The Early Spring - Chapter 84

Chapter 84 - Let It Be

Shang Zhitao knew that the nature of her relationship with Luan Nian had shifted. Whenever she bumped into him again, she would still greet him with a gentle smile, yet she knew deep down that a future between them was no longer possible.

It was on a rainy spring day that she sent a message to Luan Nian: Luke, I've been thinking, and I believe we should end our relationship.

Luan Nian's reply came swiftly: Okay.

She found herself utterly baffling. She had assumed she would wail hysterically, writhe in unbearable agony, drown her sorrows in alcohol, or cling to him with endless entanglement—yet she did none of those things. She once asked Sun Yu, "Is there something wrong with me? Am I some kind of cold, emotionless creature? Why don't I feel humiliated after being rejected by him? Why don't I hate him in the slightest? What kind of person am I, really?"

She had so many questions, all of which were the ordinary dilemmas of men and women navigating love. Her experience was merely one shared by thousands of other young women. They hadn't done anything wrong; they had simply fallen for someone they shouldn't have loved. Nor did that man seem to be in the wrong—he was merely following his own true feelings. If every confession yielded a loving response, why would there be so many brokenhearted people in the world?

Sun Yu didn't know how to comfort Shang Zhitao. She simply gave her a gentle hug and said softly, "Perhaps you didn't love him all that deeply, or perhaps genuine grief is completely silent."

What puzzled Shang Zhitao most about herself was that she would still think of him occasionally; he had simply lost his importance. It felt as though her body had activated a defense mechanism, a internal sorting system that reordered the people and matters around her—and Luan Nian had been pushed all the way to the very bottom of that list.

She liked this transformation in herself.

Everything fell into place with meticulous order, so orderly that she nearly forgot she was deeply embroiled in a bribery scandal.

Shang Zhitao had just wrapped up a meeting when she received the notice for an interview.

An internal auditor called her mobile phone: "Flora, please step into Conference Room 502."

"Alright." Holding her laptop, she made her way over to the conference room, only to find Tracy, Luan Nian, and several colleagues from the Internal Audit Department sitting in a row. Having never faced such a intimidating setup before, she felt nervous, yet her conscience remained completely clear as she sat upright in her chair.

Though she knew what the discussion would be about, she hadn't expected such a grand array of people.

Tracy exchanged a quick glance with Luan Nian before stepping in to explain, "Since Luke is currently acting as head of the Planning Department, company regulations dictate that the department head must be present during internal audit inquiries, so..."

"Let's get straight to it," Luan Nian said, not even lifting his eyes from his phone. Turning to Tracy, he added, "Cut straight to the chase. I have two more meetings after this."

"Alright."

"Audit team, please begin."

They inquired about Shang Zhitao's base income, whether she had any side hustles, and if she habitually bought luxury goods. In short, a barrage of odd and varied questions that ultimately converged on a single point: whether she had any large sums of unexplained income.

Shang Zhitao answered every question one by one. When the auditor asked if she had a habit of purchasing luxury items, she shook her head: "No, I don't care for luxury goods." Indeed, she didn't care for them. Although Luan Nian had casually given her many over the years, she had never even unwrapped them. Dislike was simply dislike. When she stated that she didn't care for luxury goods, Luan Nian shifted his gaze away from his phone and cast a cool, indifferent glance at her.

The internal auditors then probed into her relationships with suppliers and how she managed bidding and payment workflows, all of which Shang Zhitao addressed thoroughly.

Luan Nian finally set his phone down, adopting his usual strictly-business tone: "There's no need to play nice or tip-toe around it. Let's speak plainly. Flora, you have been reported by a vendor you onboarded years ago for accepting over 400,000 yuan in cash bribes. The company will conduct a thorough investigation. Until a conclusion is reached, please hand over your current projects and suspend your work duties immediately." He had no desire to beat around the bush; pouring out a hundred soft, comforting words would still yield the exact same outcome. Rather than wasting time on polite pleasantries, it was far better to focus on finding a solution.

Feeling that Luan Nian was being entirely too harsh, Tracy turned to Shang Zhitao and offered, "We will certainly investigate this thoroughly and will not wrong an innocent person."

