PSMD – Chapter 69

After Shen Ningruo heard Ke Yezi’s affirmative answer, her lips tightened, and her aura plummeted, making people feel immense pressure.

Ke Yezi glanced at her expression and couldn’t help but soften her breathing considerably.

Having worked under Shen Ningruo for so long, Ke Yezi wasn’t unfamiliar with such scenes, but she felt that something was completely off this time.

Before, Shen Ningruo’s reactions were always due to work matters, but now it was specifically about one person.

Was this friendship?

But even if she hadn’t seen Qiu Yang yesterday, Shen Ningruo wouldn’t be like this, would she?

Ke Yezi fell into deep thought once again as she followed Shen Ningruo into the elevator.

The surrounding staff were mostly silent.

Shen Ningruo’s expression was as usual, showing no difference. She looked calmly ahead, but the grip on her handbag tightened unconsciously, until her fingernails turned white.

Qiu Yang came to the company yesterday afternoon and also encountered the flower delivery.

Shen Ningruo’s brow furrowed when she recalled Ke Yezi saying “distraught.”

It was such a coincidence; Qiu Yang must have seen the flower delivery.

She hadn’t had time to find out who sent the flowers, but it definitely wasn’t Qiu Yang.

She also didn’t know why Qiu Yang came to see her, but it must have been something important.

Connecting this with Qiu Yang messaging her again last night, Shen Ningruo’s gaze sharpened. She should have noticed Qiu Yang’s unusual mood earlier.

Before, even if Qiu Yang was going to sleep early, she would say “goodnight,” but last night she didn’t, only replying with a simple “Okay.”

But she hadn’t noticed. She thought Qiu Yang was just tired and had no energy, which was why she replied like that.

Shen Ningruo’s thoughts were a mess right now.

The elevator reached Qiyao Company’s floor, and the staff exited one after another. Shen Ningruo walked with somewhat heavy steps to the front desk.

The front desk staff stood up and presented a bouquet of flowers to her: “Director Shen, these flowers were delivered last night.”

Shen Ningruo opened her lips: “Thank you.”

She took the bouquet of champagne roses and picked up the pink card on it, flipping it open.

【Missing you.】

The signature was “QY,” the initials of Qiu Yang’s name.

But this couldn’t have been sent by Qiu Yang; someone was impersonating Qiu Yang. Shen Ningruo’s eyes deepened, feeling that this matter had become complicated.

She threw the bouquet into the trash can. The staff who witnessed this were not surprised; this was their director’s usual style.

But the card was clutched in Shen Ningruo’s hand and taken into her office.

The words on the card were written by the flower shop staff on behalf of the sender, making it impossible to identify the person from the handwriting.

There was the flower shop’s name in the upper right corner of the card. After returning to her office, Shen Ningruo searched for the flower shop, then stared at the card while calling the shop.

“Hello, may I please know who placed the order for a bouquet of champagne roses yesterday?”

“I’m sorry, that’s customer privacy.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Shen Ningruo hung up the phone and let out a breath. She put the card aside, opened her WeChat chat history with Qiu Yang, wanting to send something, but her fingertips paused as she typed.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Shen Ningruo composed herself and put her phone aside.

Nothing was resolved yet, and she still didn’t know who sent the flowers. Explaining to Qiu Yang now would be futile.

Especially since Qiu Yang had seen everything with her own eyes.

Qiu Yang herself wouldn’t make a big deal out of this, but she couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged. She tried her best not to overthink, but the fact that Shen Ningruo lied about working overtime was right there. How could she possibly not care?

-You will have a better person who likes and loves you, who won’t deceive or hide things from you, who will be wholeheartedly devoted to you, who will treat you specially, and who will keep you in their heart.

Qiu Yang remembered Shen Ningruo’s words. At that time, who could have known that this better person would be Shen Ningruo herself?

And now, who could have imagined that Shen Ningruo would also deceive and hide things from her?

