Love You

After so many years, only to suddenly learn that she had missed so much, neither of them spoke for a moment.

Wei Yin didn’t remember that incident, so she adjusted more quickly and asked softly, “Then was that the last time we saw each other?”

Hua Yu’s eyes trembled; her deep blue gaze was so heavy with sorrow it looked like a still lake.

Her voice dropped to little more than a murmur.

“That year I was busy working on my doctoral dissertation—more than three hundred thousand characters, revised over and over. You were busy with your graduation defense too. We were seeing each other less and less, and for a long time we didn’t contact each other at all... Back then I still thought you and Yu Tiantian were together. We had never promised each other anything; the in-between stage was beautiful, but it wasn’t enough for either of us to step forward and ask about the other person’s identity, let alone have the courage to do it.”

“On top of that, I had almost done that kind of thing to you. That was my first hospitalization for treatment; I don’t even know how many days I was unconscious, and I was out of it the entire time. As soon as I was discharged, I had to start residency training. After that, I looked for you several times, but you were gone. From the graduation ceremony on, I never heard anything about you again. Your roommate told me you’d gone back to your hometown, but she didn’t know where that was. I always thought you had left Q City.”

Wei Yin had never been so desperate as she was now. She wanted to recover every memory, remember every detail from back then, and untangle all the misunderstandings.

But all she could do was lie there with her eyes open, following Hua Yu’s recollections and piecing them together with her.

“Besides these things, what else did Yu Tiantian threaten you with?”

Hua Yu didn’t hide anything. In the calmest voice she could manage, she told Wei Yin everything.

“At first it was only that matter. I was afraid that once you remembered everything, you’d leave me, so I agreed to give her some professional advice.”

“Later, she wanted me to oversee everything, but I refused. Then she used your thesis to threaten me... She probably took a copy of your graduation thesis when you weren’t paying attention, and used patent documents as evidence preservation. As long as she wanted, she could prove at any time that your thesis had been plagiarized... If I didn’t agree, the plagiarism accusation would ruin your degree.”

For someone from a poor family, a diploma was the sweat and blood of ten years buried in books. The reason Wei Yin could make a decent living as a nanny, despite everything, had a great deal to do with her being a graduate of Q University and her nursing degree.

Even if she never worked as a nanny again, the stain of plagiarism alone could follow her for the rest of her life.

Hua Yu didn’t look at Wei Yin. She could imagine how disgusting it would be to have one’s thesis stolen, only for someone to pour a bucket of filth over them and accuse them of plagiarism in return.

“Back then you had just started the studio with Yu Qing. You were livestreaming, and in a way you were already public figures. I didn’t dare gamble with your hard work and future, so I could only agree to be her consultant and guide her all the way through.”

Wei Yin felt as if she herself were a piece of meat, every part of her body available to be cut off and used at any time. For the first time, she was driven to such fierce hatred that she ground out each word through clenched teeth: “If someone like that has a hold on you, the moment you give her an inch she’ll take a mile. I’d rather take her to court, even have my degree revoked, than let you...”

“But I’m willing.”

Hua Yu cut her off, accepting everything with composure. “I’m willing to do something for you. When someone is already holding a knife to you, and I’m still standing here refusing to yield? I’d let anyone control me because of you; I can’t control myself.”

In her entire life, she had only ever fallen in love once, and Hua Yu was almost furious now. “I’ve lived these years by the book, to the point of almost forgetting you... but you appeared in front of me again and took the initiative to walk back into my life. Every move you make, every word, every smile, is exactly the same as it was back then.”

The more Hua Yu spoke, the deeper her voice became, until it turned hoarse. “You’ve suffered so much these years. I couldn’t hold on to you and protect you back then. Now that you’ve finally found your way home and come back to my side, do you think I’d still let you slip away and get hurt because of me?”

The last few sentences were almost hurled out in one breath. Each word dripped with blood, carrying unwillingness and pain, grievance and resolve.

Wei Yin had never seen Hua Yu like this before. The surging love was fierce and burning; she couldn’t tell whether her own heartbeat was more violent or her breathing more ragged. “Dr. Hua...”

“After that, she wanted me to invest money. Just like you said, once she tasted a little sweetness, she got greedy and wanted to swallow the whole person, skin and bones,” Hua Yu said with a bitter smile, her eyes tinged with irony. “I went back and forth with her, forcing her to show every card she had. She really had been very close to you back then, and she brought out a great many things. I was glad; at last, I forced out her final trump card.”

Wei Yin moved closer and reached out toward Hua Yu, who lowered her head and lifted a hand to take hers.

