercilessly stared at her. If she hadn’t known about his affair, he would have gone up and slapped the woman. “It’s a pity, it’s a pity that I was too careless.”

“Tell me, if Weixi knew that you, whom he had always thought of as a good brother, had that dirty idea about him, what would he do?” Tong Siqi asked lightly.

Yi Duanfang’s face was distorted under the flickering light.

“Also, what about the arrogant Chen Keren?” Saying this, she finally stopped smiling and her expression became indifferent.

Yi Duanfang looked at Tong Siqi angrily and asked, “What do you mean?”

“I just want to negotiate with you.”