1987 My Era

Chapter 666, Alliance

As the word "out" was uttered, the two women looked at each other, and neither spoke for a moment, making the atmosphere in the living room extremely tense.

It's even colder now.

When Song Yu met Yu Shuheng, she didn't react with the explosive anger that other women might have, but her direct and straightforward approach was no small matter.

The scheming and intrigue hidden in their words were not spared at all.

A standoff ensued.

This time, it was Yu Shuheng who broke the deadlock: "Have you ever seen Consort Huang in person?"

Song Yu nodded: "I went to the theater to see her perform a while ago. I also saw her on Wukang Road today."

Yu Shuheng suddenly found it quite interesting: "Wukang Road? Do you know why Consort Huang appeared on Wukang Road?"

Song Yu said, "Xiao Han is there, and Mr. Ba is there."

"Talking to smart people is so much easier."

Yu Shuheng cast an approving glance at her for the second time and asked curiously, "What impressed you the most about her?"

Song Yu thought for a moment and said carefully, "Bright and generous, multi-talented."

Then she asked, "And you, teacher?"

Yu Shuheng shared her opinion: "A wolf in sheep's clothing. If she were a few years younger, Li Heng wouldn't have rejected her in the first place. On the contrary, she would most likely have given birth to Li Heng's first child."

That statement contains a lot of information.

Song Yu fell into deep thought, and it took her half a day to process what she had just learned. She asked, "Has the teacher also met with the other party?"

Yu Shuheng said, "More than once."

Song Yu asked, "Not very friendly?"

Yu Shuheng said, "Yes, but we still restrain ourselves within the bounds of civility."

They speak frankly and openly, without holding back, tacitly revealing their true feelings. This is both a form of mutual respect and a source of pride.

Isn't this also a kind of mutual unwillingness to back down?

At this point, Yu Shuheng looked at the half-full cup of coffee in front of her: "Too much sugar?"

She only said half of what she meant: "Too much sugar, I can't drink it anymore?"

In other words, is it because of your prejudice against me that you don't want to drink it?

This was also a test, a test of Song Yu's bottom line.

Song Yu smiled faintly: "This cup of coffee is both sweet and bitter, leaving a lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth. Keeping half a cup makes it even more delicious."

Yu Shuheng shook her head, then nodded, and asked after a moment, "Do you know why I invited you to sit here for a while?"

Song Yu said, "For my sake, and also for Zhou Shihe's sake, isn't that right?"

This sentence presents a progressive relationship.

Yu Shuheng's first priority was indeed to find out Song Yu's background.

If Song Yu were an easy target, she planned to just crush her without hesitation.

But after their exchange, Song Yu proved to be just as she had anticipated—not weak at all, and even somewhat strong.

It was precisely because Song Yuqiang was qualified that the two women were able to meet and enter the second level.

Having her thoughts directly exposed, Yu Shuheng didn't refute them, appearing remarkably calm. Instead, she asked without batting an eye, "Do you like reading history?"

Song Yu replied, "When I was studying humanities, among politics, history, and geography, history was the subject I was most interested in."

Yu Shuheng asked, "What is your favorite period of Chinese history?"

Song Yu said meaningfully, "The Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods."

Upon hearing "Spring and Autumn Period" and "Warring States Period," Yu Shuheng instantly understood, and smiled gracefully, "Judging from the current situation, although you are the Qin state, if you don't prepare for potential dangers even in times of peace, then you are only a temporary, nominal Qin state. Do you agree?"

Song Yu gave an irrelevant answer: "Which country did the teacher identify with?"

Yu Shuheng swirled the coffee cup in her hand and said slowly, "I also want to become a powerful Qin and unify the world."

Song Yu continued, "So, you're talking about befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones?"

Yu Shuheng tacitly agreed.

Song Yu asked, "Does the teacher intend to march east out of Qin and directly threaten the state of Zhao?"

