The Disliked Shou and the Charming Gong : Chapter 8: Why Do You Have to Make Me Break Up?

The past suddenly flooded into his heart. He Ning bit his own tongue, and his consciousness gradually returned.

Those days when he decided to break up, they had felt long and unbearable at the time. Now thinking back, they were actually just a few short days. Until he personally experienced what Wen Junhe had felt, He Ning felt he truly owed him.

Did he love Wen Junhe? At least he himself believed so. But what this love brought the other person was real, solid harm. That feeling of helplessness of having your weak spot grabbed, of being forced to bow your head, still made him feel suffocated when he thought about it now.

That sense of powerless humiliation he had personally experienced, the love he once thought he had, turned out to be nothing but selfish possessiveness at work.

Wen Junhe was such a proud person. He couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind when he lowered his head.

Later, when He Ning went to visit his father in prison, he finally couldn’t hold back and confronted him. He Hongxing admitted calmly through the glass partition that he had indeed threatened the other party using Wen Junhe’s aunt. He Ning’s hands shook with anger, yet he also knew his father loved him, only his methods were completely wrong.

He also knew his father needed to atone.

Wen Junhe was even more blameless. He simply didn’t like him, that was all. He Ning stood at the prison entrance back then and suddenly found it laughable. After all the twists and turns, the problem turned out to be entirely with himself. Because he liked Wen Junhe, he had made everything a mess.

Wen Junhe was the person least deserving to be dragged into the chaotic mess of his life.

Actually, there had been signs all along. Wen Junhe had always maintained a faint sense of distance toward him. Those perfunctory responses during their relationship, those dates he only went on reluctantly, He Ning hadn’t been unaware of them.

He Ning was somewhat slow in certain respects, but when it came to matters concerning Wen Junhe, he was very perceptive.

At that wedding, Wen Junhe had been able to keep his expression completely unmoved, as if the person kissing him was just a stranger. He should have had the self-awareness then.

It was like between the two of them, it had always been a one-man show starring only He Ning. Now Wen Junhe was questioning him, what exactly did he count as in his heart when they broke up?

He Ning didn’t know what to say.

He had personally killed that hypocritical, selfish He Ning. He had personally ended that twisted relationship, like cutting away the most rotten piece of flesh from his own body.

The first time he learned to repent, the first time he faced his own messed up life head on, when he let Wen Junhe go, the pain was like having his bones pulled out one by one.

Back when his father had first had his downfall, He Ning couldn’t sleep night after night, always burrowing into Wen Junhe’s arms.

In his half-asleep state, Wen Junhe would unconsciously rub his hair and wrap his arm around his waist, pulling him into his embrace. Only at times like this did He Ning dare to believe he was accepted. As soon as dawn broke, Wen Junhe would return to that distant manner, as if the tenderness of the night was just an illusion. Now thinking back, those embraces and touches were probably just instinctive reactions in sleep, having nothing to do with love.

His gaze rested on Wen Junhe’s slightly pursed lips. He really did fall for the tiniest details, like the faint woody scent on Wen Junhe that always made his heart flutter, like looking at his slightly sunken eye sockets and the smooth contours of his face.

It was truly hard for He Ning to evaluate Wen Junhe’s place in his heart without emotion. At barely twenty years old, He Ning had already thought about spending his whole life with this person.

This person had long become a part of his breathing, melted into his blood and bones. Cutting him out would be fatal.

“…Why do you still care about this kind of thing?”

He Ning wondered why Wen Junhe cared about this matter. He now had an excellent education, an old love by his side, and a bright future ahead. He clearly already had everything. Why did he still have to come and rip open the scar he had finally managed to heal?

“He Ning, why shouldn’t I care? I’m the one who got dumped.”

Because he couldn’t accept it?

Originally, their relationship had started off unequal. In outsiders’ eyes, Wen Junhe was the one standing on high, but in reality it was He Ning’s father who had single-handedly manipulated the beginning and end of this relationship.

He Ning’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He said softly, “Then what exactly do you want? Now I’ll give you the chance. Just say once that you dumped me, okay?”

But clearly they would have broken up sooner or later back then. He Ning didn’t understand what difference it made who said it first.

“You have to break up with that Zhou Ji first.”

He Ning was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood. This person simply couldn’t stand seeing him doing well. He just came out and asked it.

“Do you just not want to see me doing a little better?”

After just a few seconds, Wen Junhe nodded. “That’s right, He Ning. What gives you the right to be happy?”

He Ning lowered his head slightly. “I don’t want to break up.”

“There’s an overseas assignment spot to South Africa at the company. Actually, I wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. Do you think that younger brother of Zhou Ji’s would let you stay by his side?”

For the first time in so long, He Ning got angry, and he never expected it would be Wen Junhe who brought it out in him.

He had casually made up a lie. How did everyone take it as if it were real, determined to break up this nonexistent “romance,” treating them like some unbreakable bond that had to be torn apart?

He Ning had indeed received a text message from Zhou Chong recently. The words inside and out were warning him that if he didn’t leave his older brother, he would teach him a lesson sooner or later. The most deadly part was the attached photo. Although the key parts were pixelated, the image still made one’s ears burn just looking at it.

