Chapter 70

The sun finally came out in the afternoon. Xu Zhiqian and Hua Yiqing met at a cafe near the hospital. After Xu Zhiqian had sorted things out in her mind, she now saw Hua Yiqing as a scheming home-wrecker.

There weren’t many people in the cafe. The two of them were in a corner. Hua Yiqing was only wearing sunglasses, with no other disguise, and she wasn’t worried about being seen.

“Is Zhengyin doing okay?” After sitting in silence for more than ten minutes, Hua Yiqing finally spoke, her voice laced with apology.

Xu Zhiqian scoffed, crossing her arms and looking at Hua Yiqing. “What do you think? After being forcibly induced into a susceptible and injected with a high-concentration inhibitor, how could any Alpha be okay?”

Hua Yiqing’s hand trembled, causing the liquid in the coffee cup to slosh around. A few drops of the hot brown liquid spilled onto the back of her hand. She didn’t seem to notice, her eyes staring blankly at the liquid in the cup as it slowly settled.

“I’m sorry.”

Xu Zhiqian shook her head and pushed her chair back, causing a jarring scrape against the floor. Xu Zhiqian was ready to leave. “You’re hilarious, Hua, the actress. Didn’t you do all this? Now you’re here pretending to care about her?”

“It wasn’t me.” Hua Yiqing said urgently. She took out a voice recorder from her bag and handed it to Xu Zhiqian.

Xu Zhiqian eyed the recorder with suspicion, then looked up at Hua Yiqing’s hopeful expression. “What is this?”

“I wasn’t in my right mind yesterday. I have no memory of what happened between me and Zhengyin. There’s a blank space in my memory for about three hours. This happened after I met Su Yingying. My assistant told me I gave Zhengyin the inducing agent, and I was completely shocked. I know you won’t like hearing this, but I really do love her, and I would never hurt her.”

Xu Zhiqian took the recorder, half-believing her. She chose to trust her Alpha. Even without this recorder, it wouldn’t have affected her and Li Zhengyin’s relationship. “I’ll take this. She told me this morning that [bailiantales.com]you seemed off yesterday. You don’t have to worry about it, since we’re not reporting it to the police.”

Hua Yiqing lowered her eyes, a self-deprecating smile appearing on her face. “Even if you were to report it, I wouldn’t have anything to say. After all, my assistant saw it was me who gave Zhengyin the inducing agent. When I woke up in the bathroom yesterday, I thought I was dreaming. I actually smelled Zhengyin’s pheromones…”

“Stop talking, I don’t want to hear it,” Xu Zhiqian interrupted coldly. “She loves the Hua Yiqing who went through thick and thin with her, not the one who has now regretted her actions. The Hua Yiqing from the past didn’t love her, but from now on, I will, for a lifetime.”

Hua Yiqing bit her lip and gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t go back. She had lived a hurried life until now, and the mistakes she had made in the past could never be undone. “Miss Xu, I’m sorry. I’ll control myself from now on and won’t look for her again.”

“I don’t believe you,” Xu Zhiqian said bluntly. But then she thought of Li Zhengyin’s pale face, and her tone softened a bit. “But I believe in her.”

Ignoring Hua Yiqing’s dazed expression, Xu Zhiqian stood up, picked up her coffee, and downed it like she did with her drinks last night. “The 23-year-old Li Zhengyin couldn’t wait for the 23-year-old Hua Yiqing’s apology. It’s okay. From now on, no matter how old she is, I’ll always be with her and never betray her.”

Xu Zhiqian put down the empty cup and walked out of the cafe. Hua Yiqing stared blankly at the empty cup. Xu Zhiqian’s words seemed to have a kind of magic, echoing in her ears.

Cold tears slid out from under her sunglasses, silently tracing a path down her face and onto the floor, leaving dark marks.

Hua Yiqing didn’t take off her sunglasses. She just reached up and wiped her eyes, then pulled a few bills from her bag and placed them under the coffee cup. She left the cafe in a daze.

The 23-year-old Li Zhengyin and the current Li Zhengyin kept appearing in her mind. Hua Yiqing got back in her car and broke down into sobs on the steering wheel.

I wish I had been as firm as Xu Zhiqian back then. She had truly lost her. Zhengyin wouldn’t come back. She wouldn’t care about her anymore or whether her tears fell to the ground.

Hua Yiqing composed herself and took out a mirror from her bag. Her hand trembled, and the mirror fell onto the steering wheel with a crack, breaking into two. Hua Yiqing pieced it unauthorized copyback together. The crack in the middle of the mirror seemed to be telling her that a broken mirror could never be mended.

“Why?” Tears gushed out again. It’s all the fault of this cruel fate, to have met such an amazing person at a time when I was so powerless.

Su Yingying hadn’t set foot in the Su family home for a long time. With Qin Renfeng’s support, the Su family wasn’t completely down and out, but everyone in the Jing City circle knew that the Su family was now dependent on the Qin family. Who would dare to provoke them?

Right, there was one family—the Fu family. But Fu Chenlan was the type who wouldn’t bother you unless you bothered him. The Su family had been avoiding the Fus for the past year and chose business areas that had nothing to do with them. Su Ziqin was busy with her own career and didn’t use her shares to cause trouble for the Su family. This was why the Sus had a peaceful year.

