Chapter 26

Yan Qing stumbled into Shen Hanyang's arms in a daze.

She gasped, but her voice was quickly silenced by his kiss. His lips pressed against hers, their temperature shifting from icy to fiery, leaving her no room to breathe. Her struggles and resistance seemed weak and pitiful within the impenetrable fortress he had built with his hands.

The kiss caught her completely off guard, carrying his breath like a tidal wave. When he finally let go of her, she was so unsteady that she collapsed into his arms.

It was at this moment that she realized that the person who had just pushed open the door was a woman.

The woman had long hair that reached her waist, willow-leaf eyebrows, and cherry lips; she was undeniably pretty, except that there was a slight amount of white around her eyes.

Yan Qing no longer expected this absurd scene between her and Shen Hanyang to remain a secret—the shock in the woman's eyes said it all.

Having lost all face, and with no way to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River, Yan Qing closed her eyes in despair.

Shen Hanyang left a light kiss on her eyelid: "Are you shy?"

Yan Qing then realized that she was still in his arms, and quickly broke free, hiding to the side to tidy up her hair and clothes that he had messed up.

"Who is she?" Yan Qing heard the woman behind her ask, but didn't hear a reply from Shen Hanyang for a long time. Turning her head slightly, she saw Shen Hanyang calmly buttoning his shirt, which had been undone at some point.

"I'm asking you who she is!" The woman raised her voice twice as loud, the sharpness of her voice piercing the silence of the entire floor.

"My girlfriend," Shen Hanyang replied without changing his expression.

"You're lying, you don't have a girlfriend."

"Believe it or not, it's up to you. I have no obligation to explain to you." Shen Hanyang took out the lunchbox that Yan Qing had brought, deliberately provoking the woman, "My stomach hasn't been feeling well these past few days, so she brought me some homemade lunchboxes." He spoke naturally and fluently, and no one could detect a single flaw in his lie.

Yan Qing, huddled in the corner, observed the two of them. The situation was crystal clear: Shen Hanyang was using her as a shield to deal with the woman in front of him.

"Impossible, I don't believe it, I don't believe it..." The woman's expression was sinister, her throat gurgling as if she had phlegm, or as if she were hiding a swamp that could devour everything. That swamp was bubbling because of the violent reaction and the energy that had nowhere to be released, and Yan Qing imagined it as the anger that Shen Hanyang had brought to her.

Shen Hanyang added fuel to the fire: "Qingqing, come and eat with us."

Yan Qing scoffed at his behavior, yet felt pity for the woman he had deceived and humiliated. Facing the corner, she ignored Shen Hanyang's calls, unwilling to participate in this deception.

Clang—

Yan Qing was startled and instinctively turned around, only to see her lunchbox lying on the ground in pieces, with the cucumber salad she had made spilled everywhere.

The woman leaned over the desk, her long, loose hair revealing a fierce face, like an enraged lioness ready to devour her challenger alive.

A female voice outside asked, "Mr. Chen, should we call security?" It was the woman who had stopped Yan Qing in the corridor earlier. Yan Qing guessed that she was a secretary or assistant.

“No need. Let Ms. Zhang vent her anger all she wants. After all—” he leaned back in his chair calmly, “this is our last meeting.”

The woman, who had been lying on the table in a beast-like fighting stance, finally erupted. She rushed forward uncontrollably, tearing at Shen Hanyang, hitting, scratching, and cursing him incessantly: "Shen Hanyang, I'll take you down with me!"

She calmed down for a moment, her words filled with tenderness and affection: "I can't live without you, please have pity on me." Her two slender arms wrapped around his neck like dodder vines, and she pressed her mouth against his neck.

This dramatic scene of love and hate left Yan Qing speechless.

Shen Hanyang, on the other hand, remained much calmer. Facing the woman's punches and kicks, he stood firm, content to be a human punching bag. He simply turned his face away, avoiding her frantically demanding kisses.

Finally, whether from exhaustion or despair, the woman gave up, collapsing to the ground with a thud, covering her face and weeping: "Why did you do this to me? Why..."

Her cries were so pitiful and heart-wrenching that Yan Qing felt distressed as well.

Shen Hanyang helped her up. This action gave her renewed hope, and her dull eyes lit up once more.

But Shen Hanyang simply said, "I can overlook how you treat me. But I can't help but be angry when you scare my girlfriend."

The woman's false hope collapsed, and she looked tearfully at Yan Qing, who had been almost invisible in the corner.

Shen Hanyang continued, "I'll say it one last time, you're not my type. I have no feelings for you, not in the past, not now, and never will." He emphasized the last few words.

The woman was still unwilling to give up, clinging to his arm and pleading, "I can't love anyone else, please let me stay by your side, I'll do anything you want..."

Shen Hanyang's face darkened, and the coldness in his voice made Yan Qing feel unfamiliar: "We're all adults, have some self-respect, at least act like strangers. If you keep pestering me like this, I'll only despise you more."

His tone was calm, yet inexplicably powerful, and the woman's previously absent rationality suddenly returned. She slowly stood up, wiped away her tears, and bowed deeply to Yan Qingshen: "I'm sorry to have bothered you."

The woman silently walked out of the office, not forgetting to close the door behind her.

Shen Hanyang looked at the ground with regret: "It hurts, I love eating cucumbers."

He strolled leisurely over to Yan Qing, who then noticed a bloody scratch on the corner of his mouth. Staring at the not-so-shallow red mark, she guessed it must have hurt quite a bit.

"Feeling sorry for him?" he smiled knowingly.

Yan Qing quickly looked away.

"If you feel sorry for me, give me a kiss." Shen Hanyang leaned closer.

