SCHS - Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Qin Zhen had always been polite in her interactions, even with business rivals she'd lost to, managing them courteously. She had never acted like this before, neither strictly formal nor genuinely polite. When she used to push people away, she would politely support their arms, like with Wen Shixue. When had she ever directly pressed her hand to someone's face?
She didn't know if it was her subconscious rejecting Jiang Rui's closeness, yet she had done it so naturally, without a single flaw to be found.
Jiang Rui retreated two steps, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed. Once again, she felt Qin Zhen had changed, not just in her mature appearance and steady demeanor, but in the coldness ingrained in her bones. The old Qin Zhen wouldn't refuse her, or rather, wouldn't refuse anyone's closeness in this manner.
Whether you like someone or not, your heartbeat can tell you the answer. But now she couldn't even get close to Qin Zhen's body, so what was there to talk about heartbeats? She saw plenty of coldness, though; Qin Zhen wasn't even as attentive to her as she was to the cup of coffee in her hand!
"Watch your behavior," Qin Zhen said in a normal tone, her face serious. "If you don't want to work here anymore, you can submit your resignation directly to Director Jin."
This was a warning.
Jiang Rui froze, her eyes wide. "You!" Her lips moved for a while before she said in disbelief, "You actually know how to threaten people now?"
Qin Zhen's expression didn't change. "It's not a threat, it's a reminder."
Jiang Rui was Director Jin's person. Both Qin Zhen and Wen Shixue were guests to Director Jin. If Jiang Rui repeatedly harassed guests, where would that leave Director Jin's reputation?
Putting herself in Wen Shixue's shoes, if Chenfeng had an employee who acted inappropriately towards a guest behind Wen Shixue's back, the HR department would dismiss them on the spot.
Jiang Rui struggled. "I just wanted to see if you still liked me!"
"I don't," Qin Zhen said as she turned around. "There's no possibility between us anymore."
Unexpectedly, as she turned, she saw someone not far away, propping her chin with a finger, looking like a thinker. This made her heart skip a beat, thinking Wen Shixue might have misunderstood. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, wouldn't she have rushed over already?
She ignored the hesitant Jiang Rui and quickly walked towards Wen Shixue, pulling off the long scarf draped over her shoulders as she went. With a look of urgency, she wrapped it around Wen Shixue's neck. Remembering someone else was present, her fingertips paused slightly, then she calmly continued her action.
Nothing in the world was more important than Wen Shixue's health. Everything else was secondary.
She gently chided, "You're afraid of the cold but didn't bring a scarf when you came out."
"I was in a hurry to find you, I forgot," Wen Shixue took the coffee, obediently letting Qin Zhen wrap the scarf around her neck layer by layer. Her gaze shifted, seeing Jiang Rui standing still, watching them with a mix of unwillingness and dejection, as if she hadn't gotten anything good from Qin Zhen.
Wen Shixue curved her lips into a smile, leisurely looking at Qin Zhen who was putting the scarf on her. Although she was very happy, she still couldn't resist teasing, "Lao Qin, not avoiding suspicion anymore?"
To her surprise, Qin Zhen blocked it all. "Don't you have intermittent controllable finger paralysis?"
Wen Shixue exclaimed, "Good heavens!" and admitted admiringly, "I just made that up on the spot back then."
Qin Zhen pulled her long hair out from under the scarf. "Mm, I just remembered it casually too."
Qin Zhen had gained quite a bit of experience now. To deal with the little devil, you had to use the little devil's own tricks. Fighting fire with fire was always effective.
Wen Shixue really wanted to pry open her skull and see what was inside. How could she even remember that? She looked at Jiang Rui and the coffee in her hand and asked, "What were you doing? Why was Jiang Rui trying to snatch your coffee? Has she fallen to this level now?"
Wen Shixue thought: Is this the legendary karma?
Qin Zhen: "...?"
Where did she get the idea that Jiang Rui was trying to snatch her coffee???
Qin Zhen helped her button up her trench coat and smiled helplessly. "She wasn't snatching coffee, she wanted to get back together with me."
Wen Shixue raised an eyebrow, thinking: As expected!
Qin Zhen looked at her gently. "I've already refused. Don't worry, there's no possibility between us anymore."
She had long since freed herself from that relationship. Now, it was Jiang Rui who lacked self-awareness. From the moment she decided to toy with her feelings, she should have been prepared for a complete break, not holding onto hope and trying to reconcile.
