Finally Being Snatched Away at My Wedding by My Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Waking from an Autumn Dream

The autumn chill was thick, and a wind whipped through the four-seasoned city of Huaicheng, bitingly cold.

Su Yuan hid behind a wall like a fallen, silent withered leaf. He watched the sports car disappear around the corner, cast his eyes down, and turned only to collide with an unexpected face.

“Chu Fei?”

Chu Fei’s eyes were bloodshot, and he was still wearing the black suit from yesterday’s wedding. “Su Yuan, are you okay? I went to your place last night, but the landlord said you didn’t come back. I was so scared that guy Pei Xing kidnapped you to take revenge on you!”

Su Yuan managed a smile, but his legs were weak from the recent flight. He sat down on the stairs.

“I’m fine. Pei Xing wouldn’t hurt me. You know that.”

“Not necessarily.” Chu Fei wiped his eyes and sat beside him. “My dad and brother don’t even dare to investigate what happened at the wedding yesterday. Who knows what methods he used? Pei Xing is very powerful now!”

The name “Pei Xing” struck Su Yuan’s eardrums repeatedly, making his hands and feet grow colder.

He smiled and wiped away Chu Fei’s tears. “Don’t cry. I haven’t even said sorry to you yet.”

“I’m the one who feels sorry for you! If we could have finished the wedding, I would have gotten the trust fund, and you wouldn’t have to work so hard…”

“Chu Fei, thank you.”

Chu Fei’s mouth puckered as he burst into tears. “Su Yuan, I’m really worried about you. I’m so useless; I can’t even take out money to help you… How about I go beg my brother again?”

Su Yuan’s gaze dimmed as he shook his head. “Your family agreeing to such an absurd marriage was already tolerant enough of the two of us.”

Chu Fei was unwilling. “Then what if I go beg Pei Xing? You feel you owe him, so I’ll go. Anyway, he’s rich now.”

Su Yuan looked at him; without saying a word, Chu Fei retracted the idea himself.

Chu Fei scratched his hair irritably. “True, it’s not like you didn’t try to find him before. Besides, he has a girlfriend now… That’s why I’m worried. His coming to snatch the bride this time was just for revenge.”

“Pei Xing wouldn’t treat me like that,” Su Yuan said. “He is very good.”

“Then will you get back together with him?”

Su Yuan’s heart panicked violently; he could only use all his strength to clench his fists. “You said it yourself he has a girlfriend.”

Saying these words aloud, Su Yuan suddenly felt it didn’t hurt as much.

“Alright, I’m going to be late for work. You go back first; don’t worry about me.”

“I’ll walk you there. I’m afraid with the wedding cancellation, those people will start gossiping again!”

Chu Fei stood up, pulled Su Yuan up, and linked their arms, chest held high. “We’ll walk in just like this and see if they dare say anything!”

Su Yuan laughed so hard he couldn’t straighten up, waving his hands in protest, but he was pulled back by Chu Fei like a light kite.

Arm in arm, the two walked toward the studio on the street corner.

…

Walking into the art studio, the mocking and unfriendly gazes indeed turned toward him, just as Chu Fei had predicted.

Su Yuan was long used to it; he acted as if he hadn’t noticed and walked straight to his workstation in the corner.

“Ahem!” Chu Fei unbuttoned his suit, knelt on the spot, and hugged Su Yuan’s leg, beginning to wail, “Su Yuan, it’s my fault I’m useless! I couldn’t beg my family to agree, but believe me, I will definitely marry you! I will make those who used to bully you go! HELL!”

The studio fell into a deathly silence. The crowd looking for a joke dispersed quickly, not daring to surround them anymore.

Su Yuan awkwardly kicked Chu Fei. “Alright, don’t overact.”

Chu Fei stood up and whispered, “I’m heading back. My dad will probably put me under house arrest for a few more days. Message me if anything happens. I’ll come find you as soon as I’m ‘out of prison’.”

After seeing him off, Su Yuan threw himself into work.

He put in noise-canceling earplugs, wore a mask, and pulled his black baseball cap very low. His right hand was wrapped in a black elastic bandage to prevent tendonitis, and he held a pressure-sensitive pen thicker than his finger, hooking lines and coloring on the digital tablet.

The colleagues around him gossiping, drinking coffee, and eating snacks had nothing to do with him. It wasn’t until lunch break that Su Yuan put down his pen and picked up his phone to see an unread message.

Pei Xing: I’m leaving. Best wishes.

