In the hospital emergency room, Shen Mingyue was lying on a rare available bed and refused to leave.
She pretended to feel dizzy and kept breathing heavily like she was seriously uncomfortable.
Not long after she hung up the phone, Shang Jue showed up in the emergency room.
Shen Mingyue, sharp-eyed as ever, spotted him the moment he walked in and instantly started acting even more pitiful.
"It hurts... sob... sob... it hurts..."
Lying on the bed, Shen Mingyue cried, her tears falling like broken pearls. Just looking at her made people feel bad for her, like she was this fragile little thing.
"Jue..."
She looked at Shang Jue with that pitiful expression, but deep down she was actually feeling happy.
So what if he was cold to her sometimes?
He still came, he still cared.
"What happened?"
Shang Jue's face was cold, his tone flat.
There was no concern in his voice at all, it was like he was just asking out of obligation or something.
Li, his assistant, had already looked into the situation and felt a headache coming on. Still, he didn't let it show on his face. He just respectfully explained:
"Mr. Shang, Miss Shen was in a car accident. But thankfully, the doctor already checked and confirmed that she wasn't seriously hurt."
Because he was so focused on Mrs. Qin's situation earlier, Li had totally forgotten about Shen Mingyue. He hadn't arranged for anyone to take care of her right away, and now he was lowkey worried that Mr. Shang might blame him.
"Jue, I'm sorry. It's my fault for not being more careful. How's Qin Cha? Jue, I didn't mean to drive Qin Cha away. I'm already satisfied just being by your side. I won't ask for anything else."
Shen Mingyue sobbed weakly, acting like she was lowering herself for him.
She was trying to play it smart, pretending to back off, but actually fishing for info.
What she really wanted to know was if Shang Jue's feelings toward Qin Cha had changed.
But the second he heard Qin Cha's name, Shang Jue's expression went dark.
There was a sharp glint in his brown eyes. "This has nothing to do with you. Just take care of yourself. If something like this happens again, call Li. He'll handle it."
The message was clear: Shang Jue didn't want Shen Mingyue bothering him anymore.
Qin Cha never needed him. Even when she was sick and in the hospital, she handled everything on her own.
Thinking about that only made Shang Jue more annoyed. He didn't want to hear Shen Mingyue's sobbing anymore, so he got up and left.
He needed to cool off.
The night wind brushed across his perfect face like a god from some ancient legend. Slowly, his irritation faded.
After all, she was just a woman, not even worth getting mad over.
Back in the hospital room, Shen Mingyue watched him leave again and felt totally panicked.
She couldn't tell whether he hated her now, or if he'd started to feel sorry for Qin Cha. Either way, it was bad for her.
She had gone through all that trouble to drive Qin Cha away. If Qin Cha and Shang Jue really did get divorced, her chances of marrying him would skyrocket. She couldn't let anything ruin that.
Meanwhile, Qin Cha had already shaken off that annoying man and gone back to work. By the time she arrived at the company, she'd already let go of her bad mood.
A man worse than a dog wasn't worth getting upset over.
The vice president, who literally had nothing better to do, greeted her with a smile and said, "Qin, you're still at the office this late? You're really dedicated."
Qin Cha shot him a cold look.
He wasn't actually incompetent, otherwise Qin Cha wouldn't have made him vice president.
But because she suddenly lost her memory, and someone purposely tried to bring down the company she had built from scratch, no matter how hard he worked, it was basically impossible to fix things without the boss being around.
As for who was behind it all, Qin Cha knew very well.
"I'll be joining Director Mu Qing's new movie in a few days. I don't need to teach you how to handle publicity, right? You know what to do?"
When the vice president heard the name Mu Qing, his eyes widened in shock. That was a super famous director.
If she could land a role in his film, she'd definitely be one of the most hyped-up rising stars. Her future would be crazy bright.
"Yes, General Manager Qin! I'll prepare everything right away. Don't worry, I won't let you down."
After giving out her instructions, Qin Cha went back to her villa. In the quiet space, after such a long day, she soaked in a hot bath and then laid down in bed, drifting off to sleep peacefully.
In her dream, she saw all the things that had happened in the three years she was married to Shang Jue.
On their wedding night, Shang Jue left the country for some business negotiation and didn't come home for three whole months.
When he finally came back to China, Qin Cha made a whole table full of delicious food just for him. But she waited the entire night and he never came.
On top of that, he spread rumors about her, he didn't even explain anything after that.
And then, the part she didn't want to remember the most came back in her dream. That day, she had just found out she was pregnant.
She was super excited, actually looking forward to a future with Shang Jue. But something happened that day that completely shattered all of that.
A single tear rolled down from the corner of her eye, and almost instantly, she woke up. She gently touched her belly, still feeling shaken.
"Baby, you have to grow up healthy and strong. Mommy will protect you."
Now, the baby in her stomach was her only weakness.
Qin Cha took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down after the dream. But it didn't help, she still felt super restless.
Thinking about how she wasted three whole years trying to please a man and got nothing back, not even progress in her own career, made her chest feel tight.
She hated how her mind kept going to these memories whenever she had free time.
That had to be the problem, she wasn't busy enough. If she stayed busy every single day, maybe she could make up for those three wasted years.
Without hesitation, she picked up her phone and made a call. Soon, the vice president's voice came through, sounding sleepy and confused.
"Hello...? Qin, is something wrong? It's super late..."
"Give me more work. I don't care if it's just being an extra or whatever. I just want to stay busy."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
It was obvious he wasn't fully awake and couldn't really understand what she was saying.
"I mean… just arrange more work for me. I want to be constantly busy."
"Okay... Got it. I'll get on it first thing tomorrow."
Even though he was still half-asleep, the vice president still listened to her. She was his boss, after all. After she hung up the phone, Qin Cha wasn't sleepy anymore.
She went to the kitchen, warmed up a glass of milk, and forced herself to go back to bed. For her baby's sake, and for her own health, she had to sleep. Her subconscious kept pushing away anything related to Shang Jue.
The next day, the vice president arranged a few small roles for her. Some of them didn't even have any screen time at all. Would she actually accept them?
Feeling unsure, he nervously walked into Qin Cha's office.
"Qin Cha?"
"Come in."
He put the stack of role offers down in front of her so she could pick for herself.
"Qin Cha, these are all just supporting roles. You're going to be in Director Mu Qing's movie soon. You don't have to take on these tiny parts too, you know? You're about to blow up. Why waste time on this?"
But Qin Cha didn't respond to that. She quietly looked through all the scripts, reading each one carefully before picking out a few.
The roles didn't matter. What mattered was the timing. All the ones she picked fit perfectly into her free schedule.
"I'll take these. Arrange everything."
The vice president looked at her choices and was honestly confused. They were all minor supporting roles, some barely even worth mentioning.
He didn't get what she was thinking.
What he didn't know was that even though these roles seemed small, they were all from films being directed by famous directors.
Qin Cha wasn't after quick fame, she was planning for long-term growth.
"Yes, Qin Cha."
Even though he still didn't understand why, the vice president didn't say anything else.
He followed through with her orders, personally arranging for her to have a manager, a styling team, a motorhome, and everything else she'd need to start joining the film crews.