“Shen Xiaqing, I must say that family harmony is the cornerstone of fortune and career success. Today’s scene reminds me of Miss Jiang and Shen Dai’s engagement banquet seven years ago.”
Liu Haishan, the president of Jiarong Company, sported a huge beer belly, his somewhat greasy face flushed red with drink. Swaying as he squeezed through the crowd, ignoring his wife’s attempts to stop him, he waved his hand grandly, holding forth as if delivering an acceptance speech, completely failing to notice that Shen Xiaqing’s expression had long since turned displeased.
“I have to say, the second young lady and the eldest young lady look so alike. Just now my wife called me to the back garden to look at the rose bushes, and from a distance I saw Miss Jiang and Shen Qing standing together, I thought it was Shen Dai still alive, on such good terms with Miss Jiang.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Qing, who had been standing to the side watching the spectacle, stared at the man beside Shen Xiaqing at the center of attention, a man who looked like a New Year pig awaiting slaughter and raised an eyebrow. Her eye-roll was impossible to hide, and there wasn’t a trace of fear that things were about to be exposed.
If the occasion weren’t inappropriate, she would have gone up and taught this fat pig a lesson.
How could she look like Shen Dai? She was the one who had done all those intimate things with Jiang Wangshu, how could he mistake her!
She hated nothing more than being mistaken for Shen Dai. She was not anyone’s substitute; she didn’t resemble anyone.
“I’m so sorry, Shen Xiaqing. He loves to talk nonsense when he’s drunk, none of it is true, and he meant no offense to Shen Dai.” Liu Haishan’s wife, Ye Jingshu, turned pale with alarm at his words. Grabbing Liu Haishan’s wrist, she tried to drag him away, covering his mouth, her face full of apology.
Everyone’s gaze fell upon them, and in an instant they became the talk of the party. Catching sight of Xuan Lingyi’s troubled expression and Shen Xiaqing’s livid face, she looked ready to storm off Ye Jingshu’s heart lurched again and again, and she quickly changed her tune. “No, no, no, of course you have every right to be angry. Tomorrow, once he sobers up, I’ll drag him to your door to apologize.”
Liu Haishan couldn’t hold his liquor and loved to spout nonsense when drunk. She had reminded him many times over the years, but he never changed. Before coming to the Xuan family’s home, she had warned her husband not to drink too much, and Liu Haishan had agreed readily. But once he arrived, he threw her words to the back of his mind, downing glass after glass of red wine.
Unable to stop him, Ye Jingshu hurriedly pulled her husband to the back garden, trying to let the cold wind sober him up and instead witnessed a shocking scene.
Ye Jingshu was a perceptive woman. She dared not say anything more, knowing that Shen Xiaqing was vindictive to a fault, and she certainly dared not bring their family affairs into the open. She quickly called for the driver waiting outside the door to help carry this enormous trouble out of the Xuan residence so they could leave.
“There’s no need. I don’t dare befriend people who say one thing and mean another. Who knows how they’ll gossip about me behind my back about our Shen Corporation.” With a single sentence, she sentenced their company to death. If they couldn’t quell Shen Xiaqing’s fury, who would dare cooperate with their company from now on? Their company would likely be unable to gain a foothold in Haicheng.
Even though Jiarong Company was built on the accumulated wealth of the Liu family over generations, by Liu Haishan’s generation it had already begun to decline. If not for Liu Haishan’s mother, who saw that he had no talent for business and, feeling too old to manage the company herself, had specially cultivated Ye Jingshu, a capable and obedient daughter-in-law for the Liu family, Jiarong Company’s decline would have been irreversible.
Merely maintaining the status quo was already difficult, yet Liu Haishan, that man who could never accomplish anything but only ruin things, had actually provoked the Shen family. This was pushing Jiarong Company straight toward ruin. If his mother learned of what happened today, she would surely be so furious she’d cough up blood.
Ye Jingshu’s grip on Liu Haishan’s hand kept tightening, her back teeth nearly ground to dust.
“I’m sorry, President Shen.”
