Chapter 39#
In his over twenty years of life, Qiao Nanqi had rarely encountered a situation where someone deleted his contact information.
So much so that when he saw the message fail to send, he did nothing at first, just staring at the failure notification on the screen. It wasn’t until blood from the cut on his fingertip smeared onto the screen, as glaring as the failure notice itself, that he reacted.
He moved his finger, and before he knew it, he had already sent a friend request again.
This time, like the message he had sent earlier, like the “I like you” he had said to Zhao Rong face to face, there wasn’t even a rejection. Only silent, unbroken silence.
No response at all.
He gripped his phone, watching the screen slowly fade to black.
Zhao Rong…
Was Zhao Rong truly not swayed at all?
Even if he was willing to accommodate him like he had tonight, willing to do the things Zhao Rong enjoyed from now on, only asking to return to the days when they were together every day, did that not move Zhao Rong at all?
If that was the case…
If that was the case.
The Chen family had already fallen. Chen Zehe was now entangled in investigations, and the others who had lived under Chen Zehe’s thumb could no longer cause any trouble.
Zhao Rong had no one to rely on here anymore; the people he had left could even be considered burdens and constraints. Even if tonight Zhao Rong appeared to still have some resources left, even if Zhao Rong still possessed the entire Chen family at its height, he could still handle it.
He was no longer the young man who had needed to deal with He Nan superficially, who had to move out just to find some peace.
There were many ways to keep someone by his side.
He could…
Qiao Nanqi’s gaze grew increasingly obscure, his molars clenched tight. His fists were clenched so hard the veins on the back of his hands stood out.
The night was quiet.
The old villa district in the city center was sparsely populated. In the dead of night, the sounds of vehicles and pedestrians gradually faded away. Everything was silent, only the moonlight filtering through the windows enveloping the inaudible bustle.
It seeped into one’s heart, cold and chilly.
Suddenly—
Two or three soft meows came from the bedroom doorway, breaking the brief silence.
Qiao Nanqi’s expression froze, his grip unconsciously loosening.
The phone slipped from his hand, hitting the tiles with a series of clattering sounds.
The two kittens that had just gathered the courage to explore their new surroundings were startled by the noise of the falling phone. They turned abruptly and darted back under the bed in the bedroom.
Watching the kittens scamper away, Qiao Nanqi’s scattered thoughts finally pulled back somewhat.
—What had he been thinking just now?
How could he…
Qiao Nanqi took several deep breaths, calming himself.
After a moment, he closed the bedroom door, separating the kittens from the mess of broken glass. Regaining his composure, he picked up his phone and called Lu Xingping.
“It’s me. Did Xia Yuantu tell you about tonight?”
“…”
“Yes, I originally… thought I could control it.”
“…”
“I’ll clean myself up and come to your place. It should just be a talk, nothing too serious. I just had… some inappropriate thoughts earlier.”
“…”
After Zhao Rong deleted Qiao Nanqi, Liu Shun was still in a state of shock.
Among the scions of prestigious families in Yangcheng, the name Qiao Nanqi was, for those with ambition, a goal to aspire to. For those without ambition, it was a curse. For someone like Liu Shun, he either heard about Qiao Nanqi’s extraordinary achievements that left even his parents in awe, or he was compared unfavorably to him by his elders, or he avoided him as someone not to be provoked—in short, not a name he enjoyed hearing.
Zhao Rong, on the other hand, seemed to have no connection to Qiao Nanqi whatsoever.
Liu Shun initially thought Zhao Rong was making it up.
Amused despite himself, Zhao Rong explained some of the background to Liu Shun, finally managing to convince him of the truth. It took a long time to reassure him.
Just before leaving, Liu Shun stood at the door, looking at Zhao Rong who had come out wrapped in a blanket to see him off, and said dazedly, “Third Young Master, maybe I should buy a plane ticket and go abroad tonight.”
Zhao Rong raised an eyebrow: “Why?”
“I know too much. I need to run before Qiao Da kills me to silence me!”
Zhao Rong: “…”
He spent a while explaining further before finally putting Liu Shun’s mind at ease and sending him off.
Liu Shun was one of the few friends he truly valued among his circle of fair-weather companions. Now that things were clear, that was one less tie he had in Yangcheng.
After seeing Liu Shun off, Zhao Rong washed up and lay in bed, staring into space for a while.
Though Liu Shun’s parting words had been thoughtless, they reminded Zhao Rong of the friend request that had come immediately after he deleted Qiao Nanqi.
He hadn’t responded then.
But the request was enough to show that Qiao Nanqi had watched him delete him in real-time. Not wanting further disturbance, he had blocked the account after seeing the friend request.
Fortunately, after that, Qiao Nanqi hadn’t made any other moves or called. Presumably, someone as proud as Qiao Nanqi wouldn’t continue in such a situation.
Sometimes, when a dog ran away, its owner might look for it, but they wouldn’t search day and night, neglecting their own life.
Though he didn’t want to compare himself to that, Zhao Rong had to admit that in their past relationship, he hadn’t been much different from a pet Qiao Nanqi kept.
Qiao Nanqi couldn’t possibly like him, let alone love him.
This man, from start to finish, even tonight, had never treated him as an equal.
If there were any affection or love, who would trample on it so casually?
All Qiao Nanqi valued was his meticulous care, his obedience in bed, and possibly his connection to the Chen family—after all, after the Chen family’s downfall, even Chen Zehe had desperately asked him about the remaining half of the inheritance. Someone as smart as Qiao Nanqi, even if he didn’t know that his engagement to Lu Xingping was the key to the inheritance, might still suspect he was connected to it.
