C4 Chapter 4

Su Jiyue didn’t take the pen. Her clear, luminous eyes shimmered as she stared straight at Qin Yaochen, like she was trying to catch the slightest crack of emotion on his perpetually sour face.

“Sign it!” Qin Yaochen shifted under her gaze, frowning. When he spoke again, impatience edged his voice.

“Fine.” Hit by his irritation, Su Jiyue curled her lips into a faint smile and answered coolly. Still, she didn’t take the pen from his hand. Instead, she pulled a black ink pen from her purse and carefully signed the last line—Su Jiyue—in bold, sweeping strokes.

“Mr. Qin, the agreement’s in effect. Can I leave now?” Su Jiyue slapped the papers against his chest, stood up, and spoke with clear annoyance.

Caught off guard by the smack to his chest, Qin Yaochen narrowed his eyes. Then he rose and stepped toward her, closing the distance until she had to back into the corner of the couch. Only then did he speak. “Su Jiyue, tomorrow people from Great Qin’s will go to your studio to talk about acquiring it. Be ready.” With that, Qin Yaochen turned on his heel and took the stairs to the second floor in long strides.

Su Jiyue froze.

Acquiring it?

Just as she was about to press him for details, a heavy door slam echoed down the hall.

He’d gone back to his room.

After a moment’s hesitation, Su Jiyue went upstairs anyway and knocked on his door. “Yaochen, you—”

Before she could finish, Qin Yaochen’s voice came from inside. “I’m going to sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Everything she wanted to say jammed in her throat. Su Jiyue stood outside his door for a moment, let out a quiet sigh, and headed to her own room.

That night, she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep—her mind stuck on one thing: Qin Yaochen was going to buy out her studio.

It was worth remembering: this studio had been built by Su Jiyue from the ground up, all on her own—she hadn’t even accepted help from Old Mrs. Qin.

Now that things were finally on track and getting better by the day, Qin Yaochen, just to get back at the old woman, was actually going to buy up the results of years of Su Jiyue’s hard work. Anyone would have a hard time swallowing that.

Because she’d barely slept, Su Jiyue showed up in front of Qin Yaochen the next morning with dark circles under her eyes.

Since Old Mrs. Qin had people watching them at the villa on the south side of town, they had to come and go together.

“Did you go out stealing last night?” Qin Yaochen couldn’t help asking as they ate breakfast.

Su Jiyue rolled her eyes so hard she could feel it, then shot back, “Yeah. Went out to hook up with somebody.”

“...” Caught off guard, Qin Yaochen lifted his eyes from the newspaper, glanced at her, and let out a low laugh.

Hearing him laugh without even trying to hide it, Su Jiyue slapped the table. “Mr. Qin, shouldn’t you be having breakfast with your precious Miaomiao instead?”

“I told you yesterday—we broke up,” Qin Yaochen said, casual as if it were nothing.

“But you two were crazy in love for years. You just break up like that, and you’re sitting there looking like you’re thrilled about it. That’s not exactly your usual style.” Su Jiyue didn’t know where the anger came from, but once it flared, she couldn’t stop.

Seeing her like this was rare, and for some reason it made Qin Yaochen oddly pleased. “What, does my wife want me to be miserable over another woman?”

“Yeah. I want to see you devastated over Xia Miaomiao. That would match the ‘deeply devoted’ act you’ve been putting on for everyone all these years.” As she spoke, Su Jiyue took a vicious bite of the fried dough stick in her hand—only for a bit of hot oil to pop into her eye.

“Are you eating that with your eyes?” Qin Yaochen frowned when he saw her rubbing at it. He grabbed her wrist, pulled her to the first-floor bathroom, pressed her head down, cupped some water in his hand, and started rinsing her eye.