Su Yingying looked at the Su family’s small villa with a hint of disgust. Her room here wasn’t even as luxurious as the hotel suite she usually stayed in.

Suppressing her distaste, she knocked on the door. Li Qinghui looked at Su Yingying with a pleasant surprise. “Yingying, you’re back?”

“Yeah.” Su Yingying’s reply was flat. If it weren’t for the system telling her to come back and get the jade pendant, she wouldn’t bother stepping into this slum.

Li Qinghui grabbed Su Yingying’s hand enthusiastically and asked with care, “Have you eaten dinner? Is there anything you want to eat? Mom can make it for you.”

Su Yingying frowned and pulled her arm away. “I’m not eating here. I just came back to get something and then I’m leaving.”

Li Qinghui’s smile instantly faltered. “Why are you leaving as soon as you get back?” It was rare for her daughter to come home. Even if there wasn’t a family bond, wouldn’t a normal friend be less cold?

Su Yingying waved her hand, not wanting to say more, and walked straight to Aunt Bao’s room. “I’m just getting something and then I’m leaving. I have a night shoot.” There was no night shoot. Qin Renfeng had left for a business trip this morning, and Su Yingying didn’t want to waste this free time. She was going to find a female Alpha to be with her later.

“What are you doing in that dead person’s room?” Li Qinghui’s tone was not good. If the Su family’s financial situation weren’t so bad, ​bailiantales.com​they would have moved long ago and wouldn’t have kept this room.

Su Yingying didn’t explain. She couldn’t very well tell her that the system told her to look for Su Ziqin’s jade pendant, could she? “I’m just looking for something. Wait for me in the living room.”

Su Yingying got rid of Li Qinghui in a few words. She closed the door with a bang and asked the system in her head, “Where is it?”

This small room was so tiny that you could see everything in one glance. Su Yingying couldn’t figure out where a small jade pendant could be.

“Head of the bed, under the bed board,” the system’s mechanical voice said without any emotion.

Su Yingying didn’t question the system’s instructions. She walked to the head of the bed and with some effort, lifted the small bed board. Sure enough, she found a small, low-quality jade pendant at the head of the bed.

Su Yingying played with the jade pendant. It was about the size of two thumbs. The crude craftsmanship looked like a ten-dollar fake from a street vendor. Su Yingying said with a look of disgust, “This jade pendant can prove Su Ziqin’s identity?”

Su Yingying caressed the only character engraved on the jade pendant, which was the character “靜” (jìng, meaning quiet or peaceful). The carving wasn’t good, and it was so crude it looked like a child had carved it.

“You’re a real idiot. Do you know that’s a military identification jade pendant? The character on it was carved by the soldier themselves.”

Su Yingying’s hand trembled. As an actress, how would she know anything about the military? “So you’re saying one of Su Ziqin’s parents was a soldier?”

The system scoffed. “You’ll know sooner or later. Don’t worry about it now. Take this pendant and attend the Wu family’s state banquet next week.”

“The Wu family’s state banquet?” Su Yingying repeated. Qin Renfeng had [bailiantales.com]told her to go to some banquet with him next weekend. “What kind of family is the Wu family? I’ve never heard of them.”

Su Yingying knew all the prominent families in the Jing City circle, but this was the first time she had heard of the Wu family from the system.

“Whether it’s an old family or a powerful one, none can compare to the ancient Gu and Wu families. It’s just that the Gu family has fallen. Aside from one old person, there’s only an Alpha who won’t get married. The Wu family is low-key and has been stationed on the border for years, so of course you wouldn’t know about them. It’s been twenty years, and they’ve finally returned.”

Su Yingying chuckled. Although the system hadn’t explained it clearly, Su Yingying could guess the general idea. Su Ziqin must be a child of the Wu family, who Su Chengye had somehow stolen twenty years ago to replace himself.

“Since we’ve swapped lives, we might as well do it completely.” Su Yingying smiled, her voice light and cheerful. Everything about Su Ziqin was so tempting, whether it was her mysterious background or her Alpha…

“What are you thinking about again?” the system said coldly. It sensed Su Yingying’s thoughts. “You must marry Qin Renfeng.”

“Shit!” Su Yingying cursed. Qin Renfeng was already disgusting her to no end, but his rank was not low, and the mark he gave her was able to control Su Yingying very well. “Do I really have to marry him? Do you know how disgusting it is to have sex with him?”

The system didn’t want Su Yingying to have such rebellious thoughts. An Omega constantly thinking about how to sleep with a female Alpha and not wanting to be close to the world’s male lead was unheard of.

“As long as you marry him, I won’t interfere with those things. It doesn’t matter if he lives or dies,” the system said coldly, because this was the set ending. The female lead had to be with the male lead. As for what happened after they were together, that was not something it could interfere with.

“Oh?” Su Yingying caught the loophole in the system’s words. So… “Hahaha, then he can go to hell.”

Su Yingying put the jade pendant in her bag, pushed the door open, and greeted Li Qinghui. She got into her car, and as soon as she was in, she sent a message to Qin Renfeng. “Brother Feng, let’s get married.”