Qiao Zhao handed the gift box forward. “This is a birthday gift prepared for Elder Chu.”
Chu Chiyuan opened the red velvet packaging box. “A wood plane?”
Qiao Zhao nodded. “If it can’t help Mr. Chu win over Elder Chu, then treat it as a gift from a shabby guest and toss it into the trash bin.”
With that, she gave a slight nod and turned to leave.
Before coming, she had envisioned several ways to persuade Chu Chiyuan, but she never expected that Tan Zheng and Chu Chiyuan knew each other—and that Chu Chiyuan seemed somewhat intimidated by him.
In that situation, if Tan Zheng was determined to make things difficult for her, all her plans were nothing but a joke.
Chu Chiyuan watched her figure descending the stairs, then glanced at Tan Zheng, who had turned back, and said with a half-smile, “That young lady is quite clever.”
Although he had inherited the Chu family, it was because of his ruthless methods. Without the old man’s support, his foundation would ultimately be unstable. At a time like this, whoever’s birthday gift could please the old man mattered greatly.
During the turbulent years, the old man had made a living as a carpenter—a seemingly humiliating past, but those close to him knew he cherished those days.
Why hadn’t he thought of giving this?
Tan Zheng said coldly, “That little bit of cleverness is only enough to fool a brainless fool like you.”
Chu Chiyuan raised an eyebrow. “If you’re no longer interested in her, I’m starting to feel tempted.”
Meeting Tan Zheng’s murderous glare, he wisely shut his mouth.
.
The next morning, Qiao Zhao left the hotel.
A whole night had passed, and Chu Chiyuan was no longer someone she could count on. She planned to head to Lishan, two hundred kilometers away—the hometown of fireworks—where there might be more opportunities.
Lin Yuzhou had a case here and had gone to meet with a client early in the morning, so he couldn’t see her off.
She stood at the hotel entrance dragging her luggage, waiting for a ride-hailing car.
A black luxury business van pulled up in front of her. The rear window rolled down, revealing Tan Zheng’s cold, handsome face.
“Get in.”
Qiao Zhao didn’t move. “I wouldn’t dare trouble President Tan.”
Tan Zheng rested his hand on the car door, and Qiao Zhao stepped back warily. “What are you doing?”
Tan Zheng: “Not trying to stage a Mary Sue princess carry in the middle of the street?”
“President Tan, maybe watch fewer cheesy old dramas.” Qiao Zhao turned to leave but heard the car door open with a click.
Tan Zheng didn’t get out first, only sneering at her. “Looks like I really do need to carry you to make you behave—or should I put on a show of seizing an innocent girl in broad daylight?”
One was cold and stern as frost, the other delicate and beautiful as a painting. A tour group of over a dozen people waiting for a bus nearby all stared in their direction.
He was fully capable of doing something like that.
Qiao Zhao’s eyes burned with indignation, but she still bent down and got into the car.
The atmosphere inside the car was tense. A few minutes passed before Qiao Zhao remembered she hadn’t said where she was going. “To the high-speed rail station.”
“To eat.” Tan Zheng said flatly.
Qiao Zhao was slightly annoyed and was about to speak when her phone rang.
It was Lu Yao calling. She was just about to say, “Yao Yao, I didn’t get—” when Lu Yao’s voice exploded through the phone: “That’s incredible! When you make a move, even the King of Hell has to yield!”
She was stunned. “You mean… it worked?”
Lu Yao: “Chu Chiyuan’s secretary contacted me. It can be shipped to Jingbei this afternoon.”
Qiao Zhao hung up and looked at Tan Zheng. He actually hadn’t interfered.
As for him speaking up for her, she didn’t dare hope for that.
She couldn’t hope for anyone.
“To the airport.” She snapped back to reality, preparing to return directly to Jingbei.
“To eat.” Tan Zheng overruled her again.
Qiao Zhao was thoroughly annoyed now. “If President Tan likes women who obey his every word, he can go find those willing to climb into your bed. Don’t come looking for attention here.”
Tan Zheng: “Who was it that said as long as I didn’t leave, she’d listen to everything I said?”
