After Flirting with the God-Tier Beautiful Tycoon - Chapter 64

“Yo, isn’t this Chen Xiaoqi?” Bai Shuhua said, casting a slightly flirtatious glance at the person inside the elevator.

Chen Yi stared at Bai Shuhua’s hand the one clutching Shen Xiaojiang’s shoulder. She stared at it relentlessly.

It was as if there were something filthy there obstructing her vision, yet that very filth possessed a damnable charm, drawing her in deeply.

“Director Bai, you seem very busy today. Not returning messages, not picking up calls?” Chen Yi’s narrow phoenix eyes squinted slightly. Her gaze was cool and her tone sluggish, yet the displeasure between the lines was unmistakable.

Bai Shuhua pursed her lips and shrugged with a face full of innocence. “I can’t help it. I’m showing a student around the company.”

“Oh?” Chen Yi raised an eyebrow slightly, her dark red lips looking sexy and enchanting.

“What kind of student is worth a Vice President personally accompanying them on a tour?” Chen Yi’s fingers tightened, digging into the lines of her palm.

“A…” Bai Shuhua glanced at Shen Xiaojiang, “…a very special student.”

Chen Yi’s brow furrowed instinctively.

“From Nancheng University?” she asked.

Bai Shuhua nodded.

“What year?” Chen Yi asked, knowing full well the answer.

Bai Shuhua looked proud, as if introducing her own possession. “Rising junior.”

The corner of Chen Yi’s mouth trembled. She recalled what Bai Shuhua had told her last night that she might have found true love, someone who was quite difficult to win over.

Could that person… really be Shen Xiaojiang?

Chen Yi’s fingers clenched even tighter, as if she wanted to pierce through her thin palms.

So what if it is? Regardless, none of this has anything to do with me anymore.

Does it?

Chen Yi lowered her eyelashes. Her gaze swept lightly over Shen Xiaojiang’s clean canvas shoes, her clean short-sleeved shirt, her clean neck, and her clean face.

The moment their eyes met, she retracted her gaze.

Shen Xiaojiang stood frozen in place. She could sense a certain extremely hidden current in the air, exploding into sparks of fire.

She stared at Chen Yi, carefully tracing her exquisite features.

The person who had been missing for a week was now standing right in front of her.

It felt so fake, so surreal like a naked lie.

During the day, she used high-intensity studying and work to numb herself, trying not to reminisce about every little detail of the past.

When the lights went out, in the pitch-black darkness of her dreams, she had imagined the scene of reuniting with Chen Yi countless times.

When they met, should she look at Chen Yi’s eyes, or her qipao?

When they met, should she ask, “Why did you leave me and stay out of touch for so long?” or should she brush past her as if she hadn’t seen her at all?

However, at this moment, Shen Xiaojiang’s gaze fell both on the other woman’s eyes and on her white qipao.

Yet she did not speak first, nor did she manage to run away as she had once intended.

The words Chen Yi just spoke were strange, laced with anger and sourness.

Is she jealous?

What does she have to be jealous of? Didn’t she say herself that they should keep their distance, that they were impossible?

Shen Xiaojiang swallowed hard. Her dry throat couldn’t manage it; the sensation felt stuck, neither going up nor down.

It was suffocating.

Her back felt cold and her heart ached, as if she were dying.

“The elevator is closing, the elevator is closing!”

Shen Xiaojiang instinctively reached out her arm to hold the elevator door for Chen Yi, who was also dazed in place.

Chen Yi’s eyes moved slightly, and her lips parted as if to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

Time seemed to freeze the surroundings felt like a vacuum.

The gaze between the two was so thick it could be pulled into threads.

Chen Yi’s heart was beating so fast she felt completely unwell.

Just now on the first floor, she thought she saw a familiar figure in a daze. She wasn’t sure, but she had a near metaphysical intuition.

Or rather, it was a kind of hope.

She hoped the person in the elevator was Shen Xiaojiang. She wanted to see Shen Xiaojiang.

Anything related to Shen Xiaojiang could pull at her heartstrings at any time and in any place.

“Hello.” Shen Xiaojiang’s words completely shattered the silence.

