The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 7 - 6
Chapter 7 - 6
Due to project needs and a call from headquarters, Yu Shuang had to go on a business trip to Qingdao for a while.
Chun'er needed someone to look after her, but instead of turning to Kang Long, Yu Shuang entrusted her to Yu Jia. For one thing, she didn't want to bother Kang Long; with Chairman Kang's lodging situation having just settled down, she felt she had repaid whatever favors she owed and didn't want to incur any more of the Kang family's goodwill. For another, Chun'er was a girl, and leaving her in the care of a man was, after all, inconvenient. Sister Jia had raised a child before and had experience, and since she lived alone, Yu Shuang felt completely at ease leaving the girl with her.
Scarcely had Shuang departed when Kang Long discovered a problem: the house was empty. When he asked Yu Shuang about it, she said she was away on a business trip. He asked where Chun'er was, and Yu Shuang lied, claiming her mother had taken her back. Surprised, Kang Long wondered why she was suddenly being taken back when it wasn't even during school break—what about her studies? Trusting Yu Shuang's word for the time being, he let it go.
A few buddies got together for a hangout, and Yuan Kai was there too. Kang Long asked about him performing Kunqu opera and also inquired whether Sister Jia was going. Bai Yuan Kai casually remarked, "She doesn't have time; she's looking after a child—your partner's niece."
Hearing this, Kang Long felt a bit displeased. During his phone call with Yu Shuang that very day, he brought the matter up directly, believing that Yu Shuang looked down on him.
Yu Shuang simply laid it out honestly: "She's a girl, and you're a man."
"I'm her uncle, what could I possibly do?" Kang Long retorted righteously.
Yu Shuang tried to reason with him. "Why can't I make you understand? With many things, it's just inconvenient between men and women."
Kang Long argued, "It's not about inconvenience; it's that you treat me like an outsider."
"I do not."
"You totally do!" Kang Long raised his voice.
Yu Shuang refused to admit fault. Consequently, the call ended on a sour note.
Taking some time out, Kang Long went to check on Chun'er anyway. Yu Jia asked him what was wrong, and Kang Long replied that Yu Shuang now kept everything hidden from him behind his back.
"She treats you like an outsider?" Yu Jia asked.
Kang Long said yes.
Yu Jia smiled and remarked, "Young people today don't think the way we used to. Back then, people dated simply to get married. Nowadays, dating is dating, and marriage is marriage. Marriage is a business transaction—yet you can't expect to just eat the bait without ever taking the hook."
Kang Long gave a bitter smile. "The willing fish takes the bait."
Of course, he understood that the deeper issue between him and Yu Shuang was her constant demand for an equivalence in emotional investment. In a couple—or a marriage, for that matter—if neither person ever owes the other anything, that relationship has no way of lasting for the long haul. Husbands, wives, and family members are meant to owe one another, endlessly entangled and never able to clear the ledger completely. A couple that is too crisp and clean—you owe me nothing, I owe you nothing—will inevitably break apart sooner or later.
Kang Long also told Yu Jia that his father's constant urging to get married was another headache. Ever since moving out of Yu Shuang's place, every time Kang Long returned home, Chairman Kang would bring up the topic of marriage. When Kang Long told him they weren't at that stage yet, Chairman Kang would roar, "You have to take the initiative! You're a man!" Yu Jia interpreted this as a parent's loving heart, hoping to see his son find a settled home and someone to take care of him as soon as possible. Yet, this tactic of parental pressure had the opposite effect on Yu Shuang; it was the least effective method imaginable, often sparking her rebellious streak.
After finishing lunch, Kang Long took Chun'er out to play. The two of them had long since formed a tacit understanding, and Chun'er was even more relaxed around Kang Long than she was around Yu Shuang. At the zoo, while looking at the monkeys by the monkey mountain, Chun'er suddenly asked, "Uncle Kang, am I the reason things are strained between you and my aunt?"
A mother monkey was tightly embracing her baby, looking exceptionally cozy.
Chun'er felt like crying, her eyes turning red. "If it weren't for me... the two of you could have your own children... the two of you could get married..."
So young, yet she understood everything.
Having said that, a wave of sorrow suddenly welled up within Chun'er, and she burst into tears. This left Kang Long completely at a loss. A security guard walked over with a stern expression, thinking Kang Long was a child trafficker. After asking a few questions, Chun'er chimed in to say he was her uncle, and Kang Long offered his explanation. Exchanging suspicious glances and refusing to believe them, the police officers ultimately took Kang Long down to the local police station for questioning and investigation.
Whenever Han Guang had free time, their midday "exclusive interview" proceeded as usual. Yu Rui felt that Han Guang's storytelling while reclining on the sofa felt more like psychological therapy. However, after every session, Han Guang would invariably give her one piece of instruction: "Filter this first; don't hand everything over to Xiao Ye."
Sensing something was amiss, Ye Cha brought the interview transcripts over one day and questioned Yu Rui, "We've had interviews for so many days, and this is all we have?" Yu Rui could only say helplessly that the chairman refused to divulge anything more, and that even what was here had been painstakingly pried out from between his teeth.
Outwardly, Ye Cha said nothing, but inwardly he felt sheer disdain, assuming it was simply a matter of poor working capability. To tell the truth, after conducting so many interviews, Yu Rui had developed her own selfish motives—she wanted to keep everything she heard entirely to herself, locked away in her heart.
She was curious. She wanted to understand this man. For instance, this time around, Yu Rui had covertly slipped a question about emotional history into her interview outline. How could an entrepreneur's biography possibly omit any mention of their romantic life?
Entrepreneurs were human beings too.
