Chapter 30: Interference and Unwavering Trust

“Can’t you just not apply for Professor Wang’s research project?”

Guan Qing was instantly frozen by the memory of that overly frigid gaze.

At that time, the details he had overlooked surfaced one by one. Countless threads emerged, but for a moment, he didn’t know which one to grasp.

“What’s wrong?” Ye Zi asked.

Guan Qing looked up at him.

Ye Zi furrowed his brows, his expression as gentle as ever. “Did you remember something? Did someone take the USB drive, or was it left somewhere?”

“It wasn’t left anywhere.” Guan Qing looked at Ye Zi and stated, “Three days ago, the USB drive was with Xie Xu.”

He carefully observed Ye Zi’s expression.

Ye Zi pushed up his glasses, smiling helplessly. “Xie Xu wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Ye Zi’s expression was perfectly natural, showing no flaws. Guan Qing averted his gaze, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

It was as if all clues were pointing towards Xie Xu, as if someone was deliberately guiding him…

Xie Xu’s past lies, his frequent contact with Jiang Lu, the lost USB drive, the sudden appearance of the virus—

A sudden ringtone interrupted his thoughts.

“Mom?”

Ye Anxian and her husband were on vacation abroad, separated by a six or seven-hour time difference. Her end of the line was eerily quiet.

Guan Qing had a premonition of ill omen.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Ye Anxian took a breath on the other end, and Guan Qing felt her trembling. He gripped his phone and stood, growing anxious. “Are you crying? What happened?”

“No, nothing,” her voice, however, sounded surprisingly light. Perhaps Guan Qing’s earlier perception had been a mere illusion. “Mommy’s fine. I saw a rag doll at the market here and it reminded me of old times. It made my heart ache a little.”

When Guan Qing was a child, he didn’t have many toys at home, only a small Mickey Mouse rag doll that Ye Anxian had found at a market. It was his only playmate in his youth.

“…Is that truly all?” Guan Qing asked, suspicious.

“Yes. Oh, right, let your Uncle Xu say a few words to you.”

Xu Liang took the phone and spoke a few words to Guan Qing. Xu Liang was a professor, very polite, and had always been kind to Guan Qing. Guan Qing repeatedly confirmed that everything was normal.

“Qingqing, Mommy loves you. We’re going to see a show later, so I’ll hang up now.” Ye Anxian said.

“Okay.” Guan Qing still felt that something was off, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Ye Zi asked, “What, is Auntie still in the Czech Republic?”

“Yes, they just arrived in Prague and are browsing a market.” Guan Qing absently tapped his phone.

Xie Xu’s phone remained unreachable, and the news of Xie Qing’s company’s financial crisis was spreading like wildfire.

“Ye Zi, I need to find Xie Xu.” Guan Qing stood up, clutching his phone.

“Perfect,” Ye Zi said, picking up his coat from the hanger. “I know where he is. I’ll drive you.”

****

“Xie Xu,” Wang Yun said, holding the photograph torn in half, Ye Anxian’s gentle smile eerily severed. “Do you think I haven’t seen people like you before? You claim your love is noble, but in reality…

“—it’s completely fragile.”

“So, dare to bet? Do you think he will choose his own future, his mother’s safety, or you?”

Xie Xu clenched his fists, his fingertips turning white from the strain.

Since August of this year, he had been plagued by nightmares every single night. Each dream ended with Guan Qing turning away, and every night, he relived that moment of disbelief, anger, and pain.

Perhaps the pain was too intense, for his memory of that day was already blurry, but he still remembered Guan Qing’s expression in that instant he turned away.

The afternoon light from the window imprinted itself on his eyes—clear, gentle, like a beautiful dream carried on a late summer breeze. His brows were relaxed, his lips flat, his face devoid of expression, yet the overall impression he gave was one of…

Relief.

Finally rid of Xie Xu, finally free from Xie Xu.

How wonderful.

Guan Qing had just thrown him away like that, abandoning him in that summer breeze, filled with the scent of sunshine yet utterly devoid of warmth, leaving him in endless darkness and nightmares…

He never looked back.

In that moment, he regretted his vision. How wonderful it would have been to be nearsighted, how wonderful to have seen nothing at all.

That way, he could have continued to pester him with justified righteousness.

Even though Guan Qing was currently with him, even though Guan Qing said he loved him, even though—

A child who has been abandoned once becomes incredibly sensitive, just as an adopted puppy becomes exceptionally docile. He grew immensely concerned about Guan Qing’s opinion of him, about his own image in Guan Qing’s eyes, but the more he cared, the worse his behavior became.

He was jealous, arrogant, childish, possessive; he was good for nothing, and he couldn’t even pretend to be the cheerful, generous, and likable person he once was.

