Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 33

The Leaked Secret (Middle)

“Sis, don’t cry…” Chen Xi reached out to wipe away the tears on her sister’s face, but her own eyes were also a little blurry. The two sisters hugged each other. “Xi, do you understand now? He’s not a good person. Break up with him quickly.” Chen Qian stroked her younger sister’s hair, her words full of earnest advice.

“But… Sis, that was seven years ago. Even if he was a bad kid back then, he’s changed now. The Hou Longtao I know isn’t like that at all. He’s both gentle and steady, and has the manners of a gentleman. Think about it, if he really was the hopeless rogue you describe, how could he have stopped bothering you just because of one letter from you?” Although Chen Xi sympathized with her sister’s experience, she didn’t completely agree with her assessment of her sweetheart.

“Xi, do you think he stopped bothering me? Two years ago, he sent me a letter from America filled with disgusting words. I didn’t dare reply to him. Who knew that he’d still find me more than two months ago, and even wanted me to be his girlfriend. Isn’t that harassment?” Chen Qian stood up and looked out the window. “Why? Why won’t he let me go?”

“Sis…” Chen Xi hugged Chen Qian from behind and also started crying. She couldn’t believe that Hou Longtao would be like this, but her sister would never lie to her. They weren’t just sisters, but also the best of friends. “Is what you’re saying true? Is it true? It’s impossible, it can’t be, he wouldn’t.”

“You still don’t believe me? What else do you want your sister to do?” “I believe you, I believe you.” “Then you promise me you’ll break up with him?” “I promise, I promise you… uh uh…” Chen Xi cried bitterly. She was sincere towards Hou Longtao and couldn’t give up so easily, but facing her heartbroken sister, she couldn’t bear to remind her of the past, so she verbally agreed with her, but secretly resolved to find Hou Longtao and ask him to explain everything.

That night, the sisters slept in the same bed. Chen Qian had experienced great emotional ups and downs, from fear, sadness, worry to the joy of comforting her sister, and was extremely exhausted, quickly falling into a dream. Chen Xi was different, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, thinking of the deep affection Hou Longtao showed when he held her in his arms, especially the scene at the intersection just now, which didn’t seem fake no matter how she thought about it.

The next morning, when Chen Qian got up, her sister was already gone. There was a note on the table left by Chen Xi, “Sis, I made plans to go out and play with classmates, I might not be back until the afternoon.” “That girl, she’s really playful.” Chen Qian shook her head. She had never liked any boy, so she didn’t know the feeling of being heartbroken at all. If she knew, she wouldn’t have suspected that her sister could still be in the mood to go out and play after experiencing last night…

He could have slept in, but after picking up and dropping off for more than two weeks, his biological clock had been adjusted. Although he didn’t use an alarm clock, Hou Longtao still woke up before 8:00 AM. He went to the coffee shop downstairs, ordered breakfast, crossed his legs, put his phone on the table, opened the newspaper, and took a sip of the rich, fragrant coffee. He was really leisurely. “Huh?”

Seeing a blank screen on his phone, “I forgot to turn it on.”

“The number you dialed is turned off.” Chen Xi had been dialing at the public telephone for half an hour, and suddenly remembered that Hou Longtao had said that he lived in the “Tianlun Dynasty” [likely a high-end hotel or apartment complex], so she simply took a taxi and came directly to this five-star hotel located on Wangfujing Street.

“Hello, I would like to ask which room Mr. Hou Longtao from IIC Company is staying in.” Chen Xi asked the receptionist softly. “You’re looking for Mr. Hou? He’s having breakfast in that coffee shop, the one reading the newspaper.” “Thank you.” Following the direction the receptionist pointed, she could see the table where Hou Longtao was sitting.

Hou Longtao was holding the newspaper, but his mind wasn’t on it. Liu Jiang’s matter was really making him feel helpless. For a truly honest and upright official, those underhanded tricks were of little use. Suddenly, he felt someone staring at him. He looked up and saw Chen Xi, dressed in white and with a solemn expression, standing silently across the table.

