TIL - 51

The auction began with Chen Huaiyu hosting the opening, introducing the important guests, and then making the channels for all the auction items public and transparent. Following the procedure, he handed over the hosting duties to the auctioneer, the Asia-Pacific president of Sotheby’s. The atmosphere was serious and formal.

Cheng Cuo sat down and immediately started looking for Chen Cheng. He couldn’t find him in the huge hall and couldn’t help but ask Tang Jun’en, “Where’s my cousin?”

Tang Jun’en said, “In a guest room outside. I don’t know what he’s doing.”

Cheng Cuo then looked for Wen Huo but couldn’t find her either. “Then where’s Wen Huo?”

Hearing that name, Tang Jun’en’s attention was diverted, and he stopped listening to the auctioneer. He turned to Cheng Cuo. “You’re right, where is Wen Huo?”

Cheng Cuo found Ruan Lihong’s seat. Only Su He was next to her, but she didn’t seem concerned about Wen Huo’s whereabouts. Did she know where she was? He said, “My cousin had something to talk to her about before the start, but it’s been over an hour. They should have been done by now.”

Tang Jun’en raised an eyebrow. “An hour is a long time...”

Cheng Cuo immediately understood. “I don’t believe it. Could they be that reckless? We were the ones who saw them break up. The elders were saying some pretty harsh things. How could there be any room for reconciliation?” He had coaxed Wen Huo to come here hoping they could break the ice, but he knew the chances were slim, so his first reaction to Tang Jun’en’s guess was to deny it.

Tang Jun’en wasn’t sure either. The breakup had been so severe that it seemed unrealistic for them to make up just from one meeting. He stopped talking.

Besides them, Chen Huaiyu was also looking for Chen Cheng. He asked Jin Ge, “Did he not come?”

Jin Ge had heard from Cheng Cuo that he had arrived. “He’s here. He might have some business to attend to. Let’s wait.”

Chen Huaiyu was used to it and didn’t say anything else. Since Chen Cheng had focused on his career, work always came first, and he wasn’t as close to his elders as he used to be when he was a child. They were unaccustomed to it at first, but after all these years, they had gotten used to it.

Su He kept turning to look at the entrance, but Wen Huo never came in. Ruan Lihong’s eyes were fixed on the tray in the usher’s hands. She had already found this stone to be interesting during the preview. It was a jade stone from Mosisha. The skin looked poorly weathered, the fog layer was thick, and when a white light was shone on it, the jade’s flesh appeared very dark, a gray-black color. The owner was a risk-taker who loved high-risk projects. No one was optimistic about this stone, thinking the owner had lost his basic judgment from playing too many high-stakes games.

But Ruan Lihong didn’t agree. In stone betting, if you minimized all risks, how could you even call it “betting”? Since this owner came from a background of high-stakes games, he must have been open to winning or losing. She also wanted to take a gamble, betting that this ten-thousand-yuan stone could yield ten high-quality bracelets. Her ideal transaction price was one hundred and sixty thousand. If she got ten bracelets, she would break even by selling just two. With that thought, she gripped her bidding paddle.

Having been with Pakistanis for so long, she had also become obsessed with jewelry and didn’t notice that the young actors who had been chatting with Wen Huo were now watching the auction obediently. She didn’t know where Wen Huo had gone. Su He saw her concentrating and didn’t remind her that Wen Huo was missing.

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The Hong Kong Jockey Club in Beijing was a Chinese-style building surrounded by modern architectural works. The phrase “a traditional courtyard hidden in a bustling city” was enough to make people feel calm. Although the times were changing and its influence was not as great as it once was, a declining aristocracy was still aristocracy, and it still felt out of reach for ordinary people.

In the quiet environment of the quiet guest room, Chen Cheng’s stiff, heavy body was pressing down on Wen Huo. He wanted to press hard enough to hurt her, to make her feel pain, but he was also afraid of hurting her. The last time he hurt her, she was in pain for a long time and refused to forgive him.

Wen Huo cried and laughed. After saying “I’m sorry,” they didn’t know what to say, and they just stayed there in silence. Chen Cheng suddenly lowered his head and kissed her tears. His voice was a little unclear, as if he had something in his mouth or as if something was blocking his throat. “Don’t cry.”

Wen Huo’s tears flowed even more. It was strange. When she heard those words, she felt wronged and sad, and she also felt debauched and shameless. She clutched the front of Chen Cheng’s shirt, her palms sweating. “I’ll cry. Do you still care?”

“Yes.” He cared.

Wen Huo accidentally choked on the saliva in her mouth. The heartache she had felt a few days ago returned, piercing her heart and mind again. Her face turned red from the choking, but she refused to leave Chen Cheng’s embrace.

Chen Cheng picked her up and carried her to the living room of the suite, placing her on the dining table with her feet resting on the edge. Then he poured her some water. Wen Huo held the cup with both hands and took a sip. She looked at Chen Cheng and still found him attractive. She handed him the cup. Chen Cheng took the cup and placed it on the side.

When Wen Huo was acting before, she could show Chen Cheng a hundred different faces. Now that she was being genuine, she was a bit hesitant. She looked at Chen Cheng and it took her a while to say, “Teacher Chen, I want a hug.”

Chen Cheng’s heart melted. He didn’t know if she had captivated those young actors, but she was captivating him right now. He hugged her gently.

Wen Huo whispered in his arms, “Do you know why I avoided the topic that day at your house?”

Chen Cheng didn’t say anything.

