Chapter 18：Money is a Means, Not an End

"He closely followed her there and saw her entering one of the rooms. He confronted her which led to a huge altercation.

That day Ying Yue profusely apologized to him, and they made up eventually. Yang Xinyu became nervous after that incident and immediately decided to marry her, so he proposed a date. She said that she would have to think about it. But a few days later, he came to know that she was leaving the country along with Yan Xiaojun to an unknown destination…

Xiao Xinyu went to her house to stop her from acting so rashly, but he didn't find her. He broke down…" related Mrs. Yang. She had tears in her eyes. Her only child had suffered so much.

"Sorry āyí… if you don't want to talk, it's okay. I will come back some other time…" said Wu Lina.

"Oh no! Please ask away your questions. I would love to answer them to my best knowledge," replied Mrs. Yang wiping her tears.

"Who is Yan Xiaojun?" she asked.

"Yan Xiaojun and Yang Xinyu studied in the same school and were the best friends. While Xinyu was a brilliant boy doing extremely well academically, Yan Xiaojun was always trailing. Their personalities were very different, yet they got along very well with each other. Being heirs of large business empires, both Yang Xinyu and Yan Xiaojun had many girls following them. While Yang Xinyu was hardly ever interested in girls, Yan Xiaojun ensured that a girl is hanging by his side in every social gathering. Although Yang Xinyu was peeved by his Casanova personality, he never interfered.

On one occasion, Yan Xiaojun got a girl pregnant. The girl's father was in the military. Not wanting to reveal this to his father, Yan Xiaojun came to Yang Xinyu to help him with abortion. Yang Xinyu was aghast! He refused him point blank.

But Yan Xiaojun coerced Xinyu to the extent that he had to help him out. Yang Xinyu came to us with his friend's problem. Chairman Yang Ming-Chang is an understanding person. He knew that this incident had potential to become a huge scandal, so he used his contacts to arrange for the girl's abortion in a countryside hospital. However, after that incident the Chairman forbade Yang Xinyu from staying friends with Yan Xiaojun. The Chairman was afraid that such types of scandals would have negative impact on company's image even if Yang Xinyu were remotely involved in it. It was different during his days...

On his father's order, Yang Xinyu started avoiding Yan Xiaojun in the school. Yan Xiaojun confronted him one day and somehow it led to a bloody fight between them. Ever since they stopped talking to each other. Yan Xiaojun became Yang Xinyu's nemesis for the life.

We think that he wanted to take revenge from Yang Xinyu and so he stooped to the level of stealing his love from him," said Mrs. Yang sadly.

'What happened after Ying Yue disappeared?" asked Wu Lina.

"He ran away to an unknown location. When we found him, he was looking disheveled and was mentally unstable. We brought him back home, but over here he shut himself in his room. He would watch her videos repeatedly. His smoking and alcohol consumption increased. One day he had a nervous breakdown and we couldn't bear it any further. We decided to admit him to the psychiatric hospital," she sighed.

"Can you tell me more about his hobbies?" asked Wu Lina.

"He was a great swimmer. He had won many trophies for that on national level. He is a great golfer, and plays squash in the morning. He loves eating typical Chinese food. Other than that I don't know…" replied Mrs. Yang.

"Err... āyí, can you take me to his room. I'd like to explore if he had any other favorite hobbies," requested Wu Lina.

"Yes sure. Please follow me," said Mrs. Yang motioning her to follow her upstairs.

Wu Lina gaped at Yang Xinyu's bedroom. It was so luxurious that she got excited and felt like splurging! In order to look professional she quickly contained her emotions and managed to look calm.

Wu Lina looked around the room and saw his collection of toy robots. She chuckled. She went to the wall where his music system and home theater were installed. She saw that there were many CDs and USBs over there. There was a huge collection of movies. She was amazed! She started looking at the CDs and noticed that he had one song that was his favorite and there were many CDs, which had it. She explored a little more and then went downstairs.

Mrs. Yang was sitting in the living room and offered her to have some mint tea. Wu Lina thanked her politely and they had tea in silence. Wu Lina could feel that Mrs. Yang is checking her out closely. She felt intimidated. She quickly finished her tea and left the mansion.

While driving back, she couldn't help thinking that money is a means, not an end or is it the other way round... Money is just a tool to help us reach our vision but it doesn't bring fulfillment. It can't buy happiness...