After the Bigshot Turned into a Gold-Digging Scumbag Alpha - Chapter 20

“What are you doing?”

Hearing the commotion, Shen Yunyi who had already walked a distance turned back. She frowned at the group blocking the corridor. “Wang Qingwen, Li Rushan. Move.”

She clearly recognized the two leading the pack. Jiang Shuiyun, standing quietly to the side, simply observed. These people all knew the original Jiang Shuiyun, and judging from the atmosphere, none of them had been on good terms with her.

“Shen Yunyi?”

Wang Qingwen, dressed in a baseball jacket, pulled off her sunglasses. She glanced at Shen Yunyi, then at Jiang Shuiyun. “Are you serious? You’re standing up for Jiang Shuiyun now? Is this a joke? Weren’t you the one who used to find her the most unbearable?”

The moment she said this, Shen Yunyi’s expression stiffened. She darted a quick glance at Jiang Shuiyun’s face but didn’t dare to look long, immediately snapping back to Wang Qingwen. “What I do is none of your business. Move.”

“Shen Yunyi, did you take the wrong meds today?” Wang Qingwen yanked off her sunglasses completely and stepped forward, confronting her head-on.

“Don’t be impulsive.”

Li Rushan, who stood behind her, reached out to stop her. He looked to Shen Yunyi and said, “Do you know why your father shipped you off to Shengguang Group? It’s because you never know where to stand. And Jiang Shuiyun? She’s nothing but a stray dog now. What’s the point of protecting her? We’re the ones on your side.”

Shen Yunyi slowly clenched her fists. Despite Li Rushan’s gentle surface demeanor, every word was meant to stab. Shen Yunyi let out a cold laugh. “On my side? Since when? Back when all of you wagged your tails behind Jiang Shuiyun and groveled like servants, I don’t recall hearing you say any of this. Now you dare to puff your chest out just because she’s fallen? ‘When the tiger falls, dogs bite,’ isn’t that the saying? You lot truly are dogs through and through—consistent, at least.”

“Shen Yunyi! You f—!”

Wang Qingwen exploded instantly, her fist flying straight at her face.

But at the critical moment, her punch stopped mid-air.

Jiang Shuiyun—silent from beginning to end had caught her wrist. Expression cool, she shot the girl a dismissive look. “You dare throw hands in front of me?”

“You.”

Wang Qingwen tried to yank her hand back, only to feel as though her wrist was about to snap. She couldn’t exert even a shred of strength. Fear crept into her eyes as she stared at Jiang Shuiyun.

Li Rushan also sensed something wrong. He took a subtle step backwards and raised his hand. “What are you all standing around for? Get her!”

The moment his order dropped, the group behind them hesitated—clearly intimidated but this was a rare chance to show loyalty. Gritting their teeth, they rushed forward.

Shen Yunyi snapped back to her senses and was about to help Jiang Shuiyun when someone was shoved into her arms—Yi Jinbai. Jiang Shuiyun glanced at her. “Take care of Jinbai.”

There was no unnecessary movement, no wasted effort. Jiang Shuiyun—taking on many alone looked almost relaxed. Everyone she touched ended up screaming on the floor. Within barely a minute, the hallway was littered with groaning bodies. The only one still standing was Li Rushan, who had hidden at the back.

Jiang Shuiyun plucked a handkerchief from the pocket of Li Rushan’s suit with visible distaste, wiped her hands, and nudged aside a fallen person with her foot. Then she looked at the trembling Li Rushan. “Your turn?”

“N-no, no, no!”

Li Rushan backed up until he hit the wall, terrified. “Miss Jiang, I didn’t mean anything by it!”

Finishing her wipe, Jiang Shuiyun stuffed the handkerchief back into his pocket and lightly patted his cheek with a smile. “Know your place. Don’t let there be a next time. And sure—go ahead and call the police or whatever you want. But I promise, you’ll regret it. Understand?”

“Understand! Understood!”

Li Rushan nodded so hard it looked like his head might fall off. Every time her hand tapped his face, he felt his neck might snap. How could he dare say no?

She finally brushed off her hands on his suit shoulder. “Get lost.”

The words barely left her mouth before the entire group scrambled away as if granted amnesty—dragging the injured, carrying the half-conscious, running for their lives. They crashed right into Xi Rong and the others arriving late but didn’t spare a glance, disappearing in a frenzy down the hall.

Once they were gone, Jiang Shuiyun looked down at her own hands, frowning slightly. “I still need to wash my hands.”

Shen Yunyi and Yi Jinbai stood frozen, shocked speechless. Their expressions were complicated, to say the least.

“Ms. Jiang, Ms. Yi, President Shen—you were waiting for us? You won’t believe it, but a bunch of idiots just ran past us. Did you see them?”

Xi Rong hurried over, waving in greeting.

Shen Yunyi glanced at Jiang Shuiyun, emotions tangled. She nodded. “Which private room did you book? Let’s go.”

“Right this way. It’s just ahead.”

Xi Rong led the way, while the others exchanged greetings as they followed.

Jiang Shuiyun nodded and then looked toward Yi Jinbai, who had already regained her composure. Only now did Jiang Shuiyun feel a flicker of unease. She wasn’t sure whether what just happened would leave Yi Jinbai with fresh psychological shadows.

The ones who were unaware were the happiest—Xi Rong and the others chatted cheerfully, entirely oblivious. Meanwhile Jiang Shuiyun, Yi Jinbai, and Shen Yunyi each held their own thoughts.

When they reached the private room, Jiang Shuiyun subtly tugged Shen Yunyi aside and murmured, “There should be surveillance in that corridor. Go ask the owner for a copy later.”

