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The champagne was clear and glittering, and extremely beautiful. It reflected against Lin Xiang’s exquisite eyes, making them appear pure and honest.
Fair and slender fingers handed the glass to Qu Lang, but Qu Lang didn’t take it. Instead, he gazed indifferently at him.
Qu Lang looked at him for too long, causing the atmosphere between the three to become a little strange.
Lin Xiang tried to come closer, but Qu Lang’s eyes were too cold, causing the initially confident Lin Xiang to feel a hint of fluster.
He held the glass stubbornly, wanting to step closer, but was afraid to under Qu Lang’s sharp gaze.
Looking at Lin Xiang’s outstretched hand, Lu Chen found him a little pitiful, hence he reached out for the champagne instead. “Xiang-xiang, you must’ve travelled a long way to get here. How about I bring you to the lounge so you can have a rest?”
Lin Xiang’s energy seemed to have been completely drained. He gave up on trying to drink with Qu Lang; hence, he pulled up a smile and handed the champagne to Lu Chen. Instead of following Lu Chen, however, he took the initiative to come closer to Qu Lang.
“A-lang, let’s talk, okay?”

..
Shen Mingbei explored the desserts section – he just wanted something to eat! Suddenly, a person came by.
Shen Mingbei gave him one glance before recognising him as Hua Shu, one of Qu Lang’s distant relatives.
In order to integrate himself into Qu Lang’s life, Shen Mingbei had done his homework and memorised every single person from the large Qu household; unfortunately, it never came to use. The only other Qu member he’d see regularly was Mother Qu.
Hua Shu held a small cake and lifted his chin in an attempt to arrogantly look down at Shen Mingbei.
But he truly wasn’t tall enough. In front of Shen Mingbei, no matter what he did, his imposing aura would always be reduced by half; however, he felt no disgrace by this. He proudly said to Shen Mingbei, “Brother Xiang-xiang’s back. Your good days are over.”
Seeing how Shen Mingbei didn’t respond, he felt a little oppressed. He followed Shen Mingbei’s line of sight and, after realising what he was looking at, took away the entire plate of almond tofu and ‘hmph’ed at Shen Mingbei.
“A person like you is just a waste compared to the status you’ve been occupying. You should give up your seat as soon as possible and return it to Brother Xiang-xiang! Why don’t you take a look at yourself in the mirr-” Hua Shu looked at Shen Mingbei, wanting to tell him to mind his own appearance, but once the words arrived at his lips, he found himself unable to speak.
Shen Mingbei had fair skin and a pair of almond eyes that were both big and round. When he was calm, they were filled with innocence; even when cross, deep affection would seep through. His soft and short hair was well-groomed and he was clearly wearing a suit with his back kept straight, yet his natural and unrestrained flair wasn’t the slightest diminished.
He was just standing there and smiling politely at Hua Shu, but Hua Shu felt himself slipping away.
Hua Shu initially came to spite him. In the end, he ran away.
Shen Mingbei didn’t take it to heart.
Giving up on the almond tofu and large plates of high-calorie foods, he could only grab some vegetable salad from the corner, not even daring to squeeze out too much dressing. Then, he found a seat and sat down to start eating.
The feeling of eating grass was truly horrendous. Shen Mingbei’s expression looked a bit ugly.
Qu Lang, who came back from the balcony, happened to see Shen Mingbei’s expression, which looked as if he was facing an enemy who killed his family. Thinking back to Fu Li’s words, the corners of his lips couldn’t help but curl up in a smile.
Fu Li said, “Shen Mingbei likes you this much. If he sees you with Lin Xiang, he’d definitely feel angry and make a fuss. Once that happens, it won’t look good.”
Qu Lang didn’t continue walking towards Shen Mingbei. He sipped his wine and recalled an event from five years ago.
On that day, he was dragged to a big drinking party hosted by the entertainment circle. There, he caught sight of Shen Mingbei. Among the crowd, Shen Mingbei was so beautiful he seemed to be shining like a pearl. Qu Lang’s eyes couldn’t leave him.
He happened to see some people trying to drag Shen Mingbei away at the corner of the party in an attempt to get him to drink. At that time, his brain must’ve been wired incorrectly, but he immediately dragged him away.
Perhaps these two did have some wonderful memories together.
Qu Lang was very clear about how much Shen Mingbei loved him. He was always flirting with him, like a little succubus.
Just then, Lin Xiang asked him if it was because of Shen Mingbei that he didn’t receive an invitation.
Qu Lang didn’t hesitate in replying, “No.”
Nobody knew better than himself. He simply didn’t like Lin Xiang anymore.
He’d long lost the ability to love someone.
Qu Lang could recognise that his feelings towards Lin Xiang and Shen Mingbei were different.
That meant he probably didn’t like Shen Mingbei.
The reason why he found Shen Mingbei pretty was most likely because he had an appreciation for beautiful things.
He wanted to drag him into mortal filth, to possessively mark him with his own scent, and to make a despicable, yet futile, attempt to destroy his beauty.
While Qu Lang made a self-analysis of his feelings, Lu Chen silently came to his side. Taking note of Qu Lang’s seemingly-bad mood, he handed glass after glass of wine to him.
Lin Xiang walked to and arrived at Shen Mingbei’s side. He was very content that Shen Mingbei was sitting – the height difference between the two caused pain nothing in this lifetime could match! Thinking how he was about to steal away everything from Shen Mingbei, he smiled and knowingly asked, “Why are you alone?”
Shen Mingbei glanced at him indifferently before turning around and moving a little, wanting to create some distance from Lin Xiang.
Lin Xiang didn’t find it embarrassing. He continued to talk to himself, “It’s time to start seizing what you have left. Once it becomes mine, you won’t even have time to regret it.”
Once again, Shen Mingbei ignored him.
Lin Xiang placed his phone on the table. “I will take back everything your Shen Family took away from my family!”
Shen Mingbei jabbed his fork into a vegetable leaf before putting down his plate and standing up. “The Shen Family doesn’t owe you anything. As for
 If you want it, then take it away.”
Lin Xiang had deliberately shoved his phone before his eyes

