Chapter 33: Zheng Wei and Chen Xiao's Memories of Each Other Are Forever Etched

  After Zheng Wei's annual leave was over, she officially returned to the second division, and she also brought her resignation report. Zheng Wei is not someone who doesn't love her job, she had once dived headfirst into China Construction with passion, got choked a few times, and was pulled up by others, gradually getting used to it and becoming proficient, and had thought about fighting for her career until the last minute. However, people can't control fate, and she never expected that Zhou Qu, whom she had always regarded as a good mentor and friend, would do such a thing, and what's even more embarrassing is that Lin Jing, who was about to become her husband, happened to be the person directly in charge of this case.

  In this entanglement, Zheng Wei can't tell who's right or wrong and doesn't want to distinguish between them. No matter what Lin Jing did to Er Fen, his heart towards her is true. Similarly, no matter whether Zhou Qu is guilty or not, it can't change Zheng Wei's gratitude towards him. Whether she gave up or was tired of it, she just didn't want to get entangled in the disputes between these men anymore and didn't want to carry an unjust burden on her back. Plus, the unclear relationship between her and Chen Xiao Zheng made leaving seem like the wisest choice.

  After returning from the North Sea, Zheng Wei had already made up her mind. She discussed it with Lin Jing, who respected her decision. The resignation procedures went smoothly, and Zhou Qu still left to cooperate with the investigation. Deputy Manager Zhang read Zheng Wei's report, said a few polite words of persuasion, and soon signed off on it. Afterwards, all aspects of the handover went without major issues, except that when Zheng Wei went to the personnel department to process her file transfer, the director told her that according to procedure, all formal employees must obtain the signature of the company leader in charge of personnel before processing the procedures at the personnel department, and then transferring their files to the headquarters' human resources center. The company leader in charge of personnel happened to be Deputy Manager Chen.

  Zheng Wei stood in front of Chen Xiao Zheng's office desk, looking at his own file being pulled out. The paper looked thin and pale on his fingertips. He carefully examined the paper for several minutes, with all the text on it totaling less than 100 words.

  "I heard you quit because you're getting married, congratulations to you, marrying a young and promising prosecutor. Having a good place to settle down, whether working or not is no big deal."

  His calmness was somewhat beyond Zheng Wei's expectations, but this was a good thing for Zheng Wei. Now she just hoped to settle everything as soon as possible, so she also tried her best to make herself look calm and peaceful. "Thank you, Vice President Chen, please sign above."

  "Signature? Easy." Chen Xiao Zheng raised the file and slowly fed it into the paper shredder on the side of his desk, smiling in front of Zheng Wei.

  Zheng Wei listened to the sound of the paper being shredded by the blade and said: "Don't worry, Vice President Chen doesn't like this one. I have a spare copy."

  Until the document retrieval form disappeared into the machine, Chen Xiao Zheng finally looked up and stared at Zheng Wei standing opposite him. "I won't sign it."

  Zheng smiled and spoke up, "You know what you look like now? Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum. You can make my resignation process more difficult, but can you stop me from getting married? To achieve that, I'm afraid just relying on Miss Ouyang is far from enough."

  It's so easy to infuriate the person in front of me. When Chen Xiao Zheng leaned over the table and pulled Zheng Wei closer, the blue veins on his forehead were throbbing with each beat. Under his force, Zheng Wei's legs hit the edge of the table hard, she let out a low cry, her face showing pain.

  Chen Xiao Zheng's expression was even more painful than hers, he asked: "Does it hurt? A little? If you think it hurts, then you should know how I feel now. Are you still planning to send me a wedding invitation at the wedding?"

  "I would be honored if you would come." Zheng Wei suppressed the trembling in his voice caused by pain.

  "You said you wanted to get married just to annoy me, but say, you wouldn't really marry Lin Jing." His voice slowly fell down, like his heart, finally learning to lower itself to the dust. "Weiwei, I've never loved anyone else. Between Ou Yang and me, there was only an agreement, nothing more, she's simply..."

  "You give her a shield, and she promises you a smooth path to success?"

  "You all know? Then why can't you wait for me a little longer? Three years, I promised her three years, I thought I could definitely hold on."

  "You can certainly hold on, but I won't accompany you. I married Lin Jing, not because I was angry with you, Chen Xiao Zheng, you're not that important."

  He shook his head, refusing to accept this excuse, but the knock on the door sounded at this moment. Zheng Wei was like a great amnesty, "Someone has come, let go. Did you hear that?"

  Chen Xiao Zheng took a glance at the door, gritted his teeth and held her even tighter. The visitor outside seemed to be impatient, knocked a few times, saw that the door lock was loose, and then tried to push the door open.

  "Vice Chen, reimbursement for travel expenses..." He Yi stood at the office door and saw a scene that made his eyes widen in shock. Chen Xiao, who was normally meticulous and unflappable, was grasping Zheng Wei's hand tightly across the desk, his eyes blazing with intensity. The stationery on the table was scattered all over the place.

  Chen Xiao Zheng saw He Yi but still didn't let go of Zheng Wei's hand. He Yi dryly laughed twice: "Whatever it is, take your time to say it, we're all colleagues..."

  "Who told you I'm colleagues with her?" Chen Xiao Zheng pointed towards the direction of the door and sternly said to He Yi, "Get out, get out now."

  He Yi rubbed his nose, after all, he was the superior, and without understanding the situation inside, he didn't dare to stir up this muddy water.

