It had been a very long time since Qi Zhicheng had seen Jiang Man cry like this in front of him.
Her tears slid down one after another, unable to stop no matter what. Those beautiful eyes were very red, filled entirely with tears, looking incredibly fragile. She resembled a young bird drenched by rain and snow, flying away from the warm nest he had built for her, getting injured outside, and shivering pitifully.
A dense, sharp pain ground into Qi Zhicheng’s chest. He reached out his hand, wanting to pull his little bird into his embrace.
The moment his fingers touched her arm, Jiang Man stepped back and forcefully pushed his hand away.
“Leave,” she said.
“I do not want to see you right now.”
He saw that her eyes were full of estrangement and defensiveness, looking exactly the same as she did four years ago before she lost her memory.
Back then, she was just like this, even though she would hold him, kiss him, follow his every word, and engage in all the intimate acts between a man and a woman. Yet every time she looked at him, her eyes always carried coldness, as if she were looking at a stranger rather than her husband.
During this recent period, he had brought out twelve points of patience, adopting the gentle appearance he used to detest the most. Only then did his Manman finally begin to accept him slowly, allowing him to stay within her safe distance, and even occasionally showing a tiny bit of reliance on him.
He did not expect that at this very moment, everything would return to the starting point.
The tenderness in the depths of Qi Zhicheng’s eyes slowly faded away, replaced by a layer of gloom. His hands hanging at his sides tightened unconsciously, and that possessive desire that had been suppressed by him for a long time began to clamor wildly inside his heart again. He wanted to disregard everything and lock her by his side, wanting her to only be able to look at him, rely on him, and never be able to leave him again.
Jiang Man, who kept her eyes lowered all this time, did not see the gloom in Qi Zhicheng’s eyes at all. Tears blurred her vision, and seeing him standing there without moving, she pursed her lips and reached out to pull the room door, wanting to shut him outside.
“I told you to leave, can you not understand me?”
Her hand had just landed on the doorknob when Qi Zhicheng suddenly reached out, grabbing the room door that was about to close.
The force at that instant was so great that the door panel made a loud bang, causing even Jiang Man to be momentarily dazed for a second. His knuckles pressed against the door panel, gathering force, and gripped tightly.
Jiang Man clearly had not expected that Qi Zhicheng, who was always restrained and courteous, would do such a thing, and she raised her head in astonishment. The man lowered his head slightly, a few strands of hair on his forehead just happening to cover his eyes, making it impossible to see the current emotions within them clearly.
Jiang Man frowned, pulling the room door forcefully once more.
However, the strength between the two of them was far too disparate. No matter how hard she tried, the room door was firmly controlled by Qi Zhicheng, remaining completely motionless.
Jiang Man was both angry and anxious, her tears flowing even more fiercely. She simply gave up on the idea of closing the door, released her grip, turned around, and walked straight into the room.
Walking quickly to the side of the bed, she lifted the blanket and buried herself inside, even covering her head tightly. She did not want to see him.
Behind her came the sound of the room door being gently closed. Following that were steady footsteps, approaching the bedside step by step.
Jiang Man felt the edge of the bed sink slightly. It was Qi Zhicheng sitting down beside her.
Jiang Man immediately turned her body while holding the blanket, facing away from him, shrinking herself inside the covers so as not to look at him.
The room was very quiet. Qi Zhicheng sat silently behind her, and she could feel his gaze landing on her back.
Qi Zhicheng let out a sigh. With a gentle tug, he pulled that layer of blanket down from her head.
“Is it not suffocating?” Qi Zhicheng asked.
Jiang Man turned her face away, “I do not need your concern.”
Qi Zhicheng did not care about her resistance, reaching out to gently pull her hand out from the blanket. Jiang Man wanted to draw her hand back, but he held it firmly in his grasp.
Only at this moment did she notice a scratch on her palm. It was caused by a flower branch when she threw the flowers just now. Previously, due to her emotional agitation, she had not felt it, but now, being enveloped by his warm palm, a dense wave of pain arrived a bit late.
Meanwhile, that bouquet of roses that had been thrown and scattered was currently placed properly on the table to the side.
Qi Zhicheng looked down at her wound, gently leaning close to her palm, and blew on it softly. That warm breath fell upon her palm, bringing a hint of a ticklish sensation.
“Does it hurt?”
His appearance of utmost gentleness made Jiang Man almost forget that they were still arguing three minutes ago.
“I already said I do not need your concern,” Jiang Man drew her own hand back from his palm.
