Qiao Zhaoyue hooked her lips into a smile, "President Fu."
Fu Yuxiu raised his eyebrows, "Hmm?"
"Do I look like someone who remains chaste for someone else?"
"Yes," Fu Yuxiu took up his cigarette again, biting it between his lips and squinting his eyes, "I thought you were the kind that someone had slept with and then had to marry to be responsible."
After discovering he had slept with Qiao Zhaoyue, Fu Yuxiu really thought about it for a long time.
Cheng Hui was right, one doesn't eat the grass by their own burrow. If he had any thoughts about Qiao Zhaoyue, the two of them wouldn't still be untouched.
So that morning, Fu Yuxiu looked at Qiao Zhaoyue, who was still unaware in her sleep, and felt a rare sense of trouble. He smoked an entire pack of cigarettes bare-chested on the balcony, contemplating how to resolve the issue.
With money? Inappropriate, considering they grew up together—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he saw her as a little sister. The Fu family had a strict family discipline, marry her? Fu Yuxiu didn't want to feel aggrieved; he felt nothing for Qiao Zhaoyue, despite the pleasure she brought him the previous night that was incomparable to others.
It was only when he felt cold and returned to the room, seeing an empty bed, that he felt a bit surprised. Qiao Zhaoyue had left just like that.
Before she left, she even considerately made the bed for him.
There was no dramatic despair, and no demands for him to take responsibility.
Observing her afterward, he couldn't discern any other emotions on her face; it seemed as if everything that happened that night and the complications the following day were only a dream he had had.
But traces were left behind.
The sheet that carried Qiao Zhaoyue's first time was kept in Fu Yuxiu's house, unknown even to Su Ruoyan.
Latter on, a few more incidents happened by mistake, and it was unclear who initiated them.
Fu Yuxiu's impression of Qiao Zhaoyue henceforth included two more words: easy to bed!
But that was the extent of it.
Not until he heard from Cheng Hui's mouth just now that Qiao Zhaoyue had someone she liked, and from his tone, it sounded as though she had been waiting for that person all these years.
He didn't care who Qiao Zhaoyue was waiting for, but upon regaining his senses, he had already cornered Qiao Zhaoyue here.
Qiao Zhaoyue lived like a robot wound up too tight, revolving around work for years, no, revolving around him, showing no indication that someone was in her heart.
After all, they had slept together before, and that belated sense of possession made him want to know the answer.
"Where is he now? A local or from outside? Do I know him? Has Cheng Hui seen him?"
Seeing that Fu Yuxiu was set on getting to the bottom of it, Qiao Zhaoyue started to fabricate a story, "He's abroad, Cheng Hui hasn't seen him, and you don't know him. He's a playboy abroad, might have slept with many women. As for the first time or anything, it's unnecessary. I'm not like you think, I'm not conservative."
Abroad.
A myriad of names flashed through Fu Yuxiu's mind, all of which he dismissed one by one.
There were only a few people that Qiao Zhaoyue got along well with; he really couldn't figure out who she liked.
Fu Yuxiu snubbed out his cigarette, his gaze slightly heavy, not missing any detail on her face, "All these years without dating, was it because you were waiting for him?"
Qiao Zhaoyue admitted, "Yes."
Fu Yuxiu laughed, his tone as steady as still water, "I can't tell, your view on love is conservative, yet your view on sex is quite open."
Qiao Zhaoyue looked at him with a strange expression, "President Fu, didn't you also enjoy yourself? Is this a post-autumn reckoning?"
"You're overthinking," Fu Yuxiu gave her three words, "I'm worried you'll regret it and cling to me, Yanyan wouldn't be happy."
"President Fu is overconcerned, I'm not that clingy."
Both exchanged barbs, neither willing to back down.
Yet Fu Yuxiu was very irritated.
This irritation was a feeling he hadn't experienced in many years.
He reminded himself in his heart that he shouldn't be interested in Qiao Zhaoyue's affairs.
