“Hahahahaha!”
Seeing that the seemingly mature and steady Song Qichen held back and held back, yet in the end still could not stop himself from rolling his eyes at her, Jiang Mian finally could not keep up the act and burst out laughing.
She did not really know what was wrong with her. The moment she saw Song Qichen wearing that icy, stone-faced expression, she would feel inexplicably bored and want to tease him.
Especially when she saw that he clearly had countless words right at the tip of his tongue, only to swallow them back one by one.
That just made Jiang Mian find it even funnier.
At the same time, Jiang Mian’s cheerful laughter sounded unbearably grating to Song Xiguang’s ears, the very man who had just tried to sow discord between her and Song Qichen right in front of her.
He could not understand why Song Qichen was always so lucky.
He had been dumped in such a distant place, yet the Song family still managed to find him and bring him back. He did not end up as a beggar, nor did he lose an arm or a leg. Although he never received a proper education and never attended any prestigious university, he was still able, relying purely on talent, to manage the Song Group better and better. Even when it came to finding a girlfriend, he could ignore provocation and stand firmly at his side without wavering.
Why?
Song Xiguang lowered his gaze, his lips pressed into a reluctant curve, the jealousy hidden deep in his eyes nearly burning them red.
This “dazed and dejected” look of his fell into the eyes of Yao Qi and the others, who mistakenly thought that Song Xiguang had been hurt by Song Qichen’s cold and merciless attitude just now, and they all began comforting him at once.
“Brother Xiguang, don’t take that woman’s words to heart. Others may not understand you, but don’t we?”
When the speaker mentioned “that woman,” he deliberately lowered his voice, afraid Jiang Mian might hear and put on another live performance of fork-throwing and head-shaving right on the spot.
“Exactly, exactly. I bet it’s because Song Qichen is always whispering nonsense in her ear that she’s developed such deep misunderstandings about you. Sure enough, Song Qichen is really not a good person!”
“No matter what, Brother Xiguang, we’re all on your side. No matter how much the elders at home sing Song Qichen’s praises, we will never switch sides!”
…
Listening to these words, Song Xiguang could not help but curse them out viciously in his heart.
‘What use is the support of you good-for-nothing, presentable-on-the-outside wastrels? Can it be turned into cash, or can it help me return to the Song Group?’
‘A bunch of things that look good but are utterly useless!’
Song Xiguang seethed inwardly.
But what choice did he have? Ever since he had been driven out of the Song Group by Song Qichen through underhanded means, the only people left around him were this bunch of second-generation heirs who did nothing all day except eat, drink, and have fun. Those who had even a little say in their own family companies, under the instigation of their elders at home, had gradually stopped associating with him.
A bunch of snobbish bastards!
Did they really think that he, Song Xiguang, was finished?
The outcome was still far from decided. Until the very end, who knew who the real winner would be?
Right now, Song Xiguang could not compete with Song Qichen.
But who knew whether that little bastard Song Qichen might run into some kind of accident in the future and suddenly disappear from this world?
A flash of madness flickered through Song Xiguang’s eyes.
When he raised his head again, however, the look in the man’s eyes had already returned to normal.
He lifted his gaze toward the front. Standing before his eyes was none other than the broadcast display screens at the Banshan Club, used by these rich young men to watch racing.
As he watched, something swiftly flashed through Song Xiguang’s eyes.
Perhaps he knew how to make Song Qichen disgrace himself.
“All right, Yao Qi, you don’t need to comfort me anymore. I’ve long since gotten used to Ah Chen being like that. He says something once and I feel hurt once. How could I possibly be hurt that many times? You don’t need to crowd around me.”
At this point, Song Xiguang’s words paused slightly. Then, as if casually, he pointed toward the display screens in front of them. “By the way, I remember that at previous gatherings, you all often raced on the Banshan Road. Why are the display screens black today?”
“Well, isn’t today supposed to be a refined tea-tasting gathering? Racing, that kind of intense competition, really doesn’t fit…”
As he said this, Yao Qi’s voice suddenly stopped, and a look of sudden realization quickly rose in his eyes.
“Wait, I’ve got it!”
Yao Qi shouted, successfully drawing everyone’s attention around him.
“You’ve got it? Yao Qi, you’re a grown man and you still have that function?”
“I don’t care, when it’s born I’m definitely being the godfather!”
“Hahahaha…”
Faced with everyone’s teasing, Yao Qi hurriedly reined in the excitement on his face and waved his hand impatiently. “Get lost, get lost!”
After chasing this group away, Yao Qi leaned over to Song Xiguang’s ear and began whispering.
After hearing Yao Qi’s clever plan, a trace of satisfaction swiftly flashed through Song Xiguang’s eyes. On the surface, however, his brows suddenly knit together. “Ah Qi, isn’t this going a bit too far…”
Before Song Xiguang could finish speaking, Yao Qi had already pushed him down onto the sofa. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Song Qichen has already gone way too far himself. I’m just using a small trick to make him embarrass himself. What’s the problem with that? All right, all right, Brother Xiguang, stop talking. This has nothing to do with you. Just sit to the side and watch properly. Let me handle this!”