Yu Shuheng smiled and said, "I prefer to call her Li Mu of the Zhao State."

Song Yu smiled and said, "No wonder the teacher adopted the strategy of the strategists. However, Li Mu's military talent should not be underestimated. I think that under the same conditions, she is no less capable than Bai Qi. If she does not have a good psychological strategy, she will have a hard time succeeding. She may even fail unexpectedly."

Yu Shuheng admitted: "Though the words are harsh, they are the truth."

Song Yu did not rush to express her opinion, but pondered and said, "In the past, I always thought that with Teacher Yu's beauty and talent, there was no need to adopt Fan Ju's strategy."

Yu Shuheng wasn't fooled by his words and simply said, "It would be safer if he pursued me first. Maybe I'm already pregnant."

It means that if Li Heng takes the initiative to pursue her, she doesn't need to be afraid of anyone, including Song Yu and Zhou Shihe, who have already won Li Heng's heart.

This means that Li Heng's failure to actively pursue her is her biggest weakness, and also Song Yu and Zhou Shihe's greatest asset.

But Yu Shuheng clearly didn't reveal half of what she meant: Zhou Shihe possessed all the advantages Song Yu had, such as beauty, temperament, and being pursued by Li Heng; while Song Yu lacked the corresponding family background, top-notch piano skills, and culinary expertise that Zhou Shihe had. This was Song Yu's weakness. Yu Shuheng's weakness was that she was too passive in love.

Song Yu's weakness is her family background.

If you combine the strengths of both women, you'll have another Zhou Shihe.

Of course, Yu Shuheng didn't have an omniscient perspective and didn't know that Li Heng was reborn, nor did she know the unshakable position of Song Yu, Xiao Han, and Chen Zijin in Li Heng's heart. She simply thought that Song Yu had only known Li Heng for three years.

Three short years is but a small segment in a long life.

Teacher Yu believes that Zhou Shihe is only temporarily behind, and if time goes on indefinitely, it will be a fatal blow to Song Yu in the future.

Clearly, Yu Shuheng had grasped Song Yu's weakness, and Song Yu actually shared the same concerns.

Both women are intelligent and, while generally confident, they don't ignore their weaknesses. After all, these are matters of great importance, affecting their future marriages.

They deeply love Li Heng and naturally want to marry him; they certainly don't want to be attacked by Zhou Shihe, who has almost no flaws.

Song Yu said, "Was the teacher's resignation yesterday also in preparation for this?"

Yu Shuheng didn't hide it, and knew she couldn't hide it anyway, so she appeared particularly frank: "More or less."

Song Yu countered, "Then how can I trust you?"

What she meant was: Teacher, you've already resigned and are preparing to focus all your efforts on winning over Li Heng, while I still have two years before graduation. If I form an alliance with you now and suppress Zhou Shihe, wouldn't you be the one to reap the final rewards? What benefit would that bring me?

Yu Shuheng put down her coffee cup, crossed her arms, looked directly into her eyes, and said with a half-smile, "He's climbed on top of me many times, but he never dares to cross the final line. Do you know why?"

Hearing this, Song Yu felt a slight unease, but not much. Because all of this was already expected.

Because he dared to kiss Zhou Shihe and hug her, he might not be incapable of doing something like climbing on top of Teacher Yu.

When first confronting a formidable rival like Yu Shuheng, Song Yu will not adopt a conciliatory approach, because such a approach would be inadvisable at this time and would instead be perceived as weak and submissive.

Song Yu looked at the other person quietly and answered irrelevantly, "Yesterday was his birthday. In the afternoon, Xiao Han and I went to Building 27. Guess what we saw?"

Yu Shuheng pondered for a moment, then said, "I would like to hear the details."

Song Yu, speaking as an outsider, recounted what she witnessed: "He and Zhou Shihe were hugging and kissing each other."

Song Yu's words were very damaging: "What's so special about Li Heng climbing on you? He even dared to kiss Zhou Shihe in front of me and Xiao Han. You don't need to 'flaunt your wealth'."

