Chapter 274: Chapter 274 My chest hurts… Chapter 274: Chapter 274 My chest hurts… “I understand.”

After a long while, Sheng Siyuan sat there before he finally heard himself say.

After that, he reached out his hand, drew the still crying woman into his arms, and held her close.

Seeing this, Yin Hehe immediately buried herself in his chest and cried even harder.

“I’m sorry, I know… I shouldn’t cry over him in front of you, but… but I really feel so guilty, so sad, he’s dead, and I only now learned his name.”

Yin Hehe’s sobs were inconsolable as she spoke in the man’s embrace, her emotions collapsing messily.

Sheng Siyuan held her.

In that instant, as he listened to the woman crying her heart out, suddenly, he felt as if he no longer had the right to be jealous or hate this man named Xiahou Xiu.

Because, when it came to love for this woman, he, Sheng Siyuan, truly did not possess the pure, unreserved love that Xiahou Xiu had!

Probably after comforting her for about ten minutes, at last, Yin Hehe’s crying gradually ceased.

“I’m sorry…”

Once her emotions had stabilized and she became aware of her own loss of composure, she quickly withdrew from the man’s embrace.

Sheng Siyuan looked down at his empty hands.

He was somewhat displeased.

“I’ve now told you everything. My feelings for Xiahou Xiu… I don’t want to hide them from you. I probably won’t forget him for the rest of my life. If you mind, we… can part ways.”

Yin Hehe lowered her head, as if after struggling for a very long time, she still choked up and managed to say it out loud.

Indeed, this was what she intended to say when she initiated this topic.

She had already thought it through, she didn’t expect this man’s forgiveness, nor did she dare to beg him to allow this name to exist between them.

Therefore, she had already prepared for a separation.

Yin Hehe bit her lip hard.

“And what about me?” After a long wait, finally, she heard the man’s voice.

He gazed at her, his look coming from behind the thin lenses, as if rooting into the ground under the light.

“Me?”

Yin Hehe lifted her tearful eyes.

The man nodded, “Yes, I just need one answer from you, what place do I, Sheng Siyuan, hold in your heart now?”

He asked, pausing on every word.

The room fell silent.

In that moment, as though all sound had frozen, the silence was so profound that the drop of a pin to the floor would have been heard.

“The position at my heart.” Yin Hehe’s voice, clear and distinct, at last broke the silence of the room.

In an instant, the man’s chest throbbed violently.

“I don’t know if I’m a bad woman? I clearly can’t forget Xiahou Xiu in my lifetime, yet, you cause me pain!”

She added once more.

After she finished speaking this time, the tears she had been holding back in her eyes for a long time spilled out again in grievance.

She pointed to the position over her heart, speaking agitatedly, “If you bully me, I feel upset, if you ignore me, it hurts so much I can’t breathe, I… I…”

She wasn’t allowed to continue.

Sheng Siyuan spread his arms and pulled her fiercely into his embrace, his reddened eyes filling with nothing but deep emotion and overwhelming joy.

Of course, she wasn’t a bad woman.

Because, even she herself didn’t know, her feelings for Xiahou Xiu were actually gratitude, guilt, self-reproach…

She had never forgotten Xiahou Xiu.

But that was only because the man had appeared just in time at her most helpless moment, it wasn’t love, it was a debt of gratitude!

Sheng Siyuan felt as though he had been acquitted in court.

That night, after taking care of Yin Hehe until she fell asleep peacefully, Sheng Siyuan came out of the room only to see Xu Guannan already waiting outside.

“President, someone is looking for you outside.”

“Who?”

Sheng Siyuan, under the dim light of the corridor, asked with displeasure.

At this hour, someone actually dared to disturb his rest; they must have the courage of a bear and the heart of a leopard.

Xu Guannan: “Xiahou Maolin!”

“…”

The corridor fell into complete silence…

—

Hotel café.

When Sheng Siyuan came downstairs to meet with Xiahou Maolin, he saw the latter’s gaze fixed on him like a wolf.

Was this because he had dealt with his son, and Xiahou Maolin wanted to fight him to the death?

Sheng Siyuan’s expression grew even darker.

“Mr. Xiahou, you’re seeking me out so late, what can I help you with?”

He walked into the café, sat down in front of this man with his leg crossed and asked ungraciously.

Xiahou Maolin’s stare sharpened a fraction more.

However, Xiahou Maolin, whose facial features leaned more towards the delicate and hardly inherited Xiahou Yi’s rough and hearty appearance, still managed a slight smile.

“I apologize, Mr. Sheng. I heard my unworthy son has caused you quite a bit of trouble recently, and I’ve specifically come to offer an apology.”

So he was indeed here for this matter.

A sneer crossed Sheng Siyuan’s lips, and he took a sip from the water glass in front of him.

“No need for apologies, just tell him to mind his manners from now on.”

He set down the glass and spoke bluntly.

Xiahou Maolin’s pupils narrowed for just a second, and for that moment, one could clearly see a streak of viciousness flash across his eyes.

So quickly that even Sheng Siyuan didn’t perceive it.

“Alright, thank you for the reminder, Mr. Sheng. I’ll pass it on to him.”

“Good, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving.” Sheng Siyuan stood up and turned to leave.

He genuinely did not wish to interact with this kind of person any more than necessary.

However, just as he was about to leave, Xiahou Maolin suddenly called out to him from behind.

“Mr. Sheng, have you heard a certain rumor lately?”

“What rumor?” Sheng Siyuan had no choice but to stop and turn around with great patience to look at the man.

He saw the man standing up too.

Dusting off his suit, and picking up the briefcase beside him, he took several steps until he reached Sheng Siyuan’s side.

“Some say, you’re my son.”

“What did you say?” Sheng Siyuan’s pupils shrank immediately, and his mind was as thunderstruck as if he’d heard an actual explosion.

Yet Xiahou Maolin still smiled.

“It’s said that when your mother was young, she often visited the Xiahou Family, and afterwards, she had a thing with me.”

“Bullshit!”

Sheng Siyuan finally exploded with rage!

Xiahou Maolin chuckled, “Calm down, Mr. Sheng. These aren’t my words. However, I must admit I found your mother’s charm quite to my liking back then.”

Nobody would have expected such a despicable statement to come from the mouth of an elderly man of his years.

Vindictiveness burst forth in Sheng Siyuan’s eyes as he swung his fist fiercely towards the man.

“Thud!”

Xiahou Maolin stumbled back several steps from the punch.

With bloodshot eyes, Sheng Siyuan pointed at him and warned fiercely, “Listen well, if I see you again, I’ll kill your son!”

New hatred combined with old grudges!

He uttered the most bloodthirsty words.

Sheng Siyuan left.

Xiahou Maolin leaned on the chair for a long time, until his personal assistant rushed in from outside.

“Sir, why did you do that? Since you already knew his identity, you should have taken him out cleanly. Why cause a stir?”

The assistant, seeing him in such a state, hastily asked with a mixture of anxiety and confusion.

Xiahou Maolin touched the blood at the corner of his mouth, lifted his eyes, and at that moment, his icy gaze finally revealed a snake-like gleam.

“It’s natural curiosity. I wanted to see for myself what kind of person the old man hid away all these years.”

“…”