“Xi! You… why are you here?” The man was first taken aback, then stood up and pulled out a chair for the girl. When she sat down, he gently kissed her on the face. “Miss me?” Hou Longtao went back to his seat. “Have you had breakfast? Do you want a cup of coffee?” Chen Xi just lowered her head and remained silent.

“What’s wrong?” Hou Longtao noticed the girl’s abnormality. “Why does your face look so bad?” “Brother Tao, do… do you know my sister?” In that instant, the man’s mind raced. “She knows about me and Chen Qian? Did Shi Long tell her? No, the timing doesn’t add up. It must be Chen Qian who told her, then it’s not a big problem.” After figuring this out, he simply pretended to be ignorant. “Your sister? You have a sister? Haha, with your age, you should be an only child.”

Chen Xi wasn’t in the mood to laugh with him. “It’s my cousin, Chen Qian, do you know Chen Qian?” “Chen… Chen Qian?” Hou Longtao’s expression suddenly became very heavy. He lowered his head and ran his hands through his hair a few times, then raised his head again, his eyes filled with pain. “Chen Qian is your… your sister? It can’t be… it can’t be such a coincidence, right?”

“So you admit you know her, why didn’t you tell me?” Chen Xi’s lips were trembling. The man felt very puzzled by her question. “I never denied it, I just didn’t know you were sisters. I didn’t intentionally hide anything, I just never thought you were related. What did you want me to tell you?”

Chen Xi’s question was indeed a bit unreasonable, but it was understandable to have such doubts in her heart. In the vast sea of people, he didn’t look for anyone else, but happened to find the sister of the woman he couldn’t get. Anyone would suspect his motives to some extent. But now that he denied it, the girl felt that there was no need to waste time on this question. If her sister’s words were true, then no matter what this man’s motives for pursuing her were, they wouldn’t be pure.

“Tell me, did you… did you… did you harass my sister?” Seeing the expression on the man’s face become even heavier, Chen Xi understood that her sister hadn’t lied to her, and tears appeared in her eyes. “Did you… did you write her a letter from America? Did you look for her after you came back?” Hou Longtao nodded. The girl’s words were all true, and most importantly, he felt that it would be more beneficial for the girl to know about these two things.

Chen Xi slowly stood up, closed her eyes, and two crystal tears slid down her cheeks. Without saying anything, she slowly walked towards the door. “Xi, Xi…” The man followed her. “Where are you going?” The girl was still silent. Hou Longtao felt that something was wrong, blocked her in front of her, and held her trembling arms. “Xi, what’s wrong with you? Say something.”

“Slap.” Chen Xi broke free from the man’s hands and slapped him hard, even knocking his glasses off. “You rogue, don’t touch me!” Then, before he could recover, she rushed out of the coffee shop. Hou Longtao gave an awkward smile to the people and waiters in the coffee shop who were staring at him. “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding.” He took two quick steps to pick up his glasses. “Screw you, I, Hou Longtao, never cared about face anyway.” He started running quickly.

Chen Xi came out of the hotel, her face already covered in tears. She just wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. She reached out, and a taxi parked in the waiting area drove over. Just as the hotel attendant opened the car door for her, and the girl was already bending down to get into the car, Hou Longtao chased after her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her out again. “Xi, what are you doing?”

“Let go of me, let go of me…” Chen Xi cried and used her other hand, which wasn’t being held, to forcefully beat the man’s chest. The surprised gazes of the people made Hou Longtao very uncomfortable. He quickly used both hands to clamp the girl’s upper arms, shaking her body back and forth. “Xi, calm down, calm down, let’s talk things over.”

Chen Xi heard Hou Longtao speak to her in such a stern voice for the first time, and stopped crying for a moment, looking at him with a grievance. When she found that his eyes were full of worry and love, she pouted and hugged the man’s neck, crying again. “Why… why, why…” She repeated this sentence over and over again.

