Rose Manor: Tycoon's Relentless Chase-Chapter 273 - 255: I Lied to You
Fu Jichen clutched that piece of paper, reading each word slowly. He didn’t know when his eyes became red, until a tear fell on the paper, smudging the writing.
A long time ago, he had a suspicion about Shen Jianian’s pregnancy. But he trusted his own judgment too much, thinking that the precautions were adequate and an accident was unlikely, so he didn’t bother to verify.
On the day they returned from Tanfu Temple, when Shen Jianian felt unwell after eating too many preserved plums, he should have taken her to the hospital for a check-up.
And on the day she saw him off at the airport, even Lu Yanzhi, an outsider, sensed something was wrong and had guessed, yet he confidently denied that she was pregnant.
If he had been more cautious and paid her a little more attention, perhaps he could have prevented all that happened afterwards.
Fu Jichen always felt he was at fault, but never knew how outrageous his mistake was.
In the past three years, he had regretted countless times, but none were as profound as now, where he bitterly regretted not protecting her, causing her so much harm.
It turned out, Pei Che hesitated on the phone that day because he was hiding the fact that Shen Jianian had been pregnant.
In that car accident, she lost a child, their child.
Fu Jichen raised his arm to cover his eyes, leaning back against his chair, crying in suppressed grief.
In that situation, she must have been in extreme danger on the operating table. He dared not imagine; just thinking she might have died, even if she is alive and standing before him now, filled him with fear.
Pei Che said that four department heads were involved in the surgery that night.
Fu Jichen couldn’t find any reason to feel worthy of claiming he loved Shen Jianian.
*
Downstairs in the living room, after not being apart for long, the two people reunited but fell into silence. After asking, "Are you okay?" Pei Che didn’t say much else.
He forgot all the prepared scripts he had on the way over.
At this time, Cheng Jin came out of the kitchen with breakfast, not taking it to the dining room but placing it on the small table next to the sofa where Shen Jianian sat: "You said yesterday you wanted to eat congee with lean meat and preserved egg, so I cooked it this morning and kept it simmering on a low flame. The dumplings are filled with shepherd’s purse. I won’t disturb your conversation, I’ll go and look outside."
Recently, the roses were blooming profusely. To ensure good growth, the gardener pruned them regularly, and the unwanted branches were usually thrown away. Cheng Jin thought it was a pity, so she would generally pick some beautiful ones, put them in a vase, and place them indoors. The colorful clusters cheered up the mood.
Cheng Jin went out wearing a sunhat and gloves, leaving only Shen Jianian and Pei Che on the first floor of the villa.
Pei Che spoke, telling Shen Jianian: "You haven’t had breakfast. Have something to eat first."
The soft, creamy congee with lean meat and preserved egg, and the golden, crispy shepherd’s purse dumplings, paired with crisp and sour beans, should have been a breakfast satisfying to Shen Jianian, but she couldn’t bring herself to eat.
Pei Che was waiting for her; he seemed to have much to say. Shen Jianian knew him; he had been like this since childhood. Before saying something significant, he always started with trivial matters, creating a lengthy preamble.
Shen Jianian took up the bowl, forcing herself to eat a few bites, and consumed a few dumplings.
This time, Pei Che didn’t make such an elaborate preamble, he first apologized: "I’m sorry, Little Nian, I lied to you."
Shen Jianian had anticipated this before he spoke. She hadn’t lived at Yunding Palace long, but she knew a lot, told by Fu Jichen, Aunt Cheng, and Bai Changxia.
Bai Changxia wouldn’t lie to her, she later found evidence proving Fu Jichen and Aunt Cheng weren’t lying, so only one possibility remained: Pei Che had lied to her.
Shen Jianian didn’t like being taken for a fool, turning in circles, but because it was Pei Che, she had no right to complain. She survived and made it here today, all thanks to Pei Che’s contributions.
"You did it for my own good, didn’t you?" Shen Jianian tugged at her mouth, finding an excuse for him.
Pei Che looked into her clear eyes, hesitating to nod, was it really for her good? Did he have no selfish motives?
He didn’t want to lie to her anymore: "My mom was right when she said if one day you regained your memory and realized the person you truly loved wasn’t me, you wouldn’t be able to resent me because I saved your life. And it was true, Little Nian, I’m not as good as you think, I also have selfish motives."
