Wen Ying handed the gift box back to Jiang Youjia.
If she had looked closely, she would have noticed that his shirt was creased, his shoes dull shoes badly needed polishing, and he had several days’ worth of stubble. He looked like a man who had barely slept, completely drained.
Writers are the most perceptive people alive.
Without sharp eyes and an active mind, no writer can produce good work.
Wen Ying was a very successful writer, every book a million-seller. Jiang Youjia had prepared a stomach full of excuses before coming.
What to say if she asked why he had not answered his phone.
What to say if she asked what he had been doing these past few days.
Yet Wen Ying asked nothing at all.
She did not even accept the gift. She wanted Xie Qian to place it in her hands himself.
If anyone else had acted like this, Jiang Youjia would have cursed them for being melodramatic and making trouble when the Xie family already had enough chaos.
But when he looked at Wen Ying, her eyes brimmed with sorrow, yet her tone was light and certain. “I’m going to wait for Xie Qian to give it to me personally. He owes me a dinner, and he owes me an explanation. I’m not the type to hold grudges, but I do have a temper!”
She looked exactly like a girl sulking at her boyfriend, waiting for him to come and “apologise” in person.
Jiang Youjia felt something thick and painful lodge in his throat.
“You…”
Do you already know everything?
If you do, what kind of strength is letting you carry on without tearing apart the story we’ve all agreed to tell, without demanding answers, without screaming or digging for the truth?
In that instant, Jiang Youjia suddenly understood.
He understood why, out of everyone, Xie Qian had fallen only for Wen Ying.
Girls prettier than her, from better families, more openly affectionate, none of them could necessarily walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Xie Qian.
Inspired by her, Jiang Youjia felt a flicker of strength return to his exhausted body. He tightened his grip on the paper bag containing the gift box.
“You’re right. This gift should come from Xie Qian’s own hands. Standing you up was utterly ungentlemanly. Once he’s finished dealing with things abroad, I’ll drag him here myself to apologise!”
The sorrow in Wen Ying’s eyes brightened into real light.
“Really? Then I’ll hold you to that!”
A person only truly lives when there is light in their eyes, not when they are a walking corpse.
Jiang Youjia had just witnessed both states in Wen Ying.
Xie Qian adored her, and her love for Xie Qian was not one whit less.
This was love at its most beautiful.
Something like sand got into Jiang Youjia’s eyes, stinging horribly.
“I won’t keep you from your work. I need to get back to the office too. I have to secure a new endorsement for Xu Mei, start new projects. Xie Qian docked my year-end bonus this year. I have to protect next year’s. Until he returns from abroad, I’m going to keep the company running perfectly…”
He was talking to himself now.
Wen Ying encouraged him. “Tianjiao stole one endorsement from Xu Mei. Someone else might steal the next!”
A fierce glint appeared in Jiang Youjia’s eyes. “That will never happen. Losing to you is one thing. I refuse to lose to anyone else.”
He turned to leave, but Wen Ying suddenly called him back.
“…Thank you.”
Thank you for what?
Jiang Youjia did not ask. He simply took the gift bag and walked away.
Once he was out of sight, Wen Ying’s legs nearly gave out.
She had not needed to ask what had happened.
When she insisted Xie Qian give her the gift himself, Jiang Youjia had looked heartbroken but had not flinched or looked away. That meant Xie Qian had not… anyway, it was not the worst possible outcome.
Her brain had been rusting for three or four days, ever since the night Xie Qian failed to appear. She had seemed unaffected and had even gone back to work at Tianjiao as usual.
Only she knew the truth: her body moved, but her mind had shut down.
Zhong Yong’s mouth was a steel trap.
She could not bear to press Zou Weijun.
Jiang Youjia, however, had no guile. She had been able to read the tiny clues in his reaction.
And those tiny clues had brought her back to life.
Her mind began working again.
She suddenly remembered something vital she had forgotten.
Information asymmetry could be fatal. She had to tell Xie Yuping what she knew.
This was only her second time calling Xie Yuping, and she did not use her own phone. She borrowed a colleague’s and hid in the stairwell to make the call.
This time it was Zhong Yong who answered.
“Hello, who is this?”
Wen Ying cut him off. “Secretary Zhong, it’s me, Wen Ying. Please just listen. I know Mr Xie is extremely busy, perhaps in a meeting or occupied, which is why you picked up. I have something very important to tell him. It has to be today, as soon as possible. Could you ask him to ring me back?”
Zhong Yong was sharper than Jiang Youjia. He did not know what her “very important matter” was, but Wen Ying’s behaviour over the past two days, never once making trouble for the Xie family, had already earned his quiet approval.
Anyone would be entitled to break down.
Some people sobbed hysterically and then stayed broken for good. Others cried in private once, then pulled themselves together and did what needed to be done.
Wen Ying was clearly the latter.
And why was she calling from a different phone?
If things had not been so extraordinary, Xie Yuping might not have taken a call from an unknown number at all.
So, a few minutes later, Wen Ying received a return call from Xie Yuping himself.
“Xiao Wen, I hear you were looking for me?”
There was weariness in Xie Yuping’s voice.
That was only natural.
But at least it still sounded steady.
As long as Xie Yuping stayed upright, the Xie family would hold.
Only if the Xie family stayed stable would anyone be able to support Xie Qian.
Wen Ying came straight to the point. “Uncle Xie, there is something I think you need to know. Xie Qian may already have told you, or he may not have. To make sure nothing is missed, I believe I should tell you anyway. Someone informed Xie Qian that the two children his father had with his mistress might not be biologically related to the Xie family. Xie Qian has been investigating. He managed to obtain DNA samples from the siblings and from his father for testing. To his shock, the first test showed a match…”
Who had told Xie Qian?
Xie Qian had actually been secretly testing whether those illegitimate children shared Xie Jinghu’s blood?
Why had he hidden such an enormous matter from the family?
A barrage of questions did not overwhelm Xie Yuping. In a crisis, his control and clarity shone through. “Who gave Xie Qian the information? Since he trusted it enough to test once and the result showed a relationship, he would surely test again at another facility. Did he tell you the result of the second test? And… he confided all this in you but not in his family. Do you know why?”
Doing a second test was the obvious move.
If Xie Yuping himself had suspected anything, he would not have trusted the result without at least five separate tests.
Xie Qian had trusted Wen Ying with something this critical.
That boy really did love her.
But why had he not told his own family?
What was stopping Xie Qian from trusting the people closest to him?
Xie Yuping’s rapid-fire questions struck every crucial point.
Wen Ying had to fight back tears several times. Thinking of Xie Qian “abroad,” she swallowed her grief and answered. “You really do understand him. He did test more than once, but he changed the target of the second round. He wanted to verify whether the siblings were biologically related to another man… That man is Zhang Zhijun.”
She had finally said it.
The name “Zhang Zhijun” hung in the air like uttering Voldemort’s true name in the Harry Potter world. Even the widely experienced Xie Yuping felt his thoughts freeze for a split second.
