He couldn't help but curiously walk in further. There was a study on his left. He was about to enter when Xi Cheng called out to him, "Come back, you're not allowed in there!"
Shi Nian stopped in his tracks and looked at Xi Cheng as if he was a madman.
Xi Cheng stood up unsteadily and said in a slurred voice, "Come here! Don't touch our room… If you mess it up, her scent will be gone… Hurry up… Come here! Don't leave, leave your scent in the room. You! Come here!"
'I can't believe he could still say such things even though he's completely drunk,' Shi Nian thought as he retracted his footsteps and returned to the living room.
Only then did Xi Cheng seem relieved, and he fell back onto the sofa. "This place, she… meticulously decorated it… She did a great, great job… she was great… amazing…"
'Oh,' Shi Nian realized. 'This guy got dumped.'
It certainly wasn't Lin Yu who dumped him. If Lin Yu didn't want him anymore, he would probably buy all the firecrackers in the city and set them off at the beach in celebration.
Shi Nian felt a little sorry for Xi Cheng. He sat down on the sofa to Xi Cheng's right and poured himself a glass of wine. He gently clinked his glass with Xi Cheng's and advised, "Tell me. You'll feel better if you talk about it."
Xi Cheng was startled. He seemed to have sobered up a little, and his speech became clearer. "Talk—about what? What's there to talk about? She left… left me—an empty house… didn't take—anything."
He pointed at the corner of the coffee table where there were two bank cards.
"That's the card my mother gave her… and the card I gave her… I usually give her pocket money… transfer it all onto that card… all for her. It's been seven years… she hasn't spent a single cent." Xi Cheng despondently buried his face in his hands.
Shi Nian was surprised. They all knew that Xi Cheng had a woman on the side. They felt sorry for him, but they also disliked the way he handled the situation.
Liang Han had once advised him to break it off cleanly with Lin Yu before getting together with a woman he liked. Otherwise, he would be irresponsible to both sides, making him the classic example of a scumbag—an embarrassment to men everywhere.
Xi Cheng and Liang Han had a huge fight over it. That was the only time they had come to blows since they grew up. Shi Nian and Ye Kun were dumbfounded. Liang Han hadn't said anything out of line; he didn't even say anything wrong. Did Xi Cheng have to react so badly?
Xi Cheng had roared at Liang Han, "Do you think I don't want to? If you can help me break things off with her, I'll give the Xi Corporation to you!
Only then did the three of them realize that Lin Yu would rather die than let go of Xi Cheng. Moreover, the elders of the Xi family would only accept Lin Yu as his wife. No one could help Xi Cheng out of his ordeal.
They had always thought that Xi Cheng had resorted to debauchery to provoke Lin Yu into leaving him, but they didn't know that Xi Cheng was, in truth, the faithful type. He actually had a woman who had been with him for seven years.
Needless to say, Xi Cheng's family found out about this woman and forced her to leave with money.
However, that woman didn't take any money from the Xi family. She didn't take a single cent, whether it was the money from Xi Cheng's mother or the pocket money given to her by Xi Cheng. 'I guess that's love,' Shi Nian mused.
"Shi Nian, did you know? When we first got together, she told me that she had money and bread and that I just had to give her love." Xi Cheng laughed, but it sounded more like he was crying.
"Which of the women around us doesn't want money? Why couldn't she have wanted money? She wants love instead. What the f*ck do I know about love? I don't have something so noble!"
Xi Cheng laughed as he cried. "Such silliness! What? Don't you think it's silly? She spent seven years, and all she wants in return is love! Isn't money the better choice? Isn't it? And yet, she doesn't want it! Not a single cent! Isn't that crazy? She's crazy!"
Xi Cheng grabbed a bottle of wine and drank straight from the bottle. Shi Nian stepped forward and wrestled the bottle away from him.
Xi Cheng was covered, head to toe, in spilled wine. His eyes were red as he asked, "Shi Nian, tell me, what is love? Hmm? What is love?"
Shi Nian shook his head gently. He didn't know how to respond to these words. He had no experience in love, so he didn't even know how to advise him.
"Did you talk to her?" Shi Nian finally managed to choke out.
Xi Nian smiled bitterly as he hugged a bottle of wine and gently rocked back and forth. "How am I supposed to do that? She blacklisted me. Took all her things with her. She didn't even leave a single hair behind!"
He raised his finger and gestured. "Seven years, she was with me. She treated me like an emperor… Really, you have no idea—no idea how great she was… She was like the 'snail girl' from the stories. When I needed her, she would accompany me. When I didn't need her, she would fade into the background and not disturb me at all. Hehe, she was so obedient… so sweet… so good… so good—"
Xi Cheng's voice gradually became unclear, and his vision blurred.
Shi Nian sighed, 'The snail girl, huh.'