Chapter 25 Hmm, taking advantage of someone's misfortune? ...
When Jiang Nuanyu met Liang Qi's gaze, her heart skipped a beat. But he didn't stop walking; his profile flashed before her eyes for a moment before disappearing into the conference room doorway.
As she was wondering whether she should go out with them, the reporter sitting next to her suddenly asked, "Are you an editor at a fashion magazine?"
Jiang Nuanyu looked away, her mind still preoccupied with Liang Qi's glance just now, and absentmindedly replied, "Yes."
Another reporter in the front row overheard their conversation and then asked, "Florian, is that it? I heard that Yun Jing sponsored a lifestyle magazine recently, is that you?"
“Yes.” Jiang Nuanyu nodded.
“No wonder,” the first reporter to speak said with a smile. “I was wondering why there were media outlets like this at this event today.”
Jiang Nuanyu smiled politely but didn't reply.
A reporter who appeared to be less experienced finished packing his things, glanced at the senior reporters in front of him, and then said, holding up his phone, "Gentlemen, how about we exchange WeChat contacts?"
“No problem.” The veteran reporters didn’t put on airs and took out their phones one after another.
The young reporter didn't glance at Jiang Nuanyu once throughout the entire interview. Jiang Nuanyu wasn't surprised or bothered by this, as the likelihood of them having any future interactions was very small.
She quietly packed her notebook and pen into her bag, but when she looked up, she unintentionally met the other person's gaze.
The young reporter paused for a moment, gave an awkward laugh, turned his phone screen around, and said, "I'll add you too."
"Okay." Even though she knew the other party was just being polite, Jiang Nuanyu still opened WeChat and scanned the QR code without hesitation.
Seeing this, the others also took the opportunity to add her on WeChat.
When the brief social gathering finally ended, Jiang Nuanyu walked out of the conference room, but Liang Qi was nowhere to be seen.
This was expected, but seeing the empty corridor still left her somewhat disappointed. Especially considering everything that had happened that day, this disappointment was tinged with a slightly melancholic despair.
The meeting ended just after four o'clock, but it was already quite dark outside.
As Jiang Nuanyu walked out of the convention center, she looked up at the sky filled with thick, dark clouds and thought that the weather really reflected her gloomy mood.
She wasn't in a hurry to go home. She strolled aimlessly along the flowerbed in the center of the square, fiddling with the flower branches that had been carefully pruned in the summer but were now withered, looking quite dejected.
A gust of autumn wind blew by, and the last few withered leaves on the branches were blown off with a rustling sound. The chill seeped into my skin through my thin clothes, and there was an inexplicable damp, earthy smell in the air.
Fearing it might really rain, she didn't dawdle any longer and quickly took out her phone to call a taxi.
While I was calling a car, three or four large raindrops hit my phone screen one after another.
The weather in Beijing in late autumn is so unpredictable, changing in an instant. Raindrops pelted down, soaking the gray stone brick ground, creating wet spots that quickly merged into patches.
Jiang Nuanyu hugged her arms and walked against the wind towards the roadside. Rain lashed her body and face, and the wind picked up, making her shiver.
Before the car arrived, her first thought was to get under a tree to avoid the rain.
Just as I had this thought, a thunderous roar echoed in the sky, and the air seemed to tremble.
She instinctively shrank her neck and stopped walking.
Although the probability of being struck by lightning under a tree is extremely low, it is certainly not zero.
Compared to being struck by lightning, getting caught in the rain for a while doesn't seem like much.
Moreover, when the driver accepted the order, the software showed that the other party was only a few hundred meters away and would arrive soon.
Jiang Nuanyu held her bag above her head to shield herself from the rain, her eyes fixed on the direction the car had come from, hoping the driver would come to pick her up soon.
Less than half a minute later, my phone rang in my bag.
"Hello?" It was a ride-hailing driver. His voice was apologetic, "I'm sorry, I changed lanes too late and missed my U-turn. There's traffic control on the road ahead, I have to go through these two intersections before I can turn around again."
