On My Way - Chapter 41

Chapter 41 - I Can't Handle a Girl's Tears

We have one day off a month. I drove alone for a long time until I reached a construction site.

It was even more remote than Uleji Village, and the scenery was even more beautiful. Surrounded by green mountains on three sides, the hills were currently tinged with golden hues, and the vast expanses of green grass were dotted with grazing cattle and sheep.

A complex of concrete villas in the style of Tadao Ando was being built here. Workers shuttled back and forth, moving in an orderly fashion.

However, as soon as a few of them saw me, they immediately lowered their heads and hurried away.

This was the old house belonging to Chana's family. He intended to renovate it completely based on Yu Shixuan’s blueprints.

And so, he had snatched all our workers away.

But he wasn't there right now; I heard he had gone drag racing with some new friends.

I parked my car in front of one of the villas. A girl was standing on the second-floor balcony, draped in a beige cashmere shawl, holding a cup of hot chocolate and gazing into the distance.

I rolled down the window and shouted, "Say, Princess, are you waiting for me?"

Yu Shixuan sneered, "I’m looking at the construction site. Why are you here?"

"Didn't I say it on WeChat? The New Year is coming soon, so I came to visit you!"

"We can hardly be considered friends!"

That was true. Former romantic rivals, currently business competitors.

But I have no psychological barrier when it comes to saying sweet, sappy things. I said, "Of course... in my heart, you’re like a little sister to me."

"Stop trying to flatter yourself," she said, her face reddening with irritation.

Once inside, the table was laid out with various milk teas and pastries, clearly prepared long ago.

With an impatient expression, she continued, "Eat this! The egg yolk pastries arrived just yesterday; they’re delicious."

"This is my homemade Frappuccino. Drink it quickly and see if it tastes exactly like Starbucks!"

I finally realized that she was actually happy I had come.

Having had such a severe falling out with her family, she probably had no way to go home for the New Year.

She had no friends here, no family—only Chana.

When Chana wasn't home, she could only stay inside the house.

I remembered how she used to be—fond of shopping, going to concerts, getting the latest manicures, and checking into trendy cafes. She was, in herself, a bustling, vibrant city.

But now, although she was still beautiful, she always carried a lingering melancholy.

I ate three egg yolk pastries, choking until my eyes rolled back, before I finally spoke.

I said, "I wanted to tell you... if you ever want to go back, you can stay at my place."

"What?"

"And if you want to break up, I can help you with that, too."

Damn me and my meddling, gossipy nature! I really wanted to slap myself.

Yes, ever since that night I talked with Yu Shixuan, I don't know why, but I had been feeling uneasy.

I felt... she was a lot like I was seven years ago.

Always feeling that her life needed a man to save it, and holding a near-sacred fantasy about love.

Back then, I put Cheng Xia on a pedestal, just as she was desperately following Chana.

Essentially, it was all the same.

It was just that Cheng Xia was, at the very least, a clean-cut, good person, while Chana was a suspected murderer and, without a doubt, a volatile, emotionally unstable living volcano.

I wanted to help her, even though I was nobody.

Yu Shixuan froze for a moment, then let out a giggle. In that instant, the slightly childish Yu Shixuan disappeared.

She was once again that high-and-mighty female architect who sneered at me with disdain.

I quickly lowered my head. Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have come.

"Ren Dongxue, do you know what your biggest problem is?" She finally finished laughing and looked at me with a trace of pity in her eyes.

I kept my head down. "Meddling in other people's business."

"It's being soft-hearted," she said. "I've been snide to you and even tried to sow discord between you and Cheng Xia... Are you stupid? How will you survive if you're this soft-hearted? Everyone will just come and bully you."

Actually, more than one person in my professional life had told me I was heartless.

My own father had told me I was selfish and cold-blooded.

But for some reason, I just couldn't handle the sight of a girl's tear-filled eyes. Harina was one, and Yu Shixuan was another.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," she said. "Thank you."

I lowered my head and replied, "It's me who should be thanking you..."

It was she who had told me the truth about Chana's family wealth.

Teng Qishier was so rich because he had been a coal boss in his early years.

But now, those operations were gone, and Beicang Transport wasn't making any money; they were burning through old savings every day.

