Chapter 4

Even working at the same company, he messaged me constantly during office hours.

Whenever I picked up my phone for a little idle scrolling, there was a message from him.

When the company arranged a business trip, his separation anxiety grew worse.

The night before leaving, he even hid beneath the quilt and cried alone.

Qin Huaixu's scandal kept spreading online. People dug up all kinds of past wrongdoing.

The company's image deteriorated so badly that the tycoon came in person to berate him.

To salvage matters, he contacted a leading media group, hoping it could manage public opinion.

The person sent over was its owner's daughter.

She happened to see Qin Yuze in the lift and immediately took an interest.

By that afternoon, the story had spread throughout the company.

After hearing about his background, the heiress had promptly demanded that he break up with me and date her.

His response was startling.

"Is your brain only decorative? How can you say something so unreasonable?"

She'd never been spoken to like that. Furious, she cursed him out right there in the company.

He immediately called the police and had her taken away.

So when the tycoon was ready to discuss business, he discovered his guest was at the police station.

Near closing time, a man knocked on our office door.

"Miss Ye, Chairman Qin would like to see you."

I followed him to a conference room on the top floor.

Only the tycoon sat in the vast room.

The atmosphere was suffocating.

Since learning about Qin Yuze's childhood, I'd begun to feel that all the tycoon's apparent kindness was a disguise.

"You saved me before, and I still haven't thanked you properly. I really can't give you shares. But…"

He pushed a check toward me.

"Money isn't a problem. I hear you're competent at your job. The company happens to have a sponsored study-abroad place. Would you like to try?"

So he wanted to pay me off and send me away.

He tapped the check lightly, his tone brooking no refusal.

"It's an excellent opportunity. Dating is only a bit of fun. The company values you now."

"Does Qin Yuze know about this?"

His smile vanished.

I looked at the check.

Only five hundred thousand yuan?

Didn't novels start at five million?

Why was the richest man so stingy?

"Do you think he'll love you forever? I admit he may be infatuated now. But I know that boy. He'll come to his senses soon."

"You're not planning a marriage alliance for him, are you?"

Just to clean up Qin Huaixu's mess.

"That child has never disobeyed me."

The next second, Qin Yuze pushed the door open.

"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you this time."

"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to take Miss Lu to dinner and apologize?"

"I didn't want to. I told her directly that I never want to see her again, and that my girlfriend and I are very happy and have no intention of breaking up."

"She was deeply moved. She said she'd never cooperate with our company again."

The tycoon shook with rage, clutching his chest and unable to speak for a long time.

I immediately added fuel.

"Do look after your health. I may not save you and get you to hospital this time."

"You two… Qin Yuze, don't forget who gave you everything you have! Without me, you're nothing!"

Qin Yuze removed his employee badge and laid it on the table.

The meaning couldn't have been clearer.

"Fine! All those years raising you were wasted!"

"You know perfectly well what Qin Huaixu did to me over those years."

He took me out of the company.

Even getting into the car, I was still thinking about that check.

"Five hundred thousand is five hundred thousand. We could pretend to break up, take the money first, and let a capitalist discover how treacherous people can be!"

He pinched my cheek.

"Aren't I worth more than five hundred thousand?"

The next day, a million yuan arrived in my bank account.

Qin Yuze stood before the mirror in an immaculate suit, tying his tie.

"Did you send that?"

"So you'll know I can earn you plenty of five-hundred-thousands."

He kissed my lips lightly, then left.

Apparently, he'd prepared an escape route long ago.

No wonder he'd left so fearlessly.

He'd resigned voluntarily.

Naturally, I didn't escape either.

Before long, I was fired.

Still, a generous severance package wasn't bad.

Especially since I'd already found a new job and had been planning to resign.

Who knew such a wonderful opportunity would present itself?

Delighted, I immediately went to Yonghe Temple to give thanks.

Qin Yuze founded his own company, ready to make his mark. I soon started at my new workplace.

The atmosphere there was friendly.

Over lunchtime gossip, Qin Huaixu's name suddenly came up.

"One minute a man's fine. The next, something like this happens."

"Who?"

I leaned in immediately.

