The noisy laughter all around seemed to belong to another world.
Xie Zhitan was so furious that he became calm instead. His deep eyes were full of stubborn resolve and earnestness. "Qin Ci! I need to talk to you!"
Jiang Pengju was genuinely angry. "Are you deaf? Young Master Qin said he has nothing to talk to you about. Who do you think you are to him?"
Xie Zhitan abruptly turned his gaze on him.
The vicious look in his eyes startled Jiang Pengju, and somehow, the rest of his words would not come out.
His lips moved. He felt like such a coward.
"Xie Zhitan, what's wrong with you?" Letting a kid who had only just come of age protect him was not Qin Ci's style.
He pulled the pale-faced Jiang Pengju behind him.
Seeing him protect Jiang Pengju like that, Xie Zhitan's pupils abruptly contracted.
Qin Ci was actually protecting someone else...
Something that had once belonged to him, something he had dismissed with contempt, was gradually slipping away.
Perhaps soon, none of it would belong to him anymore...
The thought crashed through Xie Zhitan's heart, followed by an irrepressible, bitter ache.
The expression on Xie Zhitan's face was making Qin Ci unbearably unsettled.
No, I need to say it now. If I keep looking at him like this, I'll go crawling back to please him again.
"He's right. We're just classmates who barely know each other. Why should I talk to you just because you want to? I used to indulge you to spare your pride. Don't think you're so important!"
With that, he grabbed Jiang Pengju and headed back.
Xie Zhitan did not follow. He stared blankly at the two men, one tall and one short, walking away together.
The taller man never once looked back.