Su Yuan’s gaze froze for a moment. He quickly deleted the message, shouldered his bag, and went to his usual convenience store to buy lunch.

The convenience store clerk smiled at the person in the cap and mask, asking why he only took one triangle kimbap today.

Su Yuan didn’t speak, just kept his head down.

The “ding” of the microwave sounded. The clerk took out the triangle kimbap, but when he turned around, the person across the counter was gone.

“Mr. Pei?”

Su Yuan was squatting on the ground, hands covering his face, until tears soaked through his mask and onto his hands. Only then did he stand up, take his lunch with a thank you, and push the door open to leave.

…

Su Yuan got on the subway.

The subway carriage was mostly empty during the noon hour. Su Yuan found a seat and leaned his head against the slightly swaying car, dreaming many dreams in just half an hour. The dreams started with Pei Xing and ended with his grandfather and father.

When he woke up, he had just reached his station. Su Yuan rushed to his next studio.

At 9:00 PM, a weary Su Yuan was just about to leave when he was called into the office by the art studio owner.

Inside the office, the lead author of the manga was sitting on the sofa smoking. Seeing him enter, she smiled and waved for him to sit.

Su Yuan didn’t move, keeping his head down as he listened to her speak.

“Su Yuan, I really like your art. Back when I was applying for the Huaihai Academy of Fine Arts, I bought many of your artbooks. This is my first long-form serialization, and fan expectations are very high. Without you as an assistant, I wouldn’t know how to manage.”

Su Yuan listened, but couldn’t find her point.

Soon, the studio owner walked in. “Youyou, did you tell Su Yuan yet?”

“Not yet,” the girl smiled and took a puff of her cigarette. “I’m not good with words; I’m afraid Su Yuan won’t agree.”

The owner sat on the sofa beside the girl. The light shone from behind them, casting Su Yuan who stood before them with his head down into the shadows.

“Su Yuan, it’s like this. Our Youyou has been quite busy lately and can’t handle the serialized manhua. We want you to be the core lead artist.”

Su Yuan snapped his head up to look at them. “Me as the lead artist? This manga is yours; I’m just an assistant. I can’t complete the original parts.”

The girl laughed. “Don’t you know? This manhua’s style was originally imitating yours. Besides, I have a dedicated scriptwriter. You’ll definitely have no problem.”

Su Yuan thinned his lips. “What about the credit?”

“Credit? Su Yuan, it’s been a year; haven’t you recognized reality yet?”

“Oh, Dad, don’t be so harsh. Su Yuan…”

The man sneered. “I gave you this job because my daughter likes you; otherwise, who do you think would want you? If you take over this manhua, I’ll double your pay, but you must keep your mouth shut.”

Su Yuan spoke coldly: “You want me to be a ghostwriter?”

There was nothing to hesitate about; he wasn’t poor enough for that yet. Su Yuan left amidst the studio owner’s angry shouts of “ungrateful.”

…

Night fell, and the sky was a hazy black, illuminated by Huaicheng’s skyscrapers. Su Yuan came out from visiting his father at the hospital, walking through the night wind of the steel jungle.

In the middle of a crossroad lay a dark, furry object. He looked closely; it was a kitten.

Su Yuan glanced at the dense headlights surrounding him and, before the light changed, rushed in to scoop the kitten out. As he ran onto the sidewalk, the taxi behind him honked its horn wildly.

His hands loosened, and the kitten jumped into a flower bed.

Su Yuan stood by, waiting for his heartbeat to settle, and meowed twice at the dark bushes. A small calico cat soon poked its head out, and Su Yuan picked it up.

“The pet park is right next door; there are many kittens there. I’ll take you there. Meow~”

Putting the cat down, he emptied his bag but only found the triangle kimbap he hadn’t eaten at lunch but kittens can’t eat that.

He apologized to the kitten, used the lamp post for support to stand up, and walked away. After a short distance, Su Yuan noticed a little tail following him. That small calico was following right behind him, a tiny figure under the streetlights.

“Don’t follow me anymore. I can’t take care of you.”

Su Yuan turned to leave, and the calico continued to follow.

“You’re so pretty; many people will want to take you home. Don’t follow me.”

This time the kitten seemed to understand. It squatted on the ground, gave a “meow,” and turned to run into the park.

While Su Yuan was staring blankly at where the kitten had disappeared, a red sports car pulled up beside him.