Jiang Nuanyu held the phone to her ear: "..."
She was speechless for a moment.
"Could you... wait a moment?" the driver asked tentatively.
Jiang Nuanyu closed her eyes and took two seconds to make a decision: "Then could you please hurry? I'm getting soaked in the rain."
"Okay, okay, I'll do it as soon as possible!" the driver said repeatedly. "Thank you."
The phone call ended, and the rain started pouring down even harder.
The rain came too suddenly, and the sky was covered by a gray-white curtain of rain, as if it were covered by a tight, airtight shell.
Jiang Nuanyu stood in the misty rain beneath the shell, the wind whipping raindrops into her eyes. She wiped the water from her forehead and began to regret her earlier needless generosity.
Why not just cancel the order and hail another car?
On the other hand, she comforted herself: taking another taxi might just make the wait even longer.
She stopped thinking about it and squatted by the flower bed, her bag balanced on her head, looking like a white mushroom. Except, a shivering white mushroom—her knitted top was soaked with water, its coldness constantly drawing warmth from her body.
A white sedan with its hazard lights flashing finally came to a slow stop on the side of the road. Jiang Nuanyu had checked the license plate number beforehand, and as soon as the car stopped, she quickly went to meet it.
She had just opened the car door to get in when the driver got out and walked around the front of the car toward the roadside.
She asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Master?"
The driver squatted down next to the right front wheel, waved at her without looking up, and said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute."
Jiang Nuanyu shielded her forehead from the rain with one hand, frowning, unsure whether she should get into the car.
The driver took a picture of the tire with his phone, straightened up, turned the screen towards her, and said, "Look, such a big nail is stuck in there."
He sighed to himself, "Sigh, I knew it was going to be a tire pressure warning light all of a sudden. What bad luck."
Jiang Nuanyu asked a really silly question: "Can we still walk?"
The driver chuckled: "Miss, if you lived nearby, I could manage to drive you slowly. But your place is too far; even if you dared to take a ride, I wouldn't dare to drive you."
Jiang Nuanyu frowned, paused for a moment, hesitated, then closed the car door without a word and walked back to the roadside.
The driver was a little embarrassed: "I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. I can't deliver the goods now that they've arrived. I'll cancel this order; it's on me."
Jiang Nuanyu's expression was rather unpleasant; she ignored him and planned to call another car.
As soon as she took the phone out, the screen was instantly wet by the rain. She wiped it with her hand, but her hands were already wet and her fingers were cold and stiff. It took her several tries to successfully enter the password to unlock the phone.
Seeing her like this, the driver apologized several times. Jiang Nuanyu noticed that the other person was also soaked, and couldn't help but soften her heart. She also felt bad about making him lose face, so she simply said it was alright.
The driver then got into the car and left.
The taxi had barely driven away when another car pulled up in front of it.
Jiang Nuanyu subconsciously glanced up and saw the back window of the black sedan roll down. Liang Qi tilted his head slightly, peeking out through the open window, and said, "Get in."
Jiang Nuanyu never expected Liang Qi to appear here at this time. She stood there stunned for two seconds before going over to open the car door.
After getting into the car, she turned to the side and nodded to Liang Qi, saying, "Mr. Liang."
Liang Qi took a tissue and handed it to her, saying, "Wipe it off."
"Thank you." Jiang Nuanyu took the tissue but used it to wipe the seat that was wet from the rain.
Liang Qi watched her actions but ultimately didn't explain that the tissue was for wiping her face and hands. He only asked, "Why are you standing by the roadside in this heavy rain?"
Jiang Nuanyu was soaked to the bone, and the rain kept dripping onto the seat. She couldn't wipe it all off, so she had to give up and move her legs to the side of the seat.
"I was waiting for a car by the roadside, but the car I just hailed had a flat tire and the driver wouldn't take me anymore." She sounded a little annoyed.
Liang Qi figured that she had nowhere else to go but home, so he said, "I'll take you home."
Jiang Nuanyu was taken aback: "...Go home?"
