204 — They Sit Down For A Talk

They finally arrived at their destination. Gong Anwei parked the car in front of a dilapidated building. It looked like an abandoned factory from the previous era, but had infact been converted to a "holding facility."

He opened the door for Li Chuanmo, who took a moment before coming out. Long legs clad in black suit pants appeared first, followed by a face covered in frosty indifference.

Both of them walked into the building, where more than a dozen men were already waiting for them. Most were on Li Chuanmo's team, but a few were sent by Gao Tinghua.

The factory was truly huge, and the traces of its previous function could still be seen around— dusty machinery parts, conveyor belts and huge columns that were probably used as some kind of cooling mechanism.

In the middle of the room, tied tightly to two such columns, was Bei Fengxue.

She was clearly in pain, and her eyes were lidded. She would have been swaying if not for the support, but her face was contorted, probably because of the ropes cutting into her skin.

The man she hired, who was tied up near her was in obviously worse shape. His face was badly bruised, and he looked like he hadn't eaten for days.

Bei Fengxue opened her eyes when she heard steady footsteps. Seeing the man who stood as straight as a pine in front of her eyes even with her blurry vision, she gathered her strength and began to struggle desperately.

"Li-Li Chuanmo, you've come. Please save me. Get me out of here."

One of his men brought a clean chair forward, and Li Chuanmo sat down unhurriedly, giving his suit jacket to Gong Anwei who stood behind him.

His men would handle the other man appropriately. He mainly came for Bei Fengxue. Now looking directly at her, he said to no one in particular, "put her in a chair."

Bei Fengxue managed a shaky smile in relief.

A few moments later, she was tied more loosely in a chair opposite him.

"Li Chuanmo, Chairman Li, you finally came. Mr. Gao was about to kill me!" She began to sob, tears running down her face.

She thought it looked like raindrops on pear blossoms, but she was sadly mistaken. The men around her were specially trained and did not feel moved, not to mention the fact that she looked dirty and unkempt.

Her main audience did not even blink, neither did his indifferent expression change. He just stared at her, as if he was being forced to watch a boring play.

Looking at her, apart from her legs that looked deformed, he couldn't see any place that Gao Tinghua might have used torture. The idiot sure knew how to deal with people without leaving a trace.

Seeing her tears that had refused to stop for over two minutes, Li Chuanmo suddenly felt tired. Even the anger he had harboured inside wasn't much anymore.

He really wasn't the kind of person to torture or kill people without care.

He was a happy man now, about to get married, the love of his life was no longer angry with him, and she even thought for his sake. What else did he need?

He just wanted to know, if they had properly sat down to resolve their issues, would things have turned out this way?

He was going to try to find out. He wanted to get this unpleasant meeting over and done with, quickly.

"Are you done crying? Now let's talk."

Bei Fengxue paused with the act. She had tried to guage his actions from the beginning, wanting to guess how much he knew and how much she could get away with.

But seeing how unmoved he was, her heart began to pound. Had Gao Tinghua given her out?

"Chairman Li, I -I can explain. It was not what you thought."

Li Chuanmo sneered. What an opening line. It was watertight, giving nothing away.

He didn't have time to waste trading nonsense words with her. He directly said, "I ask, you answer. First, Xie Weiwan, how did you change your appearance?"

He could have asked Gao Tinghua, but aside the fact that he didn't want to contact him at all, he had his ways of finding out. This question was just to let her know he knew.

The way Bei Fengxue's eyes widened would have been comical if not for the situation. It was as if she couldn't believe he had uncovered her disguise.

Then she calmed down. Since he knew, there was no need to keep up the pretense. If she couldn't be saved, she could as well pierce his heart further. It was all his fault after all!

So she smiled again. She managed to free one hand from the ropes and used it to cradle her face, "You like what you see, don't you? It's a pity though. Personally, I think my original face was better, but this one isn't bad as well. That famous plastic surgeon really did a good job."

So good that the man she had lived with for so many years couldn't even recognize her.

One of the men moved to re-tie her hand more tightly to the chair, but Li Chuanmo held his hand up, stopping him.

Xie Weiwan continued, "I have Gao Tinghua to thank for all these. You should know that both of us were working together. I wanted you back, and he had taken a fancy to that tramp by your side, so it was a win win for both of us."

It was Gao Tinghua that reached out to her in the suburbs of City C where she was hiding like a stray dog, helped her change her face and identity and got her a job in the Li Conglomerate.

All she had to do in return was to spy on Pei Yueran and cooperate with him on getting her.

They worked together so well, but it was a pity he changed his mind at the last minute. She tried to ask him why, but he never did give her an answer.

Instead his torture methods still made her shudder, giving her nightmares anytime she fell into a troubled sleep.

Her casually delighted tone sent a chill down Gong Anwei's spine, but Li Chuanmo's expression remained unchanged. Xie Weiwan looked at his hands though, before smiling again.

Of course, his hands were clenched so tightly that the veins were popping out. Obviously he was more affected by the insult to his woman than anything else.

She felt it was ironic.

Just to get a stronger reaction out of him, she added, "It was so easy to frighten her. Just a few dead birds and red paint, and she turned as pale as a vampire. Hahaha."

Li Chuanmo calmed down before speaking. It was not too difficult to do. He only had to picture Pei Yueran telling him to calm down and not get angry.

Remembering her gentleness and the way her eyes would shine with sincerity made his features soften, and his lips even curved slightly.

He spoke even more casually, as if they were having a chat in the office, "You had better be careful with what you say. The fact that you're receiving such good treatment right now is all thanks to her, so consider being polite.

"To think she wasted such kindness on a person like you. Left to me, your bones would have been all fractured by now, and you would have been eating dirt."

Bei Fengxue paused in fear, then her eyes narrowed in realization. Who else could make him calm down so quickly even after knowing everything? So he was thinking about that tramp while facing her?

She suddenly felt wronged.

"Li Chuanmo, you know this is all your fault, right? If you didn't treat me the way you did, how would I have made the mistake of falling for Chu Ningtian's lies!"

"Chu Ningtian? Oh, you mean the lover you killed?" She was not the only one who knew how to rile someone up with her speech.

As expected, Bei Fengxue's face fell in horror. "You, you know that too?"

It was truly over.

Li Chuanmo leaned forward a bit, "There's one thing I've never been able to understand Weiwan, that's why I'm here. I just wanted to ask: Why?"

She had always loved the way her name sounded in that baritone voice of his, but it made her tremble today.

He was asking her why? Why what? Why she cheated on him? Why she left? Didn't he know?

She said with bloodshot eyes, "Because you were not a good husband. Infact, you were a terrible one. A good man, yes. But a good lover? Not at all!"

The more she spoke, the more convinced Xie Weiwan felt. She went straight into a rant.

"You never spent time with me, you were always busy. You would go on business trips for days on end, leaving me to fend for myself with the child. Even when you were home, you had a cold look on your face most of the time!"