The man in the driver’s seat whistled, making a pass with an ABC (American-Born Chinese) accent, using the old routine of calling him beautiful and offering to drive him home.

The buses and subways had already stopped running, and a taxi would cost over eighty yuan.

Su Yuan thought for a moment and got into the passenger seat.

The sports car drove to a dilapidated, grayish-white apartment complex. The man took a look and laughed. “Come on, a beautiful person like you shouldn’t live in a place like this. Want to come back to the hotel with me? My presidential suite has a soft, large bed.”

Su Yuan unbuckled his seatbelt and spoke calmly. “My name is Su Yuan. Su Zhen was my grandfather.”

The man’s expression changed instantly upon hearing those two names.

“If you tell anyone my address, I’ll spread a rumor that you were the one who snatched the bride.” Su Yuan pushed the door open and left.

…

Zhou Wei had lost the person he was following at the mall. He hadn’t expected Su Yuan to take the subway and had been thoroughly scolded over the phone.

Pei Xing’s voice was lowered on the other end. “Go to the pet park I sent you. He sometimes feeds cats there. If you don’t find him, go back to that art district tomorrow.”

Zhou Wei originally thought there wasn’t much hope, but to his surprise, while he was eating a sandwich in his car, he actually saw Su Yuan.

He followed his orders, reporting Su Yuan’s every move truthfully.

Boss: A cat followed him the whole way, and he didn’t take it home?

Boss: Are you sure it was him? Send me the photos.

Zhou Wei quickly took photos of Su Yuan standing on the sidewalk—several in a row—including the ones where he got into the red sports car.

There was no movement from Pei Xing in the chat box.

Zhou Wei: Boss, should I keep following?

Boss: Keep following.

While Zhou Wei was busy sending messages, he got stuck at a red light and lost Su Yuan again. Just as he was having a breakdown, not knowing how to explain it to his boss, he saw that red sports car coming from the opposite lane.

The passenger seat was empty; Su Yuan must have gotten off nearby.

Zhou Wei wished he could chase down that red supercar and ask where he had dropped Su Yuan off, but for now, he could only find a place to park and search the vicinity carefully.

Fortunately, the supercar was very conspicuous, and many vendors nearby remembered it, pointing him in the right direction. Zhou Wei climbed an uphill slope and finally saw the apartment complex the vendors had mentioned, and his mouth fell open in shock.

He was certain he had found the wrong place, after all, he had seen the files on his boss’s ex-boyfriend.

Su Zhen and Su Jingzhang had both passed away, and the family had gone bankrupt, yes—but the records showed Su Yuan’s financial status was normal. After all, a “starved camel is still bigger than a horse,” and there was a trust fund as a fallback. It was absolutely impossible for him to live in a place like this.

Unless the records were wrong.

“Impossible,” Zhou Wei muttered to himself. “The records were provided by the Huaicheng government. It’s not like the government is conspiring against Su Yuan.”

The phone vibrated again.

Zhou Wei knew that if he didn’t hand something over, he wouldn’t have to wait for his H-1B to expire he wouldn’t be going back to the U.S. at all. So, he braced himself and went to ask the old man watching TV at the security post.

“Grandpa, excuse me, did you just see a man, about this tall, looking…”

The old man looked up at him, seemingly already knowing who he was talking about. But before Zhou Wei could get excited, the old man closed the window, looking like he didn’t want to bring trouble upon himself.

Zhou Wei looked at the dilapidated old neighborhood before him, covered in tangled wires, feeling caught between a rock and a hard place.

It began to rain at night, the pitter-patter of the rain drowned out by the noisy honking of cars.

…

Upstairs, Su Yuan stomped his feet hard to trigger the voice-activated light before opening the third lock on his door. Entering the room, he inserted the key into the keyhole and propped himself against the door, his legs going soft as he slid down to the floor bit by bit.

Su Yuan pressed his face against the even colder floor tiles, wanting to wake up quickly from this dream.

“Su Yuan, we have already broken up.”

“There are too many words spoken; which sentence are you referring to?”

“I’m leaving. Best wishes.”

“Didn’t they say… that only people who miss you will enter your dreams…”

Su Yuan didn’t understand.

Suddenly, he thought of that little calico again; it looked like it really wanted to go home with him. He couldn’t. Being with him would be worse for the calico than roaming the streets.

Working, taking care of his father, and dreaming of Pei Xing had already exhausted all his strength.

Su Yuan pushed off the floor and slowly stood up.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the security door.