After saying that, Yao Qi eagerly gathered with a few of his other good-for-nothing friends and began talking about his brilliant plan.
Song Xiguang was left behind, wearing a face full of concern as he watched their backs. Yet his fingers, quite pleased with themselves, began tapping lightly on the rosewood sofa armrest, tap after tap.
“Tap tap tap!”
Five minutes later, an excited-looking Yao Qi suddenly appeared beneath the electronic display screens. He clapped his hands hard, successfully drawing the attention of almost everyone below to himself, including Jiang Mian.
The moment he met Jiang Mian’s smiling eyes, for some reason, even though she had never laid a hand on him, Yao Qi’s heart still gave an inexplicable shudder.
He glanced at Song Xiguang again, and only then did boundless confidence well up inside him. Then, deliberately avoiding looking in Jiang Mian’s direction, Yao Qi’s voice slowly rang out.
“Everyone, listen to me. I don’t know how you’re all feeling about today’s tea-tasting gathering, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s been boring to the extreme. Tea tasting, this kind of pretentiously refined thing, really isn’t all that suitable for us…”
“Exactly. All this tea has made my mouth so bland I could practically grow feathers!”
Before Yao Qi could finish speaking, someone below hurriedly chimed in.
“Yao Qi, do you have some idea or not? If you do, hurry up and say it already. Stop always keeping us in suspense!”
Another person shouted loudly.
“What ideas could I possibly have? I was just thinking that since so many people from the Banshan Supercar Club are here today, and the weather outside is pretty nice, why don’t we all have a race?”
“Sure! I just got a new car and haven’t raced it yet!”
One person responded with great enthusiasm.
“If I’d known we were racing, I wouldn’t have been pouring all this tea down my throat. I’ve drunk so much I’m about to throw up!”
Another person complained.
The voices below sounded chaotic and noisy, buzzing together.
Yao Qi quickly raised his hand to signal everyone to quiet down. “It’s not too late to say it now, is it? So what do you say, brothers, shall we head out and race right now?”
The moment Yao Qi finished speaking, the crowd below responded in unison.
Looking at those excited faces, a trace of ill intent rose in Yao Qi’s eyes.
“With so many people, the Banshan Road can’t handle the crowd anyway. How about this, we’ll just pick a few cars to race. As for everyone else, you can place bets indoors.”
“Come on, let me take a count. Who wants to race, and who wants to bet? Hm? President Song, it looks like this is your first time joining one of our gatherings. How about it, want to play a couple of rounds?”
“Better not. Who doesn’t know about Song Qichen… heh heh. Yao Qi, aren’t you deliberately making things awkward for him by asking him to race?”
Amid the crowd that had been eagerly responding, a teasing voice suddenly piped up.
“I heard that Song Qichen still doesn’t even have a car for daily transportation, let alone a supercar. Ha. After all, he grew up outside. I’m thinking, could it be that he doesn’t even know how to drive yet?”
“This stingy streak of his is practically legendary in Yanjing City. Haven’t you heard…”
“Is that for real? That’s a bit too cheap, isn’t it? Forget it, Yao Qi, why call him out at all? President Song is probably… probably doesn’t even have a driver’s license, pfft!”
Watching this scene of everyone openly mocking Song Qichen, Song Xiguang felt as if, in the height of summer, he were sitting alone in an air-conditioned room after finishing an entire ice-cold watermelon. Exhilarating.
The corners of the man’s mouth lifted slightly.
“Alright then…”
On the stage, Yao Qi pretended to shake his head helplessly, though he could not stop the faint upward curl of his lips. “Given certain objective factors, we won’t count President Song in. So then…”
“Hey, don’t!”
At that very moment, a clear and bright female voice suddenly rang out from behind the crowd.
“He’s not racing, but I will.”
Who else could the speaker be if not Jiang Mian?
The woman was dressed in a pure black spaghetti-strap maxi dress, her legs crossed, arms spread wide as she lounged arrogantly and boldly against the brown sofa.
Beside her sat Song Qichen, sitting straight-backed in a tailored suit.
With the way the two of them looked, the woman hardly seemed like some little mistress brought along by Song Qichen.
If anything, Song Qichen looked more like the pretty boy she had brought with her.
Honestly, it was something else.
The moment she spoke, the excited expression on Yao Qi’s face instantly froze. “Don’t… don’t mess around, M… Miss Jiang. You came with President Song. President Song doesn’t even have a car. You’re not telling me you do, are you…”
“I said, I want to race.”
Jiang Mian enunciated her demand word by word.
In response, Yao Qi and his group of friends had all kinds of objections right on the tip of their tongues. Yet the moment they thought of the four clearly defined black-and-yellow marks on Li Li’s head, they forcibly swallowed those words back down.