She thought Shen Ningruo had truly lived up to her words, but it turned out she hadn’t.

Maybe she forgot, Qiu Yang thought.

Gu Lan encountered Qiu Yang in the pantry again. She felt that Qiu Yang’s mood was very off today, especially compared to the past few days, so she asked with concern: “Xiao Qiu Jie, what’s wrong? Are you in a bad mood?”

Qiu Yang pulled at the corners of her lips, glanced at her, and then stared at the coffee in front of her: “No.”

She paused for a moment: “Just some things I can’t figure out.”

“Want to talk about it?” Gu Lan pursed her lips, a little worried. She felt that Qiu Yang looked exactly like she did when she broke up a little over a month ago.

Qiu Yang shook her head and changed the subject: “How did your boyfriend from that night behave in front of your friend?”

“Not great, he was incredibly stingy. I’ve already broken up with him.”

“My friend ordered a drink, over thirty yuan, and he asked my friend to transfer him the money afterwards.”

“I was speechless, seriously. Didn’t you invite us for that meal?”

“He said it exceeded his budget, so he had to get it back. I’ve never been so speechless in my life.”

Qiu Yang also found it ridiculous: “Then it’s good you broke up.”

But she was a little confused: “Didn’t you get to know him well before getting together?”

“No, I saw he was handsome, so it was a flash romance.” Gu Lan shared her thoughts, “Getting to know someone takes a lot of time, because there are too many actors these days. Some people are just really good at acting. You can only tell if they’re genuine or not from many small details. So I might as well get together with them from the start and then look for details. The effect of being an ambiguous interest versus a partner is different.”

It was only after saying this that Gu Lan suddenly sobered up, realizing she had said the wrong thing.

Because she knew that Qiu Yang’s ex had been acting in front of Qiu Yang all along.

“Xiao Qiu Jie, I…” Gu Lan opened her mouth, about to say something else, but was interrupted by Qiu Yang.

Qiu Yang waved her hand at her: “It’s okay, you’re right.”

Qiu Yang’s eyelashes fluttered, and the dimples beside her lips appeared: “Are you free this weekend?”

“Yes.”

“Then come with me to take Pang… Pingzi for a check-up.”

“Great!” Gu Lan’s eyes lit up, “I haven’t seen Pingzi in a long time.”

Qiu Yang was about to leave with her coffee when she happened to run into Peng Kaimiao. He grinned and leaned in: “Xiao Qiu Jie, Gu Xiao Lan, you two are slacking off here again.”

Gu Lan rolled her eyes at him: “Mind your own business?”

“Are you really from Dunhuang?”

“What does that mean?” Peng Kaimiao couldn’t understand.

Gu Lan smiled slightly: “Never mind if you don’t know.”

Gu Lan didn’t like Peng Kaimiao, finding him extremely unstable and childish. They usually ended up arguing whenever they met.

Qiu Yang was used to this and smiled, leaving with her coffee. As soon as she turned around, the smile dropped from her face, leaving only a look of calmness.

Everyone has many sides. Qiu Yang knew where the problem lay; she actually didn’t know Shen Ningruo well enough.

Actually, you don’t need to know everything about someone to be together, but at least it shouldn’t be like her and Shen Ningruo, right?

She thought back carefully. Besides knowing Shen Ningruo’s name, age, and job—basic information—did she know how many relationships Shen Ningruo had before? Did she know what kind of people Shen Ningruo liked before her?

No, she knew nothing.

It was true that Shen Ningruo was caring, gentle, and patient with her, but that wasn’t enough. Before, she didn’t want to ask and didn’t think it was important, but after Shen Ningruo’s deception yesterday afternoon, she suddenly felt that these things were very important.

Moreover, Shen Ningruo knew about her past that caused her nightmares. Did Shen Ningruo have similar experiences?

After figuring all this out, it was already time to get off work, but her tasks for today weren’t finished; she also had to work overtime.

