Volume 1, Chapter 59: She Started It, and She Must Apologize

Jiang Shuwei’s head buzzed as a surge of hot blood rushed to her temples. Jiang Shuwei’s provocative words echoed in her ears, grating against her remaining sanity.

Jiang Shuwei lunged forward abruptly, grabbing Su Mian by the arm.

Su Mian had not expected her to actually retaliate. Letting out a startled shriek, she was yanked forward by Jiang Shuwei and slammed directly against the wall, while a vicious slap came flying toward her.

Su Mian let out a miserable scream as five distinct finger marks instantly appeared on her fair, tender cheek, swelling up rapidly.

"Jiang Shuwei, you crazy woman, how dare you hit me?" Accustomed to being spoiled since childhood, Su Mian had always been a cherished little princess. Having never been slapped in her life, she immediately roared with fury and prepared to fight back.

Jiang Shuwei was taller than her, and having taken the initiative, made it quite difficult for Su Mian to retaliate right away. However, Su Mian was also clever; she immediately targeted Jiang Shuwei’s most vulnerable spot by grabbing a handful of her hair.

The pain forced Jiang Shuwei to take a step back, finally giving Su Mian the opportunity to counterattack. Su Mian immediately reached out, intending to scratch Jiang Shuwei’s face.

Jiang Shuwei twisted her face away to avoid being grabbed, but Su Mian’s nails still caught the tender flesh behind her ear, tearing out two bloody gashes.

Jiang Shuwei also grabbed a handful of Su Mian’s hair and pulled hard, bringing tears of pain right to Su Mian’s eyes.

"Jiang Shuwei, you’ll pay for what you’ve done... Let go!" Su Mian wailed in agony.

Just at that moment, the elevator doors slid open, and He Jingcheng’s figure stepped out.

"What are you two doing?" He Jingcheng demanded in a voice full of fury.

The next second, Xia Chengze had already stepped forward, gripping Jiang Shuwei’s arm to rescue Su Mian from her grasp.

"Jiang Shuwei, get lost." Xia Chengze had feelings for Su Mian, and at that moment, he coldly shoved Jiang Shuwei backward.

Staggering, Jiang Shuwei tumbled back until her spine hit the wall. Seeing He Jingcheng staring at her with a look of anger and disappointment, her expression stiffened, and she instinctively reached up to tidy her hair.

Meanwhile, Su Mian had already broken into sobs, crying like a wronged, red-eyed rabbit.

Compared to Su Mian’s fragile appearance, Jiang Shuwei looked as resilient as a wild weed.

With her hair disheveled and blood still trickling from behind her ear, she stubbornly lifted her chin, breathing heavily as she glared at He Jingcheng.

"She called me a bitch." Jiang Shuwei had a mouth of her own; naturally, she was going to defend herself.

"I was only provoked by you!" Su Mian sobbed, looking at He Jingcheng with tear-filled eyes. "Brother Jingcheng, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. I shouldn't have chosen to hold my grand opening on the exact same day as her. I knew Shuwei would end up holding a grudge against me."

Hearing this, Jiang Shuwei thought it was the height of the victim playing the villain.

"I don't give a damn when you open your business. If you ever dare run your filthy mouth at me again, I'll beat you again." With a cold declaration, Jiang Shuwei tossed her messy, long hair and turned on her heel to leave.

"Su Mian, what's wrong..."

Before Jiang Shuwei had taken more than a few steps, Su Mian was suddenly overcome by dizziness and collapsed straight into Xia Chengze's arms, tear-drops still clinging to her cheeks, looking unspeakably pitiful.

"Jingcheng, Jiang Shuwei went way too far. Look at how badly Su Mian's face is swollen!" Xia Chengze immediately rebuked with furious indignation.

He Jingcheng frowned as he glanced at the departing figure of Jiang Shuwei, then instructed, "Take Su Mian upstairs first and have a doctor come take a look at her."

Xia Chengze immediately bent down and scooped Su Mian up in his arms, and the group hurried into the elevator.

Walking down the deserted corridor, Jiang Shuwei felt a swirl of indescribable emotions in her chest.

She decided to head to the restroom to tidy herself up, but she never expected to run into Qin Weizhou along the way.

Jiang Shuwei panicked and wanted to dodge out of sight, but it was too late.

Qin Weizhou looked at her disheveled state—not only was her hair a mess, but her evening gown was actually torn, exposing a small expanse of skin at her chest, and the zipper in the back appeared to have split open as well.

"How did you manage to get yourself into this state?" Qin Weizhou asked.

Jiang Shuwei offered an embarrassed smile. "Ran into a crazy person just now and had a bit of a brawl."

