Qin Jiming walked forward a few steps and opened the wardrobe. All of Shen Nianyi’s belongings were gone. Only the clothes he had brought back earlier remained.
They had all been designer pieces Lin Jiujiu did not want, which he had stuffed into Shen Nianyi’s hands as gifts.
Qin Jiming still remembered the delight in her eyes as she happily held each piece up in front of the mirror, asking him with a radiant smile whether it looked good.
Back then, Shen Nianyi’s eyes had been filled with love for him.
But as he looked at the empty bedroom before him, a trace of confusion and disbelief slowly surfaced in Qin Jiming’s dark eyes. His face turned grim as he swept the blue-and-white porcelain vase beside him violently to the floor.
Over the years, she had thrown tantrums because of Jiujiu, but she had never been this resolute—not even to the point of abandoning everything related to work.
Fury churned in his eyes. A sense of unease rose in his heart, but he quickly suppressed it.
She loved him so much. How could she really leave?
“Shen Nianyi, you’ve really grown bold.”
If Shen Nianyi truly left like this, he had plenty of ways to make her come back!
He was just about to send Fang Zhou a message when a sweet, delicate voice interrupted him from behind.
“Brother, you rushed out without even taking your coat. Did something happen?”
Lin Jiujiu was holding the suit jacket Qin Jiming had worn at the wedding. She cast her eyes around the room, and when she failed to see Shen Nianyi, a trace of disappointment crossed her face.
Qin Jiming had only answered a call from Shen Nianyi while at her home before hurrying over here without stopping. Lin Jiujiu had thought Shen Nianyi had also resorted to some sort of sympathy ploy.
Remembering the phone call she had received from Shen Nianyi earlier, Lin Jiujiu frowned, and a vicious look flashed through her eyes.
It would be just as well if that woman really died somewhere out there…
“Nothing happened.” Seeing the stray hairs disheveled by Lin Jiujiu’s hurried pursuit of him, Qin Jiming could not help feeling tender toward her again. “Your injuries haven’t healed yet. You shouldn’t be running around. The most important thing is for you to rest and recover properly.”
Lin Jiujiu lowered her eyes like an innocent little white rabbit. “I was just worried that I’d ruined your wedding, and that Miss Shen would get angry again.”
She raised her head once more, her eyes brimming with guilt. “Actually, I wanted to find her and apologize properly… to explain everything to her. This was all my fault. It had nothing to do with you, Brother.”
“So she won’t be angry with you.”
Qin Jiming wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with his warm fingertip. “No one can predict disasters or accidents. What does any of this have to do with you? She’s simply being too unreasonable.”
As he spoke, he made a decision in his heart. He would leave Shen Nianyi alone for a few more days. Once she had thought things through, she would naturally come back and beg him obediently.
Two days later.
Shen Nianyi was discharged from the hospital. Huo Yuqing had come to pick her up and was handling the discharge procedures for her. With her pale face and unsteady steps, she walked out of the hospital room.
She never expected to run straight into the two people she least wanted to see.
Qin Jiming was dressed in a custom-tailored suit, and Lin Jiujiu was unmistakably in his broad embrace, held in a bridal carry. The intimacy and protectiveness of his posture were impossible to miss.
He strode forward steadily, lowering his head from time to time to glance at the woman in his arms.
As for Lin Jiujiu, her delicate arms were looped around Qin Jiming’s neck. She lightly bit her lip and even tried to climb down and walk on her own…
But Qin Jiming seemed to have refused to let her.
Even from that distance, Shen Nianyi could see the slight furrow between his brows.
Even with her in his arms, he was still so worried about Lin Jiujiu?
Meanwhile, after she had undergone a minor operation and lain in the hospital for two days, the only thing she had heard him say was that she should hurry up and deal with work and social engagements…
A man who did not care in the slightest whether she lived or died had nearly become her husband.
At that thought, Shen Nianyi curved her lips in self-mockery.
She stood where she was, her feet rooted to the floor.
The two of them also noticed Shen Nianyi in the distance.
