After The Top Actress Was Smeared And Trended On Social Media - Chapter 5

Wen Xi was walking with all sorts of messy thoughts tangling in her mind.

Because the umbrella blocked part of her vision, she could see someone approaching, but she had no intention of looking up to see who it was.

She merely knit her brows slightly, preparing to step aside by a few paces.

Unbeknownst to her, Shen Yu moved even faster, raising her hand gently and pulling Wen Xi directly into her embrace.

Shen Yu was taller than Wen Xi, making it effortless to wrap her arms around her and hold her against her chest.

Feeling the frail, thin frame in her arms, Shen Yu’s embrace tightened slightly.

Wen Xi was far too thin.

She had looked thin from afar, but holding her made Shen Yu realize just how alarmingly thin she truly was.

Shen Yu didn’t use too much force; she merely wanted to make sure Wen Xi couldn’t break free from her arms in the short term.

Wen Xi, taken aback by the sudden action, simultaneously caught the scent of an extraordinarily pleasant perfume.

By the time she reacted, her face instantly turned cold as she tried to break free from the intruder’s hold.

While keeping her restrained, Shen Yu leaned down and whispered right beside her ear, “Wen Xi, it’s me. Can we… talk?”

Just a few short words, yet they caused Wen Xi to freeze all movement, standing stock-still where she was.

Her eyes trembled slightly, momentarily unable to believe the voice she was hearing.

This voice sounded much more mature than it had ten years ago.

Yet it remained so familiar; even without seeing the person’s face, she recognized its owner instantly.

“Alright.”

Wen Xi heard herself speak.

Hearing Wen Xi agree, the tight line of Shen Yu’s lips relaxed slightly. She took the umbrella from Wen Xi’s hand and led her into the car.

When they got into the vehicle, Ke Han and Yu Yan, possessing great tact, opened the doors and stepped outside.

The air inside grew quiet for a moment.

With a stiff neck, Wen Xi stole a secretive glance at Shen Yu.

Shen Yu was taking off the mask she had put on before getting out of the car, and that exquisitely beautiful, familiar face intruded upon Wen Xi’s gaze from such a close distance.

Uncontrollably, the rims of Wen Xi’s eyes turned red. She let out a soft breath, turning her head toward the other side to face the car window.

A mere few seconds later, she heard a soft laugh, “Wen Xi, do you not want to see me?”

Wen Xi closed her eyes tightly, “…No.”

Shen Yu’s heart had been pounding rapidly, but now that Wen Xi was sitting safely in her car, she also relaxed and crossed her legs.

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

Wen Xi raised her hand to quickly wipe the corner of her eye, mentally preparing herself. Only then did she turn her head back toward Shen Yu, her tone devoid of any ups and downs, “There is nothing for us to talk about.”

Watching Shen Yu knit her brows, Wen Xi continued, “If you want to talk about the malicious trending search from a few days ago, I can only say I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to happen either. If you need any compensation, tell me, and I will do my absolute best to provide it to you.”

As she spoke, in a place hidden from Shen Yu’s sight, Wen Xi’s left hand clenched tightly into a fist. Her fingernails dug into her tiger’s mouth, bringing a prick of pain that stimulated her nerves.

“…” Listening to these words from Wen Xi, the joyful and expectant mood Shen Yu had held felt as if it were doused in freezing water, her heart turning entirely cold. “Do you think I went through all this trouble waiting for you just to talk about a malicious trending search?”

“Otherwise?” Wen Xi asked in return. “Aside from that, I really can’t think of anything else we could talk about. I know the malicious search hurt your reputation. I can offer financial compensation on my end.”

For a fleeting moment, Wen Xi’s gaze collided with Shen Yu’s. Capturing the deep sorrow in the depths of Shen Yu’s eyes, Wen Xi averted her gaze somewhat miserably, feeling her heart ache intensely.

For the past few days, she had been repeatedly rehearsing her script, just waiting for Shen Yu to come find her.

She had already broken Shen Yu’s heart once; she might as well let Shen Yu believe she was just a thoroughly rotten person, let her feel she had misjudged her all along.

This was far better… than letting Shen Yu discover the actual truth.

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

Shen Yu’s tone turned somewhat cold, “A malicious trending search is nothing to me. I don’t want to talk about that with you.”

“Then what else is there for us to talk about?” Hearing Shen Yu say this, Wen Xi gave her a deep look and prepared to turn around to open the door and step out, only to be caught off guard as Shen Yu swiftly grabbed her right wrist.

Wen Xi gasped softly, subconsciously flinching back her right hand. Unexpectedly, the sudden pull caused a sharp pang, making her whole body shudder.

In truth, the injury on her right hand was mostly healed, but she had a subconscious reaction when grabbed out of nowhere. Being held hadn’t actually hurt, but now that it had been yanked, a needle-like prickle of pain began to throb softly.

Wen Xi was somewhat sensitive to pain. In the past, the injury on her right hand had hurt too fiercely, or else she wouldn’t have developed such instinctual reactions.

Shen Yu instantly let go, wanting to lift Wen Xi’s right wrist to take a look, “I’m sorry, let me look at your hand…”

With a hint of urgency in her movements, Wen Xi pushed Shen Yu’s hand away, hiding her right hand behind her back as her voice grew louder by several degrees, “Shen Yu, what are you doing right now? Are you planning to take revenge on me?”

Although the scar on her right hand was no longer glaringly obvious, it could still be seen if one looked closely.

Shen Yu’s movements paused. “I never thought of taking revenge on you. What could I possibly take revenge on you for?”

