Qin Jiming’s brows drew tightly together. Wasn’t all he had done asked her to deliver some documents and drink a few glasses of alcohol?
How dare she pull something like this and directly ruin the cooperation!
Lin Jiujiu lowered her head to hide the corners of her lips, which had curled upward.
She slowly walked over to Qin Jiming and gave his arm a gentle shake, looking harmless and pure.
“Brother, everything hasn’t been fully investigated yet. Don’t blame Secretary Shen just yet. You treated her so well before. How could she possibly betray you?”
Her words only made Qin Jiming’s anger burn hotter. “It’s precisely because I treated her too well that I spoiled her!”
He snatched up his phone and called Shen Nianyi. The busy tone indicating that he had been blocked rang out.
His expression instantly darkened further.
Just then, an employee came in to deliver some documents. Qin Jiming reached out to him. “You came at just the right time. Give me your phone.”
The employee was somewhat confused, but seeing his boss’s gloomy expression, he obediently took out his phone without a word.
……
When the call came in, Shen Nianyi was on her way to the shopping mall with Huo Yuqing.
It was an unfamiliar number. After hesitating for a moment, she answered. “What is it?”
The next instant, a familiar voice scolded her from the other end.
“Shen Nianyi, didn’t I merely ask you to deliver some documents? Just because you think you’ve resigned, you can do whatever you want?!”
“The project is completely ruined now. Do you know how great a loss this has caused the company?”
If she had known it was him, Shen Nianyi certainly would not have answered.
Especially after recalling the humiliation of the previous night, which still lingered in her mind and sent her blood surging with anger.
Yet Qin Jiming continued, “Just what kind of ability do you have, that you actually managed to drive Wang Ruhai into bankruptcy?”
Bankruptcy?
Shen Nianyi’s expression abruptly changed, and she once again turned to look at Huo Yuqing despite herself.
She certainly did not have that kind of ability.
It should all have been Huo Yuqing’s doing.
Huo Yuqing’s long fingers rested on the steering wheel. Seemingly aware of the woman’s gaze, he glanced sideways at her.
“What is it?”
In the quiet car, even those two words were enough for Qin Jiming on the other end to hear.
Qin Jiming raised his voice another notch. “Who’s beside you? You’ve botched the company’s business, and you still have the nerve to fool around with another man?”
Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Nianyi replied in a cool voice laced with faint anger, “You’re the one who cheated, so you think everyone else is dirty too. Weren’t you just asking how I had such great ability? Yes, the one speaking is my husband, and he was the one who had people deal with Wang Ruhai.”
“Your husband? Where did you get a husband?”
Qin Jiming sounded as though he had been enraged. For a moment, he failed to react.
Yet the possessiveness in his tone was still blatantly obvious—exactly like before!
A trace of disgust flashed through Shen Nianyi’s eyes. “Mr. Qin, you haven’t forgotten, have you? I married someone else on the day of our wedding. So please don’t bother me again from now on!”
After saying those few words, she hung up without the slightest hesitation.
After thinking it over, she blocked this number as well, along with Fang Zhou’s.
When Qin Jiming heard the call disconnect, he flew into a rage and hurled the phone viciously against the wall!
With a sharp crack, the screen shattered, and the back cover fell off.
The employee stood to one side, at a complete loss, staring at his own phone as though he were about to cry.
Lin Jiujiu spoke up at just the right moment. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. Go tell the administration department that President Qin will reimburse you for a new phone. Pick any model you like—the newest, highest-spec one.”
Qin Jiming gave a cold snort, as if silently approving it.
The employee’s expression brightened at once. After thanking Qin Jiming, he hurried away, grinning so broadly that the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears.
……
After hanging up, Shen Nianyi’s fingertips dug deeply into her palm. She still had not recovered from what had happened.
Only after a moment did she remember something. She hurriedly asked the man beside her, “Mr. Huo, was what happened to Wang Ruhai something you took care of for me?”
