CHAPTER 462: CHAPTER 411 CAN WE GO BACK TO HOW THINGS WERE BEFORE?

Bai Chengxi returned to his room, ordered some takeout and casually turned on the TV.

Probably because Chengguang Entertainment intended to hype up Su Yingluo’s comeback, the TV was replaying one of her classic films from before. Back when they were filming this movie, Bai Chengxi had visited the set, but that was many years ago. He found it a bit hard to recall now. Back then, Su Yingluo was much more innocent and vibrant, always smiling and never greeting people with a cold face.

Bai Chengxi, somewhat irritated, turned off the TV and lit a cigarette. He walked onto the balcony, took out his phone and was about to message Zhuo Yuqing.

Just as his finger lit up the screen, an unfamiliar number called. After three rings, he answered the call.

"Chengxi." A familiar voice came from the other end. Bai Chengxi narrowed his eyes, his hand resting on the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window, quietly gazing at the bustling night view of City A.

"What is it?" His tone, as indifferent as his expression, was filled with a cold detachment that seemed to keep others at bay.

"I just saw you downstairs." Su Yingluo’s voice had a hint of excitement, "I’m in room 807, could you come down for a bit?"

Bai Chengxi was silent for a moment, and just when Su Yingluo thought he would agree, she heard his icy rejection: "It’s too late, I’m going to sleep."

"Chengxi." Feeling him about to hang up, Su Yingluo hurriedly called out to him, "Why do you have to be so cruel to me? Can’t you give me another chance? I’m not a saint - can one mistake really never be forgiven?"

"I don’t want to talk about the past anymore. I remember saying on New Year’s Eve that you shouldn’t call me again," Bai Chengxi said without waiting for Su Yingluo to react and decisively hung up.

Su Yingluo was about to speak when she heard the disconnect tone from the phone. Annoyed, she threw the phone aside and grabbed the cup next to her, gulping down two sips of red wine.

"Sister Luo." Her assistant Xiaolan said with some concern, "You’ve had stomach issues lately, you shouldn’t keep drinking."

"Why won’t he forgive me? Can all of our past just be overlooked like this? Did he really love me, or was that all fake?" Tears welled up in Su Yingluo’s eyes, "Chengxi, do you know how much I love you? You don’t and you never will."

"Sister Luo, Mr. Bai must not have thought it through yet. Once he does, he’ll naturally come to you. After all, you two have had ten years of relationship, it’s impossible to forget it just like that. Plus, I heard that Mr. Bai has been single all these years, without even a rumored girlfriend. What does that tell you? It shows he’s been waiting for you," Xiaolan analyzed confidently, "He’s just too proud right now, waiting for you to actively seek reconciliation. Just plead with him, act a little spoiled, and he’ll be back by your side in no time."

Having heard this, Su Yingluo felt Xiaolan’s words made a lot of sense. If Bai Chengxi had truly forgotten about her and no longer loved her, why hadn’t he been with other women all these years? He must still have her in his heart.

"Xiaolan, go and find out which room he’s staying in. I only saw him go up to the sixteenth floor," she instructed.

"Okay, Sister Luo, I’ll go find out now."

～

After Bai Chengxi hung up, he added the number he just received to his blacklist and sent a message to Zhuo Yuqing: "Are you asleep?"

Zhuo Yuqing was applying a face mask and scrolling through her social media feed, actually waiting for Bai Chengxi’s message. When his name popped up, she got a little excited. Since she couldn’t laugh too hard because of the face mask, she tried hard to keep her face straight.

"Not yet." She replied with three characters before taking a selfie of her face and sending it with the caption, "Midnight horror."

Seeing the suddenly appearing face that was dark as charcoal on his screen, Bai Chengxi chuckled, "Why is this face mask as black as coal?"

"This mask is really popular right now, I’ll put one on you next time, it makes your skin feel super good." Zhuo Yuqing gently patted her face to absorb the mask, "What are you doing?"

"Guess what I’m doing?"

Zhuo Yuqing replied without hesitation, "Smoking."

Bai Chengxi stared at the cigarette halfway burnt out in his hand, first shocked, then bursting into laughter, "Did you install cameras in my room or what?"

"You don’t need to guess that, whenever you have free time, you smoke. Smoking so much isn’t good for your health."

"It’s a habit." Bai Chengxi took another drag, elegantly blowing out a ring of smoke, "I’ll come over earlier tomorrow."

"Not too early though, I won’t be up yet." Zhuo Yuqing yawned, "I spent all day with you today and also had an early start in the morning,"

"Bai Chengxi, how do you plan to deal with my dad?" Zhuo Yuqing was still a little worried, afraid that Zhuo Yao might not give face and make Bai Chengxi lose face.

