Sun Rain Chapter 30
byNine thirty in the morning, conference room.
Fu Xuanliao looked at the solemn faces of the attendees seated around the long table. His heart was calm; he only hoped this shareholder meeting wouldn’t drag on too long. With this free time, he would rather go to Heting Club for some peace and quiet.
However, the meeting couldn’t start until the protagonist arrived. A few restless people got up and went outside. Looking through the half-open door, two people in the smoking room were lighting cigarettes for each other, chatting about something. They seemed slightly relaxed, taking deep drags before holding the cigarettes between their fingers, the swirling smoke blurring the view.
Suddenly, Fu Xuanliao remembered that Shi Meng used to smoke too.
His posture was much more elegant than theirs. He didn’t know who Shi Meng learned it from, but the way he lit a cigarette was unhurried, his gaze slightly lowered, waiting for the spark to gather and the tobacco to burn into a wisp of blue smoke. He usually wouldn’t inhale immediately, instead resting his arm on the window sill, his wrist dangling, the cigarette held between his fingers seeming about to fall.
Only then would he bring the shortened cigarette butt to his lips, his mouth slightly parted to hold the filter. The smoke he exhaled was very faint, like a thin veil separating him from his surroundings, standing on a distant, desolate island.
Perhaps he was born this way—cold, lonely, and out of place in the mortal world.
To put it plainly, he was indifferent, disdainful, and uncaring toward the people and things around him. Remembering how Shi Meng had casually mentioned the word “death” last night, Fu Xuanliao couldn’t help but clench his fist, finding it hard not to be angered by his contempt for life.
Not only did he despise his own life, but he also belittled others’. Death sounded like an interesting topic coming from him. His heart was so hard that even when he looked over with watery eyes, he wasn’t repenting for the mistakes he had made.
Shi Meng’s affection was control, it was possessive dominance.
No one could bear such affection.
That was why Fu Xuanliao was here—to teach him a lesson. Besides that, once Li Bihan and Shi Sihui’s mother-daughter duo reclaimed that ten percent of the shares, their influence would greatly increase, and he could seize the opportunity to ask them to help dissolve that contract.
Helping them was equivalent to helping himself. Fu Xuanliao convinced himself of this as he sat down.
Five minutes before the meeting started, Shi Huaiyi and the Shi family mother and daughter finally arrived late.
Shi Huaiyi looked displeased. Before sitting down, he spoke first, asking where Shi Meng was.
“He wouldn’t understand even if he came. We can just tell him the results later,” Shi Sihui said, helping her mother, Li Bihan, sit down.
Yesterday was Shi Mu’s death anniversary. Li Bihan had cried until she fainted in the rain at the grave, and after only one night of rest, she rushed to attend this smoke-filled meeting. From the surrounding whispers, Fu Xuanliao gathered that most of the attendees were already on Li Bihan’s side. Seeing her looking so haggard yet insisting on attending only increased their sympathy.
When their eyes met, Li Bihan nodded to Fu Xuanliao, greeting him from afar.
Just before the meeting began, Shi Sihui took a call. After hanging up, she walked over to Fu Xuanliao and lowered her voice, saying, “I have something I need to handle. I’ll be gone for a while. Please help me look after my mother.”
Although he wondered what could be more important at such a critical moment, it wasn’t Fu Xuanliao’s business, so he agreed.
“Thank you,” Shi Sihui smiled, saying quite lightly, “When this is over, I’ll give you a big gift.”
At ten o’clock sharp, the meeting began on time.
At the same time, elsewhere, Shi Meng slowly opened his eyes. The moment he regained conscious control of his body, he judged from the dark vision and the tight constriction that his eyes were blindfolded and his hands and feet were tied with ropes.
He was lying on his side. He exerted himself, struggling a few times without success, then simply gave up. Instead, he pricked up his ears, trying to judge the situation through sound.
The ground beneath him was cold. He reached out with his fingers and rubbed it; the texture felt like concrete. Shi Meng also confirmed through the light blockage of the blindfold that the doors and windows of this warehouse-like place were tightly shut, and the area was small, because by holding his breath, he could hear footsteps and conversations outside the door.
He estimated there were at least three people, one of whom was on the phone. Unfortunately, they were too far away to hear clearly, only vaguely catching keywords like “not awake yet,” “how to handle,” and “come quickly.” Shi Meng exhaled, thinking it seemed like an impromptu decision.