Qi Zhicheng looked at her reddened palm and did not force her again, merely standing up and turning to walk toward the cabinet on the other side. Jiang Man thought he was finally going to leave, but when she turned her head, she saw him bringing a medicine box over.
He sat down on the edge of the bed once more, “Extend your hand.”
Jiang Man ignored him.
Qi Zhicheng did not say anything else either, patiently opening the medicine box, taking out iodine and a cotton swab, and reaching out once more to hold her hand. Jiang Man simply could not pull it back.
When the cotton swab dipped in iodine touched the wound, it felt a bit painful, and she could not help but shrink her fingers.
“It will be over very quickly, I will be gentler.”
Jiang Man knew she could not outdo him, so she turned her head to look at the dark night sky outside the window, simply choosing not to look at him.
The snow outside the window was falling heavily, and a vast expanse of white covered the distance. She could feel Qi Zhicheng’s deliberately softened movements. Every time the wound was touched, her hand would unconsciously shrink due to the pain, and every time it hurt, he would pause his movements, blow on it gently, and then continue the treatment.
The lighting in the room was soft. Silence spread between the two of them for a long time.
“I still remember, on the night you had a fever, the snow was falling just as heavily as it is today,” Qi Zhicheng said, “At that time, I asked you if this dance competition was really that important to you, and you looked into my eyes, nodding with absolute certainty.”
Jiang Man was stunned.
The movements of Qi Zhicheng’s hands did not stop as he continued, “Do you know, looking at the long-lost brilliance in your eyes back then, I really, did not want what you received in the end to be a disappointment.”
Jiang Man’s brows knit tightly together, “So you went to buy the award for me?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying her best to calm herself, “You were the one who kept saying you believed in me, showing extreme respect toward my dancing, I thought you understood me, but in the end, this is the way you choose to believe in me?”
“Are you just that unconfident that I can win?”
“Manman, my words are still the same as they were back then, I have always believed in you.” Qi Zhicheng carefully applied the adhesive bandage, raising his head to look at her reddened eyes, “But Manman, do you still remember the sentence I told you the night before you departed, sometimes, the stage you are familiar with might not be as simple as you imagine.”
“My stage has always been very simple and pure, it was you who made it dirty,” Jiang Man said with a frown, “This time it is helping me buy an award and replacing the winner, in the future, are you also going to help me get the lead role in every dance drama? What exactly do you take me for, am I some kind of useless person who needs you to push me forward using this kind of method?”
During the gap when his force loosened slightly, Jiang Man drew her hand back from his palm, saying coldly, “You should leave, I want to be by myself.”
The atmosphere fell into a freeze once more. Qi Zhicheng’s gaze lingered on her face for a few seconds before he stood up.
“It is very late today, you should rest first.”
Jiang Man watched him pick up his overcoat, turn around, and walk out of the room. The room door clicked gently shut, and the surroundings became quiet once again.
She only felt exhausted in both body and mind, her body slowly sliding down, burying herself inside the blanket once more.
Jiang Man did not know when she fell asleep. Having cried too much, her mental energy was overdrawn, and in the end, she fell into a heavy slumber.
When she woke up again, the morning light had already filtered into the room. The snow seemed to have stopped, and a pristine white quiet lay outside the window.
She lay blankly on the bed.
The competition was supposed to start rehearsals today, and tomorrow would be the official match, but now that things had reached this stage, she did not know if there was still any necessity for her to go.
Jiang Man tossed and turned on the bed, agonizing for a long time, before she finally sat up from the bed. No matter what, even if she wanted to withdraw from the competition, she ought to go to the art center in person to tell the person in charge of the match.
After washing up and changing her clothes, Jiang Man walked down to the hotel lobby.
The air was dry and cold, and the accumulated snow had been swept to both sides of the road.
A low-profile black Maybach was parked at the porch. Jiang Man did not recognize this car, only glancing at it briefly before preparing to leave.
In the next second, the person inside pressed the horn twice shortly. The car window slowly rolled down, and Jiang Man saw Qi Zhicheng sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Get in the car.”
Jiang Man knit her brows, pretending she did not hear, and kept walking toward the art center on her own.
Before she had gone a few steps, the Maybach behind her followed up silently. He drove at an extremely slow speed, just casually keeping pace right beside her.
Passersby turned their heads one after another, many people looking at the Maybach with curiosity, probing glances landing on Jiang Man one wave after another, whispering something in low voices.
Jiang Man’s cheeks burned slightly, feeling completely uncomfortable all over. She quickened her pace, and that car also accelerated correspondingly, consistently running parallel to her.
In the end, under that kind of awkwardness that was almost going to cause her social death, she finally stopped her steps, took a deep breath, pulled open the car door, and sat into the back seat.