He Ning had been so shocked he nearly dropped his phone. Later he thought about how Zhou Ji had already been harassed enough lately, so he simply pretended he hadn’t seen it.

Now Wen Junhe was bringing this up again. He Ning only felt like he had been swept into an absurd farce where everyone was acting in the play, and only he and Zhou Ji were outsiders.

If he hadn’t promised Zhou Ji a few days ago that he would play the part of his boyfriend to the end, He Ning really wanted to just lay his cards on the table with Wen Junhe. To say Zhou Ji wasn’t his boyfriend at all. To say he had been alone all these years. To say he had long since learned not to hope for anyone’s affection, that nobody truly loved him. Would Wen Junhe be satisfied then?

But the words reached his lips and were swallowed back down. Zhou Ji had helped him too much. He couldn’t break his promise. So He Ning just turned his face away, his voice so low it was almost inaudible. “…Think whatever you want.”

When He Ning got angry, he never made a big fuss. Instead he would suddenly go silent. Wen Junhe had discovered this long ago. But back then, He Ning almost never got mad at him. It was as if he never had a temper in front of him. However much he made a scene, there was always a hint of trying to please him.

But now, He Ning was giving him the cold shoulder because of Zhou Ji. He Ning pressed his lips together and said nothing, the resistance in his eyes perfectly clear. Wen Junhe stared at his taut profile, and suddenly felt his chest go tight.

He Ning was actually getting angry at him over someone else now.

He Ning threw the car keys to Wen Junhe and told him to call a designated driver himself. Wen Junhe didn’t take them. He said today He Ning had to promise him they would break up.

He Ning thought Wen Junhe was being completely unreasonable.

“Why? Why do you have to make me break up? I used to listen to everything you said. But we don’t have a relationship anymore.”

“There’s no why. I just can’t stand seeing you standing next to that Zhou guy!”

He Ning seemed like he couldn’t hold it in anymore. He opened the car door and got out to get some air. Wen Junhe watched him get out with heavy eyes.

The night breeze had just brushed He Ning’s cheeks when the piercing roar of a motorcycle engine suddenly sounded not far away. A motorcycle suddenly accelerated, its front end charging straight at him, nearly brushing past He Ning.

Wen Junhe almost instantly opened the door and got out. The motorcycle made a sharp turn and disappeared into the night. All that remained was He Ning sitting on the ground, his face deathly pale, blood seeping from the scraped wound on his palm and dripping down his fingertips.

It had been too fast. Wen Junhe had rushed over using what felt like the fastest speed of his entire life, but he only saw that motorcycle turn and speed away from the scene.

Wen Junhe cursed at the retreating tail of the bike.

He Ning had been so frightened he fell sitting on the ground. His face was pale, looking at Wen Junhe with a harmless and helpless expression.

Wen Junhe’s breath caught in his throat. He grabbed He Ning’s wrist, his fingertips brushing over the scrapes, his voice hoarse and unlike himself. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

He Ning was trembling slightly, like a startled bird. Wen Junhe looked at He Ning’s eyes, which were full of panic, and it made his heart clench.

“He Ning, are you okay?”

He Ning was called back to his senses, but Wen Junhe held him tightly, his palm pressing against the back of his neck, the force so strong it was almost as if he wanted to press him into his very blood and bones.

The fear of that moment just now surged up like a tide, soaking through every limb and bone of Wen Junhe’s body, even his fingertips going cold. It wasn’t until He Ning called out to him several times that he caught his breath from that drowning, suffocating feeling.

Wen Junhe picked him up and walked toward the car, then called the police.

Wen Junhe insisted on going to the hospital and took He Ning to get checked without allowing any objection. The police came too. Wen Junhe described the dangerous scene that had just occurred.

The police asked He Ning if he had any suspects in mind. The surveillance on that road section had coincidentally been damaged that day. After all, the motorcycle had been so aggressive, yet in the end it hadn’t actually made contact. It seemed to carry only the meaning of a threat.

The police’s routine questioning carried a hint of going through the motions. After all, the surveillance was down. After all, nobody was injured. After all, that motorcycle that had charged at him had only ended up scraping He Ning’s hand.

“Officer, so in your eyes this is just a threat? Excuse me, but in my eyes there’s no difference between that and attempted murder.”

“Are you only planning to handle this after something actually happens?”

The police had He Ning leave his phone number and told him to contact them anytime if there were developments.

He Ning did think of one person, and that was Zhou Chong.

The man’s threats from a few days ago were still ringing in his ears. Today this “accident” had come with such perfect timing. But the rider had been wrapped up from head to toe, not an inch of skin showing. Even if he suspected him, he didn’t have the slightest bit of evidence.

While he was lost in thought, Wen Junhe made a move to take him away. By the time he reacted, he realized the direction wasn’t toward his home at all.

“Where are you taking me?”

Wen Junhe said, do you still want to go back and get hit again?

“Why did the surveillance break so coincidentally? What if he’s still lying in wait on your way back?”

He Ning was actually still somewhat shaken. He had never been very brave to begin with, and what Wen Junhe said made a lot of sense.

Wen Junhe called a car, gave an address, and He Ning only then realized he was taking him to his own home.