Ye Linhan was rendered speechless by her sudden outburst.
“Are you regretting it?”
Shen Qi did not answer him, but she continued struggling against him. Unexpectedly, Ye Linhan uttered, “I’m taking you away.”
“What did you say?”
“I’ll take you away from here. We will leave North City and leave all this far behind us.”
Shen Qi was stunned before she asked him incredulously, “Ye Linhan, are you insane? How can you possibly say that? I am your sister-in-law!”
“You are only my sister-in-law by name. Why are you even pretending with me? Do you think that you can use that as an excuse to reject me?” Ye Linhan grabbed onto her wrist tightly while pulling her hand upward and staring steadily at her.
“Do you think that I have no clue about what is happening between you and him? He forced you to sign a contract which dictated that you will have to leave the Ye family on your own accord after six months. Am I right?”
Shen Qi’s eyes opened wide when she heard that because this matter was a secret between Ye Moxuan and herself. Aside from Xiao Su, Ye Moxuan’s aunty, Song An, and Han Xueyou, no one should have known about this.
Then how did he know about this?
“Are you curious why I know about this?” A ruthless gleam flashed across Ye Linhan’s gentle gaze, and he lowered his tone. “Just think about it, and I’m sure you’d figure it out. Why would I know about your divorce? It is obvious that Ye Moxuan doesn’t care about you, and he is in a rush to divorce you.”
“Stop that,” Shen Qi cut him off and bit her lower lip. “Linhan, I told you from the very beginning that even if Moxuan is not in love with me, I will never fall for you anyway. I will return the 300,000 I borrowed from you as soon as I can, and I hope that you will never say such weird things to me ever again. I will pretend as if today never happened. I’m leaving now.”
With that, Shen Qi turned around to leave.
Ye Linhan must have been provoked by something she said, or he had most probably lost his patience. He yanked her back unexpectedly and pressed his large palm against the back of her head before lowering his lips onto her red lips.
When she saw his handsome face swooshing down toward her, Shen Qi panicked straight away. Just as his lips were about to land on hers, she turned her face away, and with that, Ye Linhan’s lips ended up on her cheek.
However, Ye Linhan did not give up; instead, he was even more driven to conquer her due to her actions. He pinched her chin to hold her steady and moved forward to kiss her again.
Shen Qi screamed while trying to avoid him. They were on the main street, and there were many people around them, but no one came forward to help Shen Qi.
After all, the two of them had been standing there and chatting for quite some time before all this unfolded. Furthermore. Ye Linhan was extremely tall and well built, and he looked outstanding with his handsome face; no one would believe that he would force a kiss on a woman.
“Ye Linhan!”
Shen Qi was furious when Ye Linhan kissed the corner of her lips, and she slapped him across his face.
Smack—
She slapped him across his face with all the strength she could muster, and she vented her anger of being kissed forcefully in the middle of the street through this slap. Ye Linhan’s face was slapped to the side with the sudden force, and his face started throbbing in pain immediately.
Soon, a red palm print appeared on his handsome face.
“You actually hit me?” There was a trickle of blood at the corner of Ye Linhan’s lips. His eyes reflected his heartache, and he laughed bitterly at her. “Do you really hate me so much?”
Shen Qi felt sorry for him when she saw the blood at the corner of his lips. Her lips parted, and she finally withdrew her hand.
“It wasn’t on purpose. You crossed a line!”
“Crossed a line?” Ye Linhan chuckled in a gravelly voice. “I treat you sincerely with all my heart, but you treat me like trash. How about Moxuan? He treats you badly, but here you are, giving your heart to him. Qi, are you a fool?”
“It’s none of your business no matter how much of a fool I am!” Shen Qi shoved his hand away. “If you ever do that to me again, I will do worse than this!”
Then, she ran away with her heels clacking behind her, leaving Ye Linhan standing all alone while staring at her back view.
He focused on the figure of her back until he lost sight of her when she turned into another street. He had no idea how long he stood there for, but a young woman stopped beside him at some point while looking at him tentatively. “Are you alright?”
Then, she handed him a piece of tissue while staring at the corner of his lips. “Your lips are still bleeding.”
Ye Linhan hesitated for a while, but he didn’t accept the tissue from the young woman. He reached out and wiped the corner of his mouth with a finger before licking his wound, which tasted metallic and salty.
A trace of bitterness glimmered in his eyes. She looks so weak and frail; who would have figured she packs quite a punch.
“M-Mister… here is a tissue for you!” The young woman plucked up her courage and handed the tissue to Ye Linhan again.
Ye Linhan usually looked gentle, but actually, he had a very cold heart. He glanced at the young woman with a cold and detached gaze. “Thank you, but there’s no need for that.”
The woman blushed furiously, and she was utterly embarrassed after being rejected. She tightened her grip around the tissue paper while stuttering, “S-Sorry, I was just worried about you. I’ll leave now since you don’t need it.”
Ye Linhan ignored her, and he merely shot her a disinterested glance before looking away. Finally, he traced Shen Qi’s footsteps earlier and went after her.
That silly girl might not even be able to get back to the Ye residence. After all, she didn’t look alright today. It’s best that I try and go after her.
The young woman’s eyes brimmed red with tears when she saw him ignoring her. “A-Are you going after her?”
Ye Linhan frowned and came to a stop. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“No, I just wanted to remind you that… she doesn’t seem to like you. If… you go on looking for her, she might hate you.”
Ye Linhan gazed at her with contempt when he heard that, and after a pause, he smirked at her. “Young lady, this is my business. What has it got to do with you?”
That woman didn’t dare to say anything now. She glared at Ye Linhan unhappily before turning around to leave.
Ye Linhan left that spot calmly.
Shen Qi did not return to the Ye residence because she did not want to see Ye Linhan for the time being.
Hence, she went back to her family’s home since she wanted to check how they were doing recently.
Unexpectedly, Mrs. Shen jumped up and hugged Shen Qi immediately the moment she got back. “Qi, you are finally back. I was just thinking of going to you.”
Shen Qi scowled while asking her, “Mom, what’s wrong?”
Mrs. Shen clung onto Shen Qi’s arm while she cried her heart out. “It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault!”
Shen Qi looked toward Mr. Shen, who was nearby. “It’s all her doing!” he exclaimed furiously.
With that, he entered the room without a backward glance. Shen Qi stood rooted to the spot in shock. Things felt tense at home, and her mom was clinging onto her while crying her eyes out. However, Shen Qi had no idea what was going on.
“What happened?”
“Qi, it’s all my fault… Since our family’s financial status wasn’t doing well, I thought that it would be a great idea to partner up with someone else to start a small business. But alas… that so-called partner took all my money and ran away!”
Shen Qi was appalled. “Ran away? How much did you lose?”
Mrs. Shen cried noisily while speaking through sobs. “All the money in our family is gone, and the money I borrowed is all gone as well…”
Shen Qi’s expression soured immediately, but she forced herself to calm down.
“Have you lodged a police report?”
