The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 2 - 7

Chapter 2 - 7

Relatives from their hometown had arrived, which meant Yu Yi had to make an appearance.

Stopping by his oldest sister's place first, he picked up a piece of news.

This news was far more important to him than the people from the hometown.

Someone was pursuing Yu Rui. And that person was exceptionally impressive. He had to act fast.

He had asked her out to the movies several times, but Yu Rui was always busy. According to Yu Shuang's corroboration, this was indeed the truth. Rui was currently the load-bearing wall of the public relations department, exceptionally busy to the point where she sometimes wished she had social functions scheduled for noon, afternoon, and evening all at once. By the time she got home, it was past midnight, and she was far too exhausted to even wash up before collapsing straight into bed. She made plenty of money; she was simply worked to the bone.

Yu Yi called Yu Rui.

Yu Rui would usually ask directly, "What is it?"

This made it hard for Yu Yi to answer. His sister Yu Jia had coached him to be brave. Following Yu Yi's STEM-oriented mindset, the earlier he confessed, the better. Still, they needed to meet in person first. After pondering back and forth, Yu Yi decided that on White Valentine's Day, come hell or high water, he would confess to Yu Rui face-to-face.

When the call went through, Yu Rui told him, "At one o'clock in the afternoon, wait for me in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel." Yu Yi said no problem. Since he couldn't borrow a car and the Marriott wasn't too far, he decided to ride the electric scooter he usually used around campus to ensure he wouldn't get stuck in traffic.

As the old saying goes, setting out early only to miss the boat, Yu Yi went to the wrong hotel. After the banquet ended, Yu Rui waited for him in the lobby for ten minutes. When he didn't show up, she had no choice but to follow the cars and head off to the next gathering. Yu Yi called her, and Yu Rui gave him the license plate number. Looking back out the window, she spotted Yu Yi wearing a helmet and riding his electric scooter right behind them.

The male leader sitting in the front passenger seat noticed this amusing detail and remarked, "Who's in trouble?" Everyone in the vehicle had no idea what he meant.

"How come there's an undercover cop trailing behind us?" he said with a startled laugh.

Everyone turned around to look. A single man was riding an electric scooter, fighting for survival amidst the gaps between massive vehicles.

"It's a friend of mine," Yu Rui admitted.

"Is today by any chance that White Valentine's Day thing?" The male leader prompted the others to think. The younger girls started giggling and hooting. "Just an ordinary friend, we have some business," Yu Rui explained, though she didn't really need to. The male leader then told the driver to pull the car over so Director Yu could handle her business first. Yu Rui hurriedly said it wasn't necessary. Work came first. The driver had no choice but to keep driving.

When they arrived at the destination, Yu Yi sent a message telling her to focus on her work, saying he would wait outside and wasn't in a rush. Yu Rui could pretty much guess his intentions and felt somewhat conflicted. She knew Sister Jia's expectations, but she couldn't simply force herself to accept someone she didn't like just to please other people's expectations. That would be irresponsible to both parties. She could already anticipate the awkwardness of the rejection.

Play it by ear, Yu Rui told herself to steel her resolve.

The afternoon tea still involved alcohol. It had been Chinese liquor at noon, and now it was western spirits in the afternoon. It was a networking meeting for several small company owners, and her department hoped to secure advertising deals from them. Yu Rui had drunk a bit too much at lunch. After eating a few macarons, her stomach felt upset, and she went to the restroom to vomit once—vomiting stealthily so no one would notice. After fixing her makeup, she came back out to continue the battle.

This was professional ethics.

As she sat back down, someone else poured a drink to toast her.

"I'll take that," a hand reached out. Yu Rui looked up and saw it was the owner of that small company, President Shi. His full name was... Shi... she couldn't recall it for a moment. People in the group laughed and joked that President Shi was showing a tender regard for jade and cherishing flowers.

Because of this saved drink, Yu Rui took a closer look at Shi. He wasn't particularly tall, was slightly plump, had a buzz cut, eyes neither too big nor too small, a nose neither too short nor too tall, and lips of an undistinguished thickness. A sweeping glance across his face revealed zero memorable features. If not for his modest wealth and local status, he probably wouldn't have met the baseline criteria.

Because he had taken the drink for her, Yu Rui chatted with him a bit more.

She found that he was quite articulate. He belonged to that breed of men whose conversational delivery adds more charm than sitting quietly and observing.

He was five years older than her.

The male leader chimed in with teasing remarks again. "Our Director Yu doesn't have a boyfriend yet." What a terrible boss.

Another young woman—Yu Rui's rival—interjected, "Chances are he's waiting outside right now." Yu Rui felt her face burning. It wasn't from the alcohol. She knew that in the eyes of this crowd, Yu Yi must look utterly foolish. Out of a hundred points, even with ninety-nine points for sincerity, that electric scooter could instantly drop his score down to a failing grade. Yu Rui could guarantee that not a single girl present would ever date a man who rode an electric scooter.