But when he heard Qiao Zhaoyue say she wasn't the kind to cling desperately,
His inner restlessness seemed to reach a peak in an instant.
Seeing the change in Fu Yuxiu's expression, Qiao Zhaoyue knew that he wasn't as indifferent as he appeared.
She had long known that Fu Yuxiu would not have her in his heart. Hadn't she accepted reality over these many years?
She admitted it, recognizing that she had no chance to be with him in this lifetime.
It wasn't that he was heartless, but rather, the person he wanted to give his heart to was not her.
Qiao Zhaoyue rarely fought for anything.
But in that moment.
When she knew that Fu Yuxiu's grandfather was seriously ill and he needed someone to put on an act to prove his dedication and soothe the old man,
she realized her opportunity had arrived.
Lady Fu would never accept Su Ruoyan, a woman with no background, into the family, and Fu Yuxiu couldn't bear to see Su Ruoyan struggle against their scheming and get hurt.
If achieving the desired outcome meant resorting to certain means, then those means were not underhanded tactics,
but stepping stones to reach her goal.
Qiao Zhaoyue took the initiative, bringing her fallopian tube blockage test report to him.
Fu Yuxiu would agree.
When Lady Fu found out that Fu Yuxiu was about to be engaged to a 'defective' woman who couldn't have children, she came to Qiao Zhaoyue's house and slapped her twice, asking her if she intended to make the Fu Family extinct.
Qiao Zhaoyue staggered from the blows, said nothing, and let Lady Fu vent her anger before leaving.
After the incident, those two slaps led Fu Yuxiu to proactively place an order worth two billion with the Qiao Family.
The Qiao Family was overjoyed. When Qiao Wan heard about her getting slapped, she even remarked that if she had known Lady Fu's slaps were so valuable, she should have let Qiao Zhaoyue get hit a few more times.
Qiao Zhaoyue didn't care if the Qiao Family went bankrupt, but if the family's bankruptcy could clothe her delusional infatuation in a veneer of hypocrisy, then she didn't mind if the Qiao Family temporarily leached off her, draining her blood and flesh.
As a child, people shunned her because of her status; it was Fu Yuxiu who took the initiative to bring her into his circle.
That was the first time she felt kindness.
If it weren't for Fu Yuxiu, her life these years would likely have been much harder.
She had loved Fu Yuxiu hopelessly for over a decade, carefully concealing her true feelings, daring not let him find out.
Only in the very end did she want to fight for herself.
In Fu Yuxiu's eyes, it was a win-win situation. Trouble that could be solved with money wasn't trouble at all—not to mention that after the broken engagement, marrying Su Ruoyan instead would not face the same opposition from the Fu Family as before.
No matter how lacking Su Ruoyan's background was, she was better than marrying a 'hen' that couldn't lay eggs and having it as a mascot at home.
"Axiu!"
Su Ruoyan suddenly appeared, interrupting the ambiguous atmosphere between the two.
With a playful gesture, she wrapped her arm around Fu Yuxiu's and tiptoed to plant a kiss on his face.
After the kiss, she noticed Qiao Zhaoyue as if for the first time and smiled sheepishly at her, "Oh, Sister Zhaoyue, you're here too."
"Don't mind her," Fu Yuxiu said coolly, giving her a glance, and frowned holding Su Ruoyan's hand, "Why are your hands so cold?"
"I forgot my coat in the booth, Axiu, I'm sleepy, let's go back, shall we?" Su Ruoyan stuck out her tongue, "Sister Zhaoyue, sorry for interrupting your party tonight, I apologize. Next time, Axiu and I will both make it up to you."
Her tone grew heavier as she spoke.
Qiao Zhaoyue's smile was devoid of emotion, "No need."
The place was only big enough for the two of them, to say they hadn't seen her would mean it was intentional.
Her gaze shifted to Fu Yuxiu, "Mr. Fu, I have work tomorrow, I'll be going ahead."