To dare to collude with the front desk and security to act within the Group’s headquarters building, the leader of this group must have a significant background.
He couldn’t deduce much more. The Shi family was a deeply rooted, prominent clan in Fengcheng. They had many relatives and many enemies, and it was common for those within the family to be jealous of the main family’s daily profits and engage in petty schemes behind the scenes.
However, Shi Meng considered himself an dispensable person in the Shi family. He didn’t participate in company decisions and had voluntarily given up his right to inheritance. Why would they go to such lengths to kidnap him?
No, that wasn’t right. He still had some value.
Shi Meng remembered the ten percent of shares he owned. When Shi Huaiyi transferred the shares to him back then, the reason was “to give you something to rely on.” Although Shi Meng had never cared about these profits, given the Shi family’s development momentum, it must be a lucrative asset, attractive enough, at least, to the shareholders within the Group.
So, the person who kidnapped him was likely after this portion of equity. Seeing him arrive at the Group building, they might have thought he was going to do something that would harm their interests, and in their haste, they tied him up first.
And to have eyes scattered throughout the vast Shi family headquarters building and to control the grassroots personnel for their own use, this person’s identity must be extraordinary.
Just as a guess quickly formed and was about to be voiced in his mind, Shi Meng heard a clang, and the iron door of the warehouse opened from the outside.
As the eldest daughter of the Shi family, Shi Sihui had never been to such a remote and dirty place. Upon entering, she frowned at the musty smell that assaulted her. Her subordinate brought a chair, but she couldn’t bring herself to sit, afraid of dirtying her clothes.
However, seeing the person tied up and thrown on the ground like trash, Shi Sihui’s expression relaxed, even revealing a triumphant smile.
She had been waiting for this day for a long time. Previously, her mother couldn’t bear to deal with this bastard, and her own influence in the Shi family wasn’t enough, so she had to pretend to be a good daughter and a good sister, waiting secretly for the opportunity.
Now the time was ripe. It was like a person who had endured humiliation finally getting a chance to turn the tables. Shi Sihui felt elated. This matter could have been left entirely to her subordinates, but she insisted on coming to savor it, to personally witness the downfall of the person she had hated for so many years.
She hadn’t intended to speak, to avoid leaving evidence, and she didn’t want to dirty her hands. Unexpectedly, the person on the ground, whose eyes were covered, listened silently for a while, then suddenly parted his lips and said, “Shi Sihui.”
Shi Sihui, whose name was called, was stunned and instinctively gasped.
This made Shi Meng even more certain of his judgment. He chuckled softly, “It really is you.”
After a moment of panic, Shi Sihui quickly calmed down.
Since she had been found out, there was no need to hide anymore. She dragged the chair that her subordinate had wiped clean, sat down less than two meters in front of Shi Meng, crossed her legs, and looked down condescendingly at the person lying on the ground like an ant. “Tell me, who informed you about the shareholder meeting today?”
Shi Sihui’s question undoubtedly verified Shi Meng’s guess. Thinking that the shares he had almost forgotten were so coveted by his so-called family, Shi Meng laughed again.
Taking it as provocation, Shi Sihui signaled the security guard beside her to act.
A heavy kick landed on Shi Meng’s chest. He rolled back half a meter, landing on his back on the ground.
“Still laughing?” Shi Sihui snapped. “Let’s see how long you can keep laughing!”
Shi Meng, who had always ignored rules and conventions, burst into loud laughter, even though his voice was hoarse and the pain in his chest caused him to cough incessantly.
Perhaps because he usually kept to himself and ignored everyone, Shi Meng’s laughter stunned Shi Sihui.
She stood up, intending to observe if this person was truly crazy, and stepped forward, nudging his arm with her toe. She was startled by Shi Meng’s sudden twitch and backed away repeatedly.
“Madman, you lunatic!”
Shi Sihui was furious and signaled the security guard again to teach him a lesson.
Shi Meng was pulled up from the ground by his shirt collar, and a flurry of fists rained down on him mercilessly. The dull thudding sounds were accompanied by the pain of flesh being crushed.
But Shi Meng was best at enduring pain, suppressing even a muffled groan in his throat. Shi Sihui was also afraid of causing serious injury and urgently asked, “Are you going to talk or not?”
