Chapter 44: The Submissive, Obsessive Top Student

Gu Chuanjing waited in the Jiang Family’s company for a full three hours, from six in the afternoon until nine at night. Even after the employees had left one after another, the person he was waiting for still hadn’t appeared.

“Isn’t that the CEO of Guangcheng? What brings him here? I saw his interview in a magazine last month. Is there some kind of collaboration?”

As the off-duty employees passed by him, his sharp sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, along with his upright posture and model-like figure, naturally drew extra attention. Quite a few gazes quietly fell on him.

“What collaboration? Don’t talk nonsense. Something just happened—apparently, there’s a quality issue with their products. Our General Manager Jiang has held them up, and now their goods are piling up in the warehouse, unable to ship out. He’s probably here to beg for mercy.”

“Ah?” The young woman who had just been admiring him looked at him in surprise, then quickly averted her gaze, muttering softly, “Who would’ve thought…”

Gu Chuanjing’s back stiffened even more. He had been the golden boy since childhood, showered with endless praise, always sailing through life smoothly. When had he ever endured such gossip?

But he couldn’t leave—not yet, at least. If the entire shipment truly rotted in the warehouse, how would he explain it?

He waited until the sun had set and nearly everyone in the company had left, but Jiang Zhiyi still hadn’t come downstairs. He knew her leg was injured and she couldn’t run far; she must still be upstairs. Yet, despite asking several uncles to put in a word, no one had agreed to see him.

His patience grew thinner by the minute. Just then, his phone rang. Faint sounds of rain and sobbing came from the other end. Jiang Zhiqing’s voice trembled as if she had suffered a great injustice. “Brother Chuanjing, where are you? I’m downstairs at Huiteng Building…”

Before she could finish, Gu Chuanjing couldn’t sit still. His handsome brows furrowed, and he shot up from his seat. “You came to see Jiang Zhiyi today?!”

Jiang Zhiqing was stunned by his shout, tears streaming down her face. Amid the static and crackle, her voice was tentative. “Brother Chuanjing?”

At that moment, the elevator doors opened. The secretary glanced curiously at the young man, whose expression was oddly furious, but her tone remained polite. “President Gu, our General Manager Jiang invites you in.”

A spark lit up in Gu Chuanjing’s irritated eyes. Suppressing his temper, he hastily hung up and hurried into the elevator. “We’ll talk later.”

“Brother Chuanjing—” Jiang Zhiqing stood under the convenience store’s eaves and called out, but all that met her was endless busy tones from the other end.

The pitch-black sky had begun to rain. She had refused Senior Qi Mu’s kind offer and told her mother to return to the hospital to care for her father first. She waited here for her sister to come out, but instead of her sister, she got caught in a downpour.

She had called Gu Chuanjing to come pick her up, never imagining he was just one floor away from her.

Her mind was a chaotic mess. For a moment, she couldn’t figure out if Gu Chuanjing had come to see her sister without telling her, or if he had hung up on her to make her feel worse.

But she snapped out of it in an instant, her eyes suddenly lighting up. Gu Chuanjing had gone to see her sister. Trembling, she dialed back.

She begged him—Brother Chuanjing, take her to see her sister, just once—

In the elevator, his phone kept vibrating. Gu Chuanjing glanced at it twice, frowning irritably, but didn’t answer. He didn’t know what it was about this time, but lately, every call led to hours of crying. This was serious business; he couldn’t afford delays. He had no time to comfort her.

The secretary stared straight ahead, smiling. “Our General Manager Jiang prefers quiet. Why don’t you handle your business first, President Gu, before going in?”

As the elevator ascended floor by floor, Gu Chuanjing’s face darkened. Finally, he powered off his phone. He had some things to show Jiang Zhiyi, and Zhiqing, not knowing any better, kept calling—

She must have come to make a scene today. He had waited this long, even after the elders’ instructions, probably because of her.

With that thought, Gu Chuanjing’s expression grew even darker. He finally dragged that name—pinned at the top for three or four years—into his blacklist.

She could cry and fuss on ordinary days, but not at a time like this.

The secretary dutifully waited until his phone went completely silent before leading him in. Jiang Zhiyi had just flipped through a few pages of the report, but her mind wasn’t on it at all. Every now and then, she wanted to open her computer for a peek.

Hmm, no sign of her.

General Manager Jiang acted like a thief, glancing once before quickly closing the laptop. She secretly thought Qingyi was probably changing inside, then worriedly pondered which outfit she would like.

Her own clothes probably wouldn’t fit well. The white suit jacket—she probably wouldn’t like that. Long pants neither, and the shirt wasn’t refined enough. The more she thought, the more dissatisfied she became.

Finally, in the ten minutes it took to review the report that evening, she splurged a fortune, buying every new item from the brands Shi Qingyi used to like over the past year.

After the purchase, her heart calmed a bit. Soon, she reopened the app. Quantity was covered; now for quality. She scanned through styles at ten lines per glance, comparing them to Shi Qingyi’s figure.

She knew her waist size—from three years ago, when she had stealthily hugged her while she slept. Had she lost weight these three years? She should measure again sometime.

