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“Beep-beep-beep,” a chorus of horns blared, jarring Wen Di back to reality.
She stared blankly at the SUV’s windshield; cars in the adjacent lane were slowly moving forward, but she remained stationary.
“Beep-beep,” the car behind her honked twice more.
Wen Di gripped the steering wheel, unsure what to do. The car wouldn’t move.
She remembered: she hadn’t pressed the gas pedal.
The driver of the car behind finally lost patience and got out.
“Knock! Knock!” The person rapped heavily on her car window.
Wen Di looked at the person through the car glass, but couldn’t make out his outline. The entire person seemed blurry to her, just a hazy, indistinct illusion.
She rolled down the window, “I’m sorry, I suddenly felt a bit unwell.”
The person looked at Wen Di’s pale face, recognized her, and his furious expression instantly vanished. “I’ll call 999 for you.” He said, reaching for his phone in his pocket.
“No need, thank you. I’m feeling better now.”
“Stop staying up late. If you lose your life, what will you use to drive this multi-million dollar car?”
Wen Di couldn’t force a smile. She thanked him again, thought about which foot was for the gas pedal, and lightly pressed it.
The car slowly crawled forward, quickly catching up with the car in front.
As the car stopped at a red light, she blacked out again.
Tian Qinglu had even said on the phone: “We’ve met, but you definitely don’t remember me. That night at Director Ruan’s birthday, in the hotel’s private elevator.”
So, she had even called him in front of his fiancée.
She couldn’t help but ask Tian Qinglu: “When did you two get engaged?”
Tian Qinglu said: “The sixth of this month.”
How ironic, it was precisely the day she had rushed from Jiangcheng to be with him.
He had drunk so much, and she thought it was unavoidable business entertaining. She kept wondering who the other party was, to command such respect that he would drink so much.
It turned out to be his own engagement banquet.
At the time, she felt something was strange, but couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. Now, there was finally a reasonable explanation.
Why did the housekeeper look more surprised to see her each time? Because Yan Heyu was already engaged, the housekeeper probably couldn’t understand why she would appear so nonchalantly, willingly being the “other woman.”
As for noon on the sixth, when she asked Yan Heyu for a hug, why did he not respond to her repeatedly?
Because he was already another woman’s husband.
The car next to her moved forward again. Wen Di reacted a beat late, her mind blank for a few seconds before starting the car.
She dared not drive anymore. She called Qu Pei and asked her to arrange a driver for her.
Qu Pei asked her, “What’s wrong?” She said, “Menstrual cramps, it’s unbearable.”
Qu Pei told her to wait where she was.
After finally navigating through the intersection, Wen Di pulled over to the side of the road and sent her location to the driver.
The car window wasn’t closed, and the cold wind whistled in.
Wen Di lay slumped over the steering wheel, feeling utterly weak.
The light beside her was blocked by a dark shadow. She turned her face and saw a traffic policeman in uniform.
The traffic policeman said, “The driver behind you just said you had a problem with your health. If you’re not feeling well, go to the hospital quickly; don’t delay.”
Wen Di sat upright and explained, “My emotions are a bit unstable, so I didn’t dare to continue driving. I called a driver, and they’re on their way. Thank you.”
“No need to go to the hospital?”
“No need. Thank you.”
The traffic policeman didn’t ask further. He tapped on the car window with his knuckles, motioning for her to close it. “Don’t catch a cold.”
The driver Qu Pei arranged for her arrived half an hour later. She moved to the back seat.
The car’s heater was on, but her hands and feet were still ice cold, almost completely chilled. There was no part of her body that wasn’t cold.
Her eyes were also dry, and she saw double when looking at her phone screen.
She rubbed her eyes several times, barely able to see clearly.
She had an afternoon tea appointment with Shen Tang, but now she had to miss it. She told Shen Tang that Yan Heyu’s fiancée had asked to meet her.
After sending the message, Wen Di realized what she had just said and tried to recall the message, afraid Shen Tang would worry about her, but it was too late; Shen Tang had already seen it.
Shen Tang wanted to accompany her to meet Tian Qinglu, but she refused.
