Night deepened. Shen Keyan snuggled in He Jingchuan’s arms, playing on her phone. She reached out, plucked a grape, and held it to He Jingchuan’s lips.
“Jingchuan, have a grape.”
He Jingchuan replied absently, “No. You eat it.”
Shen Keyan calmly drew her hand back and popped the grape into her own mouth.
She slowly rose from He Jingchuan’s arms, stealing a sidelong glance at the phone in his hand.
The screen was on his chat with Qiao Yitang, and He Jingchuan had been staring at it for a long time.
His brows were tightly furrowed. He stared at the screen without blinking, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Shen Keyan knew exactly what was on the screen.
A few nights earlier, she had been leaning over He Jingchuan, both of them drenched in sweat, when she caught sight of the phone on the bedside table lighting up.
He Jingchuan had tried to pull away to check it, but Shen Keyan wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sweetly coaxed him not to let himself get distracted.
She had seen that the message on Jingchuan’s phone was from Qiao Yitang.
In the heat of the moment, she didn’t want Qiao Yitang interrupting them.
Only afterward, when Shen Keyan secretly checked He Jingchuan’s phone, did she learn that Qiao Yitang had sent him a breakup message.
She hadn’t felt much glee. She had guessed that Qiao Yitang was using a breakup threat again to make He Jingchuan come back and see her.
So, for the past few days, Shen Keyan had deliberately stuck close to He Jingchuan.
She was He Jingchuan’s secretary. They were together at work all day, and at night she clung to him with all her might, making sure he couldn’t spare a moment to go looking for Qiao Yitang.
Several days passed, and He Jingchuan still hadn’t heard from Qiao Yitang.
He Jingchuan was the one who couldn’t sit still.
He stared at their chat, unable to understand why Qiao Yitang had sent only “Let’s break up” and then vanished without a trace.
Usually, whenever Qiao Yitang got upset, a long string of complaints and pleas would follow.
The longest she had ever kept up a breakup threat was two days. Now four days had passed.
Could she be angrier than usual this time?
He Jingchuan was hesitating over whether to message Qiao Yitang first when Shen Keyan’s soft arms wound around his waist.
“Jingchuan, is Qiao Yitang still angry with Shen Keyan? I can apologize to her. You’re getting married soon. Don’t let me cause trouble between you.”
“No matter how she treats me, I won’t fight back. I’ll agree to anything she asks, as long as she doesn’t make me leave you…”
Shen Keyan’s eyes reddened, and tears began to fall.
That brought back the time Qiao Yitang had slapped Shen Keyan in front of everyone at a friend’s banquet. Jingchuan had always felt Shen Keyan had been wronged.
He had always felt Shen Keyan had been wronged.
He abruptly turned off his phone and tossed it aside.
“Forget about her. She’s just throwing a tantrum. A few days of cold shoulder and she’ll be fine.”
Shen Keyan suppressed the curve of her lips, nestled meekly against He Jingchuan, and kissed his chin. Her hand began to wander.
She stirred his desire, and soon He Jingchuan put Qiao Yitang out of his mind…
He Jingchuan was showering in the bathroom when his phone, lying on the washstand, suddenly rang.
He immediately shut off the shower. A smug smile tugged at his lips. He’d known Qiao Yitang wouldn’t be able to hold out. It had to be her, calling to make up.
Jingchuan strode toward the washstand, then decided he shouldn’t seem so eager and deliberately slowed his pace.
When he picked up the phone, though, he saw that it was his mother calling.
Disappointed, He Jingchuan kicked the washstand with the tip of his foot.
“Mom, what is it?”
“Have you picked out a wedding dress? The wedding’s coming up soon. You need to put some thought into it.”
He Jingchuan answered in a low voice, “I know.”
Ji Meiru heard the impatience in Jingchuan’s voice and scolded him quietly. “Behave yourself these days. Yitang has suffered enough marrying you. End things with that woman on the side as soon as possible!”
He Jingchuan said nothing. Ji Meiru asked again, “You haven’t fallen out with Yitang over that woman again, have you?”
Thinking of Qiao Yitang’s message—“Let’s break up”—a nameless irritation rose in He Jingchuan’s chest.
“No.”
Ji Meiru said, “Tomorrow, you and Yitang are coming to the Xie Family Estate for dinner together!”
Before He Jingchuan could answer, Ji Meiru hung up.
He Jingchuan was even more annoyed. In anger, he kicked the washstand hard again.
He’d forgotten he wasn’t wearing shoes. He kicked so hard he nearly broke his big toe.
“Fuck!”
The next day, He Jingchuan went back to the Xie Family Estate alone.
Ji Meiru looked displeased. “Where’s Yitang? Why didn’t she come back with you?”
He Jingchuan didn’t mention that Qiao Yitang had asked to break up. He only said, “She’s busy with work. She’s working overtime.”
Ji Meiru was doubtful, and at the dinner table she again urged He Jingchuan to settle down and end things with Shen Keyan.
He Jingchuan was distracted and, unusually, didn’t argue.
He Zhuqing muttered from beside him, “Shen Keyan is much better than Qiao Yitang. She’s a top student who came back from abroad, and her parents are renowned American architects who teach at H University.”
“Qiao Yitang’s parents have been dead for ages, and the Qiao family company went bankrupt long ago. She’s not good enough for my brother anymore. If it were up to me, I’d have called off the engagement already!”
With a sharp clatter, Ji Meiru dropped her chopsticks.
He Zhuqing immediately fell silent, lowered her head, and stuffed food into her mouth, not daring to say another word.
The table fell quiet for a moment. He Huaiyuan gently set down his chopsticks and looked at He Jingchuan with a solemn gaze.
“I don’t care what you and Qiao Yitang are quarreling about, or how many mistresses you keep on the side. The invitations have already gone out. If anything goes wrong, the He family will be disgraced.”
“You two were promised to each other when you were children. Back then, we were not as well off as the Qiao family. Now that the Qiaos have fallen on hard times, if we break the engagement, people will say we went back on our word!”
He Jingchuan was thoroughly irritated. “I know.”
He hadn’t intended to break off the engagement. He had long since decided that Qiao Yitang would be his wife—but only his wife, nothing more.
He Huaiyuan was concerned about the He family’s reputation, but Ji Meiru was worried about Qiao Yitang.
“Yitang’s mother was my dear friend. It breaks my heart to see her all alone now. Her uncle doesn’t treat her well, either. You mustn’t bully her on top of that. End things with Shen Keyan as soon as possible.”
He Jingchuan nodded perfunctorily, paying no mind to Ji Meiru’s words.
But after his parents’ reprimands, Jingchuan still decided to message Qiao Yitang once he left the Xie Family Estate.
“Are you off work? I’ll come see you.”
A red exclamation mark appeared beside the message.
He Jingchuan stared at his phone for a full two minutes. Then he sent a question mark, and only then did he truly believe Qiao Yitang had deleted him.
He had always been the one to ignore Qiao Yitang, while she was always the one chasing after him.
He couldn’t imagine that one day Qiao Yitang would dare delete him from WeChat.
He Jingchuan immediately called Qiao Yitang. He tried twice, but she didn’t answer.
He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, started the car, and drove to Qiao Yitang’s place.
No one answered the doorbell, so he went back to his car to find the key. When he opened the door, the place was pitch-black.
He Jingchuan searched the apartment twice, but couldn’t find a soul. The closet was completely empty, too.
“Fuck!”
He Jingchuan cursed and strode into the living room, where he spotted a bank card on the coffee table.
A yellow sticky note was attached to it.
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