Long Snowy Night - Chapter 2

07

The memory ended.
I grabbed the jacket and paced backstage.
Lin Shouye was losing his temper in the guest lounge.
I didn’t know what happened, but he was furious.
I glanced through the crack in the door.
…and saw Lin Shouye crushing someone’s fingers with the tip of his leather shoe, his tone cruel and cold: “Trash.”

I was startled.
Is this Lin Shouye?
Is this the Lin Shouye who followed me around, saying he would protect me forever?
Is this the Lin Shouye who hid in the corner crying secretly after paying medical fees?
Perhaps, this is the real him.

After going to school in Beijing, I read some financial magazines.
I learned the truth about Lin Shouye.
He is eight years older than me, the second young master of the Lin Group.
Apparently illegitimate, but that didn’t affect his nobility.
He isn’t even thirty yet, but his methods are already ruthless.
A year ago, he personally drove his own brother insane, becoming the sole heir.
From the text, I couldn’t piece together Lin Shouye’s vicious appearance.
Seeing it with my own eyes today—
It was familiar, yet stranger.
Maybe I should just leave the jacket at the door and go?

While I hesitated, the door was pushed open.
“Who’s outside?”
Lin Shouye walked out.
He was expressionless, his glasses reflecting a cold light.
In that moment, I actually shivered.
It’s okay. I’m wearing a mask.
And makeup.
With eye makeup on, who can recognize whom?
I calmed down. “This is for Sister Wen—”
Before I finished, a classmate walked past backstage and called out to me.
“Xueya, you haven’t gone back to the dorm yet?”
The moment she said my name,
Lin Shouye had already grabbed my wrist tightly.

08

He was very strong.
My wrist hurt from his grip.
“What is your name?” Lin Shouye stared dead at me.
When I didn’t speak, he reached out to remove my mask.
Just then, I saw reinforcements.
I said, “Xueya, you’re here.”
Lin Shouye abruptly let go.
He looked at me, then at the girl I had called out to.
I continued, ” The Publicity Department Minister was calling for you just now.”
“Oh, oh, I’ll go find her.”
“I’ll go with you.” I seized the chance, dropped the jacket, and left with the classmate.

It was a coincidence.
This girl shared my name.
She was from Sichuan, where there is a type of tea called Xueya (Snow Bud).
The name isn’t rare.
Leaving the small theater, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The girl asked, “Xueya, what were you saying to President Lin just now?”
“Running an errand to get him something.”
“Really? The atmosphere between you two felt so weird.”
“How so?”
“Just… he was so fierce, like he wanted to eat you.”

She was right.
Lin Shouye wanted to eat me alive.
The reason traces back to the summer of my eighteenth year.
On the day the college entrance exam results came out, an uninvited guest arrived in the village.
Wen Xiaoxue.
She claimed to be Lin Shouye’s friend, there to take him away.
My mom’s prediction came true.
Lin Shouye wasn’t just from a big city; he was a rich second-generation heir.
The reason he ended up here was complicated too.
—Calculated by his brother, an accident, lucky to survive, but his brain was damaged.
I can only say, deep waters run in rich families.

At first, I treated Wen Xiaoxue as a guest.
But when I learned her name also had “Xue” in it, I was stunned.
In our village, everyone called me Yaya, and so did my mom.
Only Lin Shouye called me “Xuexue.”
I thought it was strange at first.
Now, I found the answer.
Was every call Lin Shouye made to me actually calling another person?
Was his kindness to me, his obedience, also because he mistook me for Wen Xiaoxue?

Wen Xiaoxue was so chic—silk shirt, genuine leather heels.
Standing with Lin Shouye, they looked like people from the same world.
Looking at myself again.
The patch on the knee of my pants looked like a joke.
But I still wouldn’t give up.
When Wen Xiaoxue wanted to take Lin Shouye away, I asked, “Is he willing?”
“Of course,” she said, crossing her arms and looking down at me. “He is the young master of the Lin Group, with hundreds of millions in assets to inherit. You wouldn’t want him to stay and live a hard life with you, would you?”
“I don’t believe it. I want to hear him say it personally.”
“Please, he has already recovered his memory. He doesn’t want to see you at all, okay? I heard you tricked him into thinking you were getting married? So young, yet so scheming.”
“No. Let me see him.”
“OK, since you insist on hearing it—”
Wen Xiaoxue took out her phone and played a voice recording.
“Xiaoxue, thanks to your timely arrival. I was almost tricked.”
The voice was deep. It was Lin Shouye. No mistake.

Wen Xiaoxue: “Heard it clearly? I’m taking him.”
She shoved a large sum of money at me.
“Hush money. I don’t need to explain the rules, right?”
I actually didn’t want this dirty money.
But Mom was critically ill and needed money urgently.
Lin Shouye had already abandoned me.
I couldn’t lose Mom too.
I was disappointed, but I calmed down quickly, weighing the pros and cons.
—Let Lin Shouye serve one last purpose.
I said, “Just this much? Too little. You guys aren’t sincere.”

09

Wen Xiaoxue seemed surprised that I would say that.
“You really aren’t some innocent little girl.”
“Correct. Taking him in was for this day. Satisfied?”
” truly despicable.”
“Knowing I’m despicable, why aren’t you hurrying to add more money to shut my mouth?”
Wen Xiaoxue was choked into silence by my words.
In the end, I got a large sum of money.
I used it all to treat Mom’s illness.
But I still couldn’t save her.
The day the admission letter arrived, she wept tears of joy.
That was the last time I saw her smile.
And the last time I saw her cry.
She said: “Yaya, you must study hard. See Tiananmen and the Great Wall for Mom.
“Mom has been a rural woman all her life and couldn’t provide you with a good life. Don’t blame Mom.”
How could I blame her?
She had done her best to give me everything within her power.
I was very content, very happy.
And I loved her very much.

