DASFAM_63
Tap, tap, tap.
Bai Xu and Shang Yanxiao followed the spiral staircase up to the second floor of the café.
Chen Yufei, who was standing guard at the staircase door, came forward to greet them, "Third Young Master, Young Master Bai."
Bai Xu gave a slight nod, his gaze drifting past Chen Yufei to take in the layout of the second floor, "Where are they? Which private room?"
Chen Yufei kept it brief, "In Room 203. The other party has been crying ever since she sat down. Xie Qi was worried she might get too emotional and cause a scene, so he's still in there keeping watch."
"......"
Shang Yanxiao furrowed his brows, puzzled.
Bai Xu caught his fleeting reaction and let out a soft laugh, "Third Young Master, shall we? Let's go watch the show."
Shang Yanxiao suppressed the flicker of curiosity in his heart and gestured for Chen Yufei to lead the way.
The moment the private room door opened, the sound of a woman weeping—a sound uniquely feminine in its softness—drifted out.
Xie Qi, hearing the movement, turned around. Seeing them, he looked as though he had just spotted his saviors, "Young Master Bai, you're finally here."
No matter how efficient he usually was, he was completely at a loss when faced with this kind of crying.
Bai Xu and Shang Yanxiao exchanged a glance. Bai Xu took the initiative, "You two step out first. The Third Young Master and I need to have a proper talk with this lady."
To avoid putting any unnecessary pressure on the other party, it was best to keep the number of people who witnessed this scene to a minimum—at least for now.
The private room door closed once more.
Bai Xu met the woman's tear-filled eyes, yet not a single soft or sympathetic word left his lips, "Miss, the person you wanted to see, I've already brought him here as well."
"I suggest you get straight to the point. Say what you need to say."
"Tears won't work here. You didn't try that on Shang Qishun or his assistant, so it'll be even less effective on the two of us."
As he said this, he still thoughtfully passed over the box of tissues.
"......"
Shang Yanxiao heard the name 'Shang Qishun,' and then looked at the woman on the sofa. He pieced together a rough idea of the situation, and a trace of surprise stirred within him.
He concealed his true emotions, "What is your relationship with Shang Qishun?"
Bai Xu added, "Or rather, who are you?"
The woman pulled out a tissue and wiped her tears, then took a deep breath and spoke, "My name is Wu Xinyi. As for my relationship with Shang Qishun..."
She choked up slightly, and shook her head with a somewhat lost expression, "We can't really be called lovers. In his eyes, I was probably nothing more than a secret kept in the shadows."
"Or perhaps just a tool he used to vent his desires."
The last half of that sentence carried unmistakable self-deprecation.
Bai Xu furrowed his brows, momentarily at a loss for words.
It was Shang Yanxiao who noticed that Wu Xinyi's face was quite young, and pressed further, "How old are you?"
Wu Xinyi sensed the deeper implication behind his question, and drew a slow breath, "Twenty-six. But I've been by Shang Qishun's side for nine years already."
"......"
The moment those words left her mouth, a suspicion immediately took shape in Bai Xu's mind.
Shang Yanxiao cut straight to the point, "When you first got together with Shang Qishun, you weren't yet of age?"
Wu Xinyi said nothing, but her silence was answer enough.
Bai Xu's expression grew complicated for a brief moment, "Miss Wu, there are some things you should think through carefully before you say anything more."
If the other party had only spoken out of impulse—words like 'revenge' said in the heat of the moment—then for him and Shang Yanxiao to act rashly might well invite trouble back onto themselves.
Wu Xinyi stopped letting her tears spill uselessly and lifted her head, fixing a steady gaze on the two before her, "I have thought it through clearly. I know that the relationships among the Shang family members aren't exactly warm behind closed doors."
Her gaze shifted to Shang Yanxiao, "You and Shang Qishun are rivals. So I want to ask you to help me bring him down."
"I hate him. He destroyed me! I don't want him to have an easy life!"
The hatred was raw and fierce—eyes filled with a despair that had hardened into something vicious. It was clearly not the kind of thing anyone could fake.
"......"
Bai Xu and Shang Yanxiao exchanged a glance, then finally took their seats across from her.
Wu Xinyi tightened her grip on the tissue in her palm, steeling herself to lay everything bare, "When I first met Shang Qishun, I was not yet eighteen. When things happened between us, I still hadn't come of age."
"......"
A flicker of disgust rose in Bai Xu's chest.
Shang Qishun had always put on the appearance of a man of integrity and principle—yet it turned out he was capable of something like this behind closed doors.
"I had been studying art since my second year of high school. I met him by chance at a performance I took part in."
Shang Qishun was undeniably handsome, his manner gentle and courteous. Though he was a few years her senior, he was very much the type— good-looking and wealthy.
With all of that combined, it was hard for a young girl like Wu Xinyi not to feel drawn to him and admire him from afar. But it had only ever been that.
She had never imagined that something could develop between two people who weren't even in a relationship—and before she had even come of age.
Until one day, Shang Qishun used the pretense of being drunk to force himself on her.
"...My parents raised me strictly. After that happened, I was genuinely terrified. I didn't know how to handle it or face it."