Tonight, he had thoroughly embarrassed Qiao Nanqi.
If Qiao Nanqi still persisted abnormally…
Perhaps he should seriously consider what value he had to offer now.
Perhaps because he was too weary, even though he hadn’t been particularly tired that day, Zhao Rong fell asleep not long after lying down.
The night passed peacefully.
The next morning, Zhao Rong woke naturally.
Everything from the previous night felt like a dream. When he woke up, nothing had changed except for deleting Qiao Nanqi’s contact from his phone.
After getting up, Zhao Rong stayed home reading all day, until evening, when it was time to meet Lu Xingping and Lu Xiaoyue.
Ever since Chen Zehe had discovered him reading in secret back then, he hadn’t enjoyed doing what he wanted so freely in a long time. After spending such an unrestrained day, Zhao Rong should have been nervous about bringing up the engagement today. But by the time he arrived at Lu Xingping’s door, he felt somewhat relaxed.
Anyway, he would find the right moment to bring it up and then see what Lu Xingping wanted.
After all, this engagement had been arranged by the Old Madam Chen when the Lu family was struggling, taking advantage of Lu Xingping’s need for support, exchanging the Chen family’s help for Lu Xingping’s protection of Zhao Rong for the rest of his life—it was somewhat opportunistic. That was why no one had paid any attention to this engagement in the past two years.
Later, Lu Xingping had single-handedly revived the Lu family’s businesses, maintaining them well. If Lu Xingping needed help, he had Qiao Nanqi and Xia Yuantu, who he had grown up with. It would be normal if he didn’t want to honor the engagement.
As Zhao Rong was thinking this, Lu Xingping opened the door.
The sight of Zhao Rong standing at the door in a daze made Lu Xingping remark, “Standing at the door without knocking, are you really here to apply for a security guard? Please don’t. With you standing at my door, who knows if you’re guarding it or attracting unwanted attention.”
Snapping back to reality, Zhao Rong noticed the dark circles under Lu Xingping’s eyes, partially hidden by his glasses frames, and his clearly sleep-deprived complexion.
“Senior didn’t rest well last night?”
Lu Xingping yawned as he led him in: “Mm, woke up in the middle of the night because of a barking dog.”
Zhao Rong: “?”
He hadn’t noticed any dogs near Lu Xingping’s place.
“Where is Miss Lu?” Zhao Rong sat down on the living room sofa, vaguely catching the scent of cooking.
As he had done several times before, Lu Xingping sat down on the sofa opposite Zhao Rong, holding two mugs.
“Xiaoyue is in the kitchen. She says she’s cooking tonight.”
He handed one of the cups to Zhao Rong.
Zhao Rong took it without looking, “I should go help in the kitchen. I’m the guest, after all…”
“No need. She rarely feels like doing this. She just kicked me out of the kitchen.” Lu Xingping leaned back lazily on the sofa. “Just act well when the time comes. If it tastes bad, don’t say it. Just spit it out. That’ll crush her confidence, and she won’t want to do this kind of hard work again.”
Zhao Rong: “.”
This guy really didn’t go easy on his own sister.
He was now used to Lu Xingping’s teasing, just smiling helplessly as he thought about how to bring up the engagement and the inheritance.
He casually raised the cup to take a sip. An unexpected taste hit his tongue. Zhao Rong paused, realizing that what Lu Xingping had handed him this time was coffee.
Lu Xingping caught the expression on Zhao Rong’s face again.
“We’re discussing matters. Better to be alert,” Lu Xingping said.
“Does Senior have something to discuss with me?”
“Don’t you have something to discuss with me?”
Lu Xingping, looking like he hadn’t slept well the night before and was genuinely tired, yawned again before continuing: “Do I look like the kind of idiot who’d be approached indirectly for a month without noticing?”
Zhao Rong froze.
Lu Xingping certainly wasn’t such an idiot.
From the day he had called Lu Xingping with a fever until now, Zhao Rong had been very clear that Lu Xingping could definitely see he had an agenda. But in their circle, how many people first met with pure intentions? Mutual testing and using each other, with both parties willing, was the most common thing.
He knew he had an agenda, and Lu Xingping knew it too. The only question was how he should slowly extend an olive branch with both of them fully aware.
He had thought today would be his own battleground, but he hadn’t expected that before he was ready, Lu Xingping would start things off instead.
He heard Lu Xingping say slowly: “When we had the most interaction, it was in college, right? Back then we still had…”
He only said half of it, but both understood.
Back then, Zhao Rong and Lu Xingping were still engaged, but Zhao Rong’s heart was set on Qiao Nanqi. He had no intention of fulfilling the engagement, nor did he care about the half of the inheritance left to him by the Old Madam Chen. As for Lu Xingping, he had never relied on the Chen family at all, single-handedly reviving the declining Lu family at a young age, never taking the engagement seriously from start to finish.
Neither had cared about it; the engagement might as well have not existed.
Lu Xingping paused briefly before continuing: “Later, you came to me, hoping I would introduce you to Nanqi and Yuantu so you could hang out with us. After that, we didn’t have any private contact. Calculating, it’s been about four or five years now. Most of the times we met, Nanqi was there.”
“At first, I did think you were approaching me because of Nanqi.”
“But yester—”
He paused again.
This time, Zhao Rong couldn’t guess what he had left unsaid.
“What connection could we have? College? Nanqi’s matters? I’m very clear now—you can’t possibly be here because of Nanqi.”
“So then…”
Lu Xingping suddenly lowered his voice, as if carefully weighing each word, and said slowly:
“—The engagement?”