"No," he said softly, but his attitude remained as firm as ever.
She pleaded in a soft voice, "Please."
Fu Shenxing noticed her change in attitude towards him, no longer stubbornly tough, but slowly softening, as if trying to use gentleness to conquer rigidity. This change made him find it interesting, and he couldn't help but chuckle softly and replied, "No."
The soft and gentle voice, completely different from his usual indifference and cruelty, contained a trace of teasing. He Yan was taken aback by the change and felt that she could take it a step further, probing Fu Shenxing's tolerance towards her, testing his bottom line. And, she definitely didn't want to leave Liang Yuanze at this moment. She hesitated, was about to ignore him and hang up the phone directly, but then she heard him call her name. "He Yan," he paused and said slowly, "Hanging up on me will come with a price."
He Yan's finger, already pressing the hanging up button, froze for a moment before she laughed lightly and said, "Alright, then come down and find me."
With that, she released her finger.
Liang Yuanze saw her put away the phone and then reached out to hold her hand, not asking whose call it was, just leaning over to ask, "Are you tired? Shall we find a place to sit for a while?"
Most of He Yan's attention was occupied by Fu Shenxing, as she pulled Liang Yuanze forward, trying to quickly move out of the sight of the man above them. She hesitated for a few seconds before responding, "Alright."
Liang Yuanze tiptoed around, looking for any nearby places to go. He Yan, however, didn't want to stay nearby and continued to pull him away from the crowd, saying, "Let's go ahead. I know there's a great coffee shop up there."
"Just a moment," not long after they started walking, Liang Yuanze stopped her and took out his phone, signaling to her and explaining, "I need to take a call."
For some reason, He Yan suddenly had a bad feeling and nervously glanced at Liang Yuanze. After answering the call, he looked at her with a puzzled expression and handed her the phone, saying, "It's for you."
He Yan's hand trembled involuntarily as she took the phone, and as she put it to her ear, she heard Fu Shenxing's voice from the other end, saying, "This game isn't fun, don't you think?"
Though her heart was pounding, He Yan forced a stiff smile on her face as she looked at Liang Yuanze and deliberately raised her voice, asking, "How did you dial this number? This is my husband's phone."
There was silence on the other end of the call; Fu Shenxing clearly wasn't going along with her acting. After a pause, she continued, "Really? My phone was fine. I just answered a call." She took out her own phone and pretended to check it, asking, "What's wrong? Why did you call me?"
Fu Shenxing chuckled softly and said, "He Yan, you're quite the actress."
Ignoring his sarcasm, she continued to act as if she were listening, then after a while, she said, "She didn't call me. I'm on Binjiang Road right now. Let me help you find her."
Fu Shenxing didn't respond to her pretense and simply said, "Ten minutes. I'll give you ten minutes."
"Alright, I'll see you then," she replied.
After ending the call, He Yan handed the phone back to Liang Yuanze and looked at him. She felt like she had split into two personalities - one inside, crying silently, and one outside, coolly fabricating a story. "It was just a colleague who called me. Her husband called from your phone because they had a fight while out together, and she left."
Liang Yuanze was still puzzled, asking, "But how did he call my phone?"
"She probably had your number stored. I gave her your number before in case of emergency. They must have shared contacts," He Yan said impatiently, and then added, "Anyway, let's not worry about that now. Let's find them. We can split up - I'll look for my colleague, and you can find her husband and make sure he doesn't cause trouble while I get her back. We can hurry and still catch the New Year's countdown together."
Liang Yuanze frowned slightly. He didn't want their date to be interrupted, but he also couldn't refuse He Yan's request for help, so he suggested, "Where is her husband? I can go with you to find your colleague."
Struggling to smile, He Yan gave him the name of a bar and said, "Go there. Call her husband and keep an eye on him. Don't let him cause trouble. I'll find my colleague and then meet you there. Let's make it quick; maybe we can still ring in the New Year together."
Liang Yuanze seemed to have a premonition and, surprisingly, didn't want to leave despite usually complying with He Yan's wishes. "No," he said stubbornly.
Looking at him, He Yan couldn't hold back her tears any longer.
Startled, Liang Yuanze asked, "What's wrong, Yanyan?"
He Yan was afraid that she might collapse at any moment. She had lied so much, deceiving the person she trusted the most, the person who trusted her the most. Why was she doing this? Why couldn't she tell Liang Yuanze everything? Why did she have to soldier through it alone?
But not now. Definitely not tonight.
She fought back the tears and looked at him, asking, "Yuanze, do you trust me? If you do, then leave now. Go home and wait for me. I have something to take care of. After that, I'll come back and tell you everything."
On the top of a high-rise building, Fu Shenxing had been silently watching He Yan and Liang Yuanze on the street. Suddenly, he asked the person next to him, "What do you think He Yan and Liang Yuanze are talking about?"
The person, Ah Jiang, didn't know and didn't want to guess. Amidst the crowd moving slowly along the street, those two stood there as if being pulled by an unseen force. After a while, the man finally began to step away against the crowd while the woman remained alone in the busy street, appearing lonely and helpless.
"Mr. Fu, just let her go," Ah Jiang suddenly said, surprising even himself with his words.
Fu Shenxing turned around, looked at him faintly, and after a long time, he coldly said, "Your Mr. Fu may spare her, but I won't."
Ajing was frightened, standing straight, silent and motionless. At this moment, the glass door of the terrace was pushed open again, and Xiao Wu shouted from inside, "Brother Xing, someone's looking for you."