PSMD – Chapter 139

Qiu Yang arrived in Liucheng around five o’clock and had dinner with the head of the partner company that evening.

This was her first important task since her promotion, and she put a lot of effort into it. After all, she had been somewhat unconfident before, feeling she couldn’t handle it. Now that she was given the opportunity and space, if she didn’t perform well, her newfound determination would likely diminish.

Fortunately, she had learned a lot from Shen Ningruo and was able to handle the traps the other party threw her way, preventing herself from falling into them.

But even just having dinner left Qiu Yang feeling exhausted. When she video-called Shen Ningruo after showering that night, she showed it.

Shen Ningruo held Pingzi, looked at Qiu Yang’s face on the screen, pursed her lips, and asked with concern, “Xiao Yang, do you want to go to sleep now?”

“We’ve only been video-calling for less than five minutes.” Qiu Yang’s eyelids were clearly drooping, but she forced herself to stay awake after hearing Shen Ningruo’s words.

Shen Ningruo gently squeezed Pingzi’s paw and waved it in front of the camera. “It’s okay. If you’re sleepy, you should sleep. Video-calling me isn’t essential. You have to get up early tomorrow for business talks, so you need to sleep well now to be in good spirits.”

Qiu Yang was lying on the bed, propping up her phone with a pack of tissues.

Since the three of them on the business trip each had their own room, there was nothing to worry about. The hem of Qiu Yang’s nightgown had quietly ridden up to her thighs.

“Alright,” Qiu Yang’s eyelashes fluttered again. “I’ll go to sleep when ten minutes are up.”

Shen Ningruo glanced at the time. “Okay.”

Qiu Yang looked at the phone screen. This was the first time she and Shen Ningruo had been apart since they got together, and this video call was their first since they met. It felt very different from being face-to-face. Qiu Yang only felt a warmth in her chest.

It was a good thing this business trip wouldn’t take long.

However, before ten minutes were up, Qiu Yang was so sleepy her eyes completely closed, and she couldn’t continue the conversation. Shen Ningruo watched her sleeping face for a while before softly saying “Goodnight” and ending the video call.

Qiu Yang woke up once in the middle of the night feeling cold. She groggily realized she had fallen asleep without even saying “Goodnight” to Shen Ningruo. But she was too tired, so she just buried her head and went back to sleep, thinking she would make it up to Shen Ningruo when she returned to Yuncheng.

The alarm rang on time, and work proceeded on schedule.

This wasn’t a major project, so the time spent at the conference table wasn’t long, and Qiu Yang felt even less nervous.

At eleven in the morning, the business trip concluded successfully. Since they had to return to Yuncheng to report on their work, the three of them didn’t linger.

They had flown there but took the high-speed train back. After all, the two cities weren’t far apart, and the time spent waiting at the airport could cover a good portion of the train journey.

Just as they were about to arrive in Yuncheng, Qiu Yang received a message from Qi Rong: 【Yangyang, oh my god, that news wasn’t fake after all.】

【What news?】 Qiu Yang replied instantly.

Qi Rong: 【President Wen’s mother really came to the company today!】

Qi Rong: 【So beautiful, so elegant!】

Qi Rong: 【Too bad you weren’t here.】

Qi Rong: 【But Yangyang, I think President Qiu looks quite a bit like you. If I didn’t know you couldn’t be relatives, I’d even suspect you were related by blood.】

Qiu Yang stared at the messages from Qi Rong, her mind going blank for a moment.

One person saying it might be a coincidence, but what about many people?

Moreover, President Wen’s mother also had the surname Qiu.

Qiu Yang didn’t think she was stupid.

She blinked, and her wandering thoughts returned when she heard the announcement that they had arrived in Yuncheng.

A colleague next to her reminded her, “Department Head Qiu, we’ve arrived.”

“Okay.” Qiu Yang smiled, then lowered her head and replied to Qi Rong with a “What a coincidence” before standing up to get her luggage.

But her heart was racing, out of rhythm.

On the way back to the company, the three of them took a taxi. Qiu Yang sat in the back, looking out the window the whole way.

Her emotions were complicated now, her mind felt like a tangled ball of yarn. She didn’t know where the end was or how to untangle it.

The colleague sitting next to her in the back saw her looking unwell and asked with concern, “Department Head Qiu, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, thank you for asking.” Qiu Yang forced another polite smile.

“Okay.”

Qiu Yang gripped her phone tightly. After a while, she messaged Qi Rong again: 【Qiu Jie, has President Qiu left yet?】

【Not yet, she’s in President Wen’s office now.】

【Her presence is really strong.】

Qiu Yang lowered her gaze and typed a reply: 【Okay, then I hope she’s still there when I get back.】

It took half an hour from the high-speed train station to the company, which wasn’t long, and there was no traffic congestion at this time.

Qiu Yang thought the whole way and finally found the end of the yarn in her mind, knowing how to untangle the mess.

Soon, the taxi driver’s voice sounded, “We’re here.”

“Master, could you please open the trunk?” the colleague said.

“Okay.”

Qiu Yang got out of the car and pulled out her luggage.

There was a place to store luggage downstairs in the office building. They all left their things there and would pick them up after work.

