Chapter 31 Miss Qin’s Breakup Compensation

Chapter 31: Miss Qin's Severance

"Ahem, Master Jue," his assistant, Li Rui, coughed, hesitantly looking at the man who was staring at his phone, eyes shooting daggers. "Miss Qin asked if you still want the things you left at her place."

"She texted you?" Ling Jue asked in return.

Special Assistant Li, understanding the implication, handed over his phone. The screen was paused on his chat window with Qin Shuyi.

The woman's polite inquiry showed no resentment over the breakup, nor any probing with ulterior motives.

Ling Jue gripped the phone tightly. Special Assistant Li glanced at his newly replaced phone with a pang of sympathy.

Ling Jue sneered coldly, "She's certainly in a hurry."

He returned the phone to Special Assistant Li.

"So, how should I reply to Miss Qin?" Special Assistant Li asked cautiously.

Ling Jue's lips tightened into a thin line. After a long while, he seemed to deflate.

"Let her handle it."

"Yes."

He hesitated, seeming to have more to say but holding back.

Ling Jue glanced at him. "Say whatever you have to say, all at once."

Special Assistant Li then closed his eyes, said with the bravery of a doomed warrior, "Then, regarding Miss Qin's severance, should we follow the usual procedure?"

In the past, when Ling Jue ended things with his women, he would transfer them a sum of money—to ensure their silence and to signify a clean break with no further entanglement.

But Qin Shuyi's situation was special. Special Assistant Li wasn't quite sure.

Compared to one month, a year... shouldn't the severance be increased accordingly?

However, in the very next second, he heard a sentence that made his eyes widen in shock.

"No."

Li Rui almost failed to maintain his composure.

He carefully pondered the words. "Not a single cent?"

He received an icy glare in response.

Li Rui then closed his mouth, feeling a sense of shared shame.

For some reason, even though it was his boss who was being stingy, he felt ashamed on his behalf.

Miss Qin really was unlucky.

Just thinking about the astronomical severance that had flown away made his heart ache.

...

After Special Assistant Li left, Ling Jue looked again at his own phone, which was as quiet as death.

She could have asked him directly, but she chose to go through Li Rui instead. Was she really that unwilling to talk to him?

Had it even been 24 hours since they broke up? Was she in such a hurry to clear him out of her life?

Suppressing the urge to demand an explanation, his fingertip hovered over the familiar profile picture. In the end, he still didn't press the delete button.

Whatever. It was just in case she came back seeking severance from someone else.

...

Everyone in the Ling Corporation building had sensed over the past two days that the boss was in a bad mood.

Almost everyone who went to the top floor to report their work was scolded mercilessly. Even trusted members of the secretarial office had to mentally prepare for half an hour before going in to get signatures.

Finally, someone couldn't take it anymore and went to complain to Special Assistant Li. "I really can't go on like this for another day. What's the difference between this and a volcanic eruption? Special Assistant Li, can't you ask Miss Qin to come and put out the fire?"

Young Master Ling never brought personal emotions into the workplace. This was the first time he had so obviously taken his anger out on others.

Although Qin Shuyi had never been to the Ling Corporation building, everyone in the secretarial office knew of her.

After all, she was jokingly referred to as the woman who tamed the playboy.

Moreover, from their observations, whenever the boss was angry, if Miss Qin called or if they had a date scheduled for that evening, those who made mistakes would also be let off lightly. She was a highly effective calming influence.

Li Rui, who bore the brunt of the bad mood, expressionlessly put down the documents and pushed his glasses up. "They broke up."

"Broke up?!!!" The secretarial office staff collectively looked devastated, as if the sky had fallen.

"No way!!!"

Li Rui, who was also looking worn out, also wanted to shout "No way!" But everyone knew that Ling Jue never went back to an ex.

And he had never seen Master Jue be so stingy when breaking up with a woman before.

It must have been a very ugly breakup.

