Chapter 47#

After speaking, Zhao Rong felt a bit dazed himself.

Qiao Nanqi really seemed different from the one in his memory.

Was it that he had been so stuck for so many years that he never truly understood him, or had something happened to Qiao Nanqi in the days after his departure?

Zhao Rong didn’t think too much about it.

It wasn’t important.

When he said those words earlier, it was mainly because he had been pushed to his limit by Qiao Nanqi blocking him several times in a row. Another part of the reason was that he was certain Qiao Nanqi couldn’t possibly respond, and might even directly become angry.

So he hadn’t thought at all about how he should answer if Qiao Nanqi actually agreed.

He had also never thought about what he would do if Qiao Nanqi really liked him, or even loved him. This option simply didn’t exist in the future he had ever considered happening, to the point that Zhao Rong hadn’t even pondered a way to reject him.

He didn’t deny that, at that moment, before all the thoughts and emotions surged up, he almost turned back.

It was just that although habits and subconscious were bone-deep, the scars from falling once were equally vivid. Those scars floated on the surface, right before his eyes, even more prominent than the habits in his bones. He could see them just by lowering his head.

He was sentimental; his biggest fault was being confined by the status quo. It was like this when he chased behind Qiao Nanqi for so many years, and now, when he had finally changed his life and was steadily walking in another direction, it was the same.

So he stopped his movement.

The piano music in the gala hall slowly faded, and along with the concluding violin sound, returned to silence in this brief moment.

In this instant, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Zhao Rong didn’t turn completely around; he only turned his head slightly to look at Qiao Nanqi.

The sense of absurdity from that exchange was still drifting in his heart. He took a deep breath, gradually returning to calm along with the fading music.

This time, he didn’t lift his foot immediately. Instead, following his words from before, he said: “Even if I had Liu Shun find me someone at random, they would likely be more considerate and meticulous than Mr. Qiao. Why would I ask for trouble? We’ve already broken up. Whom I want to take home… has nothing to do with you. I hope you stop interfering with me.”

Qiao Nanqi still subconsciously clenched his fists, the veins on the back of his hands popping out. Those eyes, which were extremely sharp most of the time, were faintly tinged with red, their depths profound. His expression grew increasingly deep, his face gloomy.

“Fine,” he paused, saying in a heavy voice, “I won’t interfere with you.”

He moved his gaze to the young man wearing glasses who hadn’t dared to speak, and said: “Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you. As long as you don’t go with him, I’ll give you ten times whatever amount of money Zhao Rong was going to give you.”

“Qiao Nanqi! Are you ever going to stop?”

“You’re not interested in him at all. We’ve been talking here for so long, and you haven’t even looked at him once until now.”

“And then? I have to choose someone I like? When you signed the marriage agreement with me, stayed with me, and lived together for over a year, didn’t you also fail to pick someone you liked? It’s the same thing; if you can do it, why can’t I?”

“…It’s not the same.”

“How is it not the same?”

Qiao Nanqi’s voice stalled.

He wanted to say it was completely different—that he liked Zhao Rong—but Zhao Rong seemed to have never believed in his liking.

Zhao Rong had already shifted his gaze and turned to look at the young man with glasses.

This person had heard everything here just now. Even if it was the first day he had met him and Qiao Nanqi, it was enough to clarify things just now. With him and Qiao Nanqi like this, it was a clean break regardless, but there was no need for others to make an enemy of Qiao Nanqi.

Zhao Rong didn’t want such matters to involve unrelated people, and said: “If you want to stay, then stay. This Mr. Qiao is a man of his word; if he says he’ll give you benefits, he will.”

Unexpectedly, the person shook his head: “Didn’t Mr. Zhao say he wanted me to follow him out?”

Zhao Rong was slightly surprised.

But since the other party had said so, he naturally wouldn’t say anything more.

“Let’s go,” he said.

From start to finish, he didn’t give Qiao Nanqi a single direct look.

This time, Qiao Nanqi didn’t chase after them to stop them again.

Zhao Rong took the person to the parking lot, got his phone from his car, and said to the young man Liu Shun had brought: “Thank you for just now. But Qiao Nanqi—that person who blocked us—his temper isn’t very good. In case he… in the future…”

“Actually, when I was walking behind Mr. Zhao just now, I gave that gentleman a few hand signals, telling him we were nothing. Don’t transfer money to me anymore,” this person was quite honest, “I hope Mr. Zhao won’t be angry. I’m just an ordinary person, and I can’t afford to offend the people here.”

No wonder Qiao Nanqi didn’t say anything more just now.

