Chapter 273: Chapter 273 - 270: Jing Jihan, I Brought Back Snow for You...

Shi Su didn’t want to waste energy remembering the past, even if Yi City asked her, "That day, at Yisu Villa, you saw it, didn’t you," she just smiled indifferently and didn’t answer.

Yi City’s face carried a faint bitterness beneath his handsome features, and his voice was still somewhat hoarse: "In the drama ’Yao Platform Traces,’ you danced that dance to seek justice for yourself?"

Shi Su smiled lightly, but there was no humor in her eyes: "What else?"

There was no change in Yi City’s eyes, almost as if he suddenly felt relieved: "The year Yunyin won the Best Actress crown, Four Seas Entertainment’s starting point in the industry was also raised significantly. Speaking of which, Four Seas Entertainment’s path to greater heights owes part of its success to your generosity."

The waiter then brought the dishes to the table, all were served except for Shi Su’s ordered pasta and hot cocoa, along with borscht and some chocolate-flavored small cakes.

These were all things Shi Su used to love eating. In her eyes, borscht was just another flavor of tomato beef soup, indeed a taste she’s always favored. Chocolate cake was something she used to love too, though she doesn’t eat it much now nor has much interest, but Shi Mianmian’s love for chocolate certainly resembles her from the past.

Shi Su didn’t touch them, only took the hot cocoa and drank a couple of sips.

Holding the hot cocoa cup in her hand, she looked at him again: "Does Mr. Yi intend to stop me?"

"No, I won’t stop you." Yi City looked into her eyes: "If you want to reveal the truth from five years ago to the public, I can help you."

Shi Su was somewhat incredulous: "Help me? You have to know that if this matter is made public, you’ll also be carrying infamy. When you established Four Seas Entertainment, Shi Yunyin was the first artist you wanted to promote, investing heavily in her. You took a gamble with every step without any room for mistakes, going so far as to use me as a stand-in dancer. You cared so much for Four Seas Entertainment, are you now willing to help me even at the cost of destroying the company you’ve painstakingly built over the years?"

Yi City had been watching her: "I can’t deny that I was too young back then, and the internal disputes within the Yi Family made my ambition for independent entrepreneurship too intense. I was fully focused on the company, originally wanting to protect you by keeping you away from the spotlight, but in the end, I still gambled with you at risk..."

Shi Su looked him dead in the eye, her voice soft and indifferent: "You actually know her leg injury had nothing to do with me, but you felt guilty toward her. A few bottles of wine were missing from Yisu Villa’s wine cabinet, and she was upset, asking you to drink with her. You both drank too much. She confessed to you while crying, and then... what happened that made you so guilty towards her the next day?"

Yi City didn’t speak.

That night he indeed drank too much, but he and Shi Yunyin didn’t actually go all the way.

But they did kiss and hug, and indeed ended up on the bed... It was right at the last moment when he was suddenly jostled awake by thunder in his semi-drunken stupor. He thought of Shi Su and stopped himself.

Even though nothing else happened later, Shi Yunyin was left alone in the bedroom all night without him touching her again.

Still, what shouldn’t have happened did happen, and wrong was wrong.

The pasta in front of Shi Su was almost inedible, but she didn’t use her chopsticks, just lightly blew on the hot cocoa, smiling softly: "Do you know why I could swallow my pride and dance in her place under such circumstances back then?"

Yi City looked steadily at her: "Why?"

Shi Su picked up the small spoon beside her and gently stirred the hot cocoa in her cup: "You did provide me many youthful joys, after all. Even if it ended in an acrimonious parting, I couldn’t owe you anything."

"And now, after all these years, Four Seas Entertainment has signed so many top-tier artists. Your company is flourishing, at the pinnacle of the industry, even if the truth from five years ago suddenly came out, at most it would draw some criticism without shaking the foundation, nor would you suffer much loss." She stopped stirring and said calmly, "There’s no debt between us, once and for all, but Shi Yunyin owes me too much. It’s time for this ghost that crawled out of the fire five years ago to claim her life."

Yi City was silent, his gaze always on her expression.

It seemed he could see in her calm eyes how she had struggled to survive these five years and how she had successfully returned to Jiang City, standing before all of them again.

Yi City forcibly suppressed the urge to hold her in his arms, knowing he no longer had the right. His face gradually returned to the same serene calmness she displayed: "What do you want to do? Now the online slander against you continues; if there’s anything you want to do, let me handle it. Give me the initiative to expose the scandals of the past years, and you can step back and protect yourself, okay?"

Shi Su said coldly: "No need."

After she spoke, she put down the cup, finding she couldn’t drink it after all.

What was a three-star Michelin compared to this? With the wrong person in front of her, the taste wasn’t even as good as the ten-yuan street tea.

"Since we’re only talking about these unnutritious topics, I don’t see the need to continue." Shi Su took out a few banknotes and placed them on the table: "For the pasta and hot cocoa."

With that, she stood up directly.

Seeing that she didn’t even want him to pay for a meal, Yi City’s eyes darkened. He glanced at her as she was about to leave and suddenly spoke: "Are you planning to let Jing Jihan help you with this matter?"

Shi Su paused, sneering as she turned to look at him: "In your eyes, can’t I survive without relying on a man? This burden suppressed for five years, I’m taking back everything I deserve, and since it’s rightfully mine, I can solve it myself. Jing Jihan could indeed help me, but wouldn’t it be too much of an overkill to involve him? Do you deserve it?"

Yi City suddenly turned his head and saw the man walking over from across the restaurant.

Shi Su noticed his gaze and turned her head instantly.

Jing Jihan walked to her side, wearing a black trench coat over a black shirt and pants of the same shade, carrying the chill of a winter night, his indifferent gaze meeting Yi City’s from afar, adding a sense of pressure to the air.

Shi Su was taken aback: "Weren’t you going to the capital for a meeting yesterday?"

She had heard that his trip to the capital would last at least three or four days, so why was he back the next day?

In their phone call that afternoon, she had assured him she could handle things herself and told him to focus on his meeting without worrying about her affairs.

Yet here he was back now?

Jing Jihan: "The snow in the capital was too heavy; didn’t you say you hadn’t seen snow in a long time? I brought it back for you to see."

Shi Su: "...?"

Brought it back for her to see? What did he mean?

She looked bewildered: "...So, the snow?"

The man faintly smiled, gesturing with his chin towards the restaurant’s window.

Shi Su suddenly turned her eyes, only to see that it was snowing outside.

In Jiang City, where it rarely snowed, it was indeed snowing.