Hou Longtao hugged the girl, gently stroking her hair, not answering her, because he didn’t know what she was asking. But he was constantly analyzing in his heart, “Even if Chen Qian told her all our grievances, her reaction shouldn’t be so intense. Which part went wrong?” “Mr. Hou,” the waiter’s voice interrupted his thoughts, “Do you still need the car?” Hou Longtao waved his hand and let the taxi drive away.

The crying of the girl in his arms became louder and louder, it seemed that she was tired from crying. Hou Longtao kissed her hair. “Xi, shall we go to my room to talk? Don’t freeze outside. If you are not satisfied with me, you have to give me a chance to explain.” After a big cry, Chen Xi really calmed down. Thinking about it, she was indeed a little impulsive just now. Every story has two sides, and she should give her sweetheart a chance to defend himself.

The two returned to Hou Longtao’s suite in silence. “Sit down.” Hou Longtao pointed to the sofa in the living room, took a can of Coke from the refrigerator and placed it on the coffee table in front of the girl, sat next to her, and held her hand. “Xi, what did your sister tell you?” Chen Xi shook her hand away, broke free from the man, and sat on the sofa on the side. “Never mind what she said, I want to hear from you now.”

“Sigh,” Hou Longtao sighed and told the love story buried deep in his heart, “Do you know, last night, what you said to me, your sister also once said to me, just because of that sentence, my whole life was changed…” Chen Xi’s expression relaxed as the story deepened, but the doubts in her heart grew even bigger. “His story is not much different from my sister’s, but why does it sound so sad and beautiful?”

“Until I saw your sister and her current boyfriend again, I realized that with feelings, sometimes what you get is not proportional to what you give.” The man continued, “Later I asked her to dinner, she didn’t choose me because I wasn’t a good person, since that’s the case, why did she give me the illusion that we were in love at the Long family?”

What Hou Longtao said next was like talking to himself, “Seven years, no, subtracting the three years when I didn’t realize I was deeply in love with her, four years, a full four years, there wasn’t a day I didn’t think about her, but I have no place in her heart, alas…” Saying these words, he didn’t need to pretend to be heartbroken, nor did he need to brew emotions. These were originally his true feelings, truly pure and natural, and done in one breath. Which normal girl doesn’t yearn for eternal love, doesn’t admire a loyal man, Chen Xi was no exception, but although she was very moved, she hadn’t reached the point of losing her ability to think. Words are not enough, she couldn’t completely believe it. She came to the man and squatted down, gently stroking his thigh. “Brother Tao, I… I want to see the letter you wrote to my sister, do you still have it?”

“Why do you want to see it, why don’t you ask your sister?” “She… she…” “You don’t need to say it, I understand.” Chen Qian must have torn it up, Hou Longtao had already come to this conclusion, and the girl’s hesitation further confirmed this point. The man stood up and shook his head, walking towards the inner room. “Come with me.” Chen Xi knew that she had poked his sore spot again, but if that letter was still there, she had to see it, you can’t have both fish and bear paws [you can’t have it both ways], there was no other way.

Hou Longtao connected the “notebook” [laptop] to the printer, printed out the letter stored inside and handed it to the girl, then sat on the chair by the window, lit a cigarette, and thoughtfully turned his head to look at the sky outside the window. When he was studying in the United States, his Major was Information Systems, but he also had a Minor, which was Modern Psychology. He knew that actual black and white words on paper could give people more shock, easier to penetrate people’s hearts, and sometimes easier to understand the meaning than the words on the computer screen.

Chen Xi slowly sat down by the bed. The letter wasn’t long, only three and a half pages of printed paper. It described in the third person how the two met, how he realized on the “death line” [a moment of near-death or profound realization], and how he missed Chen Qian in the United States. The lines were full of infinite longing and infinite love.

“Impossible!” Chen Xi was a little dumbfounded. She didn’t see any of the disgusting words her sister mentioned. Only in the penultimate paragraph, Hou Longtao used some not-so-excessive love words such as “stroking beautiful hair” and “kissing fragrant lips”. In this day and age, it’s normal to say these words in a love letter to your beloved girl, and it can’t be considered disgusting.

