She can face it, and she will face it well... even if

the reporters’ questions make her embarrassed, the sudden intrusion of this woman leaves her with a bloody head, and so many pairs of eyes watch her awkwardly, no one will succeed in forcing her back a step.

Those who want to see her make a fool of herself, she won’t give them their wish.

She agreed with Chen Lan that if Chen Lan didn’t come back with the quality inspection report of the electronic chips, she wouldn’t leave this place even half a step.

But, but...

Why... it has to be him...

It happens to be him... coming to the rescue.

She wants to escape, wants to hide...

There are thousands of people in this world who could help her at this moment.

Even while helping her, they might still look down on her, ridicule her... sneer at her for her temporary embarrassment...

Except for Ren Yixuan, she doesn’t want him to see her in her awkwardness, doesn’t want him to see her in this embarrassment.

Her life isn’t that bad, she doesn’t think it’s difficult, she doesn’t need him to rescue her, and she doesn’t want to face his calm gaze at this moment...

In that calm gaze, she seems to see his ridicule.

Su Xiaomeng clenched her fists tight, she clearly felt the tremors from her body.

Those almost buried past events...

This person who once made her heart-wrenchingly unable to breathe, she almost never thought of him again.

Ren Yixuan...

Twenty years of friendship shattered.

That day, the words still echoed—

"I want you to taste the cost and pain a heartless person should suffer!"

"I hate you, you should hate me too, that’s fair, at least..."

"My determined resolution, my wild desperation, was easily shattered by your pathetic and weak state..."

"I think back to the past, I realized... from the age of six, I was afraid of losing you."

"The bits and pieces of twenty years have built my entire world, if you were extracted from it... my world would be empty... some things aren’t up to you, what’s between you and me is hard to describe, but... I just feel you betrayed me."

"Betrayed my fleeting years, betrayed my love, I want to demand from you."

...

"But Ren Yixuan, I truly hate you."

"..."

"In the future... let’s not meet again. Even if we accidentally encounter on the road, let’s not greet or speak..."

......

He’s more handsome than before, standing there in simple clothes, able to dim everything around him.

The moment their eyes met, what Su Xiaomeng thought of...

were only bad memories.

Hate him?

Not anymore.

How could she truly resent him? What she spoke of hating him at that time was merely fear and disappointment beyond measure, a kind of emotion built from unbearable pain and despair.

Her literary skill wasn’t enough, unable to express such emotion with an appropriate adjective.

Ultimately, it was categorized as "hate."

A flimsy yet sharp word, a word that could stab a person to death.

She didn’t understand what’s happening to herself...

Clearly before, she didn’t feel she was too embarrassed, didn’t feel she was too awkward, didn’t feel what she was facing was so difficult.

Clearly before, she didn’t feel...

But at seeing Ren Yixuan standing here, she was flustered.

He just cast a calm glance over, and she urgently wanted to speak and explain to him something like...

I’m, I’m doing well...

These, these accidents are very, very normal!

I’m strong! I’m not hurt, I don’t feel it’s hard, I’m not downcast, I can persist, I can handle it, I don’t need your rescue, don’t need—

your presumptuous sympathy...

It was just a brief, hurried exchange of glances.

But inside Su Xiaomeng’s mind, countless thoughts fleetingly intersected, although Ren Yixuan’s expression remained calm as if they were merely two strangers.

His behavior moments ago might have been no more than seeing someone who might need help and hence offered a helping hand, regardless of whether that person’s name was "Su Xiaomeng."

Ren Yixuan’s gaze had long shifted away, even if Su Xiaomeng’s expression remained complex.

Turning around... but he didn’t leave.

He just inserted his hands into his pockets, took a long step, lightly leaped into the venue.

"..."

Su Xiaomeng froze, then hurriedly returned to her senses, her body stiffened, looked directly at Ren Yixuan with a defensive expression.

"What are you going to do?"

Because she was too defensive, her questioning lacked any warmth and friendliness, as if...

They were enemies.

She clearly remembered that their final encounter ended in animosity, remembered that day he looked at her with the most resolute envy and hatred.

Ren Yixuan remained the same, two years hadn’t turned him excessively worldly like most businessmen.

This man matured in mentality prematurely, never put the old mentality on his face.

His short tousled hair under the flashlights still shone brightly.

Ren Yixuan stood in front of her without answering, took the small microphone from the table, straightened his figure, facing the crowd of media and businessmen below, his thin lips parted slightly, tone steadfast,

"Ren Yixuan, founder of Xuanran Technology."

A simple sentence counted as self-introduction.

"..."

"Ren Yixuan... Xuanran Technology!"

These few simple words seemed filled with authority.

Following Zeng Xiaocheng, it once again stirred a clamor on stage.

Xuanran Technology, a new pioneering and innovative tech company founded in the United States two years ago, quickly emerged in industry competition with leading corporate innovation.

Under Ren Yixuan’s leadership, the Xuanran Innovation team gained attention with a tech innovation competition in the United States.

In the second year, the company reached project cooperation with the United States Microsoft Group.

In two years, whenever Xuanran Technology Company participated in a bidding case, the final bid result was exceptionally anticipated.

This technology innovation company rising quietly in the United States, repeatedly defeating formidable opponents quickly made it known among the people.

Ren Yixuan, the founding entrepreneur of this enterprise, couldn’t escape the keen eyes of media reporters, eventually emerged from behind the scenes.

Ren Yixuan’s resume, on examination, was stunningly brilliant to the point of disbelief.

This young talent, in his early twenties, stood out in such fierce and cruel competition environment with just a mind and hands.

Technology creation originally centered on research and innovation.

In today’s era where intelligence is gradually replacing non-intelligence, technology creation appears particularly important.

Ren Yixuan himself was a tech talent with formidable creativity and also had rich experience in enterprise management...

The rise and rapid development of Xuanran Technology weren’t difficult to understand.

"Ren Yixuan..."

The executive beside Su Xiaomeng wasn’t unfamiliar with the name either, "I thought he looked familiar..."

"You... know him?"

Su Xiaomeng, who didn’t know this industry well before and wasn’t used to watching business news every day, naturally didn’t know Ren Yixuan’s development in recent years.

"A very impressive young man, just not sure what he wants to do."

Clearly, this executive’s attitude towards Ren Yixuan was mainly defensive and completely unaware of Ren Yixuan’s relationship with Su Xiaomeng.

What’s concerning is, it’s a press conference with many cameras targeting them.

Even the executive who was on guard didn’t dare to rashly make any moves to prevent the unpredictable events that might happen.

Su Xiaomeng tightened her lips, raised her hand to snatch the microphone from Ren Yixuan’s hand, but he held it tightly, not allowing Su Xiaomeng to successfully grab the microphone.

"What exactly do you want to do?"

Su Xiaomeng lowered her voice, her tone filled with questioning and urgency.

In Ren Yixuan’s calm gaze, a trace of melancholy and helplessness crossed.

The two had known each other for twenty years; he regarded her as a lover, she regarded him as family.

Such a profound relationship... even after being out of contact for more than two years, the trace of melancholy in Ren Yixuan’s eyes was still captured in Su Xiaomeng’s eyes.

The hand grabbing the microphone suddenly lost its bottom line and relaxed...

She swallowed, her heart pounding, she didn’t know what Ren Yixuan wanted to do... didn’t dare guess, didn’t dare think...