Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“What if I’ve scavenged enough, and what if I haven’t?”

I shot a provocative glance at Shen Yezhou. “Is President Shen planning to make up the difference?”

“Ning Yu, we haven’t seen each other for three years, and yet you’re just as shameless as ever!”

He looked down at me from his superior height, those handsome peach-blossom eyes cold enough to kill.

His words were like a blade, piercing through my very soul.

I studied him through the hazy, blurred lights.

He used to be like a beam of light-real and stubborn, standing tall in this treacherous world.

Now, dressed in a sharp suit, he was as striking as ever, but his eyes were like bottomless abysses.

When he looked at me, there wasn’t a trace of the old tenderness and lingering affection.

I applied pressure to my wrist, forcing him a few inches closer.

“Pulling and tugging with another woman right in front of your fiancée… who’s the shameless one here?”

I traded barbs with him just like I used to.

Except back then, we spoke words of love; now, we spat sharpened knives.

As if waking from a dream, Shen Yezhou abruptly threw my hand off. He grabbed a wet wipe from the table and began to scrub his hands repeatedly.

The insult was unmistakable.

I didn’t want to stay any longer. I exchanged a look with Gu Xiao and stood up to leave.

But Shen Yezhou shifted his footing, blocking my path.

“Tian Tian, come here. I want to introduce you to someone.”

He reined in his hostility and beckoned to Jiang Tian.

“Brother Shen, is there something special about this lady?”

Jiang Tian trotted over and intimately hooked her arm through Shen Yezhou’s, leaning against him as if she were bone-less.

True to her name, she was sweet and cute-clearly a girl who had been pampered her whole life.

“She is very special.” Shen Yezhou spoke to Jiang Tian, but his eyes were fixed on me.

“She is the ex-girlfriend who abandoned me for two million: Ning Yu.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear.

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.

A massive wave of shame swept over me, threatening to swallow me whole.

I remained expressionless, quietly hiding my trembling hands behind my back.

Tonight, I could feel pain and I could smile, but I could not show even a single shred of vulnerability.

“Is two million a lot? The jewelry set Brother Shen gave me is worth ten million.”

Jiang Tian’s pale, jade-like fingertips lightly brushed the dazzling diamond necklace around her neck.

A matching set of earrings swayed from her delicate earlobes.

“Ten million… that’s eight figures!”

“Is she wearing a whole apartment on her body?!”

A chorus of gasps erupted from the crowd.

What followed were waves of ridicule and mockery.

They mocked me for giving up such a handsome, wealthy boyfriend for a mere two million.

*Crackle-*

In the crowd, someone crushed a soda can.

Startled by the sound, I turned my head toward the source.

Gu Xiao was nonchalantly fiddling with a deformed beer can, a half-smile playing on his lips.

I shook my head at him, signaling for him to stay calm.

Shen Yezhou suddenly let out a low chuckle.

He pulled a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills from his bag and tossed them recklessly into the air above the private booth.

“Ning Yu, money is the one thing I have plenty of.”

“But you… don’t… deserve it!”

The bills fluttered down, brushing against my face and body.

Then they scattered around my feet.

“With such a great boyfriend, you’d better keep a tight grip on him, little sister.”

I forced a smile under the colorful, judgmental stares.

“Of course I will.” Jiang Tian looked up at Shen Yezhou.

Her gaze met his doting eyes perfectly.

“Wow, so sweet, so protective!”

“It’s practically a crime if they don’t kiss!”

Someone started the chant, and the calls for them to “kiss” grew louder and louder.

Shen Yezhou suddenly hooked his arm around Jiang Tian’s waist, pressed her down onto the sofa, and leaned down to kiss her.

The atmosphere reached a fever pitch instantly.

Under the hazy lights, right before my eyes, they kissed passionately.

The surrounding crowd was a cacophony of noise, but in my ears, there was only a deathly silence.