The Man I Hated
2542 Words
The Gu family arrived at two o'clock.
Lin Wan knew because she had been watching the clock for almost an hour.
2:01 p.m.
2:03.
2:05.
Every minute felt longer than it should.
She sat in the passenger seat of her father's car, staring through the window at the city rushing past.
Ten years ago, she had been excited about this meeting.
At least, that was what she remembered.
Her father had told her that the Gu family was interested in a joint investment.
She had been twenty-two.
Young.
Proud.
And convinced that she understood the business world.
She had heard one name repeatedly.
Gu Yanshen.
The heir of Gu Corporation.
Twenty-six years old.
A genius in finance.
Cold.
Ruthless.
Unforgiving.
At the time, she had disliked him before even meeting him.
That dislike had only grown after their first encounter.
He had questioned her father's expansion plan.
She had defended it.
He had called her analysis emotional.
She had called him arrogant.
And from that day onward, they had become enemies.
Or so she had believed.
Lin Wan looked down at her hands.
Four years ago, when her father died, she had stood at his funeral and seen Gu Yanshen standing alone beneath a black umbrella.
She had blamed him.
She had thought he had come to make sure the Lin family had finally fallen.
She had never approached him.
Never asked.
Never listened.
She had simply hated him.
For ten years.
Her lips curved into a bitter smile.
How foolish had she been?
“Wan Wan.”
Her father's voice pulled her back.
She turned.
“Yes?”
“You've been unusually quiet.”
“I'm thinking.”
“About the meeting?”
“Yes.”
Her father smiled.
“Don't be nervous.”
“I'm not.”
“You're twenty-two. You don't have to prove anything today.”
Lin Wan looked at him.
Twenty-two.
Her father was still alive.
He still had the habit of telling her she didn't need to prove anything.
She suddenly wanted to say everything.
Dad.
Don't go to that office three years from now.
Don't trust that lawyer.
Don't sign that contract.
Don't invest in that company.
Don't let Lu Minghao get close to me.
And most importantly—
Don't die.
But none of those words could leave her mouth.
Instead, she asked,
“Dad.”
“Hm?”
“If someone you trusted betrayed you, what would you do?”
Her father thought for a moment.
“Depends on the betrayal.”
“What if it cost you everything?”
He smiled.
“Then I would make sure they regretted it.”
Lin Wan looked at him.
Her father continued,
“But revenge is usually the easy part.”
“The easy part?”
“Yes.”
He tapped his finger lightly against the steering wheel.
“The difficult part is figuring out why they betrayed you.”
Lin Wan's expression changed.
“Why?”
“People rarely destroy something without a reason.”
He glanced at her.
“Money. Power. Fear. Sometimes someone is forcing them.”
Lin Wan fell silent.
Her father's words echoed in her mind.
People rarely destroy something without a reason.
In her first life, she had spent years asking one question.
Why did Lu Minghao betray me?
Now she realized she had been asking the wrong question.
Maybe the real question was—
Who was behind him?
The Lin family's private meeting room was on the thirty-second floor.
When Lin Wan entered, several people were already waiting.
Her father's secretary.
Two senior executives.
Three representatives from the Gu family.
And—
Him.
Lin Wan stopped.
For a moment, the entire room seemed to disappear.
Gu Yanshen stood beside the window.
He was younger.
Much younger than the man she remembered.
His black suit was perfectly fitted.
His posture was relaxed.
One hand was in his pocket.
The other held a cup of coffee.
He turned at the sound of the door.
Their eyes met.
Lin Wan's heartbeat skipped.
It was him.
The same eyes.
The same sharp features.
The same quiet intensity.
But there was something different.
In her memory, she had always remembered him as cold.
Today, she saw something else.
Exhaustion.
There were faint shadows beneath his eyes.
He looked like someone who hadn't slept properly for days.
Their eyes remained locked.
Gu Yanshen's expression changed slightly.
Not recognition.
Not yet.
They had met before.
But they had never been close.
To him, she was probably nothing more than Lin Group's spoiled daughter.
At least, that was what he had believed.
Lin Wan suddenly felt ridiculous.
She had died in his arms.
She had accused him of destroying her life.
And now she was standing ten years earlier, looking at a younger version of the same man.
Alive.
Unaware.
Still a stranger.
“Wan Wan.”
Her father called her.
She walked forward.
“This is Gu Yanshen.”
