It was Wu Qi.
“Are you still trying to stop her?” Qi Jin’s tone carried a hint of a rising smile, so pleasant it drew the ear in—but looking at his face, it was as cold as an autumn lake.
In the twilight, half of Wu Qi’s tall figure was swallowed by the dim yellow light. Wu Qi said nothing.
Qi Jin’s index finger tapped lightly against the armrest of the lounge chair, the rhythmic tapping striking against the stagnant air of the room.
“I know what you mean. She’s about to get married.”
At this point, the corner of Qi Jin’s mouth finally curved into a smile, but the coldness in his eyes was like ice that scraped bone.
“He’s just a lowly man who took advantage of her vulnerability.”
His tone was casual and flat, but the tapping in the cabin had stopped.
He had discovered Zheng Miaomiao’s whereabouts only a few days before Shen Xu did.
But unlike Shen Xu, who had recklessly rushed to her the moment he found her—only to be rejected and struck by a bolt from the blue—Qi Jin had acted differently.
The moment Qi Jin discovered that Zheng Miaomiao had appeared in his hometown, he set out for this place immediately. But he didn’t go to see her right away. Instead, once he had located her whereabouts, he had his people follow the trail and investigate everything she had done over the past two years.
And so Qi Jin obtained countless photographs—records Zheng Miaomiao and Lin Qin’an had left behind all over the world.
When he saw the man who was always intimately close to the girl in photo after photo, the fury in his chest nearly boiled over.
They had searched everywhere for her, yet for two years there had been no word from her. Those long seven hundred days had nearly turned him into a demon trapped in a bottle.
He thought countless times of the look in her eyes when she left, worried countless times for her safety, and for over two years he had never once slept well.
His contempt had become scalding hot oil, boiling his blood and heart into a burning obsession.
Yet in the end, it was such a lowly creature who had hidden her away—and won her wholehearted love.
Yes, wholehearted love.
Back then, he had always looked down on her. Perhaps, deep down, he had been unwilling to admit that he, Qi Jin, who had stood above everyone for more than twenty years, had taken a fancy to an ordinary girl—and that the girl was only captivated by his money, power, and looks.
He had believed this girl had no heart. He had coldly watched others like him circle around her, watched her longing and hesitation, watched her frivolous, laughable habit of leaving affection everywhere she went.
A heartless little plaything.
That was what he had thought at the time.
He had always believed he saw through Zheng Miaomiao—saw through this girl who was barren in both body and soul. So he was alternately kind and cruel to her, unwilling to admit that she was his destined partner for life. It had never occurred to him that she would leave.
And in the end, she had left so silently. There was no deliberate farewell, and no deliberate refusal to say goodbye.
She had discarded them the way one discards the chronic burdens of the first half of one’s life.
It took Qi Jin a long, long time to understand: her heart was harder than any of them had imagined.
Power, wealth, beauty—she wanted them all. But in her heart, none of these could outweigh herself.
In places they could not see, everything they had so self-righteously given her had long since gathered into a black, muddy swamp. If she wanted those things, she would have to let herself sink into it.
So she left.
Vanity was only her surface; a cold heart was her true nature.
Qi Jin had thought she would never truly fall in love with anyone. Yet in the photo, the girl’s gaze at that man was so bright—full of complete trust and adoration.
So she was capable of loving someone like that.
But it had to be for some wild man who had appeared out of nowhere.
Qi Jin suppressed the darkness surging within him.
“One must always be patient, Wu Qi.”
It was as if he were admonishing Wu Qi.
Even though countless times he had wanted to simply raise his gun and shoot that wild man’s guts to shreds, he could no longer bear the consequences of a second loss.
Wu Qi said nothing.
He only nodded silently and said, “I’ll take Miss Zheng home.”
……
The crisp moonlight was shattered into silver foil by the cool, salty sea breeze.
Zheng Miaomiao never noticed the man who had been silently watching over her from afar the whole way home.
Her steps were unsteady, and her heart was as tangled as a knotted ball of thread.
She never imagined that a simple walk to clear her head would lead to running into Qi Jin.
Even less did she expect that the cold, aloof financial tycoon from her memory would be so obsessed with her.
What she found hardest to accept was that she had, once again so shamefully, been seduced by a pretty face!
Forget it, forget it.
Zheng Miaomiao shook out her hair, hoping the sea breeze could cool her feverish head.
Forget it. Even if she resisted, it wouldn’t make any difference—she might just end up suffering for it.
This wasn’t her fault at all! It was that bastard Qi Jin!
She consoled herself, but a deep unease still lingered in her heart.
If it were only Shen Xu, she could pretend nothing was happening. But now with Qi Jin added to the mix, she had many worries about the peaceful life that lay ahead.
Before, she and Shen Xu had both been university students—not at the same university, but in the same university town.
Though later she had vaguely learned of the enormous power behind Shen Xu, and heard rumors of his iron-blooded methods.
Still, they were peers after all. Even though Shen Xu was cruel to her, he was more or less like any cold, bad-boy type. Zheng Miaomiao knew he was dangerous at his core, but when it came down to it, it was hard for her to feel any real fear or dread of him.
But Qi Jin was different.
From the very beginning, Qi Jin had been that lofty figure at the top.
She had witnessed his methods. He and the world as she saw it were simply not the same. In his eyes, the laws and order she relied on could all be trampled flat with ease.
Zheng Miaomiao pressed her lips together, her thoughts growing more and more chaotic.
She began to worry about her own life, and about Lin Qin’an’s safety.
She and Lin Qin’an were both just ordinary people.
How could they possibly resist someone of such power and standing?
……
That night she didn’t go home. Before coming, she had told Lin Qin’an she would be staying at her grandmother’s house for the night.
Her grandmother had long since prepared a sumptuous dinner, waiting for her to come home and eat.
After dinner, Zheng Miaomiao returned to the room her grandmother had tidied up for her to rest. Inside, she took a call from Lin Qin’an, suppressing the unease in her heart as she assured him she was safe.
In the past, she had been an open book to Lin Qin’an, but after spending over two years together day and night, she had long since come to understand this man. Now, with the two of them acting over the phone, Lin Qin’an didn’t suspect a thing.
Her grandmother’s house stood right on the seashore, and this room had a fairly spacious balcony.
Zheng Miaomiao had lived here with her grandmother when she was little; the place held so many of her memories.
Now her grandmother’s house had been renovated, and the faintly damp wooden smell from her memory was gone, but the overall layout remained much the same as before.
Zheng Miaomiao sat on the balcony, feeling the breeze, gazing at the distant ink-black sea as it swelled and receded like the breathing of a giant god.
All she could hear was the sound of cicadas and waves.
It should have been a very pleasant moment. Over the past two years, she and Lin Qin’an had traveled all over the world and seen countless magnificent sights, yet they often found themselves missing this sea.
But right now, the shadow on her heart would not go away.
Just as she was feeling gloomy, the phone rang again.
She picked it up and looked—it wasn’t Lin Qin’an, but an unfamiliar number.
And yet that number seemed somewhat familiar to her.
She sat in her chair, coldly watching the phone vibrate on the tea table for a long while. Just as it was about to end, she answered.
“Miaomiao, I thought you’d hang up.”
Qi Jin’s voice came through the receiver, tinged with laughter and surprise.