As expected, Yu Shuheng, who was usually calm, fell into a long silence when she heard Li Heng kiss Zhou Shihe.

To be honest, Yu Shuheng has only ever had two imagined rivals in love: Song Yu and Zhou Shihe.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, she felt that Zhou Shihe, who seemed to have no weaknesses, posed a greater risk and was more likely to try to monopolize everything in the future. That's why she met with Song Yu.

She had considered all sorts of scenarios before, but she never expected that Li Heng and Zhou Shihe had progressed to this point.

It happened right under her nose.

This left Yu Shuheng with a strange sense of frustration.

She pondered to herself: kissing is completely out of character for Zhou Shihe. Could it be that Song Yu's arrival provoked her?

Regardless, Zhou Shihe's willingness to kiss Li Heng meant that things had become uncontrollable and were developing in the direction she least wanted to see.

A tremendous sense of crisis suddenly descended upon Yu Shuheng, and her heart was no longer at peace.

She was wary of Song Yu, but Song Yu was ultimately a law-abiding person who could predict the course of events.

But in her eyes, once Zhou Shihe steps out of her emotional turmoil, she'll be a nuclear bomb ready to explode at any moment. She'll be completely unleashed, and who knows, she might be sleeping with Li Heng tomorrow and announcing her pregnancy the day after. She's an unpredictable woman.

Therefore, she was more worried about Zhou Shihe.

By using Zhou Shihe's strength against her, Song Yu easily turned the tide of the game.

When the two women met, it was like a duel between top martial arts masters. In order to show their magnanimity and generosity as legitimate wives, and to show their gentlemanly hearts, they both abandoned the dirty trick of using hidden weapons. They tacitly drew their swords and slashed at each other, using their moves openly to see who would give in first.

Clearly, Li Heng and Zhou Shihe's kiss caught Yu Shuheng off guard and struck at her weak point.

At that moment, a sentence Shen Xin had once said suddenly echoed in Teacher Yu's ears: "Based on my experience, Zhou Shihe may seem frail and pitiful, but she is actually a person who is outwardly tactful but inwardly principled, and not someone to be trifled with. It's best if she doesn't get involved in Li Heng's relationship. Once she does, she will definitely take Li Heng down with ruthless methods in the future and create an irreversible and inevitable situation."

Zhou Shihe's kiss proves that the value of her mother's words is still increasing.

Yu Shuheng, being Yu Shuheng, quickly sorted out her chaotic thoughts and said with a radiant smile, "I was wondering why you accepted my invitation so readily. Now I understand."

Song Yu did not deny it: "I will be staying in Beijing for another two years, and sometimes I will inevitably be unable to help Fudan University."

Upon hearing this, Yu Shuheng smiled and said, "You are very sincere. If we weren't both aiming for that position, I think we would become very good friends."

Song Yu sighed, "Unfortunately, fate is hard to defy."

The two women looked at each other and suddenly felt a sense of mutual appreciation, but they were destined not to become friends and would only be labeled as rivals for life.

Yu Shuheng suggested, "Since coffee is both bitter and sweet, I'll make you a cup of tea."

She was subtly asking: Although we are rivals in love, we can temporarily put aside our prejudices and hostility, deal with the external enemy first, and then have a gentleman's battle in the future. As for who has the last laugh, that depends on their own abilities.

Yu Shuheng has already shown her sincerity, subtly conveying a message: since this is a gentleman's battle, I promise not to use my family's power to engage in an asymmetrical competition with you; it will be a fair duel between the two of us.

Song Yu understood what Teacher Yu meant. After thinking for a while, she smiled and agreed: "Teacher Yu's coffee is very tasteful, so I imagine the tea must be just as good."

"Would you like a drink?"

"it is good."

P.S.: I'm begging for your guaranteed monthly votes to help boost my ranking in March! Thank you so much!
(besides)
(End of this chapter)