While Shen Nianyi was still dazed, Lin Jiujiu’s expression changed. Without hesitation, she jumped down from Qin Jiming’s arms.
She seemed unable to walk. The instant her feet touched the ground, she stumbled. After finally steadying herself, she put on an innocent expression and began to explain.
“Miss Shen, I’m sorry. I caused trouble for Brother and prevented your wedding from being completed… But Brother said it was all right and that he would arrange another wedding for you, so I thought you wouldn’t mind too much, right?”
Shen Nianyi almost laughed when she heard this, but she ignored her and turned to leave. Unexpectedly, Lin Jiujiu grabbed her by the wrist again.
“Miss Shen, I already apologized! I hurried back because I wanted to attend your wedding and offer you my congratulations. Otherwise, how could I have gotten into a car accident?”
“What, just because you said you were sorry, I’m supposed to say it’s all right?”
Looking at Lin Jiujiu, whose apparent weakness Shen Nianyi could not tell was real or fake, Shen Nianyi simply did not want to give her any opportunity to play the victim. She quickly stepped back and shook off Lin Jiujiu’s hand, looking as though she were avoiding something filthy.
Lin Jiujiu seemed to have suffered some terrible injury. Her body swayed, and Qin Jiming immediately strode over and wrapped his long arm around her. His tall body bent slightly toward her, as though the person in his arms were the most precious treasure in the world.
The intimacy between the two fell into Shen Nianyi’s eyes. Her lowered fingers gradually curled into fists, but when she turned her head, she met the accusing gaze Qin Jiming directed at her.
“Shen Nianyi, we’ve been together for so long. How can you be so petty?”
He helped Lin Jiujiu stand upright, then took a step toward Shen Nianyi. When he spoke again, a thin layer of anger colored his voice.
“No matter what, I have to take good care of Jiujiu! Besides, we can hold the wedding again, but you’ll have to clean up the mess you left behind first!”
He even drew a deep breath and said to Shen Nianyi with an exaggerated sigh, “Now apologize to Jiujiu.”
Shen Nianyi gave a slow, quiet laugh. The next second, a sharp glint flashed through her eyes. She raised her hand high and slapped Qin Jiming hard across the face.
The crisp smack rang through the silent corridor. Both the person who had been hit and Lin Jiujiu froze.
“Qin Jiming, listen carefully. You made me a promise before. This is the last time—and this is the last chance I’m giving you.”
“You broke your word and insisted on ruining our wedding, so there will be no future for us! We won’t hold another wedding. We won’t get married, and I certainly won’t help you take care of your sister-in-law.”
“And the company has nothing to do with me anymore either. I’ve already resigned! From now on, we have nothing to do with each other!”
She turned to leave. Before going, she curled her lips in mockery.
“You like drinking green tea, but I don’t!”
Qin Jiming watched her resolute back, and his heart felt strangely empty. As Shen Nianyi walked toward the elevators, she heard footsteps following behind her.
Qin Jiming’s low voice rang out. “Shen Nianyi, are you really still going to keep this up?”
“I admit I was in the wrong first this time, but even your temper tantrums should have a limit! I’ll arrange the wedding again. As long as you—”
Before he could finish, a nurse passed by them.
The nurse glanced at Qin Jiming as she went by, then suddenly reminded him, “Mr. Qin, didn’t Miss Lin suffer a corpus luteum rupture? Why haven’t you taken her for an examination yet?”
When Shen Nianyi heard this, it was as if she had been struck by lightning. Her face turned even paler, and she stared at Qin Jiming in disbelief.
A corpus luteum rupture?
What had those two done to each other while she was in the hospital for things to get so intense?
Qin Jiming’s face darkened, but he only said, “I’ll explain later.”
Then he walked away without looking back.
The nausea made Shen Nianyi nearly lose her balance. She braced herself against the wall and drew in deep, heavy breaths.
The nurse gave her a sympathetic look, but then she remembered that the man surnamed Huo had paid her ten thousand in a red envelope just to come over and deliver that reminder—a sum worth more than her monthly salary. At once, she was delighted beyond words.