"When Shang Qishun sobered up, he kept apologizing to me, trying to calm me down, and saying he would make it up to me."
Even now, with everything laid bare before her, she could see it clearly— everything back then had been deliberate on Shang Qishun's part.
He had never been drunk at all. It had been nothing more than an outlet for a moment of lust, and his apologies and soothing promises afterward were simply the means he used to deceive a naive young girl.
Wu Xinyi unconsciously twisted the tissue in her hands, which had long since been crumpled into a ball, "For a long time after that, I was so scared and unsettled that I actively avoided him. I had every intention of just putting it all behind me and moving on."
But fate has a way of catching people completely off guard.
Shang Qishun had taken no precautions that night, and because it had been Wu Xinyi's first time going through something like this, she hadn't thought to protect herself afterward either.
"When I found out I was pregnant, I completely fell apart. I didn't dare tell my parents, and after going back and forth in my mind, I ended up going to him."
"......"
Bai Xu's expression was far from pleasant. He couldn't even assess the situation with any semblance of detachment.
As far as Shang Qishun's conduct was concerned, from start to finish, the man was simply despicable—the kind of person who deserved nothing but contempt.
As for Wu Xinyi, to have been forced through all of this at such a young age, with such an unguarded heart, was without question a profound and damaging blow.
"He had someone take me to the hospital, and afterward he took care of me with such attentiveness and consideration. I don't even know what was going through my mind—but somehow, through all those days spent together, I found myself growing more and more dependent on him."
"It's utterly foolish. I brought it all on myself."
And so, in that murky, undefined way, they ended up together.
After Wu Xinyi started university, the designer bags, clothes, and accessories from Shang Qishun never stopped coming. He even rented a villa for her alone after she graduated.
To outsiders, Shang Qishun was handsome and accomplished. That relationship, wrapped up in money and desire, made it easy for Wu Xinyi to sink deeper.
Even as he grew increasingly rough with her in bed, she accepted it all willingly.
"At first, I thought we were a couple. It was only later that I realized he had never once mentioned my name to his family or friends."
"I made a scene over it, but he turned around and berated me instead, said a lot of cold, cutting things, then used a trip abroad as an excuse to quietly disappear from my life for three months."
Shang Qishun's treatment of her was verbal belittlement, and beyond that, an invisible form of psychological control.
"I knew full well it was wrong, yet I still couldn't resist my own feelings and the temptation. I silently accepted this kind of arrangement, the sort that could never be brought into the light, something like a 'mistress' relationship."
"Over these years, I was very obedient to him. Along the way there were three more accidents, and I cooperated each time and went to the hospital. My body has even been damaged because of it."
"I know I deserved it. I know I've lived without any dignity. But I kept telling myself. Even if things just went on like this, it was fine. We were both still young, after all."
Neither of them married. What was wrong with two people enjoying each other?
Wu Xinyi murmured, "All these years, it seems he had no other lovers or relationships outside of me. At first I quietly felt relieved by that. It was only later that I understood, he simply needed to maintain his image in front of the outside world."
Too many messy romantic entanglements, and things would easily go wrong.
"Later, people said he and Bai Hui were going to get engaged. But in private he told me it was nothing more than a business arrangement, a performance with no real feelings behind it. Yet as the wedding date drew closer and closer, he stopped contacting me entirely."
"Assistant Xiao told me that whatever existed between him and me had run its course. He transferred a sum of money to me and said not to come looking again."
"......"
The hatred in Wu Xinyi's eyes grew heavier and heavier. With nothing left to lose, she let everything pour out, "But why should it end like this? I was once a very well-behaved, obedient girl. I had longed for something beautiful, real love. I had hoped to one day enter into marriage."
"He broke down my confidence and self-worth step by step. He wore away at my body and my sense of self, little by little. And now it's all just supposed to fade away without consequence, while he goes on playing the role of the ideal, upstanding partner for some other woman?"
"I refuse to accept that!"
Wu Xinyi forced out these words with a trembling voice, her pleading gaze fixed on Shang Yanxiao and Bai Xu sitting across from her.
"I want to ruin him! I want everyone around him to know what kind of person he truly is!"
"Selfish as it may be, I want to sabotage his engagement banquet, I want to destroy him, but if I'm being honest, I also don't want another girl's future to be ruined by someone like him."
Wu Xinyi hesitated, stopping herself before she could say more, "I once heard him mention it. I know that within the Shang family, everyone wants to bring each other down."
Bai Xu had already understood her intentions, "You want to use our hands to take revenge on Shang Qishun?"
Wu Xinyi rephrased, "Or you could say, you use me to bring him down. Either way works."
"......"
Shang Yanxiao met her words with silence.
Bai Xu shook his head and answered on his behalf, "No."
Wu Xinyi was taken aback, unable to believe it, "Why? I have evidence! I'm not lying!"
Bai Xu answered carefully, "Miss Wu, no girl would joke about something like this, so I believe what you're saying."
"The fact that you're willing to open up to this extent with two outsiders like us is more than enough proof of the pain and hurt you're carrying inside."
