Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“I don’t know him.”

“I’m not close with her.”

One question, two people answering, and yet they gave essentially the same response.

Yun Li choked on her words. After a moment of careful consideration, she stuffed the bouquet of lychee roses into Xia Wanzhi’s arms. “Well… couples’ quarrels are best settled in bed.”

Xia Wanzhi’s lip twitched. “You’ve misunderstood. He’s not…”

Yun Li had never met Zhou Yu before, so she likely mistook Xie Qiyan for him.

Xie Qiyan let out a cold sneer. “Is there any need to explain?”

Yun Li: “…”

“Why are you everywhere?” Xia Wanzhi muttered through gritted teeth, starting to suspect she was suffering from a serious bout of bad luck lately.

How did she manage to run into Xie Qiyan wherever she went?

Xie Qiyan gave a light huff. “You sure like to poke your nose into everything.”

Yun Li’s eyes widened in confusion. Not far away, Jiang Baichuan, seeing the two of them on the verge of starting a scene, strode over to save the day. “You two bickering birds, why don’t you take this conversation outside?”

Xia Wanzhi glanced at the tall man who was dressed in a full suit despite the sweltering summer heat. He looked familiar, but before she could filter through her memories to identify him, she heard Yun Li speak up beside her.

“You again?”

Jiang Baichuan replied with a straight face, “It’s me. It’s been a while, Miss Yun.”

Xia Wanzhi finally recognized him as the one from the Jiang family. Her brow furrowed, and she was just about to speak when Xie Qiyan gave her shoulder a firm pat, signaling for her to follow him out.

Looking back at Yun Li and the man, Xia Wanzhi hesitated. Clutching the two bouquets, she followed Xie Qiyan out and demanded, “Did you send Jiang Baichuan here to harass her?”

Xie Qiyan was momentarily stunned into a laugh by her sheer audacity. “Do I look that bored to you?”

Xia Wanzhi was silenced.

Rarely seeing Xia Wanzhi lose her spark, Xie Qiyan looked down at her for a moment.

She had just been crying; her eyes were still misty and damp, making her look quite pitiful.

After a beat, his voice deepened slightly. “Out buying flowers to suck up to Zhou Yu?”

The words were grating no matter how she heard them. Xia Wanzhi didn’t respond. After a moment, she shoved the lychee roses into his arms. “None of your damn business!”

She turned on her heel and walked away, the ends of her light-colored hair brushing against his lapel. Perhaps because of the breeze, a faint scent of gardenia inexplicably wafted toward him.

It smelled like gardenia, but it seemed mixed with a hint of medicinal fragrance.

Even though the scent of the lychee roses in his arms was more prominent, it couldn’t compare to the fragrance from the tips of Xia Wanzhi’s hair as it swept past his suit.

Xie Qiyan’s gaze turned somewhat distracted. When he looked up again, he saw Jiang Baichuan emerging from the flower shop, looking as if he had suffered a massive shock. His face was several shades darker than Xie Qiyan’s.

“What, failed to fix your first impression?” Out of consideration for their superficial brotherhood, Xie Qiyan offered a polite word of concern.

Jiang Baichuan didn’t answer. He walked a few steps, opened the passenger door, and got into the car.

Xie Qiyan followed and tapped on the glass. “Get out.”

There was no way he was acting as the chauffeur.

Jiang Baichuan’s eyes remained vacant for a moment before he slowly rolled down the window. “I’ll have to trouble President Xie to condescend to give me a lift.”

Xie Qiyan’s face darkened instantly.

Seeing this, Jiang Baichuan looked like a man ready to meet his end. “I can drive if you want. If President Xie doesn’t mind the two of us going to the afterlife together, I can do it.”

Jiang Baichuan repeated for emphasis, “I can.”

Xie Qiyan: “…”

Two days ago, Jiang Baichuan had traveled to Nancheng as a financial backer to attend a dinner party. When he arrived at the restaurant that night, he had mistaken Yun Li for the female lead of a newly invested film.

