PSMD – Chapter 121

Every interaction with Tao Sixian since their breakup made Qiu Yang uncomfortable. Her brows furrowed as she stared intently into the other woman’s eyes. “Then have you thought about what happens if something goes wrong with Pingzi because of these products?”

“Then we treat it, of course,” Tao Sixian said nonchalantly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Medicine is so advanced now; many pet illnesses can be cured, right?”

“What if it can’t be cured?” Qiu Yang’s voice dropped a few degrees.

“Yangyang,” Tao Sixian became earnest instead. She put down her chopsticks and continued, “A cat’s lifespan is only a little over ten years at most, twenty years tops. It lives off you, eats your food, uses your things. Isn’t it perfectly normal for you to make money back from it? Plus, more people can like it, so its life will have more significance than other little cats.”

Qiu Yang took a breath. She didn’t know what to say now.

Tao Sixian was speaking purely from a business perspective, not treating animals as actual lives, but merely tools for making money.

“Let me think about it,” Qiu Yang didn’t show her aversion too directly, because if she did, the conversation with Tao Sixian would fall apart today.

She wanted to wait a bit longer.

At least to get more information out of Tao Sixian.

When she used to like Tao Sixian, she thought Tao Sixian was a bit arrogant because she had been pampered since childhood. She could understand that, because for someone like herself, who didn’t even have the right to be arrogant and found it hard enough just to live well.

Now that they had broken up and she saw things clearly, Qiu Yang realized it wasn’t arrogance, but utter conceit and extreme selfishness. That’s why she had just said that about Qu Yan.

Because she genuinely looked down on Qu Yan.

Tao Sixian picked up her cup and took a sip of water. Seeing that Qiu Yang seemed to be thinking seriously, she curved her lips and added, “Don’t worry, Pingzi is a cat I watched grow up too. I’ll definitely be responsible for its safety.”

Qiu Yang’s expression didn’t soften. She didn’t believe Tao Sixian would do as she said. How could Tao Sixian say that now?

In the two years she had Pingzi, Tao Sixian hadn’t spent any effort on the cat. Yet now she was saying these things without batting an eye, as if she wasn’t the one who found it troublesome to cook meat for Pingzi, as if she wasn’t the one who found Pingzi noisy during her heat cycle.

Qiu Yang’s eyelashes trembled. She felt she couldn’t eat this meal anymore, so she lifted her eyelids and looked at Tao Sixian’s face, which still held a deceptive innocence. “I’ll go back and think about it.”

“OK.”

“Is three days enough?”

“A week,” Qiu Yang didn’t agree. Her reply wasn’t a negotiation, but a notification to herself.

Tao Sixian grinned. “Alright.”

“Then I’ll see you next Sunday.”

Qiu Yang: “Okay.”

She responded and stood up, picking up her bag. She looked down at Tao Sixian with lowered lashes. “I’ll head back now. I’ve already paid the bill.”

“Okay, I actually have something else to do temporarily too.”

Tao Sixian also got up after speaking and extended her hand. She looked at Qiu Yang with a smile. “Then I’ll wish us a pleasant cooperation in advance.”

Qiu Yang didn’t shake her hand. She looked into Tao Sixian’s eyes. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Alright then.” Tao Sixian withdrew her hand. She didn’t seem embarrassed and picked up her own bag, then turned and left even faster than Qiu Yang.

Qiu Yang turned her head to look at Shen Ningruo and Yao Yao’s table and saw the two of them walking towards her.

Yao Yao was the first to ask curiously, “How was it? How was it?”

Qiu Yang walked forward slowly, saying, “There was still some useful information. She probably still thinks I’m the way I used to be, so she wasn’t wary of me.”

Shen Ningruo’s hands hung by her sides. Her fingertips rubbed her palm as she said calmly, “So that means she admitted that Qu Yan told her about your illness?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Qu Yan said it.”

Qiu Yang exhaled as she spoke. Even though she knew it was Qu Yan, at the moment of 100% confirmation, she still had many indescribable feelings. After all, Qu Yan was the person she had trusted the most in her four years of working life.

But Qu Yan had deliberately betrayed her information just to become Tao Sixian’s sister-in-law. She could understand it, yet also couldn’t quite understand it.

Three years of love, four years of friendship, were nothing more than this.

Qiu Yang’s mood inevitably became low. Shen Ningruo took her hand and didn’t ask another question. Instead, she looked at Yao Yao. “Tool-person Yao, you can go back now.”

“I don’t have anything else to do. I want to go see Pangpang,” Yao Yao said. “I miss her.”

Shen Ningruo was about to politely refuse, thinking that Qiu Yang wasn’t in a good state right now and perhaps being in a quiet environment would be a better choice. Unexpectedly, Qiu Yang opened her mouth and said, “Then Yao Yao Jie, come with us.”

“Okay!”

Shen Ningruo looked at Qiu Yang and saw Qiu Yang shaking her head, indicating she was fine. She squeezed Qiu Yang’s hand and hummed in response.

Yao Yao had driven herself, so she followed behind Shen Ningruo’s car.