"......"
Wu Xinyi's eyes turned red again.
"The reason we're declining is because, given our positions and where we stand, this is genuinely not something appropriate for us to do."
"Matters of the heart touch on moral grounds. Even if there is a right and wrong to it, at the end of the day it remains a private affair between the two of them."
"Besides, almost everyone in the entire the capital elite circle knows it well enough—"
The conflict between the Shang first branch and the Shang third branch is the most fierce of all. If they were to step in and sabotage Shang Qishun's engagement banquet, there's no telling whether the other side might turn it against them with words like 'jealousy' or 'deliberate scheming'.
What Bai Xu could think of, Shang Yanxiao naturally could as well.
Shang Yanxiao looked across at her and repeated his answer, "Yes. This matter, I have no way of helping."
Wu Xinyi understood the considerations of both men, and her despair only deepened, "...Then what am I supposed to do?"
Was she just meant to stand by and watch as Shang Qishun buried everything he had done over all these years?
With Shang Qishun's engagement fast approaching, he would certainly be on guard against her showing up at the banquet to cause a scene. She was just one person with no power and no influence. How could she possibly bring him down on her own?
A faint, cryptic light flickered through Bai Xu's eyes as he spoke, "But the Shang family isn't made up of just Shang Qishun and Shang Yanxiao. There are others."
The moment those words landed, Shang Yanxiao beside him was the first to catch on.
Wu Xinyi was still sunken in her own despair, "What do you mean?"
Bai Xu raised an eyebrow, "If you're truly set on ruining this engagement and letting others see Shang Qishun for who he really is, I can recommend someone else to you."
As he said this, he glanced over at Shang Yanxiao, "What do you think?"
Shang Yanxiao, catching on to Bai Xu's meaning without a word needing to be said, replied, "That depends on what Miss Wu has in mind."
"Who! Who can help me?"
Wu Xinyi felt as though she had grabbed hold of a lifeline once more. Without a second thought, "No– it doesn't matter who it is. Even if they use me as a pawn, as long as Shang Qishun doesn't get away with it, I'm willing."
...
One hour later.
Xie Qi, sitting inside the car, watched Wu Xinyi walk away into the distance. He couldn't help but turn back to look at Bai Xu and Shang Yanxiao, "Third Young Master, Young Master Bai, you're sending her to find the second branch? Having them take her to meet Miss Bai Hui, will that actually work?"
Bai Xu raised an eyebrow, "The second branch has recently been showing interest in yielding a project to us. They're probably looking to pick a side and get in our good graces. With an opportunity like this dropped right in front of them, if they're smart, they should know what to do."
Shang Yanxiao replied with calm composure, "The one set to be engaged to Shang Qishun is Bai Hui. What she thinks of it all, no one knows."
If the third branch were to rashly expose the relationship between Wu Xinyi and Shang Qishun, what if Bai Hui turned out to be someone who was completely blinded by love? What if she didn't believe any of it and instead concluded it was all a scheme orchestrated by the third branch?
"Matters without certainty, people without any ties to us, the third branch steers clear of all of it."
"I agree."
Bai Xu smiled faintly in response, "There are times in life when one must learn to look out for oneself. Watching the fire from the other side of the river, that is the wiser move."
Of course, if one were to call it selfish, they wouldn't deny it either.
Who in this world could truly put others before themselves?
If, through the hands of the second branch and Wu Xinyi, they could genuinely deal a blow to Shang Qishun, then the third branch would have nothing to lose.
And if the engagement ended up going through without a hitch, then the third branch would at least not find themselves outmaneuvered and dragged through the mud.
Xie Qi and Chen Yufei exchanged a glance, still unable to resist the urge to speculate, "Third Young Master, how high do you think the odds of success are this time? Is the second branch reliable when it comes to getting things done?"
Chen Yufei added, "And that Miss Bai, I heard her relationship with the Eldest Young Master is actually quite good?"
Shang Yanxiao glanced at the time and said only, "Isn't their engagement day coming up very soon?"
Bai Xu suddenly recalled the brief description of this engagement banquet from the original book, and his eyes shifted ever so slightly.
He deliberately pinched his right hand, "Hold on, let me calculate."
Shang Yanxiao knew full well he was joking, yet chose to play along anyway, "Young Master Bai, you know how to tell fortunes too?"
"Mm-hm."
Bai Xu was filled with great anticipation for the engagement banquet that was soon to come. He looked toward Shang Yanxiao, "Third Young Master, I've worked it out."
"Oh?"
"There will be an even bigger spectacle at this engagement banquet. Do you believe me?"
"Mm, I trust in Master Bai's abilities," Shang Yanxiao played along with his words particularly well, then turned it back around, "Would I trouble the Master to calculate something else as well?"
Bai Xu held back a laugh and continued pinching his fingers, keeping up the act, "Destined one, what is it you wish to know?"
Shang Yanxiao kept a completely straight face, "My family has arranged a match for me. Would I trouble the Master to divine the fate between the two of us, and whether or not he has feelings for me?"
"......"
Bai Xu caught on immediately, and at once refused to budge, "Packing up. No more readings."
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