After the Female Star Was Slandered Onto the Trending Search List - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Thinking of the Past

Wen Xi was walking, her mind still preoccupied with random thoughts.

Because the umbrella blocked some of her view, she could see someone approaching her, but she didn’t plan to look up to see who it was.

Wen Xi merely frowned slightly, preparing to move a few steps to the side.

However, Shen Yu was quicker. She gently raised an arm and pulled Wen Xi into her embrace.

Shen Yu was a bit taller than Wen Xi, making it easy to hold her close.

Feeling the frail body in her arms, Shen Yu slightly tightened her embrace.

Wen Xi was too thin.

She looked thin from afar, but holding her made her feel alarmingly thinner.

Shen Yu didn’t use too much force; she just wanted to prevent Wen Xi from breaking free quickly.

Wen Xi was startled by the sudden action. At the same time, she caught a whiff of an incredibly pleasant perfume.

As soon as she reacted, she immediately turned cold and tried to break free from the person’s embrace.

While restraining her, Shen Yu leaned down and spoke beside her ear: “Wen Xi, it’s me. Shall we… talk?”

Just a few words, but they made Wen Xi freeze, stopping all her movements.

Her eyes trembled slightly. For a moment, she couldn’t believe the voice she had heard.

The voice was much more mature compared to ten years ago.

But it was still so familiar. She hadn’t even seen who it was, yet she recognized the owner’s identity.

“Okay.”

Wen Xi heard herself agree.

Hearing Wen Xi’s agreement, the corners of Shen Yu’s mouth, which had been tense, relaxed slightly. She took the parasol from Wen Xi’s hand and led her to the car.

As they got into the car, Ke Han and Yu Yan, recognizing the cue, opened the doors and got out.

The air was momentarily silent.

Wen Xi, with a stiff neck, secretly glanced at Shen Yu.

Shen Yu was removing the mask she had put on before getting out. That familiar, exquisite, and beautiful face intruded into Wen Xi’s sight at such close range.

Wen Xi’s eyes involuntarily turned red. She let out a soft exhale and turned her head away, facing the car window.

Perhaps only a few seconds later, she heard a soft chuckle, “Wen Xi, you don’t want to see me?”

Wen Xi shut her eyes tight. “…No.”

Shen Yu’s heart had been racing, but now that Wen Xi was sitting safely in her car, she relaxed, crossing her legs.

Shen Yu stared intently at the back of Wen Xi’s head. “Then turn around. Let’s talk properly.”

Wen Xi quickly wiped the corner of her eye, preparing herself mentally. Only then did she turn to face Shen Yu, her tone flat. “There’s nothing for us to talk about.”

Seeing Shen Yu frown, Wen Xi continued, “If you want to talk about the trending topic the other day, all I can say is I’m very sorry. I didn’t want that to happen either. If you need any compensation, you can tell me, and I will do my best to provide it.”

As Wen Xi spoke, her left hand, hidden from Shen Yu’s view, clenched tightly into a fist. Her fingernails dug into the space between her thumb and index finger, the slight pain stimulating her nerves.

“…” Listening to Wen Xi’s words, Shen Yu’s initial joy and anticipation were doused with cold water. She felt her heart chill. “You think I went to all this trouble waiting for you just to talk about a negative trending topic?”

“Then what else?” Wen Xi countered. “Other than that, I really can’t think of anything else we have to talk about. I know the trending topic damaged your reputation. I can offer financial compensation.”

Their eyes met for a fleeting moment. Wen Xi clearly saw the sadness in Shen Yu’s eyes. She shifted her gaze away, feeling an intense heartache.

She had rehearsed her arguments repeatedly these past few days, waiting for Shen Yu to find her.

She had already hurt Shen Yu once. She might as well let Shen Yu believe that she was a thoroughly bad person, let her think she had misjudged her.

That was better than… letting Shen Yu discover the truth.

She truly couldn’t bear to make Shen Yu sad again.

Shen Yu’s tone turned a little cold. “The trending topic is nothing to me. I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Then what else can we talk about?” Hearing Shen Yu say this, Wen Xi gave her a deep look, preparing to turn and open the car door, but Shen Yu swiftly caught her right wrist.

Wen Xi gasped. She instinctively pulled her right hand back, but the tug caused a sharp pain, making her whole body flinch.

In truth, the injury on her right hand was mostly healed, but she reacted instinctively when Shen Yu suddenly grabbed her. It hadn’t hurt when she was grabbed, but the sudden pull now caused a subtle, needle-like pain.

Wen Xi was somewhat sensitive to pain, and the pain from the old injury on her right hand had been so severe that it had caused her to develop certain reflexive actions.

Shen Yu immediately let go, trying to take Wen Xi’s right wrist to examine it. “I’m sorry, let me see your hand…”

Wen Xi pushed Shen Yu’s hand away with urgency, hiding her right hand behind her back. Her voice rose slightly. “Shen Yu, what are you doing now? Are you planning to retaliate against me?”

Although the scar on her right hand was no longer obvious, it was visible if one looked closely.

Shen Yu paused. “I didn’t mean to retaliate against you. What would I retaliate against you for?”

