Transmigrating Into the Beautiful CEO’s Doomed Substitute - Chapter 43

Qi Zheng subconsciously glanced at the time. General Manager Shen seemed to have been in the restroom for a bit too long. Could she be throwing up? She regretted not having gone with her. She shouldn’t have let Shen Zhibing put on a brave face alone.

Qi Zheng was clearly distracted, her gaze occasionally darting past Lin Muyun to look behind her. Whatever she was looking at, it indicated a disregard for Lin Muyun.

“Today may not be a good time, but I hope you understand my feelings. Xiao Zheng, I will make amends for the mistakes I’ve made in the past, and I hope you can see my sincerity.”

Qi Zheng put down her wine glass. She really didn’t have the energy to care too much about Lin Muyun.

Before she could say anything, the person she was worried about appeared.

“Miss Lin, why are you sitting in my seat instead of accompanying your fiancé?”

Qi Zheng scrutinized Shen Zhibing. She looked relatively normal, but she was a little colder than before.

Lin Muyun smiled as she stood up, showing no panic.

“Lian Ao drank too much and just went to the restroom. I was going to check if he was feeling better.”

Shen Zhibing did not sit in the chair Lin Muyun had occupied. She seemed to have decided to leave.

“Time is about up. Let’s go.”

When Shen Zhibing spoke, Qi Zheng was more than happy.

As soon as they left, the group of gossiping socialites who had been observing them from afar all evening started chattering again. Wu Qin was low in spirits tonight and spoke very little. Her eyes were red and swollen, but she stubbornly insisted on coming.

“It’s so strange tonight. Shen Zhibing actually brought a woman to the engagement ceremony. I wonder what she’s thinking.”

“You’re the strange one. It’s not Shen Zhibing’s engagement, so who she brings doesn’t matter. I’m more interested in that limited-edition dress. I never thought anyone could wear the clothes from the magazine better than the model.”

“That one? I went to see it at the beginning of the year. I looked at it several times but didn’t have the courage to buy it.”

“So why are you feeling unbalanced? Even if Shen Zhibing brought a woman, she’s no ordinary woman. Last time, I heard she could help snatch contracts. Tonight, we know she has good taste in clothes and can save face. If you’re so capable, find someone like that and bring them for us to see.”

“I don’t have Shen Zhibing’s resources, but Lin Muyun really missed out.”

Wu Qin listened to their noisy voices and grew even more irritated: “What did Lin Muyun lose? She’s the one who got a treasure without having to do anything!”

The others fell silent. Wu Qin had indeed been depressed about Lian Ao’s arranged marriage for a long time. She was probably the most genuinely emotional about Lian Ao here. Jane Ann was drinking and did not participate in their discussion.

She had investigated Shen Zhibing’s relationship history as Lin Muyun requested, and it was indeed a blank slate.

It was even more blank than she had imagined, without even a fleeting fling.

Shen Zhibing must have hidden something. Jane Ann’s genes carried the special journalistic exploratory spirit of her family’s media business, and she did not give up on continuing to investigate.

**

Shen Zhibing took Qi Zheng to an unfamiliar place. It was neither a mansion nor a hotel, but a place that was empty, so quiet that one would want to leave immediately.

Shen Zhibing told the bodyguard and driver to wait far away. There were only her and Qi Zheng by the car.

“I used to love coming here.”

It was a mountaintop, not far from the city, but Qi Zheng didn’t know that a section of the mountain had been owned by Shen Shi.

“Later, I stopped coming often. Standing here alone, I saw not scenery, but only loneliness.”

Shen Zhibing stood with her arms crossed, looking at the neon lights flickering below the mountain. All that noise, excitement, and prosperity were very close yet very far away.

Her tone was bleak and desolate, and her silhouette was solitary and lonely. Qi Zheng took off her jacket and put it on Shen Zhibing.

Shen Zhibing shivered slightly but didn’t turn back: “Qi Zheng, are all your tactics learned from her?”

Qi Zheng was puzzled: “What tactics?”

Shen Zhibing paused and said, “Eating candy, holding hands, and this jacket.”

Qi Zheng openly rolled her eyes at the back of General Manager Shen’s head.

“I gave you candy because Secretary Yun told me you ate too little lunch today and I was afraid you had low blood sugar. Being gripped like that was purely an accident. If I had known earlier, I absolutely wouldn’t have wanted to comfort you. Finally, you were standing on the mountaintop in that backless dress, hugging yourself and shaking. I’m not blind.”

