Chapter 75: Chapter 74: Can’t Blame Him, But It Truly Hurts
"I don’t regret it! I don’t regret standing up for Ren Yixuan!"
Su Xiaomeng closed her eyes, "Is it true that Yi Xuan himself told you about my pregnancy?"
"Of course! I’m the person he trusts the most. Without you, he and I would have been together long ago!"
Su Xiaomeng was disheartened, the little bit of hope she had in Ren Yixuan... vanished.
It’s not his fault, she has no position, no right, no reason to blame him.
"Su Xiaomeng, people like you will face retribution sooner or later!"
"What do you know, senior?"
Su Xiaomeng suddenly asked coldly, with a hint of sarcasm.
"I—"
"You’re just an ignorant bystander insisting on being a judge."
Su Xiaomeng’s eyes slowly turned red, and she angrily shouted at the phone, "What are you, a piece of trash? What does my relationship with Ren Yixuan have to do with you, huh? Graduate student? Go study some bullshit!"
With a sharp "pa," Su Xiaomeng hung up the phone!
She turned off the phone and tossed it far away.
She wiped her tears away harshly, cursing while drinking congee!
"Stupid Ren Yixuan, rotten Ren Yixuan! Bastard Ren Yixuan..."
She couldn’t blame him, but her heart ached profoundly...
He was the person she trusted the most, from childhood to now, whenever she got into trouble or was hurt, he was always the first person she thought of...
She spent her pocket money, bought snacks, achieved good grades, he was the first person she wanted to share it with...
So... so she didn’t want to owe him anymore.
So after finding out about her pregnancy, she chose to push him away with harsh words, rather than have him bear it with her.
But even with such severe disputes, she believed he would keep his promise not to tell anyone, believed Ren Yixuan wouldn’t let her get hurt.
But unexpectedly, he was the one who pushed her into a corner in the end...
Tears dropped into the congee, the taste was really salty.
"Bing bing!"
The door lock suddenly clicked, Su Xiaomeng was startled, and quickly looked up to see Yin Shixiu opening the door.
"There’s meat for lunch, you should be hap...py—girl?"
Yin Shixiu focused on her tear-streaked face, his heart tightened instantly, and he hurriedly walked to her side.
Su Xiaomeng felt utterly embarrassed, but at the moment she saw Yin Shixiu...
Tears flowed even more fiercely.
"Uncle... sob, sob sob..."
Yin Shixiu hurriedly hugged her tightly, and Su Xiaomeng clung to his waist, crying uncontrollably.
Su Xiaomeng was truly wailing without any regard for her image.
Yin Shixiu asked, but she didn’t answer; her heartbreaking state made him instinctively feel something big had happened!
His heart was unsettled just seeing her like this.
One standing, one sitting, Su Xiaomeng clung tightly to his shirt, crying for more than ten minutes.
Probably cried so hard that her cheeks felt sore and tender, so she finally stopped with a few sniffles.
She wiped her tears and snot on Yin Shixiu’s suit and then let him go.
With red eyes, she glanced at the snot mark she left on his suit, touched it, and muttered in a tear-choked voice,
"Uncle... your suit fabric is really nice..."
Yin Shixiu was genuinely dumbfounded after hearing this.
He vaguely felt...he might have overthought the situation.
"What exactly happened?"
He pulled a chair over to sit in front of her, still patiently asking.
Su Xiaomeng grabbed a tissue, blew her nose hard, wiped her tears, and candidly said,
"It was Yi Xuan who told others about my pregnancy..."
She sniffed; having cried so hard, her eyes now felt stinging and painful.
"All over this?"
Su Xiaomeng was wiping her tears, trying hard to calm down, and sobbed while saying, "He, he promised not to tell anyone..."
"And... and I thought he would protect me..."
No matter what mistakes she made, no matter how intense their arguments were, no matter how she let him down...
He would always protect her.
So that night, she was coaxed by the senior into attending the business school ball, and when Ren Yixuan left the senior to pull her back, she was genuinely touched.
She knew it.
Feelings from nineteen years weren’t fake.
But before she could soak in the moment, the senior poured cold water on her, catching her off guard.
"How much do you like Ren Yixuan?"
At this moment, Su Xiaomeng was immersing in her own emotions, treating the uncle as just someone to confide in.
So, she completely missed the sudden dip in Yin Shixiu’s tone.
She sniffled, "I’ve known him for nineteen years, before elementary school, he used to call me his wife, we shared our things, played together, I got into A University because he whipped me into gear... When I got into trouble, he was there to help, how much do I like him? Even I don’t know how much I like him!"
Though Su Xiaomeng never pondered whether it was love, her intense dependency and trust in Ren Yixuan were akin only to her parents.
Yin Shixiu couldn’t know that Su Xiaomeng’s idea of liking was more familial than romantic; hearing her say this, his chest felt weighed down with a heavy stone.
"Can’t you... not like him?"
He asked.
Su Xiaomeng wiped away at her eyes, then rubbed her sore cheeks, and said with frustration, "Of course! I definitely won’t like him anymore in the future!"
Yin Shixiu’s heart leaped with joy.
His question, tinged with probing and apprehension, hadn’t been anticipated to receive such a definite answer...
