Chapter 160: Their Love Is No Longer Pure

Bai Shuruo flipped through a few items, feeling only that they looked familiar, yet she could not remember what these things were for; for instance, were the round ones Christmas ornaments? And there was a small Christmas tree? And a time capsule. They were all trivial things, the kind one only played with during one's "chuunibyou" phase.

She stuffed the items back into the cardboard box and continued looking for loungewear.

Finally, she found it; after changing into the loungewear, she pulled back the quilt.

Thinking about it carefully, this quilt had also been prepared for her by Han Yangting.

Before she graduated from university, she liked pink, so he had prepared many pink things for her: toothbrushes, washbasins, quilts, and even the toilet seat in the bathroom was pink.

Bai Shuruo's princess dream had been fulfilled by Han Yangting.

Thinking of this, her heart could not help but ache.

It was as if a large rock were smashing against her heart, one blow after another, hurting so much that she could barely breathe.

She did not understand why she felt this way; was she concerned about him?

Yet the things he had done made it impossible for her to face him as she had before.

She lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, and later, when she was tired of looking, she drifted off into a hazy sleep.

In the evening, Bai Shuruo bought some things and went back to the old house.

She had dinner with Aunt Fen and Bai Shuhua.

Bai Shunan did not come again.

Lin Wanfen asked Bai Shuruo when she would return to Beishi; Bai Shuruo said she still had some matters to attend to in Fengcheng and some university classmates to contact, so she would not be going back for the time being.

……

The private investigator had not been particularly effective; half a month had already passed, and they still had not given Bai Shuruo an answer.

Han Yangting called her every day, asking when she would return, and she lied, saying she still needed to visit former classmates and teachers and would need more time.

Of course, to make the act more convincing, she also attended a university classmate gathering; there were only four or five of them, all classmates she used to get along with.

Bai Shunan knew that Bai Shuruo had not yet returned to Beishi, and she could not help but grow suspicious again, wondering if Bai Shuruo and Han Yangting were thinking about getting a divorce.

Bai Shuruo explained several times that they were not; she was just back for a while to have fun, and they had not been arguing.

Just as Bai Shuruo was thinking about switching to a different private investigator, she did not expect that the investigator would tell her the job was done.

They even gave her a memory card containing a recording of Xiang Dahai and the private investigator.

The questions had all been designed by Bai Shuruo, and everything she wanted to know was on it.

Bai Shuruo nervously put the recording onto her phone to listen.

For a moment, she wanted to throw the memory card away, not wanting to investigate any further, and just pretend she knew nothing.

However, she still could not help but listen on.

Investigator: "Mr. Xiang, do you remember Bai Jinming? I heard he was hounded to death by you people."

Xiang Dahai: "You can't just spout nonsense; how can you say I hounded him to death? He overestimated his own abilities. He knew his project wasn't mature, yet he still insisted on burning his bridges and fighting a desperate battle. He was too stupid. Although he was also a local entrepreneur, how could he possibly compete with the Han Family in Beijing?"

Investigator: "Was it President Han, Han Yangting?"

Xiang Dahai: "Yes, that's him. Our President Han back then was a genius youth who burst onto the scene... It's a pity, though; I didn't stay with him for long. After he heard that someone had nearly jumped off a building because of his decision, he shut the company down."

Investigator: "Someone jumped off a building?"

Xiang Dahai: "That's right. Bai Jinming was heartbroken back then and originally wanted to jump off a building. Later, someone persuaded him not to, but he fell ill for some reason. Later, President Han even went to his home, wanting to provide some financial compensation, but the man didn't need it; he was very stubborn."

Hearing this, tears immediately began to stream down Bai Shuruo's face in large drops.

She remembered; someone had indeed come to their house back then, saying they wanted to provide compensation or something similar, but they were driven out by Aunt Fen. Aunt Fen said she would rather die than take that filthy money.

The middle-aged man was still triumphantly saying to Bai Shuruo: "Look how capable we are. Our people followed Xiang Dahai for seven or eight days, giving gifts and 'bumping into him' by chance, and managed to wrap Xiang Dahai around their fingers, which is how we got him to spill the truth."

Bai Shuruo said nothing; she only put down the remaining balance and then hurriedly ran out of the alley.

Outside, the sun was bright, but Bai Shuruo felt as if a torrential downpour was falling in her world.

……

In the end, Bai Shuruo left Fengcheng and returned to Beishi.

Perhaps because she had experienced the workplace and the ways of the world, the current Bai Shuruo was already very skilled at managing her emotions.

Although she suppressed immense sorrow in her heart, the moment she returned to the Castle and saw Han Yangting, a smile still appeared on her face.

She took the initiative to hug him and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Brother Han, I missed you very much."

Han Yangting held her, kissed her back, and then said, "I missed you too."

"Brother Han, did you sleep well while I was away?"

"Of course. How about you?"

"I was quite well, too," Bai Shuruo said.

Then she pointed to her luggage: "I'll take the luggage up and put it away first. There are quite a few local specialties from Fengcheng inside; I'll bring them down in a moment."

"Alright," Han Yangting said, still dotingly.

Bai Shuruo pulled her suitcase into the elevator; before the doors closed, she was still smiling at Han Yangting.

Once the elevator doors closed, her entire demeanor turned cold.

And Han Yangting's smile also slowly faded at this moment.

He understood this little woman better than he understood himself.

Although she masked it well, and although her trip back to Fengcheng seemed completely flawless, it was precisely because she had been so meticulous that he felt it was unusual.

This little woman had something on her mind, and it was a very big matter!

He took out his phone and called Ali: "Ali, how is the investigation into Ruoruo going?"

Ali said: "It has already been investigated clearly. I will send you the results of the investigation in a moment."

"Let's talk about it tomorrow," Han Yangting said.

……

They say that a short separation is better than a new marriage. That night, when Han Yangting went to touch Bai Shuruo, she did not refuse on the surface, and even appeared to be very welcoming of him.

However, when he was about to proceed to the next step, she suddenly said, "Brother Han, I seem to be a bit tired; how about we do it another day?"

Han Yangting naturally complied with her, but he still held her and said, "We don't have to do anything, but I must be allowed to hold you."

In the dark of night, Bai Shuruo's body stiffened, but she did not refuse; she simply waited until Han Yangting had held her for a while, then took the opportunity to roll over and slip away.

Han Yangting did not continue to embrace her, but in the dark, his eyes appeared clear and bright.

Daytime.

Han Yangting called Ali into his office.

"Tell me the results of your investigation," Han Yangting said, leaning back in his chair.

Ali clearly hesitated for a moment; he knew that Han Yangting would certainly be very heartbroken after seeing these results.

It is too hard to say anything about the romantic affairs between men and women, especially love within wealthy families like this; it is either a business marriage or carries some sort of ulterior motive.

He used to always lament that the love between Han Yangting and Bai Shuruo was very pure, but looking at it now, it was not pure at all.