Chapter 35: Storage Room

The day before the wedding.

Fan Xia brought Wen Lan Sheng to pay respects at her parents’ graves. She held a bouquet of white balloon flowers, which were her father Xie Ying’s favorite flowers when he was alive. On the tombstone of their joint burial, there were photos of Fan Yun and Xie Ying. They were both young and in their prime then, with bright smiles in the pictures.

No one had expected that their lives would end abruptly at their most brilliant moment, and the photos would become black and white.

Wen Lan Sheng lowered his head, not daring to look directly at their eyes in the photos.

Every Qingming Festival, Fan Xia would bring him to pay respects, and every time Wen Lan Sheng didn’t dare to raise his head. Standing in front of their tombstone, Wen Lan Sheng felt like a sinner, silently interrogated.

Fan Xia placed the white balloon flowers in front of Xie Ying’s tombstone: “Mom, Dad, Lan Sheng and I are getting married tomorrow. I brought him to see you.”

Wen Lan Sheng lowered his eyes, nearly tearing apart the white bouquet in his hands with his nails.

He respectfully placed the bouquet in front of the tombstone, knelt on the ground, and remained silent.

“Come to think of it, Lan Sheng and I really have a special connection. Auntie and Mom were colleagues at the factory. When we were young, Lan Sheng would come to our house to do homework. Do you remember, Lan Sheng?” Fan Xia looked at the tombstone, her eyes full of nostalgia for the past.

Wen Lan Sheng knelt on the ground, the cold temperature of the stone slab piercing his knees: “I remember.”

Director Fan was a famous figure in the factory back then, one of the few university graduates who was assigned to work at the factory.

As Director Fan’s husband, Uncle Xie Ying was also a very good person. It was said that his family was very wealthy, but he severed ties with them to be with Director Fan.

When he was young, Wen Ming Yue and Xie Cen were too busy with work to take care of him, and he often went hungry.

Later, he was brought home by Uncle Xie Ying, and he would do homework together with Fan Xia. Uncle Xie Ying would give him delicious snacks and fruits. Sometimes when his parents worked overtime and didn’t come to pick him up, Uncle Xie Ying would let him stay for dinner.

Although the factory workers all had enough to eat, they lived frugally, and their meals were all similar. But Uncle Xie Ying could make ordinary dishes into something special.

In his memory, the most delicious meals he had eaten as a child were made by Uncle Xie Ying.

After meals, Uncle Xie Ying would prepare after-dinner fruits for Fan Xia. He lived a refined life, and even the fruits were wax apples that ordinary people couldn’t afford even if they tightened their belts.

In that era, wax apples were a rare fruit.

In an era when Xie Cen would hesitate for a long time just to buy him a bunch of bananas, Uncle Xie Ying generously let young Wen Lan Sheng eat together. The bright red, jewel-like wax apples, sweet and juicy, were unforgettable for a lifetime.

But after that incident, Wen Lan Sheng never touched wax apples again. Sometimes when he saw wax apples being sold in the supermarket, he would unconsciously feel nauseous.

Looking at that kind of red, bloody fruit, it was as if he wasn’t eating wax apples, but eating Xie Ying’s heart.

Wen Lan Sheng lowered his head, his knees aching from the hard, cold floor, but he endured the pain without making a sound.

Before leaving, he kowtowed heavily in front of the tombstone, saying in his heart: “Auntie, Uncle, I will take good care of Xia Xia for you. I will use my whole life to atone for my mother’s sins.”

On the wedding day.

Many guests came to the hotel, including many old neighbors from the factory, Fan Xia and Wen Lan Sheng’s high school and university classmates, as well as Fan Xia’s colleagues. Fan Xia and Xie Cen stood at the entrance to welcome guests, while Wen Ming Yue and Xie Cen were collecting gift money on the side.

Wen Lan Sheng wore a white wedding suit designed by a famous designer, with a boutonnière of mainly irises decorating the collar. The carefully groomed groom’s eyes were bright and spirited.

Standing beside him was Fan Xia, wearing a white satin wedding dress with a simple yet feminine cut. Her long hair was casually pinned up at the back of her head, with only an iris flower as decoration. Although it was an extremely simple outfit, on Fan Xia it looked exceptionally elegant. The long, straight lines of her shoulders and neck were gently constrained by the off-shoulder dress, as graceful as a white swan. In the noisy crowd, everyone’s focus was on her alone.

Zhuang Nian followed Rong Xiu with the invitation card to enter, and his gaze was immediately drawn to Fan Xia.

Once again, he marveled that Fan Xia’s husband must have saved the world in his previous life.

“Congratulations,” Zhuang Nian said to Fan Xia as he approached.

“Thank you.” Fan Xia smiled and nodded, introducing him to Wen Lan Sheng beside her: “This is my colleague, Secretary Zhuang Nian.”

“Hello, please come in,” Wen Lan Sheng said with a smile.

Zhuang Nian nodded, waved the red envelope in his hand, and walked towards Wen Ming Yue and Xie Cen.

“Congratulations,” Rong Xiu stepped forward, his cold and handsome eyebrows lowered in a smile. He was wearing a deep black suit, with tie, vest, and cufflinks all in place, even more formal than the groom’s wedding attire. Although dressed entirely in black, it made Rong Xiu’s skin glow like the moon in the night, dazzling. Standing in front of Fan Xia in her white wedding dress, they unexpectedly looked like a perfect match.

The guests all turned to look.

