Savage Kiss - Chapter 52

He looked completely indifferent, answering a question that hadn’t been asked: “Haven’t seen you in three days.”

Xu Qingyi: …It was clearly two days.

The night before didn’t count.

She pressed her lips together lightly. “I don’t have time this weekend.”

Shen Yanzhou didn’t seem disappointed, he happened to have business in the city over the weekend too, and his schedule was tight.

“Then I’ll find you on Monday,” he said, secretly squeezing her hand. “Eat more.”

Xu Qingyi remembered how, that night, she had mentioned being hungry midway, only to be silently mocked by Shen Yanzhou before he selflessly proceeded to satisfy her stomach as well.

On the day of the weekend business banquet.

Shi Qing came to pick her up and took her to get styled. The pale blue off-shoulder mermaid dress had been his choice too.

Xu Qingyi had never been to an event like this before. She felt completely out of place and instinctively wanted to retreat to the edges.

Shi Qing didn’t plan on drawing attention either. He led her through a side hall and said, “Wait here for now. I’m heading upstairs for a bit.”

He wasn’t sure if his father had arrived yet and wanted to check. At these kinds of banquets, the upper floors usually had rooms where the big bosses gathered to chat.

Xu Qingyi continued edging further toward the periphery, where the side hall connected to the hotel’s back garden.

When someone suddenly approached her from the garden, she startled.

Then she heard the man ask, “What are you doing here?”

She recognized that voice, it was the Boss’s.

Where had he come from?

Shen Yuqiao studied the dress she was wearing, which accentuated her graceful curves. Under the lights, her skin looked as smooth as jade soaked in milk.

For a moment, he felt a pang of jealousy toward Shen Yanzhou.

“I came with a friend.” she answered simply.

Shen Yuqiao, as cold and detached as ever, nodded without another word and turned to walk toward the other end of the side hall.

Xu Qingyi wondered if he was also some high-profile figure to be attending this banquet.

Too bad she didn’t dare sneak a photo of him, otherwise, she could’ve looked him up online.

Just as she was thinking this, Shen Yanzhou suddenly appeared in her line of sight.

As always, her attention automatically locked onto him, and before she knew it, he was standing right in front of her. “Who were you just talking to?”

In that instant, Xu Qingyi could clearly sense his mood.

She met his gaze and saw a cold sharpness in his eyes, almost like he was glaring at her for the first time. “I asked you a question.”

Xu Qingyi pressed her lips together. “No one.”

Her heart pounded. If Shen Yanzhou and the Boss were sworn enemies, and Shen Yanzhou found out she knew the Boss, she’d be finished.

Shen Yanzhou stared down at her for two seconds before stepping past her in the direction Shen Yuqiao had gone.

Xu Qingyi instinctively grabbed his arm.

He turned back. “What?”

She didn’t know what to say. That direction seemed to lead to a dead end, probably the smoking area.

If Shen Yanzhou went over, he’d definitely see that man, wouldn’t he?

“Why are you being so aggressive?” she deflected, turning the tables. “Why does it feel like you’re here to catch me cheating?”

“Even if I were talking to another man, what’s the problem?”

Anyone else would be fine, but that man absolutely couldn’t be!

Shen Yanzhou pulled his arm free, determined to get to the bottom of it.

Xu Qingyi panicked. “What are you going to do if you go over there? Start another fight? Are you so unevolved that you always resort to brute force?”

She knew the words were harsh, but she had no choice.

If he caused a scene, it would undoubtedly be a big one. By then, forget about meeting the CEO of Tianhua, she’d probably be thrown out by the organizers on the spot.

Sure enough, Shen Yanzhou stopped in his tracks, as if unable to believe she could say such words to him.

A few seconds later, he suddenly laughed.

The same phrase, Shen Yanzhou had just heard it from his own father that very morning.

The bandages on his hand hadn’t earned him any concern from his family. Instead, all he got was: “You only know how to solve problems with brute force. Always so crude and brainless. Why can’t you learn from your brother?”