Huo Yuqing had no intention of taking credit. His voice was indifferent. “Mm.”
“Thank you. And, by the way, I only said that just now to put an end to any future trouble. You don’t mind, do you?”
Unexpectedly, Huo Yuqing merely raised an eyebrow faintly.
“I don’t mind. Besides, everything you said was true.”
They were indeed husband and wife now.
Picking up on the unspoken meaning in his words, Shen Nianyi turned her face away and rubbed her nose.
Thinking of the previous night, she felt both shaken and touched, as well as embarrassed. She did not dare meet Huo Yuqing’s eyes at all.
The car stopped in an underground parking garage. Nianyi followed him all the way inside, only to discover that Huo Yuqing had brought her to a jewelry counter.
Before she could speak, Huo Yuqing seemed to see through her thoughts and said, “We’re here to complete your wedding jewelry.”
Shen Nianyi waved both hands repeatedly. “There’s no need.”
The two of them had only entered into a fake marriage, after all. There was no need to prepare everything to this extent.
She did not want to owe him any more than she already did.
Huo Yuqing’s expression remained calm as he tugged helplessly at the corner of his mouth. “Do you plan to have me keep wearing a ring that was prepared for someone else?”
The tips of Shen Nianyi’s ears immediately began to burn. Thinking of the absurdity of their marriage, she could only nod. “Then let’s just pick out a pair of rings.”
Her voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.
But before they could choose the rings, Huo Yuqing acted decisively and bought her earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace first—
an entire matching set.
Shen Nianyi had merely complimented something on its appearance and said that it felt nice when she tried it on, and he had immediately waved his hand and bought it.
What happened to only buying rings?
She was still thinking about that when Huo Yuqing said, “Come try on the rings.”
The sales clerk had already brought out an entire display of ring styles. Perhaps because she had seen how generously Huo Yuqing spent, the smile on her face was now so genuine that it was nearly fawning.
Shen Nianyi clicked her tongue. She had wanted to say that there was no need to buy the other things, but she could not bring herself to say it.
Their brief time together had already made her realize that Huo Yuqing’s forcefulness was something she could not refuse.
In the end, she tried them on despite her reluctance.
Shen Nianyi did not notice the man who had come up the escalator some distance behind her.
Qin Huaizhou was out shopping when he suddenly caught sight of the two striking figures inside the jewelry counter. One of them seemed especially familiar.
When he saw the man beside her trying on rings with her, Qin Huaizhou narrowed his eyes and studied them for quite some time.
Unfortunately, he did not see the man’s face.
After thinking it over, he hurriedly found an angle where he would be less likely to be noticed, quickly took a picture of the two from behind, and opened his conversation with Qin Jiming to send it over.
【Brother Ming, I saw Shen Nianyi at Jinhui Mall. There was a man with her, and the two of them seemed to be shopping for rings.】
【Wasn’t she madly in love with you? Did someone just steal your home?】
……
In the office, Qin Jiming had been left restless by the call that had abruptly ended.
When he saw the message, his grip tightened around the phone.
Shen Nianyi had actually married that man she had randomly dragged in.
To spite him, she had actually gone and made the fake marriage real!
An indescribable sense of pressure and agitation clogged his chest.
No. It couldn’t be. Shen Nianyi absolutely would not leave him. As for her claim that she was married, she was merely trying to get his attention.
Lin Jiujiu noticed his mood and hurriedly moved closer. Her eyelashes trembled lightly, while the tip of her nose and the corners of her eyes were red.
“Brother, are you still upset about what happened with her? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have said any of that. I’ve only made the two of you quarrel again.”
Qin Jiming replied perfunctorily, “It has nothing to do with you.”
The phone screen suddenly lit up.
When he saw the photograph of their backs that Qin Huaizhou had sent, Qin Jiming froze. Then, unable to believe it, he enlarged the image and took another look.
He grabbed his phone and coat and hurried out the door.