Chapter 5: The Farewell Dinner
Friday night, the whole city had sunk into a lazy, languid mood. Jiang Wei had put together a dinner party, planning to celebrate her birthday at a private club, and had invited quite a few friends.
Song Yushu walked into the private room, handed her birthday gift to Jiang Wei, and went to sit beside Li Xinyan.
"Hey, do you think Zhou Yancheng will actually show up tonight?" Li Xinyan leaned close to her ear and whispered.
Song Yushu: "He should. Jiang Wei's got something big planned tonight."
"What big thing? What have you two been scheming behind my back?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
She smiled and took a sip of tea. If she wasn't mistaken, Jiang Wei was going to make a heartfelt confession tonight—all she had to do was clap and cheer.
In the end, Zhou Yancheng did show up—the last to arrive, wearing an icy expression that turned the atmosphere a bit stiff.
"You're late." Jiang Wei scolded him on purpose, but the corners of her mouth kept curving upward.
Zhou Yancheng sat down beside Jiang Wei, his tone cold: "Let's get to the point. I've got another dinner to get to."
The moment those words came out, everyone present was slightly taken aback and couldn't help looking at Jiang Wei.
Jiang Wei cleared her throat awkwardly, fiddling with the teacup in her hands, and slowly began: "There is indeed something I wanted to tell everyone today. Zhou Yancheng and I have been together for four years—it really hasn't been easy. Recently we've had some friction, but I don't think it's anything serious. Tonight, using my birthday dinner as an occasion, I want to apologize to you in front of everyone. You'll forgive me, right?"
When she finished, Zhou Yancheng lifted his gaze and met Jiang Wei's eyes, his expression dark to the extreme.
Publicly guilt-tripping him into getting back together?
Nice move.
Heh...
Sitting across from them, Li Xinyan leaned close to Song Yushu's ear and whispered: "Tsk... my girl really went all out. This is the first time I've ever seen her lower her head on her own initiative."
Song Yushu smiled and said nothing.
Just as she was about to clap and cheer, Zhou Yancheng suddenly stood up, looked down at Jiang Wei, and said coldly: "Come out with me."
Then Zhou Yancheng and Jiang Wei walked out of the private room one after the other.
After they left, everyone in the private room finally let out a breath of relief and started chattering among themselves.
Because the private room was on the first floor, they could see through the floor-to-ceiling window that Zhou Yancheng and Jiang Wei were standing by the fountain talking.
Song Yushu happened to be sitting near the floor-to-ceiling window, so she could clearly see their body language and the shifts in their expressions.
"Jiaojiao, what do you think they're saying?" Li Xinyan stared at the two figures outside the window.
She shook her head: "No idea, but it looks like they're arguing."
All she could see was Zhou Yancheng's tall, cold back, his hands in his suit trouser pockets, staring at the flowing fountain water the whole time—he wouldn't even spare Jiang Wei a proper glance.
-
"Jiang Wei, our cooperation is over."
Zhou Yancheng took out a cigarette, put it between his lips, and lit it with a lighter. The swirling smoke blurred his handsome features and masked the impatience in his eyes.
Holding the cigarette in his mouth, he glanced sideways at Jiang Wei: "You agreed so readily back then, and now you're going back on it."
During the four years Jiang Wei was nominally his girlfriend, he had never once smoked in front of her.
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Jiang Wei's face, her tone full of unwillingness: "Isn't an arranged marriage just like this! Our ending is going to be an arranged marriage anyway—what difference does it make who it's with! I've got four years of foundation with you, can't you just try to fall in love with me!"
Zhou Yancheng walked over to a nearby trash can, stubbed out the cigarette, and tossed it in.
"I tried. Can't fall for you."
His tone was so cold it was like he was talking about someone else's business.
Jiang Wei froze.
Tried? When?
"What about me doesn't satisfy you? Am I not pretty enough? Is it because I have a bad temper? Or do you really have something going on with that female secretary?"
Jiang Wei was starting to doubt her own charm.
Zhou Yancheng turned to look at Jiang Wei: "If this continues, sooner or later I'll end up cheating."
