{She always holds the steering wheel herself. 2}

In Zhao Buhui’s eyes, no matter how much this cold and unfeeling man tried to cover up his flaws with words, it couldn’t hide the truth of his emotional shortcomings.

However, he was also curious whether Shen Qi had ever truly cared about Qian Xu or if he had understood the unique charm that others found hard to resist in her. But Zhao Buhui wasn’t sure if this charm was what specifically attracted Shen Qi to her.

Zhao Buhui always believed things couldn’t be as simple as they appeared.

Given Shen Qi’s emphasis on valuing worth above all else, it wouldn’t be surprising if Shen treated others with the same disregard, even leaving the care of his child to someone else.

Zhao Buhui, being a rule-breaker and rebel, wasn’t someone who easily connected with the elite circles, but Shen Qi was used to such things.

He was contemplating how long Qian Xu might last at Zhao’s company.

Shen Qi had already offered a tempting olive branch. Whether Zhao Buhui would accept it or not depended on whether he had the sense to do so.

Before leaving, Shen Qi didn’t take the contract with him. He placed it prominently under the light on the pool table. “Perhaps when you have time, Mr. Zhao, you could review the terms. Cooperation and mutual benefit are always in our best interests.”

Zhao Buhui couldn’t understand where Shen Qi got the confidence to brazenly place such a small benefit on the table.

As Shen Qi left, Zhao Buhui, in front of him, threw the contract directly into the trash can beneath the ashtray.

He made no attempt to hide his rejection of Shen Qi.

At that moment, Zhao Buhui gazed after Shen Qi’s departing figure, watching as his Bugatti merged into the traffic. To his surprise, he realized that Shen Qi seemed to be heading in the direction where Qian Xu was.

If she finished work at this hour, there was a high chance she would see Shen Qi’s car outside her office.

Zhao Buhui couldn’t figure out how to stop it, so he hurried downstairs, sending a message beforehand. The same person who had just declared he would bully Qian Xu without hesitation decided to actually follow through on it this time:

“Newcomer, work some overtime.”

As if afraid she might refuse, he quickly added, “My dad gave you such a high position. The least you can do is set an example. If you don’t work overtime, that wouldn’t look too good, would it?”

There was a voice inside Zhao Buhui that occasionally surfaced:

“And you’re your father’s biological son. Why don’t you come help out at the company?”

It sounded like something the woman might normally retort with. Xu Qingyan was just about to thank him for helping him win back some dignity earlier when he noticed the strange smile on Zhao Buhui’s face.

But that smile quickly froze.

The woman hadn’t responded as he had anticipated. She didn’t even send a brief reply.

He suspected Qian Xu had already gone downstairs. Time was running out, so he rushed to press the elevator button repeatedly. The receptionist behind him was still reminding him, “Boss, there’s a bottle of chilled whiskey tonight, from the Macallan series you like…”

But his boss seemed not to hear at all.

–

On the other side of Jiangcheng, little Shen Qiyue had spent the entire day thinking about how to explain this misunderstanding to her biological mother.

She hadn’t meant to.

She had simply assumed that her father should find her mother, just like how other children’s fathers did.

Shen Qiyue had never imagined that one day, she would feel guilty about her unintentional mistake. Her biological mother must have been eagerly awaiting the ceremony her father was about to host, but due to his disrupted schedule…

No, perhaps her father really had been planning a special ceremony for her mother.

It must have been the early return of another woman that had disrupted everything.

Her extreme admiration for her father made the young child believe he could never be wrong. If her father made a mistake, it had to be because of someone’s influence.

She didn’t understand what Qian Xu was doing. Wasn’t she the one who, in the U.S., had arrogantly claimed to want nothing to do with them?

So why did she come back early?

It was hard not to suspect that Qian Xu had maintained some private connection with her father.

Otherwise, why would her father be willing to leave his work—the very thing he was so passionate about—and personally go to the airport to pick her up?

And yet, when they went to the airport as a family, they didn’t even get a smile from Qian Xu. Shen Qiyue couldn’t understand why some adults acted this way. They wanted to return in style but still pretended to keep everyone at arm’s length—

Did Qian Xu not know the status her father held in Jiangcheng? If she had returned to the country, wasn’t it to share in the benefits that came with being associated with her father?

Please. To Shen Qiyue, it all seemed so pretentious.

In the end, she finally came up with something to say. She brought her brother, whom she didn’t even respect, along to their mother’s house.