Her thoughts wandered again. Just as her restless hand was about to open the computer, the door was pushed open. The secretary stood at the edge. “General Manager Jiang, President Gu is here.”

Her curled fingers paused, withdrawing with immense restraint.

The glass door swung open, and the man walked in with a weary expression. The person who once scorned her now had to bow his head before her. The Jiang Family patriarch’s lifelong empire of wealth now rested entirely on her shoulders.

So even if she was a cripple with one leg missing, no one dared belittle her.

Her interested gaze fell on the man opposite her. If she wanted, bankrupting Gu Chuanjing would be effortless. Toppling the Gu Family might be harder, but crushing his small company posed no problem.

As for why she let him off the hook?

If he went bankrupt, he’d have no burdens—how satisfying for him? No, she wouldn’t let him bankrupt. She’d keep him dangling by a thread, begging everywhere, bowing and scraping, losing all pride and dignity. Then, in front of Jiang Zhiqing, he’d lose every halo he relied on to survive.

Gu Chuanjing had participated in school debates before, speaking eloquently, appealing to emotion and reason. Anyone else would have been swayed, but not Jiang Zhiyi.

She crossed her hands over her heart, calmly and sharply dissecting every flaw in his logic and every attempt to gloss over details, slamming all his projects into the dust.

After half an hour of talk, it ended with Gu Chuanjing closing his eyes in defeat. The man, who had never tasted failure, pressed his slender fingers to his brow, disgust mingled with anger.

“I don’t think I’ve ever offended General Manager Jiang. Even if it’s because of Zhiqing’s matters, those are private. You shouldn’t bring them into business, right? Win-win cooperation benefits everyone, doesn’t it?”

When not facing certain people, Jiang Zhiyi was as sharp as a hawk or falcon. As if hearing some grand joke, she curled her lips, sweeping him with the gaze one gives a clown, sending chills down his spine.

She leaned forward slightly over the desk, her presence overwhelmingly oppressive. Her voice was icy cold, each word deliberate: “Do you really think I don’t know? Three years ago, it was you who told Song Zhiming, wasn’t it?”

“That I was the one who led the director of instruction there.”

It was like a basin of cold water dumped over his head. Gu Chuanjing’s fists clenched instantly.

Three years ago, on the eve of family reunions with lights aglow everywhere, Song Zhiming had gotten his grades early thanks to his uncle. As expected, his abysmal math scores dashed any hopes of recommendation.

In stark contrast was Jiang Zhiyi’s outstanding performance. And it wasn’t just that—on the day before the winter break and New Year, when he went to beg Deng Sisi for forgiveness and a fresh start, the girl slapped him and walked away without looking back, resolute.

From beginning to end, the girl who had once been infatuated with him said only one thing.

“Song Zhiming, I misjudged you.”

He lost both his future and his love. On the way back, he ran into Gu Chuanjing, that boy from an extraordinary background, holding the phone that had been stolen from him, standing quietly in the dark night, watching him.

He told him one thing, driving him nearly mad in an instant.

How could there be so many coincidences in the world? Someone had to splash water on their heads, and they had to be caught kissing while changing clothes by the director of instruction right then.

There were no such coincidences in the world, but they could be meticulously planned by someone.

For example, Jiang Zhiyi had once stolen the director’s USB drive under the pretext of asking questions, planting it in the classroom, and timed it perfectly for discovery.

She had done extensive research, knowing the director’s teaching habits inside out. She knew the director emphasized reading aloud and only opened the lesson materials midway through class.

She timed it so precisely that, while leaning against Shi Qingyi and playing the pitiful act, she had silently doomed the person.

Song Zhiming, bitter and having drunk a little on New Year’s Eve, had bloodshot eyes. A seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy, provoked with a few words amid the haze of lost love and future, could do anything.

At the time, Gu Chuanjing had only wanted to teach the overreaching Jiang Zhiyi a lesson for using him as a tool. He hadn’t expected Song Zhiming, drunk and crazed, to drive straight into her.

And then—

He abruptly shut his eyes. The woman before him had slightly curved eyes, but poison lurked in their depths. “What? Has Young Master Gu forgotten your wicked deeds so quickly? Song Zhiming spilled everything about you ages ago in prison—”

“Enough!” The man’s face twisted in an instant. He had always been upright and pristine. Before, it was just to vent for Zhiqing, but with this outcome, he couldn’t escape the sin.

If it got out, his image would be utterly ruined—instigating a classmate’s crime, drunk driving homicide—

The young man instinctively reached out. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to strangle this demon whose every word struck at his heart or just push her away. Veins bulged on his hand. Before he could touch her, the door burst open. Outside stood a woman in a white long dress, her face freezing as she stared at his hand.

“Keep your hands clean—”

As the words fell, Jiang Zhiyi toppled over. With one leg amputated, she couldn’t balance at all. Her whole body crashed to the floor with a pained grunt.

Gu Chuanjing’s fingers spasmed, touching only air—he almost doubted his senses.

He clearly hadn’t pushed Jiang Zhiyi at all.