Li Jingchen's voice suddenly rose, "You should stop now."
The atmosphere between the two became visibly tense.
Zhong Qingya scoffed, "What, scared? Or too afraid? Is there anything you, Li Jingchen, wouldn't dare to do? You're so capable, aren't you? Actually, you don't like Song Nuan that much."
She angrily broke free from Li Jingchen's grasp.
He lifted his eyelids, looked Li Jingchen up and down, his eyes full of disdain, "You're quite good at pretending to be affectionate, you've even fooled yourself."
"What's it to you?"
He remained indifferent and was not provoked by Zhong Qingya's words.
They almost completely ignored her.
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, you're already the Zhong family's prospective son-in-law. Even if the King of Heaven himself came, he couldn't change that."
“If you want to stay with her, I won’t stop you, but I understand women better than you do. Why should she lower herself for you? Do you really think she loves you enough to be a mistress?”
"In my opinion, you should let go as soon as possible and give her to Ouyang Zhoujing."
"So as not to suffer for nothing by being with you."
Li Jingchen glanced at her coldly, a hint of emotion flickering in his deep black eyes. "Zhong Qingya, do you really think the Zhong family can protect you forever?"
Zhong Qingya ignored him.
She saw something even more interesting than Li Jingchen, so she hid behind the bathroom door.
Song Nuan actually dared to come.
Sneaking into the bathroom, she must have come without Li Jingchen's knowledge.
She curled her red lips, a few wicked thoughts flashing through her mind, then turned to look at Li Jingchen and said loudly, "Of course I know that after I marry into the Li family, my father won't be able to protect me for the rest of my life."
"It's good that you know."
"Li Jingchen, are you planning to torment me after I marry into the Li family?"
That was indeed Li Jingchen's plan.
This is a last resort. If there is really no room for maneuver in the marriage, he can only endure the banquet with Zhong Qingya... As long as they haven't registered their marriage, the banquet can be disregarded.
His first marriage was still reserved for Song Nuan.
After Zhong Qingya married into the Li family, the power of the conversation fell into his hands, and he had a million ways to force Zhong Qingya to beg him for a divorce.
Silence is the answer.
Zhong Qingya knew perfectly well what was going on. She wanted to laugh a little, but that was about enough. She pretended to be angry and gave Li Jingchen a hard shove.
She snapped, "Get out! Consider this lousy birthday party a waste of my kindness. You don't need to attend. Get as far away as you can!"
Li Jingchen couldn't wait to leave; he had been forced to attend this lousy banquet by Li Guanyu.
He didn't even bother to give her a second glance and turned to leave.
Song Nuan held onto the door and squatted down.
Her mind was buzzing, filled with Zhong Qingya's words, which were playing on a loop and stimulating her again and again.
Click—
The door was suddenly pushed open, and Song Nuan was caught off guard and fell to the ground.
She frowned, turned her head, and looked up, only to be met with a plain-faced, unpleasant-looking face.
"Hi." Zhong Qingya crossed her arms, looked down at her, and arrogantly raised her left hand slightly to wave in greeting. "Miss Song, why didn't you say hello when you arrived? I could have sent someone to greet you."
"..."
Now that she's been discovered, Song Nuan has no need to hide anymore.
She stood up, dusted herself off, and realized that even the restrooms in the high-end banquet hall were spotless—except for Zhong Qingya in front of her.
"Miss Zhong probably doesn't want me to come."
"How could I not want that?" She smiled. "It'll be more lively with you here. I'm also very curious whether Li Jingchen will acknowledge your identity in front of everyone, given the current situation."
Song Nuan smiled slightly, seemingly unconcerned.
She tilted her head to look at Zhong Qingya, her appearance charming, "You misunderstood, Li Jingchen and I have no status at all."
"Aren't you his girlfriend?"
"no."
"That time..."
Song Nuan interrupted her with a smile, "Last time was a play I put on for him, Miss Zhong. Actually, we've never been together. At most, we're just friends with benefits."
Zhong Qingya's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
The angrier she got, the happier Song Nuan felt, finally managing to turn the tables.
"You don't need to be too hostile towards me, or be wary of me at every turn. I know that what you just said wasn't just for him to hear."
She was very perceptive and had already noticed that Zhong Qingya was looking at her.
Zhong Qingya: "Then you..."
"Whether you marry into the Li family or not, I don't care, because if I wanted to marry him, I would have agreed to it three years ago."
"I can't even count the number of times he proposed to me during that time on both hands."
Song Nuan looked at her and smiled, "If I were really interested, it wouldn't be your turn now, Miss Zhong."
Zhong Qingya was furious.
She never imagined that Song Nuan and Li Jingchen weren't even in a romantic relationship!
She desperately wanted to tell herself that Song Nuan was lying to her, but given how much Li Jingchen valued Song Nuan, Zhong Qingya felt that what Song Nuan said was most likely true.
So the person she's been racking her brains to deal with lately isn't even Li Jingchen's girlfriend?
Was it all just her imagination?
Zhong Qingya couldn't accept it. She desperately tried to control her emotions and told herself not to be provoked by Song Nuan's words.
Seeing her break down, Song Nuan felt a sudden release of her pent-up frustration.
She said, "Miss Zhong, I sincerely wish you happiness."
After saying that, Song Nuan turned to leave, but then suddenly remembered something, stopped, and looked back at Zhong Qingya, "I'm reminding you, there's no need to marry Li Jingchen out of spite just to spite me."
"Instead of wasting your time investigating me, you should focus your energy on investigating Li Jingchen, after all, he is the man you will marry in the future."
"He's good to me, gentle with me, and patient with me. All of this is because he likes me. But what kind of person is he really? How is he to ordinary people? Have you ever thought about that?"
“In fact, in his eyes, you should be considered an enemy.”
Song Nuan smiled faintly, "Do you think a man who controls a group of tens of thousands of people at the age of eighteen would be merciful to the enemy who plotted to marry him?"
...
Parking garage at Shimao City.
Xu Yiran counted the time, "We're here, exactly ten minutes!"
Fang Yu had just torn open a packet of beef jerky, and before she had even eaten it, she saw Xu Yiran in a hurry and frowned, saying, "She'll handle it herself, don't keep making things worse."
"Am I making things worse?"
Xu Yiran was very unhappy about being told this, so she snatched the beef jerky from her and stuffed it into her own mouth, saying, "Hurry up, let's eat our fill and then fight."
Fang Yu really wanted to kill her with a shovel.
She took out a few packets of snacks from her bag, opened the car door, and got out. "Let me call and ask first."
Xu Yiran suddenly pressed her hand down, "Wait."
"What's wrong now?"
The hand that was holding her suddenly disappeared. Fang Yu only felt a gust of wind, and when she opened her eyes again, Xu Yiran was gone.
At the same time, Xu Yiran's surprised question rang out from behind: "Li Jingchen, why did you come down? Where is Song Nuan?"
Li Jingchen agreed with the question: "Song Nuan?"
"Song Nuan just came upstairs to look for you, didn't you see her?"
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