[I can pretty much guess what Tian Qinglu wants to say. After I sort out this mess, I’ll find you for dinner.]
A text message came in, a deposit notification: 49,999,480.
She had transferred fifty million to Yan Heyu, but he only kept 520 yuan, and the rest was returned by Assistant Kang.
If Tian Qinglu hadn’t called her today, if she still didn’t know he was engaged and that the wedding was not far off, she would have been very happy to see he kept 520.
Now, she just felt utterly stupid.
Before getting out of the car, Wen Di took out her compact mirror and carefully reapplied her makeup.
Tian Qinglu messaged her: [I’ve arrived.]
They were half an hour earlier than the agreed time.
Upon seeing Tian Qinglu in person, Wen Di felt a sense of familiarity, having some impression of her. That night in the hotel’s private elevator, there seemed to be another beautiful woman.
Tian Qinglu could also be considered beautiful, but she wasn’t gentle. Her eyes were sharp, very aggressive.
In terms of looks, Tian Qinglu was slightly less beautiful than Wen Di, but in terms of temperament, she was not inferior. Her demeanor exuded a sense of superior arrogance.
Tian Qinglu was wearing a nude-pink long dress today, which softened her demeanor slightly.
She only had a few serene-colored dresses in her wardrobe, rarely worn for centuries, but today, she had inexplicably put one on.
She pulled her lips into a faint smile at Wen Di, wanting to force a smile, but it didn’t materialize.
“Have a seat,” she said, ordering a coffee for Wen Di.
Wen Di placed her coat aside and sat opposite Tian Qinglu.
The private room was warm, but her hands and feet were still cold.
Without Tian Qinglu saying much, she guessed Tian Qinglu’s background. To be engaged to Yan Heyu, she naturally belonged to the same circle. In the circle of the powerful and wealthy, she knew that Tian family.
She didn’t look at Tian Qinglu, didn’t care what expression was on Tian Qinglu’s face, and even less cared if she was staring at herself.
Meeting another woman for an unworthy man was the thing she most despised.
But she still came.
Wen Di picked up the coffee spoon, idly stirring her coffee. Her self-esteem, like the latte art on the coffee, shattered instantly with a stir, into tiny pieces.
Tian Qinglu waited a long time, and when Wen Di didn’t speak, she spoke first: “I know you didn’t know about my engagement to Yan Heyu.”
It was a convoluted sentence, but Wen Di understood it clearly. She looked up, “Since you know, a call would have sufficed. There was really no need to meet; it’s redundant. Are you afraid I’ll cling to him?”
Tian Qinglu dryly explained, “If you were that kind of person, I wouldn’t have come to find you.”
She paused.
She continued to say, “It’s still necessary to meet. At least I need to see what kind of woman my fiancé is looking for outside, what kind of personality she has, and what exactly makes a man so unforgettable. I didn’t get a good look that day in the elevator.”
Every single word, every syllable, was sharper than a needle.
Each word pierced Wen Di.
Wen Di put down the coffee spoon, picked up the coffee cup, gripping it so hard her fingertips turned white.
She took a small sip of coffee, swallowing her shattered dignity along with the foamed latte art.
Tian Qinglu thought Wen Di would mock her in return, letting out her anger, but she miscalculated.
Half the coffee in the cup was gone, and Wen Di remained silent.
Before coming, Ding Yi had told her: “Don’t worry, even if you see Wen Di, she won’t bother flaunting her superiority in front of you. She’s clearer-headed than you. She knows that even after being with Yan Heyu for three years, he could ruthlessly get engaged just like that, not taking her seriously at all. At this point, for Wen Di to show off how much Yan Heyu loves her would be self-humiliating. If he truly loved her, he wouldn’t let her suffer this indignity.”
It seemed Ding Yi understood Wen Di better.
One cup of coffee finished, Wen Di remained silent.
Tian Qinglu called a waiter to refill Wen Di’s cup.
Wen Di wasn’t interested in coffee. She drank it earlier to swallow three years of grievance with its bitterness.