“Gate 2 of the Art Center, thank you.”
She looked straight ahead, her tone lacking any ups and downs, completely treating him like a taxi driver.
Qi Zhicheng did not respond, glancing at her through the central rearview mirror, controlling the steering wheel with one hand as the vehicle merged into the traffic flow.
After getting into the car, Jiang Man leaned against the back of the seat and closed her eyes, not wanting to have any communication with him.
However, after a good while, the car still had not stopped. The hotel she was staying at was right near the art center, it shouldn’t take this long without arriving.
Jiang Man sensed that something was wrong, opening her eyes in doubt.
Outside the window was a completely unfamiliar street scene. The towering office buildings on both sides of the road were arranged in rows, looking like a commercial district in the city center.
“Where are you taking me?” Jiang Man knit her brows, finally looking directly at the man in the driver’s seat.
The red light turned on, and the Maybach stopped before the zebra crossing.
Qi Zhicheng’s finger tapped against the steering wheel every now and then, completely turning a deaf ear to her interrogation, merely speaking flatly, “Today there is a public bidding meeting for the expansion project of the ballet art center, I am taking you over to look around.”
“Qi Zhicheng, are you sick?” Jiang Man could no longer endure it, “Why are you taking me there?”
The green light began to flash, and as if he had not heard her words at all, Qi Zhicheng stepped on the accelerator on his own, and the Maybach restarted to drive into the traffic flow.
Jiang Man was so angry she wanted to open the car door and jump out, but since the car was currently in motion, she could only forcefully suppress her anger, sitting back down into her seat.
The car finally stopped at the entrance of the Beicheng International Convention and Exhibition Center.
Qi Zhicheng took the lead to get out of the car, walked around to the back seat, and opened the door, “We have arrived, get out of the car.”
Businessmen dressed in suits were entering and leaving the entrance of the convention center in groups of twos and threes. Jiang Man looked at that revolving door, then raised her head to look at Qi Zhicheng standing to the side, increasingly unable to understand what exactly he wanted to do.
“What on earth do you want to do, what does the bidding meeting you mentioned have to do with me, I do not understand these things at all, I have absolutely no interest in watching some bidding meeting,” the more she spoke, the angrier she became, “I already said I want to go to the art center, did you not hear me?”
Qi Zhicheng said, “Looking around inside will be over very quickly, once this side is finished, I will send you back to the art center.”
The two of them remained at a standstill, one standing and one sitting.
Since things had reached this point, Jiang Man bit her lip, and in the end, she could only get out of the car with extreme reluctance.
Walking into the convention center, she followed the signboards to arrive at the bidding meeting venue. Seated below the stage were representatives from dozens of enterprises who had come to bid, every person’s face carrying more or less a hint of nervousness.
Qi Zhicheng took Jiang Man to sit down in an inconspicuous corner in the back row of the venue.
The bidding meeting quickly officially began. The host went up to the stage, introducing the bidding project for this session, and then introduced the judges on the rostrum in sequence, among whom was Mr. Meng, the chairman of the art committee for this ballet competition.
However, thinking about how this bidding meeting was originally for the art center expansion project, it wasn’t strange for Chairman Meng to be present.
Very soon, each bidding unit went up to the stage in sequence according to the order of drawing lots to conduct their project presentations. The presentation slides turned page after page, and Jiang Man sat there as if sitting on pins and needles. In her ears were dry data, along with various professional terms she could not understand.
“My head hurts from listening, Qi Zhicheng,” Jiang Man could not help but lower her voice to interrogate him once more, “You brought me here just to make me listen to a pile of boring rhetoric?”
Qi Zhicheng behaved as if he had not heard her words. His gaze rested on the representative of a company currently conducting a presentation on stage, and he suddenly turned his head close to her, whispering in a voice that only the two of them could hear, answering besides the question, “Take a guess, which one will win the bid?”
In addition to being astounded, Jiang Man grew even angrier.
“How would I know? I already said I do not understand these things!”
“Are you even listening to me talk at all, I said I want to go back.”
As she spoke, she was about to stand up.
Qi Zhicheng gently pressed her arm down, not letting her stand up.
“I guess it is the Jinyuan Group,” he said to himself.
Jiang Man only felt he was being baffling, completely losing her patience. She shook off his hand, stood up, turned around, and walked out of the venue with large strides.
Qi Zhicheng raised his eyes slightly, glancing at her retreating figure as the light in his eyes darkened. He did not chase after her, supporting his chin with one hand. Watching the speech on the rostrum, his other hand tapped carelessly against the armrest.
