Shi Yan’s pupils widened slightly. After the initial shock came a flustered panic.
“I don’t agree to breaking up! Why do we have to break up?”
Some of the guests in the banquet hall noticed the commotion and began glancing in their direction.
Feeling guilty, Shi Yan stole a look toward the hall before grabbing Qiao Yimian by the arm and pulling her into the emergency stairwell.
“Yimian, I just want to calm my parents down for now. Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t marry Tian Xiaoxiao! You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to marry!”
Seeing Qiao Yimian press her lips together without saying a word, Shi Yan looked at her pleadingly.
His beautiful, affectionate eyes, those same peach-blossom eyes she had always found so captivating, gazed at her pitifully.
“Yimian, it took me so much effort just to get into the company. My wings haven’t grown strong enough yet, and I’m constrained at every turn. I really have no way to fight back. Can’t you try to understand me?”
“Of course I understand. That’s why I’m setting you free.”
“I don’t want to be free! I only want you!”
Qiao Yimian frowned slightly. “You can’t have everything both ways. Since you want to keep your position, then marry whoever your parents want you to marry. Stop promising me some future that may never come. I won’t wait for you. I don’t want to wait for you. And I certainly won’t become your mistress.”
“I never said I wanted you to be my mistress! I told you, this is only temporary!” Shi Yan argued anxiously.
“Then if I hadn’t seen this engagement party tonight, what would I be after tonight?” For once, the sharp edge in Qiao Yimian’s voice was unmistakable as she pressed him relentlessly. “You got engaged while I was away on a business trip because you deliberately wanted to keep it from me. By the time I found out the truth, it would already be too late. No matter how many reasons you have, from the moment you put that engagement ring on her finger, I had no choice but to become the other woman.”
Shi Yan clearly hadn’t considered that. He stumbled over his words for a long while before finally managing, “I’m sorry.”
“But I wasn’t deliberately trying to hide it from you. I just…”
Qiao Yimian cut off his feeble explanation and asked, “Have you ever wondered why I’m here tonight?”
Shi Yan stared at her blankly, unable to answer.
Qiao Yimian held up her phone, her voice taut. “Your little act has already been seen through.”
Shi Yan blinked slowly, surprise flashing in his eyes.
It was obvious that he had only just realized the problem himself.
Why had Qiao Yimian suddenly come back? And why had she shown up at the hotel?
The answer was obvious.
Shi Yan drew in a frustrated breath, forcing down the anger and resentment that had flared up inside him.
Just then, her phone rang.
Qiao Yimian glanced at the screen. It was a colleague from the newspaper.
She was about to answer when Shi Yan grabbed her wrist again.
She tugged against his grip, but he held on tightly.
The phone continued vibrating, making her palm go numb and her heart increasingly restless.
Qiao Yimian’s voice turned cold. “Let go. It’s a work call.”
“Work, work, always work!” Shi Yan snapped impatiently. “We haven’t even finished talking about our problem, and you’re brushing me off with work again. In your heart, am I really not even as important as that lousy reporter job?”
Qiao Yimian stared at him in confusion.
Shi Yan had never spoken to her like this before.
But he was angry, frustrated, and clearly regretted being forced into this situation. His words had become careless, as though he were finally venting all the resentment he had kept bottled up for so long.
“We’ve been together for a year, but how many times have we actually seen each other? You’re either out covering stories or attending training, or you’re working overnight at the office. You’ve stood me up time and time again. You’re so busy with work that you don’t even have time for a date! And now you want to break up just like that. Did you ever think about our future? Did you ever even like me?”
Qiao Yimian opened her mouth, but she didn’t argue.
Because he was right.
She really was busy.
Journalism was a job with no weekends and no holidays. Reporters had to be on call twenty-four hours a day, never knowing when the next piece of news would break. Even in the middle of the night, they had to crawl out of bed the moment a story came in.
Over the past year, she really had stood him up several times.
She had missed his birthday, their hundred-day anniversary, and even her own birthday.
Later, when she saw the photos Shi Yan had sent her of the birthday celebration he had carefully prepared for her, she had been filled with guilt and remorse.
That was why, this time, she had rushed to finish her work, managing to wrap things up a day early and hurry back. She had wanted to celebrate their one-year anniversary with him.
Unfortunately…
Qiao Yimian drew a quiet breath. The turbulent emotions inside her gradually settled, and the burning heat around her eyes slowly cooled.
