An hour later.
Qin Shuyi stared with a deep, thoughtful gaze at Qian Youyou, who was surrounded by a group of handsome men and grinning so widely she couldn’t even close her mouth.
Was it really not because someone had long wanted to come out and have fun, insisting on tagging along to stay at her place and then urging her to come out?
“Hehe~” Qian Youyou guiltily shook her arm. “I did want to come myself, but I also genuinely wanted you to have a good time. That guy is already all lovey-dovey with someone else in the news, so why should you obediently wait for him to break up? Let’s all have fun together.”
Qin Shuyi manually closed her mouth. “First, wipe that smile off your face.”
“Is someone coming to pick you up?” she asked again.
Qin Youyou patted her chest. “Don’t worry, the driver has been waiting outside the whole time.”
Drinking was one thing, but she still knew to consider safety. Before they came, she had already messaged the Jiang Family’s driver.
Since they were already here, and Qian Youyou had some sense of boundaries, Qin Shuyi didn’t want to spoil her fun.
When Qian Youyou enthusiastically pulled a handsome guy with a pleasant voice away to sing karaoke, Qin Shuyi watched with interest as a good-looking man beside her swiftly manipulated his hands. “You know how to mix drinks?”
The man, having been addressed, glanced at Qin Shuyi’s face, his ears turning slightly red. “I worked part-time as a bartender before.”
He flashed a carefully practiced smile, his eyes filled with anticipation and ambition. “Sister, would you like to try my skills?”
Qin Shuyi glanced at the colorful array of glasses. “You can teach me.”
The two friends, one singing karaoke and the other learning to mix drinks, occasionally laughing at the jokes from those around them, each enjoyed themselves in their own way.
The evening’s scandal involving her nominal boyfriend had stirred a faint ripple but left no trace in the calm waters of her heart.
Unbeknownst to her, someone had pushed aside official duties, flying over two thousand kilometers for that brief message, his face as dark as ink.
Break up?
She had even phrased it politely, with a questioning tone.
Ling Jue couldn’t describe his feelings.
…
Finding someone in the entertainment venues of the Imperial Capital was no difficult task for the Ling Family’s Crown Prince.
Outside the airport, Ling Jue sat in the back seat of a Rolls-Royce speeding through the night lights, wearily pinching the bridge of his nose.
There were many things he couldn’t be bothered to explain.
And because none of the women around him before had dared to question him.
Who he knew, who he associated with, and what kind of relationships he had with others wouldn’t hinder the presence of a mere vase by his side.
But he had forgotten—Qin Shuyi wasn’t one of those people who couldn’t be driven away.
Perhaps Tao Wangxi was indeed a suitable candidate for a fiancée,
but she wasn’t worth giving up Qin Shuyi for.
Until he decided to break up, Tao Wangxi would remain nothing more than Miss Tao.
As for whether Tao Wangxi would wait for him to settle down, he didn’t care.
If it wasn’t Tao Wangxi, there would be someone else.
But no one else would ever make him feel the way Qin Shuyi did.
Today’s incident was a misunderstanding; he and Tao Wangxi had merely run into each other by chance.
His mother had asked him to pick her up, but he had refused.
He had flown to another city for work, but after seeing the message, he chose to return immediately.
Thinking of those two words, he felt a mix of anger and happiness.
Perhaps she was jealous.
After all, she loved him so much—how could she bear to break up?
Forwarding that news was just her way of hinting that even the most obedient person could feel possessive.
Fine, he’d indulge her a little. He wasn’t planning to pursue anything with Tao Wangxi for now, and he could let that slip.
He just had to warn her not to be so willful in the future—he hated trouble.
From yesterday until now, he hadn’t slept more than five hours.
Then he thought of her going to such a place to have fun, of the covetous gazes that might have fallen upon her, and a rare trace of restlessness surfaced in him.
“Speed up,” he said in a low voice.
The driver glanced at the man in the back seat through the rearview mirror, who looked like a storm was brewing, and silently stepped on the accelerator.
……
Qin Shuyi couldn’t learn to surf, but she seemed to have some talent for mixing drinks.
After drinking too many mixed cocktails, the person who had only intended to get slightly tipsy ended up drunk as expected.
But Qin Shuyi had good drinking manners—she just leaned obediently against the sofa, tilting her head and staring blankly at Qian Youyou, who was howling like a ghost.
To the uninformed, it might have looked like she was just daydreaming.
Qin Youyou, fueled by alcohol, grew angry when she saw the handsome guy eagerly feeding her fruit.
“You men, you’re all smooth talkers when it comes to sweet-talking, but in reality, you’re all immoral scoundrels!”
She stomped her foot. “Bad men, bad men, bad men.”
Then she started crying again, sniffling as she crawled over and sat on the carpet, hugging Qin Shuyi’s leg. “Sis, don’t get married, wuwuwu… None of them are good enough for you. We promised we’d stay together forever.”
In her heart, Qin Shuyi was her real sister.
Back when her parents divorced and her mother remarried and moved to the Imperial Capital, it was her cousin Qin Shuyi who had accompanied her through all the uneasy, anxious years of her youth.
No matter how unattainable others thought Ling Jue was, in Qian Youyou’s eyes, he was nothing more than a scoundrel who bullied her sister—just a bit more handsome and a bit more powerful.
“How hateful!” She punched her own leg hard, hurting herself, then opened her mouth and wailed again. “I’ll earn lots of money in the future and make Ling Jue your side piece.”
Qin Shuyi didn’t understand the logic behind this, nor did she have the clarity of mind to think it through.
Leaning against the back of the sofa, she smiled softly, gently stroking the head resting on her knee. Her unfocused gaze and the words she spoke, however, betrayed her drunkenness.
“That’s not legal.”
Qin Youyou laughed. “If it were legal, would it be okay?”
“Sis, do you like him?”
The man who had rushed to the door, still carrying a chill from outside, stopped in his tracks.
Qin Shuyi hesitated for a moment, thinking seriously, then nodded. “I like him.”
Someone, like ice and snow meeting the spring breeze, gently lifted the corners of his lips.
Qin Youyou pouted.
“Then do you love him?”
“No.”
Without a second thought, her tone was as sincere as when she had said “I like him.”
The sky had changed.
……
Qin Shuyi woke up the next day at the Jiang Family’s residence.
The driver, worried that the two young ladies would have no one to take care of them in Qin Shuyi’s small apartment, dutifully brought them back.
Seeing the two drunkards, Zhou Tinglan, who had also seen the news yesterday, surprisingly didn’t lose her temper.
Before breakfast, Qin Shuyi casually opened her phone to check WeChat.
In the past, even if Ling Jue hadn’t seen her messages due to work, he would reply promptly when he had time.
But in the chat window, there was still only that lonely message: “Breaking up?”
The recipient had clearly read it but hadn’t replied.
Qin Shuyi lowered her eyes and took a sip of milk.
Was Ling Jue, the Crown Prince, feeling slighted because a woman had brought up breaking up with him? But hadn’t she left the decision in his hands?
Otherwise, what he would have received would have been—
“We’re breaking up.”
Perhaps she had been too hasty—she should have waited for him to say it?
Lost in thought, she pondered this.