Shi Meng was hit and rolled over again, coughing up a mouthful of bloody spittle face down.
He still found it ridiculous, finding the whole situation absurd.
He provoked Shi Sihui again: “You guess.”
Shi Sihui was eager for an answer and actually guessed, “Is it Shi Huaiyi?” Then she dismissed the hypothesis. “The old man only knows how to prioritize harmony and avoid trouble. It shouldn’t be him.”
Shi Meng gasped for breath, neither admitting nor denying it.
“Then is it Fu Xuanliao?”
Hearing that name, Shi Meng moved slightly.
Noticing his special reaction to Fu Xuanliao, Shi Sihui squatted down, certain of her victory, and leaned close to Shi Meng, pinching his weak spot. “Too bad it couldn’t be him. He’s currently in the conference room on the top floor of the Group, helping my mother reclaim the shares in your hands.”
His body trembled again. Shi Meng slowly raised his head. Since his eyes were covered, he could only look vaguely toward the source of the sound, opening his mouth meaninglessly.
“You don’t believe me?” Shi Sihui pulled out her phone and opened her contacts. “If you don’t believe me, I’ll let him tell you himself.”
Fu Xuanliao received the call during the break.
“How is the meeting going?” Shi Sihui asked on the phone.
“Quite smoothly, about what you envisioned,” Fu Xuanliao said.
“That’s good.” Shi Sihui was in a good mood, her tone slightly cheerful. “Thank you for your trouble this time.”
Fu Xuanliao hummed, seemingly having nothing more to say.
Shi Sihui changed the subject: “Does Shi Meng know about this?”
After a moment of silence, Fu Xuanliao said, “No.”
“I thought you might tell him.”
“Why would I tell him?” To refute, Fu Xuanliao’s tone was slightly impatient. “This outcome is his own doing.”
“It is,” Shi Sihui laughed. “He ruined the happiness of so many people. He deserves this fate.”
After hanging up the phone, Fu Xuanliao remained in a state of annoyance for a long time.
He had clearly convinced himself not to dwell on it, yet thinking about Shi Meng’s possible reaction upon learning that his shares had been taken away, Fu Xuanliao found it genuinely hard to feel pleased.
Even so, he would never admit that his concern for Shi Meng stemmed from affection.
When two people spent a long time together, some invisible bonds were inevitably formed. Habit was a terrifying thing; it could erode one’s rationality, causing one to act purely on reflex in ways one despised.
Like an animal in a circus, constantly repeating a movement whose meaning it didn’t understand, just to get a bite to eat.
All he needed to do was leave. Through a period of withdrawal, even the most deeply ingrained habit could be eradicated.
Thinking this, Fu Xuanliao breathed a sigh of relief, forcing himself not to think about that person anymore.
Not about his injuries, not about him smoking alone.
And no longer about whether he would cry or be sad.
Therefore, when he received Shi Meng’s call an hour later, Fu Xuanliao’s subconscious reaction, out of resistance, was to hang up.
Soon, Shi Meng called again.
The phone was set to vibrate, but the buzzing still caused the surrounding attendees to glance over frequently. Fortunately, the meeting was nearing its end. To avoid missing an important call, Fu Xuanliao chose to answer rather than turn it off. He stepped out of the conference room and pressed the answer button.
As soon as the call connected, the noisy environment on the other end rushed in. Fu Xuanliao frowned and asked, “Where are you?”
About half a minute passed before a voice appeared on the other end.
“It’s raining,” Shi Meng’s voice was very soft, almost inaudible.
“Fu Xuanliao.” He called his name, then repeated, “It’s raining.”
Looking up at the window, he finally noticed the sky had turned gloomy at some point, and rain was falling from the clouds like a downpour from the Milky Way.
Fu Xuanliao watched for a moment, then suddenly understood something. “Trying to trick me into coming back again?”
After he spoke, he heard a few unusual, heavy, and strained breaths on the phone, as if they would cease any second.
His heart tightened. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, Shi Meng on the other end slowly spoke, “Yes.” This time, his voice carried mockery. “That’s all I’m capable of.”
The anxiety in his heart subsided. Fu Xuanliao was angered by this lunatic again, hating himself for always softening for him uncontrollably.
“Then don’t wait,” Fu Xuanliao said coldly, not wanting his emotions to be manipulated by him anymore, stripping away everything that could be called gentle. “I won’t be coming back.”
