abcnovels
Chapter 121 - Hehe, Exposed
Chapter 121 - Hehe, Exposed
Chapter 121 - Hehe, Exposed
Translated by Eve
Edited by Serefina, Kitty
8. Hehe, Exposed
Xie He stared at Ye Jinzhou and Xu Zhen dazedly, as if he didn’t understand why he was seeing this scene before his eyes. His lips moved and out came a questioning tone, “President Xu?”
This tone startled Ye Jinzhou out of his shock. He immediately let go of Xu Zhen’s arm, face ashen.
Xu Zhen looked at Ye Jinzhou, who looked like he had been caught cheating. He then looked at the puzzled Xie He, who was still being kept in the dark. A layer of ice encased his heart. Everything should have come to an end a long time ago. Since Ye Jinzhou wasn’t willing to say it... then Xu Zhen would end this himself!
“President Bai, haven’t you always been curious as to who had been trying to screw you over? Who it was that had leaked your film, leaked your internal financial report, suppressed your box office sales—who it was that had forced you to the end of your rope...? You must be curious, ba?”
There was a strange smile on Xu Zhen’s lips, and the look in his eyes was gloomy and without any of his usual warmth.
Xie He looked at this kind of Xu Zhen, and his face slowly paled. A look of disbelief gradually emerged in his eyes.
How could he not guess the meaning of what Xu Zhen had said? But... why? He had always considered Xu Zhen as a friend.... Xie He tightly clenched his hands into fists. His voice trembled from suppressed anger. “It was you....”
Xu Zhen’s smile grew bigger, eyes curving. “It actually was not me. After all, we have no grudges between us, whether it be in the past or present. There’s no reason as to why I would plot against you. I only acted on orders....”
At this moment, Ye Jinzhou suddenly shouted, “Don’t say it!”
Xu Zhen turned around and snorted. His eyes were red. “Why? Wasn’t this your goal? You already did it. What’s the point in burying your head in the sand now? How come I never knew that you were the type to not take credit for your own work before?”
“Shut up!” The vein on Ye Jinzhou’s forehead was throbbing. He was so furious that it looked like he would beat the other up at any moment!
But right then, Xie He suddenly took a step forward, shielding Xu Zhen from Ye Jinzhou. He looked at Ye Jinzhou with dark black eyes and spoke in a low, unclear voice, “Let. Him. Speak.”
Ye Jinzhou felt as if it was getting hard to breathe. Xie He’s expression made his heart sink.
This was a never-before-seen deathly still gaze, without any ripples of emotion, filled with ice as far as he could see.
Xu Zhen laughed and continued to tell Xie He, “Actually, I sympathize with you quite a bit..... You never found out who was plotting against you and ended up sending your company into the hands of your enemy. In the end, after being chased out, you were even grateful towards your enemy for buying your company.”
Xie He slowly turned around, lips parted as he spat out each word. “Who was it?”
Xu Zhen looked at him with pity. His voice was as light as a feather. “Who would have the opportunity to easily get a hand on your film and take it away? Who knows your company’s situation like the back of his hand and can thus easily retaliate against each of your moves? Who can do these things without anyone noticing&#k2026;? It can’t be that you haven’t realized who it is?”
No. It’s not that he hadn’t realized who it was. It was just that he had to hear that person’s name out loud. Only by hearing it would he no longer hold any vain hopes.
Xie He shut his eyes. His hands were trembling, and he asked again, “His name?”
Xu Zhen sighed. His gaze flickered away from Xie He’s face and slowly made its way towards Ye Jinzhou. He looked at Ye Jinzhou’s expression, which was so dark it seemed like a storm was brewing inside. He actually felt quite elated. He spoke in a tone as tender and soft as water, “Darling, don’t you plan on introducing yourself to President Bai? Tell him who you are. Tell him why you came back. Tell him what you’ve done.... Tell him who I am to you. If you dare say that I’m your ex-boyfriend again, I’ll get angry.”
Ye Jinzhou pressed his lips into a rigid, straight line. He looked at Xu Zhen, eyes ice-cold. A long time later, he slowly said, “Are you done?”
“No.” The corner of Xu Zhen’s lips rose. He turned his head back to Xie He and flashed an apologetic smile. “It seems that he’s too embarrassed to introduce himself to you. Let me do it. This is Eric. His Chinese name is Ye Jinzhou. He’s the Chairman of our group, as well as my current boyfriend. However, he’s always been a very low-key person. You have probably never seen his picture before. Regarding the acquisition of Rongzhi Media, he had personally planned it and commanded us. Actually, even if you didn’t look for me, I would still have thought of a way to purchase your company.... Moreover, I think you must understand, but he told me on more than one occasion that he would never fall in love with you. He was only using you, that’s all. Once he stripped you of everything, he was going to come back to me.”
After saying this, Xu Zhen felt an indescribable sense of liberty, as if all of the gloomy feelings within him had been spat out.
He had had enough. He had enough of compromising over and over, with no end in sight. Even if he was more magnanimous, he would never obtain this person’s love. This was fine. He would destroy everything! He would destroy all hope!
From what he understood of Xie He, the other would never forgive Ye Jinzhou for deceiving him like this.
These words sounded both clear and muddled in Xie He’s ears. It felt like a turbulent stream had broken into his mind and was messing up his thoughts, making it impossible to think.
A long while later, he slowly said, “Why... should I believe you?”
Xu Zhen looked at Xie He. Actually, he was really jealous of the other.... But when he looked at Xie He’s dazed appearance and thought that he was just another pitiful person who had fallen in love with Ye Jinzhou, a sliver of sympathy unconsciously slipped out into his tone. He said blandly, “Whether or not it’s true, don’t you already know in your heart?”