Her father introduced them formally.
“You've met before, but you've never really spoken.”
Gu Yanshen extended his hand.
“Miss Lin.”
His voice was exactly as she remembered.
Deep.
Calm.
Controlled.
Lin Wan looked at his hand.
Then at him.
For a second, she hesitated.
She had held this hand before.
Not like this.
Not in a meeting room.
At the end of her life.
When he had pressed his hand against her wound.
When he had desperately tried to keep her alive.
Lin Wan slowly extended her hand.
Their fingers touched.
A strange feeling went through her.
Gu Yanshen's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
His hand was warm.
Lin Wan pulled hers back first.
“Mr. Gu.”
Something flickered across his face.
Perhaps surprise.
Perhaps curiosity.
Her father gestured toward the table.
“Let's sit.”
Everyone took their seats.
Lin Wan sat beside her father.
Gu Yanshen sat across from her.
For the next ten minutes, the executives discussed the investment proposal.
Lin Wan listened silently.
She knew what was coming.
A joint development project.
The Gu family wanted Lin Group to provide the land.
The Gu family would provide capital and technology.
On paper, it was a good deal.
In her first life, however, the deal had failed.
Three years later, the project became one of the most expensive mistakes Lin Group had ever made.
She remembered why.
The land wasn't the problem.
The technology wasn't the problem.
The problem was the third-party contractor.
A company called Jinhai Construction.
It had hidden debt.
Corruption.
And a connection to a future Blackstone subsidiary.
In her first life, nobody discovered it until the project had already collapsed.
Lin Wan lowered her eyes.
She couldn't let it happen again.
One of the Gu family executives pushed a folder toward her father.
“This is the preliminary agreement.”
Her father opened it.
Lin Wan glanced at the pages.
There.
Clause seventeen.
The contractor.
She remembered the number.
Her fingers tightened.
Then she heard Gu Yanshen speak.
“We should not sign it.”
Everyone looked at him.
The room became quiet.
The senior executive frowned.
“Mr. Gu, we already discussed this.”
“I know.”
Gu Yanshen placed his coffee on the table.
“The contractor's financial structure is unstable.”
The executive looked uncomfortable.
“We've reviewed their financial statements.”
“They're incomplete.”
“What do you mean?”
Gu Yanshen leaned back.
“They're hiding debt.”
Lin Wan's eyes lifted.
She stared at him.
He knew.
Ten years ago—
He already knew.
Her father frowned.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have evidence?”
“Not yet.”
One of the executives immediately objected.
“Without evidence, we can't abandon the deal.”
Gu Yanshen looked at him.
“We can delay it.”
“That could cost us the land.”
“Then let it cost us.”
His voice was calm.
“Losing an opportunity is cheaper than inheriting someone else's debt.”
Lin Wan stared at him.
In her first life, she had remembered this meeting differently.
She remembered Gu Yanshen opposing the project.
She had interpreted it as an attack on her father.
Now she understood.
He had been warning them.
Her heart tightened.
The man she had hated—
Had been trying to stop her family from making a mistake.
And she had hated him for it.
“Miss Lin?”
Someone called her name.
Lin Wan looked up.
Her father was watching her.
“What do you think?”
Everyone turned toward her.
In her first life, she had said:
I think we should proceed.
That single sentence had contributed to the disaster.
This time—
She smiled.
“I agree with Mr. Gu.”
Silence.
Her father looked surprised.
“So quickly?”
Lin Wan nodded.
“The risk is too high.”
One of the executives frowned.
“Miss Lin, the financial report doesn't show—”
“Exactly.”
Lin Wan interrupted him.
“The report doesn't show the debt.”
She picked up the folder.
“Which means we don't know what's missing.”
The man opened his mouth.
Lin Wan continued.
“If Jinhai Construction is clean, they have nothing to lose by allowing an independent audit.”
She looked across the table.
“But if they refuse…”
She let the sentence hang.
Everyone understood.
Gu Yanshen looked at her.
For the first time, there was real interest in his eyes.
“Good point.”
Two words.
Lin Wan's fingers tightened around the folder.
She remembered hearing those words before.
But never from him.
Her father nodded slowly.
“Then we delay the signing.”
The Gu executive looked unhappy.
“But—”
“No.”
Her father closed the folder.
“Wan Wan is right.”
Lin Wan lowered her eyes.
The first change.
Small.
