Almost Strangled Her to Death!

The snow fell all night long. The next day, fierce winds swept in and the temperature dropped, turning the romantic snowflakes into deadly knives.

Weather like this always affected business. With fewer customers coming in, Chu Tianqing sprawled over the counter in a daze and wiped down the tables out of boredom.

Jiang Lean came out of the kitchen and couldn't help going over to check on her when she saw her like that. "What's wrong? Feeling down? Why don't you take some time off? There aren't many customers these next couple of days, so get some proper rest."

"Huh? No need. I'd be alone if I went home anyway. I might as well stay here." Chu Tianqing turned her down listlessly.

"What about your boyfriend?" Jiang Lean asked, fishing for gossip.

"He's away on a business trip. He won't be back for a week." Just thinking about it depressed Chu Tianqing. She'd wanted to talk to him, only for him to vanish in a puff of smoke.

Of course, what depressed her even more was that her big brother really was ignoring her, acting as though he meant to cut ties with her.

Chu Tianqing was not only upset but also a little embarrassed. She thought that if she had even a shred of backbone, she ought to move out of her big brother's house.

At that thought, she slapped the table and turned to Jiang Lean. "I need to find a job, the kind that pays a salary. Do you know of anything?"

Jiang Lean was taken aback and didn't quite understand. "What's going on? If you really need money, I can make you an official employee and pay you a server's wages."

"No, no, we already agreed on this. There's no need to give me special treatment." Chu Tianqing knew perfectly well how things stood. "If you paid me a salary, you wouldn't have the heart to boss me around, and the others would definitely resent it. I wouldn't be comfortable working here either, so forget it."

Jiang Lean had been thinking the same thing. Seeing that Shen Xixi was unwilling to cross that line, she felt gratified and offered her some advice. "What openings would I know about? It's either the restaurant or the bar. Where would you rather work as a server?"

"Which one pays more?"

"The bar, of course."

"Then I'll go to the bar."

"That's easy enough," Jiang Lean said with a smile. "You don't even need me to introduce you. Why don't you just go straight to Sister Bai?"

Chu Tianqing thought she had a point and straightened up excitedly. Then a question occurred to her. "I can't drink. Can I still work at a bar?"

"Sure. Servers don't have to drink. When you were a cleaner, you ran out to have fun all day long. Didn't you see Xiao Tao and the others at work?" Jiang Lean asked.

Chu Tianqing remembered now. Xiao Tao and the others all wore black pants, white shirts, and blue vests. Their job was indeed different from that of the girls who drank with customers.

She pressed her palms together in thanks and turned to contact Sister Bai, who, of course, welcomed her.

And so, at eight the next evening, Chu Tianqing showed up at the bar to start a new job in an old place.

The benefits were obvious: she was surrounded by familiar faces. She no longer had cerebral palsy, but the girls still looked after her.

During a break, the sister who worried about everyone the most came over, slipped an arm around Chu Tianqing's shoulders, and asked, "Xixi, don't blame me for prying, but your boyfriend must be rich. The platinum watch I saw on his wrist the other day was worth at least five or six million. How could he bear to let you work here?"

Chu Tianqing was very fond of Sister Wan. She was kind and warmhearted and loved to fuss over all sorts of things, so Chu Tianqing didn't mind talking to her.

"Because he has a marriage arrangement. In a year or two, he'll marry a young lady from a prominent family that matches his own," Chu Tianqing said with perfect clarity. "And I'm just his plaything. I can't count on him."

Sister Wan wasn't very surprised. She had long since gotten used to things like this. "Oh, what's the big deal? Just keep dating him for now and ask for more gifts. Eat when you should eat, sleep when you should sleep. After you've enjoyed yourself for a year or two, dump him, and you'll still come away with some money. Women have to be a little practical."

That made so much sense that Chu Tianqing silently gave her a thumbs-up in admiration.

After Sister Wan's little bit of guidance, Chu Tianqing felt she had managed to let it go a little.

She spent New Year's Eve at the bar, counting down with a large crowd. When the new year arrived, they hugged one another tightly.

But Chu Tianqing was still all alone.

She opened her phone to check her messages. Xiao Junyi had sent her a message along with a photo of a meeting: "Still cleaning up the mess. I'm sorry I couldn't spend New Year's Eve with you. Xixi, happy new year."

Chu Tianqing knew he had sent the meeting photo to keep her informed of his whereabouts. She had never asked him to do that; he had taken the initiative himself.

As a boyfriend, he was beyond reproach.

Chu Tianqing's lips curved up as she replied: "Happy new year. Take care of yourself. I'll wait for you to come back."

Xiao Junyi sent a mischievous grin: "Can't wait."

Chu Tianqing scoffed and couldn't be bothered to reply. She left the chat and saw that quite a few other people had sent her messages, including her old fair-weather friends and the new friends she had made at the restaurant.

There were also messages from Ms. Jiang and Dad Shen, even Qiao Ruhai, Zhang Ze, and Zhao Weizhong!

But not one from Shen Heng.

Chu Tianqing gritted her teeth. She really couldn't take it anymore. He was so good at giving her the cold shoulder. If he had the guts, he should give her a good scolding and let her die knowing why!

The day after New Year's Day, Ms. Jiang asked her to come home for dinner the following evening.

Chu Tianqing cautiously asked who would be there.

Ms. Jiang sent a gentle voice message. "Bufan was home on New Year's Eve, but she went back to school these past couple of days. Don't worry, she won't be here."

Chu Tianqing badly wanted to say that she wasn't asking about Shen Bufan, but about someone else.

After hesitating for a long time, she didn't dare ask, afraid Jiang Youyi would worry.

It was bad enough that she didn't get along with Shen Bufan. If she fell out with Shen Heng too, how would Ms. Jiang feel?

The next day, she slept until noon. When she got up, she first took Baogang out to play, then got herself ready after attending to the dog.

Staying up all night for work every day had left her complexion looking rather poor, so she put on a face mask to help cover it up.

After changing into a lovely Chanel-style outfit and a pretty white wool coat, Chu Tianqing headed out and took the subway to Aunt Jiang's place.

She had downgraded her spending and no longer took taxis.

From the subway exit, it was about a twenty-minute walk to the villa neighborhood.

It was just past five. The sky was growing dark, and an evil wind was picking up.

Chu Tianqing wrapped her scarf tightly around herself and pressed forward against the wind, crying out in her heart, Pretty clothes don't keep out the cold! It's freezing! I'm going to die!

As she trudged forward with a fierce grimace, a black car suddenly pulled up beside her. The driver rolled down the window and called out, "Miss Shen, please get in."

Chu Tianqing recognized the voice as Old Li's, Shen Heng's driver. Looking more closely, she saw that it was indeed her big brother's car.

She glanced at the pitch-black rear window, and a surge of anger shot straight to her head.

Hah, as if I care. I'd rather freeze to death than ride in his car!

She shot the driver a glance but said nothing, continuing forward in a huff.

At a loss, the driver turned to ask the man in the car, "President Shen, what should we do..."

Watching Chu Tianqing grit her teeth and endure the cold, Shen Heng was both angry and distressed.

She had the nerve to lock horns with him, so why didn't she have the nerve to break up with that philandering young master?

She saved all that nasty temper of hers for him.

He really didn't want to say anything to her.

But he couldn't bear to watch her suffer in the cold either.

Shen Heng told the driver to wait, opened the car door, and strode after her. He grabbed her scarf.

Chu Tianqing was walking too fast, and the sudden jerk nearly strangled her to death!

"Ah, cough, cough, cough!" Chu Tianqing turned around, instantly flying into a rage. "You, you... are you trying to strangle me to death?"