Chapter 21: Qin Jiuyue
Chapter 21: Qin Jiuyue
In the car.
“My name is Qin Jiuyue.”
“I heard it earlier.”
“And you?”
“Not convenient to tell you.”
“Not convenient?”
Qin Jiuyue’s hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel. Her eyes stayed fixed on the road ahead as her foot unconsciously pressed deeper on the accelerator——
Vroom!
The high-performance sports car shot forward like an arrow from a bow.
“Ling Yi.”
Knowing when to submit is the mark of a wise man. Ling Yi was genuinely afraid that if he didn’t tell her, she might just drive the car straight into the sky.
Why was it that every girl he met seemed to love speeding so much?
Relying on their driving skills, they’d hit the accelerator at the slightest disagreement!
“Ling Yi, I’m really very sorry about what happened today.”
Qin Jiuyue wore an apologetic expression.
Normally, she would never be so willful just because someone didn’t tell her their name, and she certainly wouldn’t have made such a slightly dangerous move.
She had just been absolutely furious today.
“It’s fine. Anyway, you’ll drop me at the hotel in a moment, and we won’t see each other again,” Ling Yi said.
“…”
The rest of the journey passed in silence. Qin Jiuyue drove Ling Yi to the front of the hotel.
A hotel security guard saw the car from a distance and hurried over. With a respectful face, he opened the car door for Qin Jiuyue, then looked on in surprise as Ling Yi got out from the passenger side by himself.
Ling Yi glanced at Qin Jiuyue and said, “Ms. Qin, thank you for bringing me back. I’ll be going now, so I won’t say goodbye.”
With that, under the stunned gaze of the security guard, he practically fled into the hotel like a refugee.
What made the security guard even more bewildered was seeing the woman he idolized, President Qin, who was usually cold and distant towards any man, actually chase after him!
I must be seeing things!
The security guard picked up a few roadblocks and carefully cordoned off Qin Jiuyue’s car. As he did, he glanced towards the hotel’s revolving door. Through the clear glass, he saw President Qin saying something to that tall, handsome man.
A sudden pang of bitterness struck his heart.
Too bad he wasn’t a retired military king returning to the city, without a CEO wife who wouldn’t let him sleep…
In the hotel lobby, Ling Yi watched Qin Jiuyue follow him in and asked somewhat speechlessly, “Why did you come in too?”
Qin Jiuyue smiled. “This is my family’s hotel.”
Ling Yi: “…”
“President Qin!”
“Hello, President Qin.”
“President Qin, you’re here.”
The hotel staff in the lobby spotted Qin Jiuyue and came over to greet her with looks of awe. At the front desk, a few young and pretty female attendants stole cautious glances at Ling Yi.
They remembered this tall, handsome guy. Over the past few days, it seemed like two different young women had been going in and out of the hotel with him… What a playboy. How I wish I could be played too!
Ling Yi looked at Qin Jiuyue. “So this is your family’s business. I won’t disturb you then, President Qin. You must be busy…”
Qin Jiuyue called out to stop Ling Yi with a somewhat helpless expression. “Am I really that scary to you?”
Hearing this, the lobby manager who had just walked up immediately turned around, looked towards the front desk, and said sternly, “What are you all gawking at? What did your training teach you?”
Ling Yi nodded. “Quite scary. Nearly got shot by someone who didn’t even know my name…”
Qin Jiuyue couldn’t help but laugh. Then she looked at Ling Yi with graceful frankness. “The restaurant on the top floor is quite good. Let me treat you to a meal, as an apology and to help you settle your nerves.”
As she spoke, she pleaded in a low voice, “I don’t have a single friend here. I’m full of grievances with no one to tell. Just think of it as sharing a table with me in a crowded restaurant, okay?”
Ling Yi really wanted to say no, but Qin Jiuyue’s last sentence struck a chord with him.
When he had first returned to Spring City, he too had no friends, full of grievances with no one to talk to.
The person who appeared before him back then was his unreliable senior brother, Gu Tong.
Unreliable, but a good person.
“Alright, let’s go then,” Ling Yi nodded. The key point was, he hadn’t eaten anything substantial at the reception earlier, and now he was starving.
Anyway, after eating, he could just go downstairs to sleep. She couldn’t possibly eat him alive in a public place.
After the two left, the lobby manager moved close to the front desk attendants and whispered, “No one is allowed to gossip. If I find out anyone spreads word about today’s events, immediate dismissal!”
A front desk girl who was quite familiar with the manager couldn’t help but say, “Manager, that handsome guy has been seen with two young ladies who are no worse than our President Qin these past couple of days. Should we maybe…”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” the lobby manager warned with a serious face. “Watch your mouths. Don’t think this is a joke!”
The young women immediately shrank back like quails.
Inside the private box in the hotel’s top-floor restaurant, Qin Jiuyue walked in and immediately ordered two bottles of baijiu.
Seeing this, Ling Yi instantly knew Qin Jiuyue wanted to drown her sorrows in alcohol.
He didn’t try to dissuade her. Firstly, they weren’t close, and he didn’t want to overstep. Secondly, the entire hotel belonged to her family; if she drank too much, someone would definitely take care of her.
Shortly after, a server brought over two wine dispensers. Once the server left, Ling Yi said, “You drink. I won’t.”
“Afraid I’ll get drunk and bother you?” Qin Jiuyue asked, her face slightly flushed as she looked at Ling Yi.
“Mmhmm. A boy out in the world has to learn to protect himself,” Ling Yi nodded with a serious expression.
