The rain was falling too heavily, and water had pooled in many places. Qiao Zhao trudged forward, her steps unsteady on the waterlogged ground.
After the car accident, the police and the driver wouldn’t be able to get there for a while. Fortunately, once she got off Panhai Highway, she’d reach the national road, where there would be more traffic.
A black Bentley slowly pulled up beside her. The rear window rolled down, revealing Tan Zheng’s eyes, cold and devoid of any warmth. “Get in.”
“No need.” Qiao Zhao didn’t stop walking.
The Bentley kept pace with her. “Should I carry you into the car?”
Qiao Zhao stopped. “Has Young Master Tan not had enough of the show? Do you want me to get in and keep entertaining you?”
“Yes, so stop wasting words.”
“You!” Qiao Zhao felt as if she’d been stripped naked, her most shameful side exposed fully to the one person she least wanted to see it.
One inside the car, one outside—she met his gaze.
After a few seconds of stalemate, Tan Zheng spoke. “I don’t want the police to find me tomorrow and say I was the last person you saw before you died.”
Qiao Zhao was silent for a moment, then opened the door and got in.
A suit jacket was draped over her head, just like many years ago, carrying a faint scent of cool sandalwood.
She pulled it off and tried to hand it back to Tan Zheng. “Thanks, but I’m not cold.”
“Put it on. If you die in my car, who would I even reason with?” He was colder than the rainy night outside.
Qiao Zhao didn’t want to argue with him.
“To the hospital,” Tan Zheng instructed the driver.
“No need. Just drop me off at the nearest subway station.” Qiao Zhao hugged her arms and curled up against the door.
Tan Zheng ignored her, and clearly, no one in the car listened to her.
The heating inside was strong, driving away the chill from her body.
There was enough space between Qiao Zhao and Tan Zheng for two people to sit.
In the deathly silence, a phone rang. Her water-damaged screen flickered weakly, yet it stubbornly kept ringing.
She struggled for a while before finally answering. The driver’s voice came through. “Ma’am, I found your car. The police are here too. Where are you?”
“I’ve already left.” Qiao Zhao’s voice was calm.
The driver assumed she’d gone with Shen Moyan and didn’t ask further, casually adding, “I thought you were driving your usual BMW—took me a while to find you.”
Then he hung up.
Right. If she’d been driving her usual car, Shen Moyan might have seen her and taken her with him.
He had always been exceptionally composed; he wouldn’t leave a woman stranded on a rainy night.
But she didn’t want that.
What would it even mean if she sat in the back seat with him and Gu Qingxu?
.
At the hospital, she got a number but couldn’t find a doctor.
Tan Zheng’s expression darkened. He stared at the nurse and asked, “Where’s the doctor?”
The nurse stammered, looking as if she didn’t dare to say.
Two nurses pushed a medical cart past them.
“You’ll never guess who I saw,” one of them said excitedly. “Gu Qingxu.”
“The Chinese singer who debuted in Country H in the last two years?”
“She’s in the treatment room. All the doctors on duty went there.”
“Oh my, the injury must be serious.”
“Pfft, it’s just a scraped arm. If she’d come a little later, it would’ve healed on its own. But her boyfriend is so attentive, making a huge fuss over nothing.”
Their voices faded into the distance. Qiao Zhao clenched her hands.
She never imagined that Shen Moyan, who seemed so indifferent to everything, would make such a scene.
The truth was, there was no such thing as emotional stability—it just meant you didn’t care.
Beside her, Tan Zheng’s face was cold as ice. He turned to his assistant and said, “Call the hospital director.”
“Forget it.” Qiao Zhao took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice calm. “I’m fine.”
“If you want to die, pick another time. Just don’t see me before you do.” Tan Zheng’s tone was cold.
Qiao Zhao clenched her jaw. “Don’t worry, I’ll write a will before I die, making it clear that I have nothing to do with you, Master Tan.”