The frozen vacuum of the world before her, like a mirror image, instantly shattered, and everything inside ceased to exist.

Chen Yi doubted if she had heard correctly; she would have preferred to have misheard.

Hello?

Hello.

Such a cold, formal greeting.

The first time she and Shen Xiaojiang met, they weren’t even this distant.

Back then, Shen Xiaojiang called her “Auntie,” and she called Shen Xiaojiang “Jiabao’s classmate.”

Chen Yi smiled bitterly in her heart. She was the one who had first pretended not to know Shen Xiaojiang she truly brought this upon herself.

Bai Shuhua stepped forward, holding the door control button of the elevator, and curled her lips. “So, what brings you here to see me? You coming here personally the sun must be rising from the west.”

Chen Yi remained composed. Her narrow phoenix eyes blinked once, her pupils reflecting the thousand-fold tenderness and myriad charms that Shen Xiaojiang knew best.

“But, you’re not free right now anyway,” she said, her eyes slanting upward slightly, a flash of irritation flickering within them.

The three of them held their positions for a few seconds. Bai Shuhua pressed the elevator on the right, which was climbing upward at high speed.

“I’m sorry,” she shrugged. “I am indeed busy. I still have a lot of things to introduce to my little friend here. I’ll have the secretariat receive you.”

Her little friend?

The smile froze on Chen Yi’s face like a mask being sliced open by a sharp blade. The blade cut too deep, leaving a red gash on her face where blood seeped out drop by drop, rippling into a terrible disaster.

Shen Xiaojiang suppressed the excitement in her heart, pretending to look solemnly at Chen Yi’s neck. The mark where Shen Xiaojiang had bitten her was faintly visible at the collar of the qipao.

Perhaps it had already scabbed over, or perhaps new flesh had grown.

But Chen Yi’s skin was so white and thin that it left marks easily, and they were hard to get rid of in a short time.

“Fine.” Chen Yi stepped back into the elevator, her wrist trembling as she pressed the close button.

Before Shen Xiaojiang could say anything, Chen Yi’s cold gaze and forced smile were shut behind the doors.

“Come on, Student Shen, let’s go this way.” Bai Shuhua stepped into the other elevator first. “That person just now is no ordinary person. She doesn’t like sharing an elevator with strangers.”

Shen Xiaojiang seemed to hear Bai Shuhua’s words, but she didn’t care.

Chen Yi’s eyes just now, and the words she spoke, were clearly an act of evasion and avoidance.

A cowardly elder. A terrible elder. She couldn’t even look her in the eye.

Inside the elevator, Chen Yi felt as if she had lost her soul. Her legs went weak, and she leaned against the wall behind her, sliding down bit by bit.

She stopped just before she would have collapsed onto the floor.

Her hair fell loosely over her face, blurring her vision.

Her breathing was heavy, blowing the strands of hair away.

As they fell back, she blew them away again.

The hem of her white qipao swept against the floor, the fine fabric already catching a hint of dust.

The moment she entered the elevator, she had pressed the close button frantically, desperately, like an escape fearful and wretched.

When she left Sun Jiabao’s cousin’s bistro last time, she had steeled her heart.

She had warned herself that it was impossible between her and this child who possessed snow-white wings and was meant to fly into the vast firmament. There would be no result.

Then why did she just chase after her like a madwoman?

Chen Yi furrowed her brows. Her eyes were sore and aching, the corners damp with moisture, yet she refused to blink, stubbornly refusing to let the tears fall.

She bit her finger, clutching the white fabric of the qipao over her heart.

The soft texture touched her palm, but a strange roughness crept up, making her palm feel itchy and numb.

Chen Yi slowly raised her hand, looking at the lines on her palm.

Intertwined, twisting and turning.

The image of Bai Shuhua adjusting Shen Xiaojiang’s collar flashed through her mind.

The pads of fingers grazing the edge of the shirt collar, the slow and soft sound of friction reaching her ears.

Shen Xiaojiang’s expression seemed to be one of acquiescence.

A kind of permission.

She allowed Bai Shuhua to adjust her collar.

She actually allowed it.

Chen Yi’s wrist trembled slightly, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter, as if something were blocked in her heart.

