Chapter 70: STOP CLINGING TO HIM LIKE A BROKE BITCH

The TongShu team packed up with the warm efficiency of people who had gotten what they came for and were pleased about it.

Handshakes, business cards, promises of follow up emails, the standard closing choreography of a successful meeting.

When they were gone Guiying sat back in his chair and looked at the menu.

He had left the house without eating.

The morning had been too rushed, between the bath and the makeup and the outfit and Moying and the driver situation, breakfast had simply not happened.

Now that the meeting was done and the adrenaline of it had settled he could feel the absence of food with some conviction.

He flagged a server.

"Congee with a century egg.." he said. "And a pot of jasmine tea."

The server noted it and left.

Guiying took out his phone and checked his messages.

A confirmation email from TongShu already, which was fast, the kind of fast that said they had been hoping for this outcome and were not wasting time now that they had it.

A message from Shen Mingzhu asking if he was free for lunch on Sunday.

And a notification from his investment app that one of his startup holdings had moved.

He was reading through the investment update when the chair across from him was pulled out.

He looked up and saw Quinn sitting down.

His two companions arranged themselves at the adjacent table with the practiced ease of people who had done this kind of thing before, close enough to be present, far enough to look incidental.

Quinn smiled.

It was the same smile from the gala. The one that did not reach anything.

"I hope I’m not interrupting?" he asked.

"You are," Guiying said pleasantly.

Quinn’s smile did not waver. "I’ll be brief then." He folded his hands on the table. "I’ve been trying to understand you, Tang XiaoYu. Where you came from. What you want." He tilted his head. "You appeared out of nowhere and suddenly you’re on every news channel in the country just because you got a little chummy with Liuxian."

-_-

"People meet people," Guiying said. "It happens."

"It does, doesn’t it?" Quinn agreed.

"Although some people engineer those meetings more deliberately than others."

Guiying looked at him with a slight frown.

"I’m not sure what you’re implying," he said.

"I’m not implying anything," Quinn said, with the careful pleasantness of someone implying several things. "I’m simply observing that Liuxian is a very private man and you appeared in his life very suddenly and now you’re signing brand deals with startup companies.." He paused. "It’s an interesting position to be in."

Guiying set his phone down.

"Is it?" he asked and reached for the pot, during a cup of jasmine tea for himself.

"He’s generous," Quinn continued. "That’s always been true. He takes an interest in people and he’s generous with that interest." The smile shifted slightly, almost imperceptibly, into something with more edge. "But his interest doesn’t last. It never has. The people who mistake it for something permanent tend to find that out in ways that aren’t particularly kind."

He was looking at Guiying with the expression of someone delivering a warning out of concern and meaning none of it.

Guiying looked back at him.

He thought about several things he could say. Things about what he knew of Liuxian that Quinn clearly did not.

He could not say most of them.

Not here.

Not as Tang XiaoYu.

Not without revealing things that were not yet his to reveal.

But he was not going to sit here and absorb this quietly either.

"Thank you for the concern," Guiying said.

His voice was even and his expression was pleasant and his eyes were doing none of the things his voice and expression were doing.

"It’s very kind of you to take time out of your morning to share it."

Quinn looked at him.

"I mean it genuinely," Quinn said.

"I’m sure you do," Guiying said, sipping his tea lightly.

Quinn’s expression darkened a bit, and that was when Guiying saw the wolf underneath its sheep clothing.

"Liuxian is mine, he’ll always be mine. So I suggest stop clinging to him like a broke bitch.."

Guiying scoffed, being called broke he could accept that but being called a bitch? Never.

"Quinn, do you know the difference between you and I?" He leaned back and dropped the cup.

"C’mon, ask me why.."

-_-

Quinn’s lips twitched at Guiying’s audacity.

"Alright, why?"

Guiying smiled, his fingers tapping the table gently.

"Liuxian begs for my attention, he’s even happy to get a little kiss on the cheek. Do you seriously think you can use Liuxian’s favoritability against me? He’d kiss my feet or even lick it if I ask him to. The one who’s clinging to him like a little bitch is you."

He stood up, grabbed his bag and walked over to Quinn’s side.

"I accept being broke, but a bitch? That’s you baby, you can smell his pheromones all over me, that’s how much he likes me. Now this is the last time I’m going to have a conversation with you, if you talk to me anywhere after this, I’ll ignore you. So if you value your little pride and dignity, I suggest you stay the fuck away from me."

He patted Quinn’s shoulder then left.

In the car park he found his car where he had left it, got in, and sat for a moment.

He pulled out his phone and typed a message to Liuxian.

Guiying: Your ex said hello.

He started the engine. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The reply came before he had pulled out of the parking space.

Liuxian: Where are you? Done with the meeting?

Guiying: Leaving Rhode Island Hotel. I’m fine.

He had gotten into the road when he received a reply from Liuxian.

Liuxian: Baby do you want to come to the office? Have the driver drive you here, you can pass time here for a while.

Guiying thought about it for a second then searched for Liu Corporations on the Maps.

He would go, they needed to talk about that driver anyways.

And this time he was going to choose a new Omega driver.