Jiang Qiu furrowed her brows. “Yu Sheng? Why?”
The assistant shook her head. “President Yu didn’t explain this.”
“Understood.” Jiang Qiu let out a sigh. She had truly thought that everything between her and Yu Sheng would end today, but she hadn’t expected a new complication to arise.
“President Jiang, there are also some rumors floating around the company recently. Do you need me to handle them privately?”
“What rumors?” Jiang Qiu asked.
After her previous appearance at the company, Jiang Qiu had anticipated that rumors would spread internally with a fair share of exaggeration. However, she was still somewhat curious about what exactly was being said.
The assistant hesitated briefly before informing her.
Jiang Qiu didn’t care much. She simply said, “No need to handle it,” and walked away. At the same time, she sent a message to Yu Kunian.
【Why does the accompanying dance require Yu Sheng to go?】
The other party took a long time to reply. By the time the message came through, Jiang Qiu had already been resting in the company breakroom for about twenty minutes, testing out the newly purchased coffee machine.
Yu Kunian: 【The awards ceremony will be attended by big figures from various companies. Yu Sheng needs the opportunity to network and build connections.】
Jiang Qiu sighed.
【Then is it absolutely necessary for me to attend?】
Yu Kunnian: 【Aren’t you free right now? Besides, with you bringing Xiao Sheng along, I’ll feel more at ease.】
Jiang Qiu frowned. She wasn’t particularly at ease with herself.
After turning it over in her mind, she couldn’t find a reason to refuse. Jiang Qiu’s expression couldn’t help but darken a bit. Sometimes she really wanted to ask if Zhaoming Biotech had some kind of jinx on her, because it always brought her so many unpredictable bad pieces of news.
After a long while, she finally replied with a “Fine then.”
Carrying her coffee, she sat down in a corner and pinched the bridge of her nose. Then, she turned her attention to the awards ceremony notes and itinerary that her assistant had sent earlier.
Gradually, more people entered the breakroom. The noisy atmosphere didn’t catch Jiang Qiu’s attention at first, until she heard her own name.
“Who actually knows the background of that new VP, Jiang Qiu?”
“I heard President Yu personally arranged it. She must have a pretty deep relationship with President Yu, right?”
“I don’t think so. Do you know that VP assistant, Yu Sheng? According to reliable sources, she is President Yu’s biological younger sister. It feels like she was specifically sent to keep an eye on someone.”
“Really?”
“Everyone over in the R&D department knows. That someone has only shown up at the company once so far. She wanted to push through a departmental reform but was blocked by Yu Sheng, and she hasn’t come back since.”
“Exactly. Yu Sheng is handling all the business. President Yu definitely doesn’t feel safe letting President Jiang take over.”
“She must have a huge backer, otherwise how would she dare to be so arrogant.”
“I just feel it’s impossible for President Yu to arrange for such a person to be the VP. Completely inexperienced, basically a total novice, unless he was forced into a corner.”
“Yu Sheng really lives up to being President Yu’s biological sister, she’s just as capable. If it weren’t for her, the R&D department would have had ten percent of its staff reassigned to a useless department, wasting their abilities…”
Jiang Qiu sipped her coffee, leisurely listening to this group of people gossip with their half-truths. It wasn’t quite as exaggerated as what her assistant had described earlier, but it suited her purposes perfectly. The more unfavorable these rumors were to her, the more they would highlight Yu Sheng’s capabilities. This would be of great help when Yu Sheng took over the company later on.
By the time she finished her cup of coffee, the people in the breakroom had mostly dispersed. Jiang Qiu felt a stroke of luck that her last appearance had been so sudden, aside from the R&D department, no one in the other departments recognized her yet. Otherwise, she truly wouldn’t have been able to overhear this particular version of the rumors firsthand.
Returning to the office, Yu Sheng was busy and didn’t notice her at first. Jiang Qiu stopped in front of the desk and lightly tapped the surface with her knuckles. Seeing Yu Sheng look up, she placed one of the invitation cards down.
“You will be attending this upcoming awards ceremony with me.”
Yu Sheng was somewhat startled. She stood up, her expression visibly brightening with a hint of joy. “Alright.”
Jiang Qiu glanced at her. She wanted to say it had been specified by Yu Kunian, but doing so would seem too deliberate and might make Yu Sheng sense something amiss. Thus, she could only swallow the grievance in silence.
“When you debrief later, remember to communicate more with the board directors to gather their opinions,” Jiang Qiu directed, choosing to change the subject.
Yu Sheng nodded. “I’ve already written a draft for the report. Do you need to confirm it?”
Jiang Qiu said, “No need.”
With that, the Alpha prepared to leave. At any rate, she considered that she had given Yu Sheng ample time to understand the members of the board, and there would be opportunities for private interactions later. As for whether the Omega could successfully cultivate those relationships to facilitate future communication, that was beyond her concern.
“Wait a moment,” Yu Sheng suddenly called out to her.
Jiang Qiu paused in her tracks but didn’t turn around. “Is there something else?”
Yu Sheng hesitated for a brief moment before speaking in a low voice, “That day, I…”
She was referring to their previous meeting.
Jiang Qiu’s tone was indifferent, her emotions showing no fluctuation. “What do you want to say?”
“I’m sorry. I interrupted your dinner,” Yu Sheng said to the Alpha after a moment of hesitation.
Jiang Qiu turned around. She seemed to be waiting for the Omega to continue, but when no further sound came after a long while, she asked bluntly, “Is that all you wanted to say?”