But thinking about it, it felt ridiculous. If she, Qin Zhen, hadn't achieved what she had today, would Jiang Rui still regret it, apologize, and want to get back together? The answer was obvious. If regret had conditions, then it was meaningless.
On the contrary, Jiang Rui's appearance made her realize Wen Shixue's preciousness even more. At least Wen Shixue wore her feelings for her on her sleeve and wouldn't scheme against her in the slightest.
Buttoning the last button, she asked, "Shixue, do you trust me?"
Exes were always a sensitive topic between couples. If not handled well, it could cause discord and even lead to a breakup. So she had to make everything clear to Wen Shixue, draw a line with Jiang Rui, dispel Wen Shixue's doubts, and gain her trust on this matter, to avoid leaving any issues that could snowball and eventually lead to an unhappy separation.
Wen Shixue warmed her hands with the hot coffee. "Of course." She smiled. "After all, a girlfriend as good as me is hard to find even with a lantern. Someone as smart as our Vice President Qin surely knows how to choose, right?"
Qin Zhen smiled. "Mm, our President Wen is always right. Let's go back."
Wen Shixue nodded and was about to turn and leave when Jiang Rui, who hadn't moved, suddenly called out to Qin Zhen. "Qin Zhen, wait, I still have something to say to you, just one last thing."
Qin Zhen looked down at Wen Shixue. Wen Shixue raised an eyebrow and generously gave them some time to talk. The situation was already decided; no matter how Jiang Rui struggled, it was useless. She had sown the seeds, and now she had to reap the consequences.
Jiang Rui looked at Qin Zhen in front of her and spoke bluntly, "You like her, don't you?"
Qin Zhen's attitude towards Wen Shixue was too different from how she treated others. It was like with that cup of coffee, she was afraid it would spill, be touched, or be snatched. Was this the attitude a subordinate should have towards their boss? Could it be that Qin Zhen was raising Wen Shixue like a child?
Jiang Rui didn't think much of it. Others might not connect Qin Zhen's attitude to anything romantic, but she was different. Their sexual orientation wasn't a secret, and they had dated. It would be strange if she couldn't tell. If Wen Shixue's existence was hindering their reconciliation, then she was indeed a bit unwilling—how could a young girl compete with the love and sweetness they shared back then?
Moreover, who was Wen Shixue? Was she someone others could just think about casually? Instead of wasting time on her, why not look back at her and mend their relationship?
Qin Zhen showed no sign of panic on her face and calmly denied it.
Jiang Rui didn't believe her and sneered. "What's there to deny? Are you afraid I'll expose you to her, let her know that you, a vice president seven years older than her, have always been coveting her?"
She emphasized the words "seven years" heavily, trying her best to make Qin Zhen recognize the gap between her and Wen Shixue.
Hearing this threat, Qin Zhen's brows furrowed slightly. She suddenly remembered that on the day she confessed, she had reminded Wen Shixue of the same thing.
Seeing her eyebrows twitch slightly, Jiang Rui felt she had hit a nerve. Her expression suddenly improved, and she showed that sweet smile again. "Qin Zhen, what do you see in her? Her solid family background, or her young and beautiful face?"
Qin Zhen looked at her with deep discomfort. Beneath that seemingly sweet and harmless face hid a rotten and dirty heart. It was as if, in her eyes, Qin Zhen's liking for Wen Shixue was never out of pure love, but always for profit—just like how she had treated her back then.
Was it because she herself was such a person? Or was it because there was a seven-year age difference between her and Wen Shixue that people couldn't help but let their imaginations run wild? She didn't know, but she knew one thing—
"Matters of the heart are as dirty as ever in your eyes," Qin Zhen said slowly. "Jiang Rui, you really haven't changed at all."
Jiang Rui wasn't angry or annoyed. "Am I dirty? Or are you just delusional? Qin Zhen, why don't you ask yourself, are you really worthy of this high and mighty, well-connected young lady?"
Before Qin Zhen could answer, she preempted her. "You're not worthy."
"You two are from different worlds, not on the same path at all!"
Qin Zhen paused. This was the first time she had heard a third person comment on her and Wen Shixue. These were also the reasons she had hesitated to accept Wen Shixue's confession back then, and a question she often pondered—was she truly worthy of Wen Shixue?