Gritting her teeth, Wen Xi said, “There’s plenty you could take revenge for. Departing without a word, abandoning me…”

Before she could finish, Shen Yu cut her off.

Hearing Wen Xi say this, Shen Yu tilted her head and let out a soft, faint laugh. When she spoke again, her voice had turned low and raspy. “So you know, after all. Ten years. You’ve been completely out of touch for ten whole years. You certainly left smoothly and decisively. Back then, I was forced into a breakup without even getting the chance to ask for a single reason. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t find you! But now that I’ve finally managed to find you after so much trouble, this is how you talk to me?”

Listening to this, Wen Xi’s heart began to throb with pain as well, yet she couldn’t offer any explanation.

Looking at Wen Xi’s unwilling expression, Shen Yu couldn’t help but think back to the past once more.

Clearly, on the night before the art entrance examination all those years ago, Wen Xi had even made a packed meal and brought it to her home, curving her lovely eyes as she wished her good luck on the exam.

The Shen Yu of that time could not understand for the life of her how, in less than a day, she would receive a breakup note.

Wen Xi had promised that once the art exam was over, she would pick her up at the gates of the testing center. Yet on that day, Shen Yu stood there waiting for a long, long time without ever seeing her arrive.

Her calls wouldn’t go through, and her messages went unanswered.

It was only after most of the examinees had cleared out that she finally received a massive bouquet of roses brought by a courier, along with a greeting card tucked inside the flowers.

The card was folded, concealing whatever was written inside. Just as Shen Yu knitted her brows and prepared to open it, she was interrupted by the courier guy, “Ah, wait! The lady who sent the flowers said you should wait until you get home to open the card to keep it a surprise.”

At that moment, Shen Yu understood that she wouldn’t be getting picked up by Wen Xi. Although uneasiness swelled in her heart, looking at the exquisitely beautiful roses before her, she couldn’t help but think with anticipation: Was Wen Xi preparing a surprise or a gift for her, which was why she couldn’t break away to come pick her up?

For the first time, her desire to return home was so desperately urgent.

Shen Yu came from a very wealthy family background. During her second year of high school, she had found an excuse to rent a small apartment very close to the school, where a servant would come over regularly to do the cleaning.

Wen Xi had a key to that small apartment and would occasionally come over to stay for a few days.

So when Shen Yu eagerly pushed open the front door, her immediate impression was that the house was so quiet it felt terrifying.

She realized something was wrong the moment she was changing her shoes.

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

The uneasiness in Shen Yu’s heart instantly intensified. After swiftly changing her shoes, she rushed straight into the bedroom and flung open the wardrobe.

When Shen Yu clearly saw the scene before her, she almost forgot to breathe for a moment.

…All the clothes Wen Xi had left here were gone.

Shen Yu couldn’t describe the sensation she felt at that moment; she only knew that she never wanted to experience such intense panic and insecurity ever again.

Shen Yu ran through several other rooms until she was finally forced to admit that Wen Xi had cleared out every single item belonging to her.

Her hands trembling slightly, Shen Yu returned to the living room, pulled out her phone, and dialed Wen Xi’s number once more.

“Beep, Beep.”

Listening to the sound echoing from her phone, Shen Yu paced back and forth anxiously.

Before long, catching sight of something, she quickly walked over to a table and picked up a set of keys.

These were the keys she had given to Wen Xi, complete with a hand-knitted keychain hanging from them, one she had knitted herself to give to Wen Xi.

Shen Yu’s heart sank lower and lower. In her phone were calls that simply wouldn’t go through, and in the room, every trace belonging to that other person had been erased clean.

What did Wen Xi want to do?

A terrifying answer uncontrollably welled up from the depths of Shen Yu’s heart.

Shen Yu’s gaze fell upon that bouquet of roses once more. With somewhat numb movements, she opened that card. The moment she clearly read the words written upon it, her tears ultimately spilled over, crashing down onto the card.

Let’s break up.

There were only three words on the card, yet they drained away every ounce of Shen Yu’s strength.

How could Wen Xi possibly bring up a breakup? It was completely impossible for her to suggest breaking up.

Shen Yu didn’t believe for a second that this was Wen Xi’s intention, nor was the handwriting on the card written by Wen Xi.

Yet she couldn’t reach Wen Xi through her calls, and the messages she sent over QQ and WeChat showed that she had been blocked.

But why hadn’t she been blocked before receiving the bouquet? Why had she still been able to send messages back then…

Unwilling to accept this, Shen Yu grabbed her keys, rushed out the door, and hurried to Wen Xi’s home, only to find that this place too had been completely vacated.

After knocking on the door for a long time with no answer, Shen Yu walked over toward the window to peer inside.

Inside, the tables had been wiped completely clean, and the solitary sofa in the living room was covered with a dust sheet.

It looked as though no one lived there at all.

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

Shen Yu’s voice was still trembling. Once the lady opened the door, she asked, “Auntie, is Wen Xi not at home?”

The lady looked puzzled. “Didn’t she tell you? Someone helped her move today. Oddly enough, I didn’t run into her myself, or else I would have insisted she stay for a meal.”

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

The lady shook her head. “I asked, but they didn’t tell me. I don’t know who helped her move either; they looked quite wealthy, maybe a distant relative of hers. Well, that’s good too. A girl as young as Wen Xi, it was far too hard for her to support herself all alone…”

Shen Yu didn’t hear the rest of what the lady said. After uttering a word of thanks, she turned and left.

Yet she didn’t get very far before sinking limply against the wall, sitting down in the stairwell.

“Beep.”

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