These words made the remaining blood in Xie He’s face drain away. His body seemed to have lost the last bit of strength it had and began to sway slightly.
Xie He shut his eyes. Yes... actually, from the moment Ye Jinzhou had tried to stop Xu Zhen from speaking, he had already known the answer.
It was just that he didn’t want to believe it.
That’s why he asked once more. In the end, he still wanted to deceive himself. He didn’t want to believe that the person he loved had betrayed him.
However, every single one of Xu Zhen’s words was like a heavy hammer strike against his heart. If the culprit was Ye Jinzhou, then everything that didn’t make sense before now would. The puzzle that had baffled him for so long had finally been solved.... Ye Jinzhou had the most advantageous identity and the perfect opportunities. He was the person who had been hidden in the shadows. He had always been by his side.
Meanwhile, Xie He had been like a clown. He had foolishly trusted the other, loved him, and had considered this person, who he hadn’t known was actually the most horrifying of fiends, to be the person closest to him.
While he wasn’t aware of it, this person had been plotting against him all this time. He had been ridiculing Xie He with his real boyfriend. In the end, he had watched as Xie He had offered his own company to him. Despite all of this, this person had still been able to sleep with him as if it was nothing. At the same time, he had been mocking Xie He for his stupidity.
Moreover, Xie He had ignorantly spilled his heart to this person, had told him he loved him....
How could there be such a terrifying, despicable person in this world?
Xie He’s hands hung by his side. In the pocket of his suit still lay the pair of wedding rings. He had come back early because he had wanted to give Ye Jinzhou a pleasant surprise. He had wanted to propose to him. Although Xie He had lost his company and lost his career... at least when he was at his lowest, he still had a lover who would not leave or abandon him. He had believed that they would definitely live on well together, that they would be able to start anew.
He had thought that defeat could no longer beat him down. But at this moment, he realized that he had been wrong.
It was just that he hadn’t been defeated thoroughly enough before. But now, he had lost completely. He was beaten down, left absolutely hopeless.
Xie He slowly opened his eyes, gaze fixed on Ye Jinzhou. His voice was quiet, filled with suppressed pain and sorrow. “...Why?”
Ye Jinzhou’s eyes had always been on Xie He. He had never looked away.
From the moment Xie He had stood in front of him and allowed Xu Zhen to continue speaking, Ye Jinzhou had not tried to stop it. He had only stood there, motionless.
To try and stop things now would be useless.
Xu Zhen’s words... were what Ye Jinzhou had wanted to say to Xie He when he had been planning this scheme at the start. However, in the end, he hadn’t been able to utter those words. He had even thought about leaving without saying anything, to let his secret be buried in the sand.... But those words were still spoken, just out of another person’s mouth.
Everything had finally gotten back on track. The bent hand of time had been restored. Tick tock... everything continued to flow in the predestined direction.
Right now, as Ye Jinzhou peered into Xie He’s eyes, he finally understood why he couldn’t say those words out loud. It was probably because... he had a faint feeling that if he said/confessed everything, there would be no going back. And he hadn’t wanted things to become like this.
He didn’t want to see this person look at him with hatred and loathing.
Before he knew it, he had already been moved by this person’s gentleness, passion, and sincerity—all of the beautiful qualities this person had....
He had started to become unable to leave the other.
But now, he had finally lost this person. Just like he had wanted.
?Ding, the target Ye Jinzhou’s Favourability Value +5. The current Favourability Value is 75.?
“Why?” Xie He looked at Ye Jinzhou and repeated the question.
Ye Jinzhou gave the person in front of him a deep look. He stared into those black eyes that he had been longing for, and the corner of his lips quirked upwards. “You said that you still remembered me. You remembered that I would come over to your house to play with you. I used to call you gege.... You even said that you had been really reluctant to part with me....”
Xie He staggered backwards. Disbelief appeared in his eyes once more.
Each reveal today shocked him more than the last.
Ye Jinzhou’s eyes were dark, like a bottomless pool. He slowly said, “But I hadn’t gone abroad for the purposes of expanding my relative’s company. After my father’s death, my mother was worried that Bai Rongkai would still want to do something to us, mother and son. Therefore, she sold our shares and took me abroad.”
“What did you say?!” Xie He suddenly shouted!
The hidden, malicious message he inferred from these words made him tremble. Impossible, impossible, impossible!
“My father’s death had been indirectly caused by Bai Rongkai. When I came back, I wanted to take revenge on him. It was just a pity that he had already died.”
When Ye Jinzhou said this, it was like he had given up. His lips pulled into a self-deprecating smile, “A son must pay for his father’s sins. I could only look for you....”
Xie He suddenly shouted, “Shut up!”
A shadow appeared in Ye Jinzhou’s eyes. He said coldly, “Why are you so stirred up? You don’t believe this to be true? In your memory, Bai Rongkai must have been a perfect father ba....”
“But in my memories, he was the contemptible, shameless man who killed my father and forced my mother and me abroad,” Ye Jinzhou said.
He finally said it out loud but... there was no joy in his heart. Only helplessness.
He could not say these words to the true culprit. Instead, he had hurt an innocent person, a person who loved him....
Xie He looked at Ye Jinzhou. The grief, shock, and all other emotions finally turned into apathy and disappointment.
This was the person he loved. From beginning to end, everything had been a lie....
Xie He closed his eyes. He suddenly raised his hand up high and slapped Ye Jinzhou! There was a bone-chilling frost in his eyes. He slightly parted his lips and spat out one word: “Scram.”
Eve: Finally, the jig is up. I couldn’t stand watching XH’s character being kept in the dark anymore.
sere: waah i think this is the first arc without physical abuse from scum gong before moving on to attacking the scum... but my heart still hurts T.T In one sentence: “How could there be such a terrifying, despicable person in this world?”