My Ex-Boyfriend's Name Was in the Chairman's Will - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I ended up entering his room after all. Because of those words, I had waited eight years.

“Talk,” I said, tossing my coat onto the arm of the sofa. “I’m listening.”

Luo Yuncheng poured me a glass of warm water but didn’t drink any himself. He leaned against the edge of the desk, looking as if he were weighing a sentence that would tear someone open all over again.

“Eight years ago, I had just unearthed a few new leads regarding your father’s case. I was an intern at a small firm back then and got in touch with someone who was planning to report Haisheng,” he said. “I followed that lead and found a tampered re-inspection record for North River Phase 3. Before I had the chance to tell you, Fu Mingzhang came to find me.”

I looked at him, my heart turning cold inch by inch.

“How did he find you?”

“At the hospital where my mother was getting dialysis.”

I froze.

“He told me he knew what I was investigating,” Luo Yuncheng continued. “He said if I kept digging, the little bit your father had left behind would vanish completely, and Haisheng would set their sights on you too. But if I backed off then, he could send my mother to the best treatment center and send me abroad for more comprehensive legal training.”

“So you agreed?”

“I didn’t agree at first.” He gave a small smile, so bitter it was barely visible. “Then that night, you were followed by a car for three blocks on your way home from work.”

My breath hitched.

“How did you know?”

“Because I was the one who rushed to the mouth of the alley and noted down the license plate,” he said. “The next day, Fu Mingzhang placed the plate number and the driver’s information in front of me. He told me it was just a reminder. He said your father was already dead, and he didn’t want you getting into trouble over things you shouldn’t touch.”

Silence filled the room, broken only by the hum of the air conditioner. All these years, I had thought I was the one who had been abandoned. It turned out that in a place I couldn’t see, there had been another, even more humiliating choice.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” my voice tightened.

“Because even if I had told you then, you wouldn’t have stopped,” Luo Yuncheng said softly. “Yucheng, you were twenty-eight back then. You were like a steel wire stretched to its limit. Once you knew all this, you would have just charged straight in.”

“So you decided for me?”

“Yes.” He looked at me. “I made the worst, yet most effective decision.”

I suddenly remembered that text message.

*I’m sorry. Don’t look for me.*

“You’re really something.” I let out a laugh, though my eyes felt a bit stinging. “Luo Yuncheng, what did you take me for? A child who needed protection?”

“No,” he said. “You were the one person I couldn’t afford to gamble with.”

I turned my head away, looking at the dense city lights outside the window. After a long while, I asked, “Then why didn’t you come back later?”

“Because I hadn’t finished the investigation, and because I didn’t have the face to come back.”

“At least you know you’re shameless.”

“Yeah.”

He took a step closer and placed a USB drive by my hand.

“This contains some of the information I’ve gathered over the years. It involves North River Phase 3, Haisheng’s old accounts, and the surveillance records from the three days surrounding your father’s fall,” he said. “I originally wanted to wait until the evidence was more complete before seeing you. Fu Mingzhang died sooner than I expected.”

I gripped the cold USB drive, my throat tightening.

“So you weren’t one of Fu Mingzhang’s people?”

“I never was.”

“Then what exactly have you been all these years?”

Luo Yuncheng looked at me, and for the first time, a hint of exhausted vulnerability appeared in his eyes. “Just someone who has never been able to come back with a clean slate.”

I didn’t say anything else.

“Yucheng,” he suddenly called my name.

“Yeah?”

“If you still want to hate me after this investigation is over, I’ll accept it,” he said. “But before that, at least let me make up for what I owe you.”

I looked up and met his gaze, ultimately saying only one thing.

“Eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Don’t be late.”