The teasing wave eventually passed. The crowd dispersed into scattered groups, chatting in twos and threes.

President Shi and Yu Rui sat down together naturally.

"That's fake, right?" He was still holding his wine glass.

She paused for a second. "Real."

"I mean this ring."

"Oh, fake." She couldn't afford an emerald.

"Then that's fake too?"

"What?"

"Not having a boyfriend."

"It's real."

President Shi burst out laughing. Yu Rui laughed along. She recovered a bit of her sense of humor and relaxed.

"This part is one hundred percent real," Yu Rui said.

"Then do you suppose today counts as us rescuing each other?" He was still smiling.

"Thank you."

"This line of work isn't easy."

"Just staying alive isn't easy."

"A girl like you shouldn't have to work this hard." He called her a "girl."

"Thank you for the high praise."

"May I pursue you?"

A heavy bombshell.

Her drunkenness sobered up by half. He was certainly direct. It didn't sound like a joke.

For a moment, Yu Rui didn't know how to respond. To say no would seem too petty and would only block her own path forward. To say yes would make her look somewhat cheap. She had to maintain the reserve expected of a beauty.

Besides, what kind of person he truly was remained to be investigated. Don't panic. Stay steady.

"You have that freedom," Yu Rui said with a smile, maintaining her elegant poise.

When the gathering finally concluded, Yu Rui took Shi by the arm as they walked out. The problem Yu Yi had brought her was resolved instantly. Before he even had a chance to confess, Yu Rui introduced them: "This is my boyfriend," referring to President Shi, and "This is a good friend of mine," referring to Yu Yi.

The relationship lines were drawn cleanly. No entanglements, no fuss.

Yu Yi's confession suddenly became entirely unnecessary. The feeling was akin to an actor who had prepared his acceptance speech backstage, only to walk away without winning the award.

Yu Yi could only stand there all by himself, a storm of mixed emotions churning within him. Shi drove his SUV right up, making Yu Yi's electric scooter look all the more shabby by comparison.

Yu Yi felt entirely out of place. She felt bad for him too. Yet, from Yu Rui's perspective, cutting through the mess with a sharp knife and ending a long pain quickly meant she didn't have to reject him outright while still getting the job done. It was truly a gentle method that killed three birds with one stone. Put that way, it could even be counted as an act of mercy.

She gave Yu Yi a brief hug.

Yu Yi told her to go on ahead.

Once inside the car, Yu Rui didn't look back again. She let out a long breath.

"He was chasing you pretty hard."

"Can't be helped."

"Pretty people always have to deal with this kind of trouble."

"Sorry to make you play-act with me." She tried to sound witty. It wasn't funny.

"Small matter," he said magnanimously.

"It wasn't real," she explained, though the moment she said it, she felt it was redundant.

"I know what's what," he said, freeing up one hand to lightly pat his chest.

"Thank you, President Shi."

"Still calling me President Shi?"

She didn't know his full name yet, so she could only mask it with a laugh.

"Shi Tongguang," he announced his own name.

When Yu Jia heard her younger brother's description, she felt somewhat displeased. She believed Yu Rui shouldn't have refused to give Yu Yi even a shred of chance. He was a student, poor, and unproven, but who could guarantee that ten or twenty years down the line he wouldn't be a successful man? Still, Yu Jia could understand Yu Rui. Her family circumstances didn't allow her the luxury of waiting a decade or two like she had, accompanying a man through the entire process of sprouting, growing, blossoming, and bearing fruit. She wanted to pluck the ready-made fruit directly. Looking at it from another angle, such a crisp and decisive rejection might have actually helped Yu Yi dodge a bullet.

"She just despises me for being poor," Yu Yi said.

"You are poor," Yu Jia said, "but you won't be poor forever. You should be looking for a Marie Curie, not a Diana."

There was another sentence Yu Jia kept to herself. Even if Yu Yi suddenly inherited a massive fortune right now, Yu Rui might still not look twice at him. Wealth was merely a starting point. The abilities, charm, vision, and demeanor accumulated during the process of creating wealth—those invisible assets of a man—were what exerted a massive gravitational pull on women. Yu Rui liked successful men. Still, Yu Jia was curious about what Yu Rui's boyfriend was like; in the past, Yu Rui's boyfriends were like ghosts—always heard of, but never seen by anyone.

This time counted as his first official manifestation.

As for Shi Tongguang, Yu Yi briefly summarized him as: middle-aged and greasy.

He was indeed a bit greasy, and certainly middle-aged. In his thirties, unmarried, possessing modest wealth, a local resident, and with a clean family background—all these factors combined were what prompted Yu Rui to decide to roll the dice on this gamble.