Almost insignificant.
But it mattered.
She had just prevented a disaster three years before it happened.
And she had done it by standing beside the man she once considered her greatest enemy.
The meeting ended forty minutes later.
People began leaving.
Lin Wan remained seated.
She waited.
She wasn't sure why.
Perhaps she wanted to speak to him.
Perhaps she wanted to ask what he knew.
Perhaps she simply wanted to understand the man she had hated for ten years.
The room slowly emptied.
Her father left with the executives.
Only Lin Wan and Gu Yanshen remained.
The door closed.
Silence settled between them.
Gu Yanshen looked at her.
“You've changed.”
Lin Wan's heart jumped.
She forced a smile.
“Have I?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You used to disagree with everything I said.”
Lin Wan almost laughed.
“That sounds like me.”
“You also used to argue until your father stopped the meeting.”
“I don't remember.”
Gu Yanshen studied her.
“You don't remember?”
She looked away.
“No.”
It was safer that way.
He walked toward the table.
“Why did you agree with me today?”
“Because you were right.”
His eyes narrowed.
“That isn't the answer I expected.”
“What answer did you expect?”
“That you didn't want the Gu family involved.”
Lin Wan looked at him.
“Why would I?”
“Because you don't like me.”
Her breath caught.
He remembered.
Even now.
She smiled faintly.
“I barely know you.”
“You've known me for two years.”
Lin Wan looked down.
That was true.
But she had known him for ten.
Or at least she had thought she had.
She raised her eyes again.
“Maybe I was wrong about you.”
Gu Yanshen went still.
“About what?”
“Nothing.”
She stood.
“Thank you for today's warning.”
She turned to leave.
“Lin Wan.”
She stopped.
His voice was behind her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Her fingers tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“Like you've known me for a very long time.”
Lin Wan didn't turn around.
Her heart was beating too fast.
Then she smiled.
“Maybe I had a strange dream.”
She walked out.
She didn't see the expression on Gu Yanshen's face.
She didn't see him watching the closed door for several seconds.
And she didn't hear him quietly say,
“Strange.”
Lin Wan returned to her office alone.
She closed the door.
Then she leaned against it.
Her breathing was unsteady.
She had expected anger.
She had expected hatred.
She had even expected fear.
She hadn't expected guilt.
Because now she knew something she hadn't known before.
Gu Yanshen hadn't been her enemy.
At least—
Not in the way she believed.
She walked to the window.
The city stretched beneath her.
Ten years ago, everything had seemed so simple.
Good people.
Bad people.
Friends.
Enemies.
Love.
Betrayal.
Now she knew better.
People could smile while destroying you.
People could hurt you while trying to save you.
And sometimes—
The person you hated most might be the only person who had never betrayed you.
Lin Wan closed her eyes.
Gu Yanshen's final words came back to her.
I spent the last ten years trying to keep you alive.
Why?
What had he known?
And why had he failed?
Her phone suddenly rang.
Lin Wan opened her eyes.
An unfamiliar number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“Miss Lin?”
“Yes.”
“You don't know me.”
“Who are you?”
“I work for someone who wants to warn you.”
Lin Wan's expression changed.
“Warn me about what?”
A pause.
Then—
“Don't invest in Phoenix Technology.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“You'll lose everything.”
The call ended.
Lin Wan stood motionless.
Phoenix Technology.
The company she had just remembered that morning.
The company that would become worth billions.
The company Gu Yanshen had invested in.
Someone was already trying to stop her.
But why?
She walked back to her desk.
Opened her laptop.
And searched the company's records.
For the first time since waking up—
Lin Wan felt something colder than fear.
Someone else might remember the future too.
Or perhaps—
Someone had been watching the same opportunities she had.
She stared at the screen.
Then she smiled.
A slow, dangerous smile.
“Interesting.”
She opened a new document.
At the top, she typed:
Rule One: Never assume I'm the only person who knows the game.
Then she added another line.
Rule Two: Find out who sent the warning.
Her eyes hardened.
Ten years ago, she had survived by trusting people.
This time—
She would survive by questioning everyone.
Even herself.
And somewhere across the city, Gu Yanshen was probably doing the same thing.
For the first time in ten years—
Lin Wan wondered whether their destinies had always been connected.
Perhaps they hadn't become enemies because they were destined to destroy each other.
Perhaps—
They had become enemies because someone had needed them to.
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