Zhao Rong wasn’t angry. He himself used to be someone who could only live a cautious life, and he knew the difficulties involved better than anyone. It was impossible for him to make things difficult for someone without power or influence.

“Then I still have to thank you,” he said gently, attributing the whole matter to himself with a subtle touch, his tone completely different from the previous toughness, “Earlier, I was actually just caught in a moment of anger and couldn’t let it go. Without your little cleverness, if he had really pushed it, how could I have come out on top?”

Hearing this, the person suddenly said again: “How about Mr. Zhao takes me home anyway? Any amount of money is fine.”

Zhao Rong was stunned.

The person smiled: “For someone like Mr. Zhao, I’d be willing to pay to accompany you.”

Zhao Rong showed a helpless expression.

“I’m not that exaggerated,” he said.

The person was surprised: “You’re truly modest.”

Zhao Rong wasn’t being modest.

He truly wasn’t a favored child of heaven like Qiao Nanqi or Lu Xingping. Before returning to the Chen family, he only knew how to read some useless books. After returning to the Chen family, he didn’t have the ability to compete with Chen Senior and Chen Junior, so he could only swallow his anger and act like a good-for-nothing. It was only at this moment that he could follow his heart a bit.

Even when it came to liking someone, he had suffered the consequences of his own actions to such an embarrassing point just now, that to this day he didn’t even have the courage or heart to like anyone else.

Someone like him…

Someone like him.

He didn’t respond further, just transferred a sum of money to the person.

The other party was overwhelmed: “This is too much…”

“The more the better,” Zhao Rong said. “Take the money and find a proper way to make a living.”

Zhao Rong had originally only wanted to bring the person out to transfer money and then go back, but now thinking that Qiao Nanqi was still inside, if he ran into him upon returning, he didn’t know how it would be.

Since he had finished what he needed to do today, he simply called Liu Shun to let him know and drove home himself.

A secluded corner of the gala hall.

A waiter filled the wine glasses in front of Lu Xingping and Qiao Nanqi and left silently.

Lu Xingping took a sip and looked at Qiao Nanqi, who was lowering his head slightly and thinking about who-knows-what. He raised an eyebrow and said: “I saw you go out to chase Zhao Rong just now. Didn’t catch him?”

“I blocked him,” Qiao Nanqi said in a low voice, “but I didn’t stop him.”

“As expected. Except for those matters in your family, you’ve never lowered your head from childhood to adulthood. I can imagine what kind of stinking attitude you had.”

Qiao Nanqi was momentarily speechless.

He didn’t tell Lu Xingping that just now, in front of someone other than him and Zhao Rong, he had lowered his head willingly and with some hope.

It was just that Zhao Rong didn’t care for it.

Qiao Nanqi composed his expression, showing nothing.

He was completely devoid of the dejection he had just shown in front of Zhao Rong. His face was heavy, and his expression showed no fluctuation. Even with his eyes downcast, he was still so solemn that people didn’t dare to look him straight in the eye.

He didn’t take up Lu Xingping’s topic but instead said: “He was… very dazzling today.”

Qiao Nanqi was actually seeing Zhao Rong in a low-profile yet formal suit for the first time.

It was also the first time he saw Zhao Rong standing tall, holding a wine glass, and chatting freely and with poise with a potential partner.

Clear as the moon, with a faint, glimmering light of the morning sun hidden behind him, he was as noble as a quiet night flower in full bloom.

If it weren’t for the Chen family and his own contempt all these years, this appearance might not have been buried until now.

“I saw it when I was on stage.”

Lu Xingping seemed to think of something. He paused and said: “He is indeed very dazzling. He doesn’t look like someone trapped in the past.”

“Nanqi, you couldn’t stop him today. What if… you still can’t stop him in the future?”

Qiao Nanqi looked up at the direction Zhao Rong had left just now.

Naturally, Zhao Rong’s figure couldn’t be seen there now. But he did see that young man who had followed Zhao Rong away returning alone, weaving through the crowd and going back to Liu Shun.

His gloomy expression finally eased slightly.

He said: “I won’t stop him; I’ll chase him. As long as he hasn’t fallen in love with someone else, no matter how fast he runs, I’ll just chase faster behind him. There will come a day when I catch up.”

Lu Xingping’s movement paused, and he slowly set down his wine glass.

He examined Qiao Nanqi’s expression, withholding the words that could have left someone speechless, and said: “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re just unwilling now, that you’ve just entered a dead end where you feel you must obtain him? What you can’t let go of now isn’t liking, but a rare state that isn’t under your control. If Zhao Rong hadn’t left so resolutely, or if he were still moved by your attempts to keep him, or even had agreed to go home with you…”

“Maybe you wouldn’t care anymore. What you can’t let go of is just the ‘unable to let go’ itself.”