Hua Yu gently squeezed her palm and looked up; several red threads of bloodshot had risen in the whites of her eyes. “She showed me a video from abroad claiming to make atrophied glands healthy again. I had someone check whether the video was real. There had been editing, but the footage itself was genuine.”

At that, Wei Yin understood everything. What had made Hua Yu gamble everything was her health. She said in exasperation, “How could you believe something like that? You’re a doctor yourself. If there really were such a method, wouldn’t everyone with gland atrophy be cured?”

Wei Yin simply didn’t believe the video was real. She had thought it was some kind of trump card; it turned out to be just a scam. Was this a fraud aimed at doctors?

But Hua Yu said nothing. She only looked at her quietly and tenderly.

There was a wistful emotion hidden in that gaze, and also a little hardship she hadn’t put into words.

“But you recovered.”

Those five words instantly silenced Wei Yin, as if someone had accidentally pressed pause. Her half-open mouth froze in the air before she slowly fell quiet.

“You—you mean my gland?” Wei Yin pointed to her own neck, then toward the outside. “It, it was her?”

Hua Yu still didn’t answer.

Wei Yin muttered under her breath, “That can’t be. I only met her alone once... This was just a coincidence, right? You and Uncle and Aunt took such good care of me, and then I just happened to recover at that time?”

Hua Yu lowered her eyes and did not meet Wei Yin’s gaze.

That kind of avoidance was practically a roundabout denial.

“I don’t accept it.” Wei Yin stood up, pulling Hua Yu with her. She finally understood why Hua Yu had ordered so many tests; how could a weasel visit a chicken just to send New Year’s greetings? “Come on, I’m going to the hospital right now. We’ll keep checking. There has to be something wrong here. Even if—if I really did get better, I can still refuse to use her method. I can go back to how I was before; it won’t affect my life.”

Hua Yu stood up under the force of her pull, but instead of following her outside, she stepped forward and gathered the bristling young woman into her arms.

“Don’t be upset. I have a way.”

Wei Yin went stiff in her embrace, every muscle tense; hugging her felt like hugging a slab of iron.

Hua Yu kneaded her shoulders and arms, patting her back gently as she coaxed her like a child. “At least I’m a few years older than you. If I just keep letting her push me around, wouldn’t that be too stupid?”

Wei Yin said rigidly, “What way do you have?”

Yu Tiantian had already forced them to this point. In Wei Yin’s eyes, Hua Yu’s paper was about to be published and the product was about to hit the market; they were already at the end of the road.

She only hated herself for becoming someone else’s burden.

“I’ve always had a way,” Hua Yu said with a soft smile. She had never been depressed or pained by Yu Tiantian’s pressure; any intense emotional swings were because of Wei Yin. “I know that agreeing to her conditions would only be putting out a fire with boiling water; it wouldn’t amount to much. To you, she’s a tumor—one that has to be cut out clean.”

Wei Yin blinked, not understanding how Hua Yu had gone from “being forced by Yu Tiantian” to “treating her as a tumor that must be removed.”

“Hm?” Wei Yin perked up, turning her face sideways to stare at Hua Yu’s chin.

Hua Yu’s delicate lips parted slightly, and when she spoke, her words carried a deep, elusive meaning. With a faint, mocking laugh, she said, “With her gone, you can live better.”

Wei Yin placed both hands on Hua Yu’s arms and pushed her back half a step. “What are you going to do?”

Hua Yu looked at Wei Yin’s face: pale, small, and only just plumped up with a little baby fat from being cared for; the long hair that had finally reached her shoulders after being left to grow for so long.

This was the person in her memory, and the person standing right in front of her.

She would do everything she could to protect her properly.

“Do you trust me?” Hua Yu asked.

Wei Yin said, “Yes.”

“Then just stand aside and watch,” Hua Yu said, brushing the stray strands from Wei Yin’s cheek, her fingertips lingering with unmistakable tenderness. “If she wants to build a tower, then I’ll make her business empire collapse completely and turn into ruins.”

All of Wei Yin’s doubts were answered, but when she heard that Hua Yu intended to deal with Yu Tiantian, she still felt a little curious and worried.

“Can you tell me what you’re going to do?”

Wei Yin asked without much hope.

She didn’t understand the professional details, but when you cared, you worried. Knowing more would always make her feel steadier.

Even if Hua Yu wanted to keep it from her right now, she wouldn’t be angry. After all, she already knew everything she had wanted to know; she wasn’t so greedy as to demand that the other person tell her every last plan and calculation.

This time, however, Hua Yu didn’t hesitate at all. “Yes.”

