Chapter 400 - The Hatred Between Me And Xin Ziao Is Irreconcilable

deep in the night, li shaobin stood by the side of the road alone feeling unhappy and upset…

so, have i fallen out of love again? why have i been so unlucky all my life? why do i always fall for the people xin ziao likes?

the more he thought about it, the angrier he was. he called hu zhi and scolded him. “why do i have such a stupid aide? you told me that ruan yang had deep feelings for me. deep feelings my foot. she doesn’t even like me.”

hu zhi got a bad dressing down. alright, it seems like boss has failed in confessing again. “boss, you can’t blame this on me. you described it as though she liked you. if she didn’t like you, why did she ask you out for western food and even pick out your clothes? it was her actions that caused a misunderstanding.”

“stop trying to deny it.” li shaobin was furious. if hu zhi didn’t tell him that she liked him, he wouldn’t have been so rash to confess tonight. now it made him lose face. “you caused me to lose all face.”

“boss, it’s typical for you to lose face when you like someone.” hu zhi felt wronged. “if you really like ruan yang, you should try all ways and means to get her.”

“would i care to use such underhanded means? if i want to pursue a woman, i have to do it uprightly. ” li shaobin hung up but he still felt glum.

…

when he returned home at night, he watched ruan yang’s movies again for several hours. the next day, he was sleeping like a log when the banging on his door woke him up.

how infuriating. forget that he just fell out of love, but he couldn’t even have a good sleep now.

he opened the door angrily and howled, “how many times have i said not to disturb me when i sleep? what’s all this fuss about?”

he mingshan was initially very angry, but when she saw her son even angrier than her, her rage was extinguished by half. “son, i didn’t want to disturb you, but you were the one who caused the trouble. wang yuting brought zhao zhu over early in the morning, insisting that we give the xin family an explanation.”

li shaobin spaced out for a while before recalling that wang yuting was xin ziao’s mother. at the mention of the xin family, he couldn’t help but glare. “where is wang yuting? if i don’t beat her until she crawls back home, i’m not a li.”

“nonsense.” li congyang, his father, walked over and chided him, “even if you usually fight outside, how could you hit a woman this time? i’ve told you—if you want to fight, sure, but never hit women, the elderly, or children. when i saw zhao zhu in the morning, her face was all swollen. the xin family is now demanding an explanation.”

“explanation my foot,” li shaobin said angrily. “would our li family still need to be afraid of the xin family?”

“it’s not a problem of being afraid or not. based on your logic, if you’re not afraid of anyone, can you offend anyone you see?” he mingshan said angrily. “i still play mahjong with wang yuting frequently, and we still have to go over when her son gets married or if someone in their house celebrates their birthday. since you caused this mess, everyone’s placed in an awkward position.”

“then don’t go and don’t play so much mahjong. you lose money every day anyway,” li shaobin said in a nasty tone. “if they come one more time, i won’t stop with just slapping zhao zhu. i’ll even tear her mouth apart. she actually said i’m vermin that i can’t find a woman, that i’m abnormal. it’s already not bad that i didn’t beat her to death.”

“what? she actually said you’re abnormal?” he mingshan was also angry. she loved her son the most. how dare zhao zhu actually say her son was abnormal? this zhao zhu was really hateful.

“in my opinion, their entire family is abnormal. xin ziao’s already been married for so long, but why don’t i see zhao zhu’s stomach growing?” li shaobin said eerily. “you’re not allowed to hang out with people from the xin family. it’s all because of that b*stard, xin ziao, that i haven’t had a girlfriend until now.”

“how did xin ziao cause you to not have a girlfriend?” he mingshan was bewildered.

li shaobin snorted. “the hatred between me and xin ziao is irreconcilable. none of you are allowed to mention the xin family. if you want me to go over and apologize, that’s wishful thinking.”

after he said that, he shut the door behind him heavily.

li congyang glanced at his wife. “you tell me what to do. in any case, i’m at my wit’s end.”

he mingshan’s head hurt. aiyo, who had she offended in her previous life to have given birth to such a devil?

…

li shaobin couldn’t see eye to eye with anyone recently, so he stayed at his villa in the suburbs for a few days. when he returned to northern city, hu zhi reported to him immediately. “boss, ruan yang has returned to guangzhou.”

“she’s gone?” li shaobin suddenly spaced out for a while. he recalled ruan yang saying that she might not return and he suddenly felt sad. could his relationship with her have ended just like that?