Yu Sheng’s lips trembled slightly. The gaze she had lifted gradually lowered, and only after exhaling a soft breath did she speak again, “I’m… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
These words were somewhat unexpected.
But Jiang Qiu walked closer to her, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Do you really think you did something wrong?”
Yu Sheng lowered her head.
The truth was, of course she didn’t.
The Omega admitted she was despicable. She had tried to use her past with Jiang Qiu to affect the Alpha’s marriage with Wen Yan, wanting to create a rift between them, ideally to cancel this wedding that had zero emotional foundation. Even though she didn’t know if it had worked, she still didn’t believe she was in the wrong.
She wasn’t a good person, she had always used methods to achieve her goals. Since the Alpha wouldn’t tell Wen Yan about their past, she would be the one to speak up. She would help Jiang Qiu confess, because she simply refused to let Jiang Qiu forget her.
It was just that Jiang Qiu disliked Omegas who were too stubborn. The Alpha would certainly be more willing to accept her submission.
That was why she spoke the way she did.
Jiang Qiu seemed to see right through the thoughts in her mind and let out a cold laugh.
“Miss Yu, stop putting on a hypocritical show for me.”
Yu Sheng’s fingertips stiffened. “I…”
“If Miss Yu genuinely believes she did something wrong, then you should go and say this apology to Xiao Yan.” Jiang Qiu’s gaze carried a deliberate, unignorable cold detachment as she said this on purpose.
Hearing this, Yu Sheng looked up in predictable disbelief. Her brow furrowed tightly as she took an unsteady half-step closer to her. “You want me to apologize to her?”
Jiang Qiu stared at her, falling into silence for a long while, her thoughts unreadable.
“Never mind,” the Alpha said sarcastically after the prolonged silence. “I understand that Miss Yu’s apologies are highly precious. How could I request you to apologize to my Omega? I’ll comfort Xiao Yan myself.”
“If you feel I owe Miss Wen an apology, I can go. But please…” Yu Sheng composed her emotions, speaking in a deep voice, “Please tell me the reason. I only honestly told Miss Wen about the relationship history you hid, but I did not inflict any verbal or physical harm upon her.”
Jiang Qiu leaned against the glass behind her. Having listened to Yu Sheng’s words, she carefully scrutinized the Omega in front of her.
Was she aggrieved?
Was it real or fake?
The Alpha’s train of thought became tangled once more. The silence inside the office grew uncomfortably heavy. After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Qiu finally spoke flatly under Yu Sheng’s sustained gaze:
“Fine, then I have no reason.”
Her voice paused, and after a brief sound of breathing, the Alpha added:
“Then does Miss Yu feel that you still owe me an apology?”
Her tone was very light, but for Jiang Qiu, uttering this sentence felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
As her voice fell, the entire office sank into a dead silence once more. This time, Jiang Qiu’s gaze remained locked tightly on Yu Sheng, waiting for the Omega’s response.
Regarding the ruthlessness and abandonment from two years ago, shouldn’t Yu Sheng give her an apology?
She had been waiting all this time.
“I,” the Omega met her gaze, a flash of panic crossing her eyes for an instant. Her voice carried a faint, barely perceptible tremor as she suddenly said without context, “I went to New York to look for you, a year ago.”
Jiang Qiu didn’t make a sound, but her heartbeat skipped a beat.
“I found your friends. They said you had left,” Yu Sheng said in a muffled tone. “I didn’t know where you went, and I didn’t have your contact information… They said you wouldn’t want to see me.”
“They weren’t wrong. After all, what would you look for me for? To rekindle an ill-fated relationship, or do you think I haven’t been played miserably enough by you?” Jiang Qiu’s brow pressed down. Completely stripped of her usual gentle politeness, she asked self-deprecatingly.
“Jie… Jiang Qiu,” Yu Sheng called her. “I didn’t think that way.”
“Other than that, what else could you possibly think?” Jiang Qiu countered.
Yu Sheng felt as though every breath she took at this moment was like a sharp blade piercing into her lungs. “In your eyes, am I absolutely that kind of person?”
Jiang Qiu said, “Yes. After all, wasn’t the person who cast me aside after using me you? Haven’t you done exactly that?”
Yu Sheng choked up. She pursed her lips, and in the end, she could only shake her head.
Many words were stuck in her throat, and the events of the past replayed in her mind. All the Omega could manage to say was, “I’m sorry, Sister.”
The imagined apology finally reached her ears, yet Jiang Qiu’s nose flared with a strange sourness, her breathing trembling slightly. She didn’t feel any better, nor did she feel any sense of release.
Instead, she felt sad.
A sharp, squeezing pain gripped her heart.
Before this, she could deceive herself, telling herself that what Yu Sheng did might have been due to some hidden difficulties, or that it wasn’t truly the Omega’s intention… But at this moment, she had to face the truth directly, leaving herself no more excuses for self-deception.
It had always been her own wishful thinking, bringing humiliation upon herself.
“Thank you for still remembering, Miss Yu.” Jiang Qiu could hardly even tell if her own voice sounded as calm as usual, she only knew that the smile she forced back onto her face probably looked somewhat strained. “Since that’s the case, we owe each other nothing more.”
The Alpha stood up straight, intending to push the door open and leave.
“Have you forgiven me?” Yu Sheng suddenly grabbed the edge of her clothes with force, terrified that she would disappear forever, and blurted out the question. “Can you forgive me?”