She leaned back in the sofa and looked at Tian Qinglu indifferently, “You called me here not to see what I look like, right? Anything you want to say, anything you want to make me unhappy about, just say it. I’m not always interested in listening.”
Tian Qinglu’s lips curled slightly, whether it was a smile or not, it was hard to tell. In front of Wen Di, she was a complete loser. Wen Di’s words just now were an act of charity.
Let it be charity then.
Since it had come to this point, she said, “Making you unhappy also makes me unhappy.”
Wen Di nodded her chin, “Go on, I’m all ears.”
Tian Qinglu felt like she might be crazy. She was tired of being jealous of Jiang Yunxing alone and desperately wanted to drag Wen Di down with her. “You’ve been with Yan Heyu for three years, have you ever heard the name Jiang Yunxing?”
Wen Di smiled, her expression unchanged, “Why, does Jiang Yunxing look a lot like me?”
“Not really, you two each have your own beauty.”
Tian Qinglu paused before saying, “Maybe because Jiang Yunxing and I are love rivals, I feel she’s just okay, not as exaggerated as they say.”
Then, she changed the subject: “Yan Heyu’s first crush was Jiang Yunxing. He pursued Jiang Yunxing. I’m not sure why they broke up later. You’ve been with him for three years, you should understand him. He’s the kind of person who does whatever he wants, never caring what others say about him. The only thing he’s afraid of is people talking about Jiang Yunxing. I can’t even be jealous of how good he was to Jiang Yunxing. Even after they broke up for several years, he still considered Jiang Yunxing in every way.”
“Let me show you a photo of Jiang Yunxing, so next time you see her, you’ll know who she is.”
Tian Qinglu opened her WeChat Moments. She and Jiang Yunxing quietly remained in each other’s contacts, never communicating, and never liking each other’s Moments posts.
Why they hadn’t deleted each other, who knew.
She found a photo of Jiang Yunxing and handed her phone to Wen Di.
Wen Di’s gaze fixed on Jiang Yunxing’s face. She had seen Jiang Yunxing, the elegant beauty who had rear-ended her sports car.
She collected herself, trying to piece together the scene from that day.
Yan Heyu had originally not planned to drive her to dinner with her parents that day, but he changed his mind at the last minute. She was like an idiot, thinking he wanted to spend more time with her.
He said then that he wasn’t specifically driving her, and that was the meaning.
Because Jiang Yunxing had rear-ended his car, because he was afraid that if acquaintances saw them, they would misunderstand that Jiang Yunxing and he were still entangled, because he was afraid that gossip would make things difficult for Jiang Yunxing, he wanted to avoid suspicion, which was why he decided to drive her to the restaurant.
But what about her?
He had never considered her.
And never cared if she was sad or not.
He had never thought about how embarrassing it would be for her when his fiancée came knocking. All her dignity and pride were trampled underfoot by Tian Qinglu, and in Tian Qinglu’s mouth, she became “the woman he found outside.”
Tian Qinglu took back her phone and continued to say a few more fragmented sentences.
Wen Di was lost in thought and didn’t hear what she said.
“I don’t know what Yan Heyu promised you, or what hope he gave you to make you think you had a chance to marry him, but what he said doesn’t matter anymore. He knows perfectly well who he’s going to marry in the future. Don’t even mention him; you must be familiar with Jiang Chengyu.”
Tian Qinglu mentioning Jiang Chengyu pulled Wen Di’s thoughts back.
Wen Di looked at her, not understanding why she suddenly brought up Jiang Chengyu.
Tian Qinglu said, “Actually, we all know who Jiang Chengyu’s wife is. For families like ours, there’s no choice in marriage. Whether it’s feelings or preferences, in the end, they all have to give way to family interests.”
Wen Di understood the unspoken meaning: Tian Qinglu was using this to tell her that Yan Heyu was just playing around with her, and not to take it seriously. Even Jiang Chengyu knew who his arranged marriage partner was and wouldn’t have a future with Shen Tang.
Feeling someone at the door, she suddenly looked up and met Shen Tang’s gaze.
Shen Tang was worried about her and had still come looking for her.