Fengcheng in the summer was rainy, the stuffiness mixed with a few strands of chilling cold.
Shi Meng lay on the uneven concrete ground outside the dilapidated warehouse, letting the rain wash over his face and body. The smell of rust permeated his breathing, mixing with the salty rain, choking him and making him cough uncontrollably.
He didn’t want to cough. His ribs must be broken; the slightest movement caused a stabbing pain in his chest cavity. Before Shi Sihui left, she had viciously stomped on his right hand, saying he had ruined the Shi family, ruined everyone’s happiness, and that he had to pay the price.
It was also at this moment that Shi Meng confirmed that the person who had drugged Fu Xuanliao back then was Shi Sihui. She looked at him with hateful eyes, demanding, “Isn’t one Shi Mu enough? Why do you have to compete with me too?”
The accumulated resentment of many years finally found an outlet for explosion, and it also incidentally uncovered a corner of the mystery in Shi Meng’s heart.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t personally seek out the rest of the truth.
In a place unknown to anyone, his life was draining away at an extremely fast rate, like sand that couldn’t be held in his hand, so fast that he felt palpitations and panic, yet was powerless.
Taking advantage of the loosened restraints, he struggled to use his uninjured hand to retrieve the phone from his pocket. Fearing he wouldn’t make it in time, Shi Meng didn’t call the police or an ambulance. He seized the last moments to call 001 in his contacts.
He wanted to hear Fu Xuanliao’s voice, afraid he wouldn’t be able to hear it again later.
He also wanted to tell Fu Xuanliao that it was raining outside, but the mushroom didn’t bring an umbrella.
Listening to the long “beep” on the phone, Shi Meng even fantasized that perhaps he could coax a few words of warmth from Fu Xuanliao to shield him from the cold intrusion.
But Fu Xuanliao didn’t know his predicament, and every word he spoke was heart-piercing.
“Then…” Shi Meng tried hard to steady his breathing so as not to sound pathetic. “Then, if I’m about to die, could you…”
He still couldn’t help but throw out this hypothesis, just before the hypothesis became reality.
Perhaps annoyed by his constant threats of death, Fu Xuanliao still didn’t take him seriously this time, thinking it was another ploy to get him to return.
“Shi Meng, haven’t you caused enough trouble?” Fu Xuanliao interrupted him, his voice devoid of any warmth. “Your life and death have nothing to do with me.”
So, he couldn’t.
Even if he died, Fu Xuanliao wouldn’t remember.
Having reached this conclusion, Shi Meng actually felt a sense of relief.
He simultaneously cursed himself for deserving this, for bringing it upon himself, and spread his arms, tossing the phone aside. He stared wide-eyed at the sky, which looked like a broken black hole.
A long time passed before the pain belatedly surged up.
His body felt like it had been smashed with many holes, each one gushing blood and water. So many wounds he had ignored were soaked by the irritating rain, becoming infected, the flesh eaten away by borers, connecting into a vast, festering void.
The pain made Shi Meng curl up, hugging himself into a ball.
He was like a pathetic creature deceiving himself, mistaking inferiority for arrogance, never knowing how to yield, never admitting defeat, yet in this remote, messy corner, he let the pain invade all his senses, weakly exhibiting all the reactions of someone who had been hurt.
Realizing that the warm liquid flowing down his cheeks was tears, Shi Meng took several deep breaths, opened his mouth, and sobbed hysterically in the empty, deserted place.
Since he was very young, he had never shed tears. No matter what happened, the people around him would gossip, assuming he was cold and unfeeling.
But how could anyone not cry?
It was just that he hadn’t been desperate enough.
In that last phone call, Shi Meng wanted to ask—I have nothing now, my armor is gone, my thorns are pulled out. Can you hold me? Just once.
The response he received was Fu Xuanliao’s impatient disavowal and the increasingly biting cold rain.
Shi Meng gradually lost strength.
He had no ability to heal himself. After crying, his body felt even emptier. Unable to be replenished, he felt light, floating up.
He didn’t know where he was floating to, Shi Meng thought, anywhere would do.
Just an empty shell, where did it matter where he stayed?
He slowly loosened his embracing limbs, relaxed his body, and waited for a gust of wind after the downpour to blow him to a distant place where no one knew him.