"Nor will we let a wrongdoer off the hook," Luan Nian added coolly.

As Shang Zhitao listened to them speak, their voices sounded strangely grating. Four hundred thousand yuan in cash was a substantial sum for her at the time. The problem was, she hadn't taken a single cent, not even four yuan.

"Understood. Thank you."

Shang Zhitao exited the conference room, returned to her desk, and picked up her bag.

"Where are you going? Done for the day?" Lumi asked her.

Being falsely accused felt terrible, and Luan Nian's utterly detached, emotionless words made it particularly unbearable for Shang Zhitao. She didn't answer Lumi—she couldn't open her mouth right now, knowing that if she spoke a single word, her tears would spill over. Instead, she pulled out her phone and sent Lumi a message: I was reported by Wang Yang for taking 400,000 yuan in bribes. The company told me to go home and await the audit results.

"Fuck him!" Lumi flared up with rage. She stood up and walked downstairs alongside Shang Zhitao. While waiting for the elevator, they ran into Luan Nian, who was heading down to the coffee shop on the ground floor for a meeting. Shang Zhitao took a step back, hiding herself behind Lumi. No one spoke inside the elevator cab. Through the mirror on the elevator wall, Luan Nian caught sight of Shang Zhitao pressing her lips together with stubborn resolve—her habitual expression whenever she felt wronged.

Stepping into the coffee shop, he watched through the window as Shang Zhitao spoke with Lumi. Lumi appeared furious, while Shang Zhitao held her hand, trying to soothe her. Moments later, Shang Zhitao turned and walked away. By the time she arrived home, Sun Yuanzhu was there as well, working on a miniature robot. Catching sight of Shang Zhitao, he used a voice changer to greet her: "Hello."

"Why do you look so down?"

Shang Zhitao recounted what had happened to him. Sun Yuanzhu nodded thoughtfully: "You know? Certain underhanded tricks never fail to be reused."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it. Either way, you have to save yourself."

Save herself? Wouldn't the best way to save herself be going to Luan Nian? He undoubtedly possessed powerful means to solve this, yet Shang Zhitao didn't reach out to him. She wouldn't have gone to him in the past, and moving forward, she had even less of a reason to do so.

Luan Nian received neither a message nor a call from Shang Zhitao all the way until he left work that evening, a fact that hardly surprised him. Getting into his car, he placed a phone call: "Help me look into something."

"Yes, I only want to know what kind of dealings exist between them."

"Furthermore, I want to quietly check the financial books of that company."

"Rest assured, I won't use it for anything illegal."

Luan Nian hung up the phone, pondered for a moment, sent the company information over to the other party, and added: Only check the specific details I mentioned. Luan Nian had never been an entirely upright or honorable man; if the other party was playing dirty, beating them at their own game was the most effective remedy.

Make it quick.

Starting the engine, he spotted a car on the road carrying a Golden Retriever, its head poking foolishly out the window. Suddenly, thoughts of Luke drifted into his mind.

Now that his relationship with Shang Zhitao was over, did that mean he would never see Luke again? Yet he still had a stash of dog treats he had bought for Luke sitting in his trunk. Parking his car by the curb, he sat in deep thought for a long time before finally driving back home.

Inside the apartment, there were still several changes of clothes, cosmetics, slippers, and numerous other belongings left behind by Shang Zhitao. As Luan Nian tidied them up, he couldn't help but realize that living together for an extended time truly left indelible traces. He gathered all her things neat and clean, packing them into a large cardboard box; together with Luke's water bowl, food bowl, toys, and treats, they filled two massive boxes in total. His house was sprawling, so when these items were scattered about, they had seemed almost nonexistent. Now, packed together in one spot, they occupied nearly two square meters of space.

For the first time since rejecting Shang Zhitao that day, he took the initiative to call her. The phone rang for a long time before she finally picked up, offering a groggy "Hello." Her mouth seemed barely able to open—Sun Yu had just forced a few sheet masks onto her face, claiming that a woman's luck would only improve if she made herself beautiful. Since she was under investigation, she might as well focus on self-care at home.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting on a facial mask." Shang Zhitao peeled off the mask, her voice growing clearer: "Is something the matter?"

