Chapter 16 I can scare you to death when I'm jealous.
Jiang Qingying arrived at the "Si Zui" bar as scheduled, but was stopped before entering the private room. It turned out to be Chen Liqian.
The two were in the corridor outside the private room. The noise from the dance floor was greatly reduced by the distance. Jiang Qingying looked him up and down through the dim light. "What are you doing?"
"Want to chat?" Chen Liqian grabbed her from the doorknob. "I need to talk to you." He then dragged her along, passing several private rooms.
Jiang Qingying frowned and shook off his hand: "What do I have to talk to you about?"
Chen Liqian stopped and suddenly took a step forward, forcing her close to the wall. Jiang Qingying was not one to be trifled with; she was not about to be willingly coerced by him. She raised her leg and forcefully slammed her knee into his abdomen, while simultaneously slapping him.
Chen Liqian winced in pain and took two steps back, looking at her in surprise with a hunched back: "You dare to hit me?"
Jiang Qingying snorted coldly and said without any politeness, "I've beaten you quite a few times too."
Fighting was a common occurrence between the two during their school days; it would seem childish to fight as adults.
Chen Liqian took a deep breath, calming the pain in his body, and tried to straighten up as if nothing was wrong. "Why an arranged marriage?"
"What's it to you?" Jiang Qingying crossed her arms, leaning against the wall, glancing at him sideways with a look of utter contempt.
"It has nothing to do with me, it's just a business marriage. Anyone would have been fine with it..."
"no."
Jiang Qingying interrupted him directly, her tone dripping with sarcasm: "What gives you the audacity to say such things? You dare to say that?"
"..." Chen Liqian knew he couldn't compare to Lu Jinyuan, but after being humiliated like this, he couldn't bear it. "Is he really that good?"
Jiang Qingying had a headache. She felt the question was meaningless and childish, and she couldn't be bothered to answer it.
Chen Liqian was met with silence. He laughed self-deprecatingly, lowered his head, stared at a spot on the floor, and whispered, "You've always known, haven't you?"
"Know what?" Jiang Qingying smiled, "The fact that you like me?"
Chen Liqian looked up at her, his face revealing a tender gaze full of love for the first time, without any pretense. For a moment, he still naively hoped that she could give him the response he desired.
"Do you know what liking someone means?" Jiang Qingying asked.
"......"
“You bully someone you like, trying to conquer them and gain attention that way.” Jiang Qingying lectured him as if she were an outsider, and she was serious and calm in the face of his affection. “This is not love. You are just trying to satisfy your male chauvinistic desire to conquer. This kind of plot only exists in fairy tales. I am neither Cinderella nor the Ugly Duckling, nor am I a canary that you can trick into taking home and keeping as a pet by spending some money.”
Jiang Qingying's words of reasoning were like sharp swords, stabbing fiercely into Chen Liqian's heart. Each wound was deeper than the last, almost piercing his heart.
Chen Liqian forced a stiff, ugly smile, his voice low and weak: "For so many years, I've refused to admit defeat, but I've lost to you every time."
"So, you can't conquer me. You're either more capable than me, or more powerful and influential than me, and clearly you're neither."
Jiang Qingying is still the winner.
She always believed in "I won't offend others unless they offend me, and if they do, I'll eliminate them completely." She had never lost a confrontation with Chen Liqian, and long ago she wondered why he was so persistent and always trying to oppose her. After figuring it out, she found it utterly ridiculous; some people are inherently arrogant and demand subservient behavior from their partners in relationships.
Or perhaps they simply enjoy this kind of perverse humor.
Either way, they're both annoying.
Jiang Qingying had no patience to deal with him. She leaned against the wall, ready to leave, when the door next to her suddenly opened.
Chen Liqian and Jiang Qingying both looked at the person coming out from behind the door at the same time, but their expressions were very different.
Chen Liqian was surprised, and a little panicked, intimidated by Lu Jinyuan's cold expression and powerful aura. His posture immediately became more humble and respectful.
Jiang Qingying, on the other hand, remained calm and composed.
Where does this sense of ease come from?
She didn't know, but she felt that Lu Jinyuan was eavesdropping, and his sudden intervention made her earlier effortless victory over the weaker opponents even more interesting.
Moreover...
She didn't do anything wrong, so why should she be afraid of being caught doing something wrong?
"Mr. Chen isn't worried about the crumbling Chen Corporation, but instead seems quite interested in chatting with my fiancée?"
He was speaking to Chen Liqian, but Lu Jinyuan was looking at Jiang Qingying. He stood in front of her, blocking most of the already dim light. Jiang Qingying couldn't see his expression, but from his tone of voice, she could guess that he was a little displeased.
Jiang Qingying laughed innocently, "This isn't chatting, it's clearly arguing, okay?"
The two seemed to be flirting, and Chen Liqian couldn't get a word in edgewise.
Lu Jinyuan chuckled, then turned to Chen Liqian, continuing his attack with a sarcastic tone, "Mr. Chen, you're not only adept at such despicable things as poaching people behind their backs, but you also want to use them on me?"
You're overthinking it.
"So it seems you're planning to become a third party in this relationship?"
Jiang Qingying laughed out loud, but Lu Jinyuan gave her a quick glance, and she retorted, "Can't I even laugh?"
"Let it be." Lu Jinyuan softened his tone and said helplessly, "Who can stop you from laughing?"