The closer they got to Wanming’s floor, the more distracted Qiu Yang became, or rather, she was very nervous now.

But the elevator ride wouldn’t take long.

Gu Lan was the first to see Qiu Yang and smiled, greeting her.

Qiu Yang returned to her desk and sat down. Qi Rong examined her face from the side, then nodded repeatedly. “You really do look alike.”

“Qiu Jie,” Qiu Yang put on her mask. “Are you done with your work?”

“Oh right, I still have some.”

Qiu Yang looked at the documents in front of her, took a deep breath, and then stood up to knock on Duan Qingzhu’s office door.

She needed to report on her work.

Duan Qingzhu was her superior; she couldn’t report directly to Wen Yuan.

Duan Qingzhu’s face remained expressionless, but she didn’t hesitate to praise Qiu Yang for completing the task perfectly this time.

Qiu Yang wasn’t surprised at all. She left the office and returned to her seat, still with some things she couldn’t figure out.

If Wen Yuan’s calling her “Jie” earlier wasn’t a hallucination, then it meant Wen Yuan definitely knew her identity.

Then… what about President Qiu?

Qiu Yang knew deeply that her business trip this time wasn’t actually urgent.

It was only because President Qiu was coming to Wanming, and they found a way to send her away.

Did this mean that President Qiu didn’t want to see her?

Qiu Yang lowered her eyelashes, gathered her courage, and searched for President Qiu’s name online.

She had her mother’s surname, even though she had never seen her mother since she was conscious.

What was her mother’s name? Qiu Yang didn’t know when she was little. It wasn’t until she grew up and heard her aunt refer to her mother as “Jie Yan” that she learned her mother’s full name was Qiu Yan.

Not the “Yan” meaning beautiful, but the “Yan” meaning research.

The search results that popped up clearly showed President Qiu’s name as—Qiu Yan.

Qiu Yang pursed her lips tightly. She had never had the courage to search before, and now that she finally did, she didn’t want to face it. She just stared at the face of Qiu Yan displayed on the phone screen, her eyes feeling warm.

Since Qiu Yan didn’t want to see her, then she wouldn’t push herself onto her.

The moment Shen Ningruo saw Qiu Yang, she sensed something was off. She quickly put her bag aside, her eyes filled with concern. “What’s wrong? Xiao Yang.”

Qiu Yang had already gotten off work and come back earlier. She had fed the cat and tidied up the room. Then Shen Ningruo opened the door.

“Nothing,” Qiu Yang’s lips curved up. “Maybe work was just tiring.”

Something was wrong.

Shen Ningruo keenly picked up on this.

But Qiu Yang didn’t want to talk about it right now, and Shen Ningruo was also certain of this, so she didn’t insist. She took Qiu Yang’s hand, then pulled her into a hug. “Then I’ll give you some energy.”

“Okay.” Qiu Yang rested her head on Shen Ningruo’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

Pingzi hadn’t seen Qiu Yang all day, but it wasn’t a heartless cat; it still remembered its mother. Now seeing the two of them hugging in front of it again, it had nothing to say and quietly went to the cat tree to stay.

However, Qiu Yang was quiet all evening, much more silent than before. Shen Ningruo could vaguely guess why, but she didn’t know whether to ask.

Perhaps letting Qiu Yang remain quiet was the best approach for now.

After the morning meeting, Shen Ningruo went to Qin Yu to inquire about the situation. As soon as she sat down in the chair, Qin Yu got straight to the point: “I didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday, but Xiao Yuan’s mother came to Yuncheng. But she was afraid of scaring your little girlfriend, so she sent her on a business trip in advance.”

Shen Ningruo’s brows furrowed tightly. “Didn’t they consider that my girlfriend might have already guessed?”

Qin Yu was startled by her words. “Oh, right.”

Shen Ningruo: “…”

Shen Ningruo rubbed her forehead. “This is bad.”

Qiu Yang had lacked love since childhood, which developed her sensitive nature. Shen Ningruo was very aware of this, so she tried her best to give Qiu Yang a sense of security and prevent her from overthinking. But she didn’t expect that while she succeeded, others didn’t.

Based on her understanding of Qiu Yang, the low mood yesterday was likely due to feeling that her mother didn’t want to see her.

Qin Yu listened to Shen Ningruo talk about this and also became alarmed. “Then isn’t this a big problem?”

“Yes.” Shen Ningruo was furious herself, but in this matter, she really couldn’t intervene and explain everything to Qiu Yang.

This was the thing Qiu Yang had cared about most since she was a child; Qiu Yang had to experience it all herself.

Qin Yu became anxious. “What should we do? Should I call Xiao Yuan now and tell him about this?”

Shen Ningruo pursed her lips. “Let’s wait a bit.”

Wen Yuan indeed didn’t know about this. He was sitting in his office looking at documents. There were places employees hadn’t noticed, but he could spot where revisions were needed at a glance. He was very strict and demanding at work, but he occasionally got distracted, thinking about his sister, Qiu Yang.

His mother had come somewhat urgently, and he was indeed worried about startling Qiu Yang, which was why he specifically arranged the business trip for her, hoping to stagger their timing.

But to his great surprise, Duan Qingzhu came to see him in the afternoon—

“President Wen.”

“This is Qiu Yang’s resignation letter.”