Jiang Minghua abruptly stopped in her tracks, stunned senseless by this news.
She clenched her fist, returned to the changing room, quickly changed her clothes, and sent Chen Lingqian a message.
Jiang Minghua: Qianqian! I’m waiting for you in the auditorium lounge! Come quickly, I have something important to tell you!
Just as she was about to turn off the screen, her phone displayed a call from “Jiang Money Tree.”
Jiang Minghua answered:
“Hello, Dad, what’s up?”
Chairman Jiang informed her over the phone:
“Come home today. There’s something at home I need to tell you.”
Jiang Minghua was now entirely focused on figuring out whether that man was really Xie Jinchen, her mind not on this at all, so she responded:
“I got it. I’ll be back tonight. Let me hang up first, I have things to do.”
After Jiang Minghua finished her performance, Xie Jinchen had made an excuse to leave. Now he stood by the window of the auditorium lounge, a cigarette between his fingers.
Outside the auditorium were tall plane trees. Sunlight fell on the mottled leaves, leaving irregular shadows.
Fragmented light scattered across Xie Jinchen’s broad shoulders. He had just read the email He Yan sent over.
The girl from that night was indeed Jiang Minghua. As for her barging into his room—it was also because she was drunk and accidentally entered the wrong door.
Beyond that, Jiang Minghua was the only girl in the Jiang family. The Jiang family had protected her well.
Almost no one had seen who Jiang Minghua was. Her grandfather was Jiang Jiankun, who had once been a comrade-in-arms with his own grandfather.
Xie Jinchen tapped his cigarette, flicking the ash into the ashtray, his expression unreadable.
To think such a coincidence could happen.
Deep down, he felt an unexpected sense of relief—relief that it was him she had encountered that night. Otherwise…
Xie Jinchen’s gaze fell outside the window. One hand in his pocket, he took a drag of his cigarette, the exhaled smoke blurring his features.
After pondering for a long time, he finally dialed Xie Jingsheng’s number.
His voice was steady, unhurried, carrying a tone that brooked no argument.
“Dad, the matter of marrying the Jiang family’s girl—let’s proceed as planned.”
Xie Jingsheng was at a beauty salon with Zhuang Yining for her skincare treatments. Bored waiting outside,
he received his son’s call. When he clearly heard the contents, he abruptly sat up straight,
his drowsy brain suddenly snapping awake. Astonished:
“What’s going on? You suddenly don’t have a secret crush on that girl anymore? Couldn’t win her over or what?
I told you, who could put up with that temperament of yours? Almost thirty and you’ve never even had a girlfriend. If word got out, you’d have completely disgraced this old face of mine.
Back when I was courting your mother, when was I ever rejected? Even if your mother and I had an arranged marriage, ours was true love—
mutual affection. Even if your mother hadn’t agreed, I would’ve had her tied up and carried to the Xie family’s door.
Are you even my biological son? How come you didn’t learn a single bit of my experience? Can’t even win over a girl—how spineless can you be, Xie Jinchen.”
Xie Jingsheng assumed his son had gotten his heart broken from failing to win the girl over and was calling out of spite.
He then continued lecturing endlessly:
“I let you marry according to your own wishes. Even if you can’t win the girl and can’t marry the one you want,
your mother and I won’t force you to marry someone else. Do you even understand?”
Xie Jinchen: “…”
Xie Jinchen stubbed out his cigarette, unhurriedly pressing the butt into the ashtray. He rubbed his brow.
He didn’t want to say so much to him. Old people, once they get on in years, love to talk—endlessly.
Xie Jinchen patiently explained:
“It’s my fault. Don’t overthink it. My marriage to Jiang Minghua is something I chose willingly, and it’s because of who she is as a person. As for who I had a crush on, don’t take that to heart — I said it on a whim. Once we’re married, I’ll only treat Jiang Minghua as my wife.”
Xie Jinchen gave the other party no time to react, decisively adding, “You and Mom can let me know whenever you think is a good time for us to get the marriage certificate.”
Then he hung up the phone without hesitation.
Xie Jinchen didn’t see much point in marriage, but since his parents were so eager for him to settle down — and filial piety came first — he couldn’t keep putting them off.
Besides, Jiang Minghua was his first woman. To be honest, he didn’t mind marrying her at all.
That settled it. No matter what, if he got married and fulfilled his duties as a husband, that would be his way of giving his parents peace of mind.
Just as he was thinking this, a faint sound came from the doorway.
The lounge wasn’t very large, but it was clean and spacious, with everything arranged neatly and easy to take in at a glance.
Jiang Minghua pushed the door open and stepped in, looking somewhat distracted.
She had changed out of her dress into her usual casual clothes — a loose pink-white short-sleeved top, white casual shorts, and a pair of unbranded sneakers.
The perfect college student look. Her skin was fair, her figure well-proportioned, and at 168 centimeters, she seemed even more vibrant and radiant.
Jiang Minghua closed the door behind her casually, and the quiet space was suddenly broken by the sound of an object clattering.
She had assumed the room was empty, so when she looked up abruptly, her gaze landed on —
A man sat on the sofa not far away, with an outstanding build and strikingly handsome features.
Meeting the man’s sharp, deep gaze, Jiang Minghua’s legs nearly gave out. She really was about to kneel!
Why him again?!
Without a second thought, she moved quickly, turning around and grabbing the door handle to flee —
“Miss Jiang.”
The man’s steady, magnetic voice drifted over from behind her, calm and measured.
Jiang Minghua sighed inwardly, closed her eyes, and resignedly let go of the handle before turning around.
The moment she turned, a flawless, proper smile was already on her face:
“Hello, is there something you need?”
She wasn’t surprised he knew her name. After all, with his power and influence, there was nothing he couldn’t find out if he wanted to.
Xie Jinchen watched her standing there, feigning nonchalance, looking at him as if she didn’t know him at all. He crossed his legs, tapped the sofa with his index finger, and smiled:
“Nothing much. I just wanted to ask you —”
Jiang Minghua’s heart pounded like thunder, her breath caught in her throat. She knew it — he was going to ask her about that night!
This is bad, this is bad, this is bad.
Xie Jinchen noticed her smile had gone stiff, her fingers tightly clenched together. Something stirred within him, and he said casually:
“Why do you run when you see me?”
Jiang Minghua: “…Huh?”
Looking at the man’s sharply defined handsome face, his gaze resting lightly on her as if he meant nothing more, her heart suddenly dropped back into place. Her reaction had never been faster. Though his dignified, composed aura unsettled her slightly, she steadied herself inwardly and replied with perfectly polite courtesy:
“I just noticed someone in the lounge. Sorry for disturbing you — I wasn’t running away.”
Jiang Minghua believed there was nothing wrong with what she’d said.
Xie Jinchen nodded knowingly, then gestured nonchalantly toward the sofa beside him:
“Is that so? You’ve been standing there the whole time — aren’t you tired?”
Classmate Jiang, I just saw your performance on stage—it was brilliant. Come over and have some tea to soothe your throat.
Jiang Minghua: “…”
She was playing the qin, not singing—what was there to tire her throat out for?
Besides, how could she possibly agree to sit and have tea with him?
Having tea with a strange man she’d slept with—was she insane?
Although she had confirmed he was Xie Jinchen, the name that had dominated her entire middle school years as a role model—she both hated him and admired him—
But aside from his identity, he was still the strange man she had spent a night with.