Chapter 88 “Conscience Is Useless, but I Love Him”

Chapter 88: "Conscience Is Useless, but I Love Him"

Not long after Lin Haoda left Hong Kong, the Guan Group experienced a brief internal upheaval.

At the time, various rumors were flying around, with all sorts of speculation. Jiang Tianyi couldn’t reach Guan Junshan and privately asked someone to investigate, only to find out that Guan Junshan was on a remote island where entry and exit were heavily restricted—perhaps Guan Yongyue’s private island.

Jiang Tianyi came up with an excuse and insisted on flying to find him, only to be scolded by her elders for being reckless. Fortunately, the news somehow reached Guan Yongyue’s ears, and not long after, someone contacted her assistant to say that Chairman Guan invited Miss Jiang to the island for a vacation.

After a grueling flight that lasted dozens of hours, Jiang Tianyi arrived at an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where she finally saw Guan Junshan, who had been out of touch for over ten days according to outside reports.

He had tanned several shades darker under the equatorial sun, his hair cut very short, and he was wearing sunglasses, mixing with a group of local children as he helped them chop down coconut trees.

The plane landed at a dock by the sea, and as she walked in from the outermost edge of the island, Jiang Tianyi saw numerous bodyguards surrounding the area, sealing it off. Any desire for a vacation was completely gone, replaced by a hint of regret. She hated herself for walking into this trap, coming to the island to be imprisoned, stuck playing the part of a devoted couple with the already disgraced and isolated Guan Junshan.

Guan Junshan wasn’t surprised to see her. He had someone open fresh coconuts and then instructed them to take them to the kitchen.

Jiang Tianyi was handed a cup of coconut juice and sat barefoot on the beach, enjoying the scenery. As dusk approached, the sea was turned a brilliant smoky sunset colors. Amid the ebb and flow of the tide, they chatted on and off.

Jiang Tianyi asked him what his plans or next steps were. Guan Junshan took off his sunglasses, gave a slight smile, and said she might have to put up with staying here for a few more days.

Unwilling to let it go, Jiang Tianyi pressed on: “This time, how far did you go? How did Guan Yongyue, that smiling tiger, actually turn on you?”

Guan Junshan pulled out his phone and showed her some documents, most of which were equity transfer certificates. Jiang Tianyi didn’t understand much about business and was completely in the dark. Guan Junshan summed it up simply: “He can’t sit still anymore. He’s already started planning to kick me out of the company.”

Jiang Tianyi let out an “Oh,” hesitated for a moment, then said, “But you’re father and son.”

Guan Junshan casually tossed his sunglasses into the sand, brushed off his pants, stood up, and walked into the rising tide. His voice mixed with the sea breeze, sounding flat: “Father and son is one thing. Family is another.”

Jiang Tianyi watched him in silence until the sun was almost below the horizon. Finally, Guan Junshan said, “In this life, it seems I’ve never felt like family with him for even a few days.”

Jiang Tianyi didn’t understand—how could “father and son” be separated from “family”? But Guan Junshan was unwilling to say more. He picked up Jiang Tianyi’s suitcase from the sand and turned to walk toward the main villa with its lights on.

Jiang Tianyi stayed on the island for over a week. The bodyguards didn’t restrict her movements; she could go anywhere. She often ran to a distant pier, where she took photos in the sea breeze, fed the fish, or gave a few dollars as tips to the local guards to take her out on a speedboat for a ride or deep-sea fishing around the surrounding waters.

In contrast, Guan Junshan’s days there were monotonous. Apart from a small stretch of beach behind the villa, the bodyguards kept him from getting too close to the dock. He couldn’t even eat at the restaurant; servants would bring food to the villa.

Guan Junshan usually spent the morning dealing with work his assistant had sent him. His involvement in the group’s affairs had been terminated, and his position and authority on the board were also revoked. But besides that, Guan Junshan had made many other investments over the years, which he previously hadn’t had time to handle personally.

In the afternoon, a caregiver would send updates on Wu Manzhen. Recently, Wu Manzhen had been having low-grade fevers and vomiting due to excessive medication. Once, Jiang Tianyi overheard Guan Junshan talking to the attending doctor, who estimated at the end of the conversation that Wu Manzhen wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.

In the evenings, they often went for walks on the beach. Jiang Tianyi collected many seashells—so many that her suitcase couldn’t hold them all. Guan Junshan told her they couldn’t take them back home, so Jiang Tianyi, disappointed, threw them back into the sea.

Lin Haoda was only mentioned once, the night before she left. Guan Junshan had a phone call with Guan Yongyue, and as expected, after days of thorough self-reflection, he finally bowed his head and agreed to relinquish all his equity.

Guan Yongyue was very pleased. He gave Guan Junshan a long, heartfelt lecture as a father and elder and reversed many of his decisions. Upon learning that Jiang Tianyi was nearby, he promised, as her future father-in-law, that once they returned to the country and got engaged, he would transfer 5% of the shares to them as a wedding gift.

After hanging up, Guan Junshan didn’t touch a single bite of the food on the table until it went cold.