Shen Ningruo did send her messages today. The content was no different from usual, and Qiu Yang replied to every single one, responding normally.

She also pretended that she didn’t know anything and that nothing had happened.

She just refused Shen Ningruo’s plan to come over that night.

Qiu Yang’s reason was simple: 【I have something on tonight.】

Shen Ningruo stared at the line of text and replied with one word: 【Okay.】

She knew Qiu Yang must be thinking a lot, but she couldn’t guess everything.

Shen Ningruo also wanted to go to Qiu Yang immediately and explain everything, but she couldn’t yet.

Before, she could wait for Qiu Yang for so long because of the “easy to fool” incident, but how should she apologize this time?

Should she say, “I don’t know who sent that bouquet, don’t worry about it”?

Should she say, “I didn’t mean to hide the fact that I wasn’t working overtime, don’t worry about it”?

Is that an apology?

That’s just adding fuel to the fire.

Shen Ningruo’s mind struggled fiercely, and finally, she resisted the urge to wait outside Qiu Yang’s door like last time.

Qiu Yang’s “something on” was real. After getting off work and feeding the cat, she had dinner and a walk with Yue Chu.

Miao Yi was binge-watching a drama, and Qiu Yang didn’t want to disturb her. The best person to confide in was Yue Chu.

Yuncheng has a moat that runs through the city, with many sightseeing boats on the river. It was already nighttime, and the boats were brightly lit, with horns sounding repeatedly.

The weather had basically warmed up, and many people were walking along the fence outside the river.

Some couples walked hand in hand, while others chose to walk their pets.

Tree branches swayed in the wind, casting various graceful shapes under the streetlights.

Yue Chu’s schedule was flexible depending on the situation. She wasn’t working tonight, which was why she had time to accompany Qiu Yang.

Someone just walked by with a cat on their back. Yue Chu saw it and chuckled: “I miss Pingzi.”

“Oh, wait, does she only respond to Pangpang now?”

“No.”

“Let’s still call her Pingzi.”

Qiu Yang felt a bit lost now. Why hadn’t she named Pingzi herself back then? Now, no matter which name was used, it made her feel a little down.

Because each name reminded her of a specific person.

Yue Chu tucked her hair back, then pursed her lips before turning to look at Qiu Yang’s face under the streetlight: “Yangyang, you know I want to see you smile the most.”

Qiu Yang forced a smile: “Like this?”

“No.”

“From the bottom of your heart.”

Hearing this, Qiu Yang stopped and walked to the fence to stand.

She pursed her lips and looked at the river surface rippling in the night. Under the lights of the boats, she could see the shimmering waves on the river, like the ripples in her heart.

“I…”

“My ex broke up with me. That’s when I found out she was secretly engaged to someone else and was getting married a week later.”

“Maybe she couldn’t hide it anymore, or perhaps, in the most unlikely scenario, she had a change of heart. She only told me then, and after she got married, she messaged me again, saying she actually loved me. I actually held onto a faint hope, thinking she was telling the truth.”

“But that was impossible.”

Yue Chu stood beside her, her phone in her bag vibrating several times, mostly messages from Yao Yao, but she didn’t have time to reply now.

Qiu Yang hadn’t really told her these details before. Now, hearing Qiu Yang talk about this failed relationship, Yue Chu could only sigh softly.

“So, I dislike it the most when someone I care about deceives me, but then there’s this one person, and she did just that.” Qiu Yang’s thoughts finally drifted further, “I’m falling into deep self-doubt, wondering if…”

“…if maybe I don’t deserve to be treated wholeheartedly?”

“That’s not true, Yangyang.” Yue Chu became a little anxious.

“My uncle and aunt always told me since I was little that I didn’t deserve good things.”

“I didn’t believe it before. I studied hard, I worked part-time to earn my tuition and living expenses. I finally broke free from them and lived a good life.”

“But it turns out, what they said was true.”

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