Yan Qing opened her eyes wide: "What are you doing?" She tried to dodge, but her hands were tightly gripped by Shen Hanyang.

"Good boy." Shen Hanyang's tone was gentle, but his eyes held a strong warning. He spoke in a low voice, only the two of them could hear, "Cooperate, she hasn't left yet."

Yan Qing felt that he was taking the opportunity to tease her and was about to retaliate when, unexpectedly, her feet were suspended in mid-air and she was picked up.

She was powerless to resist, easily placed on the desk by him. Strong arms encircled her waist, and a torrent of wet kisses surged forth. This kiss was more seductive than the first; his lips began their assault on her, conquering her cheeks, earlobes, chin, and neck, possessing and pressing closer inch by inch, until she had nowhere to retreat. Her heart pounded like a drum, her hands clinging tightly to his neck, as if behind her lay an abyss, and letting go would mean utter destruction.

In the midst of their entanglement, she heard a click, and slightly opened her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the office door had been opened a crack, and a figure was lingering in the gap.

After a while, the door was slammed shut again.

Before she could recover from the chaos, Shen Hanyang had already kindly tidied her disheveled hair. When his hand touched her earlobe, she felt a jolt of electricity run from the top of her head to her toes.

"Scared?" A smile played on his lips, ambiguous and suggestive.

She tried to walk away, but he showed no intention of releasing her. His cool fingertips brushed across her lips, as if erasing everything that had just happened.

"Don't worry, it's just fake."

He calmly returned to his seat, took out his phone, glanced at it, and a satisfied smile appeared on his lips: "Great, they're finally gone."

Yan Qing glanced at his screen; it showed the corridor surveillance footage.

He tossed his phone aside, stretched his neck, and lit a cigarette as if nothing had happened. He detached himself quickly, as if he had no role in this farce at all.

Yan Qing, however, was seething with anger—she felt the play had gone too far.

But how could she express her dissatisfaction? She had agreed willingly, just as he had said, it was all a charade. She had no one to confide in. Thinking of this, her ten fingers clenched into a small fist.

She glanced at the tissue box on his desk and asked, "Can I use this?"

Shen Hanyang glanced at him casually, extinguished the cigarette he had just taken two puffs of, and gestured for him to leave: "Make yourself at home."

Yan Qing took a tissue and cleaned up the lunchbox and food that had been smashed to pieces on the ground.

"Get up, I'll have the cleaning staff clean it up later."

Yan Qing ignored her.

There was a sound behind me, and I heard Shen Hanyang say, "What an understanding girlfriend. She knew my stomach wasn't feeling well, so she made porridge."

Yan Qing glanced back at him; he was smiling at her over another surviving lunchbox on the table.

Yan Qing turned her back and continued cleaning the floor.

Shen Hanyang then said, "My stomach hurts, could you please pass me some medicine?"

Yan Qing didn't even look up, and said sullenly, "Stop acting, everyone's gone."

Shen Hanyang didn't say anything more, and the whole office fell silent.

Yan Qing slowed her movements, because she vaguely heard deep, slow breathing in the silence. She leaned over and glanced in his direction, only to see him gripping the edge of the table with one hand and pressing the other against his stomach, a deep furrow forming on his usually indifferent brow. Even though she deeply admired Shen Hanyang's acting skills, she couldn't help but wonder: his expression didn't seem fake.

"Are you alright?" Yan Qing walked over hesitantly, and was shocked to find his face ashen, with beads of sweat on his forehead. Yan Qing was startled: "You're not feeling well? Where's your medicine?"

Following his finger, she pulled a medicine bottle from the drawer. The water glass was empty, and she reached for it, but Shen Hanyang stopped her: "This will do."

He picked up the bowl of white porridge she had brought and swallowed two pills.

"Should we go to the hospital?" Yan Qing asked worriedly.

Shen Hanyang leaned back in his chair, his smile unable to hide the weariness in his expression: "You've learned to care about people now."

Yan Qingfen said with a hint of reproach, "I think you're still too comfortable."

Despite saying that, Yan Qing was still glad that she hadn't listened to his bad advice and made Cheng Jiaming's favorite braised dishes, but instead cooked some porridge. Mainly because there was no stove in the dormitory, and with her small electric pot, which was not much bigger than a bowl, she couldn't make anything complicated anyway.

She cleaned up the remaining crumbs on the ground, and as she turned around, she tried to steal a glance at him, but her guilty gaze fell squarely into his eyes. She hurriedly looked away. But his smile deepened, leisurely enjoying her little actions.

The ringing of her phone shattered the increasingly ambiguous atmosphere in the air, bringing her back to reality. She frantically rummaged through her bag, and accidentally dropped the phone. She quickly picked it up, painfully checking it from all sides. This was her only phone, over eight years old, and couldn't withstand another drop.

Shen Hanyang noticed her both cherished and anxious attitude towards her phone. He hadn't forgotten the severe scolding he received the first time he called her, and it was during that call that he learned Yan Qing had fallen and injured herself in the torrential rain of a typhoon while trying to return the so-called expensive badge, resulting in a fever and the breaking of her phone.

He bent down to open the cabinet under the desk, pressed his hand on the cabinet door for a moment, and then withdrew it.

"It's been ringing for ages, why aren't you answering?" he asked.

She was staring blankly at the caller ID on her phone.

Shen Hanyang teased, "Boyfriend checking up on you?"

Yan Qing hurriedly put away the phone.

Her performance confirmed Shen Hanyang's suspicions.

"I'm leaving." She buried her head in packing her bag, and didn't even glance at the increasingly cold eyes of the person behind her until she left.

Only after leaving the Huanyu Building did she return the call to Zhuge Xiaoxiang.

"...Don't be angry...I'm coming right now..."