Chapter 241: Chapter 340: For Anitaqing - Immortal Flower Fate + Update 21
Zhang Zhao, humiliated and furious, was struck by the unprecedented blow to his self-esteem by Zhao Meimei’s undisguised disgust. The frustrations, unease, and anxiety deeply repressed in his heart surged all at once.
His few remnants of calm self-control vanished, and without thinking, he blurted out, "What do you know! You talk about me like this! You don’t know anything! What gives you the right to judge my actions, who do you think you are!!"
"Why can’t I like my sister?"
"What’s wrong with me liking my sister? What’s wrong with me loving her!"
"Do you think I want to become like this? I can’t control it, I just can’t control it, I love my sister so much I’m about to go crazy. What terrible thing have I done? Why do you all treat me like this? What did I do to you? Would Xu Xu have gone to confront your brother if he didn’t have improper intentions towards you? Would Wang Jiayue have helped you if she wasn’t jealous to the point of madness? What did I do? I just told Wang Jiayue about you and your brother being together, why in the end does everything get blamed on me?"
Zhang Zhao said, "I’m cowardly, I don’t have the guts to reveal my feelings to my sister, I want to see what kind of result Xu Xu would get, but I haven’t forced anyone."
Zhao Meimei’s heart shook violently: "Even if you know now that I will reject Xu Xu, would you have the courage to confess to Sister Xin? Even if you’re not blood-related, you’re still siblings, can you really be with her?"
Zhang Zhao hung his head, speechless: "I, I’m just not willing..."
Zhao Meimei said, "You’re not willing, so you can mess up other people’s lives as you wish? Zhang Zhao, are you sure the one suffering from depression is Sister Xin, and not you?"
Zhang Zhao’s face fell, unable to speak.
Zhao Meimei glared at Zhang Zhao with disgust: "Have you lived in a dog’s belly all these years growing up? Don’t you know how to weigh the consequences of your actions? Zhang Zhao, you really are a goddamn bastard!"
Zhang Zhao couldn’t bear to look Zhao Meimei in the eye, his hands desperately rubbed his face, pressing the corners of his eyes until they were red. Zhao Meimei’s eyes were disdainful and despising, piercing his male pride deeply.
The pain of unrequited love was driving him insane.
Zhang Zhao struggled to get up from the ground: "Yeah, I’m indeed a bastard, you’re right, I’m still afraid to confess to my sister directly. I know, I’m disgusting and abnormal, my sister hates me and my mom so much, but I just fell in love with her. I love her! I’ve never loved anyone like this before!"
Zhang Zhao’s handsome face twisted into a chilling smile.
"I really shouldn’t leave like this, why should I leave? If I leave, my sister will never think of me again, she will completely forget me, no, how can she forget me and be with someone else?"
Zhang Zhao muttered to himself, in a voice too soft for anyone but him to hear.
Zhao Meimei looked at Zhang Zhao’s dazed expression, feeling an uncontainable rage. She glared at Zhang Zhao, trembling with anger, and finally forced out the words she had always wanted to say: "Zhang Zhao, you better take care of yourself!"
Without looking back, Zhao Meimei left. She never knew loving someone could lead to such despair and madness. Her stomach full of reprimands and indignation became meaningless in the face of Zhang Zhao’s obstinance and stubbornness.
Zhao Meimei couldn’t comprehend what kind of painful struggle Zhang Zhao’s trapped heart had gone through. She just felt that Zhang Zhao had completely overturned all her perceptions, he was simply insane.
Zhao Meimei returned to the empty house, flung herself onto the bed, covered herself with a blanket, and began to ponder life until her phone rang, pulling her distant thoughts back.
Shi Yang’s voice came through the phone: "Meimei, have you had lunch?"
Zhao Meimei’s tense nerves instantly relaxed upon hearing Shi Yang’s voice, a massive overwhelming sense of happiness surged forth, and Zhao Meimei suddenly felt relieved. All her resentment, anger, annoyance, and disregard vanished. She thought, isn’t there something wrong with her, why should she be angry about Zhang Zhao’s matter, whether he likes Zhang Xin or not, what business is it of hers!
Clutching her phone, Zhao Meimei chatted with Shi Yang for so long that when they hung up, the phone was hot. She got up from the bed, swept away her previous gloomy mood, went to the kitchen searching for food, and squeezed the time to return to the tutoring class before the afternoon lessons began.
Zhang Zhao didn’t turn up to class that afternoon; Robber Hao came by for a surprise inspection and noticed but didn’t say much about it.
Since then, it seemed as if Zhang Zhao disappeared from Zhao Meimei’s life. He never attended tutoring classes again, and no one knew where he was.
During the first few days, Zhao Meimei occasionally wondered why Zhang Zhao didn’t come to the tutoring class, but this thought only flashed briefly and was quickly forgotten. The demanding and heavy coursework exhausted all her energy, and she spent the little free time she had texting and calling Shi Yang.
After attending the Merchandise Convention at the southern headquarters, Shi Yang didn’t return in a week as he originally planned, but instead conducted detailed market surveys in several nearby cities, from cabinet design to merchandise arrangement, sales techniques to the competition mechanism for salespeople, he underwent very systematic and comprehensive learning and investigation.
By the time Shi Yang returned home, it was nearly the Spring Festival. He didn’t come home alone; he brought back a middle-aged man with rough features and dark skin, looking extremely rugged.
This man, named Zhao Wendada, had recently returned from abroad, having previously worked in baby product design and promotion with remarkable sales results.
Shi Yang met Zhao Wendada at the Merchandise Convention at headquarters; Zhao Wendada had come with his resume for a job, while Mu Guangping was busy with meetings, leaving recruitment matters to the Human Resources Department.
The HR department probably thought that Zhao Wendada didn’t quite fit the bill for baby product promotion merely by his appearance, so they politely and indirectly turned him down.
After being rejected, Zhao Wendada didn’t get angry but sneaked into the convention, posing as an employee from headquarters to sell spring merchandise to franchisees.
He spoke articulately, giving detailed introductions from product style to features to store sales, his attitude both sincere and professional, until finally being discovered by headquarters staff and angrily evicted.
That’s when Shi Yang stood up, with a smile, put his arm around Zhao Wendada’s shoulder, and said, "I brought him in, sorry, it’s just a misunderstanding."