Qiao Fantian took several big steps forward and grabbed Qianning's hand, dragging her toward the outside.
"Brother! Brother! Let me go! Where are you taking me?" Qianning shouted while dragging her feet.
But the frail Qiao Fantian's strength was still much greater than hers. He dragged her to a small grove a few hundred meters from the house before he finally let go of her.
Qianning clutched her wrist, which he had painfully tugged, and gasped for breath.
Suddenly, Fantian tightly embraced Qianning, his lips searching for hers in the darkness.
Qianning panicked, struggling forcefully, "Brother! Brother! Stop this!"
"Stop what?" his deep and husky voice roared, "You've given your body to another man, can't I even kiss you?"
"Brother, I beg you! I... I had no other choice." If there were any other way, why would she let a man she didn't know at all defile her like that?
"Don't call me brother!" Qiao Fantian's voice grew even louder, "You know very well that I like you, you know very well that we have no relation at all, you know very well we could have married and lived a good life together. Yet you let yourself be defiled by someone else, and have the shamelessness to come back and flaunt it to me? Why? Why when I asked you to elope with me yesterday, did you run back halfway? Why?" His voice was filled with despair, with a cry.
Qianning took the opportunity when he was not paying attention to push him away. She looked at his dejected figure in the darkness and said harshly, "Because I don't want to run away. Dad raised me for seventeen years, it's time I repaid him. That's it! You can say I'm shameless if you want, but soon I'll get the two hundred thousand for Dad's surgery. When Dad recovers and is healthy again, you'll know my choice was the right one." With that, she walked briskly towards the direction of home.
Only a single tear silently slid down her cheek in the darkness.
At A University, Qianning didn't have a single friend. Most of the students there were children from wealthy families who simply looked down on someone like Qiao Qianning, who wore market stall clothes all year round. If it weren't for her excellent grades, she probably wouldn't even have anyone to talk to.
In the lecture hall, two girls in the front row whispered, "Hey, look, the one who just walked into the classroom, I heard she's Beigong Cang's new mistress."
"Really? It must be great to be his mistress. I heard he gives his mistresses a hundred thousand a month just for pocket money."
"Exactly."
Beigong Cang?! A hundred thousand?! Qiao Qianning, sitting behind them, was taken aback and immediately looked up at the girl who had just walked into the classroom. She indeed was a beautiful woman. But... to be his mistress and get a hundred thousand a month, yet she could only get two hundred thousand or four hundred thousand for bearing his child. That... was too unfair.
Her gaze followed the girl until she sat down in another row. The girl had curly eyelashes, clear black and white eyes, attractive lips, a pointed chin, and ... even a fall dress could not conceal her prominent breasts and long legs.
That man... would also embrace her... would also...
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Ugh~ What was she thinking? Why, after what happened last night, did she care so much about the name Beigong Cang? All she had to do was bear his child and then take the money to her adoptive father. After the child was born, she could just act as if nothing had happened. One year! At most a year!
Night slowly descended. The black car stopped again in this dirty alley.
Qianning let out a sigh and walked toward the car. Behind her lurked the gazes of her stepmother and sister, she knew they didn't see the humiliation she was about to endure, but rather the step closer she got to that 200,000.
She got into the car, which slowly pulled out of the alley and then sped toward the commercial district.
This was not the way to the Qiao Family Villa; Qianning knew that. But she was too lazy to ask because she knew that the driver in front would surely take her to that man's side. And after it was all over, he would take her home. It was just that simple.
The commercial district was so bustling, colorful neon lights reflected in the car window. But Qianning was in no mood to admire these sights; although she appeared calm on the outside, her heart was still tense and anxious. She could feel her heart "thumping" wildly and her hands trembling slightly. The pain from her first time had not yet subsided, and now she had to face him again. She closed her eyes in anguish.
The car came to a gentle stop, and the driver in his fifties, Uncle Zhang, turned to Qianning sitting in the back and said, "Miss, the gentleman said you can go straight up to the 29th floor to see him."
Qianning nodded to Uncle Zhang and got out of the car. In front of her was the Beigong Group Office Building, a 33-story structure bathed in colorful neon lights, a landmark of the city. She had only walked past it before, never imagining that one day she'd walk in, into this building.
Qianning stood in front of the entrance, and the sensor glass doors silently slid open. A young man in a security uniform approached her as she entered, politely asking, "Miss, good evening. Can I help you with anything?" It was already past working hours for such a night, yet whoever came to the company at this time, he had to inquire.
"I'm here to see... Mr. Beigong Cang," she felt that was the most appropriate way to put it.
"Please wait a moment," the security guard said as he walked toward the reception desk.
Taking the opportunity, Qianning surveyed the lobby. High ceilings with a few luxurious crystal chandeliers. The waxed floor reflected the splendid light from the chandeliers. In the left corner stood a white piano, on the right were two sets of genuine leather sofas accompanied by magazines for leisure reading.
Working in such a place, the salary must be quite high. Maybe tens of thousands a month, she thought. By comparison, her measly 200,000 seemed like a joke.
"President, there's a lady downstairs looking for you," the security guard reported on the phone at the reception desk.
It wasn't long before he hung up and said to Qianning, "Miss, the President asked you to go straight up. Please take the elevator over there, to the 29th floor."
Qiao Qianning followed the direction the security guard pointed and entered the elevator. Alone in the lift, she took a few deep breaths, trying to appear less nervous.
"Ding," the elevator doors opened, she had reached the 29th floor; it was time to face that man. No matter, it would be just an hour at most, and after one hour, she could leave here.
Qiao Qianning lifted her head and walked towards the only office on the 29th floor that still had its lights on.
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