Shadowed Love: A Lover Who Refuses to Let Go - Chapter 24.3

Shan Songyue frowned. “How is this unhappy? You’re not getting any younger. What if something happens to me? Who’ll take care of you then?”

“It’s not easy for a young girl to make her way in the world. To put it bluntly, people like us are at the bottom of society pension resources and such will never come our way. No matter how much we earn, we always need to leave ourselves a way out.”

“I’ll go get Xiaoxuan a jacket.” Yin Yunzhu stood up, trying to change the subject.

Seeing her dismissive attitude, Shan Songyue grew annoyed: “Are you just ignoring what I say now?”

“You know I don’t want to hear this, so why keep nagging?” Yin Yunzhu pressed her lips together, rarely one to talk back, and spoke gently, “Let’s just drop it for today.”

“Drop it?” The woman on the sofa stood up. “Do you think I want to see you suffer? Have you no conscience?”

Shan Songyue’s loud voice woke Yin Xuan, who had been napping on the balcony. Peeking through a crack in the door, the younger girl took in the tense atmosphere and didn’t dare make a sound.

“I…” Yin Yunzhu hesitated, at a loss for words. She was no match for the teacher’s eloquence, so she simply fell silent.

The living room grew quiet. She stood at the boundary between light and shadow, her elongated silhouette stretching across the hallway corner.

After what felt like an eternity, Yin Yunzhu wearily said, “I haven’t fed the cat yet. I should head back tonight.”

Without waiting for a response, she grabbed her car keys from the entryway and left without looking back.

New Year’s Eve hadn’t been pleasant. As she walked out of Tiancheng Residential Area, the cold bit at her exposed neck. She zipped up her jacket against the wind and slowly got into her car.

The cat was just an excuse Yin Yunzhu didn’t want to argue with her family over trivial matters.

Perhaps because it was New Year’s Eve, the drive to Xinwu Apartments was quiet. From afar, the dark windows lined up uniformly. Most residents here were young people, likely all out in the suburbs setting off fireworks.

Parking the car, Yin Yunzhu got out. A row of shrubs encircled the fence beneath the dim streetlights.

She tightened her coat around her, moving as slowly as a snail. Taking the elevator up, she reached her door only to find the motion-activated light in the stairwell had turned on.

Alarm bells rang in her head as memories of crime reports flashed through her mind. Panicked, she hurried to unlock the door.

Then a familiar figure appeared behind her.

The woman was tall and slender, her trench coat accentuating her broad shoulders. Weariness lingered between her brows, her warm, pale skin looking somewhat haggard under the light.

At the sight of Jiang Menghe, Yin Yunzhu was stunned, then quickly slipped inside, attempting to shut the door.

She hadn’t figured out how to face her yet this was the second time Jiang Menghe had sought her out after their cold war.

But Jiang Menghe was faster, her hand gripping the doorframe to stop it.

“Yin Yunzhu, I need to talk to you.” Her voice carried the dryness of deep winter, hoarse and low.

It was in that moment of hesitation that split second of softness that Jiang Menghe seized the opportunity. She pulled the door open slightly, half her face illuminated.

Her usually gentle, composed eyes lacked their usual sparkle, the faint red veins making her appear somewhat disheveled.

Yin Yunzhu couldn’t deny it stirred something in her. Biting her lip, she said, “I made myself clear that day. There’s nothing left to say.”

“You’re really angry?” Jiang Menghe frowned, as if she still didn’t understand how they’d reached this point.

The words were like salt rubbed into a wound. A nameless fury flared in Yin Yunzhu’s chest.

Did she really think all those harsh words drawing boundaries were just petty attempts to win her back?

Anger and grievance spilled like overturned paint, splattering across a pristine canvas yet going unnoticed by anyone.

“Get out!” she forced out the words through gritted teeth.

