Chapter 8

After work, Shi Song’s red sports car parked downstairs successfully attracted everyone’s attention. He gestured to me from inside the car, but I ignored him and walked around. He then jumped out of the car and blocked my path.

“So unfriendly?”

“Your friendliness doesn’t appeal to me.”

“Then maybe I should show those photos to Rubai again for confirmation.”

I kept reassuring myself that I just needed to endure one more week, and then Shao Rubai and Shi Song could all go to hell.

“I’ll choose the location.” I still didn’t get into Shi Song’s car, but instead found a nearby noodle shop and sat down. “Order whatever you want to eat.” I expertly called the waiter and ordered a bowl of snail noodles for myself.

From the moment he entered, Shi Song had been pinching his nose. When the snail noodles arrived, and their unique pungent aroma filled the air, he dropped a “You win,” and ran out to throw up.

I was willing to go to extremes, and Shi Song was incredibly thick-skinned. For the next two days, he consistently ambushed me at various times, trying to bait me with all sorts of questions.

“I really want to know why a woman like you would heartlessly give up such an excellent boyfriend like Rubai. He didn’t even go home to inherit his father’s business, all to be with you.”

“I am not CEO Shao’s girlfriend.” Shi Song and I sat side-by-side on a park bench, enduring the cold wind. I sipped my milk tea, not taking his bait.

“Rubai introduced Chen Panqing to me,” Shi Song ordered the same milk tea but put it down after one sip. “But I know he wasn’t serious. With Rubai’s personality, if he truly likes something, he’ll hide it away and not let anyone know. He wouldn’t show it off to others.”

“Rubai truly loves you. He’s just afraid of losing you, which is why his possessiveness is a little stronger than others. But he would absolutely never hurt you. Why can’t you be a little more understanding?”

Shi Song was observing my reaction. He thought he would at least see some complex emotional change on my face-jealousy, gratitude, regret-but I disappointed him.

“You rich kids are really funny,” I sucked up the last pearl, stood up, and placed my milk tea cup in a nearby trash can. “Just because Shao Rubai is excellent, his partner has to be eternally grateful and live exactly as he wishes, becoming his possession?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Shi Song hesitated to speak. “Rubai’s mother betrayed Rubai’s father, abandoned their family, and eloped with someone else. That’s why Rubai is so insecure and possessive of his own things. Can’t you give him another chance, instead of leaving so decisively?”

“A husband who commits domestic violence for the first time will cry and beg his wife for another chance, but bystanders know that if there’s a first time, there will be a second. The wife who yields to her momentarily weak husband is the one who suffers.”

You can say I’m too scared to touch hot water after being scalded, or that I’m cold-hearted and cowardly, but when I say I’m leaving, I will never hesitate.

Shi Song saw my resolve, and he could only sigh helplessly. “Can you really not give Rubai another chance? He’s actually not as unreasonable as you think…”

“Shi Song, what are you saying?” Shao Rubai suddenly appeared behind us, looking utterly shocked. “What do you mean, give Lin Nanlu another chance? What’s going on?”

“Mr. Xiao Song means to let Sister Nanlu stay at the company, right?” Chen Panqing, clinging to Shao Rubai’s arm, quickly explained. “After all, Sister Nanlu is excellent at her job.”

“Exactly, exactly,” Shi Song nodded repeatedly. “With Nanlu at your company, it’s easier for me to pursue her.”

Shao Rubai was skeptical. He turned to me and asked, “Lin Nanlu, do you really want to stay at the company? If you apologize for your previous mistakes…”

“No,” I said emphatically. “Please keep your friend in check. I don’t want him to pursue me.”

Shi Song, rejected in front of an acquaintance, shamelessly laughed, “I love how she plays hard to get.”