Chapter 2: When Will We Get Married? Part 2
On the drive to Shen Zhiqian’s house, Ning Qingqing stared straight ahead, silently driving.
“Qingqing, are you upset?” Her boyfriend’s voice came from beside her. His voice was lower and more magnetic than usual because he had been drinking.
“No.” Ning Qingqing replied, turning on the car radio.
Shen Zhiqian usually listened to financial news channels, and Ning Qingqing, having been with him for a while, had gotten used to listening to it on drives. A news report suddenly caught her attention:
“Gu Youchen, heir to the Gu Group, returned to China today. This may indicate that the Gu Group is shifting its focus to the domestic market…”
Hearing this, Ning Qingqing subconsciously glanced at the man beside her.
Sure enough, when Shen Zhiqian heard the name Gu Youchen, his brows furrowed, and the temperature in the car seemed to drop a couple of degrees.
She was about to change the channel, but her hand was stopped by Shen Zhiqian. The man said coldly, “I want to hear what other news he has!”
Ning Qingqing didn’t move, continuing to drive, but her mind involuntarily recalled the man she had seen at the Lan Yue Club.
It was strange; she had only met Gu Youchen in high school, and hadn’t paid attention to him after he went abroad. Yet, after several years, she still recognized him instantly.
Unlike Shen Zhiqian’s sharp and arrogant features and sometimes lazy, sometimes flamboyant temperament, Gu Youchen’s features were more delicate, with a unique aura, like the snow on a mountain peak, pure and untouched.
Due to some complicated family history, and because Shen Zhiqian and Gu Youchen were close in age, they had been compared since childhood.
Gradually, the two had become sworn enemies.
Of course, this was information Ning Qingqing had only gotten from Shen Zhiqian.
At that moment, the man’s phone vibrated. For some reason, Ning Qingqing subconsciously glanced at the screen Shen Zhiqian had just unlocked.
It was a WeChat friend request, with a pink circular profile picture. Ning Qingqing was too far away to see the name.
Shen Zhiqian glanced at it, did nothing, and threw the phone aside without any emotional fluctuation.
He seemed tired from drinking, leaning back in his seat to rest his eyes.
They arrived at Shen Zhiqian’s apartment complex. It was a very private area, with all units being large penthouses accessible directly from the underground parking lot.
Ning Qingqing parked the car and handed Shen Zhiqian his bag, “Get some rest early tonight.”
But the man didn’t move. He held Ning Qingqing’s hand, “Qingqing, what’s wrong?”
He tried to recall what happened today but couldn’t think of anything that would affect Ning Qingqing’s mood, so he asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”
Ning Qingqing nodded, “My period came.”
“Then don’t go home, come up and rest with me.” Shen Zhiqian said, getting out of the car and going to Ning Qingqing’s side. He leaned over, unbuckled her seatbelt, and scooped her into his arms.
Ning Qingqing tried to push him away, but she was too weak from her period, and before she knew it, Shen Zhiqian had carried her to the elevator.
It was already late, and she had stayed at Shen Zhiqian’s apartment before, so Ning Qingqing didn’t bother to refuse and went up with him.
She went to the guest room, put down her bag, and came out after showering to find Shen Zhiqian in her room.
He was holding a bowl of brown sugar ginger tea, “Qingqing, does your stomach hurt? Drink this first.”
In the light, the man’s usually arrogant eyes were filled with tenderness.
Ning Qingqing took the bowl and drank it in a few gulps. She was about to wash the bowl when the man stopped her, “I’ll wash it later.”
He naturally put his arm around Ning Qingqing’s waist, his warm hand resting on her lower abdomen, his chin resting on her shoulder, “Qingqing, tell me, what’s bothering you?”
Suddenly enveloped in warmth, Ning Qingqing sighed inwardly. She could perhaps talk to him again, about them, about the future.
After all, they had been together for nine years, Shen Zhiqian had always been good to her, and there had never been anything to make her uneasy.
“Zhiqian, my 25th birthday is coming up soon,” Ning Qingqing looked into Shen Zhiqian’s eyes through the mirror. “They say 25 is a milestone, it feels like you’re not young anymore after 25.”
“Are you worried about that, and that’s why you’re upset?” Shen Zhiqian’s low chuckle fell on her ear. He changed hands to warm Ning Qingqing’s stomach, “In my eyes, our Qingqing is the most beautiful, and even when you’re old, you’ll still be beautiful!”
Hearing him say “old,” Ning Qingqing subconsciously asked, “Then what do you think we’ll be doing many years from now?”
Shen Zhiqian paused, then kissed Ning Qingqing’s cheek gently, “Don’t talk about old age, we’re still young.”
“Mm.” Ning Qingqing responded, still warm in his embrace, but the flame in her heart was slowly dying down.
“You drank tonight, go to sleep early, I have to get up early tomorrow too,” she said, pulling away from Shen Zhiqian’s embrace.
“Okay, goodnight Qingqing.” The man said, watching Ning Qingqing lie down before turning off the lights and closing the door.
In the room, Ning Qingqing looked into the darkness and slowly exhaled.
Just as she was about to close her eyes, her phone rang repeatedly. Realizing she had forgotten to turn it off, Ning Qingqing got up and picked up her phone, seeing that her high school class group chat, which had been active years ago, was suddenly bustling.
She had just clicked in and saw a red envelope notification. Perhaps because it was late and her mind was foggy, by the time she reacted, she had already opened the red envelope.
39.7 yuan.
Such a large lucky money red envelope was rare, but when Ning Qingqing saw the sender’s profile picture, her pupils constricted.
If she wasn’t mistaken, she had seen this profile picture two hours ago in Shen Zhiqian’s WeChat friend request.