The frustration from Shan Songyue’s earlier scolding resurfaced, stinging her eyes with unshed tears. Now, Jiang Menghe seemed even more detestable in her sight.

“Get out!” This time, her voice was louder, trembling with the threat of sobs.

She refused to let Jiang Menghe witness her weakness to break down crying in front of her would be unbearable.

Seeing the woman standing motionless at the door, Yin Yunzhu closed it directly, only to hear a sharp intake of breath through the gap.

“Tsk!” Jiang Menghe let out a soft, short gasp.

Yin Yunzhu hurriedly looked and saw that the other woman’s hand seemed to have been caught in the door. She froze in place like a child who had done something wrong.

As if an invisible hand had gripped her heart, she slowly released the doorknob and timidly asked, “Are you okay?”

The woman remained where she was, repeatedly kneading her knuckles, her tightly furrowed brows refusing to relax. Seeing this, Yin Yunzhu realized she had overreacted and quickly opened the door wide. “Come in, let me see how bad it is.”

Only two visits, and each time she left with some injury.

Guilt gnawed at her. After the woman entered, Yin Yunzhu turned on the light she had previously shut off. The bright light fell on Jiang Menghe’s shoulders and neck, softening her sharp, imposing aura.

“Let me see.” Yin Yunzhu took her hand without thinking. The rosy fingertips felt cool to the touch, smooth without even a trace of bruising.

Instead, the woman before her smiled faintly, enjoying the attention. “Worried about me?”

Realizing she had been tricked, Yin Yunzhu grew annoyed and tried to push her out the door, shaking off her hand. “Get out!” Her voice, still thick with the remnants of a cold, sounded more like a petulant complaint.

For some reason, the other woman’s flippant attitude only made her more irritated. Once again, she became acutely aware of the imbalance between them while she was caught in a whirlwind of emotions, the other remained perfectly composed.

Yin Yunzhu had never felt so small before. Countless times, she had told herself to draw a clear line, yet the moment the other showed the slightest vulnerability, she found herself drawn back in.

Pathetic.

Seeing her silent, Jiang Menghe stood unmoving, allowing herself to be pushed yet steady as a statue.

She didn’t consider herself arrogant or aloof, but like anyone, she had her pride. Rarely did she lower her head to admit defeat. Yet here she was, swallowing her pride, spending several nights waiting outside Xinwu Apartments just to see her. Now that she had finally caught her tonight, she wasn’t about to let it go so easily.

“Are you angry?” She reached out to touch Yin Yunzhu’s face, only to have her hand swatted away.

“Go away!”

Yin Yunzhu stubbornly turned her face away, the frustration from home still churning inside her. Now even Jiang Menghe was piling on, taking advantage of her vulnerability.

Unconsciously, her eyes reddened.

“Why are you crying?” Jiang Menghe panicked, unsure which word or action had upset her. “Is it still because of what happened last time?”

She had never been in a relationship before and didn’t know how to comfort someone. Her body stiffened, and even the smooth, diplomatic words she usually relied on failed her. If Ye Xiyang had seen her like this, he would have thought she’d been possessed.

“Don’t cry. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have disregarded your feelings. I should have discussed it with you first. Please, stop crying, okay?”

Jiang Menghe gently wiped away the warmth with her thumb, only to find the skin dry. Even though Yin Yunzhu hadn’t shed tears, she knew her heart must be aching.

Her words grew increasingly disjointed.

When she tried to pull her into an embrace, Yin Yunzhu resisted, shoving her away indignantly.

“Go! How long are you going to keep clinging to me? Does it make you happy to see me make a fool of myself, jealous and fighting for your attention? Does it give you some kind of satisfaction?”

She didn’t know if the other woman actually thought this way, but she had already convinced herself that Jiang Menghe was nothing but a fickle, heartless woman who would blame her for tonight’s misery.

To see her cry tears of joy one moment and then wallow in sorrow over what happened days later like some pitiful clown.