Such a person as him,

“I don’t need to bet.” He pressed his lips together, hearing himself say, “I have the ability to protect him, to protect his mother. I don’t need to verify these things.”

By placing their love in Schrödinger’s black box, he could cling to that half-possibility, barely surviving.

At least… Guan Qing might love him.

He could live his entire life without knowing the truth. He didn’t care.

“Don’t be too confident, old woman.” Xie Xu sneered, straightened his collar, and walked out.

“I’ll return that phrase to you,” Wang Yun said from behind him. “Overestimating yourself.”

“Hello, “Dad, what’s wrong?”

Behind him, Xie Xu, but in the end, said nothing, calling for the servants to clean up the mess.

And none of this did Xie Xu see.

“You don’t need to worry about us.” Xie Qing said. It was very noisy on his end, with Chris in the background instructing a clerk to ‘print that document quickly’ and ‘can the loan amount be increased?’ and similar remarks.

Xie Xu immediately knew the situation was dire.

Xie Qing and Chris were largely hands-off managers, only returning to the company for major decision-making events.

He pursed his lips, his throat dry. “I’m sorry, Dad, because of me…”

“Because of you?” Xie Qing waved his hand, scoffing. “Don’t think you’re that important. Would Wang Yun go to such great lengths to ruin my company just to force you to marry Jiang Lu? The relationships here are complex, child. Just mind your own business.”

The father and son chatted for a moment, but because Xie Qing was truly too busy, he had to hang up hastily.

As Xie Xu got into his car, he received a WeChat message from Ye Zi:

[Did you interfere with Guan Qing’s thesis?]

The question was utterly baffling.

Ye Zi clearly knew everything, and Xie Xu felt an inexplicable surge of irritation in his heart. He tapped the steering wheel, too lazy to play coy with Ye Zi, and spoke into the voice message with an ill temper:

“He’s my husband, what’s wrong with me managing his thesis? What business is it of yours?”

The reply came quickly: [How did you manage it? Did you use *that* method?]

Xie Xu recalled his interactions with Jiang Lu these past few days. He hadn’t told Guan Qing, intending to wait until everything settled down before informing him, but now things had unexpectedly become complicated again.

Xie Xu was in a bad mood and felt a little guilty, so without thinking much, he said:

“He insisted on applying for Professor Wang’s research project; I had no choice. No, you’re meddling quite a lot, you—”

****

Ye Zi’s phone vibrated. He was driving, so he gestured for Guan Qing to unlock it for him.

Guan Qing followed his instructions to unlock it, but accidentally touched the voice message, and so…

“He’s my husband, what’s wrong with me managing his thesis? What business is it of yours?”

“He insisted on applying for Professor Wang’s research project; I had no choice. No, you’re meddling quite a lot, you—”

Guan Qing’s mouth fell open.

His mind was a mess. After a long moment of thought, he managed to squeeze out a dry question: “Ye Zi, why did you ask him that?”

Ye Zi pulled over and quietly looked at him. “I was afraid you might be too caught up to see clearly, so I helped you test him. I apologize, I didn’t think things through.”

“I don’t need that,” Guan Qing said.

He held up the phone, his eyes rimmed with red.

He tried to think of every possible reason, to find an excuse for Xie Xu, but there was none.

‘How could there be none?’ he thought frantically. ‘It shouldn’t be this way.’

Xie Xu wouldn’t hurt him, Xie Xu wasn’t that selfish, Xie Xu…

“Do you truly understand him?” Ye Zi asked.

“I…”

‘I do understand him.’

Guan Qing thought of the Xie Xu consumed by jealousy, who had lost control and harmed him with his oppressive presence, and found himself speechless.

‘I don’t want to lie to you.’

‘Can’t you just not apply for Professor Wang’s research project?’

‘Why can’t you… be mine alone?’

These were all aspects of Xie Xu he had never known before.

“But I trust him.” Guan Qing took a deep breath and declared.

He had already promised Xie Xu that he would love him, trust him, and never leave him. He would live up to his word; no matter what kind of Xie Xu he was, Guan Qing would believe him and was willing to bear the cost.

He at least needed to hear it from Xie Xu himself.

Otherwise, he would never give up hope.

After all, that was *his* Xie Xu.

Seeing it with his own eyes, hearing it with his own ears—none of it counted.

Even if all evidence pointed to him, even if all clues proved it, Guan Qing could cover his eyes, block his ears, play deaf and dumb, refusing to see, to hear, to think.

That was how he loved Xie Xu.

He could abandon his principles.

Guan Qing had always considered himself more emotional than rational. The most important thing in his world was never truth, but the person he loved.

Therefore, he was willing to compromise countless times.

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