Her slightly unexpected reaction made Liang Qi pause for a moment. He then said, "If you have other plans, I'll take you there."
Jiang Nuanyu didn't respond immediately. She had no plans to go anywhere else, but she didn't want to go home just like that.
She had so much to say to him, both personally and otherwise. If she missed this opportunity, she didn't know when they would meet again.
She pursed her lips, which were icy cold from the rain, and asked, "Are you free later?"
She glanced at him hastily after she finished speaking; Liang Qi raised his eyebrows slightly, seemingly not understanding what she meant, and remained silent for a moment.
Jiang Nuanyu gave a dry laugh and said, "It's nothing, just, if possible, we can go out for a meal together..." Realizing it wasn't mealtime yet, she added, "or, something like... somewhere else."
Liang Qi now understood that she was inviting him. He glanced at her soaked state but still didn't say anything.
Jiang Nuanyu thought he was politely declining, and her heart sank, but she still tried to save face: "It's okay if it's inconvenient for you, I just mentioned it casually..."
Liang Qi replied, "I'm free."
His answer surprised Jiang Nuanyu again, and her mood brightened.
Does this mean he accepted her invitation?
She looked up, her gaze slowly shifting, and met his gaze, which was also looking at her.
Liang Qi met her gaze. Although her hair was completely wet and the strands were plastered to her scalp with no style whatsoever, her small face was wet and beautiful, which did not look out of place. It was just that her lips were a little purple from the cold.
He looked at her for a moment, then asked, "Aren't you cold?"
The car's heater was on full blast, and Jiang Nuanyu almost forgot about the cold, and even forgot...
She hurriedly raised her hand and touched her wet head. Looking at her clothes and pants clinging to her skin, she realized that she looked like a drowned rat. Her heart, which had been fluttering with joy, immediately calmed down.
Seeing this, Liang Qi looked away at the opportune moment; Jiang Nuanyu said without much confidence, "Uh, actually, I am like this too..." She stopped speaking before she could finish.
Appearing in public like this, especially with Liang Qi... she simply couldn't force herself to admit that she didn't care or have any qualms about it.
But she didn't want to waste this rare "date," so she couldn't say anything else. The atmosphere became awkward.
At this moment, Liang Qi glanced at his watch and casually said, "It's still early. My home is nearby. You can take a shower first, and then go eat after your clothes are dry." He paused, then repeated what she had just said verbatim, adding, "Or, somewhere else?"
Jiang Nuanyu's heart skipped a beat.
His...home?
She turned her head, her eyes filled with uncertain inquiry, but met Liang Qi's usual calm and unwavering gaze.
“It’s your decision,” he said again.
Jiang Nuanyu remained silent for a moment. Reason told her that it would be better to refuse the suggestion at this point. But why didn't she speak?
She lowered her eyes, avoiding his gaze.
At this moment, she was truly afraid that Liang Qi would see through her thoughts; but deep down, she was even more afraid that he hadn't noticed.
The raindrops pounded heavily on the car roof, and together with the clicking of the hazard lights, blurred the silence inside the car, and also blurred Jiang Nuanyu's silence.
The driver glanced at Liang Qi in the rearview mirror, waiting for his instructions.
After a few seconds, Liang Qi didn't wait for her reply. He leaned back in his seat and said to the driver, "Let's go home first."
The driver nodded, turned off the hazard lights, and slowly merged the car into the lane.
Jiang Nuanyu's heart pounded faster and louder, as if it were right next to her ear. She even suspected that her wet clothes were acting as an amplifier.
She stole a glance at Liang Qi. He was leaning back in his chair, head tilted back, eyelids half-closed, looking ahead with a calm expression.
She suddenly remembered his abnormally keen ability to sense gaze, and after only half a second of looking at him, she quickly looked away.
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Author's Note: This is my first chapter as a contracted author!
I took a break from updating for a few days recently, and I apologize to all the friends who were following my updates (if you're still here... *facepalm*)
It's highly unlikely I'll stop updating after this... (Seriously [pity])
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