Yin Yunzhu wasn’t particularly strong, and with both of them crowded by the door, Jiang Menghe’s back pressed against the cabinet, her cold, austere trench coat wrinkling under the pressure.

A trace of astonishment flickered across her composed and aloof face.

Truth be told, Jiang Menghe was utterly baffled, completely lost as to what she was talking about.

But in Yin Yunzhu’s eyes, it came across as feigned innocence. “Isn’t it obvious?” she retorted.

Perhaps the fever had addled her brain, because words she would normally never dare to speak now spilled out in a torrent.

“Do I have to spell it all out for you?” Her eyes widened as she rose onto her tiptoes, meeting the gaze of the woman in high heels.

“Fine, forget my pride! I’ll say it outright!”

“I hate that you’re still with me but entangled with others. I can’t stand giving my all to one person while they can’t even focus on me.”

At the very least, while their relationship lasted, she deserved genuine respect.

Her emotional shortcomings made the outburst sound more like a possessive love declaration than anything else.

“Yes! You and I aren’t the same, you’ve had countless lovers before.”

“Wait.” Jiang Menghe frowned, cutting her off as the words grew increasingly absurd.

Their overlapping reflections shimmered in the window, the brightly lit downtown tower looming behind them. The faint scent of gunpowder hung in the air, adding tension to the impending confrontation.

The woman’s thin upper lip pressed together as she enunciated slowly, “I’ve had countless lovers?”

“Who told you that?”

Jiang Menghe never claimed to be a saint, but she wasn’t one to recklessly indulge in affairs either. The upper social circles were murky, and while she couldn’t demand moral perfection from her friends, she held herself to strict standards.

To put it plainly, she had high standards and a touch of fastidiousness.

Hearing her response, Yin Yunzhu froze, the tears welling in her eyes abruptly halting.

The melodramatic atmosphere took on an absurdly comedic twist. Seeing Jiang Menghe’s stern expression as if ready to hunt down the rumor-monger and unleash a barrage of legal threats Yin Yunzhu suddenly lost her nerve.

Guiltily turning away, she rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and muttered, “Never mind.”

“Oh!” The woman behind her drew out the syllable meaningfully. “No wonder you’ve always reacted so strongly, even pushing me away.”

“So in your mind, I’m just some promiscuous, immoral woman?”

As she spoke, Jiang Menghe seemed to grow angrier at her own words. She stepped forward, her heels thudding dully against the floor mat, her taller frame blocking the light that had been shining on Yin Yunzhu.

The deliberate emphasis on “promiscuous” burned Yin Yunzhu into stillness. Her muddled thoughts swirled like thick sludge, churning under the weight of each accusation.

Realizing she might have misunderstood Jiang Menghe all along, she was mortified though she refused to show it. In the other woman’s eyes, she must seem like some foolish, ungrateful villain.

“Yin Yunzhu, I thought my first-ever apology would have made things clear enough.”

Jiang Menghe sighed, brushing back the strands of hair the wind had tousled. A sharp edge of mockery curled her lips as she seized Yin Yunzhu’s wrist.

“If I were really that kind of person, I wouldn’t have come looking for you.”

The pain in her wrist forced Yin Yunzhu’s fingers to splay open. She had never imagined a woman could possess such strength.

“I would’ve treated your affection like a trophy to flaunt just like everyone else who’s ever been infatuated with me.”

“Watching you suffer for my sake, I’d have laughed silently and walked away without a second thought.”

Shadows loomed before her as the door gradually narrowed under relentless pressure. The air was filled with the delicate fragrance of gardenias, which turned cold and withering under the moonlight.

Jiang Menghe’s eyes gleamed with icy determination, her demeanor as domineering as a predator marking its territory. Reflected in her gaze was Yin Yunzhu’s flustered face, swallowed by darkness that extinguished all light.

“Why would I ever consider your feelings? When I want something, I take it, just like this.”

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