Later, a servant came in and quietly urged them to go upstairs and pack. Guan Junshan stood up without a word and left the dining room. At that moment, Jiang Tianyi thought, “It’s over—we have to get married.” So she stopped pretending and called out to him: “Game over. So this is the final outcome?”

Guan Junshan stopped at the stairs, turned to look at her, and said calmly, “What outcome?”

Jiang Tianyi thought it wasn’t worth it—she had wasted so much time, hoping to back a winner, but now she just found it all dull. Resting her chin on her hand, she clicked her tongue and spoke whatever came to mind: “I heard that before you left Hong Kong, you blocked all of Lin Haoda’s contacts.”

Guan Junshan was tall, standing there motionless. His pupils reflected the flickering candlelight in the niche, and his voice was low: “Yes.”

Jiang Tianyi smiled after hearing that, thinking he was utterly unreasonable. She stood up for Lin Haoda and demanded, “Guan Junshan, do you have any conscience at all?”

Hearing her accusation, Guan Junshan smiled too. His handsome face, with thin lips parting and closing, delivered a heartless rebuttal: “Conscience is useless.”

He switched to a language the servants couldn’t understand and told Jiang Tianyi, “But I love him.”

Jiang Tianyi was stunned, thinking he had gone mad and was talking nonsense.

Only after the plane landed did they learn that Guan Yongyue, worried about further delays, had moved up the engagement party to two days later.

Invitations had already been sent out, and dozens of media outlets had received the news. On the way back from the airport, even the radio broadcasts were discussing it.

Jiang Tianyi had accepted her fate and simply gave up resisting, letting herself be controlled. In those days, people were constantly looking for her—those delivering gowns, flowers, the ceremony’s master of ceremonies, the butler—all chattering like noisy parrots and mynahs in a zoo, bickering day and night without rest.

On the day of the engagement, the schedule was tight. Before the ceremony, they had to attend a small press conference together. Jiang Tianyi changed into her gown early and waited in a private lounge, not wanting to see anyone.

Twenty minutes before the press conference, her aunt knocked on the door, asking if she was hungry and wanted something to eat.

Jiang Tianyi was about to refuse when she heard Guan Junshan’s voice from outside. He calmly reassured the elder, saying he would persuade Tianyi to come around and see reason.

The door was knocked twice, and Guan Junshan entered, followed by a server pushing a cart.

Jiang Tianyi wanted to curse him for being weak-willed and hypocritical, but considering that there might be media lurking outside the room, she held back and didn’t even look at him.

Guan Junshan wore an expensive custom-made suit, strikingly handsome, with a tall, upright posture. Standing under the bright chandelier in the lounge, with no one else in the room, Jiang Tianyi thought he was about to launch into some high-minded speech. But Guan Junshan was silent for a dozen seconds before suddenly addressing her.

“Miss Jiang.”

He used the same title they had when they first met. Jiang Tianyi sat on the sofa and looked up at him.

“I don’t like keeping cats, and I don’t want children,” Guan Junshan’s voice echoed in the small lounge. “You don’t like Hong Kong, and you hate the humid rainy season.”

“By that logic, we’re not suitable for each other.”

As Jiang Tianyi stared in shock, he stepped back slightly, making room.

The server, who had been hiding inconspicuously behind the cart, walked up to her and slowly removed his hat and mask.

Jiang Tianyi changed out of her gown and left the hotel through the emergency exit with Tang Chen.

The car Guan Junshan had arranged was already waiting in the alley, taking them straight to the airport.

Whether because of the rain, the ring road was very congested. When they arrived at the airport, the flight was already calling for boarding. In the hazy drizzle, the sky was gloomy and gray, just like the day she remembered moving to Los Angeles with her father at the age of six.

Fortunately, this time she wasn’t alone—Tang Chen was by her side. As the plane taxied down the runway and the cabin went completely dark, Jiang Tianyi leaned against Tang Chen’s shoulder and asked him how he had ended up here.

Tang Chen gently intertwined his fingers with hers, mentioning Guan Junshan: “Mr. Guan came to Philadelphia to find me and asked if I was willing to give it another try.”

At that time, Jiang Tianyi didn’t yet know that Guan Junshan had invested in Tang Chen’s game team. She nodded but couldn’t help worrying: “What about your studio? My family will never let this go.”

After a moment of silence, Tang Chen told her, “I didn’t take the money your grandfather gave.”

When the two had first been discovered dating, their separation was extremely undignified. The Jiang family used every resource and leverage to force Tang Chen to leave, promising to send him to study in the US and support his future career development.

In fact, Tang Chen had never accepted the money. He had only agreed to leave because he didn’t want to see Jiang Tianyi suffer any longer.

On the day Guan Junshan arrived in Philadelphia, a heavy snow was falling. When he introduced himself and stated his purpose, he only said he was Jiang Tianyi’s friend. Tang Chen recognized him as the man from the newspapers who was supposed to marry Jiang Tianyi, so he kicked him out and told him and the Jiang family to stop bothering him.

