Chapter 24.2

Qiao Wenxing followed Bai Yue away from the city where he had been born and raised, leaving behind his father’s territory, and went to a strange place.

After staying in a hotel for a few days, he rented an unsatisfactory apartment. Though he wasn’t pleased with it, his funds were now limited, earmarked to start a business and as seed money for making more. He could only put aside the idea of buying a house for the time being. It wasn’t easy to start from scratch in a completely unfamiliar city, and in order to save, he had to perform many trivial duties himself.

Upon leaving his familiar environment, he had come to realize that getting things done had become far more difficult.

The first place Qiao Wenxing had stumbled was when he had rented an office. After signing the contract and putting down a deposit, he had encountered many problems upon moving in. Back in D City, no middle-man would have dared to take advantage of him so, for fear of the repercussions. But here, he was unknown. Arguing and coordinating were both useless. He could only suck it up and take the loss.

When his company had finally limped it’s way along to being established, Bai Yue had remained as his secretary. Just like she had in D City, she served him tea in a caring and attentive manner. However, when it came to work, she wasn’t much help – she wasn’t a professional businesswoman with great talent. She even made a few mistakes, causing him a little trouble.

Qiao Wenxing had no choice but to hire a careful, capable girl and to give her the title of “assistant”. In actuality, she took over Bai Yue’s work altogether.

Trying to run a startup in a new city, with no contacts to fall back on, Qiao Wenxing went through an uncomfortable, unforgettable period of adaptation.

No one here knew him, and the title of ‘Heir to the Qiao Family’ had no no effect here. He had to learn how to bow to another, how to compliment, to be polite, and even how to flatter.

All of this made him uncomfortable. But he had left D City and Father Qiao’s control to prove himself. He was now responsible for both himself and Bai Yue, and to provide her with a satisfactory future.

Slowly, Qiao Wenxing began to realize that he was not as good as he used to think. He had once been touted as an ‘elite youth’ and ‘the future of business’, but it was all nonsense. He began to feel regret, but he had now come this far. Running back to D City with his tail between his legs was no longer an option. He had to make some achievements here before he could go home.

The news of Han Yanyan’s engagement to Qiao Chengyu became known to Qiao Wenxing and Bai Yue almost at the same time. Their friends in D City were eager to pass on news of Han Yanyan. These so-called friends, unafraid of heights because they themselves were not on the stage, thought only of how there was too little gossip going around and every one of them hoped to stir up a storm.

“Oh my God Yue Yue, I’m telling you, Eldest Miss Han’s engagement ceremony was jusr sooo amazing!” her former coworker told Bai Yue excitedly.

“Did you go?” Bai Yue asked.

“I’m hardly eligible!” said her ex-coworker. “Mr. Liang went, though, and he took photos for the group. I’ll send them to you later. Oh my God seriously, it was like a dream ~”

“Well, Wenxing did break up with her,” Bai Yue said, feigning light-heartedness. “She must have suffered so much! The Qiao Family must have wanted to make it up to her with this engagement party, or it would just have been too sad.”

Her coworker choked, not knowing what to say.

Eldest Miss Han lived a life that they couldn’t even dream about. The engagement ring on her hand was as big as a pigeon egg, and her engagement ceremony had been incredibly luxurious and utterly romantic. The number of guests who had attended were as many as the clouds in the sky, and all of them prominent and important figures. A great many celebrities had boasted of being invited. Though her coworker racked her brains, she couldn’t think of anything to pity.

She could only change the subject. “What about you? How are you doing now? When will you and Chief Qiao get married?”

Bai Yue at once said happily and sweetly, “Oh, we’re in no hurry. I’m only twenty-two, and Wenxing has only just become independent. He wants to concentrate on his business right now, so all I want to do is to help him out. We can talk about getting married later.”

Though Bai Yue was unaware of this, on the other side of the phone, her coworker’s lips were pursed. In their former General Office, Bai Yue had had the most ordinary education and the least workload, yet she had always been the slowest and most inefficient. However, everyone knew that she was Qiao Wenxing’s little junior for whom exceptions should be made, and that Young Master Qiao gave her special treatment. So everyone tacitly turned a blind eye. Not only did they go out of their way to help out Bai Yue at work, but they complimented her from time to time.

It seemed that she hadn’t yet figured this out. Did she really think that she was that great woman standing behind a great man?

The call ended, and Bai Yue leafed through the photos her colleague had sent. Though it was just an engagement ceremony, it was far bigger than she could imagine. The more she looked, the wider her eyes became.

Eventually, she couldn’t help herself and showed the photos to Qiao Wenxing, but all he said was “I see.”

“We’ve hurt her,” Bai Yue sighed. “I hope she’ll be happy.”

Qiao Wenxing put his arm around her shoulders and smiled. “Don’t worry about her. No matter who she’s with, she’ll be fine.”

“That’s good, then I won’t feel so guilty,” Bai Yue said on a sigh of relief. She browsed through the photos again. “How grand! It must have cost at least 200,000 to hold such a ceremony.”

“No way!” Amused, Qiao Wenxing burst into laughter. “Her dress alone cost more than that.”

All of a sudden, Bai Yue felt a little suffocated.

She realized that until now, she had had nothing.

Qiao Wenxing had used give her a few gifts, all of them luxuries she couldn’t afford. She had thought they were all incredibly lavish, but now she was finding out that “expensive” was a very subjective word. What was extravagant to her was not necessarily expensive to another.

At the very least, it was certainly not expensive to Han Yanyan.

She stared at the pictures, especially at the ring the size of a pigeon egg on Han Yanyan’s finger. Finally, she couldn’t help but quietly look into the price of the ring on the Internet.

The long string of numbers once again suffocated Bai Yue.