In fact, the disgusting words Chen Qian mentioned referred to this paragraph. Because she always believed that Hou Longtao just wanted to get her body and only had that kind of dirty desire for her, she felt even more shameless about this man writing to her after disappearing for five years to get her. Every affectionate word from Hou Longtao was just a means to trick her into bed.

Chen Xi couldn’t possibly understand her sister’s psychology. She didn’t have time to think about it now, she could only think that there was a big misunderstanding between the two. If that was the case, Hou Longtao’s image in her heart was reshaped. But compared to her sadness just now, the real problem now appeared. The girl could see how deeply her sweetheart loved her sister, but what was she? Since he loved her sister so much, were his feelings for her real?

“Brother Tao…” Chen Xi squatted in front of the man, holding his knees, and looked up. “Do… do you still love her?” “Phew…” Hou Longtao sighed, inserted his fingers into the girl’s long hair and gently stroked it, letting the smooth hair slide through his fingers. “I’m not the kind of ungrateful man, I loved her deeply for four years, it’s impossible to forget her just like that. But I’m also very clear about one thing, forced melons are not sweet [you can’t force love]. Since Shi Long can give her happiness, I can only wish them happiness. A real man can take it and let it go, haha…”

Hou Longtao’s laughter was more heartbreaking than crying. Anyone could see the extreme pain under that forced calm smile. Most importantly, Chen Xi saw it. “Brother Tao, then… do you love me?” “Since I had dinner with your sister two months ago, I haven’t looked for her again, because I know she’s doing well, but sometimes in the dead of night, I still think of her, almost to the point of insomnia…”

Chen Xi bit her lip and lowered her head. She loved her sister, she always thought her sister was the most beautiful woman in the world, but she was definitely not bad either. She didn’t understand why her sister could make such a good man so devoted, even to the point that he didn’t even answer her question, only caring about pouring out his feelings for her sister.

“But in the past half month, as long as I lie on the bed, I can fall asleep in five minutes, because I know that the next morning there will be a girl more beautiful and lovely than Chen Qian waiting for me, especially after last night, I’m even more sure that she is the one who deserves my feelings.” Hou Longtao held the girl’s face, and the two stood up. “Tell me, my feelings for you won’t be as unrequited as they were for your sister.”

“No, no, Brother Tao…” Chen Xi hugged the man’s waist, desperately burying her head in his arms, her heart filled with joy. She finally knew how deep the feelings of the man she liked were for her. All the words about his love for her sister became the foreshadowing for this last sentence.

Hou Longtao kissed the girl’s forehead. “If you’re still angry with me, hit me a few more times. I did wrong your sister when I was young, if you want to vent your anger for her, I can definitely understand.” “Ah…” Chen Xi then realized that the glasses on his face were crooked.

It turned out that one of the glasses legs was twisted from the slap just now, and she felt a burst of guilt in her heart. “Brother Tao, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… without asking clearly…”

“It’s okay, I don’t know what your sister told you to make you so angry. Anyway, she should have hit me seven years ago, and now her sister is helping her make up for it, it can be considered retribution. But haven’t you noticed? We JustHadOurFirstFight, how can we see a rainbow without experiencing wind and rain? I’m sure our relationship is already deeper and stronger than a day ago.”

In this society, men are considered to be the stronger gender. They should be able to withstand even when they are hurt, and must never expose their emotions, which is the so-called “boys don’t cry”. The worst thing is that most men also think so, regarding the expression of emotions as a symbol of weakness. But in reality, women, especially women who pursue SeriousRelationship [committed, long-term relationships], are more likely to be moved by a man’s occasional display of true feelings than by mere strength.

Chen Xi is like this now. She really felt that she liked the man holding her even more, and felt that she could talk to him about anything. “Um… I… I hit you just now, not… not for what happened seven years ago, I think you were still a kid at that time, I don’t blame you too much, it’s mainly these two recent things.”