She couldn't help but turn back to look at Wen Shixue. Wen Shixue was standing in the same spot, her long hair falling softly, making her face look small and delicate. She was still wearing Qin Zhen's scarf around her neck, half her face buried in it, her cheeks rosy. She was watching Qin Zhen intently with bright, spirited eyes, as if afraid she would run away.
Seeing her turn back, she pointed to the scarf around her neck, then to Qin Zhen, and then to the way back, reminding her that Qin Zhen wasn't wearing a scarf and should finish talking quickly so she wouldn't get cold. Her expression showed some worry, making even her rival Jiang Rui seem less important.
For some reason, seeing this scene, she suddenly had courage and an answer. So she turned back to Jiang Rui and said, word by word, "The one who is not on the same path as me is you, Jiang Rui."
Whether she and Wen Shixue were compatible was not for others to say. And now, what was Jiang Rui, who was still just a small assistant, compared to her?
Jiang Rui must never have imagined back then that the person whose feelings she toyed with and cruelly abandoned would one day become the wealthy person she desired and stand before her again, right?
Jiang Rui was left speechless, her face blank.
"Put away your useless thoughts and calculations, and don't bother me again," Qin Zhen gazed at her, a chill rising in her eyes. "Otherwise, even Director Jin won't be able to protect you next time."
Jiang Rui recoiled in fear, her voice trembling. "You, you're really not afraid..."
Qin Zhen simply turned sideways and said calmly, "You can go tell her now and see whose words carry more weight, yours or mine."
Jiang Rui looked at her in a daze. She was clearly right in front of her, yet she felt she was as distant as the moon in the sky, untouchable. She was no longer the naive, easily manipulated Qin Zhen from back then...
The moment Qin Zhen turned and walked away, Jiang Rui woke up as if from a dream, suddenly realizing deeply that Qin Zhen had completely given up on her, and there was no possibility between them anymore.
Times had changed. The current Qin Zhen was not someone she could afford to provoke. Making her lose her job was just a matter of a single sentence. After all, she was just a small assistant, while Qin Zhen was not only the Vice President of Chenfeng but also a senior executive at Wen Group. The distance between them had long been stretched far apart...
She watched Qin Zhen's resolute retreating figure, her vision starting to blur, her shoulders slumping. Regret twisted her heart, making it hard to breathe, causing her to repeatedly question why she had given up on Qin Zhen back then, why she had lied about her feelings!
She buried her face in her hands, tears streaming down. She had thought Qin Zhen would be a rare and precious ray of light in her emotional life, but she never expected that from now on, she would become a sharp thorn of regret forever stuck in her heart, mocking her foolishness day and night.
It was all too late, too late... She really wanted to slap her past self twice!!!
"Why is she crying?" Wen Shixue inserted a straw into the hot coffee and handed it to Qin Zhen, coaxing her to drink it to warm up.
Qin Zhen walked back with her, her mind seemingly elsewhere, answering a little absently, "Perhaps she's regretting."
Wen Shixue clicked her tongue twice. "That's the cycle of karma, alright."
...
After failing to reconcile, Jiang Rui was in a very dejected mood. And her love rival, Wen Shixue, was powerful and influential, so she had no way to vent her anger on her. Just then, she saw Xu Jianfan, who was disguised and exuded a sense of dejection. The anger in her heart immediately shifted to him.
She didn't dare to curse him, but she dared to complain behind his back. She secretly took a photo of Xu Jianfan with her phone and examined it for a moment. Although his profile lines were good, his front view was too dejected and his styling too sloppy, making him unlikable at first glance.
She posted it in her group chat with her friends and started passionately complaining about Chenfeng's designers' "unique" styling, completely forgetting that Director Jin had specifically instructed them not to photograph any Chenfeng designers, or they would be dismissed without exception.
Watching her friends use various words to mock Xu Jianfan's styling, and from that, elevating it to criticizing Chenfeng's taste and standards, widely ridiculing jewelry brands from large corporations as being nothing special, it felt as if they were scolding Wen Shixue. Jiang Rui felt her mood improve considerably.
Regarding the taste of a Wen Group subsidiary, more and more people started circulating this photo privately, laughing about how it was nothing special. As the photo circulated, it eventually reached the secretary of Old Master Xu that evening, who didn't miss a single clue.
Mrs. Chen Wanping took the tablet handed to her by the secretary and fell into thought, looking at the slightly blurry photo on the screen.
She murmured to herself, "This child, why does he look a bit like our Jianfan..."
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