Qiu Yang sat in the passenger seat, rubbing her head. She continued the conversation. “I asked her what would happen if something went wrong with Pingzi and she couldn’t be cured. She didn’t answer, but I know what her answer is. She definitely thinks she can just get another cat, because Pingzi is just an animal she uses to make money. If this one is gone, there will be another.”

Shen Ningruo’s lips pressed down upon hearing this. “If her resolve to make money from animals becomes stronger, even if you don’t agree to cooperate with her, she’ll find someone else, or even ‘endure the humiliation’ herself and raise a cat.”

“Yes, that’s possible.” Qiu Yang nodded. She turned her head to look out the window, her gaze unfocused.

Shen Ningruo’s lips tightened, and she didn’t speak again. When they were almost there, she finally remembered to ask, “Then…”

“Are you going to confront Qu Yan soon?”

“I don’t know.” Qiu Yang smoothed her hair back a little. “I… haven’t prepared myself yet.”

Shen Ningruo licked her lips. “They haven’t made any new moves yet. You still have time to think. Don’t force yourself.”

Qiu Yang understood this, but some things had to be clarified.

For example, why did Qu Yan send flowers to Shen Ningruo? That didn’t seem to have anything to do with the Tao family, did it? Qiu Yang couldn’t figure it out. She wanted to know the answer.

But the process of finding the answer was like walking through thorns; she herself would be covered in wounds.

Ultimately, it was because Qu Yan was a very important person to her, yet she had suffered Qu Yan’s betrayal. Anyone in her position would definitely feel terrible.

The Jie and mentor who had taken such good care of her…

Qiu Yang’s sigh slowly escaped, but the sound was so soft that even Shen Ningruo didn’t notice.

However, Shen Ningruo could guess her dilemma, so that night she did nothing but quietly hold Qiu Yang, giving her a gentle goodnight kiss before sleeping.

The weekend passed like this, but Qiu Yang’s complexion wasn’t good. She had a nightmare during the night.

She dreamed there was a road covered in nails in front of her. She couldn’t retreat, only move forward. She walked with great difficulty, and the pain felt very real.

After waking up, she was in a daze for a few moments, looking at the soles of her feet, before finally going to wash up. To make herself look less haggard, she even put on some foundation to cover it up.

Shen Ningruo walked over and rubbed her head, her eyes filled with worry.

Qiu Yang knew what Shen Ningruo wanted to say, so she smiled first. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“I have to worry.” And there was more than one thing to worry about. Shen Ningruo was also worried that if Wen Yuan came to talk to Qiu Yang directly, Qiu Yang’s state might worsen.

Qiu Yang leaned in and kissed Shen Ningruo’s cheek, then said with a smile, “See you after work, Ruoruo.”

“See you after work.”

Shen Ningruo’s place was much closer to Wanming Company, but Qiu Yang had considered this when she rented her apartment back then. If it weren’t for Tao Sixian, she wouldn’t have rented a place further from work.

Looking back now at the considerations she made while dating Tao Sixian, it all seemed like a joke. This also solidified a fact for Qiu Yang: don’t lose yourself.

Qiu Yang thought a lot on the way. When she arrived downstairs at the company, she happened to see Qu Yan being dropped off for work by her boyfriend.

Qiu Yang didn’t know Tao Sixian’s brother’s name. She glanced at them and continued walking straight ahead.

But after separating from her boyfriend, Qu Yan called out to Qiu Yang. She quickly walked up and walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Qiu Yang, her smile brighter than the sunlight at that moment. “Yangyang, did you have a good weekend?”

“It was alright.” Qiu Yang smiled. “Qu Jie, was that your boyfriend just now?”

“Not yet.”

“Only when we get married.”

Qiu Yang looked at her face, which held a hint of longing, and her mind was filled only with the things Tao Sixian had said.

It was extremely difficult for Qu Yan to achieve what she had today. Qiu Yang knew this.

Qu Yan’s family wasn’t wealthy, and she had started working part-time right after high school graduation, studying and working at the same time. Unlike Qiu Yang, she also had to support her family members, such as her younger brother and her paralyzed mother. So, in terms of working hard, Qu Yan was no less dedicated than Qiu Yang. But Qiu Yang had cut ties with her uncle’s family after high school graduation and spent all her money on herself.

When Qiu Yang first learned about Qu Yan’s family situation, she was actually very shocked, because she couldn’t tell at all that Qu Yan’s family circumstances were like that. And at the time, Qu Yan had talked about these things while drunk, crying as she spoke.

Recalling that scene now, Qiu Yang still felt a sense of melancholy.

“I’ll be waiting to contribute to the wedding gift,” Qiu Yang’s eyes curved slightly. Because there were others waiting for the elevator nearby, she lowered her voice slightly, but her expression was one of sincerity.

“Okay.”

“Thanks for the good wishes.”

When she got to her desk, Qiu Yang received a message from Gu Lan: 【Xiao Qiu Jie! President Wen is at the company today!】

Qiu Yang raised an eyebrow and saw Gu Lan’s next message: 【Sometimes I really wish President Wen would come to the company more often, he’s so handsome.】

Qiu Yang: 【…】

Gu Lan: 【Honestly, Xiao Qiu Jie, I think President Wen is a bit like a gender-bent version of you.】