“I’m sorry. I really haven’t been a good girlfriend. I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t mean it like that…” Shi Yan’s chest rose and fell as regret washed over him for the words he had blurted out.
He tightened his grip around Qiao Yimian’s wrist, his eyes reddening.
For all his usual pride and arrogance, whenever he faced this woman, he always loved her with a humiliating mixture of devotion and unease.
The emergency stairwell was silent. Their conversation echoed against the walls and fell back into their ears, mingling with his heavy, anxious breathing and making the cramped space feel even more desolate.
“But I’m not going to give up my career for you.” Qiao Yimian’s voice was filled with exhaustion. “We want different things. Let’s part on good terms.”
Shi Yan’s heart clenched painfully, and an even greater wave of panic swept over him.
Just then, the stairwell door was suddenly shoved open.
“Shi Yan! Why are you involved with her again? Haven’t you two cut things off yet? Are you trying to drive me to an early grave?”
An elegant, expensively dressed woman appeared at the entrance to the stairwell, standing against the light.
A string of South Sea pearls around her neck gleamed with a cold sheen, exuding an icy aloofness that seemed to keep everyone at arm’s length.
“Mom, Yimian and I still have things to talk about. Please go back inside for now.” Shi Yan was already overwhelmed and annoyed. He frowned and urged her to leave.
“What is there to talk about? Today is your engagement party, and she’s still come here to pester you. Has she no shame?”
“Mom!” Shi Yan cut her off before she could continue. “Don’t talk about Yimian like that! She’s not that kind of person!”
It was the first time Jiang Mei had ever been reprimanded by her son. She froze in surprise for a moment, and her expression immediately darkened.
But before she could say anything else, Qiao Yimian spoke calmly.
“You’re maintaining a relationship with me while secretly getting engaged to another woman. If we’re talking about shamelessness, shouldn’t that be your son?”
Jiang Mei was stunned by the retort. Furious, she snapped, “How dare you speak to me like that! Have you no manners at all? Didn’t your parents ever teach you to respect your elders?”
Something in those words must have struck a raw nerve.
Qiao Yimian’s face went slightly pale, and her fingernails dug tightly into her palm.
Shi Yan immediately understood. He hurriedly pushed Jiang Mei toward the door.
“Mom! I’ll handle my own affairs! Stop making things worse!”
Jiang Mei stumbled backward from the shove, but her mouth kept going.
“I told you a long time ago to stay away from my son. And what do you do? You cling to him like some dog’s skin plaster! Who knows what kind of tricks you used to have my son wrapped around your finger! I’m telling you right now: with your background, you’ll never marry into our family! Give up while you still can! You little vixen…”
Shi Yan finally reached the end of his patience. He covered his mother’s mouth and pushed her out of the stairwell.
The corridor outside connected directly to the banquet hall. If the guests heard them, there would inevitably be a crowd gathering to watch and laugh at the spectacle.
Only then did Jiang Mei rein herself in somewhat.
She shot Shi Yan a glare and was just about to drag him back when the stairwell door opened again.
Qiao Yimian slowly walked out, her expression cold.
“The chairwoman’s wife of Yingshi Group, calling someone a ‘vixen’ and ‘shameless’ without even knowing the truth, while constantly demanding that others show her respect. Don’t you find that rather ridiculous?”
The corners of Qiao Yimian’s lips lifted, her voice calm but thick with mockery.
“If you want my respect, then act like an elder first. Start by learning to watch your own mouth.”
Jiang Mei’s eyes widened.
She had never imagined that this girl in her twenties would have the nerve to talk back to her!
What a sharp-tongued little vixen!
Her face flushed crimson with rage, but then Qiao Yimian’s red lips parted again, her gaze utterly cold.
“You don’t need to worry about it. With an elder like you, who has neither manners nor grace, I would never marry into your family anyway. And you’d better tell your son to give up on ever marrying me.”
With that, she turned and walked into the elevator without looking back, not sparing either of them another glance.
“Yimian!” Shi Yan immediately stepped forward to chase after her, only to receive a slap across the back.
“Today is your engagement party! Take one more step out that door, and we’ll cut you off completely. Don’t ever come back!”
Shi Yan’s pupils contracted sharply.
He could only watch helplessly as Qiao Yimian walked into the elevator.
He hesitated for two seconds.
In the end, he stopped.
The elevator doors slowly slid shut, as though drawing the curtain on the farce that had just unfolded.
Shi Yan slowly clenched his fists, a flash of anxiety and unwillingness flickering in his eyes.