Tian Qinglu recognized Shen Tang and never expected that what she had just said would be overheard by Shen Tang.
She didn’t want to offend Jiang Chengyu. As for who Jiang Chengyu would marry in the future, and whether he and Shen Tang would break up, she didn’t care one bit; it had nothing to do with her.
Yet, she was having bad luck even with minor things.
If Shen Tang went back and caused a scene with Jiang Chengyu, wouldn’t Jiang Chengyu blame everything on her?
Tian Qinglu stood up and bowed slightly to Wen Di, “Apologies for the rude interruption today.” She picked up her bag and took her leave.
The private room fell silent.
Shen Tang walked over and sat next to Wen Di, holding her hand. “Why are you so cold?”
She poured Wen Di a glass of hot water for her to hold and warm her hands.
Wen Di, in turn, comforted her, “Don’t listen to Tian Qinglu’s nonsense. She’s angry right now and is just picking the nastiest things to say, anything that will upset me. Jiang Chengyu isn’t Yan Heyu; they’re not the same kind of people. There’s a difference between a person and a scoundrel.”
Shen Tang smiled, “It’s just a man, it really doesn’t matter.” She hugged Wen Di, then stared at her, seeing no traces of tears in her eyes.
Wen Di knew what she was looking at. “Don’t worry, my brain isn’t waterlogged.”
Her hand, holding the glass of water, suddenly trembled for some reason. Shen Tang helped steady it.
“I’m fine,” she said.
Shen Tang had seen Wen Di cry before, getting immersed in her scriptwriting, reaching a sad part, and a whole box of tissues wasn’t enough.
Today, she was probably too sad to shed a single tear.
She didn’t know how to comfort Wen Di. “Do you want to hit Yan Heyu? I’ll help you hit him. I’m best at fighting; I know where to start.”
Wen Di: “No need, I’ll do it myself.”
Shen Tang sat quietly with Wen Di. Wen Di drank half a glass of water, then closed her eyes and leaned back in the sofa. It took her over two hours, bit by bit, to erase the three years she had spent with Yan Heyu, and then fully accept the fact that he was already engaged and would soon marry another woman.
As dusk fell, Wen Di and Shen Tang parted ways and went home.
The car drove back along the road she had taken earlier. She looked out the window, not knowing what she was thinking, only feeling tired, wanting to lie in bed and sleep for an entire day and night.
Her phone rang, startling Wen Di. She came to her senses and fumbled for her phone in her bag. Yan Heyu was calling her. She didn’t answer the first time, but he immediately called a second time.
Wen Di answered, saying coldly, “What is it?”
“I’m fine, but what about you?”
“What about me?”
“You’re not feeling well, and you didn’t think to call me? And you still dared to drive, aren’t you afraid of losing your life?” Just now, Qin Xing had called him, asking about Wen Di’s condition, saying he encountered Wen Di on the road this afternoon. Wen Di’s car was in front of his, and due to feeling unwell, she was unable to drive at one point.
Wen Di wasn’t in the mood to guess how Yan Heyu knew she wasn’t feeling well. She answered irrelevantly, “Come back early tonight, before eight.”
Yan Heyu looked at his watch, “I’ll be home by 7:30.” He asked her, “What’s going on? Did you go to the hospital? What did the doctor say?”
“Why would I go to the hospital? The hospital can’t cure my illness.”
Yan Heyu heard the hidden meaning in her words, still with a deliberately provocative tone. He didn’t argue with her. “Where are you? I’ll pick you up.”
“No need.”
Yan Heyu couldn’t figure out the pattern of her tantrums now; she was being unreasonable even when she wasn’t on her period.
He closed his document and tried to lighten the mood, “What did you do this afternoon?”
Wen Di said, “I did some useless things. I had a coffee with your fiancée Tian Qinglu and talked a bit about your beloved Jiang Yunxing. Then it got dark.”
Silence descended around her and on the phone.
Wen Di had only written about the entire world falling silent in her scripts, always thinking it was a bit exaggerated since she hadn’t experienced it herself. Today, during her call with Yan Heyu, she truly experienced what it meant for the world to fall silent.
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