Qiao Zhao laughed in fury. “President Tan isn’t still living in the past, is he? Wake up—I’m no longer that naive girl who believed everything you said. Stop the car!”
Peng Yan looked at Tan Zheng in the rearview mirror, waiting for his order.
Tan Zheng’s face was cold, and he said nothing.
Qiao Zhao pushed open the car door.
The car was driving on the main road, not fast, but traffic was heavy.
Tan Zheng immediately grabbed her, slammed the door shut with a bang, and roared, “Are you crazy!”
Qiao Zhao’s eyes were red. “Stop the car.”
“Stop.” Tan Zheng gritted his teeth.
Peng Yan, still shaken, immediately pulled over and braked.
Haicheng had stronger winds than Jingbei, with a faint salty tang in the air, blowing Qiao Zhao’s hair into a mess.
She walked along the road, forgetting to even hail a taxi.
Apart from the few years when her mother was around, the most comfortable period of her twenty-five years of life was the two years she knew Tan Zheng.
He had spoiled her from a depressed girl into a willful little princess.
But after she filled out her college entrance exam preferences, she ran to tell him excitedly that she could attend the same university as him, and he said coldly, “Little repair girl, I’m bored of playing. Time to go home.”
Back then, many kids in the alley called her “little repair girl,” and every time he heard it, he’d beat them up, until eventually the kids he’d beaten would run away at the sight of her.
But in the end, he himself said those words.
She had experienced being abandoned countless times, and in the end, he abandoned her too.
During that period, she couldn’t sleep all night, tossing and turning, thinking about what she had done wrong, why no one wanted her.
Her depression relapsed.
She had barely managed to climb out of that pit—how could she possibly tie her fate to someone else again?
Back in Jingbei, Qiao Zhao and Lu Yao personally oversaw the factory’s production launch.
That kept them busy for two days.
In the evening, Qiao Zhao returned to her rented apartment. After showering, she was about to get a good night’s sleep when she saw a message from Shen Moyan as she came out of the bathroom.
“Zhao Zhao, bring me two changes of clothes to the hospital.”
Qiao Zhao sneered coldly. He was certainly devoted to keeping vigil for his mistress.
“No time. Ask Aunt Lin.”
At the hospital.
Shen Moyan came out of the ward, obvious fatigue on his face.
That day, Gu Qingxu had been caught in the heavy rain, and her throat had developed problems. With the concert approaching, she was anxious.
While in Country H, she had been harassed and threatened by a local conglomerate, leaving her with lingering trauma. She kept saying “I don’t want to live anymore” all day long.
He was afraid she might actually do something rash, so he didn’t dare leave her side for a moment. He had taken several days off from school, and his clothes hadn’t been changed in days.
Shen Moyan frowned deeply at the message. Qiao Zhao had always been easygoing—when he’d asked her to bring teaching materials before, she’d never refused.
He replied with a headache: “Aunt Lin took leave. Where have you been these past few days? Why did such a small matter as the housekeeper taking leave end up at my doorstep?”
Qiao Zhao was taken aback. It seemed Aunt Lin hadn’t told Shen Moyan that she had moved out.
Fine, then. If he never found out until after the divorce certificate was in hand, she’d have peace and quiet.
It wasn’t that she was conceited enough to think Shen Moyan would try to keep her—she just didn’t want to argue.
She looked at the message and sneered inwardly: Then what counts as a big matter? Playing dutiful son to your mistress is a big matter?
Shen Moyan sent another message: “Help me bring them over. I really can’t get away.”
Qiao Zhao only wanted to quietly obtain the divorce certificate, so she went to Qingwan Villa and casually packed two sets of clothes. By the time she arrived at the hospital, it was already past eight in the evening, and Shen Moyan was not in the ward.
Gu Qingxu lay on the bed with an IV drip in her hand. Seeing Qiao Zhao walk in, she curled the corner of her mouth into a frail, apologetic smile. “Zhao Zhao, I’m really sorry to trouble you to come all this way. Moyan insisted on staying to take care of me—I told him there was no need, that he should go home and keep you company, but he wouldn’t listen.”