Qiao Jing furrowed her brows and began to search for Zhan Nanqing’s figure among the crowd.
Finally, she saw Zhan Nanqing’s back on the other side of the corridor, which seemed slightly hurried, and...
a strange man was following right behind Zhan Nanqing.
A moment later, the figures of the two disappeared into the corridor.
Qiao Jing’s brows remained tightly locked, her gaze still lingering in the direction the two had left.
She hadn’t wanted to intervene in Zhan Nanqing’s affairs, but she had noticed that Zhan Nanqing had displayed an impatient expression on her face.
The man following behind Zhan Nanqing also looked somewhat displeased, his steps very brisk as if he had some urgent matter with Zhan Nanqing.
After a brief consideration, Qiao Jing decided to follow them to prevent any trouble for Zhan Nanqing.
Zhan Qipei noticed Qiao Jing was leaving and quickly followed.
"Where are you going?"
"To find Nanqing, you stay here."
She needed to see what exactly this strange man’s relationship was to Zhan Nanqing. If he was just a friend, she wouldn’t intervene.
Zhan Qipei pursed his thin lips, his footsteps not stopping.
"What do you want with her?"
All he wanted was to be next to Qiao Jing every second or simply take her home now.
After all, they had already attended the gathering, and Qiao Jing had skillfully put those people in their place. There was no reason to stay any longer.
Hearing Zhan Qipei’s words, Qiao Jing rolled her eyes wordlessly.
"Can’t you just care about your sister for once? She just went to the back door with a guy. I’m going to check on them."
Zhan Qipei furrowed his brows, his dark eyes deepening.
Qiao Jing nodded. By the time they finished talking, Zhan Nanqing and the man had reached the end of the corridor.
The corridor ended in a door that opened outward, leading to a seldom-used rear entrance of the golf course, which was quieter compared to other areas.
That’s why they could hear the conversation from outside.
Zhan Nanqing’s voice came through.
"What do you want? If it’s nothing important, just leave. We said we would go our separate ways, and you agreed. What are you doing here now?"
A strange male voice answered.
"I regret it, Nanqing. Can you give me another chance? I won’t mess around anymore."
Zhan Nanqing clicked her tongue, her tone becoming impatient.
"Shut up, Zhou Yunze. We broke up ages ago, and now you’re bringing this up? I’m here for the gathering, not to talk nonsense with you."
Zhou Yunze’s voice quieted for a few seconds before speaking again.
"Nanqing, I was wrong. I regret it now."
Zhan Nanqing was too lazy to entertain Zhou Yunze further.
"You’re really annoying. I don’t want to waste words with you. Don’t come looking for me anymore!"
Upon hearing this conversation, Qiao Jing immediately pulled the man next to her into the fire escape.
But after a few seconds, when no footsteps came from outside, Qiao Jing furrowed her brows and peeked out.
Then she saw Zhan Nanqing’s wrist grabbed by the man called Zhou Yunze, and despite struggling for a while, Zhan Nanqing could not break free.
Qiao Jing’s cool eyes darkened, and just as she was about to go out and help, she heard a crisp "smack" in the air.
It turned out Zhan Nanqing, using her other free hand, had directly slapped Zhou Yunze across the face.
Zhan Nanqing looked at Zhou Yunze with a face full of disgust and immediately withdrew her hand when she saw the pain on his face causing him to release his grip.
"Zhou Yunze, if you continue I’ll call the police. This is harassment, and I already have a boyfriend!"
Zhou Yunze, stunned by Zhan Nanqing’s words, showed an incredulous expression on his face.
"So it’s true that they said you have a boyfriend? Who is it? Is he more powerful than the Zhou Family? Is he more handsome than me? Also, you came to the party alone; he didn’t accompany you, he must be no good."
Zhan Nanqing rolled her eyes in speechlessness and without another word, began to walk away.
"It’s none of your business. Mind your own affairs."
Her "boyfriend" just didn’t come, that’s all. Qiao Jing was many times better than Zhou Yunze, no, that’s not right...
These two men are simply incomparable, one is in the heavens, the other on the ground.
Zhou Yunze, still unwilling to give up, followed behind Zhan Nanqing.
"Nanqing, you’re lying to me, right? Today’s gathering included almost every reputable family in the capital, yet I didn’t see your boyfriend. Is it that he didn’t accompany you, or does he not have the qualifications to come?"
Zhan Nanqing could no longer contain herself, her anger rising and her voice involuntarily raising a lot.
"Get lost! Why are you so annoying?"
In the fire escape, Qiao Jing and Zhan Qipei’s expressions darkened respectively, and they exchanged glances.
Qiao Jing pushed open the door of the fire escape, slightly turning her face away when facing Zhou Yunze, not letting him see her full face.
She didn’t see this person named Zhou Yunze when she was at the scene earlier; he must have arrived later.
Now that this situation had arisen, she guessed that Zhan Nanqing would definitely want her to meet Zhou Yunze in male disguise, so now she couldn’t let Zhou Yunze see her face.
Even if he saw it, it wouldn’t make much difference. Because her appearance in male disguise was still somewhat different from her current face.
Zhan Qipei followed behind Qiao Jing, his expression grim as he came out.
Zhou Yunze, biting his lip reluctantly, gave Zhan Nanqing one last look.
"Nanqing, if you want me to give up, then bring your boyfriend to show me next time. Otherwise, I will keep following you."
After tossing out these words, Zhou Yunze hurriedly walked away.
He certainly did not dare to provoke Zhan Qipei.
Zhan Nanqing became even more speechless, rolled her eyes again, and muttered:
Zhan Nanqing looked towards Qiao Jing and Zhan Qipei, suddenly realizing something alarming.
"Brother, Qiao Jing, why did you two come out of the fire escape?!"
The two of them had gone into the empty fire escape, a man and a woman alone together...
Could it be what she was thinking?!
Seeing Zhan Nanqing’s expression, Qiao Jing knew she was overthinking again, and helplessly twitched the corner of her mouth.
"Fill your head with proper thoughts."
She had just been worried about being discovered by Zhan Nanqing and Zhou Yunze, which is why she dragged Zhan Qipei quickly into the fire escape.
Zhan Nanqing’s face showed an "I understand, you don’t need to explain" expression, meaningfully looking at Zhan Qipei.
"Cough cough, that... My brother’s suit is all wrinkled."
Qiao Jing frowned slightly, puzzled as she looked towards Zhan Qipei, noticing that the shirt on his collar was wrinkled.
She then remembered that when she had dragged Zhan Qipei into the fire escape earlier, she had accidentally pulled on his tie and also grabbed his shirt.
Qiao Jing rubbed her brow somewhat helplessly and explained:
"I just worried about being found out, so I took your brother into the fire escape. Also, what’s the deal with this Zhou Yunze?"