"Don't get any funny ideas. Work more, make fewer mistakes. Master Jue isn't the type to nitpick without reason."

Everyone wore bitter expressions.

Not intentionally nitpicking and being overly critical were not mutually exclusive.

Someone made a last-ditch effort. "Can't it be salvaged? I think the boss really liked Miss Qin."

At least with the previous women, she had never seen the boss personally select gifts or take someone out on frequent dates.

She thought dejectedly, she had been secretly shipping this couple for a long time.

If Miss Qin became Mrs. Ling, she would absolutely support it one hundred percent.

Li Rui swept a calm gaze over the group. "Master Jue's private affairs are not something we can interfere with."

The gossip-hungry crowd instantly deflated.

Previously, there was a dumped woman who tried to use the secretarial office to deliver meals to Ling Jue. Later, that woman and the person who helped her were both fired and shown the door.

Ling Corporation's salaries were high, and the benefits were excellent. Getting through Ling Corporation's doors required being the elite of the elite. None of them wanted to lose this job.

...

The news of Ling Jue and Qin Shuyi's breakup spread like wildfire, reaching every corner of the capital within just two days.

Ji Xiuhang, ever the drama lover, lost no time in asking Ling Jue out for drinks.

“Why did you break up?” he asked, genuinely curious.

Given how Ling Jue had had her back no matter what before, everyone was calling it true love.

Even in front of Tao Wangxi, a solid prospect for a fiancée, he had staunchly stood by Qin Shuyi’s side, unwilling to let anyone give her a hard time.

After arguments, he would swallow his pride and still show up to have her back.

“That girl liked you so much—did she really say nothing?”

That proper girl must have cried her eyes out.

Ling Jue’s expression turned mocking. “What should she have said?”

“That she can’t bear to lose you, begging you not to break up,” Ji Xiuhang replied offhandedly.

But he noticed the atmosphere around Ling Jue grow even colder.

Xie Muchen, who had been quietly observing the scene, suddenly spoke up. “Who initiated the breakup?”

“I did,” Ling Jue said, taking a sip of his drink.

Xie Muchen let out a meaningful “Oh,” then added, “I thought you were the one who got dumped.”

This whole drowning-his-sorrows act didn’t seem like someone who was relieved to be rid of a problem.

Under the dim bar lights, Ling Jue’s eyes turned dark and inscrutable. He didn’t respond.

He had his pride. With his status, Ling Jue could have any woman he wanted—what was the point of clinging to someone who didn’t love him? He would never allow himself to lower his head for love, to grovel before a woman.

“No, I just got tired of it.”

Ji Xiuhang awkwardly withdrew his teasing. A casual fling lasting nearly a year had already lasted way longer than usual.

For someone like him, “getting tired” was a perfectly acceptable reason.

“What a shame. I thought you were the rare one among us who’d found true love,” Ji Xiuhang said, not without self-mockery.

Genuine affection was a rare commodity. After witnessing so many rotten-to-the-core marriages, he occasionally was kind of hoping for a real love story.

Xie Muchen clinked glasses with him, clearly sharing the sentiment.

“If you want pure love, go find it yourself. You could play that game if you wanted to.”

Ji Xiuhang waved his hand dismissively. “Forget it. I prefer relationships that come with tangible benefits.”

The Ji family was complicated—his father’s illegitimate children alone were too many to count. Although he had kept them from making waves over the years, each one was a predator. What would be the point of marrying a wife with no clout of her own? What, so she can get pushed around?

Xia Zhiyue was quite likable—sunny, healthy, and tactful—but he knew well that playing around and marrying were two different things. Fortunately, she was also upfront about being after his money.

Come to think of it, among the three of them, only Ling Jue, as the sole heir of the Ling family, enjoyed a relatively clean slate—though that came with its own cross to bear.

“Great, now both of you have fiancées lined up. Do I need to find someone to marry just to keep up?” he grumbled.

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