Chapter 15

Everyone in the room was stunned and silent.

Zhao Pingjin grabbed the cigarette case and said, “I’m going out for a smoke,” before leaving without looking back.

Qingqing asked, “Xiajiang, are you okay?”

Lu Xiajiang shook his head and wiped the blood with a tissue.

Gao Jiyi wondered, “What’s going on here?”

Fang Langfei casually said, “Huang Xitang.”

Gao Jiyi didn’t understand, “What?”

Fang Langfei said, “The girl just now.”

Gao Jiyi was completely speechless.

Lu Xiajiang’s face slowly changed.

Only Gao Jiyi’s wife looked curious, “Who is Huang Xitang?”

Fang Langfei looked at his phone and was a little worried, “Is he going to be okay if he goes out like this?”

Ten minutes later, Zhao Pingjin hadn’t returned. They tried calling him, but he didn’t answer at first, and then his phone was turned off.

Gao Jiyi came to his senses, “Did he bring his driver today?”

Lu Xiajiang was a little panicked and said in a low voice, “I saw his car in the garage when I arrived. He drove himself.”

Gao Jiyi had worked in the Publicity Department for nearly ten years, and he had handled countless public relations crises. He was best at finding someone to mediate when something happened. “Don’t panic, Langfei, call Shen Min first.”

Zhao Pingjin drove out of the garage of Gao Jiyi’s community, passed through the south gate of Chaoyang Park, and sped all the way along Chang’an Avenue to the fifth ring road. He continued driving beyond Changping District, almost reaching the banks of the Wenyu River.

The car roared through the city, and neon lights flashed on the overpass. As the traffic gradually thinned, the silhouettes of hills appeared in the dark distance.

The tearful face kept haunting him.

He had known about that awards ceremony more than two months ago. An hour before the ceremony, he had someone send a diamond necklace to her agency, and then Shen Min had called both Ni Kailun and her agency’s CEO.

She should understand that she still owed him.

She had cried so sadly during that song, so full of sorrow.

How dare she cry.

That year, he was also driving, returning to Beijing in the early morning. She was sitting beside him.

The radio was also playing old Hong Kong songs.

At that time, they were arguing violently. Zhao Pingjin had a temporary contract to sign in Tianjin, and he was so angry that he drove there himself, pulled her into the car, and they continued to argue.

The Beijing-Tianjin expressway hadn’t been opened yet, so he took the old Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu highway. The road conditions were poor, and he was exhausted. When he returned, he was almost on the verge of collapse.

Huang Xitang ruthlessly tore away the last shred of dignity from their relationship. Sitting beside him, she seemed as distant as if she were on another planet. She was like a stranger, coldly saying, “I’m not worthy of your noble family, so just don’t be with me.”

Zhao Pingjin ran his hands through his hair and replied impatiently, “Can’t you just compromise for me? This is a temporary setback. You can be with me first, and after we get their approval, you can go back to acting.”

Xitang suddenly became angry, “They don’t like me! Do you think they’ll like me if I study for a master’s and a doctorate? No! I’m telling you, Zhao Pingjin, your mother looks down on me because we’re from different backgrounds! Because I’m not the daughter of someone important, because I don’t have my parents to rely on, because I’m poor and have nothing!”

Zhao Pingjin replied irritably, “Can you stop being so extreme and judgmental?”

That night, she cried very sadly. Perhaps she had already sensed that their relationship was coming to an end.

He didn’t know how to comfort her, “Okay, okay, go and act.”

Huang Xitang sobbed, “Then what about you?”

Zhao Pingjin gritted his teeth and said, “We’ll fight this for eight years, we won’t break up. Or shall we just get a marriage certificate and you give me a child?”

In the early morning, they made love in the back of the car.

Huang Xitang buried her face in his shoulder and bit him hard, holding his hand tightly. She sobbed, “Zhao Pingjin, I love you, I’ll never let you go.”

Her voice was still familiar, but suddenly a strange face appeared in his mind, a face that was crying indifferently at a grand awards ceremony.

Zhao Pingjin suddenly felt his body heat up.

The image of her face, full of tears under the bright lights, gradually became clear in his mind. The red blush, white powder, thick eyebrows, pointed nose, and full cherry-red lips...

It was at that moment that he realized he had accepted that face.

Her soul had broken free and shone brightly before his eyes.

He had never been able to resist her. He wanted to kill her, to tear her apart, to pin her to the floor, and to beat her brutally. His whole arm was trembling, and his heart was beating violently, as if it were about to burst out of his chest. In a daze, he felt a warm liquid on his cheek. In the moment when he loved her so much that their souls were trembling together, the last thing he remembered was her contemptuous and mocking look. She looked at him as if he were a piece of garbage.

He overturned the table, and she fell to the floor, staining the carpet with a crimson stain.

For a long time before they broke up, they had been arguing fiercely, but after each argument, they fell deeper and deeper into a desperate love. The movie “Orange Boy” that she starred in was nominated for the main competition section of the film festival, and the crew was going to the Cannes Film Festival. Huang Xitang was packing her suitcase at home to go abroad, but she didn’t show any excitement. He still remembered her kneeling on the ground, suddenly turning to look at him, holding a toothbrush, and sadly saying, “Zhao Pingjin, if I want to be an actress, will I never be worthy of you?”

In order to save their relationship and be with her, he tried everything he could. She wanted freedom and dignity, she wanted to pursue her dreams without restraint, so he had to fight against his entire iron-clad military family. Knowing that his mother had a deep prejudice against her, he tried his best to win over his grandparents. Whenever he had free time, he would tell his grandmother in detail how good she was to him. He worked late at the company every night, and she would cook porridge for him every night after filming. She even took care of his assistant Ming Ge and Xiao Min. He also boldly asked someone to call Huang Xitang’s department head and praise this excellent student who had just won honors for the country at an international film festival. Then he quietly placed her university transcript, her scholarship certificates, and director Lin Yongchuan’s evaluation of her on his grandfather’s desk.

With a heavy heart, Zhao Pingjin drove. He left the bustling city and headed towards the outskirts. As he drove, the image of Huang Xitang’s tearful face kept flashing before his eyes.

He had arranged for a diamond necklace to be sent to her agency before the awards ceremony. He had also made calls to her manager and Ni Kailun. She should have understood that she still owed him.

Why was she crying so sadly? She had no right to.

He remembered that night when they had argued violently. He had been so angry that he had driven her to Tianjin himself. She had said things that had hurt him deeply.

In the early morning, as they drove back, she had cried and told him she loved him and would never let him go. But now, she was crying on a stage, indifferent to his feelings.

A sudden flash of light blinded him, and the loud honking of horns pierced his ears. Zhao Pingjin was startled for a second before instinctively slamming on the brakes and swerving the steering wheel. The car crashed into the roadside barrier with a loud bang. His tears finally flowed freely.

The airbag deployed, and he felt a sense of relief, almost no pain. He was losing consciousness.