Yet, the moment Yu Rui asked the question, Han Guang instantly shut it down. "We don't talk about that."
There was zero room for negotiation.
Yu Rui had no choice but to bite her tongue and drop it.
During their next session, however, as Han Guang leaned back in the lounge chair, he took the initiative to bring it up again. "I still prefer the younger days when everything was simple." Before Yu Rui could even ask a question, he began recounting his past romantic life in a disjointed, halting manner.
Seizing the opening, Yu Rui smoothly stepped in to guide him along. Han Guang instructed her to turn off her voice recorders and forbade her from taking any notes—she was simply to listen.
Han Guang began with his own family background: his father had joined the revolution at age fifteen, so there was a revolutionary tradition in his household, and his wife also came from a revolutionary family background—they had met back when they were both factory workers. He went on to speak of his wife's early support, how she had sold their house to provide him with the capital to head south... how the two of them had built their business together from scratch, starting out with only two employees: himself and his wife...
Yu Rui didn't ask for his wife's name; it went without saying that she was undoubtedly Han Xiqian's biological mother. Yet Han Guang's narrative cut off abruptly right in the middle of their entrepreneurial journey. When it came to the years of his true rise to prominence, he simply stopped talking about his wife altogether.
Yu Rui added a supplementary sentence, "The crystallization of your love is Xiqian."
It was a statement, not a question.
Han Guang froze for a fraction of a second, then let out a vague, ambiguous hum. Emboldened, Yu Rui dared to ask about Xiqian's maternal aunt. Han Guang chuckled softly. "Xiqian told you that? Her aunt, her eldest uncle—I avoid interacting with them whenever I possibly can. As people grow older, they easily find themselves dwelling on the past, yet they're terrified of remembering it."
Yu Rui didn't probe any further.
In the end, Han Guang gave her a final instruction: "Just keep it to yourself, don't give it to Ye Cha, and don't write this part down."
Even though it wouldn't be written down, he still felt compelled to speak of it.
Yu Rui interpreted this as an emotional release for Han Guang. Occupying such a lofty position, there were far too few people with whom he could truly converse. Perhaps it was only with someone like her—whose rank had no bearing on his inner circle—that he felt willing to drop his guard and speak a few honest truths.
After hearing Han Guang's story, for reasons unknown to herself, Yu Rui began to feel a burgeoning sense of admiration and sympathy for this man. In her eyes, he had previously been an overlord who seized the momentum of the reform era to rise to power. Now, he was not merely an overlord, but a real human being—an ordinary man with joys, anger, sorrow, and delight, carrying the weight of a long and winding life behind him.
It was precisely from this moment onward that Yu Rui felt she had completely let go of Bai Yuan Kai. Xiao Bai was certainly outstanding—exceptionally so—yet his texture was far too pure, like a clear stream whose very purity prevented fish from thriving. Interacting with someone like Yuan Kai always left Yu Rui feeling somewhat inadequate by comparison.
She felt no such sensation in front of Han Guang; he himself was like a raging torrent of mud and stone, and no one standing before him would ever feel inadequate or unclean.
Yu Qi came home late, looking to be in high spirits. Before Yu Rui could press her for details, Yu Qi voluntarily confessed that she had gone out to dinner with Bai Yuan Kai, and after dinner, they had caught a movie.
"Alone?" Yu Rui asked.
Yu Qi nodded.
Smiling, Yu Rui pulled her younger sister close, gave her a head-to-toe appraisal, and teased, "I just have to see where a little squirt like you managed to beat me out."
Yu Qi gave a coquettish huff. "Sis—"
Putting aside her teasing, Yu Rui's expression softened into warmth. "I'm happy for you."
"Thank you," Yu Qi said sincerely.
"You earned it," Yu Rui said. "Every peg finds its hole, and your hole is a perfect match for his peg."
Blushing with embarrassment, Yu Qi changed the subject. "However..."
Cutting her off, Yu Rui declared, "There are no 'howevers'. Xiao Bai is great, but he's not your sister's cup of tea—different folks need different strokes."
Yu Qi didn't press the matter further. She too felt that her older sister seemed to have changed recently, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what the change was. Remembering something, Yu Qi casually mentioned that she kept running into Sister Meng at the office building lately. Yu Rui warned her to just exchange pleasantries and avoid saying too much.
Yu Meng had also been reaching out to her quite frequently—almost sending WeChat messages every single day, which was far from normal. The crux of the matter was that Yu Rui believed Yu Meng stood zero chance of winning. What kind of person was Han Guang? What kind of woman hadn't he seen? His wife had passed away years ago, and he still had a predatory sister-in-law lurking by his side; moreover, based on her own observations, Han Guang was utterly impervious to female charms.
Still, let's say Sister Meng was truly a peerless beauty. Having just fought a bruising battle over the committee seats, how could enemies suddenly turn into friends? The difficulty level was simply too high! Nevertheless, out of consideration for their long-standing sisterly bond, Yu Rui still dropped a few hints to Meng.
As a result, just a few days later, Yu Rui spotted Yu Meng sitting right inside President Han's car. Her jaw dropped so hard in shock she thought it might detach. It was just like how she had always failed to understand rock climbing—the sheer vertical cliffs were so impossibly difficult, yet somehow there were always people who could scale them with ease.
A few days after that, while helping Han Guang organize documents, Yu Rui stumbled across a postnatal care center project, and right there in the list of co-founders, two characters were prominently displayed: Yu Meng.
The coffee she had been drinking nearly choked her windpipe. In that instant, Yu Rui realized the true gap between them—your stage is as grand as the size of your ambitions. Yu Meng was capable of being a boss, while she could only ever manage to be a humble assistant.