Wen Huo rubbed her face against his shirt. His body heat, through the high-quality fabric, dried her tear-stained face. “Because I can’t reject you.” But she had stubbornly refused to admit it, and she didn’t let others remind her. She wanted to lie to herself and brainwash herself with logic. She thought she could pull it off, but he was too unforgettable. She couldn’t forget him. Just one Chu Tian made her lose her composure. She was not brave at all. She was cowardly but spoke with a tough front.

Chen Cheng kissed her hair. For the first time in his life, because of his feelings for her, he suppressed his desire—he was still hard, but his heart ached for Wen Huo. He couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of her at this moment.

Wen Huo’s voice was a little muffled, probably because she had been crying. She started to speak incoherently. “Did you miss me? During this time.”

Chen Cheng’s words were a little bitter, as if he was looking down on himself. “I missed you so much it drove me crazy.”

Wen Huo pouted, and tears fell again.

Chen Cheng wiped her tears with his thumb. “It was you who didn’t want to. Why are you more wronged than I am? Even if I knew you were lying to me, that you had many reasons to get close to me, and none of them were because of ‘me,’ I never thought about breaking up.” He also had a stage where he had to brainwash himself, believing that he had the upper hand and could break up with her whenever he wanted. In fact, many times when his relationship with Wen Huo turned cold, he would show his attitude by thinking, “She can’t leave me” and “How can she think she can get away after plotting against me so much?” He had never thought about breaking up with her. He was also a little scared when he realized this the other day. This meant that his feelings for Wen Huo were deeper and more far-reaching than he had ever thought. It was like some trees that appeared to be only a few meters tall on the surface, but their roots underground were massive, already intertwined and solidified into an unshakable force.

He changed to holding her hand, appearing very formal. “I’ll ask you again. When you said you liked me the most, was there any sincerity in it?”

Wen Huo didn’t say anything.

Chen Cheng suddenly became nervous. His breathing shallowed, and the environment became quieter, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. After what felt like a year, Wen Huo suddenly pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. “Are you blind? I’m so in love with you that I feel like I’m going to die!”

Chen Cheng hugged her, his hands supporting her butt, and he smiled. He rarely smiled, or rather, he rarely smiled like this, a genuine smile. His previous smiles were always in a business setting and were inevitably insincere.

Wen Huo nuzzled his neck, her voice getting quieter and a little wronged. “You have to break up with her. You can’t be with anyone else. If you’re with someone else, what about me? I can’t do that. I don’t want to.”

He could never resist her acting like a little girl with him. He knew he would always be soft-hearted toward her. “Who else is there?”

Wen Huo lifted her head and looked at him. “Aren’t you with Chu Tian? You went on a business trip together and came here together. You just admitted you have a girlfriend.”

“Then if you thought I had a girlfriend, why did you still say those things? You don’t have any morals, do you?”

Wen Huo was immoral; she wouldn’t have tried to seduce him if she hadn’t thought he was married. “You know me. I’m shameless.”

“Then why do you care if I have a girlfriend? It wouldn’t stop you from making a move on me anyway.”

It was different. “I didn’t care before. Now I don’t want to share you.”

Wen Huo wanted all of Chen Cheng, the kind that belonged only to her. Sharing Chen Cheng with Han Bailu, even for one film festival, almost killed her. She had finally faced her true feelings and dared to follow her heart. She couldn’t share him. It would kill her. She said, “Either love me to death, or kill me, but sharing is not an option. I want all of you, or I want none of you.”

Chen Cheng would give her whatever she wanted. Didn’t she just want him? He would give himself to her, but, “Do you want me because of me, or because you find me attractive as a man?” The question meant: are you interested in my looks or my substance?

Wen Huo understood and deliberately said, “I really want to say I’m interested in your substance, but I can’t lie to myself. If you weren’t handsome, good in bed, and rich, I probably wouldn’t want you.”

Chen Cheng, who was happy just a moment ago, now had a sullen face. Sure enough, there was a reason for Wen Huo to be soft. It wouldn’t be simply because of him as a person.

Wen Huo saw that he was unhappy and laughed. She held his face and kissed his nose. “Teacher Chen, there are so many men in this world, but I only find one man who is handsome and good in bed. Don’t you get it?”

Chen Cheng couldn’t figure himself out anymore. He had thought that if she craved him, he would just use his looks to charm her, and she would come back to him obediently. But when she actually said it, he felt a sense of suffocation. This man, who could remain calm in the face of disaster, acted like an immature teenager when it came to Wen Huo. Sometimes he could set a trap for her, and other times he felt like he was falling into her trap. In business, he had never lost, but in his battle of wits with Wen Huo, he seemed to be winning, but when he thought about it carefully, he was losing everything.

He didn’t want to just have her for a short time. He needed to be sure. He became serious. “Huohuo, be with me, okay?”

Wen Huo also became serious. “Break up with her.”

“Am I a person who would settle for a second choice? You don’t want me, so I’ll just find anyone?”

His words were so poisonous. Wen Huo was afraid. Just one phone call from Cheng Cuo had made all her pessimistic emotions from the past few days turn into anger. She came here to get revenge, to embarrass them, to be a complete villain... She cared so much that of course, she had to confirm whether Chen Cheng had been with another woman and if he belonged to someone else.

Chen Cheng said, “There’s no one else, only you. If you don’t want me, I’ll be on my own. I’ve been on my own for many years. It’s easy, no desire, no games. I can do it.”

Wen Huo pouted again and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Teacher Chen, I was wrong. I’m not going to run away anymore. Take me home.”