Chana, young and impetuous, wanted to lead Beicang Transport to haul goods to Russia, but Teng Qishier disagreed. Since he only had local business, even with a monopoly, there wasn't much profit, and morale in the company was wavering.

So, for Teng Qishier, Old Feng’s contract wasn't just about generating revenue for the company; it was also a way to maintain his own position and suppress his son's over-inflated ambition.

And Chana obviously couldn't have a complete falling out with his old man right now.

So, he could only fume and swallow Old Feng's provocations.

He wouldn't be able to hold it in much longer. I had a premonition that something would go wrong sooner or later—or rather, Chana himself was just a living volcano ready to erupt at any moment.

That was why I had come to tell Yu Shixuan all of this.

I didn't want a "princess" who had finally summoned the courage to be brave to head toward her own destruction.

Of course, I wasn't that noble.

After eating hot pot with Yu Shixuan, I gave Old Feng a call.

"I asked. It seems like Chana felt he had upset Yu, so he was thinking of finishing the house she designed as quickly as possible to please her. It wasn't aimed at us on purpose."

"It's fine. Most of the workers should be back in a few days," Old Feng said.

I acutely caught the subtext; Old Feng was planning to use some methods—and likely some rather ruthless ones at that.

I stammered, "Boss Feng, since he wasn't targeting us on purpose, actually, many herdsmen are idle right now. If we hire a large number of them, we can still catch up on the schedule."

Chana was a person who didn't fear death.

Thinking back on previous events, I instinctively didn't want to fight with him.

"I told you a story before that you didn't remember," Old Feng said. "A butcher was slaughtering a dog, and the dog cried piteously. A scholar wanted to spend money to buy the dog, but because they argued over the price, the dog turned and attacked the scholar."

I remained silent.

"The hateful thing about beasts is that they don't understand anything. You can't reason with them," he said calmly. "You can only beat them to death."

"You are right."

I looked up at the lead-gray sky; a single snowflake was slowly drifting down.

The most terrifying blizzard season of the grassland was about to arrive.


Later, some very strange things happened at Chana’s construction site.

The construction never met standards and required repeated rework. In a fit of rage, Chana scolded the workers one by one and even got physical.

As a result, the next day, several workers vanished, and along with them, over a dozen trucks' worth of building materials.

Beicang Transport was supposedly well-connected, yet no matter how they investigated, they couldn't find out where those people had gone.

The matter became a cold case.

With Chana’s site at a standstill, many workers came back, sheepishly begging for their jobs. I pretended nothing had happened and took them all back.

Before the deep-freeze season set in, we finished the last quarter of the project, finally managing to pay everyone so they could have a good New Year.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, we all ate pork stewed with vermicelli together, then happily set off on our journeys home for the holidays.

The site gradually grew deserted, and in the end, only I remained.

Grandma still wanted to go to my father’s place for the New Year this year. I told her, "Go ahead then, I’ll buy your ticket."

I also sent my dad a red envelope on WeChat.

He and I were just like this—constantly breaking our bones, yet constantly staying connected by the sinews.

Old Feng had taken his wife and children abroad for a vacation and had left early.

Yu Shixuan, as expected, didn't go home; Chana took her to Egypt to travel—I guess I had been overthinking things.

Heavy snow covered the entire grassland. As the workers gradually left, the usually bustling site slowly fell into a deathly silence.

On New Year’s Eve, I boiled a pot of large bones and fed them to the big dogs that scraped by around the site. It was strange; despite having a feast one day and famine the next, they were still sleek and well-fed.

"Happy New Year to you, too."

They lunged over, stretching out their hot tongues to lick me, nearly knocking me over.

Then I used the bone broth to boil a bowl of frozen dumplings and returned to the dorm to eat while organizing the site’s data.

Two small heaters hummed, making the areas they faced warm and toasty, while the rest of the room stayed perpetually chilly.

Outside the window, a wild wind whipped up snow spray, as if ten thousand giants were roaring.

I remembered one year ago, Cheng Xia and I were also hiding in this little room, shivering and hugging each other for warmth.

It was very cold then, but my heart was warm and steady.

Just then, the dogs outside suddenly began to bark wildly.

Had someone come to the construction site?