“Miss Rong — please help me!”

Seeing that Shen Yi remained unmoved, Meng Yuxin turned to Rong Qian and sank to her knees before her. Rong Qian reacted in alarm, immediately reaching to pull her up.

But Meng Yuxin refused to rise. “Shen Yi cares so deeply for you — if you speak, he will listen. Please — please help me persuade him.”

Rong Qian glanced at Shen Yi. His expression was dark, his dissatisfaction with this gesture evident.

“Get up. Don’t pressure her.” Shen Yi’s voice was cold as he gave the command.

But Meng Yuxin had calculated that Rong Qian was Shen Yi’s one weakness. She clutched at Rong Qian’s arm as though grasping a lifeline. “Miss Rong — you’re a kind-hearted person. You wouldn’t stand by and do nothing, would you? I beg you —”

“Who said I was kind-hearted?”

Rong Qian cut her off, her voice dropping low.

Meng Yuxin froze. What did that mean?

Rong Qian released her arm, walked to the desk, pulled open the drawer, and tossed the packet directly at Meng Yuxin. Meng Yuxin fumbled to catch it — and when she saw what it was, the color drained from her face.

“Your son had someone bring this to my Shen Yi.” Rong Qian crouched down to eye level with her, holding her gaze without blinking. “Do you understand what that means, Madam Meng?”

Meng Yuxin’s hands trembled. She hurriedly concealed the packet, her eyes darting anxiously around the room. “He — he promised me he would stop. I don’t know why he would send this to Shen Yi…”

“That’s all right — I’ll tell you.” Rong Qian rose, crossed her arms, and spoke with complete composure. “For a situation like your son’s, my Shen Yi can’t help. But I have a better suggestion — a rehabilitation center, for instance.”

Meng Yuxin’s expression crumbled. “No — he can’t go to a place like that!”

“That’s fine too. Prison is even more convenient. Don’t you think?”

By the end of it, Rong Qian’s eyes had gone cold.

Meng Yuxin had come to ask Rong Qian to intercede with Shen Yi — not to have her pour salt in the wound. Watching this woman prove so utterly unmovable, Meng Yuxin’s wounded pride ignited into rage. “You — you shameless woman! Have you no conscience at all!”

“Meng Yuxin.”

Shen Yi spoke her name in full. No raised voice. No outburst. But a single look from him was enough to make Meng Yuxin feel fear.

And so Meng Yuxin was shown out of the office.

Even after being dismissed, she made one last desperate attempt — sobbing and banging on the closed door, begging Shen Yi to give her one more chance, to save her son.

The office door stayed firmly shut. The people inside had no intention of opening it.

Meng Yuxin crumpled where she stood, as though the last of her strength had been wrung out of her. Her hair was disheveled, her gaze hollow and adrift. She murmured to herself, “He won’t help… he won’t help… he actually listened to that woman Rong Qian…”

Then, something seemed to click into place. Meng Yuxin clenched her fists, her eyes blazing with hatred. “It’s all because of that woman!” she spat through gritted teeth.

“You want to send my son to a rehabilitation center? I’ll teach you a lesson first!”

Click, click —

Barely had those words left her mouth when Meng Yuxin heard the sound of high heels stumbling backward, two sharp steps. She looked up — and found Sheng Wanqing standing nearby, expression unsteady with panic.

“You heard all of that?” Meng Yuxin rose slowly.

Sheng Wanqing retreated another two steps. Her lips moved. Then, as though arriving at some inner decision, she lowered her voice and said: “I don’t like that woman either.”

Meng Yuxin regarded her with a measured look.

Sheng Wanqing curved her mouth into a smile — stiff, but present. She let out a small laugh. “Madam Meng, don’t worry. I won’t say a word.”

“And if there’s ever anything you need help with — I will.”

By the time she finished saying it, the tension had left her entirely. Her expression was bright, her smile warm with genuine intent.

Shen Shuhuai, coming back from the washroom, arrived just in time to witness this exchange. He tilted his head in bafflement, completely at a loss about what they were discussing.

“Shen Yi — what are you thinking?”

Inside the office, after Meng Yuxin left, Shen Yi stood at the window without a word. Fearing he would bottle everything up inside and harm himself with it, Rong Qian finally broke the silence.

At the sound of her voice, Shen Yi turned. The afternoon light coming through the window fell directly on her, and in it, she seemed to glow.

The corners of his mouth curved upward, unbidden.

He had grown so accustomed to working through problems alone. No one had ever dared to disturb him — except Rong Qian, who worried he would bury himself in his own silence and simply came to ask.

It was a small thing. But it brought Shen Yi a warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I’ve been keeping a close watch on Shen Fengran’s situation,” Shen Yi said.

“I know you wouldn’t stand by and do nothing. That’s just who you are.” Rong Qian understood him.

“I suspect Shen Fengran has been in contact with Thomas.”

“Thomas!” Rong Qian was immediately on full alert.

Shen Yi nodded. “I’ve had people trailing Shen Fengran. The moment he meets with Thomas, I’ll know at once.”

“What kind of relationship could Shen Fengran and Thomas possibly have?” Rong Qian rubbed her chin, thinking it through.

Shen Yi was clearly turning over the same question. Both of them fell silent, each lost in thought.

Then the desk phone rang. Shen Yi glanced at the incoming number, reached to answer — and on an impulse, catching Rong Qian still deep in thought from the corner of his eye, he pressed the speakerphone button with the faintest curl of a smile.

And so Rong Qian heard a familiar voice pour out of the phone.

“Shen Yi ah — what have you been up to lately? Come have dinner with us tonight, yes?”

That unmistakable Cantonese cadence — who else could it be but Yao Zhengxing, the man who had emigrated from Guangdong?

Shen Yi replied, “Uncle Yao, you should already know what I’m going to say.”

“You’re going to say, ‘a bit busy lately, maybe next time’ — and when have you ever actually shown up for that next time? Not once!” Yao Zhengxing’s complaint was heartfelt.

Shen Yi just smiled and said nothing.

“I’m telling you, Shen Yi,” Yao Zhengxing pressed on earnestly, “you’re still waiting for that woman called Rong Qian? Give it up. Once a woman walks away, she doesn’t come back.”

Rong Qian raised an eyebrow and looked at Shen Yi. He returned the look without so much as a flicker of expression.

“And you, take a proper look at my daughter! When she was kidnapped, you took the whole thing so seriously — are you telling me you feel nothing for her at all?” All the preamble had just been leading up to this.

Shen Yi gave a gentle cough — very much aware of who was listening — and replied carefully: “Uncle Yao, you should know — saving someone’s life is its own reward —”

“I don’t want to hear that!” Yao Zhengxing had no patience for philosophical deflection. “Just come and have dinner with her, just once. She really does like you, you know!”

“I can come — but I’d need to bring someone along.” Shen Yi said it with a smile, glancing sideways at Rong Qian.

The moment he agreed, Yao Zhengxing fell over himself. “Bring them! Bring whoever you like!”

Then, as the elation subsided: “Though — who would you be bringing?”

Shen Yi turned the full weight of his gaze on Rong Qian. His voice was unhurried. Gentle. He spoke her name as though it were something he had held carefully for a very long time — “Rong Qian.”

Rong Qian’s heart gave a sudden, helpless lurch.

This man — had he just deliberately flirted with her?