“boss, i’ve found out where ruan yang’s house is,” hu zhi said softly. “ruan yang’s family has moved within the past eight years. ruan yang would have a hard time finding her parents during this trip back home. even if she could find them, she would be in for a whole lot of suffering. why don’t you go over and keep her company? she might be the most vulnerable at this time. if you take this opportunity to capture her heart, your chance of success might be as high as 80%.”

li shaobin’s heart skipped a beat. he continued to look at hu zhi with disdain. “you’re unreliable. last time, you even told me that ruan yang had deep feelings for me. in the end, my chance of failure was 100%. do you think i haven’t lost enough face?”

the two times he mustered up the courage to confess both ended with a pitiful rejection. sometimes, even he started to find himself pitiful.

“boss, i admit that it was my mistake last time. however, shouldn’t you work hard when you like someone? take a look at yan molun. he chased jiang duoyao all the way to a place so remote that there isn’t even any signal there. it was like he returned to the times of poverty before we opened our economy, and he even stayed there for a few months, but didn’t he get through it?” hu zhi tried to persuade him emotionally. “this little bit of suffering is nothing compared to that, so if you want to leave singlehood, it’s to be expected that you put in some effort.”

li shaobin was stunned. that seemed to make sense now that he thought of it this way. no matter how much he suffered, was he worse off than yan molun?

no matter how far it was, was it farther than where jiang duoyao went to teach?

“but what if i fail again?” li shaobin asked.

hu zhi said leisurely, “ruan yang has lost her memory. her memory has stopped at 18 years old, so she’s still quite pure. it’s still quite simple to chase a woman with only an 18-year-old’s experience. she would be easily touched by whoever’s nice to her. if she regains her memory, your chance of success would drop from 80% to 8%. the doctor told me previously that the chances of her recovering her memory are still quite high. in my opinion, you should get her right now and when she regains her memory, all you need to do is pester her and say that she has to take responsibility. when everything is set in stone, there’s nothing she can do.”

as li shaobin listened on, he felt something was amiss. “what do you mean? you got it wrong. when everything is set in stone, she will be the one anxiously wanting me to take responsibility.”

“yes, yes, yes, i was wrong.” hu zhi quickly nodded.

li shaobin snorted. after a while, he asked, “so where is her house?”

“i’ve sent the address to you.” hu zhi tried to hold his laughter back and said, “do you want me to help you book your plane ticket?”

“it’s okay. i still need to think if i’m going or not. that’ll depend on my mood.” li shaobin lowered his head and took out his phone to book his plane ticket, ignoring him.

——————————

in guangdong, when ruan yang’s plane landed in guangzhou, she took another four-hour car ride to her old residence. in her memory, she seemed to have been in her hometown just a few days ago, but in reality, she hadn’t been back for a very long time.

in the cab, the scenery along the road and the buildings outside seemed to be different from how she remembered them to be.

the cab driver sent her all the way to the old estate where she used to live for more than 10 years. she pressed the doorbell for a very long time, but the person who opened the door was a woman in her fifties. when she saw ruan yang, she was dumbfounded. “why do you look so much like… very similar to… to… a female celebrity. what’s she called again?”

ruan yang didn’t reply. she was very shocked. “auntie, may i ask if… this is the house of ruan qinghai?”

“what ruan qinghai?” the middle-aged auntie waved her hand. “i don’t know such a person. are you at the wrong place?”

“no, i grew up here.” ruan yang’s heart sank.

the middle-aged auntie’s gaze turned weird. suddenly, she slapped her thigh. “oh, i remember. the people who used to live here are the ruans if i’m not mistaken. we bought their house. it’s been so long. after that, i heard from the neighbors that a celebrity came out from the previous owner of the house, called ruan-something. ruan yang, right, you’re ruan yang. what’s wrong with all you celebrities? i heard that after you make big bucks, you’re supposed to get a new place for your parents.”

ruan yang felt awkward. “do you know where she moved to?”

“if you don’t even know, how would i know? i only heard about things from the neighbors. now the neighbors have moved away too. the people who used to live upstairs and downstairs have either all moved to a new building or gone to another place with their children. the only people who buy a house here are people with no money,” the middle-aged auntie said with a sigh.

“i’m sorry for disturbing you then. i’ll be leaving first.” ruan yang took a small step back and turned around disappointedly to go downstairs. behind her, she heard the middle-aged auntie mutter softly, “i don’t understand why such a pretty little lady would want to become someone’s mistress.”

“what did you say?” ruan yang turned back, startled.

“er, nothing. i was just spouting nonsense.” the middle-aged auntie covered her mouth and quickly closed the door behind her,

ruan yang stood there stupefied for a while. she remembered that woman at the bar also said something about her being a mistress too. could she really have broken someone’s family?

no, she would never do something like that.