The sound of the fountain's flowing water reached her ears. Jiang Wei's eyes widened in shock, then her gaze dimmed as she lowered her eyes, her face full of disappointment.
-
The people in the private room were running out of patience.
"Where did those two disappear to? Where'd they go?"
Li Xinyan got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking around, but couldn't find either of them.
Everyone at the dinner was stunned—were they just leaving all these people hanging here?
Song Yushu also looked up toward the fountain outside, and couldn't help but frown slightly.
Suddenly, the private room door was pushed open, and Jiang Wei and Zhou Yancheng walked in together, both looking quite calm.
So... they worked it out?
Jiang Wei's eyes were red, as if she had just been crying. She forced a smile: "The two of us have something to announce to everyone—Zhou Yancheng and I have broken up. From now on, we're just friends."
The moment those words were spoken, the friends present exchanged glances with each other, smiling awkwardly, not knowing what to say.
Song Yushu and Li Xinyan also exchanged a look, somewhat unable to make sense of the current situation.
At that moment, Zhou Yancheng's low, cold voice slowly sounded: "Put tonight's expenses on my tab. I'll be leaving first."
After saying that, he looked toward the two sitting in the corner—Song Yushu and Li Xinyan.
"Which of you drove here? Lend me your car."
Tonight's birthday dinner was all Jiang Wei's friends, but the only ones Zhou Yancheng was relatively familiar with were these two close girlfriends.
Li Xinyan laughed awkwardly twice: "I'm going to the airport later to pick up my boyfriend. Jiaojiao, let him drive your car—I'll take you home."
"Oh."
Song Yushu took the car keys out of her bag, stood up, walked over to the man, and handed him the keys.
"I'll return it tomorrow."
She nodded, and Zhou Yancheng took the keys and left.
The moment the private room door closed, everyone finally couldn't hold back and started bombarding Jiang Wei with questions.
...
After that awkward and agonizing birthday dinner ended, the three of them sat in the private room having a private chat.
"So you really broke up this time?"
Li Xinyan had already asked for the twentieth time.
Jiang Wei rolled her eyes in exasperation: "Broken up, broken up, completely broken up. Stop asking, you're driving me crazy!"
"If you want to cry, just cry for a bit."
Song Yushu propped her chin on one hand and gently patted Jiang Wei's head.
"Jiaojiao's still the best to me."
Jiang Wei hugged her coquettishly, leaning on her slender shoulder and sighing: "I've already come to terms with it. Zhou Yancheng and I were never on the same path. If we broke up, we broke up. I'm this pretty and outstanding—you think I'm worried I can't find a man?"
"Exactly! With your face, figure, and family background, what kind of top-tier handsome man couldn't you find?"
Li Xinyan also leaned in and put an arm around Jiang Wei's shoulder: "But Jiaojiao, you really should start dating. You can't waste your prime years like this."
She leaned back against the chair and smiled: "Alright, I'll find a chance to date."
Suddenly, as if something had occurred to Li Xinyan, she picked up her phone and started scrolling through WeChat Moments.
"On my trip abroad this time, I met a supercar designer big shot. I'll introduce you two. Hengxing Group poached him with a huge salary."
Jiang Wei: "Zhou Yancheng's family is getting into car manufacturing?"
"Yeah, they acquired a new energy vehicle factory."
Li Xinyan scrolled for a while and finally found a group photo: "Here, our group photo from that day. This is him. What do you think?"
Following the man Li Xinyan's manicured finger was pointing at, Song Yushu looked carefully for a few seconds and nodded: "He looks good."
"Great, I'll go make the connection for you tomorrow."
Jiang Wei snatched the phone and took a look: "He's got a lot of style about him, but he's older than Jiaojiao, right?"
"Thirty-two. To have that kind of credentials at that age is pretty impressive."
...
The three of them dawdled together for a long while before finally dispersing. Li Xinyan drove Song Yushu to the ground floor of her residential complex.
When she got out of the car, she clearly saw tears glistening in Jiang Wei's eyes. She was probably feeling pretty awful inside—after all, she'd dated Zhou Yancheng for four years.