On Monday afternoon, Mu Yichen drove to the studio. He went upstairs amidst the surprised gazes of Xiaomei and her colleagues and entered the room where Qin Mu had slept.
"Quickly call Qinqin."
Xiaomei’s eyes darted around, and she immediately turned to look for her phone.
It seemed that Mu Yichen’s visit to the studio was more exciting to them than receiving a few orders.
However, Qin Mu didn’t have her phone with her at work that day, so Xiaomei instead left her a message on WeChat right away.
Just before closing time, Liu Jingyuan drove to their studio, clutching a light-colored toy bear in the hand behind his back.
He stood not far from the entrance in a light-colored suit, calmly and elegantly surveying the busy people inside.
Xiaomei just finished briefing her colleague when she looked up and saw him standing in the distance. She speculated about the reason for his visit and went up to greet him, "President Liu, long time no see!"
"Hmm! Is Miss Qin here?"
He asked Xiaomei with an elegant smile.
"Qinqin has gone to Paris on a business trip; she won’t be back for a while. Do you have any business, or is there anything I can pass on for you?"
He responded with a smile, then turned to leave but looked back over his shoulder. Before Xiaomei could recover from her surprise, he looked down at the bear in his hand, "This was originally meant for Miss Qin. Please pass it on for me."
Xiaomei foolishly agreed, and after he left, she couldn’t help twitching the corners of her mouth as she looked at the little bear. This man was actually giving such a cute little thing; was he sure it was meant for Qinqin? Why did she feel it was more suitable for Huanhuan?
When she looked up again, he was already getting into his car, ready to leave. Xiaomei felt this man was somewhat like a whiff of wind that comes and goes.
However, when she turned around with the bear in hand, she saw Mu Yichen standing upstairs. She stopped dead in her tracks.
"Was that Liu Jingyuan just now?"
He strolled down the stairs languidly, asking casually.
Mu Yichen, dressed in a dark shirt, walked down the stairs and frowned upon seeing the bear in Xiaomei’s hands, uncertain of what to do with it, "Do you know where this should be disposed of?"
"Uh! I know, I know! I’ll throw it away right now."
Xiaomei felt it was a pity to throw away such a cute bear.
But with Mu Yichen wearing that expression, she really didn’t dare object to his will.
Xiaomei went to the door and threw the bear inside; then he turned around and went back upstairs, continuing to lie on her bed with his eyes closed, resting.
Every time he called to ask when she would return, the answer was always the same, "In a few days."
And so, many "few days" had passed, and he truly wanted to discipline her, to let her know what "a few days" meant. More than ten days is "a dozen days," more than twenty days is "more than twenty days."
And "a few days," is within ten days!
He couldn’t count how many times he had waited for her to return; this time, he wouldn’t go looking for her again.
In the evening, Jing Feng and Qiao Yi invited him for a drink, so he went straight from the studio to the hotel.
After having dinner with the hotel manager on the top floor, he went down around nine o’clock. Jing Feng, Qiao Yi, and Jiang Zhiyuan and Zhao Huai were already waiting for him.
As soon as he entered, he heard the casually dressed Young Master Jiang say, "Right now, we are all still bachelors, but soon, Prosecutor Jing Jian is getting married. Our group of brothers might have one less drinking buddy in the future."
"Even if I don’t get married, I can’t always accompany you for drinks," Jing Feng remarked, holding a glass of wine before taking a sip.
Jiang Zhiyuan dramatically clutched his chest with a wounded expression, "Brother, can’t we be a bit more tactful?"
"Why are you just arriving?" Qiao Yi looked up and greeted Mu Yichen.
Jiang Zhiyuan and Jing Feng also turned to look, then subconsciously raised their hands, "Brother, Prosecutor Jing Jian is bullying me, are you going to stand up for me?"
"I won’t intervene if he’s bullying you!"
"Dammit, then who would you stand up for?"
Jiang Zhiyuan felt wounded by these two men.
"Isn’t that obvious? Naturally, it would be our little sister Xiaomu!" Qiao Yi whispered, giving Jiang Zhiyuan a meaningful glance.
Jiang Zhiyuan nodded in understanding, then chuckled, "Then I dare not compete with little sister Xiaomu."
"But it seems like little sister Xiaomu hasn’t shown up for a while. I heard she moved out of the Mu Family’s house, is that true?"
Jiang Zhiyuan finally found an opportunity to seek confirmation.
However, just after Mu Yichen had just sat down, he heard this and glared at Jiang Zhiyuan, then picked up the untouched bottle of wine next to him and took a swig.
"She’s on a business trip in Paris!"
Then he propped his elbows on his knees, holding the wine bottle, and remarked indifferently.
It was as if they were still together as before, and he was merely informing his friends about her recent whereabouts.
However, everyone looked at him with an expression that seemed as though they were reluctant to hurt him.
Mu Yichen, still wearing the dark shirt from the daytime, slowly leaned back on the sofa, gently swirling the bottle in his hand.
As if he were a lamb to the slaughter, he was indifferent to whatever gazes or emotions people directed at him.
For even he felt pitiful himself.
So he just let them look their fill.
"The other day, Xiaohao and I visited her studio. You two are having a dispute, aren’t you?"
Jing Feng speculated and asked.
Mu Yichen looked at him, and smiled faintly, "Yeah! Don’t we always have disputes?"
"The ring on her finger was missing!"
Jing Feng directly pierced through his pretentious answer.
Suddenly, silence enveloped the surroundings. The men all cautiously watched the expression on Mu Yichen’s face, which indeed turned sour upon hearing that, as if a spring pond had suddenly frozen over.
"Whether you admit it or not, you’ve broken up!"
Jing Feng continued to strike at the very depths of his heart.
Jiang Zhiyuan, Zhao Huai, and Qiao Yi didn’t dare speak, torn between wanting to stop Jing Feng and wanting to watch the drama unfold, yet feeling a war was about to erupt if they didn’t intervene.