Qin Jiuyue chuckled. “I’m quite curious. While you were growing up, have there been people who wanted to punch you because of that mouth of yours?”
“Yes, quite a few,” Ling Yi recalled.
“And then?” Qin Jiuyue asked with interest.
“And then what?” Ling Yi looked at her, puzzled.
“And then did you get beaten up badly?” Qin Jiuyue inquired.
“No, they couldn’t beat me,” Ling Yi replied, even offering a modest smile afterwards.
“…”
“You’re that Ling Yi who was expelled from Zongwu Academy before, right?” Qin Jiuyue opened a bottle of baijiu, filled both wine dispensers, pushed one towards Ling Yi, and then asked nonchalantly.
“You know about me?” Ling Yi asked.
“Just remembered. Your name sounded somewhat familiar earlier, and then I recalled you were walking with Second Brother Gu today, so I guessed,” Qin Jiuyue said casually.
Second Brother Gu?
Gu Tong?
“You know him?” Ling Yi was somewhat curious.
“Young Master Gu, the second son of the Gu family. What’s strange about knowing him? But running into you here, who stirred up quite the storm, is somewhat surprising,” Qin Jiuyue said. She directly picked up her wine dispenser and took a small sip. A third of the liquor inside vanished instantly.
Ling Yi: !!!
A heroine among women!
Before he could even process it, she took another sip. The dispenser, which held at least three liang of baijiu, now only had a third left.
Ling Yi stared wide-eyed: A true heroine among women!
“I am from the Qin family. I graduated from Jing University and got my doctorate at Great Chu Academy. Like all the clichéd stories about daughters from prominent families, after coming of age, I couldn’t escape the fate of an arranged marriage. I was the more willful sort, never very obedient since childhood. So, when my family was looking for a marriage prospect for me, I did something rebellious and unorthodox.”
“I randomly found a man who was decent-looking but came from a poor family. We signed an agreement and directly registered our marriage.”
“In the agreement, I gave him a three-hundred-square-meter apartment in Spring City, a car worth a million, and an additional three hundred thousand Great Qin notes every month. I wouldn’t interfere with anything he did, including seeing other women, but on the condition he couldn’t bring them to the apartment I gave him. Not for any other reason, but because I feared my family might drop by unexpectedly.”
“Similarly, he couldn’t interfere with my life, wasn’t allowed to appear at my company, and could only be by my side when I needed him to appear with me.”
Ling Yi looked at Qin Jiuyue and said, “Sis, if you have a good deal like this in the future, you can look for me!”
Qin Jiuyue: “…”
She downed the final third in her dispenser in one go, then refilled it again.
She said softly, “I thought it was just a transaction. And in fact, it was just a transaction. I believe marriage should be between equals, but I didn’t want to become a tool for a family alliance. Over the years, I’ve seen too much of the lives of the women in my family after they married out. I didn’t want that kind of life. So I thought my approach was very clever.”
“But what I didn’t expect was, he not only greedily wanted me for himself, he even tried to meddle in my company’s affairs!”
“Right when I met you earlier tonight, a business partner of mine came to see me, asking what I meant by it. Upon asking, I found out he had contacted them behind my back, trying to skim benefits from our normal transactions… Do you know how shocked I was when I heard this news?”
“So I called him, wanting him to behave. I didn’t expect that after this jerk realized I was onto him, he actually threatened me, saying he’d tell my family about our deal…”
Qin Jiuyue seemed to be feeling the effects of the alcohol. Her cheeks were pink as she looked at Ling Yi. “Don’t you think he has a problem with his brain? Does he think my family are fools? Do they really not see through the transaction between us? If he really dares to go to my family, I’m afraid he might not see the sun the next day!”
“I didn’t expect him to go crazy like that and actually do such a thing. I can only say… this mess is of my own making. It’s my fault. I thought I was clever, but I just dug a hole for myself.”
As she spoke, Qin Jiuyue downed the freshly filled dispenser in one swallow.
Ling Yi watched, the corner of his mouth twitching. He thought to himself, this girl really could hold her liquor. In such a short time, six liang of liquor was already in her stomach… The key point was, not a single dish had been served yet!
He had already been starving since the reception, originally thinking he could fill his stomach a bit now.
Looking at this now, well, today was a great day for dieting!
At this rate, the dishes wouldn’t even arrive before the person across from him was under the table.
Smile.
“Hey? Why aren’t you drinking?” Qin Jiuyue seemed to only now notice that Ling Yi hadn’t taken a single sip.
Instantly unhappy, she reached for the bottle to refill her own dispenser. Less than one liang of liquor came out before the bottle was empty.
She casually opened the second bottle, filled her dispenser, and lifted it.
Giving Ling Yi a grin, she said, “Both of us are strangers in a strange land. Come on, a toast to you!”
Ling Yi looked at Qin Jiuyue. “You can still drink?”
Qin Jiuyue smiled disdainfully. “Who do you think you’re looking down on?”
Tilting her head back, another three liang of liquor went down. She placed the dispenser gently on the table, her eyes suddenly becoming exceptionally bright as she looked at Ling Yi. “Bratty little brother, aren’t you drinking yet?”
Ling Yi thought, it’s over, this older sister is completely drunk.
“Drink, drink, drink! Can you handle it or not? If not, I’ll drink yours for you!” Qin Jiuyue urged.
Ling Yi looked conflicted and said with special embarrassment, “That wouldn’t be very good, would it?”
Then, while speaking, he slowly pushed the dispensers in front of him, which he hadn’t touched at all, towards Qin Jiuyue.
Qin Jiuyue: “…”