Leaving the main venue, Jiang Man walked forward along the corridor, relying on her blurred memory from when she came to try and find the exit.
However, the corridors of this convention center twisted and turned, with many forks in the road. After turning a few corners, she discovered she had lost her direction. The corridor was completely quiet, without a single person around.
A sense of helplessness and anxiety surged up, and Jiang Man cursed Qi Zhicheng once more in her heart. She stopped, trying to discern the direction, when the sound of unhurried footsteps happened to carry over from behind her.
She turned around and saw Qi Zhicheng standing right there. Separated by a distance of a few steps, he looked at her silently, as if he had long predicted that she would lose her way.
Jiang Man pursed her lips, her shoulders dropping despondently as she said gloomily, “I am lost, take me out.”
“Let us go,” he spoke flatly, and having finished speaking, he walked forward along the corridor.
Jiang Man quickened her steps to keep up.
Following Qi Zhicheng for a short while, she discovered that this path was growing quieter and quieter. He seemed to be walking deeper and deeper, the doorplates on both sides showing that they were heading toward the more internal areas of the convention center, looking completely unlike the way to the exit.
Qi Zhicheng in front suddenly stopped his steps, and Jiang Man almost collided into his back. Before she could even speak, she heard the faint sound of a conversation carrying over from a lounge nearby.
Jiang Man paused. This voice was very familiar.
She took a glance inside through the crack of the door that wasn’t completely closed, and surely enough, she saw Chairman Meng. Beside him was an unfamiliar man, currently conversing about something with Chairman Meng.
“Chairman Meng, you also know how much our Amy has sacrificed for this competition, her strength is obvious to all, wasn’t the gold award agreed upon previously?”
“I understand your meaning, Amy is indeed very excellent, but you also know, some things cannot be decided purely by relying on strength alone, someone offered this amount,” Mr. Meng let out a sigh, “Someone managed to take care of the arrangements one step ahead of you, it is very difficult for me to manage as well,”
“But Chairman Meng, a silver award alone isn’t of much use, our Amy just wants to rely on this competition to enter a decent dance troupe.”
“How about this,” Mr. Meng interrupted him, saying, “Next year, next year for that Starlight Cup International Ballet Competition, we will cooperate, the gold award will absolutely be Amy’s, that competition also carries a lot of weight, how about it?”
The conversation sounds inside still continued.
Outside the door, a humming sound filled Jiang Man’s ears, and she could no longer hear clearly.
“You deliberately brought me here to listen to these things?”
Qi Zhicheng did not reply, catching sight of her face which was as pale as paper.
“The bidding meeting should be approaching the time to announce the final candidate list,” he suddenly shifted the topic, “Shall we go over and take a look together?”
At this moment, Jiang Man’s brain was in a complete mess. Lost in spirit, she allowed him to hold her hand as they returned to the bidding venue once more.
Just as they arrived at the entrance of the venue, the atmosphere inside had already undergone a change. The presentation segment on stage had long concluded, and the judges had also withdrawn to enter the closed evaluation phase.
Right now, the host was on stage announcing the list of candidate units entering the final decision stage.
“According to the recommendation of the evaluation committee, the final successful bidders for this project, ordered by rank, are: first place, Jinyuan Group, second place,”
Jinyuan Group. This result was exactly the same as what Qi Zhicheng had guessed just now.
Although this was merely the candidate list and not the final result, the faces of many people present who understood the industry had already revealed expressions of mutual understanding. Everyone knew that in the vast majority of situations, the candidate ranked first winning the bid was already a done deal.
Qi Zhicheng stopped at the entrance, not entering. He took every single tiny expression on Jiang Man’s face entirely into his eyes.
“Did you see it, Manman?” He swept a flat glance over those assorted faces within the venue.
“What you see brought to the table in this bidding meeting is a public bidding and fair competition, where everyone displays their capabilities within the rules, but in reality, it is merely going through the motions.”
“The thing that truly decides the outcome is not these things on the table.”
“The competition has always been about the effort put in beneath the table, who can offer conditions that people cannot refuse under the exchange of interests.”
He paused for a short while, his vision tracing to her face which lacked any color.
“Your competition is, in essence, no different from this bidding.”
“For that competition, even if you exhaust all your strength, you still won’t be able to get the result you want.”
“This gold award, if I do not buy it, there will be others coming to buy it.”
“Without Amy, there will still be an Aisha, an Ira, an Elsa, and countless people lining up wanting to stuff money inside.”
Qi Zhicheng cruelly laid the truth bare before her eyes.
“Meanwhile, the so-called fairness you pursue simply does not exist.”