No matter what he did, it was always deemed unrefined. No matter what Shen Yuqiao did, it was always elegant and proper. It was just an heir’s position, he had never wanted to fight for it, yet everyone treated him like a thorn in their side, forcing him relentlessly.

Xu Qingyi felt uncomfortable under his gaze and didn’t dare meet his eyes.

Only after Shen Yanzhou left did she exhale softly in relief. Then, coincidentally, she spotted the boss standing in the lobby chatting with someone, right in the direction Shen Yanzhou had gone.

How had he gotten from the far end of the side hall to there so quickly?

At least her own suspicion had been cleared.

Shi Qing came down to take her upstairs, stopping outside a private room.

The scene inside was something she had never witnessed in her life, like a high-stakes corporate meeting on TV, seemingly casual and jovial, yet solemn beyond measure.

A man in his fifties glanced toward Shi Qing, his expression stern.

Shi Qing turned back and asked her, “Do you have a business card?”

That night, she didn’t cross that threshold, nor did she speak to the CEO of Tianhua. But handing over Ke Yan’s business card was worth it.

After leaving, Xu Qingyi stood outside the hotel entrance for a while, instinctively searching for Shen Yanzhou’s figure.

She didn’t see him.

Too cold to bear it any longer, she had no choice but to leave.

…

On Monday, of course, he didn’t come looking for her. Strangely, Xu Qingyi felt uneasy about it.

In the afternoon, she drove to the auto repair shop and parked at the entrance, where she spotted Shen Yanzhou.

Getting out of the car, she went straight to him and asked, “Two warning lights keep flashing. I don’t understand, is something wrong with the car?”

Shen Yanzhou didn’t even glance at her face, brushing past her to approach the car. He leaned in through the window to take a look.

Then he went into the back workshop and returned with a bottle of windshield fluid, topping up her car without a word.

Once finished, he walked inside and instructed Liang Fanglin, “Charge her.”

Xu Qingyi opened her mouth to speak, but he gave her no opportunity.

Liang Fanglin walked over and smiled at her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll cover it. You should go, it’s freezing.”

Her attempt at conversation failed, leaving Xu Qingyi no choice but to head home.

This was her first time trying to reconcile with someone, and she had zero experience. If not for the 100,000 yuan a month, she’d never have managed it.

Over the next few days, aside from working on designs, she went out daily.

On Wednesday, it snowed. She wandered outside for two hours in the cold before finally spotting Shen Yanzhou heading to a hotel for dinner with some people.

Xu Qingyi followed at roughly the same time, telling the front desk she was with their group.

The result was somewhat awkward.

The entire group consisted of men, and each of them had brought a female companion.

She stepped forward, mustering her courage to walk up beside Shen Yanzhou, preemptively asking, “Why did you order two?”

Shen Yanzhou gave her a cold look.

Still, he said to the girl beside him, “You can leave.”

Xu Qingyi had been outside in the cold for a while, and her hands were stiff. When she tried pouring wine for Shen Yanzhou like the others, she spilled some.

He showed no reaction, though he didn’t drink a single sip of what she poured.

The topics they discussed were mostly beyond her, words like “expansion” and “chain stores” were normal, but the rest were industry jargon she couldn’t follow.

So, she focused on how to take care of Shen Yanzhou during the meal.

“Do you want shrimp?” she asked.

He happened to turn his head to speak with someone beside him, naturally paying her no attention.

She put on a full display of courtesy, slightly bending at the waist. “The crab?”

Never mind. Since he wasn’t responding, Xu Qingyi took matters into her own hands, peeling all of it for him and carefully placing the meat on the plate by her hand.

He still didn’t touch it, and the pile grew larger.

Xu Qingyi didn’t know what else to do. Stuck in an awkward position, her hand suddenly slipped.

“Ah!” She gasped as a sharp pain shot through her.