"Though I made the mistake first, did I really want it? I trusted him and hoped he’d keep the secret, and what’s the result! He’s the one who leaked it! I never want to like him again!"
"...Yeah, don’t like him anymore."
Yin Shixiu said lightly, then stood up and went to the kitchen to reheat the now cold dishes.
He could hear the thick traces of resentment in Su Xiaomeng’s tone.
Childhood sweethearts, innocent companions.
He was the one who broke them apart with his own hands.
He still somewhat understood Ren Yixuan as a person.
Ren Yixuan spreading rumors about Su Xiaomeng being pregnant must have been a misunderstanding.
He was much older than them, but if he had to return Su Xiaomeng to Ren Yixuan as an elder, to resolve their misunderstanding and fulfill their happiness...
He was unwilling.
He couldn’t let go of Su Xiaomeng anymore.
Yin Shixiu emerged after heating up the food, and Yin Meng also came.
She voluntarily got herself a pair of bowl and chopsticks, then pointed at Su Xiaomeng’s reddened eyes.
"Uncle, what’s going on here?"
"Just feeling wronged."
Yin Shixiu replied blandly.
"Still feeling wronged about what?" Yin Meng put some dishes into her bowl, "Uncle has already crushed the ones who bullied you, so what’s there to feel wronged about?"
Su Xiaomeng muttered and repeated the incident with Ren Yixuan.
Yin Meng sighed, "Wasn’t this already known from that night?"
"Speculation and confirmation are different..."
Seeing her slightly pitiful look, Yin Meng said, "Alright, alright, don’t feel wronged! Look, my uncle is much more responsible than Ren Yixuan!"
Yin Shixiu paused his chopsticks, unconsciously straightening his back.
Su Xiaomeng ate sullenly, completely ignoring Yin Meng’s remark.
Luckily, Su Xiaomeng usually recovered quickly. Plus, with Yin Meng and her uncle always comforting her, constantly crying and complaining would be overly dramatic.
After finishing the meal, she was already able to smile!
"You have no idea, that Tang Qian, the girl who confessed to Yi Xuan, cried so fiercely! The whole dormitory was filled with her wailing!"
Yin Meng said.
"Serves her right! Bullying my Meng Meng without assessing her own level."
Su Xiaomeng nodded, "Mm!"
"But Tang Qian really dared to mess around." Yin Meng thought for a moment, then looked at Yin Shixiu who was reading files nearby, "Uncle, were you really sitting next to Tang Qian at that time?"
"Mm." Without much thought, Yin Shixiu responded, his focus still primarily on the files.
But right after responding, Yin Shixiu felt something was amiss, and then—
"That girl seemed innocent, but such scheming... Tang Qian actually said, Uncle, you personally told her Xiao Meng was your girlfriend! If she hadn’t said that, others wouldn’t have spread such unpleasant rumors about Xiao Meng being kept..."
Yin Meng spoke matter-of-factly, but after speaking, she vaguely realized something...
"Uncle, you wouldn’t..."
Yin Shixiu knew Yin Meng’s brain reacted too quickly!
He slightly raised his eyes, only to see Su Xiaomeng staring at him with large eyes.
Yin Shixiu had slowly begun to understand Su Xiaomeng, knowing that if he nodded here... it would be earth-shattering.
The corners of his mouth pulled, "Why would I say that to her?"
He absolutely couldn’t nod to this.
"Exactly!" Yin Meng realized.
Uncle is a man of few words, at least that’s the impression most people have.
Even if Uncle really likes Xiao Meng, he wouldn’t proactively say it to a stranger!
That Tang Qian, really dared!
Su Xiaomeng thought about it too, in front of others Uncle always put on a cool, sophisticated act!
But she still felt something was off.
"Meng Meng, you guys keep chatting, I’m heading back to the office."
Yin Shixiu packed up the files, standing up ready to leave; staying any longer might lead to unexpected pitfalls.
"Oh, alright."
Yin Meng responded.
Yin Shixiu glanced at Su Xiaomeng, saying, "If you’re tired, remember to go to your room and rest."
"...Oh."
"Meng Meng, are you staying tonight?"
"I have classes tonight, need to go back."
"Then I’ll come back early, we can have dinner together then I’ll drive you back."
"...Okay."
Until Yin Shixiu left, the door closed again.
Yin Meng then looked at Su Xiaomeng with an incredulous expression...
Su Xiaomeng had just redirected her gaze from the doorway when she met Yin Meng’s eyes, startling her.
"You really keep it deep, Su Xiaomeng!"
Su Xiaomeng quickly turned her face away, knowing it would eventually come.
"Since it’s my uncle, why didn’t you tell me?"
"I did... Wouldn’t it be weird?"
Su Xiaomeng blushingly murmured with laughter.
Yin Meng sighed heavily, actually understanding why Su Xiaomeng hid it from her.
Though...
"But it’s better than suddenly being pregnant and not willing to tell who the guy is, right? I even thought you were..."
Su Xiaomeng pouted her lips.
Yin Meng suddenly laughed again, "Do you know what I said in front of Uncle that day?"
"What?"
"I said I would castrate the man who bullied you and make sure he has no descendants!"