Shattered by Fate, Restored by Truth

Chapter 529: The Once Young Fu Shihan

When Fu Shihan went to find Su Wanxin, he didn’t bring his phone. It was only after he got home that he noticed several missed calls and many messages, all from Lu Ci.

L: ??????

L: Damn, I really can’t with you! Why don’t you just mount the camera on your face so everyone can get a good look?

Unable to reach Lu Ci by phone or message, and having no one to vent to for a while, he talked about it with others.

Fu Shihan and Lu Ci, along with Zheng Chuyang and Huo Jingfan, have known each other since childhood and indeed have a good relationship. They have a small group chat that also includes Fu Shili.

Lu Ci loudly ranted in the group chat because the live streaming platform had a screen recording feature, so even though Su Wanxin had stopped streaming, it didn’t matter, there was still a video recording!

Lu Ci found the video and shared it with them, and the group chat was buzzing.

Fu Shihan lay on the bed watching them talk—

Fu Shili: I thought my brother would accidentally show his face on camera.

Zheng Chuyang: Touch your heart, do you think the word ’accidentally’ suits him?

Lu Ci: Even though he’s your brother, you can’t just blatantly lie, right?

Huo Jingfan: I haven’t seen him this lively in many years...

That ’many years’ probably refers to the time since Su Wanxin’s car accident and disappearance, up until recently.

Over these four-plus years, he became more reticent, well-behaved, and restrained.

Even in front of their group of friends, he was quite different from his former self.

He was the expert troublemaker starting from middle school who skipped classes, smoked, and fought, loved by teachers because he was smart and came from a prestigious family.

Hence, because he was so good at pretending, even if certain rumors reached a teacher’s ears, no one would believe them.

Once, the dean of discipline happened to catch him fighting with students from a vocational school; the other kids were beaten to the ground, unable to get up, yet he was calm and unflustered.

He told the dean, "They ambushed me and tried to rob me. They fought among themselves over how to split the loot, it has nothing to do with me."

...

The reckless and indulgent youth.

As he grew older, his essence remained unchanged.

He did what he liked and loved who he wanted. But then a car accident happened, someone disappeared, and he changed.

He didn’t contact his friends much and didn’t even stay much in Imperial Capital.

He immersed himself in work, traveling around the world. Supposedly busy expanding markets, but who really knows what he was searching for?

There’s something Huo Jingfan never told Lu Ci and the others. About two years ago, he visited Fu Shihan’s house and unexpectedly found Fu Shihan drunk.

All these years as friends, everyone knew Fu Shihan always had a way out in whatever he did. He never overdrank at the dining table.

But that day, he was drunk alone at home. With teary eyes, he asked Huo Jingfan, "Do you think she can still come back?"

When had Fu Shihan ever had teary eyes? Even when he was a child and was beaten with a belt by Old Sir Fu for causing trouble, he never bowed his head.

Later, Huo Jingfan belatedly realized, that day was Su Wanxin’s birthday.

Starting from that day, Huo Jingfan truly understood that even if Su Wanxin never returned in this lifetime, Fu Shihan couldn’t love anyone else.

His feelings for Su Wanxin boiled down to—he could live without her, but would never again entertain the idea of love.