Before leaving, Shen Xiaqing stopped in front of Ye Jingshu and said in a low voice, “I think highly of your abilities. How could you bear to hand over control of the company to such a good-for-nothing, while you yourself only serve as his deputy?” Without waiting to see how Ye Jingshu reacted, she left the guests behind, handing them off to Xuan Lingyi, and departed.
The guests gradually dispersed, leaving in twos and threes, each chatting among themselves as the banquet drew to a close.
That such a stupid man could be allowed to manage a company, allowed out to attend such an important banquet.
Watching the Liu family hurry away, Shen Qing stood in place and gave a contemptuous smile, finding it absurd, finding it pointless, and prepared to leave.
This time, the mother and daughter’s lines of thought had reached a remarkable agreement.
“Sister-in-law? Aren’t you leaving?”
Shen Qing had called Jiang Wangshu several times. They were clearly standing close together, there was no way she couldn’t have heard but Jiang Wangshu gave no reaction at all, her face pale as paper, as if she’d been frightened. Shen Qing knew without thinking what she was afraid of. She walked up to her and tried to take the hand hanging at her side, but Jiang Wangshu immediately dodged away.
Liu Haishan’s final words had been like a bucket of cold water dumped over Jiang Wangshu. She stood frozen in place, at a loss.
She had ruined everything.
Ye Jingshu must have seen that intimate moment between them. Not saying anything today didn’t mean she wouldn’t say it later.
If Shen Xiaqing found out, what would happen to Shen Qing? All the effort she’d put in recently would be destroyed.
She wasn’t afraid of Shen Qing misunderstanding her, nor of Shen Qing hating her. Even knowing that Shen Qing had gone mad after overhearing what she said to Jiang Shan, she’d only felt a slight nervousness. Compared to outsiders seeing what went on between her and Shen Qing, all of it weighed no more than a feather. What she feared more was that Shen Qing would lose everything, just like seven years ago.
What should she do…
For a moment, Jiang Wangshu was at a loss, as if walking through a space walled with mirrors on all sides, the pressure distorting, making it hard to breathe, her heart racing. Each time she judged a step to be the exit, she quickened her pace and ran forward, only to find nothing but another mirror before her eyes.
“What are you thinking about, sister-in-law? I’ve called you so many times.”
In public, Shen Qing knew to restrain herself, properly addressing her as sister-in-law. If this had been before tonight, Jiang Wangshu would have been overjoyed, would have felt comforted. But for her now, there was only desolation in her heart.
“We should go. Shen Xiaqing’s already left, what’s the point of us staying here?”
Jiang Wangshu nodded, but driven by nervousness, her legs had no strength in them, going weak and wobbly, her steps floating light as if she might collapse to the ground at any moment.
Shen Qing wanted to help her up, but before her hand even reached Jiang Wangshu’s elbow, it was shaken off. That alone was nothing Shen Qing had always been thick-skinned, and after being rejected she would shamelessly sidle up again, like a little dog forever loyal to its master, one that could never be driven away. In the end, Jiang Wangshu would always be left helpless and forced to compromise.
But when she lowered her eyes and saw the look in Jiang Wangshu’s gaze, Shen Qing didn’t think so anymore.
Jiang Wangshu was truly angry this time.
“Shen Qing… don’t touch me!” Even her usual soft, honeyed tone of speech had turned impatient.
With those words, Jiang Wangshu headed straight for the door. Shen Qing followed behind her, head lowered, as if aware of her wrongdoing and not daring to speak.
The driver sent by the Shen family had left with Shen Xiaqing. Shen Qing had driven here herself, so whether or not there was a driver had nothing to do with her. But Jiang Wangshu had been brought by Shen Xiaqing, and now, if she didn’t want to ride in Shen Qing’s car, she would have to walk nearly three kilometers to the main road outside the villa district to hail a taxi.
It was a bit of a dilemma, but she was still sulking at Shen Qing. If she begged Shen Qing to take her out, Shen Qing would surely be insufferably smug. After thinking it over, Jiang Wangshu walked right past Shen Qing’s car and, following the bright streetlights, headed straight toward the exit of the villa district.
