Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Hearing her voice, the man turned his eyes to her. His eyes were placid and emotionless.
Rong Yan looked at him and said obstinately, “I would like to invite you to my home after the banquet. After all, besides my brother, my parents are eager to see you too, but I didn’t expect you to bring a female companion with you today. Miss Ji, sorry for the inconvenience.”
Rong Yan looked straight at Ji Nuan and smiled, putting on the airs of a fair lady.
Mo Jingshen cast an indifferent glance at her and said, “You don’t have to apologize to her. Even if I hadn’t brought a female companion with me tonight, I won’t visit your home. Our companies don’t have such a close relationship. I respect you, but Miss Rong, please respect yourself. Otherwise, I’m afraid I may hurt your pride.”
Rong Yan widened her eyes in shock. She had always known him to be cold and impersonal, but although he was cold, he was still so attractive. She couldn’t help but want to be close to him. She had got used to and accepted his indifference, but she had not expected to see his colder side.
Her eyes turned red. “Just to have dinner. Besides, the Rong Corporation has maintained a cooperative relationship with Shine for more than a year. Is private contact so unnecessary in your opinion?”
Mo Jingshen said, “Yes, unnecessary.”
He said lightly yet firmly.
Rong Yan’s face stiffened.
Ji Nuan also paused. She knew there were countless women who wanted to become Mo Jingshen’s woman, but this was the first time that she saw him refused a woman’s love on such an occasion.
He refused straightforward without any hesitation and with the coldness peculiar to Mo Jingshen. It seemed that he was such a person in front of outsiders. No one’s emotions and feelings could move him, and no one could easily break into his world.
Except her.
Realizing this, Ji Nuan couldn’t help clenching the glass of champagne she just picked up, but her face remained expressionless as if this had nothing to do with her, no matter the other people’s gaze and whisper or Rong Yan’s brother’s cold stare toward her.
Rong Yan’s hands that clung to the hem of her dress tightened and her eyes reddened. She didn’t expect that she had been waiting for more than a year, and had managed to get close to him while he was in the capital, only to receive such a cruel rebuff. It didn’t make any difference whether she was the second daughter of the Rong family or not. When she was still an employee of the Shine Group, he could still praise her work efficiency, but after knowing her identity and roughly figuring out her purpose, he became as cold as ice to her and then she could not even get close to him.
1How could there be such a good man in this world, and how could there be such a cold and heartless man, but she had been fascinated by him!
At this time, a businessman who had some standing in the “Capital Circle” came over to talk with Mo Jingshen, and Rong Cheng and Rong Yan were left out. Rong Cheng was obviously a bit angry, but he knew he couldn’t throw a tantrum on such an occasion. He looked at Rong Yan, only to see that she pursed her lips silently and her eyes were all red. He turned to take her hand in anger. “Let’s go.”
Rong Yan remained where she was, looking at Mo Jingshen with her eyes full of sadness and disbelief. She could not believe that the man she had been loving for so long could be so indifferent toward her.
Rong Cheng said crossly, “Can’t you tell he is not interested in you at all? What are you still looking?”
Rong Yan suddenly turned her eyes to Ji Nuan, who sat on the sofa, drinking champagne and eating dessert, as if she was not part of this, but it was obvious that she was the biggest obstacle between her and Mo Jingshen.
“Just go with me. Stop looking at him. If you really want to get a chance to talk to Mo Jingshen, he will stay in Beijing for a long time, so you’ll get a chance sooner or later. Now you’re disgracing the Rong family if you still look at him like this here. If Father knows what you did today, I’m afraid that even I can’t get you out again,” Rong Cheng whispered in her ear.
Hearing this, Rong Yan, who was frozen, slightly moved and staggered out of the crowd led by Rong Cheng.
Ji Nuan had looked on coldly, but even if Mo Jingshen had not been looking at her, he had noticed that in such a short time, she had drunk her fourth glass of champagne.
Now, in front of him, she really dared to drink.
While Mo Jingshen was talking with others, Ji Nuan got up and went to the bathroom.
The dinner was held at a high-end hotel in Beijing, and it looked as if all the floors had been booked by the party organizer.
When Ji Nuan went to the bathroom, she didn’t notice anyone in it. Then she heard a noise in the next room and ignored it. She opened the door of a bathroom stall and went in.
She had been sitting, so her stomach did not ache so much, but now that she got up and walked a few steps, she felt the dull pain in her lower abdomen beginning again. She decided to stay here for a while, waiting for the pain to pass before going out.
Just then, she heard someone coming out of the next room, then the sound of high heels, accompanied by Rong Yan’s voice talking on the phone.
“I didn’t sneak out. Brother had a dinner party to attend today, so he took me out for a break…”
“Dad, I know… I know I should defend the Rong family’s image, but I really love him… If I’m not allowed to go to America or Hai City again, at least let me see him when he comes to Beijing. I’ve been doing what you tell me all my life, but not this time. If I had not met him, I might have obeyed your arrangement, but when I met him, I knew I would never meet a man more attractive than him…”
“You think he is a good choice too, don’t you? You don’t want me to go after him, just because it’s me who takes the initiative, but I just don’t want to let go. Even if… he really has an old flame, they probably broke up a long time ago. He hadn’t had any women around these years. As the saying goes, faith will move mountains. I believe that one day he will be moved by me…”
2Sitting on the toilet in the bathroom, Ji Nuan, the “old flame,” rubbed her stomach in silence.
When did she become Mo Jingshen’s ‘old flame’?