Rose Manor: Tycoon's Relentless Chase-Chapter 275 - 257: Time to Say Goodbye

Shen Jianian was carrying her cello through the airport lobby, sweating profusely. She didn’t see Pei Che’s figure and thought he might have taken a flight back to Jiang City after leaving Yunding Palace.

He said he wouldn’t go abroad so soon.

Shen Jianian called him. The phone rang twice, and then her phone automatically shut off due to a dead battery.

Her phone hadn’t been used for over twenty days, and the battery was nearly drained.

Shen Jianian rummaged through her bag but couldn’t find her power bank. Fortunately, she found some hundred-yuan bills. After walking a long way, she finally bought a power bank, charged her phone, and instead of calling Pei Che, she directly bought a ticket to fly to Jiang City.

A little past two in the afternoon, Shen Jianian returned to the villa at Jade Heaven and pressed the doorbell.

The one who opened the door was the auntie hired by Pei Che. Seeing only Shen Jianian, the auntie showed a surprised expression: "Miss Shen is back. Isn’t Mr. Pei with you? I heard he went to Beicheng to find you."

The auntie who worked for Pei Che didn’t understand the twists and turns between them, only knowing that Pei Che went to Beicheng to find Shen Jianian.

"He hasn’t returned yet?" Shen Jianian asked.

"Not yet."

Zhou Ruo, who had just taken an afternoon nap, came out of her room. Her back had been hurting a bit these past two days. As she walked to the living room, she vaguely heard the auntie talking at the door: "Gui Lan, who are you chatting with?"

"It’s Miss Shen who has returned." The auntie was so busy talking that she forgot Shen Jianian was still standing outside. She quickly stepped aside, "Come in quickly, it’s hot outside."

Shen Jianian put on slippers and walked in. Putting down her cello, she faced Zhou Ruo and didn’t know what to say.

Zhou Ruo had the same thought as the auntie: "Ah Che didn’t come back with you?"

Shen Jianian pressed her lips and shook her head. Her eyes were very red, her eyelids swollen, looking as if her soul was lost.

Zhou Ruo faced her, equally at a loss for words. After a moment of silence, she asked how Shen Jianian was doing in Beicheng: "That man with the surname Fu, didn’t make things difficult for you, did he? Ah Che wanted to go to Beicheng to find you at that time, but I stopped him. He was in the hospital with injuries, and I feared he would have another accident."

Shen Jianian initially suspected Pei Che hadn’t received the messages she sent, but now realized there was a reason he took so long to come to her.

She did not blame him.

The kick Fu Jichen gave Pei Che that day was not light, and Pei Che was in a bad state at the time.

"Auntie, I want to ask you..." Shen Jianian sniffed, her eyes starting to sting again. "Ah Che said, my parents’ death was because Uncle Pei framed the Shen Family. Is that true?"

Zhou Ruo’s eyes widened in shock. She didn’t expect Ah Che had told Little Nian the truth.

"You saw Ah Che?" Zhou Ruo’s heart flustered, trying to change the subject.

Shen Jianian nodded, stubbornly asking, "Auntie, tell me the truth, is it like Ah Che said? He said it was Uncle Pei who harmed the Shen Family, leading my father to suffer a heart attack from the blow and die, and my mother..." Tears streamed down her face, "My mother followed him. Tell me, this isn’t true."

She repeated her questions over and over, just wanting a denial. She would believe it if Zhou Ruo said it wasn’t true.

Zhou Ruo sighed. Since Ah Che had already told her, she didn’t want to divert the topic anymore: "Our family sinned, wronged your parents, and also wronged you. Old Pei later faced his own retribution; not long after, he had a stroke, was hospitalized, and passed away."

Pei Fengnan’s death she felt was not accidental; it was his intent to die. During his time receiving treatment at the hospital, Pei Fengnan didn’t want to lie on a bed like a useless person every day, getting served for eating, drinking, and relieving himself. He had lived a glorious life with much pride, unable to endure himself in that state. While the caregiver was not looking, he dived head-first off the bed and died despite attempts to save him, going to atone to his good friend underground.

As Zhou Ruo spoke, she couldn’t help but cry.

She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes: "Back then, Ah Che discovered the real reason for your family’s downfall, and rushed to Yicheng to find you. You refused to forgive him, and he began to self-destruct, drinking, speeding, abandoning himself, and disregarding his own life, all to atone for his father’s sins. Eventually, in Ling City, he had a car accident, and both the vehicle and he fell off a cliff."

Shen Jianian gasped. She didn’t know such things had happened.

"I didn’t want to recall those dark days. At the time, it felt like the sky was collapsing, and I cried all day. Relevant authorities issued a report saying there was no chance Ah Che survived. I dreamed of him, soaking wet, appearing at my door, so forlorn, and I believed he had vanished into the sea without peace, and even held a funeral for him." Zhou Ruo, recalling the past, wiped the newly emerging tears, "It was later that I learned he was saved by others, snatched back from the brink of death. Seeing him alive, I didn’t ask for anything more, just wanted him to be safe by my side."