“Um?” This was completely contrary to Hou Longtao’s expectations. Except for being kicked by Ru Yun, this time can be said to be the most outrageous calculation he has ever made. “Why? You mean the two things of writing a letter and asking her to dinner, right? Why would these two things make you angry?” “You’re chasing me, but you’re thinking about my sister in your heart, how can I not be angry? But the main thing is that I really thought of you as the kind of shameless, thick-skinned bad guy my sister described. Actually, I think my sister has hated you since she was a child, it should be a misunderstanding.”

Hou Longtao suddenly let go of the girl’s body and sat down on the edge of the bed, his face full of pain and incomprehension. He originally thought that Chen Qian didn’t accept him simply because she didn’t like him, didn’t have feelings for him. Even after having dinner with Chen Qian, he only regarded the reason that he was a “bad guy” as an excuse. He didn’t expect that the woman he loved deeply actually “hated you since she was a child”. According to his original plan, after he and Chen Xi “publicized” their relationship, he would occasionally invite Chen Qian and Shi Long out to eat and play together. Every woman needs to be loved, even a strong woman like Ru Yun is no exception, not to mention a girl in her early twenties. According to the nature of women, Chen Qian would unconsciously compare her sister’s boyfriend with her own boyfriend. One is mature, stable, gentle and considerate, and the other is childish, playful and uninteresting, the advantages and disadvantages are self-evident. Then create an “accident” to make Chen Qian discover Shi Long’s prostitution video, and at the same time use the video of Shi Long being gang-raped to force him to let go, so that he can take advantage of Chen Qian’s most heartbroken time and let her have a solid shoulder to rely on and cry on. (This was formulated before falling in love with Chen Xi, and did not take her feelings into consideration. In fact, this is already an unworkable plan.)

Now it’s good, Chen Qian not only doesn’t like him, but also has seven years of hatred. To make a woman who has no feelings for you, or even hates you, fall in love with you, he is confident that he can do it, but to change a woman who hates you is not so simple. For a moment, Hou Longtao only felt disheartened. “Why, why does she hate me? Xi, you go, let’s not meet each other in the future, so as not to make everyone sad.”

Chen Xi saw that the man’s face was pale, and quickly sat next to him. “Brother Tao, what’s wrong with you? Why don’t we meet again? My sister has prejudice against you, but I don’t.” “Don’t you get hurt again,” Hou Longtao suddenly shouted, his voice a little choked, “Xi, you are too naive, it’s not enough to have love in this world, don’t you understand, your sister will never agree to us being together. From her point of view, she is doing it for your own good, can you blame her? Can you betray your family for me? Even if you can, my conscience will not allow me to force you to do that.”

“We can slowly think of a way, or simply don’t tell my family.” “How long can we hide it? A year? Two years? Or ten or twenty years? This contradiction is irreconcilable, because your sister hates me, her parents will not accept me, then do you think your parents may accept me? Your whole family is against our affairs, what will you do? Xi, a long pain is worse than a short one, you go, let me be alone for a while.” Hou Longtao leaned back, threw his glasses aside, covered his eyes with one arm, and his whole body was trembling slightly.

Chen Xi was also a little hurt. She understood in her heart that putting aside her parents, her uncle and aunt also had the grace of raising her. Her sister was her best friend. If she really wanted to break with them for a man, she couldn’t do anything. This was all because of her sister’s misunderstanding. As long as this misunderstanding was eliminated, it would be fine, but this could not be done overnight. If she hid her relationship with Hou Longtao, it would be impossible to achieve this goal, but if she didn’t hide it, let alone change his image in her sister’s heart, her family would probably explode as soon as she mentioned it.

That’s why Hou Longtao is the “chosen one”, he inadvertently said the most appropriate sentence at the most appropriate time, “Xi, what’s done is done, there’s no way to change it, aren’t you leaving yet?” The girl who was almost in despair suddenly found a bright light in the endless darkness, and suddenly pressed on the man, kissing him frantically, her hands were actually unbuttoning the waist of her white jeans… (Golden scales are not things in a pool) [Exceptional people cannot be confined to ordinary circumstances].