The film’s lead was a close friend of his older sister, and he had received orders before coming to look after her.

His sister’s orders were not to be trifled with, so with the best of intentions, he had approached her with his two bodyguards, intending to invite her upstairs with them.
Perhaps the bodyguards had looked too stern and imposing, because Yun Li, thinking they were about to assault her, had whipped out her anti-assault spray with lethal precision and blasted Jiang Baichuan right in the face.

It wasn’t until later that Jiang Baichuan realized he had caused a massive misunderstanding.

But it was Yun Li’s fault for looking so much like a movie star.

Aside from the occasional glance at his sisters at home, Jiang Baichuan had never truly spared a second look for any woman.

Yet Yun Li had left an impression on him-a very deep one.

He had thought it was a one-time encounter, but the earth is round and the world is small. Just moments ago, as he was driving through this intersection, he had recognized her the second he stopped at the red light.

Since brothers-in-arms stick together, he had dragged Xie Qiyan out of the car to give him some moral support.

He just hadn’t expected that during their second meeting, before he could even get a few nice words out, the girl would sense his intentions and shut him down instantly: “Please show some respect, sir. I have a boyfriend.”

His heart was broken before he even had a chance to start.

–

Xia Wanzhi stayed at Yun Li’s place until closing time.

As she was about to head back, the boyfriend Yun Li’s family had arranged for her appeared in a hurry. He took Yun Li away to the hospital, saying an elder had been admitted and needed her care.

Xia Wanzhi didn’t want to interfere and told her that Zhou Yu was coming to pick her up. Only then did Yun Li feel at ease enough to leave.

However, the moment she looked at the contacts on her phone, Xia Wanzhi didn’t press the call button.

The night breeze tossed her thoughts into disarray. Her mood had been terrible lately because of everything that had happened, so she simply began walking aimlessly down the street.

She looked like a little girl with nowhere to go.

The wind picked up without warning, and pea-sized raindrops began to fall. Soon, the entire city was veiled in a curtain of rain.

Many pedestrians hurried to find shelter, but Xia Wanzhi was the odd one out.

Maybe she really was the reincarnation of the God of Misfortune, she thought self-deprecatingly.

She didn’t even have the energy to hide from the rain.

Her steps felt as heavy as if she were carrying thousands of pounds; she couldn’t speed up at all.

The summer rain didn’t bother with greetings. Xia Wanzhi was soaked to the bone, and without realizing it, she had wandered toward the Xia Family villa.

She stood there dazed for a long time until a car honked and pulled up beside her.

The rear window rolled down, and a man looked at her with a calm expression.

Suppressing the tightness in her throat, Xia Wanzhi struggled to look up. She met those indifferent, detached eyes. For just a fleeting second, as the other person parted his lips to say something, her heavy eyelids drooped, and she plummeted into total darkness.

“Xia Wanzhi!” Almost by reflex, Xie Qiyan moved faster than Yu Fei in the driver’s seat. He leapt out of the car and caught Xia Wanzhi in his arms as she suddenly collapsed.

Luckily, she hadn’t hit her head on the ground.

“Wake up.” Xie Qiyan frowned, reaching out to touch her warm forehead.

“President Xie, should we take her to the hospital?” Yu Fei asked, quietly pulling back the leg he had already stepped out of the car with and rubbing his nose.

Xie Qiyan carried her into the car, his face expressionless. “Drive to the nearest hospital. Contact Zhou Yu and tell him to get his ass over there right now.”

Yu Fei stole a glance toward the back. “Understood.”

After a moment, he spoke up again. “President Xie, isn’t this the girl we ran into a few days ago in that alley when we caught Yang Datong?”

Xie Qiyan’s eyes narrowed slightly. “So?”

Yu Fei sniffled. “And you said you didn’t know her.”

“Your bonus for this month is cancelled.” The air pressure around Xie Qiyan dropped. Ignoring his own damp clothes, he grabbed a blanket and wrapped it tightly around the soaking wet Xia Wanzhi.

Yu Fei was left speechless, his misery known only to himself.