Wei Yin’s eyes lit up as she looked at Hua Yu expectantly.

Hua Yu said softly, “You only saw me publish one paper supporting the heat-relief device, but I wrote another one at the same time. It’s enough to prove that external interference with heat can lead to serious consequences, even disability. I’ve already given it to Dad and Mom. After the heat-relief devices are mass-produced and orders have been signed with major hospitals, that paper will appear out of nowhere and shatter all of Yu Tiantian’s dreams.”

Wei Yin let out an “ah.” “Then... then wouldn’t the money you invested be lost too?”

Hua Yu smiled faintly. “I have a way to recover it.”

Wei Yin shook her. “Tell me quickly.”

“After the heat-relief devices end up unsold and the huge capital chain breaks, I’ll use another identity to buy them up and resell them overseas.”

Wei Yin still didn’t understand, so Hua Yu gave her the missing piece at the right moment: “Pedro.”

Realization dawned on Wei Yin. “So these heat-relief devices are actually useful. You’re just cutting off the domestic market; Yu Tiantian never opened up the overseas market, so she can’t sell them at all, but with Aunt Mei helping you, you can make it happen without any obstacles!”

Hua Yu said approvingly, “Smart. In fact, even if Pedro doesn’t help, I can still sell them. I have a few friends abroad, and the Hua family has plenty of connections overseas too. After the devices are sold, the accounts will basically balance out.”

Wei Yin clapped in delight. Yu Tiantian had been pushing them step by step, thinking she had Wei Yin and Hua Yu in the palm of her hand. When she saw her project succeed and could even pass the risk on to someone else, she must have been smug.

To be riding high and then be struck down at the moment of greatest satisfaction; the products can’t be sold, the company can’t repay its loans, and it’s heading straight for bankruptcy and collapse. Yu Tiantian definitely wouldn’t be smug anymore... Wei Yin couldn’t help wanting to leap straight to that day and watch Yu Tiantian tumble hard from her horse.

She forced down the corners of her mouth, but failed.

“Dr. Hua should have told me earlier,” Wei Yin said, her mood bright as she bounced lightly in place. “That way I could have felt reassured earlier, and been happy earlier too.”

“Mm, it’s all my fault,” Hua Yu admitted earnestly. “I was indecisive and overthinking it, and I was too cowardly to tell you.”

Someone willing to wager their entire fortune against Yu Tiantian could hardly be called cowardly.

She was simply too fond of Wei Yin, too protective of the person she held at the very tip of her heart.

Hua Yu touched Wei Yin’s arm and held her gently. “It’s getting late. Come home with me?”

Wei Yin was still caught up in her beautiful fantasies of revenge, vindication, getting even, and beating Yu Tiantian up hard. “Hm? What?”

“Come. Home. With. Me.” Hua Yu repeated.

Wei Yin froze for a moment. The smile was still lingering at the corners of her mouth, but her body leaned back.

The warmth in Hua Yu’s hand suddenly went empty; the heat in front of her vanished. She looked over in confusion.

Wei Yin cleared her throat. “I can’t go back these next few days.”

Not going home? They were still going to live separately? Hua Yu’s eyelid twitched at the thought of that separation suggestion, which had ended up smashing her own foot with a rock.

“I was wrong.” Hua Yu corrected herself immediately.

Wei Yin still wouldn’t look at her, instead looking at the sky, the ground, and the potted plants. “Well, I went to so many places and got a lot of inspiration. I have to work overtime and draw it all out.”

She wasn’t lying. Pottery required designs; even if she didn’t draw them out, simply jotting them down would let her remember most of what she needed to make.

Hua Yu frowned, lost and a little vexed. “Then when are you coming home?”

Wei Yin thought for seven or eight seconds. “Probably three... no, six or seven days?”

A vein at Hua Yu’s temple twitched. She endured it. “...You have that much inspiration?”

Wei Yin nodded like a chick pecking at grain. “Yep, yep. If I don’t get it all down, I might stay stuck on it for a whole day. Ten or fifteen days still might not be enough.”

Hua Yu lowered her head and forced herself to accept and respect the fact that her little girlfriend, after traveling for a month, wanted to keep living separately for another ten days or half a month.

And she couldn’t say a word about it either.

Who told her to be the one who had suggested separate living in the first place?

“Be careful... The weather’s getting cold, so keep warm... There isn’t much food over there, I’ll bring you some... Call me if anything comes up..."

Wei Yin pushed the chattering Hua Yu out the door and closed it.

After a moment’s thought, she raised her hand.

Click.

She dropped the latch.

Hua Yu stood outside the door: ...