  After He Yi left, he closed the door with a bang, Zheng Wei burst out laughing, "You're crazy."

  Chen Xiao Zheng finally let go, walked a few steps to the door, locked it from the inside, then turned around and hugged Zheng Wei who was leaning against the table in a daze. He turned her face towards him, "Go crazy if you want. Wei, if you want to quit your job, I'll do it with you. I don't care about anything else as long as you don't leave me. Is that okay? If it's not enough, what do you want me to do? Tell me, I can do whatever you say."

  He trembled as he pressed his face against Zheng Wei's, his skin scorching hot while his tears were cool, this mix of cold and heat like a desperate prayer for life amidst despair.

  Zheng Wei closed her eyes, listening to him whispering in her ear like a child: "I don't want anything else, just you..." She didn't know if she was crying or not. All along, in their love, Zheng Wei had always been the loser, he would walk away without hesitation when facing her. She would chase after him endlessly, but today, she finally caught up and turned the tables. But now that she's taken this step, what could she gain from winning?

  "Really? You can really leave everything behind and follow me?"

  Chen Xiao Zheng couldn't say a word, he just nodded his head repeatedly.

  Zheng Wei had a taste of the bitterness of tears, "A Zheng, even if you abandon everything and follow me today. You will still regret it one day. I don't want to give you the chance to blame me."

  Chen Xiao Zheng took a step back and looked at her, "Is it that you no longer believe in me, or is it that you no longer love me?" He seemed to have returned to the young man who had nothing. Zheng Wei's love was his only reliance.

  "I never told you, when I was little, I had a doll that I snatched from my cousin. Among all the toys, I loved it the most. Every night, I couldn't sleep without holding onto it, no matter how old or ugly it got. Later on, I lost that doll and cried nonstop until my voice was hoarse, but still couldn't find it. My parents bought me many new toys to comfort me, but I didn't want any of them. At the time, I thought that if I couldn't find this doll for a day, I wouldn't be happy for a whole day and would never love another toy again. A month passed, two months passed, a year passed, two years passed...I still couldn't forget about it until I started elementary school. One day during the big house cleaning, I finally found it in the corner of an old cabinet. But to my surprise, it wasn't that important to me anymore. Maybe during the process of searching for it, I had already outgrown the age where I needed toys."

  Zheng Wei felt Chen Xiao Zheng's body slowly leaving him, and he never thought that there would be such a day. He was willing to give up everything, only to discover that his "everything" was not what Zheng Wei wanted.

  "You don't have to sign it, it doesn't matter if I give up the file. As long as I don't go back to the state-owned enterprise, the file doesn't mean much to me. What's most important is that if I resign now, everyone will think I betrayed Zhou Qu and leave in shame, never suspecting that the one who handed those evidences to Lin Jing was you."

  "What did Lin Jing tell you?"

  Zheng smiled faintly, "Lin Jing would never tell me these things, he'd rather I never found out about the deal between you two."

  "I said I wouldn't let Feng Desheng off, and now he must pay the greatest price for this! As for Zhou Qu, you've been so protective of him, looking up to him as an idol in your work, but has he never taken advantage of you? Am I wrong to do this?"

  Zheng Wei said, "You're all right, each with your own reasons, nothing to blame. But don't say you can give up everything for me again."

  Chen Xiao Zheng slowly sat back in his office chair, he was a clever man, occasionally having a dream, but waking up still faster than others. In the end, he still signed on another letter she had prepared, after writing countless times the word "Zheng", the last stroke finally fell, and only then did he finally believe that Zheng Wei and Chen Xiao Zheng were already memories.

  Chen Xiao Zheng pushed the signed letter to Zheng Wei's face, at this time he was calm and composed as usual. After Zheng Wei said "thank you", he asked the last question, "If there was no Ouyang Jing, if I had competed fairly with Lin Jing from the beginning, would you have given me a chance?"

  This answer has actually lost its meaning, life is not about ifs. Zheng Wei could have been ambiguous and given Chen Xiao Zheng a vague answer, but she didn't, she carefully held the letter in her hand and only said one word to him: Yes!

  Zheng Wei had no way of knowing Chen Xiao Zheng's reaction, after finishing speaking she turned around and left, she knew he wouldn't have any issues, from now on, he would achieve success and fame, as he wished, at most, it was just a feeling of pain in his heart in his dreams - if he still had dreams.

  Gathering her personal belongings from the office, Zheng Wei carried a large cardboard box out of the building. He Yi caught up with her and lent a hand. "Zheng Wei, let's just forget what happened today," he said, "but that day in Beihai when you saw me, can you keep it a secret from Shao Yi?"

  Zheng Wei glanced at him with the corner of her eye, "Since you're afraid that Shao Yi will know, it proves that you still care about her marriage. I don't understand, why do you want to be with Shi Jie? She's just using you."

  He Yi said, "I'm not that I don't love Shao Yi, but being with her makes me feel tired. Leaving is also impossible to do. At least Shi Jie gave me happiness."

  Zheng Wei couldn't help but despise him. Why didn't he feel tired when he was pursuing Shao Yi with all his might at first? She hailed a taxi and before getting in, she said to He Yi, "Don't worry, I won't interfere with your business. Even if Shao Yi will find out sooner or later, it shouldn't be me who tells her. You know what kind of person she is better than I do. I hope you can still be so happy when the time comes."