The reasoning was sound. Shen Zhibing didn’t get angry after hearing it, still looking at the hazy light and shadow in front of her.

“Go to the car and get my cigarettes.”

General Manager Shen smoked too? Qi Zheng didn’t think she had ever seen her. Still, she went to get them.

Shen Zhibing took out a cigarette and put it in her mouth. The fire flickered, and she slowly exhaled a smoke ring, looking even more sorrowful.

This kind of vulnerability used to only be revealed in her own room. Shen Zhibing was unwilling to let anyone see her other side. But tonight, she didn’t want to struggle alone anymore, so she brought Qi Zheng to this place she once called her secret garden.

She had only been here once with Lian Ao, and it was in a hurry because Lian Ao was constantly worried about being seen. Shen Zhibing hadn’t had time to tell him that this was actually a private area, and no strangers would intrude.

But seeing Lian Ao’s anxious look, all her enthusiasm was washed away, and Shen Zhibing never planned to come here with him again.

“Do you want one?” Shen Zhibing offered the cigarette pack.

Qi Zheng looked down at it for a moment, then reached out, took it, and put the whole pack into her pocket.

“I quit smoking a long time ago.”

Shen Zhibing didn’t force the issue and continued to smoke alone.

After a while, she suddenly spoke: “Why do you look so calm tonight? Don’t you feel unhappy?”

She turned around and looked at Qi Zheng, not understanding how Qi Zheng could be so free and easy, watching Lin Muyun get engaged to someone else on the stage.

If it were the original owner tonight, of course, she would be sad.

If it were two years ago, Qi Zheng might have been sad too.

“Once I figured it out, I realized that no matter how sad or unhappy I was, nothing would change.”

She finally showed a trace of loneliness, which gave Shen Zhibing the sense of closeness of being fellow sufferers.

“Do you hate her? Hate her for forgetting her past vows, abandoning the past, and immediately entering a new relationship?”

Hate? Qi Zheng knew she had hated her.

But what difference did hating make? Those who should leave will leave. That person wouldn’t linger because of it, and even less would she turn back. If she were willing to turn back, why would she have left in the first place?

Qi Zheng recalled the scene she had once experienced: her former lover on the stage becoming someone else’s lover. The applause all around was a blessing for them. But their love had never seen the light of day.

Their relationship was never blessed.

Shen Zhibing walked toward the silent Qi Zheng, standing extremely close to her: “Deep down, you still remember, don’t you?”

Qi Zheng sighed: “Scars can’t be erased. We can only stop them from hurting anymore.”

Shen Zhibing sneered and moved closer.

Qi Zheng felt that General Manager Shen was standing too close. Just as she was about to step back, she was embraced by one hand and had the back of her head cupped by the other. Then, her lips were met with a soft touch.

A faint tobacco scent escaped from between their lips, mingling with the erratic breath in their nostrils.

With the base of wine aroma, and a light tobacco scent, Shen Zhibing’s alluring fragrance changed the scent of the surrounding air.

Qi Zheng came to her senses and tried to push her away, but found Shen Zhibing holding her almost desperately, not allowing her to escape.

Qi Zheng’s lips were tightly closed. Shen Zhibing’s aggressive and disorderly action made her feel annoyed.

Shen Zhibing paused but did not let go.

Qi Zheng made a sharp sound of pain, only then regaining her freedom. She raised her hand; the corner of her mouth had been bitten.

“General Manager Shen, what are you going crazy about!”

Shen Zhibing looked at her bleeding lip with a cold smile: “You react so strongly to just a kiss. Am I really that much worse than Lin Muyun?”

Qi Zheng knew it would be difficult to explain her past relationship with Lin Muyun, but it was clear that Shen Zhibing misunderstood it deeply.

“General Manager Shen promised me that she wouldn’t force me.”

“I promised you that you could choose not to do it, but I didn’t say I couldn’t even kiss you. Or, do you want to do it?”

Shen Zhibing gestured toward the spacious sedan. There was no one on the mountaintop. The driver and bodyguard were waiting far away to guard them. It was indeed a good spot.

But Qi Zheng felt that Shen Zhibing had gone crazy.

“Go do your head in! General Manager Shen, can you be sober? It’s just a breakup. It’s not the end of the world. Why are you degrading yourself!”