Zhou Ruo held Shen Jianian’s hand: "Little Nian, you two are both children of misfortune. When Ah Che learned that you lost your memory and didn’t want you to live in past hatred anymore, he decided to hide everything, hoping to start anew with you. I advised him, saying perhaps you didn’t want to be kept in the dark, but he said both of you had died once; heaven showed mercy and gave such an opportunity for you to leave behind the past grievances and reunite. I softened and agreed to help him conceal it. Little Nian, Ah Che loves you, and his original intention was not to hurt you."

The phone rang, and Shen Jianian took her phone out of the bag, unplugged the power bank, and put it to her ear to answer: "Ah Che."

"Where are you?"

"I’ve returned to Jiang City." Shen Jianian said, tears glistening in her eyes as she looked at Zhou Ruo, "I’m at Jade Heaven right now."

Pei Che was still in Beicheng. After leaving Yunding Palace, he didn’t head to the airport but took a taxi to the cemetery. It was on the ride there that he received a call from Fu Jichen. He berated Fu Jichen for a long time, and Fu Jichen didn’t talk back.

After he was done yelling, Fu Jichen told him that Little Nian had forgiven him a long time ago, and she bore no hatred towards anyone in the Pei Family. Back then, she had said it herself, that she decided to let go of hatred and live her life well.

Fu Jichen’s words untied the knot in his heart that had been there for so long; resentment no longer stood between him and Little Nian.

He bought three bouquets of flowers from a roadside florist to pay respects to his father and Little Nian’s parents. Beicheng wasn’t as hot as Jiang City, and at noon, he squatted in front of the tombstone, recounting all that had happened over the past three years, and by the end, it felt as if a part of his heart had been emptied.

There was still a long way to true relief, but he wasn’t as persistent anymore.

Ever since Little Nian lost her memory, she had been living in the narrative he arranged. It was time to let her write the remaining Chapters of her own life.

Three years ago, he couldn’t learn to let go or understand that her finding happiness was also a kind of happiness for himself. He hoped that today, three years later, he could do a little better.

"I’m headed to the airport now. I’ll return to Jiang City later; let’s talk when we meet."

After hanging up, Pei Che breathed a sigh of relief as if a load had been lifted off his shoulders and took a taxi to the airport, arriving in Jiang City around six in the evening.

While Pei Che was on the plane, Shen Jianian slowly digested the entire matter. Perhaps because she had no memory of it and could only learn from others, except for the initial difficulty in acceptance, she didn’t bear any deep-seated hatred.

Shen Jianian sat alone in the room, hugging her knees by the window, with her cheek resting on her knees, looking outside—this was her favorite spot to daze.

Gradually, as dusk fell, there was a knock on the door from outside.

Shen Jianian moved her stiff body, stood up, and went to open the door. Outside was the travel-worn Pei Che, looking a bit haggard, with a light sheen of sweat on his forehead and temples. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

In that instant when their eyes met, Pei Che gently curled his lips, no longer just tasting bitterness and sorrow: "Why did you come back?"

In his expectations, when Little Nian learned the truth, she wouldn’t want to see him. Although Fu Jichen said Little Nian had forgiven him, that was three years ago, and the present Little Nian might not necessarily choose to forgive him.

Shen Jianian stepped back, her voice a little hoarse: "Come in."

Pei Che turned around to close the door, and Shen Jianian noticed a patch of his shirt at the back soaked in sweat and some dusty dirt stuck to it, unclear where he had been.

It was still Pei Che who brought up the topic first, feeling surprised: "Fu Jichen allowed you to leave?"

That man, with his hard-handed methods and authoritarian ways, said when they met today that he would never let go of Little Nian, yet now, he had a change of heart.

"Hmm." Shen Jianian didn’t know why Fu Jichen suddenly changed his mind and canceled the one-month period.

Could it be just because she cried too heartbreakingly?

Shen Jianian felt awkward mentioning Fu Jichen with Pei Che, as it gave her a sense of betraying Pei Che. Regardless of what happened, Pei Che and she were still in a romantic relationship.

"Little Nian, everything I told you at the villa was true," Pei Che said. "Whatever you still want to know, I’ll tell you. This was my promise to you before."

After learning she was Yan Qiusheng’s disciple, Little Nian once asked him to tell her about all the things she had forgotten. He had promised her then but hadn’t fulfilled it.

"But perhaps, during your time by Fu Jichen’s side, you might have already learned all that you needed to." Pei Che adopted a lighter expression and smiled, not wanting the atmosphere to become too melancholic, "Little Nian, I’m really sorry for keeping it from you for so long. This time, we really have to part ways."

He saw Shen Jianian was crying, causing a pang in his heart: "Little Nian, don’t be sad. Parting doesn’t mean losing. If you’re willing, we can still be family. You can tell me if you need anything, and I’ll help you. Perhaps, not long from now, I’ll find a nice town abroad and call you to come for a vacation."

Shen Jianian didn’t know how many times she had shed tears today; through her blurry vision, Pei Che’s figure seemed to drift farther away.

Pei Che wiped her tears, and she blinked, realizing he was right there close to her.

"Little Nian, you will be happy," Pei Che gently embraced her, allowing himself this one indulgence, to hold her once more.

Though he couldn’t quite stomach Fu Jichen, Fu Jichen was genuinely sincere towards Little Nian. After everything three years ago, he should now know how to protect Little Nian.