“I’m so happy that Senior Rong Xiu could come to our wedding,” Wen Lan Sheng cut in before Fan Xia could speak: “Please, go in and have a seat.”

Rong Xiu’s narrow eyes swept over him, his lips curled in a smile: “I’ll go give the gift money first.”

He took out a thick red envelope from his suit, and Wen Ming Yue and Xie Cen counted it, smiling from ear to ear.

Wen Lan Sheng looked at his money-hungry parents with a mix of anger and helplessness.

Entering the banquet hall, Rong Xiu seemed to have entered a sea of purple irises, the strong fragrance making him frown.

Zhuang Nian waved to him: “CEO, over here.”

Their table was the closest to the ceremony area. Soft lighting shone on the iris flower wall, dreamlike as if it were an unreal, beautiful illusion.

“This hotel, and this wedding setup, Chief Assistant Fan must have spent a fortune. True love indeed,” Zhuang Nian sighed.

Rong Xiu crossed his long legs lazily and gave Zhuang Nian a cold glance, like a knife stabbing into his heart.

“……” Zhuang Nian quickly poured himself a glass of lemon water and gulped it down to calm his nerves.

Rong Xiu’s cold gaze swept across the dining area, finally locking onto Fan Xia, who was still in the reception area, like a predator.

Even from his position, he could only see her vague silhouette, but the silk-like soft texture of her wedding dress rippled like water waves as she gently bowed to welcome guests.

“I’m going to the restroom,” Fan Xia whispered in Wen Lan Sheng’s ear. The wedding day was complicated and tiring; she had been up since five in the morning, going through the wedding procedures, and had been busy until now.

Wen Lan Sheng reached out and adjusted the iris flower on her hair bun that was about to fall off, saying, “Go ahead, come back soon.”

Fan Xia nodded and walked towards the restroom. Just as she was about to enter, the door of a nearby storage room suddenly opened, and a perfect hand reached out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her in.

Unlike the bright lighting in the five-star hotel’s restroom, the storage room was dim and cramped.

A burning body temperature pressed tightly against her, the cool scent of cedar burning fiercely onto her body as if it had caught fire.

Fan Xia stepped back, but her heel was already against the back wall.

The noise of the guests and the footsteps of people passing by the storage room to go to the bathroom seemed to be right next to her ear. Fan Xia lowered her voice: “Rong Xiu, what are you doing?”

In the dim light, she vaguely felt a pair of gentle hands reach for her. Her hair moved slightly, and the iris flower in her hair was plucked out by him. He threw it on the ground in disgust and stepped on it hard with his leather shoes, crushing the delicate iris flower into juice.

In the faint light, Rong Xiu smiled lightly, the tear mole under his left eye almost seductively charming.

“I’m leaving now,” Fan Xia didn’t want to deal with him, she had more important things to do.

She pushed the door to leave, but her hand was firmly pressed down by Rong Xiu.

She felt a bit angry. Rong Xiu leaned close to her ear, their intimate posture like whispered sweet nothings: “I know what you want to do now.”

Fan Xia’s fingertips paused for a moment.

In the dim light, Rong Xiu’s breath was heavy: “The Wen family’s Santana has been destroyed. Even though there are many suspicious points, even though they are heavily suspected, even if there’s new testimony, without physical evidence, they can’t be convicted.”

“I also found out that Wen Ming Yue spent 500,000 to register a financing account and invested it all in a bad stock.”

Fan Xia’s hand clenched.

“So, you know who killed your parents, but you have no way to make them receive the punishment they deserve, so you want to judge them yourself.” The faint light, almost extinguished, illuminated half of his deep and cold profile.

“That’s right, I want to use my own way to make them atone for their sins,” Fan Xia no longer concealed, looking directly into his eyes: “I just didn’t expect that after hiding it for so many years, fooling everyone, you would be the only one to discover it… So you came today, not to attend my wedding, but to ruin it, right? In front of everyone, expose all my plans, make me despised, lose everything, betrayed by all—”

Rong Xiu’s cool lips pressed against hers, just a light touch, yet more shocking than all their previous kisses.

“I won’t let you lose everything.” Rong Xiu held her tightly, his chin resting on her shoulder, his black suit almost tearing her white wedding dress: “Fan Xia, I’ll help you.”

Fan Xia was stunned. The strong scent of cedar surrounded her, and in the darkness before her eyes, she seemed to see a faint light.

“Don’t you think it’s immoral for me to set up a scheme to make the Wen family atone?”

Rong Xiu tilted his head slightly, his thin lips lightly brushing against her snow-white, delicate neck: “I’m not a judge in court, and I don’t want to talk about fairness and justice when it comes to you. Whatever you want to do, I’ll help you.”

Fan Xia closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly. Her hanging hand slowly raised, embracing Rong Xiu’s strong and powerful waist: “…Thank you.”

Rong Xiu smiled with a morbid satisfaction. Counting, this was their fourth kiss, but it was the first time Fan Xia didn’t push him away.

For her, everything was worth it.

Rong Xiu closed his eyes, enjoying this brief moment of warmth before the wedding.

But this warmth was quickly broken. Wen Jing’s voice sounded in the restroom: “Sister-in-law? Sister-in-law? Are you in there? All the guests have arrived, the wedding is about to start… Sister-in-law is not inside.”

“Not in the restroom?” Wen Lan Sheng’s voice was almost right next to Rong Xiu’s ear. The door of the storage room was lightly bumped, and a shadow stopped in front of the door.

Wen Lan Sheng leaned against the storage room door, his tone anxious: “Then where could Xia Xia have gone?”