Bai Chengxi flicked off some ash, "You want the truth?"

"Of course."

"The truth is, I haven’t figured it out yet."

Zhuo Yuqing laughed with a snort, and her tense mood was also somewhat dispersed: "Finally, there’s something that can stump President Bai. That’s not easy."

"Yes, thanks to Miss Zhuo’s blessing, I should really thank Miss Zhuo."

Zhuo Yuqing sent a shocked expression, "You can thank me in your heart."

Just as Bai Chengxi was about to send another message, his door was suddenly knocked. He quickly typed a sentence: "The meal I ordered is here."

"Then go have your meal. I’m also going to sleep soon. I need to gather my energy for the do-or-die battle tomorrow."

"Well then, good night."

....

This time, Bai Chengxi did not reply again.

When Bai Chengxi opened the door, expecting the takeout he had just ordered, what he saw instead was Su Yingluo. She was dressed in a long black dress, covered by a cashmere coat, with cotton slippers on her feet, her small face under the light looking even more delicate.

"Is there something you need?" Bai Chengxi frowned, his eyes clearly showing rejection as he stood tall in the doorway, not showing any intention of letting her in.

"Can’t I come to you without a reason? When did we become so estranged?" Su Yingluo looked at him with a wronged expression, her eyes shimmering with waves of light under the bright overhead light.

"Miss Su, you are now the leading star of Chengguang Entertainment; it’s really inappropriate for you to appear at my door in the dead of night. If your boss sees this, they might think I’m trying to poach you."

Hearing this, Su Yingluo didn’t get angry but laughed instead: "Chengxi, are you still upset about this? You know why I signed with Chengguang Entertainment. It’s because you refused to sign me no matter what. I came back to this country to join your Xingdong Media, but how did you treat me? You rejected me outright. I’ve already lowered my conditions as far as they could go, yet you show no sincerity. What are you really thinking? I really don’t understand."

As Su Yingluo spoke, she naturally reached out and tugged at his sleeve: "If you want to punish me, hasn’t it been enough? You haven’t contacted me for so many years, and since my return, you’ve ignored me completely. I already know my mistake and have received the punishment I deserved. You know how much I love you, yet you reject me in such a cruel way. Now, seeing me sad and regretful, you must be happy, right? So, Chengxi, stop acting like a child. Let’s make up and go back to how things used to be, okay?"

Bai Chengxi slowly but firmly brushed off the fair hand on his lapel, his expression still as cold as ice: "Miss Su, please have some self-respect."

Su Yingluo hadn’t expected her hand to be brushed away by him. The extent of his heartlessness far exceeded her expectations. Even after she had said so much, he remained unmoved. She understood that he was very angry, but after so many years, hadn’t his anger subsided? How much longer did he intend to punish her?

Bai Chengxi took a step back and closed the room door without any mercy.

Su Yingluo, too proud-hearted to knock again after being turned away, just stood in front of the door for a long time without leaving.

After returning to his room, Bai Chengxi walked over to the wine cabinet and took out a bottle of red wine, opened it, and put it in the decanter to breathe.

He knew that Su Yingluo must not have left yet; with her personality, she wouldn’t give up so easily. However, she definitely wouldn’t knock on the door again; that was her pride.

About half an hour later, the takeout Bai Chengxi had ordered finally arrived. When he opened the door, Su Yingluo had already left. He took the takeout box back to his room, and just as he opened one of the meal containers, he found a note inside. The handwriting was delicate and elegant, a familiar script: Chengxi, I will keep waiting until you forgive me. I love you, and that’s a fact that has never changed.

Bai Chengxi stared at the note for a long time, then finally took it out, crumpled it up, and along with that box of food, threw it into the trash can.

~

Zhuo Yao has been in the habit of running every morning. There’s an artificial lake behind the villa complex, around which a garden has been built. He runs around this lake for an hour every morning.

Today was no different. He got up at 5:30 am, and before dawn, he was already running, with not many people doing morning exercises around him, just occasionally a few elderly people practicing Tai Chi passing by.

Zhuo Yao had run half a lap when suddenly, steady footsteps followed him from behind. He didn’t look back, knowing it was just another morning jogger.

After another half lap, those footsteps continued to follow closely behind him, maintaining a distance of two or three steps away from him.

Zhuo Yao, with an innate competitive streak in his bones, sped up now that he knew someone was behind him. As he increased his pace, so did the other person, maintaining a constant distance.

Zhuo Yao, as if taking up a challenge, kept increasing his speed. By this point, he had run five laps along the asphalt road around the lake, each lap being about four hundred meters in length. An average person running at this speed would have already been gasping for air by now.

But to his surprise, the person behind him never seemed to let out any heavy pants; on the contrary, their footsteps were light, almost entirely silent.