Qi Zheng was finally angry. She was angry at Shen Zhibing’s vulnerability, and also angry at her own past despair when she was trapped in a dead end.

Shen Zhibing was clearly taken aback by Qi Zheng’s reaction. She was just feeling depressed and had no outlet for her emotions, and the humiliation of being passionately desired but cruelly rejected led her to say those reckless words.

She didn’t want to do it that much either, but she didn’t want to see Qi Zheng’s attitude, which seemed highly resistant to her.

Was she really that unattractive? Did everyone, regardless of gender, think Lin Muyun was better?

“You don’t have to do it, but from now on, if I want to kiss you, you are not allowed to refuse.” Shen Zhibing thought she had to salvage some of her dignity.

Qi Zheng twitched her mouth. Fortunately, the bite wasn’t deep, and the bleeding had already stopped.

“General Manager Shen, your kissing technique is too poor. What you’re doing can only be called wild gnawing.”

Shen Zhibing was a proud person. How could she tolerate someone telling her she was inadequate to her face, especially in her current state of mind tonight?

She moved closer again: “Is that so? Then why don’t you try again and see what my technique is really like?”

Qi Zheng leaned back, thinking, No, no. I don’t want to be bitten again.

In her struggle to get away, her jacket slipped to the ground. Qi Zheng bent down to pick it up, patted off the weeds and dust, and put it on Shen Zhibing again: “General Manager Shen, you are drunk.”

Shen Zhibing froze there. Her mind was indeed a mess, and every step seemed to be out of her control. But the frustration and internal turmoil that had almost driven her mad just now gradually dissolved in Qi Zheng’s simple actions and words.

Qi Zheng sighed softly and hugged Shen Zhibing.

At this moment, she knew that a hug was better than a kiss.

In the past, after attending her former lover’s engagement ceremony, she could only hug herself in a cold room. Her heart was torn into bloody fragments, with no one to pity or care. She had to grit her teeth and walk out of that darkness, picking up the fragments and sewing them back together.

Qi Zheng had let go because she had once been deeply involved.

Shen Zhibing fell asleep in her arms. Qi Zheng carried her back to the car and asked the driver to return. By the time they reached the villa, it was already past eleven o’clock at night.

Yun Fei was worried and had called Aunt Xin twice. Hearing that Shen Zhibing hadn’t returned, she was even more uneasy.

Qi Zheng’s phone was vibrating in her pocket, but Shen Zhibing was clinging to her like an octopus, so she couldn’t free her hand to answer the call.

Only after finally settling Shen Zhibing did she call Yun Fei back.

“General Manager Shen is asleep. The morning meeting tomorrow might need to be slightly rescheduled.”

Yun Fei breathed a sigh of relief: “I will handle the meeting. You’ve worked hard tonight. You can come in a little later tomorrow.”

Qi Zheng was still concerned about the procurement contract. She rubbed her temples and thanked Yun Fei for her kindness: “I’m fine. See you tomorrow.”

Shen Zhibing dreamt all night, dreaming of her heartbeat from her youth to the forbearance of recent years. The joy this relationship brought her lessened over time, and in the end, it was almost just a matter of sticking to it for the sake of persistence.

Her initial infatuation might have faded a long time ago. She was still holding onto Lian Ao only because she couldn’t let go of her past self, and she couldn’t let go of the happiness they once had.

She woke up with a headache, leaning against the headboard, looking at the faint light seeping through the curtain gap. Last night on the mountaintop, Qi Zheng seemed to have said a lot in her ear, but she could only vaguely remember some of it.

But she remembered Qi Zheng saying: “Try to accept reality. Once you see the dark cruelty, you can be born toward the sun.”

Reality? The reality was that Lian Ao had betrayed their relationship. Whether it was family pressure or situational factors, Lian Ao’s fervent promises, in Shen Zhibing’s view, were no longer trustworthy.

Last night, he cornered her outside the restroom, desperately hoping she would believe him.

Lian Ao, wearing the same suit as in their engagement photos, said to Shen Zhibing, “Xiao Bing, no matter who I marry, my heart belongs only to you.”

Shen Zhibing held her forehead. If this had been said before, it would have indeed made her conflicted and heartbroken, yet unwilling to let go. But now, after trying the method Qi Zheng suggested, she came to only one conclusion: Get lost!