A pink circular profile picture, with the nickname “Sunny Day.”
Ning Qingqing remembered adding all her high school classmates as friends, but this person was clearly a stranger.
However, before she could check the records, someone had already revealed the sender’s identity:
“Ahhh, thank you goddess! This is the first time I’ve received such a large WeChat red envelope!”
“Goddess is back to develop in China! Let’s have a class reunion, to welcome the goddess!”
“Luoqing beauty, when do you have time? We’ll definitely be there on time to catch a glimpse of the goddess!”
Below, “Sunny Day,” after sending dozens of red envelopes, replied, “I’m free anytime, I just got back and need some time to adjust, so my agent gave me a week off.”
“Wow, Teacher Xu’s birthday is this weekend, let’s have the reunion that day? Celebrate Teacher Xu’s birthday, and welcome Luoqing back!” the class monitor excitedly suggested.
There was a chorus of agreement.
“Sunny Day” also replied, “Okay, Saturday, I’m free that day.”
Seeing this, the class monitor directly tagged everyone, “Classmates, class reunion this Saturday at 3 PM, the big star Si Luoqing will be attending, everyone is welcome to sign up!”
Ning Qingqing knew that almost all of her high school classmates had been there since junior high school, so many of them should be classmates with Si Luoqing. Someone must have had her contact information and added her to the group. But why did she come to their group instead of her junior high group?
Just as Ning Qingqing was about to leave the group chat, someone suddenly tagged her.
Lu Yue, “Hey, Qingqing got the red envelope too? So Qingqing will definitely come on Saturday, right?”
Ning Qingqing desperately wished she could go back two minutes to before she accidentally opened the red envelope.
But it was done. She could only reply, “I might be on a business trip, I’ll see then, I’ll try my best to be there.”
Lu Yue said, “You must try your best! You weren’t in our school when Si Luoqing transferred, but our current class flower can’t miss a beautiful woman’s gathering, right?”
She continued, “Oh, by the way, Luoqing had a good relationship with Shen Xuezhang before, you should’ve heard Shen Xuezhang mention it.”
Ning Qingqing sneered in her heart, but replied, “Really? I haven’t heard of it, I’ll ask Zhiqian later.”
Then, a classmate said, “Luoqing, I remember you and Shen Xuezhang dated before, right?”
As soon as the words were out, the class group fell silent for a moment.
Quickly, Si Luoqing replied ambiguously, “I haven’t seen Zhiqian in years, he must be even more handsome now.”
A wave of cheers followed.
Ning Qingqing directly posted a photo of Shen Zhiqian in the group.
In the photo, the man was wearing a neat suit, his tie neatly knotted, but he seemed to be looking away from the camera, and his eyes were rolling.
“Zhiqian is known for his 359-degree flawless angles. This is his only dead angle.”
After sending this message, Ning Qingqing exited WeChat.
Next door, Shen Zhiqian was completely unaware that his bad photo had been posted to the class group.
He had just finished showering and was drying his hair when his phone rang. It was an unknown number.
He didn’t know many people who had his private number, so he hung up. The phone rang again.
He frowned and answered, his eyes already filled with irritation, “Who is this?”
A gentle female voice answered, but the tone was flat, showing a feigned intimacy but with restrained reserve, “Qian, it’s Luoqing, I’m back.”
Shen Zhiqian continued drying his hair, his eyes still showing indifference, “Oh, Luoqing… who is this?”
A low sigh came from the other end, followed by, “Zhiqian, I saw your photo in the Class 13 1st class group. It’s been years, you’re really more handsome than before.”
Shen Zhiqian said indifferently, “Do you have something to do calling me?”
Si Luoqing said, “I sent you a WeChat friend request, accept it. I’m back to develop here, and we might have a lot of collaborations in the future.”
“Business?” Shen Zhiqian said, “Have your agent contact my secretary, there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up.”
“Okay,” Si Luoqing said, “See you at the reunion.”
Shen Zhiqian hung up.
He remembered he wasn’t in Ning Qingqing’s class group, so he messaged his friend, “Add me to your class group.”
Soon, messages popped up one after another. Shen Zhiqian entered the group chat and saw that his photo had been made into an emoji—
“The man with 359-degree flawless angles, you deserve to have him.”
Shen Zhiqian pressed his forehead and rubbed it, then got up and walked to the next door.
Ning Qingqing’s door was closed, and there was no sound inside.
He returned to his room, only to find the class group in an uproar because of his arrival.
“Ahhh, Shen Xuezhang is here? Shen Xuezhang, we’re having a class reunion this Saturday, will you come too? Qingqing and Luoqing are both going!”
Shen Zhiqian, having just joined, didn’t know that Ning Qingqing hadn’t agreed to attend the reunion, so he asked, “Qingqing said she’s going?”
Lu Yue quickly replied, “Yes, Qingqing said she’ll be there on time, so Xuezhang, you should come too, right?”
Shen Zhiqian replied, “Okay, send me the time and place.”
Author’s Note:
Hee hee, Shura Field (chaotic love triangle) is coming~~
Don’t worry everyone, the plot in the synopsis will definitely happen!
The scumbag will definitely get slapped in the face later, until even his mother doesn’t recognize him~ Thank you to the little angels who cast their overlord votes or irrigated nutrient solution for me between 2022-05-16 13:29:132022-05-17 13:32:03 oh
Thank you for the landmines thrown by the little angel: Yue Nuli Yue Xingyun 3;
Thank you to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Xi Xi 2 bottles;
Thank you very much for everyone’s support, I will continue to work hard!
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Translator’s note: I’m so excited for this to happen. I want him to get sucker punched in the face. Hahahaha~