Tan Zheng: “Call me ‘Master Tan’ again and I’ll throw you out to feed the dogs right now.”
Qiao Zhao was taken aback. Right, he was President Tan now.
A major player in international capital, the head of the Tan Group—how could he allow anyone to call him by a title that reminded him of his humbler days?
No, it wasn’t the title. He simply didn’t want any connection to her, the one person who had seen him at his lowest. That was why he had vanished without a word when his family came looking for him.
“Yes, I’ll remember that, President Tan.” Qiao Zhao turned to leave.
Tan Zheng grabbed her wrist. “I said, if you want to die, pick another time.”
His assistant, Peng Yan, chose that moment to speak up. “President Tan, the director said he’s sending someone over right away.”
The nurse, quick on the uptake, led the two of them to the treatment room.
In the treatment room, three doctors on duty received phone calls almost simultaneously. They left a single nurse to handle the bandaging and hurried out.
Shen Moyan’s expression darkened as he blocked the doctors’ path. “Abandoning a patient and walking away—is this how you fulfill your duties as doctors?”
One of the male doctors pushed up his glasses and looked at him flatly. “Orders from above. If you have a problem, take it up with the director.”
Are you kidding? The director himself had called. Who dared to delay?
Besides, there was nothing serious going on here anyway—no need to make a fuss and waste medical resources.
Gu Qingxu frowned slightly. “What kind of critical patient could take all the doctors away at once?”
Shen Moyan furrowed his brow. “I’ll go out and take a look.”
Tan Zheng watched as the doctor treated Qiao Zhao’s wound, her body trembling from the pain. A vein bulged on his forehead, and he turned and walked out in irritation.
The treatment room and the wound-dressing room were adjacent. The two men opened their doors and stepped out at the same time.
Shen Moyan paused, then smiled. “So it’s President Tan. Quite the grand gesture—I wonder who’s injured to warrant such concern.”
Tan Zheng gave a half-smile. “Someone important, of course.”
Shen Moyan smiled lightly. “President Tan is decisive and ruthless in business because you have no weaknesses. It’s rare to hear you say ‘someone important.’ Now I’m curious.”
He peered through the crack in the door and caught a glimpse of a woman’s back, draped in a man’s jacket.
She looked somewhat familiar. Just as he was about to look closer, Tan Zheng pushed the door shut with a firm thud. “You should be curious. Maybe you know her too.”
Shen Moyan’s expression froze for a moment, then he saw the playful provocation in Tan Zheng’s eyes and took it as a joke.
Come to think of it, he and Tan Zheng had once been good brothers. Tan Zheng had always been a wild card, never serious when he spoke.
“Moyan.” Gu Qingxu emerged from the treatment room, her voice soft.
Shen Moyan’s expression remained indifferent, but his gaze softened slightly as it landed on her. “All done?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then let’s go.” Shen Moyan looked at Tan Zheng. “President Tan, I’ll take my leave.”
Tan Zheng watched Shen Moyan wrap an arm around Gu Qingxu, a cold darkness settling in his eyes while a faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
Shen Moyan helped Gu Qingxu out of the hospital. The heavy rain was beginning to let up.
When they reached the parking spot, the image of that back seen through the door crack still lingered in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more familiar it seemed.
Suddenly, he froze. He finally remembered—that back looked like Qiao Zhao’s.
“Moyan.”
Gu Qingxu called out to him, and Shen Moyan snapped back to attention. “You get in the car first—I left something at the hospital.”
With that, he turned and walked quickly back toward the emergency room, where Tan Zheng was still standing.
Shen Moyan reached out to push open the door to the wound-cleaning room, but Tan Zheng shifted to block him.
Shen Moyan gave a faint smile. “Mr. Tan’s keeping his beauty hidden away in a gilded cage—can’t even take a look?”
Tan Zheng didn’t move, returning a cold laugh. “Not as impressive as Professor Shen, flying into a rage for a pretty face.”
The two stood locked in a standoff.