“Fine. As long as you have a car, you can race however you want. We won’t interfere!”
Yao Qi decided to go all in.
“Jiang Mian…”
Hearing this, Song Qichen took a deep breath and called her name in a complicated tone.
Before he could finish what he wanted to say, Jiang Mian had already turned her head and lightly pressed a finger against his lips. “Shh, don’t talk! They’ve already bullied you right to your face. Aren’t you angry at all? You might be able to swallow this, but I can’t! Ever since I was little, anyone I’ve protected has never been bullied right in front of me by someone else!”
Jiang Mian spoke with ringing conviction.
Song Qichen: “……” ‘Before you say that, could you at least try to hide the eagerness written all over your face?’
“…Anyone who’s decided to race or place bets, please follow me.”
Yao Qi called out from the front.
At his words, without sparing another thought for the Song Qichen who looked like he wanted to speak but stopped himself, Jiang Mian happily moved to follow.
She had barely taken two steps when Song Qichen suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm from behind.
Jiang Mian turned around and saw Song Qichen with his brows tightly knitted, looking extremely worried.
Seeing this, Jiang Mian’s heart softened. She lifted her hand and patted the back of Song Qichen’s hand. “Mm, don’t worry about me. My driving skills are just like my motorcycle skills. Both are like this. Well, I’ll… pay attention to safety.”
She awkwardly tried to comfort Song Qichen with a couple of words.
After all, that made sense. Racing was such a dangerous thing. It was perfectly normal for Song Qichen to be worried.
Tsk, her charm really was just that overwhelming. They had only been together for such a short time, yet Song Qichen was already worrying about her to this extent.
If they kept spending time together, he would probably… fall in love with her!
‘Tch, this damned charm of mine that has nowhere to go.’
Jiang Mian sighed sincerely.
It was at this moment that Song Qichen’s voice, which he had been holding back for a long time, finally sounded.
“No. I just wanted to say that when this group places bets, it’s never below seven figures. It’s fine if you want to race, but if you lose, you pay the money yourself.”
Jiang Mian: “……”
“…………”
After locking eyes with the utterly earnest Song Qichen for a long while, standing in front of the wooden wall paneling, Jiang Mian suddenly pulled out the fork she had stuck there earlier and, right in front of Song Qichen, snapped it in half with a loud crack… snapped it… snapped…
Song Qichen: “!!!”
“I’ll give you one chance to say that again.”
Jiang Mian smiled.
Song Qichen: “……”
“…………”
“Ahem, what I mean is… be careful. Don’t worry about the money. I’m here. No matter how much it is, it’s not as important as you. To me, you’re the most important.”
Song Qichen’s eyes were filled with a kind of determination he had never shown before.
*
After saying such a thoroughly insincere set of words, a dazed and absent-minded Song Qichen followed behind Jiang Mian and arrived at a parking lot not far from the Banshan Club.
Looking around, there were Ferrari 488s, Aston Martins, Rolls-Royce Phantoms, Porsche 911s…
Luxury cars were lined up like cabbages laid out by the roadside, free for anyone to pick.
This stretch of Banshan Road had long ago been modified by the supercar club and was privately owned. No one knew how many cameras had been installed along the route. Not only would there be no outside vehicles accidentally entering and disrupting the race, but one could also stay indoors and enjoy a comprehensive, detailed view of the entire race.
“…The stakes shouldn’t be too high either. Two million per person for those placing bets. The winner gets to split the pot with those betting on the winning side. The loser will have to pay this amount together with the others who placed bets. Any objections?”
Just as Jiang Mian led Song Qichen over to Yao Qi and the others, she heard this arrangement.
Song Qichen: “!!!”
‘Two million! You people are clearly coming for my life!!!’
He had already made up his mind. If Jiang Mian lost, he would grab her and jump off this mountain together!
No room for negotiation!
With everything on this side arranged, Yao Qi and the others could not help but turn their gazes toward Jiang Mian, who was standing to the side with a curious look on her face, glancing around everywhere.
Sensing their stares, Jiang Mian suddenly turned her head, accidentally meeting the eyes of several people who had not managed to look away in time.
Since they had already been caught peeking, Yao Qi and the others stopped trying to dodge it.
“By the way, Miss Jiang, where’s your car? We’re about to start the race. Is your car ready?”
In the end, Yao Qi was the one who braced himself and spoke up.
“A car? I don’t have one.”
Jiang Mian spread her hands, utterly bare-handed.
The moment she said that, Yao Qi and the others had yet to react, but on the other side, a short-tempered bald man who had never witnessed Jiang Mian’s fork-throwing head-shaving stunt immediately cursed.
“What’s wrong with you, woman? You don’t even have a car and you came to race? Are you here to mess with us? President Song, aren’t you going to rein in your woman at all?”
Song Qichen: “……” ‘Can’t control her, please don’t drag me into this.’