Chen Liqian had had enough and wanted to leave quickly. Just as he turned around, he heard Lu Jinyuan say, "If President Chen wants to receive the acquisition proposal from Lu's Group tomorrow, then feel free to provoke me."
To put it bluntly, if Lu Jinyuan wanted to deal with someone, it would be as easy as crushing an ant.
Chen Liqian's feet seemed glued to the ground, making it difficult to move an inch. His hands clenched into fists as he tried to prove that he still had some willpower left.
Lu Jinyuan no longer paid him any attention. He wrapped his long arm around Jiang Qingying's slender waist and led her into the private room.
Upon entering the private room, Jiang Qingying realized that the room was soundproof. How could he have been eavesdropping?
Lu Jinyuan noticed her confusion and explained, "I didn't hear anything, I just happened to run into them when I went out."
"Then how did you..."
"Just a guess."
Jiang Qingying's expression was stiff. She chuckled twice, "You guessed pretty accurately."
"What are you doing here?" Jiang Qingying asked, because he didn't seem like the type of person who would come to a bar.
"Work," Lu Jinyuan replied briefly.
"Work at a bar?" Jiang Qingying suddenly smiled meaningfully. "What kind of work?"
Lu Jinyuan was speechless.
"Cough...cough..."
Jiang Qingying looked in the direction of the sound and saw another man in the room. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, thinking that he looked somewhat familiar. She then glanced at the low table in front of the sofa, where there were a few bottles of foreign liquor and several folders.
They really are here to work.
"Qin Shiming, the head of Cheng Shen Technology, whom I mentioned to you last time," Lu Jinyuan said.
Qin Shiming stood up, smiled and nodded: "President Jiang, I've heard so much about you."
Jiang Qingying remembered why he looked familiar, nodded and greeted him, "Hello."
After exchanging greetings, Qin Shiming was about to sit down when his bent legs suddenly stiffened. Before he could even sit down, he felt someone's unfriendly gaze. "Seriously, bro? You're abandoning your brother now that your wife's here?"
Lu Jinyuan remained silent, but his eyes seemed to say, "We've finished discussing the work we needed to discuss; you can get lost now."
Jiang Qingying smiled slightly. "I have an appointment, so I'll go first. You guys continue."
Lu Jinyuan grasped her forearm and said softly, "I have something to talk to you about."
Seeing this, Qin Shiming sighed and said, "Alright, I'll go then." After saying that, he quickly packed his things and left.
Jiang Qingying sat down on the sofa, glanced at the ashtray on the table, and looked up at him: "Smoking?"
"I smoked a little." Lu Jinyuan sat down next to her and asked, "You don't like it?"
Jiang Qingying was quite frank and didn't mince words with him. "Yeah, the smell of smoke is awful."
Lu Jinyuan: "Understood."
Jiang Qingying's phone rang; it was a barrage of messages from Lin Tingwan. She replied to her first, then asked Lu Jinyuan, "What do you want to tell me? Hurry up, I'm in a rush."
Lu Jinyuan poured wine silently, yet his movements inexplicably drew attention. He took a small sip and asked, "Any ideas for the wedding?"
Jiang Qing pulled away from his wine glass, remained silent for a moment, and said, "I don't know, I have no experience."
Lu Jinyuan paused for a moment while drinking, then said, "I don't have any either."
Jiang Qingying thought for a moment, "I'll have my mom handle it. Are there any rules in the Lu family that I should be aware of?"
Lu Jinyuan shook his head, "It's our wedding, we decide."
Jiang Qingying laughed, thinking, "Who told you to be the head of the Lu family?" Her smiling eyes fixed on him, "Aren't you going to ask what Chen Liqian and I were just talking about?"
Lu Jinyuan downed the wine in his glass in one gulp. "I don't care about people who are indifferent to my feelings."
"Ah..." Jiang Qingying said slyly, "But I do care."
"What?" Lu Jinyuan didn't understand.
Jiang Qingying opened her phone and shoved it at his face a few seconds later. Her movements were quick and somewhat lacking in restraint. Lu Jinyuan reacted by dodging back slightly, then took her phone and looked down at it.
The phone screen displayed Shen Shuyun's WeChat Moments.
—Game of Thrones is incredibly boring. Take a step back and you'll see a brighter future. You guys play it.
Lu Jinyuan raised an eyebrow. They were all in the same circle, and their friendships were common, so they naturally knew what those words meant.
He looked down again.
Jiang Qingying's comment.
—Oh! You can back down then, but I'm not. I suggest you back down a few steps, otherwise I'll take advantage of your kindness.
Lu Jinyuan laughed out loud; these words were completely different from her decisive and efficient work style.
Jiang Qingying snatched the phone away, "What are you laughing at!"
After saying that, she got up and tried to walk out, but Lu Jinyuan pulled her back a few steps as soon as she opened the door of the private room a little.
The door was opened a crack, and the light from the corridor seeped in through the gap, extending to the toes of the two people facing each other. The collision of leather shoes and high heels revealed a subtle, quietly growing affection.
Lu Jinyuan placed his large hands on her waist, one on each side, just enough to hold her waist in his hands. "Are you jealous?"
Jiang Qing's image was like an alarm bell blaring, glaring fiercely at him.
Lu Jinyuan curled his lips, his voice cool yet languid, "Why do you explode at the slightest provocation?"
Jiang Qingying raised her arm, hooked it around his neck, tilted her head, and deliberately acted coquettishly in a soft voice: "I'm just a gas cylinder, don't mess with me, I can scare you to death when I get jealous."
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