Wen Xi bit her lip and said, “There’s plenty you could retaliate for—leaving without saying goodbye, starting something and then abandoning it…”

She was interrupted by Shen Yu before she could finish.

Hearing Wen Xi say this, Shen Yu turned her head and chuckled softly. When she spoke again, her voice was low and slightly husky. “So you know. It’s been ten years. You’ve been completely incommunicado for ten years. You left with such freedom and decisiveness. I was forced to break up with you without even a chance to ask why. What could I do? I couldn’t find you, but now that I’ve finally found you, this is how you talk to me?”

Wen Xi felt her heart ache too, but she couldn’t offer an explanation.

Shen Yu looked at Wen Xi’s unwillingness to talk and couldn’t help but recall the past.

Just the night before the art exam, Wen Xi had made lunch boxes and delivered them to her house, wishing her good luck with the test with those beautiful, curved eyes.

Shen Yu couldn’t fathom it. Less than a day later, she received a break-up letter.

Wen Xi had promised to pick her up at the school gate after the exam, but that day, she waited for a long time at the spot and never saw her.

Calls wouldn’t go through, and messages went unanswered.

She waited until most of the students had left before a delivery person brought a large bouquet of roses and a card tucked among them.

The card was folded, concealing what was written inside. Shen Yu was frowning and about to open the card when the delivery guy interrupted her. “Hey, wait. The lady who sent the flowers said to open the card when you get home, to keep the mystery alive.”

Shen Yu instantly realized Wen Xi wouldn’t be there to pick her up. Although a sense of unease crept in, looking at the exquisite roses, she couldn’t help but anticipate: Was Wen Xi preparing a surprise or a gift for her, which was why she couldn’t spare the time to pick her up?

It was the first time she had felt such an urgent desire to go home.

Shen Yu came from a good family. In her second year of high school, she found a reason to rent a small apartment close to school, which was cleaned by a maid regularly.

Wen Xi had a key to the small apartment and would sometimes stay there for a few days.

So, when Shen Yu impatiently opened the door, she immediately felt the house was eerily quiet.

She noticed something was wrong while changing her shoes.

There should have been a few pairs of Wen Xi’s shoes on the rack, but they were gone.

The unease in Shen Yu’s heart instantly intensified. She quickly changed her shoes and rushed to the bedroom to open the wardrobe.

Shen Yu saw what was missing and momentarily forgot how to breathe.

…All of Wen Xi’s clothes left there were gone.

Shen Yu couldn’t describe how she felt at the time, only that she never wanted to experience such intense panic and anxiety again.

Shen Yu ran through a few more rooms. She finally had to admit that Wen Xi had moved everything out.

Shen Yu’s hands were trembling. She went back to the living room and took out her phone to call Wen Xi again.

“Doo—Doo—”

Shen Yu listened to the sound from her phone, pacing back and forth anxiously.

Soon, she saw something and quickly walked to a table, picking up a set of keys.

These were the keys she had given Wen Xi, with a knitted keychain attached—one she had personally made and given to Wen Xi.

Shen Yu’s heart sank further and further. The phone couldn’t connect, and every trace of the other person in the apartment had vanished cleanly.

What was Wen Xi trying to do?

A terrifying answer involuntarily rose in Shen Yu’s heart.

Shen Yu’s eyes fell back on the bouquet of roses. Her movements were numb as she opened the card. Upon reading the words on it, tears finally fell abruptly, splattering onto the card.

— Let’s break up.

There were only five words on the card, but they drained all the strength from Shen Yu.

How could Wen Xi suggest breaking up? She couldn’t possibly suggest breaking up.

Shen Yu simply didn’t believe this was Wen Xi’s idea, and the handwriting on the card wasn’t Wen Xi’s.

But she couldn’t get through to Wen Xi on the phone, and messages sent via QQ and WeChat showed that she had been blocked.

But why wasn’t she blocked before receiving the flowers? Why could she still send messages…

Shen Yu was unwilling to accept it. She picked up the keys and rushed to Wen Xi’s house, only to find that place empty as well.

After knocking for a long time with no answer, Shen Yu went to the window to peer inside.

The tables inside were neatly cleared, and the only sofa in the living room was covered with a slipcover.

It looked as if no one lived there.

Shen Yu gritted her teeth, turned around, and knocked on the neighbor lady’s door.

Shen Yu’s voice was still trembling. After the neighbor opened the door, she asked, “Big Sister, is Wen Xi not home?”

The neighbor was puzzled. “Didn’t she tell you? Someone helped her move today. The strange thing is I didn’t see her. Otherwise, I would have invited her to stay for a meal.”

Shen Yu asked, “You didn’t see her? Did anyone say where Wen Xi was moving to?”

The neighbor shook her head. “I asked, but they didn’t tell me. I don’t know who helped her move. They looked quite wealthy. Maybe they were Wen Xi’s distant relatives. That’s good, though. Wen Xi is so young. It’s too hard for her to support herself alone…”

Shen Yu stopped listening to the rest of the neighbor’s words. She thanked her and left.

But she didn’t walk far before she leaned against the wall, sitting powerlessly on the staircase.

“Doo—”

In the quiet environment, Shen Yu’s phone rang.