Qiao Nanqi’s Adam’s apple moved slightly. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a voice came from near to far: “No wonder I couldn’t see anyone just now. It turns out you’re staying in such a secluded spot.”

Ruan Cheng walked in slowly and stopped by the table, smiling with interest.

Qiao Nanqi’s expression shifted slightly.

Lu Xingping, knowing the two likely had something to talk about, stood up and said: “You guys talk. I’ll go find other friends to catch up.”

Once he left, Ruan Cheng sat in the seat Lu Xingping had originally occupied. He asked a waiter for a new glass of wine, raised it, and lightly clinked it against the glass in front of Qiao Nanqi, saying: “Qiao, I’ve perfectly completed your request. Why are you giving me such a look?”

Qiao Nanqi didn’t drink at all. “You think I didn’t see you getting close to Zhao Rong just now?”

“Wasn’t I just curious? What kind of person is he, to make you go through such roundabout ways just to give him an opportunity? But looking at him now, he is indeed interesting.”

Only then did Qiao Nanqi raise his glass and take a small sip.

“However, I’m still more curious about another thing,” Ruan Cheng leaned back against the chair. “When you first came to me, you went through several layers of connections just to have me step in and help him without leaving a trace. I even asked if you wanted to come tonight, and you refused at the time, saying that if Zhao Rong saw you, he’d overthink, which wouldn’t be good.”

“I was thinking then, it’s rare to see Young Master Qiao being so meticulous and thoughtful. But…”

Ruan Cheng’s finger moved slightly, tapping the edge of the table one beat at a time.

But before the gala, Qiao Nanqi had called him and told him that he didn’t need to step in directly, but only to give Zhao Rong an opportunity, and whether to cooperate or not would depend entirely on whether Ruan Cheng felt it was worth it. This was truly too strange. When Ruan Cheng first heard it, he thought Qiao Nanqi’s interest in Zhao Rong had come and gone quickly, so he had changed his mind at the last minute and no longer wanted to intervene.

“With that call today, I thought you didn’t want to get involved anymore. Yet you came here in person tonight. Then I don’t understand, Qiao. Do you care, or do you not care?”

“Ruan Cheng, I came to you because you’re useful, not for you to be curious.”

He spoke coldly, his low voice edged with sharpness. Not a single word was a threat, yet it somehow made the listener fully aware of the danger within.

Ruan Cheng’s smile momentarily faltered. He paused before regaining his smile and shrugging: “Then do you think things are okay tonight?”

Qiao Nanqi didn’t answer him, only asking: “After you talked with him, what did you think?”

“Very smart, with very good ideas. If, according to what you said, it was just giving him a chance to find me for cooperation, then he seized that chance. Because after chatting with him, I found that even without you, I would cooperate with him.”

Qiao Nanqi finally showed a rare smile.

The smile was very shallow, very light—just a slight upward curve of the corners of his mouth, a shred of a smile hanging on as the clouds in his eyes dissipated. He didn’t even notice it himself.

He unconsciously took a few more sips of the fine wine in his glass and said: “Then that’s enough.”

Before today, the reason he had sought out Ruan Cheng, whom he had had several previous dealings with, was indeed to provide help to Zhao Rong.

He had initially only heard that Zhao Rong was looking for someone in this area. Later, through several connections, he found out that Zhao Rong seemed to be in contact with Liu Shun’s parents. Liu Shun’s parents were originally going to find someone else. Qiao Nanqi took that opportunity to have Ruan Cheng connect with Liu Shun’s parents, leading to today.

At the time, he felt that with the Chen family gone and Zhao Rong unwilling to accept any benefits from him, he was worried that Zhao Rong wouldn’t have a smooth time. Naturally, he thought of secretly giving the things he wanted to give to Zhao Rong through Ruan Cheng’s hand.

Such help, called help, but to put it bluntly, was actually charity and a gift.

So Qiao Nanqi hadn’t intended to come at first. He didn’t dare let Zhao Rong know.

It was just that today…

He suddenly discovered that the Zhao Rong in his memory, who needed help with everything and was a “good-for-nothing playboy” in other people’s mouths, was merely a false appearance created for self-preservation all these years.

When this layer of performance was stripped away, what he saw was a radiance that ten years of tempering couldn’t cover.

A Zhao Rong like this didn’t lack charity or help.

What he lacked was merely a guiding light.

Zhao Rong said he didn’t know how to love someone.

Said he had never truly lowered his head to look, never knew what respect was.

But he could learn.