To show him it was the same model as Qu Lang’s new phone.
It was most likely to demonstrate how good his relationship with Qu Lang was. Unfortunately, Shen Mingbei wasn’t curious about the development of their relationship – he even wished he could fast-forward to the grand finale so he could smoothly take a curtain call and then leave.
He couldn’t decide when the cannon fodder can go offline; however, he can still decide whether to leave or not at this sort of wine reception.
Hence, Shen Mingbei left. He left this suffocating party without even looking back. After he found the Qu Family’s car and got on, the driver asked, “Aren’t we waiting for President Qu?”
Shen Mingbei: “He’s not coming back.”
The driver nodded in understanding.
President Qu had someone else in his heart, so he was probably planning on spending tonight with them. Everyone understood this.
The driver found it pitiful. Even the beautiful Mr Shen couldn’t keep his own man

The driver sent Shen Mingbei back to Qingtan Bay. Hazy moonlight shone through the night. It was late, but Shen Mingbei sat in the car for a long time instead of getting off.
Suddenly, Shen Mingbei said, “You should go back and rest. I want to drive somewhere.”
The driver knew Shen Mingbei had a driver’s licence. Although he’d crashed a car not so long ago, his driving was still okay. After a few words of repeated advice, he assuredly handed the keys to him.
Shen Mingbei suddenly wanted to drive to the sea. If he left now for the beach, he should be able to catch the sunrise


..
Today, two trending searches were added to Weibo.
#Lin Xiang appearing at the Qu’s party#
#Shen Mingbei crashing his car into the ocean#
It looked scary online, but Shen Mingbei was okay – the car, however, was flooded.
Shen Mingbei had driven for four or five hours, so once the fatigued Shen arrived at the beach, he didn’t realise the change in the road. The car just so happened to be an off-road four-wheeler, so it could drive across even sand.
Once the car braked into the water and he discovered the tyres were stuck, the seawater had just submerged the wheels.
Shen Mingbei suddenly recovered his senses and abandoned the car for shore.
He watched the sunrise with the towing and insurance companies’ staff, allowing him to be somewhat less lonely.
A few hours after the trending searches popped up, Shen Mingbei received Fu Li’s phone call.
Fu Li was extremely concerned for him. He directly said to Shen Mingbei, “Lin Xiang only hugged Qu Lang. Nothing happened between them. It shouldn’t be enough for you to commit suicide.”
Shen Mingbei: “Ah?”
Perhaps Shen Mingbei’s tone was too strange, hence Fu Li hesitated a little before speaking the truth, “To be honest, I wasn’t there to see it either; I heard it from Old Lu. No matter what happened between Qu Lang and Lin Xiang, the two of you can just break up and divorce. This is not worth sacrificing your life over. A life is invaluable, hence one must live for oneself! Other than relationships, there are many other things worth cherishing.
“I am a doctor. Although my specialty is preclinical, my second minor was psychology. Once you’re free, come to the hospital and I’ll give you an examination. If you have clinical depression, you must take medicine – it isn’t something to joke about.”
Shen Mingbei explained to Fu Li that this was truly just an accident, not a suicide attempt, and that he didn’t have clinical depression.
""
Fu Li didn’t believe him and insisted on an examination.
“Nowadays, many people have psychological problems. Hiding your sickness for fear of treatment isn’t okay. Once you start treating it, it’ll definitely be cured!
“If you don’t trust me, I’ll introduce you to a professional psychiatrist!”
Not only did Fu Li not believe him – even those who knew the relationship between the three didn’t believe him.
Especially the driver. When facing Shen Mingbei, his face was covered in guilt.
“I should’ve realised Mr Shen wasn’t in a normal state of mind – it’s all my fault! Thank God nothing bad happened to you, Mr Shen, otherwise, I
”
Shen Mingbei’s explanations had no effect. If he truly wanted to die, they’d be holding a funeral banquet for him by now.
There was almost no reaction from Qu Lang in regard to this matter, not even a word of comfort.
Shen Mingbei thought about it for a moment and concluded that he probably couldn’t bring up the effort to care about him after having such a merry drink with Lin Xiang the previous night.
The good news was that Cai Feng told Shen Mingbei he could come back for work.
Shen Mingbei asked him about the photoshoot project, and Cai Feng replied, “Yesterday, Lin Xiang and his team released three sets of nine Hanfu photographs, which is in conflict with our plans. Let’s talk about this next time we find a more suitable opportunity.”
Shen Mingbei suddenly realised that the reason he became suspended was that someone was afraid of him stealing Lin Xiang’s spotlight.
""
If he just told him, he would’ve discontinued the photoshoot.
Shen Mingbei pondered over it – perhaps he was suspended so Qu Lang could appear more ‘President Qu’?
No matter – Shen Mingbei still cherished this opportunity to get back to work. He wished he could just stay at the company every day and be titled a ‘model worker’.
Qu Lang, too, let out a small sigh of relief. After knowing that Shen Mingbei ‘crashed into the sea’, he was terrified.
It was just encountering his ex, did he have to be so petty?