To My Old Lover - Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Lu Chenzhou disappeared for a week.
It wasn’t that he was avoiding me.
He was genuinely so busy that he had no time to appear.
The news was filled with updates about the Lu family.
Lu Corporation was cooperating with the investigation into Song Qiming.
Lu Chenzhou resigned from his positions in two core projects.
Old Madam Lu stepped back to the second line of the board of directors.
The Lu family was undergoing internal upheaval.
Some said Lu Chenzhou had gone mad.
That for the sake of an old flame, he had personally overturned his own family’s table.
Others said he was ruthless enough to use the Song family’s downfall as an opportunity to purge the Old Faction of the Lu family.
I didn’t know which version was true.
Perhaps both were.
Lu Chenzhou had never been a simple, good man.
When he was gentle, he was incredibly gentle.
But when he turned ruthless, he was capable of calculating even his own ruin into the plan.
On the evening of the eighth day, I walked out of the office after work and saw him standing by the roadside.
His car was parked far away.
He wasn’t wearing a suit.
In his black overcoat, his face looked tired. He was a bit thinner than he had been on the day of the press conference.
I stopped.
“Is it fashionable for President Lu to waylay people now?”
He gave a small smile.
“I sent you a message.”
“I didn’t reply.”
“So I came to ask.”
“Ask what?”
He took a step closer.
He didn’t touch me.
He maintained a very respectful distance.
“I’ve finished handling things on the Lu family’s side.”
I looked at him. “And?”
“I won’t interfere with Wen Ning’s follow-up treatment anymore. However, the list of experts and the channels I contacted have already been handed over to your doctor. Use them if you wish; it doesn’t matter if you don’t.”
“Regarding Song Qiming, the lawyers will continue to follow up.”
“The evidence of your aunt taking money to spread rumors has also been given to your lawyer.”
He spoke very clearly.
It felt like a handover, not an attempt to claim credit.
The defensive walls I had built in my heart suddenly found nowhere to stand.
I asked, “What do you want in exchange for doing all this?”
Lu Chenzhou looked at me.
The streetlights reflected in his eyes.
They were dark, yet very earnest.
“In exchange for a chance to get to know you again.”
I gripped the strap of my bag tightly.
“Just a chance?”
“Just a chance.”
His voice dropped lower.
“Wen Qiao, I don’t dare to ask for more.”
Those words caused a faint ache in my chest.
I lowered my head and let out a small laugh. “Lu Chenzhou, you’ve certainly learned how to play the pity card now.”
He laughed too. “Is it working?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll have to think of something else.”
That sentence sounded so much like the past.
Back then, whenever I was angry, he would be like this.
No forcing, no explaining.
He would just lower his head and try to find a way.
Thinking of how to coax me.
Thinking of how to make me look at him just one more time.
I looked away. “I’m hungry.”
Lu Chenzhou froze.
Then, his eyes lit up bit by bit.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Wontons from a roadside stall.”
He paused for two seconds. “Okay.”
We walked to a small shop on the street corner.
Sitting on a plastic stool, he looked completely out of place with his surroundings.
I suddenly thought back to our university years.
The first time he accompanied me to a roadside stall.
Soup had splashed onto his shirt, and he had spent a long time wiping it with a frown.
I teased him for being delicate.
He simply pulled my bowl toward him as well.
He said, “Then you’ll have to bring me here every time from now on.”
Later, there was no ‘from now on.’
The owner brought over two bowls of wontons.
Steam rose up between us.
Lu Chenzhou handed me a spoon.
I didn’t take it.
He didn’t rush me either.
After a while, I said, “Lu Chenzhou.”
“Yeah.”
“I still love you.”
His hand jerked violently.
A bit of soup spilled out.
I stared at the small wet patch on the table.
My voice was very soft.
“But I don’t want to forgive you so quickly.”
His eyes turned red. “Okay.”
“And I don’t want to go back to how things were before.”
“Okay.”
“The Wen Qiao from back then was too foolish.”
He shook his head.
“She wasn’t foolish.”
“She was just too brave.”
My tears nearly fell.
I held them back. “And what about you?”
He looked at me.
“I was too slow.”
His voice was incredibly raspy.
“This time, I’ll be faster.”