Shen Yunyi had already thought the same, so she didn’t delay. She immediately turned back. Jiang Shuiyun walked into the room and the first thing she saw was Yi Jinbai standing by the door.

Her heart tightened for no clear reason.

Before she could say anything, Yi Jinbai looked away and quietly stepped aside.

Her image from the past few days was probably completely ruined. In Yi Jinbai’s eyes, she must have reverted back to being that violent, hot-tempered person. Jiang Shuiyun had no idea how to explain herself, so she could only sit down in silence.

“Eh? Where’s President Shen?”

Seeing an empty seat, Xi Rong asked about Shen Yunyi.

“Oh, she stepped out for a moment. She said we could start ordering.”

Jiang Shuiyun stood up. “You all go ahead and order first. I’ll run to the restroom.”

“Sure, Captain Jiang. The restroom is at the end of the hallway turn right.”

Xi Rong took the menu from the server and pointed her in the right direction.

Catching a glimpse of Yi Jinbai, who sat quietly with her head lowered, Jiang Shuiyun left the private room. She followed the hallway and found the restroom.

After washing her hands thoroughly, she lifted her head and looked at herself in the mirror. Maybe, maybe she should talk to Yi Jinbai sooner rather than later.

With that thought, she shook off the water, grabbed a paper towel, and wiped her hands as she walked out. Just as she stepped into the hallway, she ran right into Shen Yunyi returning. Both of them stopped at the same time.

Shen Yunyi looked a little embarrassed, like she wanted to speak but didn’t know how to begin. Jiang Shuiyun didn’t rush her; she simply waited quietly. She could more or less guess what she wanted to say.

“Thanks for earlier and there’s something else.” Shen Yunyi looked uncomfortable as she explained the comment Wang Qingwen made earlier. “About our past relationship, it really wasn’t good. But after you lost your memory, I realized I might have been biased against you before, so.”

“I don’t remember anything from before,” Jiang Shuiyun said. “The moment I lost my memory was a new beginning. The past is already behind me. And you, aren’t you my first friend?”

She extended her hand toward her. She trusted her own judgment, Shen Yunyi was someone worth befriending.

“Right!”

Shen Yunyi hadn’t expected her to gloss over everything so lightly, not demanding a single explanation. The surprise caught her off guard in a good way and her impression of her shifted again. Smiling, she shook her hand. “Then from now on, just call me Yunyi. We’re real friends.”

“Then call me Shuiyun. Or call me ‘jie’—I don’t mind.”

Jiang Shuiyun nodded. Come to think of it, Shen Yunyi really was her very first friend in this world.

“Oh, please. You’re younger than me. You should be calling me jie.”

Shen Yunyi immediately started arguing about their ages. Jiang Shuiyun shook her head. “Daydream on, why don’t you.”

Laughing and bickering, the two returned to the private room. Xi Rong and the others had already ordered and passed the menu to Shen Yunyi. “President Shen, Captain Jiang, see if there’s anything else you want.”

Shen Yunyi casually checked two more dishes and handed the menu to Jiang Shuiyun. “Shuiyun, you pick the rest.”

Jiang Shuiyun glanced at the menu. “Jinbai, is there anything you want to eat?”

Yi Jinbai had already lifted her head when she heard Shen Yunyi call Jiang Shuiyun “Shuiyun.” She didn’t know when the two of them had grown so close, and it distracted her for a moment. Hearing Jiang Shuiyun’s question, she shook her head. “There’s already plenty.”

“Alright. Then we’ll go with this.”

Remembering that Yi Jinbai seemed to like sweets, Jiang Shuiyun added a dessert before handing the menu back to the server.

At first, with both Jiang Shuiyun and Shen Yunyi present, the atmosphere at the table stayed stiff and polite. But after two bottles of alcohol went down, everything loosened up a bit.

“Everyone, look here—what’s this?”

When most of the food had been eaten, Yao Yao Ling picked up a remote. A projector screen slowly descended from the wall as the lights dimmed. The speakers hidden in the corners finally came alive, making their presence known.

“Let’s start with ‘Congratulations on Getting Rich’!”

Xi Rong sat there picking songs, then looked over. “Anyone else want to choose something?”

Shen Yunyi wasn’t interested. “You guys play. I’m going out to make a call.”

Jiang Shuiyun turned to Yi Jinbai, who was quietly eating dessert in small, serious bites. “Jinbai?”

“No.”

Seeing Yi Jinbai’s slightly dazed response, Jiang Shuiyun shook her head and motioned to Xi Rong. “Go play. Don’t worry about us.”

None of them acted like outsiders. Seeing Jiang Shuiyun uninterested, they didn’t insist. A whole group of them rushed off to the projector—though the resulting wailing chorus and chaotic dancing were a bit painful.

After two songs, Jiang Shuiyun sipped her tea slowly. Her gaze drifted to Yi Jinbai beside her. The girl was still alternating between small bites of dessert and small sips of her drink. Jiang Shuiyun hadn’t wanted to disturb her, but suddenly something felt off.

She set the tea cup down.

Where was her glass of alcohol?

Tonight’s drinks had been a mix—Xi Rong had even made cocktails for everyone. They tasted good but were strong. Jiang Shuiyun had only taken a small sip, planning to stay sober since she still had things to handle later. She remembered placing the glass beside her.

So where did it disappear to?

Just as she was scanning the dim room, she suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder. Yi Jinbai had tipped sideways, leaning heavily against her.

Jiang Shuiyun quickly wrapped an arm around her to steady her, then glanced at the drink in front of Yi Jinbai.

The cup looked awfully familiar.

Wasn’t that her cocktail?

“Jinbai?”