Unexpectedly, Guan Junshan stood in the snow and waited until midnight. Tang Chen finished work late and was the last to leave the studio. When he came downstairs, he ran into Guan Junshan, who was holding an umbrella. Having been kicked out before and subjected to cold words and ridicule, Guan Junshan wasn’t angry at all. He simply took a portable hard drive from his pocket and asked, “Do you mind if we go inside and talk?”

Tang Chen looked at the note on the hard drive, its edges worn and faded. The handwriting was blurred, reading “demo 2.0,” but the number was crossed out and corrected to “2.1.”

After a moment of silence, Tang Chen asked him, “Did you come to me for Jiang Tianyi’s sake, or do you have another purpose?”

Guan Junshan smiled, his hand holding the hard drive slightly reddened, and said, "Both."

As Tang Chen spoke, the plane suddenly hit turbulence. Jiang Tianyi pressed against him, drowsy from the turbulence, and murmured, "So sleepy."

Tang Chen wrapped an arm around her shoulders and whispered, "Sleep. We'll talk about the rest after we land."

After what felt like an endless flight, they landed on the other side of the world. Jiang Tianyi, now experienced, changed her phone card at the airport to avoid being quickly tracked.

After restarting her phone, she spent five minutes clearing out junk notifications, then connected to the internet and casually scrolled through the news. At one point, her movements froze, her expression stiffening as her eyes locked onto the screen.

Tang Chen called out "Tianyi" from beside her, then walked over to gently grasp her shoulder. She looked up at him, then turned the phone landscape and slid it between them.

Surrounded by noise and with the public network refreshing slowly, the screen brightness already maxed out, Guan Junshan soon appeared in the center of the frame, his expression neutral as he adjusted the microphone position.

It was footage from the earlier press conference; Jiang Tianyi recognized the familiar suit. Unlike what Guan Junshan had promised when they parted, the press conference had not been canceled. Instead, he stood alone in the empty banquet hall.

"In light of the recent significant fluctuations in Guan's Group's stock price and the uncertainties arising from internal management issues, after careful consideration, the engagement between Miss Jiang and me has been formally terminated as of today."

Standing at the podium, Guan Junshan paused for two seconds and continued in a calm tone, "I sincerely apologize for the trouble and inconvenience brought to Miss Jiang and the Yunjang Group. This concludes today's press conference."

"Mr. Guan! Mr. Guan!"

"President Guan, please wait a moment!"

"...Could you share more details about the recent stock volatility at Guan's Group? Is there any manipulation behind it?"

...

The flashes behind him formed a sea of light as reporters surged forward with microphones. Bodyguards quickly restrained them, and Guan Junshan silently walked down the steps, quickly exiting the venue.

By market close that day, Guan's stock had hit the daily trading limit. In the evening, news broke that a substantial portion of the group's equity had been manipulated through trades and dispersed among several mid-level managers who were relatively junior but highly capable.

Jiang Tianyi couldn't think of anyone else besides Guan Junshan who could have done this.

The engagement ceremony concluded in an extraordinarily dramatic fashion. Fortunately, apart from Guan Junshan and the Jiang family, no one knew about Jiang Tianyi's escape.

Guan Yongyue was already swamped by the stock price crisis and assumed the Jiang family had caught wind of the situation early and so they had refused to continue the engagement.

Guan Junshan left on a spring afternoon after seven years with the group.

After completing the formal procedures, he walked out of the building alone. Not a single person came to see him off.

Except for his assistant Yang, who had resigned alongside him, everyone kept their distance. During the morning project handover, a board member had even stormed into the president's office, pointing at him and calling him an ungrateful traitor.

But Guan Junshan didn't really care. Guan's Group was already like a large ship that had sailed too far to turn back. Guan Yongyue only cared about how high and bright the flag flew on the ship, but never worried about the leaks in the hull or the approaching storms and hidden reefs.

Yet by divesting those shares, he had made it nearly impossible to return to the ship, and had lost the chance to truly be family with Guan Yongyue.

Still, after spending half a month on the island, Guan Junshan had thought it through clearly. The two most outrageous things he had done in his life were, first, dating someone of the same sex during his school years, and second, canceling the engagement despite knowing he shouldn't. He had done all the things Guan Yongyue most despised and considered immature. How could he pretend to be the perfect son Guan Yongyue had always wanted?

It was better to set himself free, be more honest, return to the one he loved most, and do what he had originally planned to do after graduation.

At that moment, Guan Junshan really hoped someone would find him and ask for an interview, to ask if he had a lover, what his plans were after leaving the group—basic, public questions like those.

But unfortunately, Guan Junshan had fallen from grace, no longer appearing on the covers of any financial magazines or journals. Even the front pages of tabloids quickly lost interest in him.

Even so, on the drive away from the group's building, Guan Junshan glanced at the blooming peach blossoms outside the window, and Lin Haoda's face easily surfaced in his mind.

He recalled his joy and sadness, his smiles and tears. Those vivid emotions, light and slow, passed through his heart and began to flow again in Guan Junshan's time.