She looked at the corporate slogan of Wanning Electronics inside the elevator and gritted her teeth hard.

She suddenly remembered the temporary work badge hanging around Shen Xiaojiang’s neck. So, she was coming to work at Wanning?

If she hadn’t abandoned Shen Xiaojiang that night in the old district, she would have heard such an important thing from Shen Xiaojiang’s own lips, rather than running into her like this.

Chen Yi stood up straight again, her gaze returning to its usual composure and indifference.

Only she knew that her heart could never be at peace again.

“Seventh Mistress, where did you go? The bodyguards followed but couldn’t find you,” He Zhong approached, maintaining a proper safety distance. “Are you alright?”

Chen Yi stood sideways at the elevator entrance, glancing casually at the floor display. She replied airily, “Let’s go.”

“Yes.” He Zhong nodded and followed behind her.

At that moment, the door of the adjacent elevator opened again, and Shen Xiaojiang rushed out.

Looking at the direction Chen Yi was leaving, she called out in a voice neither high nor low:

“Auntie.”

The person who was called paused in her tracks but did not look back, stepping directly into the black Rolls-Royce that had long been waiting for her at the entrance.

Sitting in the car, Chen Yi’s heart was racing. Both hands, clutching her clothes, trembled uncontrollably.

Shen Xiaojiang felt a series of spasms in her abdomen. It wasn’t the churning turmoil she felt after drinking last time, but it was just as painful. In truth, her stomach had been aching intermittently for the past few days, but she hadn’t taken it seriously.

“Student Shen! Shen Xiaojiang! Xiaojiang!” Seeing Bai Shuhua rush over, Shen Xiaojiang leaned against the adjacent wall.

“Are you okay?” Bai Shuhua supported her.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on Shen Xiaojiang’s forehead, yet she continued to act as if nothing were wrong. “I’m fine. I probably just haven’t slept well lately.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she clutched her abdomen and straightened up with effort.

“The R&D department is having a meeting right now. Given your condition, can you manage to sit and observe?” Bai Shuhua asked with concern.

Shen Xiaojiang’s lips were somewhat pale, but she nodded. “It’s fine. I’ll just drink some hot water and rest for a bit.”

A look of relief appeared on Bai Shuhua’s face.

“Seventh Mistress? Seventh Mistress?” He Zhong looked at her through the rearview mirror.

Chen Yi’s complexion was very poor. He had been talking about the Chamber of Commerce, but she had clearly spaced out.

“Hmm? What is it?” Chen Yi suddenly snapped back to reality, blinking as she tried her best to organize her emotions.

He Zhong slowed the car down and said calmly, “You mentioned earlier that you were coming today to discuss the Chamber of Commerce election with Director Bai. When you got into the car just now, I saw her coming out of the elevator. So, should we…?”

When He Zhong spoke, he always watched Chen Yi’s expression. The woman was clearly absent-minded now, looking as if she hadn’t heard a single word.

In fact, He Zhong had also seen Shen Xiaojiang. Previously, Chen Yi and Shen Xiaojiang met frequently; yet for this past week, there hadn’t been a word of news regarding the girl. He couldn’t help but be curious.

“Should we what?” Chen Yi looked out the car window, her mind in a mess.

He Zhong swallowed, his speaking speed unusually slow: “Should we… turn back?”

In the current situation, this question felt loaded with meaning.

Chen Yi froze. Her eyelashes trembled slightly as she looked at the sky that had suddenly grown dark outside, lost in thought.

For the next few minutes, Chen Yi did not speak. He Zhong didn’t dare ask more.

Soon, raindrops began to pelt down as if in anger. They weren’t dense yet, unable to form streams on the glass, appearing instead like shattered transparent flowers one here, one there, across the car window.

Chen Yi’s scattered gaze suddenly fixed on these raindrops. Then, she slowly raised her hand, her icy fingertips touching those transparent flowers through the glass.

It felt as though she were touching the tears sliding down Shen Xiaojiang’s cheek.

“Turn around.”

He Zhong instinctively confirmed: “What did you say?”

Chen Yi withdrew her finger and clenched her hands into small fists on her lap.