Later, I went to Beijing.
I saw Tiananmen and the Great Wall.
I changed to my mother’s surname, becoming Yu Xueya.
Lin Shouye was gradually forgotten by me.
Only very occasionally, walking on the bustling streets, would I suddenly remember: This is the place where he grew up, the scenery he was accustomed to.
So what?
We wouldn’t meet again.

Today, although the flag of “never meeting again” had fallen, it hadn’t fallen completely.
I quickly put Lin Shouye out of my mind.
When attending the Student Council meeting again, the President said:
“When President Lin left last time, he asked for everyone’s resumes.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Resumes?”
“Yeah, don’t know what for.”
I knew.
Resumes not only have names and photos but also hometowns and origins.
In front of him, I was no different from a transparent person.
But I harbored a sliver of luck.
The current Lin Shouye possessed everything; why would he bother with a poor student?

After the meeting, everyone filed out of the office.
The girl in front stopped, her expression dazed.
I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Lin, Lin…”
I looked up. Lin Shouye was leaning against the corridor wall.
I turned to run.
“Yu Xueya,” he called out to me. “Long time no see.”

10

Lin Shouye took me to a restaurant.
The kind where ordering a random dish cost a month of my living expenses.
He didn’t eat; he just watched me.
I didn’t stand on ceremony either.
Since I couldn’t escape, I might as well go with the flow and get full first.
After who knows how long, Lin Shouye spoke: “Why hide from me?”
This was our first question after reuniting.
I gnawed on a crab leg: “Mr. Lin must be joking. I am a poor student, and you are a group heir. We have no intersection.”
“What a ‘no intersection.'”
Lin Shouye was cold, radiating hostility.
This was the real him.
“This is the highest-end restaurant in the city. I know all the guests who come here.”
I didn’t understand what he meant, listening quietly.
“I brought you here today, and everyone saw it. Someone will soon look up your information and explore the relationship between us. It’s useless for you to try hiding again.”

I wasn’t afraid. Instead, I raised a smile: “It was worth it for the first time eating such delicious crab.”
“There is something even more delicious.”
“What?”
“Me.”
Lin Shouye’s features were handsome, bordering on perfection under the crystal lights.
“Don’t you like money?”
He said, “Sleep with me for one night, and I’ll give you money.”

11

The Porsche sped toward the villa.
Lin Shouye’s eyes were bloodshot; the tires were almost catching fire.
Just now, half an hour ago.
At the dining table.
He asked me to sleep with him.
I said, “Does your girlfriend know?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Wen Xiaoxue.”
“She is just my assistant.”
“You two look like you’re getting married.”
“Bullsh*t—”
The old Lin Shouye wouldn’t talk to me like that.
Meeting my gaze, his anger deflated a bit.
“I mean, I have no relationship with her, let alone marriage.”
“Really? Then you’re a real scumbag because you’ve allowed everyone to misunderstand.”
As I spoke, I spat out a mouthful of crushed crab shell.
By chance, a bit splattered onto Lin Shouye’s face.
He froze, forgetting to wipe it off. “I just felt it was nonsense, unnecessary to address. If I clarified everything, I wouldn’t have to do anything all day but clarify…”
Halfway through, he paused in surprise.
Yes, he realized it.
—He was explaining himself to me.
Someone like Lin Shouye, holding great power and doing as he pleased, why would he talk so much nonsense to someone?

“You have a point,” I nodded in agreement. “For a scumbag like you, it’s good I didn’t get serious. Selling you for two million was the right move.”
Lin Shouye’s face instantly went pale.
Those words poked his lung pipe (hit a nerve).
I smiled, “So, are we still sleeping together?”

12

Subsequently, I was angrily stuffed into the Porsche by Lin Shouye.
A one-hour drive took him only thirty minutes.
The villa lights weren’t on.
As soon as we entered the foyer, he pressed me against the cabinet, tearing at my collar with his teeth.
Urgent and agitated.
I didn’t move. I just said when he was at his most heated: “I want to enter the President’s Office.”
Lin Shouye froze instantly.
I repeated: “The President’s Office at Lin Group Headquarters only allows students with backgrounds to intern. I can’t get in even if I work hard for half a lifetime. I don’t want money, but I want this opportunity.”
That was the Lin Group.
Countless college students broke their heads trying to get in.
Lin Shouye slowly let go of me: “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” I smiled. “I want to learn at Lin Group so I can find a high-paying job after graduation…”
Bang.
Lin Shouye smashed a porcelain vase at the entrance with his fist.
His hand was bleeding, but as if he felt no pain, he looked at me in near despair.
“Is there nothing left between us but utilization?”
“What else?”
“You clearly have other choices. Coax me, get back together with me, and I can give you whatever you want.”
“No, that’s too troublesome. I don’t want your heart, nor do I want your feelings. Those things are useless.”
Lin Shouye was practically gritting his teeth: “Wang Xueya, do you have a heart at all—”
“It’s Yu Xueya.”
I curved my eyes, reminding him gently.
“I took my mom’s surname. Oh right, she passed away two years ago, right after you left—”
“Lin Shouye, I am an orphan. I don’t deserve a heart.”