"Doing a facial mask at one in the morning?"

"I just... suddenly felt like it. What's wrong, Luke? Have the investigation results come out?" Shang Zhitao called him Luke; in her heart, he was merely Luke, not Luan Nian.

"You left some belongings at my place. Are you coming to pick them up?"

"Probably not—it's too late tonight. Starting tomorrow, I'll be going out to travel, so it won't be convenient. If you think they're taking up too much space, just toss them out." Shang Zhitao knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted to sever this relationship completely and pretend as though none of it had ever happened. She was also preparing to switch jobs; Alex had reached out to her, having fully established a solid foothold at his new company, and needed a trustworthy person to assist him. Shang Zhitao felt the timing was ideal. However, since Grace was about to go on maternity leave, moral duty dictated that Shang Zhitao should at least wait until her leave ended, helping her hold down her clients in the meantime. Consider it her way of repaying Grace—a fair exchange, as things ought to be in the workplace.

"Not staying home to wait for the results?"

"Waiting for the results is the same no matter where I am."

"I'll bring them over to you."

"Oh."

Shang Zhitao hadn't taken his words seriously, yet Luan Nian actually showed up. She was in the middle of washing her face when his call came through: "Come downstairs."

Shang Zhitao threw a light cardigan over her shoulders and went downstairs. Time slipped by so quickly; it was already early summer. Early summer nights possessed an intoxicating charm, complete with a comfortable breeze and the gentle chirping of insects. Luan Nian stood leaning against his car, smoking a cigarette, with two large cardboard boxes resting beside his feet.

Shang Zhitao walked over and stared at the two boxes, feeling as though the words Time Flies were etched across them, or perhaps A Fleeting Dream, or even A Grand Absurdity. She felt that Sun Yu was right—a beginning like theirs was destined never to yield a good outcome. She fell so far short of his standards that a parting of ways was bound to happen sooner or later.

"That's quite a lot," she said softly.

Luan Nian didn't say a word, merely lowering his head slightly as he dragged on his cigarette. Shang Zhitao crouched down to open the box, and Luan Nian watched as loose strands of hair from her high bun spilled softly over her snow-white neck. She was an odd woman indeed—the words she had spoken during that phone call made it sound as though she couldn't live without him, yet in the blink of an eye, she acted as if nothing had ever happened. It seemed she had always been capable of picking things up and putting them down with equal ease.

Inside the box, Shang Zhitao found all her odds and ends from his house: her water cup, toiletries, cosmetics, clothes, and slippers. Glancing around, she spotted a trash can about ten steps away, picked up the box, walked over, and dumped everything straight into it. What was the point of keeping them anyway? In her rented apartment, modest as everything was, she lacked for nothing.

Watching her throw her things away with such decisive coldness, Luan Nian narrowed his eyes into thin slits, a cold glint flashing across them that even he failed to realize. Acting as if she hadn't noticed a thing, Shang Zhitao walked back over to him and opened the second box, finding it packed to the brim with Luke's belongings. Luan Nian was truly generous with his spending—the dog treats he bought for Luke were costlier than the meals she ate herself.

"I'll thank you on Luke's behalf." Hugging the box, she took two steps backward and asked, "Do you need me to return the designer bags you gave me? I've seen online that when people end a relationship, some ask for their expensive gifts back."

Luan Nian cast a glance at her without uttering a single word, got into his car, and drove off. Glancing into his rearview mirror, he saw that Shang Zhitao had already carried the box through the building's entrance, without looking back even once.

He dialed Tan Mian: "Up for a drink?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

When Shang Zhitao made her way upstairs and closed the door behind her, she suddenly realized she was crying. How strange it was—though her tears flowed impetuously, she felt almost nothing inside. Pulling out the treats, she fed them to Luke: "These were bought by a former friend of yours. Go on, eat up."

Luke seemed to recognize the food; he let out a bark in the quiet of the night, a sound that nearly shattered Shang Zhitao's heart into pieces.