Chapter 098: So It Was You!

The sharp-faced man’s expression darkened. “I’ve been in this business for years. I’ve seen more stars than I can count, famous and otherwise, and no one has ever dared speak to me like that.”

“What business?” He Yunqing gave a contemptuous laugh. “You really think doing something so disgraceful is worth bragging about?”

With that, he rose and walked out first.

Sister Cai glanced at the sharp-faced man. “I’m sorry, Yunqing has always had this temper. Let me try to talk some sense into him.”

As she spoke, she hurried after He Yunqing.

The sharp-faced man picked up the liquor on the table and took a long swig. “He Yunqing, you refuse a toast only to be handed a punishment. Then don’t blame me for showing you what’s what.”

In the past few days, Jiang Yao had been rushed off her feet.

She held A Qing’s wedding invitation in her hand, looked at it again and again, then waved it in front of He Yunqing. “He Yunqing, are you going to Sister A Qing’s wedding?”

“Well...” He Yunqing adopted a thoughtful expression.

“I know your situation is special, and it might not be convenient for you to show up. That’s all right. I’ll just bring your congratulations to her.”

He Yunqing lifted a hand and flicked Jiang Yao on the forehead. “Of course I’m going. We’ll just keep it low-key. Are you the one handling the wedding planning this time?”

Jiang Yao smiled mysteriously. “The wedding is being arranged by our company, but the planner is one of my colleagues. I’ve got a different assignment this time. I’m going to be Sister A Qing’s bridesmaid.”

It was Jiang Yao’s first time being a bridesmaid.

If this had been in the past, Ye Yiyi would surely have pouted and complained, “Yao, didn’t we agree you’d be my bridesmaid? How can you go be someone else’s first?”

But now...

She had not heard from Ye Yiyi in a very long time.

Jiang Yao gathered herself, letting nothing show on her face. “Come on. I still need to go try on the bridesmaid dress.”

In the blink of an eye, A Qing’s wedding day arrived.

Mr. Zhou had gone to considerable trouble and arranged a grand celebration.

Guests flowed in and out in an endless stream, though most of them were Mr. Zhou’s relatives and friends. By contrast, A Qing had scarcely anyone from her own side.

In the dressing room, Jiang Yao walked in from outside and looked at A Qing’s face in the mirror, unable to help praising her. “Sister A Qing, you’re really beautiful today.”

For some reason, A Qing seemed a little flustered. She hurriedly hid something behind her back, then turned and smiled at Jiang Yao. “I’m already thirty-five. No matter how pretty I am, I can’t compare with those girls in their twenties.”

“Rubbish.” Jiang Yao sat down beside her. “A happy woman is always beautiful. Sister A Qing, are you happy?”

A Qing nodded lightly, smiling with a touch of shyness. “He is very good to me. He is good to the child as well.”

“Oh, right. Where’s Xiaoxiao?” Mentioning the child reminded Jiang Yao of the little blind girl named Xiaoxiao.

“She was saying she was hungry just now, so the nanny took her out to eat.”

“Are you satisfied with the new nanny?”

A Qing nodded. “She’s very capable and thorough.”

The two of them chatted idly for a while, while Jiang Yao’s gaze drifted absently to the invitation in her hand.

“What’s wrong, Yao?” A Qing teased her with a smile. “Do you want to get married too? Hurry up and have your Mr. He propose.”

Jiang Yao shook her head and looked at the two characters on the invitation: Mo Qing. “I was just thinking that you’re a Mo as well.”

“Do you know someone else with that surname?”

Jiang Yao nodded. “For so many years, I’ve been looking for her. It’s just that maybe she never wanted to see me.”

No sooner had she said it than the photographer poked his head in through the door. “Bride, come over for pictures.”

“Coming.” A Qing smiled at Jiang Yao, then stood and went out to take photos.

Jiang Yao’s eyes happened to fall on the chair A Qing had just been sitting on.

On the seat, tucked against the backrest, lay a photograph.

Almost instinctively, Jiang Yao picked it up. At a single glance, her pupils widened.

In the photo were a man and a woman. The woman was naturally A Qing, and the man was... Chen Zui...

It was Chen Zui!!

Only then, many years later, did Jiang Yao once again see something connected to Teacher Chen.

That feeling was so disorienting, it was as if time itself had gone out of alignment and she had suddenly been flung across the years.

She held the photograph silently, her eyes turning red before she even realized it, her body trembling faintly.

A Qing, who had gone out for photos, suddenly remembered the photograph and hurried back. Seeing Jiang Yao holding it, she reached out to snatch it away. “Give it back to me.”

Jiang Yao lifted the photo out of her reach, leaving A Qing grasping at air.

“Yao, give me the photo.” The smile had vanished from A Qing’s face. She asked for it seriously. “That’s mine.”

Jiang Yao swallowed hard and studied Mo Qing’s face closely, murmuring, “So your surname is Mo. It wasn’t a coincidence.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Mo Rongrong. It’s you, isn’t it?” Jiang Yao said each word slowly and distinctly.

Mo Qing’s face instantly turned deathly pale. She stared at Jiang Yao in disbelief. “You... how could you...”

“No wonder every time I saw you, you seemed familiar.” Jiang Yao drew a long breath, her heart awash with bitter, tangled feelings.

She had only seen this face once before, ten years ago, in the photograph Teacher Chen had shown her.

All she had known for ten years was that the person she had been looking for was called Mo Rongrong.

She had never imagined that Mo Rongrong, like her, would change her name and become someone else entirely.

“You...” Mo Qing stared blankly at Jiang Yao, a faint sense of foreboding rising in her heart. “You know me...”

“You should know me too,” Jiang Yao forced herself to calm down. “No, perhaps you’ve never actually seen me. You only heard my name.”

“Jiang Yao?” Mo Qing frowned as she searched her memory.

“Jiang... Xiao... Qing...” Jiang Yao said, one syllable at a time.

The moment the three words left her mouth, Mo Qing’s face was filled with shock. And beneath the shock, fury...

“It was you. It was you all along!” Mo Qing clenched her fists as all the events of ten years ago surged back into her mind.

That year, she had only recently married Chen Zui. Their marriage was at its sweetest.

Then, without warning, rumors began circulating at the school: rumors about Chen Zui and a female student. Those rumors reached her ears.

She refused to believe any of it and went to the school herself to find out the truth. There, she heard a more detailed account from others, and she also learned the girl’s name: Jiang Xiaoqing.

It was a name she would hate for the rest of her life.

When she got home, she drank far too much and, in despair, told Chen Zui to resign from the school and never have any further contact with that female student. If he did, then the two of them could still go on living in their muddled little world.

But Chen Zui stubbornly refused her.

She was so drunk that she no longer remembered what else Chen Zui had said. She only remembered that they had had a terrible fight.

Before dawn the next day, she left with the little luggage she owned.

She left only the wedding ring on the desk...