Behind her came the sound of a car engine starting, followed by a burst of honking. Jiang Wangshu ignored it.
Shen Qing rolled down the window and leaned out, calling: “Jiejie, get in the car. I was wrong.”
With no one around, she still called out like that.
Every time she said it, every time she pretended not to hear, and the next time nothing changed, she did as she pleased, doing exactly what she was told not to do. That was hardly the behavior of someone who had realized her mistakes.
Jiang Wangshu was furious at this stubborn fool, and her footsteps on the pavement grew heavier.
“I really do know I was wrong. Next time…”
“If you really knew you were wrong, you wouldn’t mention a next time!” Jiang Wangshu stopped in her tracks, brows knitted tightly. Startled, Shen Qing hastily slammed on the brakes and smiled ingratiatingly.
“If you want to scold me, at least scold me in the car.”
Jiang Wangshu laughed in exasperation. She didn’t argue with her, nor did she make things hard for herself, she got into the car with a cold face.
“Ye Jingshu saw us!”
“So what if she saw?”
“Why are you still so careless? If Mom finds out, you won’t get anything. I’ve told you so many times not to come provoke me, why won’t you listen?” Jiang Wangshu’s chest heaved, her expression ugly.
The streetlights fell on Shen Qing’s face, her expression unreadable, only somewhat dark and indistinct. The car suddenly fell into silence.
After a long while, Shen Qing laughed softly. “Why are you so eager for me to gain control of Shen Corporation? Is it just so Shen Xiaqing will fear me and won’t move against me? Or do you want to squeeze some benefits out for the Jiang family?”
“It’s the former, isn’t it? After all, if it were for the Jiang family, you’d only need to cozy up to Shen Xiaqing. You wouldn’t need to keep reminding me to watch out for these things. Even when Jiang Shan used Grandmother to threaten you, to make you curry favor with me, you didn’t want to do it. You care about me that’s why, even though I’ve laid hands on you time and again, you could never harden your heart and refuse me. You’re afraid of hurting me.”
So she had indeed heard their conversation perfectly clearly, and had seen through her heart completely.
“But I’ve been doing very well lately.”
Shen Qing had recently made real achievements at Shen Corporation. When those old foxes on the board came to the Shen house to drink tea with Shen Xiaqing, they praised Shen Qing endlessly, and even relented, having Lin Yue assign her a position, giving her full responsibility over the artificial joint production line there was even a faint hint of assigning her more tasks.
Especially upon hearing that Shen Qing was to be wed to the eldest daughter of the Xuan family, she was overjoyed, feeling that Shen Qing had far better judgment than Shen Dai, having found a partner who could help her, the future of the Shen family would be immeasurable.
By now, everyone in the Shen Group knew that Shen Qing was the heir to the Shen Group. Everyone was skilled at reading the wind and turning their sails accordingly, and they all began calling Shen Qing “President Shen” or “Little President Shen.”
Jiang Wangshu was delighted to the extreme about this. Sure enough, once she stopped being tied to her and the Jiang family, Shen Qing’s future was a smooth road ahead. Jiang Wangshu avoided Shen Qing even more, almost never appearing in the same space as her. But she hadn’t been happy for more than a few days when a landmine that could explode at any moment appeared again.
“So it was right of me to avoid you, but why did you insist on throwing yourself at me? Weren’t the things I said enough to break your heart?”
Heartbroken, how could she not be heartbroken?
When she first realized that Jiang Wangshu was avoiding her like the plague, Shen Qing had cried once under her blankets, suffered sleepless nights for several days, taken medication, and calmed down a little. She thought she would never pay attention to her again and threw herself back into work.
Then today, at the engagement banquet, she caught a glimpse of Jiang Wangshu’s figure from the corner of her eye, and what surged up in her chest was boundless grievance. Emotions crashed over her like overwhelming waves, and her head ached as if it would split.
“Yes, I’m just cheap, just love throwing myself at you. You’ll never be rid of me in this lifetime.”