Chapter 260: I Am Zhao Chengning (2)
Shen Jingbin felt extremely unhappy after All Smiles left. She turned around to look at Shen Jingchen and the people from Jade Sea Pavilion, and asked, "Do you guys think that I left the guild because of Pure Crane as well?"
Never in her wildest imagination had she thought that people would be able to come up with such a fanciful story. All she'd said was a single sentence, but it somehow turned into a rumour about her two-timing.
No one spoke; almost as if their silence was their tacit agreement. Shen Jingbin felt her anger reach its boiling point.
Seeing the atmosphere turning a little awkward, Lingering White Clouds attempted to change the topic to lessen the tension. "Uh, Nutty, what’s up with these NPCs?"
Shen Jingbin took a few deep breaths to calm herself; her anger wasn’t directed at the people in front of her. "I don’t know either, they just appeared all of a sudden."
"I gathered them," Said a person who walked out from within the crowd of NPCs. Shen Jingbin took a good look at them and found that the person turned out to be the person whom she’d gone to Underworld City with in the past – Mistress Of Lost Splendor.
"Some of the women from the group just now were from my guild, and they were gathering other people within the guild to go after you. I just happened to be turning in a quest to the Sect Leader, so I let him know about it in passing. That's when he told me to lead these NPCs over to you."
Everyone: F*ck, your sect's this cool?
This revelation had also given Shen Jingbin a fright. She took several steps forward and stood before the NPCs. She wasn't sure of herself, but she tried saying it anyway, "Thank you for your assistance fellow sect brothers and sisters."
An elegant youth stepped out from the crowd of NPC and spoke in a gentle and polite tone, "You're too kind, sect Senior. Putting aside the fact that the Six Great Sects haven't been able to come together as one for the battle of good against evil, it'd be far too much of a shame if we even suffered from internal strife. As such, the Sect Leader instructed us to come out and right this wrong."
Realisation then dawned on everyone. No wonder there were so many of them here.
Seeing as there was nothing left for them to do, the NPCs bid Shen Jingbin farewell and left. The members of Jade Sea Pavilion were planning to leave as well when they suddenly heard a ding. Quiet And Steadfast had logged in.[Guild] Guild Leader Quiet And Steadfast has logged on.
"Nutty Nutty, our Leader's online!" Syrup Time excitedly announced as she looked at Shen Jingbin.
"Mm?" Shen Jingbin immediately opened her friend list and saw that Quiet And Steadfast's name was lit up.
Before she could do anything else, she received mail from him.
"Where are you?"
"I'm at the outskirts of Xiling City. There's something I need to tell you," Shen Jingbin replied.
Shen Jingchen noticed what she was doing and said, "We'll leave first so that we don't bother you guys. Sort out your misunderstanding and talk things out between the two of you."
It was rare to see him act so seriously and Shen Jingbin nodded back at him. Following that, Shen Jingchen half coaxed and half tricked the rest of them away. A short while after everyone had left, Quiet And Steadfast appeared.
The first thing Quiet And Steadfast did was apologize. "I heard what happened, I'm sorry."
Shen Jingbin gazed at him meaningfully. "It’s not your fault."
Both of them fell silent.
Quiet And Steadfast was deliberating over how he'd reveal his identity, while Shen Jingbin mulled over how she was going to broach the subject of drawing the line between them.
A long while later, Shen Jingbin finally spoke up, "I'm just friends with Pure Crane, and I only went over to help with their quests."
She didn’t know why she chose to explain herself first, but it was probably because she wanted to set the record straight.
"I know, you’ve mentioned it before. They’re just rumours. Don't worry, I’ll take care of them for you."
Shen Jingbin waved her hands. "There’s no need… and, I have something I need to tell you."
"Mm?"
"I want a divorce."
Her words were like a bolt from the blue. Quiet And Steadfast stood there in stunned silence. What's happening?
"Why?"
"I have a boyfriend in real life, so…" She wanted to finish her sentence, but she felt that he should know what she was trying to say.
Quiet And Steadfast's expression suddenly turned a little strange. "I think… that you having a boyfriend doesn't conflict with our current arrangement…"
"There isn’t any conflict, but I can't accept it. You might think that I'm doing this for attention, but I don't want to get involved with anyone since I have a boyfriend now… And, you're very popular, so being with you is a little troubling too."
"So the last part was the main reason why, huh?" Quiet And Steadfast silently remarked.
"Will you break up with your real life boyfriend if he's so troublesome as well?" Asked Quiet And Steadfast who suddenly went off topic.
Shen Jingbin silently frowned at him.
Quiet And Steadfast coughed uncomfortably.
Shen Jingbin said, "Quiet And Steadfast, you should be able to tell that I'm trying to distance myself from you, right? There's no other reason why I'm doing it. Our marriage wasn't built on love, so let's part ways amicably. There's no reason to hesitate, and we can still be friends even after our divorce…"
A long while passed with Quiet And Steadfast remaining silent. Shen Jingbin thought that he wasn’t willing to get a divorce, so she resolved to persuade him. In truth, she felt that apart from her high Luck stat, nothing else about her was anything to write home about. She saw no need for him to be so reluctant.
Little did she expect Quiet And Steadfast to suddenly cut her off halfway.
"Jingjing, I’m Zhao Chengning."
"I think the two of us… What did you just say?" Shen Jingbin thought that she'd misheard him and froze for a moment before she turned to look at him with widened eyes.
Quiet And Steadfast pulled off his veil – the very first time he'd ever done so in game. "I said: I’m Zhao Chengning."
What stared back at her was the most familiar of faces that hadn't seen even a single modification. Her brain instantly crashed.
She’d imagined countless ways this conversation might have played out, such as Quiet And Steadfast getting mad and rejecting their divorce, or him nonchalantly agreeing, or him dropping a huge confession on her and urging her to stay.
But, the thought of him turning out to be Zhao Chengning had never crossed her mind, much less him using that as a way to reject her request for a divorce!
"You… you knew who I was from the very beginning?"
Quiet And Steadfast… no, Zhao Chengning, nodded.
Shen Jingbin's temper flared.
It's no wonder that a Great God like him chose to ignore tens of thousands of beauties and instead chose to marry her. Her being 'lucky' or whatever other nonsense was all bullshit. This was the real reason!
She suddenly felt like she'd been deceived.
Shen Jingbin glared daggers at him before logging off right there and then.
F*ck, she needed some time to calm down! She’d spouted all sorts of nonsense to him, only to have him turn out to be the very reason why she was doing all this; how embarrassing!