Taking in her disheveled and wretched appearance, Qin Weizhou promptly slipped off his suit jacket and handed it to her. "Here, borrow this for now."

"Thank you." Jiang Shuwei was profoundly grateful; she really looked quite unsightly at the moment.

Qin Weizhou looked at her again and asked, "Did you lose the fight?"

Jiang Shuwei pressed her lips together and whispered, "I won. The other person is lying down."

Qin Weizhou let out an inexplicable, low chuckle. "Keep the jacket for now. Wash it and return it to me later."

Jiang Shuwei froze for a second. She remembered the last time she borrowed his umbrella, Zhou Zirui had mentioned that anything Qin Weizhou gave away was never taken back—that it was his rule.

What?

Did he actually want this jacket back?

"Alright, thank you, President Qin," Jiang Shuwei nodded.

Qin Weizhou turned back toward the private dining room, while Jiang Shuwei, draped in his suit jacket, headed into the women's restroom.

Turning her head sideways, she saw that the blood from the scratch behind her ear had dried into two dark crusts.

"Hiss..." Jiang Shuwei winced in pain as she brushed the strands of hair stuck to the wound out of the way. She quickly grabbed some paper towels, dampened them with water, and gently wiped away the dried blood around the injury.

Although she had gotten hurt, this fight had managed to release all the pent-up frustration and gloom inside Jiang Shuwei's heart.

She wasn't afraid of any subsequent retaliation from Su Mian either; after all, the Su family still wouldn't dare to provoke the He family.

No matter what, she was still Mrs. He. Even though her husband had appeared earlier and failed to stand by her side, it didn't matter—this wasn't the first time such a situation had happened, after all.

Though Jiang Shuwei tried to comfort herself, hot tears still silently streamed down her face.

Thinking of the disappointment and disgust in He Jingcheng's eyes earlier, Jiang Shuwei felt a genuine, aching agony in her chest.

Not a single word of concern had he offered.

Pulling herself together from the grievance and sorrow, Jiang Shuwei returned to the private room looking as if nothing had happened.

As soon as she walked in, Zhou Zirui raised his brows, a smile stretching across the corners of his mouth. "Well, well, I was just wondering where Young Master Qin's suit jacket went. Turns out it was given to a beauty."

Fei Feiyang was more observant and noticed that something was slightly off about Jiang Shuwei. "Ms. Jiang, did something happen?"

"It's nothing. My newly bought dress just didn't quite fit right and ripped a bit. Fortunately, I had President Qin's suit jacket to cover it up." Jiang Shuwei had no desire to humiliate herself by bringing up the fight.

Qin Weizhou gave her a deep, inscrutable look and picked up the glass of red wine on the table.

With his sharp eyes, however, Zhou Zirui pointed directly at her neck. "Did you... start bleeding right there?"

Jiang Shuwei gave a start. She had already cleaned the wound in the restroom; how was it bleeding again?

She hurriedly smoothed her hair over to cover the wound and said softly, "It's nothing, just a minor scratch."

Qin Weizhou asked, "Where is He Jingcheng?"

Jiang Shuwei answered in a quiet voice, "I don't know."

Zhou Zirui chimed in with a smirk, "Where else could he be? Definitely with that Su lady, obviously."

Jiang Shuwei's expression instantly froze, and the taste lingering in her mouth turned thoroughly bitter.

Qin Weizhou’s gaze lingered on her face for two seconds before he said nothing more.

Inside a presidential suite on the top floor, Su Mian slowly regained consciousness. She had no idea why she had suddenly passed out earlier; all she knew was that after being overwhelmed with anger, a sharp, constricting pain had struck her heart, everything had gone pitch black, and she had lost consciousness.

Su Mian reached out to touch her chest; the pain had subsided by now.

"Sister Su Mian, you're awake!" Lu Youyou was sitting nearby playing on her phone. Seeing Su Mian wake up, she shouted loudly, "Brother He, Sister Su Mian is awake!"

He Jingcheng strode into the room, closely followed by Xia Chengze, Lu Yanzhi, and a doctor who had been summoned to attend to her.

"Su Mian, are you alright?" He Jingcheng asked with concern.

Su Mian’s eyes immediately reddened with grievance as she pressed a hand over her heart. "Just now, Jiang Shuwei kneed me right here. My chest has felt tight and terribly uncomfortable ever since."

Hearing this, Xia Chengze immediately flew into a rage. "Jiang Shuwei is far too vicious! She’s a medical student; she knows all too well how to inflict fatal injuries. Jingcheng, you absolutely cannot shield her this time."

"I won't. She was the one who started it, and I'll make her come over and apologize." Hearing this, He Jingcheng also assumed that Jiang Shuwei must have inflicted some serious injury upon Su Mian.