Pei Che found it still difficult to speak these things: "I think you are willing to see me, probably because Fu Jichen didn’t tell you how the Shen Family fell."
Shen Jianian instinctively felt that what he was about to say would be unbearable; her heart was already feeling uncomfortable.
"It was my father." Bringing up that past still pained Pei Che; if he could, he would never want to recall it, "I don’t know who persuaded him to design a scheme to frame your father, causing Lingyue Group to face a crisis. Your father had a heart attack, was sent to the hospital, but couldn’t be saved, and your mother was so devastated she chose to follow him. They didn’t die in a car accident, I’m sorry, Little Nian, I hid this from you."
Shen Jianian was dumbstruck, tears sliding down her cheeks to her chin.
Pei Che’s eyes misted as he continued: "I was abroad at that time, my family kept it hidden from me, I didn’t know these things. When your family faced misfortune, you went to Yicheng to live with your uncle, and probably something happened between you and..." his tone paused slightly, not wanting to mention the name but having to, "you and Fu Jichen became involved."
Shen Jianian kept inhaling, trying hard to suppress her sobs.
Fu Jichen said they met in Yicheng; she never understood why she’d gone there, now she had the answer, one she couldn’t bear.
"I couldn’t contact you from abroad, sensed something was wrong, finished my studies early, returned home, and learned what happened, then went to Yicheng to find you." Pei Che’s voice choked, "With that hatred, there was no way for us anymore. You probably know what happened next."
What happened afterward, Shen Jianian had heard from Fu Jichen. He said they loved each other, but the Fu Family wouldn’t allow it, his mother secretly pressured her to leave, leaving her to go alone to Jiang City where she had the car accident.
"You once told me that all that remained between us was hatred, nothing else, that you wouldn’t forgive me. But I couldn’t end it with you like that; I couldn’t let you go. I silently watched over you, saved you after you had the accident, hiding you from everyone. Knowing you lost nearly half a year of memories, I knew you had already fallen in love with Fu Jichen, yet I still meanly hid you. Naively, I thought, since you didn’t remember, we could go back to the past and regain happiness. I didn’t realize that lies were lies, eventually exposed. Little Nian, we can’t go back. You must have wondered why I stopped you from coming to Beicheng, and after meeting Bai Changxia, why I was in such a hurry to bring you back, because I was afraid you’d learn everything about the past."
Shen Jianian tilted her head back, unable to stop the tears from flowing.
She didn’t believe it could be as Pei Che said, frantically searching for an excuse: "You’re lying to me now, right? Did Fu Jichen threaten you to say this?"
Fu Jichen stood at the turning point of the stairs, just in time to hear Shen Jianian’s tearful questioning, never expecting in her eyes he’d become the villain breaking her and Pei Che apart.
Pei Che knew she believed it, she just needed time to adjust.
"Little Nian, everything I said is true. I came today to tell you all this." Pei Che stood up, ready to leave, but not to take her with him, "Regardless of whether the present you will forgive me, I accept it. I know you don’t like staying in Jiang City, it was me holding you there. Now that you know the truth, you can choose the city and lifestyle you prefer, no longer having to compromise for me. Actually, I don’t really like it there either; I plan to take my mom traveling abroad next, she worried too much about me—it’s time to take her out to relax. If we find a small town we like overseas, we might settle there."
Shen Jianian realized Pei Che was saying goodbye, teary-eyed, shaking her head at him: "You’re leaving?"
Is he leaving her behind?
Weren’t they supposed to get married?
Pei Che forced a smile, full of bitterness: "It won’t be so soon, getting visas takes time."
Shen Jianian wept uncontrollably, grabbing his arm: "Can’t you stay? I’m not compromising..."
"Little Nian, don’t deceive yourself anymore. Do you really still have the same feelings for me as before?" Pei Che’s eyes reddened, holding her hand pulling on his arm, reluctant to let go, but what could he do, he had lost her three years ago, she didn’t belong to him, "Is it your long-standing dependence that makes you unwilling to part with me, or the affection accumulated over three years together that binds you? Perhaps both, but there’s no love."
Pei Che withdrew his sleeve painfully and left the villa.
"Ah Che!"
Shen Jianian chased after him desperately, all falling under Fu Jichen’s gaze.