"That Qin heir. Didn't he force himself on an intern? She had a child, and the dispute never ended. Now he wanted the child without taking responsibility for her. On the way to claim the baby, he had a car accident. They say he may spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair."

I couldn't help sighing.

Then someone added even more shocking news.

"I heard his father, Chairman Qin, couldn't take the news, had a heart attack, and died too."

One heavy blow after another left me unprepared.

I opened my former company's website.

A black-and-white page greeted me, with a large heading:

[OBITUARY]

In only half a year, sudden upheaval had followed upheaval.

No one had time to react.

But in the end, I was only an outsider.

Like everyone else, I could only treat it as a story to discuss after a meal.

Qin Yuze messaged to ask what I wanted for dinner.

I immediately hugged my phone and started ordering.

Their affairs no longer had anything to do with me.

I only needed to cherish the person beside me.

That was all.

***

He'd grown used to neither resisting nor fighting back.

He knew it was futile.

No one would help him.

Qin Huaixu's words still echoed in his ears.

"Your dad was only our driver. If he hadn't died, would you have got to live in our house? Lucky you. Lose one father and immediately trade him for a new one."

"My dad's much richer than yours!"

All he'd wanted was his own father.

The little dog he secretly kept in the courtyard was Qin Yuze's only friend.

The only living thing willing to listen after both his parents died.

Recently, a girl Qin Huaixu liked had unexpectedly given Qin Yuze a love letter.

When he came home, he found his room wrecked.

Insults covered the walls. Some unknown liquid had been poured on his bedding, giving off a foul, fishy smell.

Qin Huaixu stood upstairs, looking down.

"I did it. What can you do?"

Enduring it again and again hadn't brought a better ending.

In the end, the little dog died too.

He searched the whole courtyard and couldn't find it.

Finally, he found its flayed skin in his bedding.

Qin Huaixu's voice sounded behind him.

"Like it? My gift to you. Oh, was tonight's soup good? Shame that dog was so thin. It only made a small bowl. I'm generous. You got all of it."

Revulsion spread through him.

Qin Yuze swung his fist with all his strength and fought him.

That night, covered in injuries, he left the Qin house alone.

He stood beside the river.

One jump, and it would all end.

He closed his eyes and felt the wind pass over him.

Just as his weight began to tip, someone caught his hand.

His heart trembled uncontrollably.

"What are you looking at? Let me see."

"I want to jump into the river."

A girl in school uniform stood there, a grilled sausage in one hand.

Her eyes widened when she heard him.

She began talking in a jumble about unrelated things.

She even gave him the sausage she'd been holding.

"There are so many delicious things in the world. Don't you want to taste them? I hear lots of beautiful flowers bloom by the road in spring. Have you seen them? What colors are they?"

She told him many things.

Then, while he wasn't paying attention, she actually pulled him back.

He couldn't understand how such a small girl had so much strength.

They fell together beside the road.

She panted with exhaustion, still talking.

"The water must be freezing in winter. Why not wait? In spring, it'll be warmer, and you can look at the flowers too."

Her words reached him like a ray of warm sunlight.

At last, his barren heart felt a little light.

Once he grew older, the Qins wanted to send him abroad.

Perhaps they also meant never to see him again.

Through those years of desperate effort overseas, he often remembered what she'd said.

He never imagined they'd meet again like that.

She'd fainted by the roadside.

The rescuer and the rescued had exchanged places.

He should have stayed until she woke.

But years of poor food and irregular living abroad had left him frighteningly thin.

He didn't look good.

He'd returned this time because, while studying overseas, he'd eagerly helped with the branch's business.

Perhaps the Qins had noticed his ability. They'd allowed him back.

Qin Huaixu still spent every day drinking and playing around.

He'd finally had enough. Qin Huaixu had smashed a bottle over his head.

His face was still injured.

If possible, he wanted to appear before her looking better.

He used every connection and resource to quietly learn her movements.

He visited the restaurants she'd visited.

Looked at the scenery she'd looked at.

Once he'd become better, more accomplished, he would stand openly beside her.

He left in a hurry.

And left her a bouquet.

The promise he'd once made.

Flowers of spring.

— THE END —

Enjoyed this story? Discover more completed short romance stories at NovelPotato.asia.