A lavish banquet filled with clinking glasses.
While everyone else was discussing film and TV projects, vying for major roles, courting investors, or even scheming over scripts and trading favours, only Wen Ying and Xie Qian stood out, completely different from the crowd.
The two of them were talking about the gaokao.
The moment Xie Qian started asking questions, Wen Ying looked as if she wanted to start estimating her scores right there and then.
Xie Qian couldn’t help laughing. “There’s really no rush.”
That was what he said, but Wen Ying was already a little distracted. Her body was still at the banquet, yet her mind had flown away.
The pair were completely relaxed, saying whatever they felt like. From a distance, Zhuo Yue watched them in the crowd, growing more and more confused about their relationship.
Zhao Qian gnashed her teeth and cursed Wen Ying under her breath. “Tch, shameless!”
Zhao Dong had come to the banquet through connections at Eastern TV, where he was now an advertising client.
The commercials for “Slan” were already airing on the channel. Not only had Zhao Dong launched medical-aesthetics products, he had also opened a huge flagship experience store in Shanghai.
This high-end medical-aesthetics centre targeted wealthy clients.
Besides rich society ladies, celebrities were another major group Zhao Dong had his eye on. Celebrities had money and plenty of demand for aesthetic treatments.
So tonight he was here to scout potential clients. Running into Wen Ying and Xie Qian was purely coincidental.
Zhao Dong was busy expanding his network and had no time to cause trouble for the pair. Zhao Qian, with nothing better to do, couldn’t possibly understand the pressure of her brother’s business. She spent the entire evening glaring at Wen Ying and Xie Qian.
The more she stared, the angrier she became, her cheeks puffed out like a toad.
Zhuo Yue pretended not to hear Zhao Qian’s insults. Thinking of how Xie Qian was attending this event as the boss of Jiaxin, she felt anxious for her own brother Zhuo Chen.
Xie Qian now owned so much.
A film company, a logistics company, a huge compensation payout from demolitions, and even eleven percent of Jinhu Group shares.
Meanwhile, her brother Zhuo Chen only held a tiny fraction of shares in Slan.
As a Slan shareholder, Zhuo Chen really should have come with Zhao Dong to tonight’s Magnolia Awards banquet. It was such a good opportunity.
Yet Zhao Dong had insisted that, now the person was back in the country, they should keep a low profile and avoid provoking the Xie family. Both Sara Zhuo and Zhuo Chen had thought Zhao Dong made sense, so Zhuo Chen stayed away tonight.
Watching Xie Qian move through the crowd with ease, Zhuo Yue felt a sour ache in her heart. She brushed Zhao Qian off with a few perfunctory words, made an excuse about needing some air in the corridor, and slipped away.
“Getting air” was just a pretext. She really wanted to find a quiet spot to call Xie Jinghu.
Ever since Sara Zhuo returned to China, Xie Jinghu had been too afraid to protect himself and refused to take her calls.
Zhuo Chen thought Xie Jinghu was being heartless and refused to reach out first, but Zhuo Yue didn’t see it that way.
She was the youngest and had always been close to Xie Jinghu. She dialled his number. After a moment’s hesitation, he picked up.
“Daddy, are you still angry with Mummy?”
Over the phone, Xie Jinghu sighed. “Yueyue, this is grown-up business. Don’t get involved. I’m not angry with your mummy. I just… have my own difficulties…”
Zhuo Yue coughed twice into her hand.
Xie Jinghu truly doted on his youngest daughter and immediately asked if she was unwell.
Zhuo Yue lowered her voice. “I’m okay. But Mummy really is ill. She collapsed the moment she got off the plane. She refuses to go to hospital. We’ve had doctors come to the hotel several times, but she still isn’t better. Auntie Dai keeps urging her to get checked properly, but Mummy says she’s fine. Daddy, won’t you try to persuade her?”
That did sound exactly like something Sara Zhuo would do.
When she was younger she had been terribly proud and would never show weakness in front of others.
Especially after the Zhuo family fell on hard times, Sara Zhuo had become even more sensitive.
Dai Chenglan used to be nothing more than Sara Zhuo’s little lackey. Now that Sara had rushed back to China with her children, how could she bear to lose face in front of her old follower? So Dai Chenglan still had no idea that Sara Zhuo and Xie Jinghu had fallen out completely.
Faced with Zhuo Yue’s pleading, Xie Jinghu did waver.
But the moment he thought about what would happen if he resumed contact with Sara Zhuo, his heart hardened again instantly. “If she’s ill she should go to hospital. I told her not to come back, but she didn’t listen. She probably won’t listen to me about hospital either. Yueyue, where are you right now? It sounds noisy.”
Xie Jinghu changed the subject stiffly.
Zhuo Yue knew this would take time, and she hadn’t expected to succeed with one call. She immediately slipped into the role of the considerate little daughter and followed his lead.
“I’m at the Magnolia TV Festival reception. Mummy asked Mr Zhao to bring me out to cheer me up. I saw… Brother Xie Qian here. But don’t worry, Daddy, I just looked from afar. I didn’t go over to bother him.”
She said “Brother Xie Qian” very softly, as if afraid someone might overhear.
By calling him brother yet saying she dared not approach, she was acknowledging that her illegitimate status would never be accepted by Xie Qian.
What a sensible girl.
So patient and cautious.
Xie Jinghu had no mood to praise his daughter’s maturity or comfort her caution. The words “Brother Xie Qian” exploded in his head like a bomb.
“Yueyue, you… oh no. Did Xie Qian see you?”
Why did she have to go to the Magnolia banquet of all places?
Shanghai was huge. Couldn’t she cheer up somewhere else?
Xie Jinghu felt his brain was about to burst.
If Sara Zhuo took the children straight to Beijing, he would never have peace.
If she lingered in Shanghai, she would inevitably run into Xie Qian!
That rebellious son of his would never let such a perfect chance slip by. He would immediately bad-mouth him to his elder brother and grandmother and carve away the company shares under his name!
“I don’t know… probably not…”
The moment Zhuo Yue finished speaking, Xie Jinghu let out a huge sigh of relief. “Good! Yueyue, listen to me. Before Xie Qian notices you, leave the reception right now—”
Zhuo Yue was stunned.
She had laid all that groundwork precisely to mention how close Xie Qian and Wen Ying seemed, to hand her father ammunition against Xie Qian.
She had never expected this kind of reaction.
Was Xie Qian really that terrifying?
In a father–son relationship, the father always stands above the son. Xie Qian might own eleven percent of Jinhu, but he was still far from truly controlling the group.
Xie Jinghu’s response left Zhuo Yue completely bewildered.
Only at that moment did she finally grasp how dire the situation was.
No wonder Mummy had rushed back to the country with her and her brother. The three of them had truly lost far, far too much territory. Either they fought with their backs to the river, everything on the line, or they surrendered right now!
Tears welled in Zhuo Yue’s eyes. Her distress needed no acting. Choking back sobs, she promised Xie Jinghu, “Daddy, I’ll listen to you. I’m leaving right now.”
Despite her young age, Zhuo Yue was more decisive than most adults. She said she would leave, and she left.
Back at the banquet.
Zhao Qian received a text from Zhuo Yue and muttered, “Zhuo Yue’s health is really terrible. She’s only been here a little while and already feels unwell?”
Without Zhuo Yue egging her on, Zhao Qian several times wanted to cause trouble for Wen Ying, but every time she met Xie Qian’s icy stare, she lost her nerve.
Xie Qian had changed so much!
